268 Recreations of a Sportsman 



The most important part of a mission-estab- 

 lishing expedition was the priests or friars who 

 were to convert the savage natives and plant 

 the cross in the unknown land. The friars were 

 architects, teachers, and mechanics. It was their 

 business to assume the practical part of the 

 work. While converting the natives they em- 

 ployed them to build the missions in many in- 

 stances, nearly all the old buildings being the 

 result of the labor of the native artisans under 

 the instructions of the friars. The ecclesiastics 

 of an expedition under Domingo Ramon, for ex- 

 ample, were six Franciscans and four friars. 

 With the expedition were twenty-five or thirty 

 horses, over a thousand goats, pack animals and 

 oxen, so that while the number of fighting men 

 was few, they made a pretentious showing as 

 they marched on, heading for the interior of 

 what is now Texas. They had some difficulty 

 in crossing the streams, losing at the San 

 Marcos many horses in a deep pool. They 

 crossed the Colorado, and in June, 1715, reached 

 the river Trinity, and finding many Tejas, who 

 received them kindly, they decided to make a 

 stand. A treaty was consummated with the In- 

 dians and a settlement made in a land described 

 eloquently by Ramon as one of fruit and flowers, 

 charming to the eye and senses. The streams 

 abounded in fish; buffalo and deer grazed on 

 the prairies, and in the forest the wild turkey 



