The Quarterly of the Texas State Historical Association, Volume 5, July 1901 - April, 1902 Page: 173
370 p. : ill. ; 23 cm.View a full description of this periodical.
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The Beginnings of Texas. 173
in 1664, he returned to Mexico, where he published extravagant
accounts of the discoveries he had made, and endeavored to induce
the viceroy to authorize further explorations and conquests. In
this effort he was unsuccessful, and, becoming involved in a humil-
iating quarrel with the Inquisition, he was compelled to leave Mex-
ico.' After many vicissitudes of fortune he turned up in France,
where, in the year 1682, he made representations to Louis XIV and
his ministers in the hope that he might interest them in his pro-
jects.
Meanwhile, there had been an uprising of the Indians in New
Mexico and many Spanish and friendly Indians had been slaugh-
tered. In 1682 General Otermin, governor of New Mexico, deter-
mined to abandon the pueblo Isleta del Norte and take with him
the friendly Indians from that place and those who had taken
refuge there. With these Indians the padres founded three mis-
sion pueblos in the south. One of these pueblos, named Isleta,2
was situated about twelve miles southeast of El Paso, on the east-
ern bank of the Rio Grande. Although this settlement is existing
today, its establishment had no important influence.
While Pefialosa was a petitioner at the court of France, another
line of forces, the spiritual, was beginning to operate toward the
opening up of the territory east of the Rio Grande. In the year
1683, while the Spaniards were resting at El Paso from the long
and exhausting struggle with the Indians of New Mexico, a mes-
senger came from the chief of the Jumana tribe asking that mis-
sionaries be sent to his people, and bringing glowing accounts of
the Tejas, which lay far to the southward. In response to this
request the governor of New Mexico allowed an expedition to be
organized under Juan Domingo de Mendoza, the spiritual interests
of the enterprise being entrusted to Father Nicholas Lopez. The
company descended the Rio Grande to the junction of the Concho,
from which point it advanced eastward beyond the Pecos, and if we
may trust the statement of Mendoza, penetrated to within twenty
leagues of the nation of the Tejas. The expedition failed to accom-
plish the purpose for which it was organized, but it seems to have
'Margry, Notice sur te Comte de Peialossa, III 39-44; Shea, Peialosa
ixpeditson, 8-23.
'Bancroft, History of Arizona and New Mexico, 190-191; Raines, Bibliog-
raphy of Texas, XV 160.
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Texas State Historical Association. The Quarterly of the Texas State Historical Association, Volume 5, July 1901 - April, 1902, periodical, 1902; Austin, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth101021/m1/179/: accessed April 27, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Texas State Historical Association.