The Province of Te:xas in I762
15
are well instructed in the truths of Christianity, and all know the catechism and the mysteries of our holy faith. With the exception of such as were already old when they came to the mission, and who are still uninstructed and ignorant, all of these Indians speak Spanish, have been baptized, and know their prayers. Most of them play some musical instrument, the guitar, the violin, or the harp. All have good voices and on Saturdays, the 19th of each month, and on the feasts of Our Lady, the Blessed Virgin, they recite the rosary outdoors and a choir of four voices, soprano, alto, tenor, and bass, with musical accompaniments, sings so beautifully that it is a delight to hear them. The procession moves along within the walls and is protected on either side by a double file of warriors. Outside the wall are posted sentinels on horseback to watch against attack by unfriendly tribes. Both the men and women sing and dance just as the Spaniards, and they do so, perhaps, even more beautifully and more gracefully. They dress with decency, being provided with two suits or dresses, one for week days and another for feast days. The men arc not bad-looking, and the women, except an occasional, coarse-featured one. are graceful and handsome. The able-bodied men attend to the manual labor, the old men make arrows for the warriors, the grown-up girl,; weave cloth, card wool, and sew, the old women catch fish for the Ptuires, and the younger boys and girls go to school and recite their prayers." 9 Before describing the conditions of the Presidio of San Antonio de Bejar and the Villa de San Fernando it may be well to summarize briefly the progress of the missions. All but one of the five missions had stone or rock houses for the neophytes and all h~d stone and mortar friaries, granaries, and protective walls, being supplied with adequate means of defense and arms sufficient to equip the neophytes to repel the enemy. Some of them even had swivel guns to safeguard the main gates. In their granaries the five missions had a grand total of nine thousand nine hundred bushels of corn and over seven hundred bushels of beans, besides chile, salt, potatoes, cotton, and other supplies in varying amounts. On the farms they cultivated and raised all the products enumerated besides lentils, vegetables, melons, sugar cane, and peaches. In their ranches they had a total of five thousand four hundred and eighty-seven head of cattle, seventeen thousand sheep and goats, over six hundred saddle horses, almost one thousand breeding mares, over one hundred donkeys, and almost as many mules. The wool produced by the sheep was woven
9 P. P. Forrestal, The Solis Diary of 1767, in Preliminary Sludus, Texas Catholic Historical Society publications, Vol. 1, p. 6, pp. 20-21.
Powered by FlippingBook