0 m· Catlzolic Heritage in Texas
sold for four; and red woolen cost seventy-five cents and sold for two and a half pesos. Silk handkerchiefs were very much in vogue. They cost ordinarily fifty to eighty cents and were brought from Seville. They sold for one and a half to two pesos. Cloth for shawls, cotton and silk mixture, cost six and a half pesos a dozen (pieces cut) and sold for two pesos each. The same grade with a fringe sold in San Antonio for as much as sixteen pesos. The all-silk shawls of better grade cost ten pesos but sold for thirty in El Paso and San Antonio. In Los Adaes they were cheaper because they were imported from New Orleans. The cheapest cotton hose cost sixty-two cents and sold for two pesos. Plain cotton blankets cost one peso but sold for four pesos. Silver braid cost one peso and eighteen cents an ounce, but sold for two and a half pesos. Black and colored ribbon No. 80 cost twenty cents and sold for seventy-five. In his inspections of the presidios in Texas, Rubi insisted on being shown the invoices. In several cases he considered the overcharge so great that he ordered the captains to credit the accounts of their men with the excess charged. 68 Recommendations concerning /11dia11 policy. The impression that the Spaniards were materially aided by former French officials and traders in formulating a practical Indian policy after the Louisiana cession has been created by historians. 69 But a study of the reports of the farsighted Marques de Rubi seems to indicate that many of the changes put into effect by the Cavallero de Croix in the Provincias Internas after 17i2, and particularly in Texas with regard to the Indians can be traced directly to him. At any rate a summary of his views on this subject will show that he at least paved the way and prepared the officials of Spain and Mexico to view with favor the proposals for a more realistic and vigorous policy in regard to the Indian nations in Texas. Rubi was particularly bitter against the perfidy of the Lipan-Apaches, but he blamed the Spaniards largely for the treachery of these Indians. "Our own credulity and our selfish indulgence have made them daring and shameless," he declared, in referring to their faithlessness and the manner in which they had made Spanish officials believe they were sincere in the loud protestations of their desire to be reduced to mission life. From San Juan Bautista to San Saba, and hence to San Antonio and La "The facts summarized here concerning the cost and sale price of goods and sup- plies are found in the various reports on the Texas presidios made by Rubi. A. G. I., Audiencia de Guadalajara, 104-6-13 (Dunn Tr., 1767), pp. 107-856. 69Bolton, Athanase de Jllezieres, I, 17-12:.1.
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