Expedition Into Texas, 1675 



34 



They said that they were tired of wan- 

 dering through the mountains and dying 

 like animals. On the 26th of January, 

 1675, there came to General Balcarcel 

 Pablo, an Indian chief of the nation 

 called Manos Prietas, and with him 

 eight Indians of the Gueiquesales, the 

 Bapacorapimancos, and Espopolames. 

 These, being examined, said that they 

 were Christians and had been baptized 

 by Father Juan Larios, and they had 

 come to make their submission to the 

 king. On the 29th of April, 1675, this 

 same Indian Pablo came and brought 

 with him 232 persons, great and small, 

 as follows: 120 warriors, 65 women, 

 and 47 boys and girls. They had come 

 to ask to be placed in settlements, and 

 said that they had left a large number 

 of their people congregated together 

 toward the Rio del Norte ; that they 

 were very numerous ; they could not 

 tell how many. These were followed 

 by other chiefs living beyond the Rio 

 del Norte, all of whom asked to be 

 placed in settlements and to have mis- 

 sionaries sent to them. 



General Balcarcel, having established 

 his settlement of Nuestra Senora de 

 Guadalupe de Estremadura, in Decem- 

 ber, 1674, commenced building a church, 

 which was soon completed. Royal or- 

 ders had been issued to push the con- 

 quests as far as possible, and to gather 

 the Indians together into settlements, 

 where they might receive religious in- 

 struction, cultivate the soil, and live 

 peaceably under the royal protection. 

 General Balcarcel, in compliance with 

 this order, determined to send an expe- 

 dition, under military command, along 

 with Father Juan Larios, who had been 

 appointed and directed to proceed at 

 once to the conversion of the barbarous 

 Indians living beyond the Rio del Norte. 

 The military commander of this expe- 

 dition was Fernando del Bosque, the 

 royal standard-bearer, and Father Juan 

 Larios, accompanied by Father Dioni- 

 sio San Buenaventura, both of the 



Franciscan order, was to have charge 

 of all matters pertaining to the mis- 

 sionary purpose of the expedition. With 

 these there were ten other Spaniards — 

 an interpreter of the Spanish and In- 

 dian languages, Don Lazaro Augustin, 

 himself an Indian, and Juan de la Cruz, 

 of the Boboles, his ensign, and 20 others 

 of his tribe who were most faithful to 

 the Spaniards, and 100 warriors of the 

 Gueiquesale tribe accompanied the ex- 

 pedition. 



They were ordered by General Bal- 

 carcel to proceed to the Nadadores, and 

 beyond as far as the Sierra Dacate, and 

 to instruct the Indians to plough their 

 lands and to cultivate them, and live in- 

 dustriously, and they should go to such 

 places as the good service of their majes- 

 ties required, and they should instruct 

 the Indians in the Holy Catholic re- 

 ligion, and should take royal possession 

 of all parts of the country visited, and 

 take note of the longitude of the rivers, 

 and of the trees, forests, and mountains, 

 and should count the people, great and 

 small — men, women, and children. 



JOURNAL OF FERNANDO DEL BOSQUE, 

 _ ROYAL STANDARD-BEARER, IN COM- 

 MAND OF THE EXPEDITION 



April jo, 1675 '. — Left the town of 

 Nuestra Senora de Guadalupe of this 

 province in obedience to the order of the 

 alcalde maior, Don Antonio Balcarcel 

 Riva de Neira Sotomayor ; traveled 

 along the river below the town toward 

 the north, and having reached a place 

 called Pajarito, on the river, about six 

 leagues from the town, we found it un- 

 possessed and without any signs of hav- 

 ing been recently inhabited. We took 

 possession of it in the name of the king 

 our master, Don Carlos II, whom God 

 defend, and in sign of possession we 

 erected a high wooden cross, and at this 

 place we saw many fish in the river and 

 caught some. We gave it the name of 

 San Felipe de Jesus. 



May 2, 16-75. — On the first of May 



