MONSIEUR VIOLET (FISCLE PART-IV) - FREDERICK MARRYAT (books to read this summer txt) 📗

In the East Escaped; But The Sites Of Their

Villages Were Well Calculated to Render The Disease More General And

Terrible; Their Settlements Being Generally Built In some Recess, Deep

In The Heart Of The Mountains, Or In valleys Surrounded by Lofty Hills,

Which Prevent All Circulation Of The Air; And It Is Easy To Understand

That The Atmosphere, Once Becoming Impregnated with The Effluvia, And

Having No Issue, Must Have Been Deadly.

 

 

 

On The Contrary, The Shoshones, The Apaches, And The Arrapahoes, Have

The Generality Of Their Villages Built Along The Shores Of Deep And

Broad Rivers. Inhabiting a Warm Clime, Cleanness, First A Necessity, Has

Become A Second Nature. The Hides And Skins Are Never Dried in the

Immediate Vicinity Of Their Lodges, But At A Great Distance, Where The

Effluvia Can Hurt No One. The Interior Of Their Lodges Is Dry, And

Always Covered with A Coat Of Hard White Clay, A Good Precaution Against

Insects And Reptiles, The Contrast Of Colour Immediately Betraying Their

Presence. Besides Which, Having always A Plentiful Supply Of Food, They

Are Temperate In their Habits, And Are Never Guilty Of Excess; While The

Crows, Black-Feet, And Clubs, Having Often To Suffer Hunger For Days,

Nay, Weeks Together, Will, When They Have An Opportunity, Eat To

Repletion, And Their Stomachs Being always In a Disordered state (The

Principal And Physical Cause Of Their Fierceness And Ferocity), It Is

No Wonder That They Fell Victims, With Such Predispositions To Disease.

 

 

 

It Will Require Many Generations To Recover The Number Of Indians Which

Perished in that Year; And, As I Have Said, As Long As They Live, It

Will Form An Epoch Or Era To Which They Will For Centuries Refer.

Chapter XIX

In The Last Chapter But One I Stated that I And My Companions, Gabriel

And Roche, Had Been Delivered up To The Mexican Agents, And Were

Journeying, Under An Escort Of Thirty Men, To The Mexican Capital, To Be

Hanged as An Example To All Liberators. This Escort Was Commanded by Two

Most Atrocious Villains, Joachem Texada And Louis Ortiz. They Evidently

Anticipated that They Would Become Great Men In the Republic, Upon The

Safe Delivery Of Our Persons To The Mexican Government, And Every Day

Took Good Care To Remind Us That The Gibbet Was To Be Our Fate On

Our Arrival.

 

 

 

Our Route Lay Across The Central Deserts Of Sonora, Until We Arrived on

The Banks Of The Rio Grande, And So Afraid Were They Of Falling In with

A Hostile Party Of Apaches, That They Took Long Turns Out Of The General

Track, And Through Mountainous Passes, By Which We Not Only Suffered

Greatly From Fatigue, But Were Very Often Threatened with Starvation.

 

 

 

It Was Sixty-Three Days Before We Crossed the Rio Grande At Christobal,

And We Had Still A Long Journey Before Us. This Delay, Occasioned by The

Timidity Of Our Guards, Proved our Salvation. We Had Been But One Day On

Our March In the Swamp After Leaving Christobal, When The War-Whoop

Pierced our Ears, And A Moment Afterwards Our Party Was Surrounded by

Some Hundred apaches, Who Saluted us With A Shower Of Arrows.

 

 

 

Our Mexican Guards Threw Themselves Down On The Ground, And Cried for

Mercy, Offering Ransom. I Answered the War-Whoop Of The Apaches,

Representing My Companions And Myself As Their Friends, And Requesting

Their Help And Protection, Which Were Immediately Given. We Were Once

More Unbound And Free.

 

 

 

I Hardly Need say That This Was A Most Agreeable Change In the State Of

Affairs; For I Have No Doubt That Had We Arrived at Our Destination, We

Should Either Have Been Gibbeted or Died (Somehow Or Other) In prison.

But If The Change Was Satisfactory To Us, It Was Not So To Joachem

Texada And Louis Ortiz, Who Changed their Notes With Their Change Of

Condition.

