272 Recreations of a Sportsman 



stroyed. The old mission of San Miguel was also 

 rebuilt by Aguayo, and a new era of prosperity 

 began, only to be cut short by disaster to his peo- 

 ple. Sudden cold weather killed forty-five hun- 

 dred horses and seven thousand mules, but this 

 determined officer was never discouraged. The 

 life was strenuous beyond expression, yet he ap- 

 pears to have been equal to all demands upon 

 him. He now built a strong adobe fort at San 

 Antonio and founded a fine mission San Fran- 

 cisco Javier de Xajera. It was this officer who 

 fortified the Bay of Espiritu Santo, erecting a 

 new presidio there, and a new mission was 

 founded with much ceremony, and called Es- 

 piritu Santo de Zuiiiga, later removed to San 

 Antonio. It was at this mission that Captain 

 Ramon was killed by the Indians, who aban- 

 doned it on the ground of ill-treatment, but the 

 fathers established others fifty miles inland. It- 

 was about this time that Spain introduced many 

 settlers from the Canary Islands into Texas at 

 San Anionio, and the King gave $12,000 toward 

 erecting a mission church. 



The San Antonio missions on the stream of 

 the old angler are now famous as the only ruins 

 in Texas which gave an excellent idea of the 

 architecture of the time. The second mission 

 was perhaps the most artistic of all. The front 

 was ornate, and originally bore much ornamen- 

 tation. The arches of this venerable pile ap- 



