Salinas Pueblo Missions "In the Midst of a Loneliness": The Architectural History of the Salinas Missions Historic Structures Report

The Franciscan missionary adapted the plan of the mission church and convento from the monastic tradition of Europe to meet his needs in the New World. Each generation of mission buildings constructed as the mission effort moved north towards the American Southwest established other traditions to draw from. His experience in the activities that formed the cycle of days and years in the church he attended as a child, the mission where he was trained, and other missions he visited, molded the ideal plan in the mind of a friar into a particular shape, that influenced what he built at the site of his new mission. The complete structure and the activities that took place within it were interactive: each influenced the other and changed the other. To understand the plan of a mission, some familiarity with mission life is necessary.

Spanish Franciscan establishments formed a network that covered most of the Western Hemisphere from South America to the American Southeast and Southwest. The Salinas missions were a part of this network and received a great deal of support from it in the form of supplies and personnel. The support was, however, only enough for the minimum operation of the mission. The executives of the Franciscan network expected each mission to contribute to its own support as much as it could, and New Mexico missions purchased many necessities and luxury items with the income from the sale of their surplus corn, sheep, cattle, and woven goods, and the hides, nuts, and salt that the Indians collected under the direction of the missionaries.

MISSION TRADE

The trade to and from a mission was an important part of its life. It influenced the planning, construction, activities in, and changes to the church and convento throughout the existence of the mission. The trade relationship between each mission and the world around it was therefore a significant part of its structural history.

The Supply Trains

The wagon train provided the vital link between the missions and civil settlements of New Mexico and the supply and trade centers of New Spain. The Franciscans established the train in order to supply the missions, but the regular, well-protected service attracted the interest of merchants and civil authorities, who soon began sending private wagons along on the trips to supplement their own wagon trains. Without this link, the mission system of New Mexico would have collapsed, probably bringing down the civil settlement with it.

The availability or lack of various items from the supply trains directly affected operations at the Salinas missions. Because the wagon trains were so necessary for the survival of the missions, the Franciscans operated them with great efficiency. During the active life of the Salinas missions, ca. 1622 to ca. 1677, the supply system was dependable, arriving on time at precise three-year intervals. [1]

In 1631, the Franciscans and the government of New Spain arranged a contract standardizing the arrangements for the supply trains to New Mexico. The contract clearly described the typical caravan and the usual procedure followed by the supply system. The assembly of a supply train began with an official letter brought by the wagons returning from New Mexico, outlining the needs of the missionaries for the upcoming triennium. To this the Franciscans in Mexico City added the requirements of any new missionaries to be sent with the next dispatch, including both the supplies for the journey and the initial goods needed to establish a mission. The necessary goods were then purchased from local suppliers in Mexico City. [2]

Prior to 1631, an agent of the Viceroy purchased the supplies at auction as they became available and turned these over to the Franciscans. The vagaries of this system resulted in delays and uncertainties, however, which contributed to occasional four-year intervals between dispatches. Worse, the supplies were frequently not of good quality and the cost was sometimes excessive.

The contract of 1631 changed this arrangement. The Viceregal Treasury transferred the total budget due the New Mexico missions to the Franciscan Procurador-General, who then arranged for the purchase of goods from merchants and suppliers, usually in Mexico City. This method allowed the goods to be purchased in a timely manner and at minimum cost. Additionally, the Treasury would purchase and outfit the necessary wagons, including all spare parts, hire the drivers, guards, and other necessary personnel, and cover the expenses of their upkeep during the journey to and from New Mexico. In return, the Franciscans agreed to pay for the upkeep of the wagons and personnel during the time they were in New Mexico, and to keep up the full complement of mules for each wagon. After the return of the supply train to Mexico City, the government agreed to maintain the wagons and mules during the year and a half until the next dispatch, but reserved the right to use them as needed during this period.

The Trip To New Mexico

As the Procurador-General purchased the supplies, they were stored in a warehouse in Mexico City. When the full stock had been collected, he would send orders for the mayordomos in charge of the wagons to bring them to the warehouse and load them.

