The Quarterly of the Texas State Historical Association, Volume 3, July 1899 - April, 1900 Page: 111
294 p. : ill., maps ; 23 cm.View a full description of this periodical.
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Route of Cabeza de Vaca in Texas. 111
leagues from there, and the island is half a league in width and five
leagues in length."5
While this suits St. Joseph's Island, it can not be adjusted to any
of the others from Pass Caballo to the mouth of the Bravo. Mata-
gorda Island is fully ten leagues long," and this fact alone would ex-
clude it from being Mal-Hado, though all of the circumstances,
from its end on Cedar Bayou forward on the main, are the same as
those from St. Joseph's Island at the same place; and all the other
circumstances of both are about the same, except that there was an
island back of Mal-Hado to which the clergyman and negro went
the first winter, and whence they were brought back in a canoe by
the Indians in the spring, when Castillo and Dorantes returned to
the island. Matagorda serves as the island back of St. Joseph's,
from which it is separated by Cedar Bayou.
Mustang Island is nearest the same length as St. Joseph's, it be-
ing about 38,000 varas, or 7 leagues and three-fifths, in length.7 But
the other facts will exclude it.
From a point on the main opposite the mouth of Cedar Bayou
about two leagues on, at the head of a small bay now called St.
Charles' Bay, there puts in a stream called Bergantin Creek, which
assumes the appearance of a river when swollen by heavy rains.
Three leagues further on is Copano River. Thence four leagues
is Mission River. From the latter it is five or six leagues to the Aran-
sas River." These make the four crossed before reaching the ancon or
5 Cap. XV. The width of the bay at the crossing of Cedar Bayou is
about six miles, or two leagues; and in 1850 St. Joseph's Island was about
fifteen miles long, with an average width of a mile and a half. Captain
Thomas Allen, of Corpus Christi, says: "St. Joseph's Island is fifteen
miles long. "
6 Captain Allen also says: "Matagorda Island is nearly forty miles long,
from Cedar Bayou to Saluria."
' Captain J. J. Dix furnishes a certified sketch from the General Land
Office, showing this length for Mustang Island.
8 Wm. T. Dorset, Frank Ayers, and F: M. Prior, who live in that sec-
tion and have been familiar with the coast for many years, give the follow-
ing estimate of distances: "From the reef crossing at Corpus Christi to
the Aransas River, 30 miles; thence to crossing of Mission River, 15 miles;
thence to crossing of Copano River, 11 miles; thence to Bergantin Creek,
12 miles; and thence to Cedar Bayou crossing, 6 miles." See description
of these distances, infra.
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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/m1/119/: accessed April 30, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Texas State Historical Association.