Missionary adventures in Texas and Mexico. A personal narrative of six years' sojourn in those regions

Front matter

Class.

Book.

MISSIONARY ADVENTURES

Dedication

Being thus incapacitated from labouring on the theatre of the missions which you have superintended with all the zeal and devotedness of an apostle for such a number of years, — no longer associated^ alas ! in that good work which has enlisted all my warmest sympathies,— destined never again to revisit those mixed populations which roam through the solitudes of the new world, shut out, in a great measure, from all spiritual help, I desire, my Lord, to unite myself at least in spirit to your holy enterprise, and to come to its aid (if I may be permitted to express myself thus) by proclaiming to the world your wants, your difficulties, and the touching details of your poverty.

It seemed to me that a complete and thorough knowledge of the actual state of your mission could not fail to evoke the pious solicitude and generous assistance of your brethren in Europe, and I therefore decided on writing a journal of the five years' missionary life which I spent in Texas and Mexico.

Permit me, my Lord, to inscribe your venerable name at the head of this work.

Preface

It was never my intention to give publicity to the secret reminiscences of my missionary career. I love retirement, and a natural timidity of attracting public notice withheld me from publishing the ideas and feelings which accompanied me in all my wanderings over the boundless prairies of the new world, through its primeval forests, under the thatched roof of the emigrant's hut, and in the cabin of the Mexican. I was very young when I devoted myself to the Church militant of the missions, and I was well aware that impressions must have naturally crowded upon me at that time and assumed the character of circumstances which varied every day, Besides, I dreaded the opinions of those who measure men and things by the narrow rule of their own habits and prejudices, and who, therefore, form a very inaccurate notion of missions and missionaries, never reflecting on their own arbitrary mode of viewing and judging, and seeming to forget that at Rome we should live as do the Romans, and that the most savage countries have their own usages, to which we must accommodate ourselves a little, whilst we

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strive, at the same time, either to modify them somewhat, or uproot them altogether. But in Paris, I had occasion to meet some of the leading men in literature and science, who pressed me to relate the story of my wanderings in Texas and Mexico ; they listened to the recital with a degree of interest which I dared not presume it merited, and pressed me to publish it in all its naive simplicity. In the hope that the publication might prove useful to the foreign missions, I yielded at length to their kind solicitations.

I felt that, notwithstanding the interesting letters of missionaries which appear in The Annals of the Propagation of the Faith, the life of priests who consecrate themselves to the work of propagating the gospel, and introducing the blessings of civilisation among people steeped in barbarism and ignorance, is neither known nor adequately appreciated in Europe. The missionaries, notwithstanding prodigious efforts of industry, devotedness, and courage, die amid the ice of the North, or on the sands of the desert, after having exhausted their strength in labouring for the moral, religious, and physical well-being of their fellow men, and this whilst their countrymen at home make no effectual efforts to aid them in this noble work, which causes the name of France to be blessed by every people and in every tongue ; for it cannot be denied that, although the work of the missions is universal and catholic above all, yet still it is pre-eminently French, and that nine-tenths of the missionary priests are Frenchmen.

Pious people will ask, no doubt, are not the sums of money distributed through the missions by the Propa-

PREFACE.

ix gation of the Faith sufficient ? I answer no ; they are but the grain of mustard seed which grows into a great tree; whereas if the sums were proportionate to the greatness of the work, they would produce the most important and the most abundant results, and the life of the missionary would no longer be a continual struggle with the numberless imperative necessities which undermine his health in a short time, and which oblige him to exhaust, in providing for the commonest necessities of life, those energies which are barely sufficient to enable him to educate the people to whom he breaks the bread of life.

In the first part of my journal, I have particularly in view to portray the missionary's private life, his internal struggles, his physical and moral sufferings. I do little more than notice in passing a variety of other subjects, which have but an indirect relation to his chequered and perilous existence.

In the second part I confine myself to a description of the manners, customs, and peculiar habits of the American and Mexican populations that live on both banks of the Rio Grande. But although I limit myself to personal observation and to facts which occurred around me, still these observations and facts apply with equal force not only to all the new States of the American Union, but also to its central and western possessions.

I cherish a fond hope that in my book will be discovered the impartial spirit of a man who recounts only what he has seen, heard, and felt, and that it will, on this account, attract the approving notice of all who

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relish the inelaborate recitals of truth. Like the violet, it possesses no other charm than the sweet perfume of truth — it may be too, that like the early spring flower its duration will be ephemeral; but of what consequence to a secluded and suffering being is the glory of the world ! No regret will accompany me into the calm of retirement should I only succeed in awaking in some generous souls a sentiment of pity and charity for those destitute Christian missions to which I have sacrificed the best years of my life — a sentiment which cannot in its nature be sterile, but must on the contrary be productive of the most abundant fruits, which will be no less delicious to the giver than to the receiver.

CONTENTS,

FIRST JOURNEY,

Chapter I

The Departure. — A Mass on Board. — Reverie. — The Mississippi.-— Texas. — Its Inhabitants. — Various Forms of Worship. — History.

— Galveston. — Houston. — Posting. — Episodes of the Excursion.

— The Prairie. — The Panther. — A Storm. — A Mutiny. — The Electors and the Violinist. — Arrival at San Antonio de Bexar. — A Frenchman ..... Page 1

Chap. II

San Antonio. — Furnished Lodgings. — My Ordination. — Castro ville. . — Domestic Scenes. — Rattlesnakes. — A Crocodile Hunt. — The Church. — The Missionary. — The Missions — First Excursion. — A Quid pro quo . . . . , .37

Chap. III

An Alarm. — Scenes in the Wilderness. — The Camp of the Leona. — Expedition to Paso-del-Norte. — Steeple-chase on a wild Horse.-—

Fredericksburg Ruins of the Spanish Missions. — Sunset. —

The Camp of San Antonio. — A disagreeable Rencontre. — Braunfels . . . . . .69

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Chap. IV

The Cholera. — Scenes more frightful to behold than easy to describe. —A strong Remedy. — Rodriguez and his Sons. — Lynch Law. — Quarrel about a Hen. — A Fall. — How the longest Roads are sometimes the best and the shortest. — Melancholy. — A fishing Party, and an aquatic Excursion. — The Maniac of the Medina. — A Phantom . Page 94

Chap. V

The Indians. — Santa Anna. — A Tragedy. — The Comanches. — The Lipans. — A German Priest and the Red Skins. — Adventures of a Mexican Woman. Murder of four Colonists by the Indians. — Civilisation of the Indians Short Review of American Education. — Extreme Unction administered with Grease. — Camp Meetings. — Preachers in Petticoats . . .117

Chap. VI

A Project. — A Journey in the Prairies. — -A Night in the Tropics. — Chit-chat in the Woods. — Lavaca. — The Fate of a Coat. — A Jew in Reality but not so in Appearance. — Collecte. — Natchez. — Crevasses. — A Race along the Yellow River. — Return to Texas.— A melancholy Death. — The Future of a Missionary. — A prosy Voyage. — A Dinner not easy to eat. — A terrible Night. — A Tete-a-tete with Panthers. — - Arrival at San Antonio . 140

Chap. VII

Assassinations at San Antonio. — The Rangers. — A Party of Pleasure. — A Threat not followed up. — • Too many Gourds, and not sufficient Food. — A Winter Night. — Christmas Eve. — How to build a fine Church at a cheap Rate. — An easy Victory. — Departure from Castroville. — My Farewell. — A Friend turned Enemy. — A pedestrian Journey through the Prairies. — Arrival in France ....... 175

Contents

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SECOND JOURNEY.

CHAPTER I.