Once loaded, the wagon train set out for Santa Fe, about sixteen hundred miles to the north. The trip took about six months, including a two or three week stopover at Zacatecas, four hundred miles from Mexico City. In 1631 this was the last town at the edge of the empty lands of the north, where the wagons would refit and resupply before setting out into the wilderness. At a distance of nine hundred miles from Mexico City the road passed through a small island of civilization in the form of the mining district of Santa Bárbara, established in 1567. By 1600 mining towns, ranch holdings, and farms extended for eighty miles up the valleys of the tributaries of the Río del Parral and the Río Florida, north of Santa Bárbara. The town of Parral was founded near Santa Bárbara in 1631 and quickly grew into a major new commercial center of the north. It became the principal point where merchants and Franciscans could sell goods from New Mexico. The Santa Bárbara area must have been considered an oasis in the unpopulated northlands. It provided a welcome rest stop before the next long, desolate leg of the journey. After Santa Bárbara, the road ran about 560 miles through flat arid country inhabited largely by nomadic Indians before it reached Senecú on the Rio Grande, about fifteen miles south of Socorro. There the caravan would stop and resupply again before continuing on to ecclesiastical headquarters at Santo Domingo, another 125 miles north. [3]

A supply train usually had thirty-two wagons. It was under the supervision of the Procurador-General, who made each round trip himself. The thirty-two wagons were divided into two cuadrillas or sections of sixteen wagons, each under the supervision of a mayordomo. The cuadrilla was divided into two subsections of eight wagons, with the mayordomo probably driving the lead wagon of the leading subsection and the trailing subsection supervised by the driver of its lead wagon. Each wagon had a single chirrionero, or driver, assigned to it, so that there were thirty-two men under the direction of the Procurador-General. In addition, the mule train employed four Plains Indians to serve as scouts, drovers, and hunters, and sixteen Indian women as cooks and as needed, making a total wagon crew of fifty-two. Accompanying each wagon train was a military escort of unstated size. A second friar accompanied the Procurador-General as his companion and assistant on the road. Frequently other friars, merchants, and government personnel on their way to New Mexico would join the train.

A number of animals accompanied the train, some to pull the wagons and others to serve as food for the people making the journey. A team of eight mules hauled each wagon. A wagon had two teams and alternated between them, making sixteen mules per wagon. The entire caravan had an additional thirty-two mules to replace those that were lost or died on the trip, for a total of 544 mules on the usual train. As the meat supply for the trip, seventy-two head of cattle would be driven with the train. Additionally, each friar on his way to New Mexico for the first time received ten heifers, ten sheep, and forty-eight hens. The heifers and sheep were the beginning of the new friar's mission herds, while the chickens were to be eaten on the road as needed, with the survivors becoming part of the mission flock. In the dispatch of 1631, there were twenty new friars, meaning that the wagon train had two hundred heifers and two hundred sheep along with the seventy-two head of livestock that usually accompanied it. The usual train, therefore, had anywhere from about six hundred to about one thousand head of stock moving in company with the wagons.

Each wagon could carry a minimum of two tons of cargo. In the 1660s they were loaded far beyond that weight, probably hauling as much as three tons. The wagons were strong four-wheeled vehicles very similar in design to the wagons built a century later in the Conestoga Valley of Pennsylvania. This design derived from a general wainwright's tradition common to most of sixteenth century Europe. [4] They had iron-tired, spoked wheels and a canvas cover mounted on ribs above the wagon bed. Each wagon carried a supply of extra tires and axle parts. Other spare parts were carried by selected wagons in the cuadrillas. These included 16 axles, 150 spokes, harness parts, 144 prefabricated mule shoes, and tools enough to rebuild a wagon on the road.

The Procurador-General outfitted the wagons not only for utility, but with an eye toward appropriate ceremony. The lead wagon of each cuadrillas had four bells on a two bell-frame on each of the two lead mules. The entire team pulling the two lead wagons were outfitted with rebozos, blankets more decorative than the mantas worn as harness-blankets by the other teams. Finally, the four lead wagons of the four subsections of the cuadrillas each flew a banner with the royal coat of arms, notifying all who watched the train pass that this was a caravan of some importance.

These wagons averaged about ten miles per day along the unmaintained roads of northern Mexico. Compared with the twelve to fourteen miles per day that Conestoga freight wagons covered on the surfaced and maintained roads of the American Northeast in the early 1800s, this was an astonishing achievement. The amount of freight hauled was equally astonishing. Later versions of the Conestoga used on the Santa Fe Trail from St. Louis to Santa Fe in the 1850s and 1860s were considered to be pushing their limits when they hauled three tons, while the freight wagons of the mission supply trains carried an average of over two tons. The usual train on the Santa Fe Trail in 1860 consisted of twenty-five wagons, carrying a total of about seventy to seventy-five tons. The mission supply train hauled over eighty tons.

