Return of Rabago and tlze Fomuti11/f of Ctllion ,llissions
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a human being with the face painted. The Indians would not rc,·cal the rites they performed, nor the ceremonies held in honor of their idols. It was known, however, that many of the dance festivals were part of their religious ritual and it seems that the Lipans offered occasional human sacrifice to their more honored and feared idols, the Yictims being capti,·cs taken in war. The gods of the Lipans told them. through the wizards of the tribes (Santones), when their enemies were near or far, when the buffaloes wen: plentiful, and when was the best time for them to hunt. \.Vhen a new house was built by a family, the medicine men of the tribe assumed the form of buffaloes and prognosticated the future of those who were to reside in the new dwelling. It was a firm belief among the Lipans that their medicine men could cause or stop floods and droughts. The Lipans believed in life after death and buried their dead with great ceremony. They not only dressed the deceased in his best finery. but they placed beside him his arms and a liberal supply of water and food. They generally practiced polygamy and baptized their children giving them names of stones. trees. flowers, and other objects of nature. 37 On January 18, 1764, Fray Acisclos Valverde. as guardian of the College of Queretaro, made a moving appeal to the Yiceroy. He explained how the Apache-Lipans had refused to be congregated at San Saba after the destruction of the mission founded by the martyred Father Giraldo de Terreros. and how, as the result of their unshakable fear, it had been decided to establish missions for them at El Canon on the upper Nueces. Father Jimenez had founded two missions there in 1762, with the coop- el·ation of Captain Rabago. For two years the faithful missionaries had maintained the two missions at great sacrifice. But they could not go on indefinitely without royal aid. He implored the viceroy to giYe his personal approval and grant the two missions of San Lorenzo de la Santa Cruz and Nuestra Senora de la Candelaria the funds gi,·en customarily by the king. In a final effort to secure the long delayed approval, Father Fray Hemenegildo Vilaplana personally appealed to the viceroy. He remon- strated that the missions would have to be abandoned if no aid was granted, confirmed what Fray Valverde had so eloquently described in his memorial, and requested that the usual money be granted before it was too late. If the project met with viceregal approval, instructions should also 37 Respuesta de los Padres al Sor. Cancio a barios puntos de un informe, September 19, 1763; Relacion de la Presidencia del Rio Grande de! Norte desde octubre de 1768-hta. diziembre de este (1764). A.G. ill., Hisloria, Vol. 29, pt. 1, pp. 173-185.
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