The Southwestern Historical Quarterly, Volume 31, July 1927 - April, 1928 Page: 59

Description of Tejas or Asinai Indians, 1691-1722 59
in the sending of supplies. The port will also serve as a means
of protection and of subjugating the Indians of the region. In
this way peace will be established and the country pacified. I have
already mentioned that by merely clearing away the woods it will
be possible to establish the mission in the manner I have described.
[Danger from the French]
I insist on this point only because if this section be abandoned-
as a preliminary to the settlement of the plains,-the French will
settle it for France as was proposed to your predecessor by the
Frenchmen who were at that court. Upon this point of jurisdic-
tion and upon the desirability of settlers and troops and the sub-
jugation of these Indians, I implore unanimity, because, according
to the estimate formed of the French, France could be dealt with
with little effort, for the method they use in establishing and
founding missions is very different from that used by our Span-
iards. You would have relief from these embarrassments and con-
troversies merely by seizing the post of Natchitoches, as Captain
Ram6n informed you in detail touching the entry he made into
Natchitoches when he ordered a cross made and an altar raised
for the two French who are stationed there as a guard. The
Holy Sacrament of the mass was held and he entered carrying the
royal ensign. And because Don Domingo was sick, Don Diego
Ram6n went down the river in a canoe to reconnoiter the settle-
ments along La Palizada. From this point he went on to explore
Mobile.
I will now give your Excellency information of a report I have
received from the French, and for a clearer explanation I will
give you a statement of the direction in which the rivers run.
Rio de la Palizada flows from north to south. Rio del Misuri and
the Caddodachos-which is the same as the one on which the
Natchitoches and the two Frenchmen are located, lower down-
flow from east to west and empty into Rio de la Palizada. They
flow in from the same side as that on which we are planning to
settle and, in order that France may not advance further toward
our frontiers in New Mexico, Parral, and the South Sea, I will
proceed to give the information I have concerning the Rio del
Misuri. At the mouth of this river there are two missions be-
longing to the fathers of the French Company [of Jesuits], at