 

 

 

The Scoundrels; Who Had Amused themselves With Reminding Us That All We

Had To Expect Was An Ignominious Death, Were Now Our Devoted humble

Servants, Cleaning and Brushing Their Own Mules For Our Use, Holding The

Stirrup, And Begging For Our Interference In their Behalf With The

Apaches. Such Wretches Did Not Deserve Our Good Offices; We Therefore

Said Nothing For Or Against Them, Leaving The Apaches To Act As They

Pleased. About A Week After Our Liberation The Apaches Halted, As They

Were About To Divide Their Force Into Two Bands, One Of Which Was To

Return Home With The Booty They Had Captured, While The Other Proceeded

To The Borders Of Texas.

 

 

 

I Have Stated that The Shoshones, The Arrapahoes, And Apaches Had

Entered into The Confederation, But The Comanches Were Too Far Distant

For Us To Have Had An Opportunity Of Making The Proposal To Them. As

This Union Was Always Uppermost In my Mind, I Resolved that I Would Now

Visit The Comanches, With A View To The Furtherance Of My Object.

 

 

 

The Country On The East Side Of The Rio Grande Is One Dreary Desert, In

Which No Water Is To Be Procured. I Believe No Indian Has Ever Done More

Than Skirt Its Border; Indeed, As They Assert That It Is Inhabited by

Spirits And Demons, It Is Clear That They Cannot Have Visited it.

 

 

 

To Proceed to The Comanches Country It Was Therefore Necessary That We

Should Follow The Rio Grande Till We Came To The Presidio Of Rio Grande,

Belonging To The Mexicans, And From There Cross Over And Take The Road

To San Antonio De Bejar, The Last Western City Of Texas, And Proceed

Through The Texan Country To Where The Comanches Were Located. I

Therefore Decided that We Would Join The Band Of Apaches Who Were

Proceeding Towards Texas.

 

 

 

During This Excursion, The Apaches Had Captured many Horses And Arms

From A Trading Party Which They Had Surprised near Chihuahua, And, With

Their Accustomed liberality, They Furnished us With Steeds, Saddles,

Arms, Blankets, And Clothes; Indeed, They Were So Generous That We Could

Easily Pass Ourselves Off As Merchants Returning From A Trading

Expedition In case We Were To Fall In with Any Mexicans, And Have To

Undergo An Examination.

 

 

 

We Took Our Leave Of The Generous Apache Chiefs, Who Were Returning

Homewards. Joachem Texada And Louis Ortiz Were, With The Rest Of The

Escort, Led away As Captives, And What Became Of Them I Cannot Say. We

Travelled with The Other Band Of Indians, Until We Had Passed the

Presidio Del Rio Grande, A Strong Mexican Fort, And The Day Afterwards

Took Our Farewell Of Them, Having Joined a Band Of Smugglers Who Were On

Their Way To Texas. Ten Days Afterwards, We Entered san Antonio De

Bejar, And Had Nothing More To Fear, As We Were Now Clear Of The Mexican

Territory.

 

 

 

San Antonio De Bejar Is By Far The Most Agreeable Residence In texas.

When In the Possession Of The Mexicans, It Must Have Been A

Charming Place.

 

 

 

The River San Antonio, Which Rises At A Short Distance Above The City,

Glides Gracefully Through The Suburbs; And Its Clear Waters, By Numerous

Winding Canals, Are Brought Up To Every House. The Temperature Of The

Water Is The Same Throughout The Year, Neither Too Warm Nor Too Cold For

Bathing; And Not A Single Day Passes Without The Inhabitants Indulging

In The Favourite And Healthy Exercise Of Swimming, Which Is Practised by

Everybody, From Morning Till Evening; And The Traveller Along The Shores

Of This Beautiful River Will Constantly See Hundreds Of Children, Of All

Ages And Colour, Swimming and Diving Like So Many Ducks.

 

 

 

The Climate Is Pure, Dry, And Healthy. During Summer The Breeze Is Fresh

And Perfumed; And As It Never Rains, The Neighbouring Plantations Are

Watered by Canals, Which Receive And Carry In every Direction The Waters

Of The San Antonio. Formerly The City Contained fifteen Thousand

Inhabitants, But The Frequent Revolutions And The Bloody Battles Which

Have Been Fought Within Its Walls Have Most Materially Contributed to

Diminish Its Number; So Much Indeed, That, In point Of Population, The

City Of San Antonio De Bejar, With Its Bishopric And Wealthy Missions,

Has Fallen To The Rank Of A Small English Village. It Still Carries On A

Considerable Trade, But Its Appearance Of Prosperity Is Deceptive; And

I Would Caution Emigrants Not To Be Deceived by The Texan Accounts Of

The Place. Immense Profits Have Been Made, To Be Sure; But Now Even The

Mexican Smugglers And Banditti Are Beginning To Be Disgusted with The

Universal Want Of Faith And Probity.

