TO SAN ANTONIO. 25 
while I with a small party rode on five miles further to 
Goliad, having some business to transact at that place, 
which I reached at 12 o’clock. Here I found Mr. F. 
Wheaton and Mr. Scott, assistants in the surveying 
party, who had been taken ill and were obliged to remain 
behind. a3 
Towards evening Judge Lea, a gentleman of enter- 
prise and a large landholder, called on me and invited 
me to his house at Old Goliad about two miles distant. 
He took a deep interest in the survey we were then 
making from Indianola to San Antonio, and had accom- 
panied the surveying party when it passed through his 
lands a day or two before my arrival. Crossed the river 
in a log canoe, and reached the Judge’s residence, a 
venerable and ruined church, just at sunset. Took a 
- brief view of the ruins of the ancient town while the 
— dim twilight remained. © 
The present town of Goliad is about two miles from 
the former town, and at the time of my visit contained 
about two hundred inhabitants. The old place, which 
is now in ruins, is situated upon a hill directly upon 
the west bank of the San Antonio River, at its highest 
navigable point, and formerly contained several thou- 
sand inhabitants. It was originally a Spanish Mission, 
instituted for the purpose of christianizing the Indians, 
and united within one inclosure a church and fort, 
while numerous dwellings were clustered under the 
protection of its guns. The date of its establishment 
is not known with certainty, the accounts varying from 
one to two hundred years. The church is the only 
building in any tolerable preservation, except two or 
three houses which have been restored, provided with 
