hopes will excite the minds of the savages more easily than words. He hopes soon to send for certain liturgical items, including a candelabra and a set of hand bells.
The mean condition of Misión San Xavier del Bac is partly due to the Apache raids that have continued, almost unbroken, for the last forty years. The friar tells me a thousand reals would not suffice to replace the goods the savages have stolen in the time of his service alone, though in this I am inclined to believe he exaggerates. Concerning the Apaches, Your Excellency is doubtless aware that the problem is hardly unique to the Pimería Alta, this vagabond nation being astonishingly numerous,roaming unchecked across the Provincias Internas of Sonora, Nueva Vizcaya, Coahuilla and Nuevo Reyno de León. In an attempt to mitigate their hostility, the Captain of San Agustín del Tucson has allowed, unwisely, in my estimation, a number of Apache to settle in the vicinity of the Presidio. They are given a ration of corn and tobacco and trusted to visit Fray Garcés and receive Christian instruction, which they do not, unless coerced. The good friar, who is a man of great though not infinite patience, does not appear to hold out much hope of bringing them closer to God. They are otherwise allowed to maintain their barbarous customs, including the performance of obscene dances and ceremonies and the contracting of polygamous marriages. Their minor transgressions are tolerated, even the theft of beasts from the presidio herd. No attempt is made to persuade them to farm. They are, in short, disguised enemies being succored at the expense of His Catholic Majesty’s Treasury.
Despite these difficulties, Fray Garcés has established his mission sufficiently enough to make visits to the outlying rancherías of the Papagos, Cocomaricopas and Gileño Pimas without running the risk that in his absence his parishioners will flee or change their beliefs. As mentioned above, he has also made entradas to the country of the gentiles on the far side of the Río Colorado, for the spreading of our holy faith and the increase of His Majesty’s dominions. During these extended absences it is my understanding that the Father Guardian of the Apostolic College of Santa Cruz de Queretáro supplied another friar to take his place at Bac.
To mark my arrival, Fray Garcés assembled his neophytes on the plaza outside the church. I counted a hundred or so, the majority women and children. When I remarked on how few they were in number, the friar informed me bluntly that during the summer many of the neophytes were in the habit of leaving the Mission to gather food and visit relatives. He described this absenteeism as lamentable but necessary. The piñons and acorns they collect on their wanderings supplement the agricultural products of the Mission in times of hunger, and it appears, though Fray Garcés would not say so directly, that only the scarcity of food duringthe winter months ties some of the neophytes to the place. I asked whether it were not in his power to prevent straying through the use of incarceration or physical chastisement. He says this had been tried but proved unsuccessful. Parties of soldiers are, however, sometimes sent out to the ranchería to bring back runaways. I asked how the work of the Mission was done when so many of its members were elsewhere, and he laughed, telling me that this was indeed a problem—sometimes there was not even enough firewood to prepare pozole to feed those who remain. I found his attitude remarkable, labor being, according to authorities such as Verger and de la Peña Montenegro, an effective means for the savage to achieve salvation. Fray Garcés conceded this point, and spoke of long roads and short paces. He displays a sort of ecstasy at the poverty of the Indians, which he views as holy, in the Franciscan manner.
Upon observation, I found the Mission’s neophytes little better than their gentile brethren, prone to libertinism,
The mean condition of Misión San Xavier del Bac is partly due to the Apache raids that have continued, almost unbroken, for the last forty years. The friar tells me a thousand reals would not suffice to replace the goods the savages have stolen in the time of his service alone, though in this I am inclined to believe he exaggerates. Concerning the Apaches, Your Excellency is doubtless aware that the problem is hardly unique to the Pimería Alta, this vagabond nation being astonishingly numerous,roaming unchecked across the Provincias Internas of Sonora, Nueva Vizcaya, Coahuilla and Nuevo Reyno de León. In an attempt to mitigate their hostility, the Captain of San Agustín del Tucson has allowed, unwisely, in my estimation, a number of Apache to settle in the vicinity of the Presidio. They are given a ration of corn and tobacco and trusted to visit Fray Garcés and receive Christian instruction, which they do not, unless coerced. The good friar, who is a man of great though not infinite patience, does not appear to hold out much hope of bringing them closer to God. They are otherwise allowed to maintain their barbarous customs, including the performance of obscene dances and ceremonies and the contracting of polygamous marriages. Their minor transgressions are tolerated, even the theft of beasts from the presidio herd. No attempt is made to persuade them to farm. They are, in short, disguised enemies being succored at the expense of His Catholic Majesty’s Treasury.
Despite these difficulties, Fray Garcés has established his mission sufficiently enough to make visits to the outlying rancherías of the Papagos, Cocomaricopas and Gileño Pimas without running the risk that in his absence his parishioners will flee or change their beliefs. As mentioned above, he has also made entradas to the country of the gentiles on the far side of the Río Colorado, for the spreading of our holy faith and the increase of His Majesty’s dominions. During these extended absences it is my understanding that the Father Guardian of the Apostolic College of Santa Cruz de Queretáro supplied another friar to take his place at Bac.
To mark my arrival, Fray Garcés assembled his neophytes on the plaza outside the church. I counted a hundred or so, the majority women and children. When I remarked on how few they were in number, the friar informed me bluntly that during the summer many of the neophytes were in the habit of leaving the Mission to gather food and visit relatives. He described this absenteeism as lamentable but necessary. The piñons and acorns they collect on their wanderings supplement the agricultural products of the Mission in times of hunger, and it appears, though Fray Garcés would not say so directly, that only the scarcity of food duringthe winter months ties some of the neophytes to the place. I asked whether it were not in his power to prevent straying through the use of incarceration or physical chastisement. He says this had been tried but proved unsuccessful. Parties of soldiers are, however, sometimes sent out to the ranchería to bring back runaways. I asked how the work of the Mission was done when so many of its members were elsewhere, and he laughed, telling me that this was indeed a problem—sometimes there was not even enough firewood to prepare pozole to feed those who remain. I found his attitude remarkable, labor being, according to authorities such as Verger and de la Peña Montenegro, an effective means for the savage to achieve salvation. Fray Garcés conceded this point, and spoke of long roads and short paces. He displays a sort of ecstasy at the poverty of the Indians, which he views as holy, in the Franciscan manner.
Upon observation, I found the Mission’s neophytes little better than their gentile brethren, prone to libertinism,
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