From Senecú, the wagon train continued north to Santo Domingo, the ecclesiastical headquarters of the province during much of the seventeenth century. Missions along the route probably received their supplies as the train passed through. When the wagon train arrived at Santo Domingo, the Procurador divided the train into smaller caravans, each carrying the supplies for missions in other regions of the province. For example, one section headed west to Acoma, the Zuñi missions, and on to the Hopi establishments. A second went north to Santa Fe and the Rio Arriba missions. A third division headed east to the Galisteo missions and on south to the Salinas area. [5]

The caravan to Salinas might consist of from two to four wagons. The actual number depended on how many friars were stationed at the missions of Salinas at the time and what extra goods above the standard issue they had ordered. [6] Once they were unloaded, the wagons returned to Santo Domingo to await the return of all the other wagons and the assembly of the wagon train for the trip back to Mexico City that would begin within a few months. [7]

The returning wagons usually carried the products of manufacturing and collection carried out at each mission. [8] The missions carried on a strong trade with the Santa Bárbara-Parral area, orienting much of their daily and yearly activity to provide for this trade. Sometimes the governor of the province would press the wagons into service for shipping his own trade goods to the south. The legality of this comprised one of the main points of disagreement between civil and ecclesiastical authorities in New Mexico. [9]

The Return To Mexico

After a period of four to six months in New Mexico, the wagon train and the Procurador-General began the trip back to Mexico City. The wagons were probably almost as heavily loaded on the return trip as they were when they arrived in New Mexico. Most of the trade goods on the wagons, however, were due to be unloaded and sold at Santa Bárbara.

Among the goods shipped by the missions to the Santa Bárbara area, or on to Mexico City, were piñon nuts, antelope hides, wheat, corn, sheep and wool, cattle, mantas, and wool stockings. Other items in which the friars probably traded were cowhides, buffalo hides, and salt, needed in quantity by the mining and refining operations of the Santa Bárbara-Parral area. [10]

With the income from trade, the missionaries bought luxury items that they could not afford using only their stipend from the Crown. These included horses, musical instruments, rich vestments for the Mass, decorations such as retablos and gold and silver implements for the interior of the church, clothing for the servants, tools for the workshops, an organ for the choir loft, and other luxuries such as chocolate and clothing for the friars. [11] For example, Tajique and Chililí each had three retablos made in Mexico, carved figures of various saints, several paintings of saints made in Mexico, and many silver and gold accessories for the Mass, all probably purchased and shipped using mission trade money. The other Salinas missions certainly had similar amenities, bought in the same way. [12]

For a mission to use its produce and other goods in order to purchase necessities and luxuries was not unusual; in fact, it was expected. The Jesuit missions of Sonora in the early eighteenth century, for example, aided in their own support and paid for the building and furnishing of new churches by means of the sale of surplus produce from the fields and herds. [13] The effort to develop the farming and industries of an Indian village to the point that it became self-supporting and able to compete within Hispanic society was always one of the goals of the mission, as explained by Robert Ricard in The Spiritual Conquest of Mexico. [14]

For Franciscans the management of trade and purchasing conducted by the pueblo was a difficult and delicate process, because they were forbidden by the precepts of their order to deal with money. They avoided the contradiction that seemed to be inherent in the idea of a Franciscan missionary buying and selling goods by doing so as the guardians of the Indians. In other words, it was the Indians who were buying and selling, and the Franciscans were only acting as advisors. Such a legalism was absolutely necessary for a mission to have any hope of success in achieving its goal of acculturation of the Indian. A good example of Franciscan financing may be found in the efforts of missionaries stationed at Tumacacori, sixty miles south of Tucson, Arizona, to build their church. In 1821 they sold 4,000 of their 5,500 cattle to a prospective cattle baron for 12,000 pesos. The contract specified that the money would be used for the completion of the church of Tumacacori. Within six months the cattleman was behind in his payments. So began a long and painful collection process, characterized by the missionary at Tumacacori riding across the countryside and badgering his debtor, sending dunning letters and threatening lawsuits, and borrowing from moneylenders to continue the construction of the mission, using the potential income from the cattle sale as security. The mission finally received the last payments in 1823, a year late. [15]

