The Quarterly of the Texas State Historical Association, Volume 3, July 1899 - April, 1900 Page: 115
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Route of Cabeza de Vaca.
115
be seen with the natural eye, while the high land appears to be con-
tinuous down to it, seeming to complete the description of Espiritu
Santo bay by Pineda; and without paying attention to the courses,.
or to the fact of his being on the main land, while Pineda viewed the
surroundings from his ship in the Gulf, Cabeza might readily con-
clude it was Espiritu Santo Bay that was then before him, especially
when he had not seen the real bay of that name.
When the true Espiritu Santo Bay is viewed from a position at sea
east of it, with the face towards the west, to the left will be seen
the range of high sand hills or mounds extending along Matagorda
Island, and seeming to terminate with what is now called False
Live Oak Point, situated at the southeast part of the bay; while the
narrow bay or ancon separating it from the range of sand mounds
is not seen. This point is on the part of the bay marked on some
maps as San Antonio Bay; but its identity is well known to those
sailing down the bays from Indianola to Corpus Christi.12
Speaking of this, Buckingham Smith says:
"Should this point on the shores of Texas be recognized as the
one to which the remnant of adventurers have now arrived, the high-
est peak of sand mounds in latitude 28 16' 34" 08 north, in longi-
tude 96 47' 39" 83 west, we may look with some confidence over the
northeastern portion of the bay, as far as the entrance upon the bay
of Matagorda, in latitude 28 24' 06" 95 north, longitude 96 23'
50" 56 west, the distance in a direct line of twenty-five statute miles,
for the discovery of Mal-Hado. There is, however, no island in this
direction that appears to answer its description, nor any place with
the conditions for the point that the sand mounds unite. To the
south are no hills on the shore of a bay near a river, nor any of par-
ticular mark or height as far as where the river Bravo or Grande del
Norte finds outlet.'"
Mr. Smith was doubtless unacquainted with the true topography
of the coast there, and, therefore, confounded what was stated by
12 Captain Thomas Allen, who sailed along there for years, says: " The
sandhills on Matagorda Island are about forty feet high, and extend from
near Cedar Bayou to opposite False Live Oak Point, on the southeast part
of what is nowcalled San Antonio Bay, nine miles from Cedar Bayou. The
foot of this point is washed by the water of this San Antonio Bay, which
is the southern part of Espiritu Santo Bay."
18 Smith's translation, Chap. XVI, p. 89.
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Texas State Historical Association. The Quarterly of the Texas State Historical Association, Volume 3, July 1899 - April, 1900, periodical, 1900; Austin, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth101015/m1/123/?rotate=270: accessed April 19, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Texas State Historical Association.