Our Catholic Heritage in Te:ras
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been made to begin the construction of permanent houses for the soldiers and neophytes. 29 But the failure to harvest the corn planted. the threatened raids of the Comanches and· the lack of supplies had ham- pered the work of the missionaries considerably and had forced them to permit the neophytes to go on buffalo hunts to relieve their immediate wants. In September, Chief Cabez6n, Chief Boruca (Chatter Box), Chief Borrado (Brown), and Chief Cojo (Peg Leg) had been allowed to go to gather ttmas (prickly pears). The Indians had begged for permission to absent themselves primarily for lack of food, but their growing fear of the marauding Comanches and the lack of confidence in the ability of the mission guard to protect them against attack was likewise an important factor. The mission guard assigned to the two new establishments was plainly inadequate. The lack of proper support to meet the most urgent needs of the neophytes made it impossible to enforce the missionary routine and resulted in a relaxation of discipline. Success without more effective protection and a more determined support of the enterprise by viceregal authorities was impossible. Diffiwlties and trorthles. Furthermore the missionaries learned early in October that the governor and other officials of Coahuila and Texas had recently made a formal complaint against the Apaches, blaming them for depredations committed on the frontier settlements of the two provinces. The missionaries and Rabago protested that even if the accusation was true, it should not be assumed that the guilty Apaches were from among those now congre- gated in the San Jose Valley, (Upper Nueces). The Apaches included the Mescaleros and the Natages, besides the Lipans. But only the latter were congregated here. The Lipans of the two new missions had not absented themselves without permission since their reduction. Consequently it was unfair to lay the responsibility for the recent depredations upon them. Fray Jimenez urgently requested Rabago to explain these circumstances to the viceroy and demanded that proper protection and adequate supplies be furnished. The missions at San Juan Bautista could no longer support the two new establishments. If Rabago could not continue to help them and secure royal approval, the missions could not be maintained much longer. 29Fray Jimene1. to Captain Rabago, October 8, 1762. A. G. M., Historia, Vol. 84, pt. 1, pp. 150-1 56. Copy also in A. G. I., Audiencia de JJ/e,:ico, 92-6-22 (Dunn Transcripts, 1748-1763), pt. 2, pp. 148-152.
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