The conflict between their vows of poverty and their responsibilities continuously plagued the Franciscans. In the records of the Franciscan Missionary College of Nuestra Señora de Guadalupe, in Zacatecas, Mexico, a curious example of this concern illustrates the point. On November 5, 1782,

"various matters were brought up by Fr. Guardian for a better observance of our Seraphic Poverty: first, concerning the destruction or damage done the furniture, bookshelves, and the beds in the cells [of the friars]; second, about the exorbitant expenses and the superfluous amount of chocolate [consumed by the friars]; third, about the cost of leaf tobacco and snuff [used by the friars]. As to the first point, it was decided that orders should be given the carpenter [of the convento] that in no wise should he do any work for any friar without the express permission of Fr. Guardian, and that also the brother who welcomes guests should see to it that all cells of the hospice are locked. On the second point: Fr. Guardian should make it clear to all the friars that it is against his will that they give, though it be only a small piece [of chocolate], to outsiders without his express permission, and, therefore, he commands that it not be given. As for the last point of tobacco--be it snuff or leaf tobacco--the same be determined, and that for greater convenience, cigars should be on hand so that no friar need order them to be made." [16]

Apparently friars smoking cigars, eating chocolate, or having guests in the convento were all acceptable activities that did not infringe on the vows of poverty. However, running up bills by giving cigars and chocolate to visiting friends, or by allowing these visitors to damage mission property, did infringe on the vows. It may be that, beyond the additional cost, giving away chocolate or tobacco to outsiders tacitly indicated a forbidden level of ownership on the part of the Franciscan making the gift, while the simple consuming of the item did not. Ordering cigars to be made for their own use was a forbidden level of ownership, while smoking cigars already made by order of another was not. The humorous nature of these rulings makes them attractive illustrations, but the point was very serious to the Franciscan Order.

Disagreements Over Mission Trade

Mission trade eventually became one of the areas of conflict between the governor and the missionaries. Both the missionaries and the governor recognized that the wagons returning to Mexico were a source of great potential trade income. Through the seventeenth century both sides used the returning wagons to haul hides, salt, piñon nuts, wool, and woven goods to southern markets. Apparently the apportioning of the wagons between the two authorities depended on the relative strengths of the opposing factions at the time the train left. [17]

The governors, and much of the civil population of New Mexico, felt that the missionaries were becoming rich from trade using the resources of their pueblos and the support of the Franciscan supply system. While each friar had a herd of several thousand sheep and thirty or forty horses, numerous shields, swords, arquebuses and pistols, and thirty or forty Indian servants, most of the private citizens of New Mexico had only a few sheep, no horses, no arms, and no servants. [18] Several times in the seventeenth century, popular movements arose advocating that the mission herds be divided up among the poor of the province and the mission arms be placed in the hands of the governor. [19]

The governor constantly attempted to control mission exports. Governor López de Mendizábal aroused a storm of protest among the Franciscans when he imposed the requirement that no livestock could be exported from the province without a license from the governor. Mendizábal insisted that he had established this regulation because famine had severely reduced the herds of the civil populace of the province, and he was attempting to keep sufficient livestock in the province to feed everyone if necessary. The missionaries said that Mendizábal set up the laws out of hatred for the missionary effort and because he thought that the trade was for profit. [20]

The supply trains formed the principal artery for New Mexico. Along it flowed goods, personnel and information that kept not only the missions, but the province itself, alive. Almost every item or furnishing in the mission was brought to it along the roads from Mexico City. A few things, however, were made by artisans in New Mexico. Nothing like a complete discussion of the contents of mission buildings can presently be written, because of a lack of detailed information, but enough evidence is available in the documents and from archeology to gain a general idea.

MISSION FURNISHINGS

Preceding chapters have narrated how each of the three missions of the Salinas pueblos were built. The descriptions ended with the completion of the principal construction of each mission complex. Each church and convento was left, in effect, with the walls plastered but before the furniture was moved into the buildings. From that point, little specific information is available about any of the missions. The decoration and furnishings of the churches and conventos may only be described in general, except for a few details associated with each mission.