 

 

 

The Mexicans Were Very Fond Of Gardens And Of Surrounding Their Houses

With Beautiful Trees, Under The Shade Of Which They Would Pass Most Of

The Time Which Could Be Spared from Bathing. This Gives A Fresh And

Lively Appearance To The City, And You Are Reminded of Calabrian

Scenery, The Lightness And Simplicity Of The Dwellings Contrasting With

The Grandeur And Majesty Of The Monastic Buildings In the Distance.

Texas Had No Convents, But The Spanish Missions Were Numerous, And Their

Noble Structures Remain As Monuments Of Former Spanish Greatness. Before

Describing These Immense Establishments, It Is Necessary To State That

Soon After The Conquest Of Mexico, One Of The Chief Objects Of Spanish

Policy Was The Extension Of The Authority Of The Roman Catholic Church.

The Conversion Of The Indians And The Promulgation Of Christianity Were

Steadily Interwoven With The Desire Of Wealth; And At The Time That They

Took Away The Indian'S Gold, They Gave Him Christianity. At First, Force

Was Required to Obtain Proselytes, But Cunning Was Found To Succeed

Better; And, By Allowing The Superstitions Of The Indians To Be Mixed up

With The Rites Of The Church, A Sort Of Half-Breed religion Became

General, Upon The Principle, I Presume, That Half A Loaf Is Better Than

No Bread. The Anomalous Consequences Of This Policy Are To Be Seen In

The Indian Ceremonies Even To This Day.

 

 

 

To Afford Adequate Protection To The Roman Catholic Missionaries,

Settlements Were Established, Which Still Bear The Name Of Missions.

They Are Very Numerous Throughout California, And There Are Several In

Texas. The Alamo, At San Antonio, Was One Of Great Importance; There

Were Others Of Less Consideration In the Neighbourhood; As The Missions

Of Conception, Of San Juan, San Jose, And La Espada. All These Edifices

Are Most Substantially Built; The Walls Are Of Great Thickness, And From

Their Form And Arrangement They Could Be Converted into Frontier

Fortresses. They Had Generally, Though Not Always, A Church At The Side

Of The Square, Formed by The High Walls, Through Which There Was But One

Entrance. In the Interior They Had A Large Granary, And The Outside

Wall Formed the Back To A Range Of Buildings, In which The Missionaries

And Their Converts Resided. A Portion Of The Surrounding District Was

Appropriated to Agriculture, The Land Being, As I Before Observed,

Irrigated by Small Canals, Which Conducted the Water From The River.

 

 

 

The Alamo Is Now In ruins, Only Two Or Three Of The Houses Of The Inner

Square Being Inhabited. The Gateway Of The Church Was Highly Ornamented,

And Still Remains, Although The Figures Which Once Occupied the Niches

Have Disappeared. But There Is Still Sufficient In the Ruins To Interest

The Inquirer Into Its Former History, Even If He Could For A Moment

Forget The Scenes Which Have Rendered it Celebrated in the History Of

Texan Independence.

 

 

 

About Two Miles Lower Down The San Antonio River Is The Mission Of

Conception. It Is A Very Large Stone Building, With A Fine Cupola, And

Though A Plain Building, Is Magnificent In its Proportions And The

Durability Of Its Construction. It Was Here That Bowie Fought One Of The

First Battles With The Mexican Forces, And It Has Not Since Been

Inhabited. Though Not So Well Known To Fame As Other Conflicts, This

Battle Was That Which Really Committed the Texans, And Compelled those

Who Thought Of Terms And The Maintenance Of A Mexican Connection To

Perceive That The Time For Both Had Passed.

 

 

 

The Mission Of San Jose Is About A Mile And A Half Further Down The

River. It Consists, Like The Others, Of A Large Square, And Numerous

Mexican Families Still Reside There. To The Left Of The Gateway Is The

Granary. The Church Stands Apart From The Building;