The Southwestern Historical Quarterly, Volume 16, July 1912 - April, 1913 Page: 341
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Spanish Activities on Lower Trinity River, 1746-1771 341
could be made on terra firma by way of Matagorda Bay and the
coast. To determine this point he went in October with a squad
of men down the banks of the Guadalupe; but, because of high
water and the roughness of the country, he decided to build a
fleet of canoes and take thirty men on a two months' expedition
by water, down the river and along the coast. New discourage-
ments and difficulties led him finally to decide to take the Adaes
road to the crossing of the Trinity, a hundred miles or more above
its mouth, and descend to the coast from that point.1 Such an
expedition made it necessary to send to San Antonio and Presidio
del Rio Grande for more soldiers, in order that La Bahia might
not be left unprotected. As a consequence of this and other de-
lays, it was late in December before Orobio was ready to start.2
From Orobio's diary, which has not hitherto been used, we are
able to follow his movements in detail. Setting out on Decem-
ber 20 with twenty-one soldiers, he marched over the camino real'
to the Trinity, where he arrived on January 9. Failing to learn
from the Indians of this locality what he wished to know regard-
ing the country below, he again changed his plan and continued
northeast to San Pedro, the Nabedache village near the Neches.
Here he saw in the firearms, clothing, and trinkets possessed by
the natives-the sight was no new one at San Pedro-abundant
signs of French influence. But these things, he was told, had
all come from the French of Natchitoches ("Los Canos"), by way
of the Cadodacho, and not from the coast. The rumors of the
French settlement on the Gulf, however, were confirmed and re-
peated with exaggeration. But Orobio was informed that the
place could be reached only from Nacogdoches, by way of the
Bidai trail, "a path which the Vidias have made in going to
N acogdoches."
Acting on this information, Orobio went on to Nacogdoches.
Here a report by the veteran missionary, Father Joseph Calahorra
y Saenz, to the effect that fifteen shipwrecked Frenchmen had re-
cently passed that way from the coast, caused him to go on to Los
Adaes to consult with the governor, Garcia Larios, before plung-
'Lieut. Miguel de Olivares investigated the possibilities of the proposed
expedition by water, and reported that the river was obstructed, and,
besides, that suitable boats could not be built. Report by Olivares to
Orobio, ibid., 2.)
20Order of Orobio, Oct. 22, 1745; Orobio to Urrutia, Dec. 7, ibid., 2, 4.
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Texas State Historical Association. The Southwestern Historical Quarterly, Volume 16, July 1912 - April, 1913, periodical, 1913; Austin, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth101058/m1/349/: accessed May 21, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Texas State Historical Association.