The Church

Retablos

Seventeenth century New Mexico was a part of the life of Mexico. The design of the churches are more powerful, more optimistic than those of the eighteenth centuries. The evidence indicates that the retablos in New Mexico were typical of seventeenth century Mexico rather than of some local tradition. In fact, the retablos were made in Mexico and shipped to New Mexico.

Archeological work has shown that the missionary would have a retablo design painted onto the plastered walls above the altars, but this was undoubtedly a temporary measure. [21] The Franciscan designers of the churches seem to have had large, ornate wooden retablos in mind when they built the places, and arranged for them in the construction.

As an example, in the apse at Quarai there were beams set into the walls whose only apparent purpose was to be the mounting points for a retablo. The beams were twenty-seven feet above the present floor level of the nave, and perhaps 24 1/2 feet above the predella, the platform on which the main altar stood. At seven feet above the present floor, or about four feet above the predella, the construction crew set two sections of wood into the north wall of the apse, probably as base supports for the retablo. If the Franciscan at Quarai ordered a retablo to be made for the church, it would appear that he would have asked for a retablo about twenty or twenty-one feet high. The altar platform probably had a sotobanco, a narrow, waist-high platform of adobe, stone, or wood behind the altar on which the retablo rested. The excavations of governor Marín in the 1750s, and later treasure-hunter work, would have destroyed the sotobancos along with the rest of the structural details of the altar. At Quarai, there were no mounting beams inset above the side altars, so any retablos here must have been somewhat lower.

Sotobancos have been found in some other seventeenth-century mission churches in New Mexico. Awatovi and Giusewa had sotobancos of adobe and stone, for example, but Hawikuh did not. [22] The smaller, temporary churches such as San Isidro at Las Humanas, San Miguel in Santa Fe, the Lost Church at Pecos, or San Diego at Tabirá, also lacked sotobancos. All of these churches, however, may have had sotobancos of wood. In the area of the main altar at Abó, treasure hunters may have destroyed any evidence of adobe sotobancos. No indication of the altar layout was found in San Gregorio I at Abó.

The plan of the head of the church may indicate the design of the retablo planned for. An apse with angled sides might have been designed for a three-part retablo covering the entire interior of the apse, while a parallel-sided apse may have been designed for a single-panel retablo only on the end wall of the apse. A church with a half-octagon head may have had only one retablo above the main altar, or three retablos, one over the main altar in the center panel of the apse and one over each side altar on the side panels of the apse. However, the designs only indicate what the missionary hoped for, not the retablo actually installed.

The peculiar little group of records in Biblioteca Nacional de Mexico, legajo 1, document 34, partially translated by France Scholes and Eleanor Adams, allows the reconstruction of a typical retablo. The descriptions demonstrate that the typical seventeenth-century retablo seen in churches in Mexico was also common in New Mexico. At Acoma, for example, there were three retablos, one behind the main altar and one behind each of the two side altars. The central retablo had three cuerpos, or levels. It was gilded and decorated with images in the form of statues and paintings "from the hand of the best artists of Mexico." The two side altars were similar. All three had statues of principal saints in the center of each. Equally common in New Mexico were retablos decorated only with paintings rather than statues. The retablo of Socorro was one of these. [23]

On the main altar itself, the major item of furnishing was the tabernacle, a veiled case that stood in the center of the altar table. This could be quite large: in 1624 one was shipped to New Mexico that measured 6 3/4 feet high by 4 3/4 feet wide. It was octagonal and made of elaborately carved and gilded wood and decorated with oil paintings. The paintings on the retablo and hanging elsewhere in the church could also be large. The shipping records, for example, list a set of five oil paintings sent to the missions in 1624, each of which was seven feet high and 5 1/2 feet wide, with a gilded and ornamented frame. Hanging over the main altar at Socorro in 1672 was a painting of Nuestra Señora del Socorro over eleven feet across. [24]

