The Southwestern Historical Quarterly, Volume 70, July 1966 - April, 1967 Page: 596
728 p. : maps, ports. ; 23 cm.View a full description of this periodical.
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Southwestern Historical Quarterly
Pages' spelling of Mexican and Spanish names, a fault which
makes it difficult to determine the places he visited. For example,
Laredo becomes "Rheda"; La Bahia del Espiritu Santo, "Labadie
de Spiritu Sancto"; Orcoquisac, "Acoquissas"; and Coahuila,
"Cuvilla."
These errors and other inaccuracies can easily be explained
as those of a stranger in an unknown and largely uncharted
country. The area between the Sabine and Rio Grande was a
wilderness in 1767. The King's Highway was but a trail' of many
variations which stretched across Texas. The Spanish had only
slight knowledge of the country, and this they jealously guarded
from their rivals, the French and English. Keeping this in mind,
internal evidence in Pages' account seems to verify his authen-
ticity. He accurately describes everyday conditions which writ-
ers in Paris would hardly know or manufacture: the food short-
ages, hunger, and monotonous diet of East Texas; the differences
between the Indians from one area to another; the trials of cross-
ing boggy river bottoms. He also alludes briefly but correctly
to a quarrel between provincial governors and to a proclamation
by the new governor forbidding Indians to trade with the French.
Unfortunately Pages invites mistrust because of two prejudices
which he held in common with many other Frenchmen of his
time. The first is an abiding distrust of Spaniards; the second, an
unshakable faith in Rousseau's concept of the natural man. The
Bourbon Family Compact of the 176o's decreed that Frenchmen
and Spaniards be friends, but the traditional enmity between
them persisted. It dovetailed neatly with Pages' belief in the
purity of man when untainted by the influence of civilization.
He determinedly looked for the good in the Indians, and when-
ever he was forced to note an unattractive trait, he attributed
it to civilization, especially Spanish civilization.
Pages' strong prejudices weaken his work and give it the false
ring which Wagner and Streeter note. He has other shortcom-
ings as far as the historian is concerned. He wrote for the read-
ing public of the eighteenth century, not for the student of the
twentieth. He apparently wrote after the event. His work lacks
specific dates and names. Yet, his account is far from being as
"inconsequential" as Streeter insists it is. Pages' view of Texas,596
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Texas State Historical Association. The Southwestern Historical Quarterly, Volume 70, July 1966 - April, 1967, periodical, 1967; Austin, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth101199/m1/626/: accessed April 30, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Texas State Historical Association.