26 
INDIANOLA 
new roofs, and made into very comfortable dwellings — 
better, indeed, than modern builders would think of 
erecting. The church seems to have been designed for 
the double purpose of a church and a castle. Its mas- 
sive walls on every side, which measure four feet in 
thickness, are cemented with waterlime ; and to its 
great strength is owing its fine state of preservation. 
Its ' extreme length is 90 feet, its breadth 27 feet. 
Its roof is a single stone arch from wall to wall, sus- 
tained by small buildings or cloisters which project 
from the sides, and which are connected with the main 
edifice ; a parapet rises above the roof, behind which 
cannon were formerly planted. 
In the various domestic wars of Mexico this was an 
important place, and frequently changed hands ; nor 
was its importance lost during the struggle for Texan 
independence, when it was occupied by the Mexican as 
well as the Texan forces. Its original name was La 
Bahia del Espiritu Santo, the Bay Town of Espiritu 
Santo, because it was originally the place for collect- 
ing the revenue of the small ports upon the bay. Hence 
all persons arriving on the bay with merchandise were 
obliged to go forty miles into the interior to find the 
officer of the customs, to wffiom they had to pay their 
duties. Similar inconveniences exist at the present 
day in Mexico, on the Pacific coast : the collector of the 
port of Manzanillo, for instance, resides at the city of 
Colima, ninety miles in the interior. This name of La 
Bahia was changed by the Spaniards about thirty years 
since, when it began to decay as a religious establish- 
ment, to that of Goliad, on account of its great strength. 
Around the church are some twenty or more ru- 