The retablos and other carved and painted items sent to New Mexico were made by artisans in New Spain, principally Mexico City. This is explicitly stated in the descriptions of some New Mexico altars in 1672, and substantiated by evidence in the shipping records. In 1612, for example, the shipment contained two tabernacles that cost 250 pesos each, made by the entallador y ensamblador, the woodcarver and joiner, Andres Pablo of Mexico City. The same shipment contained carved and gilded crosses, carved and painted figures of Christ, and twelve pairs of ciriales, or carved and gilded candle holders on long staffs, all made by the pintor Martín Borru, and eight oil paintings in gilded frames by Francisco Franco. In 1614 the missions were shipped a large oil painting in a gilded frame, painted by Manuel de Chaves on the order of the viceroy, featuring both San Antonio de Padua and San Diego. Taking all the information into account about the level of expertise that produced the woodwork and the individual items described, the retablos probably looked something like those at Cuautinchan, Puebla or Tezcoco, made in the early 1600s and still surviving. [25]

Although no seventeenth century retablos have survived in New Mexico, what appears to be fragments of on have been found by archeology. In the convento of Abó, Toulouse found several fragments of carved wood painted in white enamel with gilt and green trim, and a large number of cut pieces of mica cemented by means of plaster-of-paris to oddly-shaped pieces of gypsum. These are probably the broken and decayed remains of the retablo of Abó. [26]

Beyond the hints in the descriptions of some New Mexico churches and in the physical remains of the churches themselves, the shipping records offer more evidence about the size and construction of retablos, as well as the method used to get them to the province.

Shipping from Mexico City to New Mexico

The tabernacles, crosses, paintings, statues, silver items, vestments, and retablos were packed in Mexico City, loaded on the wagons, and hauled to New Mexico. For example, in 1626 the shipping records list the charges for the packing cases for a retablo being sent from Mexico City to some unnamed mission church in New Mexico. The retablo itself is not mentioned in the listings, implying that it may have been paid for by the mission receiving it (or by donation from private persons). [27]

The packing cases listed are:

1. A box for el banco del retablo, the base of the retablo, 6 feet by 5 1/2 feet by 1 3/4 feet (using a vara of about 2.8 feet).
2. Box for la cornixa, the cornice of the retablo, also about 6 feet by 5 1/2 feet by 1 3/4 feet.
3. Box for las pilastras y guardapolvo del retablo, the pilasters and canopy, 6 3/4 feet by 1 1/3 feet (depth unstated). [28]
4. Box for el segundo cuerpo del retablo armado, the second level of the retablo, stacked, 2 1/2 feet on a side. [29]
5. Box for las dos colunas redondas, the two lathe-turned columns, 5 1/2 feet by 1 3/4 feet (depth unstated).

In addition to the retablo itself, there was the following:

6. Box for an image of the Virgin, 3 1/3 feet long, 2 feet wide, and 1 3/4 feet deep.
7. Box for the caja in which the Virgin is kept, 6 feet long, 3 1/2 feet wide, and 2 feet deep.
8. Box for the pedestal for the Virgin, 2 feet on a side. [30]

The information about the boxing of this retablo does not allow a reconstruction of the actual size of the retablo itself. However, it implies that the retablo was composed of sections of about 4 feet by 5 feet, that it had at least 2 cuerpos, or levels, that the recuadros, or painted panels, were about 2 feet square, and that it had a large caja, or niche, about 5 feet by just under 3 feet by about 1 1/2 feet deep for an image of the Virgin. The caja rested on a pedestal about 1 1/2 feet across and 1 1/2 feet high. Obviously this was a "prefabricated" retablo, probably made to fit a particular space, with the pieces pre-assembled into components, packed, and sent to New Mexico where a local artisan or the missionary himself carried out the final assembly. [31]

Once the missionary had his retablos set up behind the altars, the church was complete. From that time on, the activities within the church settled into a familiar routine of masses and celebrations that repeated from year to year.

The Cycle of the Year and Light in the Church

Because of the careful orientation and construction of the clerestory windows of Abó and Quarai, sunlight shining through these windows followed an interesting cycle through a year. At both missions, the maximum amount of sunlight entered the church through the clerestory at noon on the winter solstice, December 22.

At Abó on this day and time, the sunlight entered the clerestory window at an angle of 32 degrees, and illuminated an area about 25 1/2 feet across and 9 feet wide on the predella in front of the altar. On Christmas Day, December 25, the angle of sunlight would have been almost the same, making Mass at noon on Christmas Day the most brightly lit of all the major celebrations. As the yearly cycle continued and the angle of the noon sun rose, the sunlight entering the clerestory at noon decreased. At noon on the spring equinox on March 22, very near Easter, the angle was 55_30'. It illuminated an area of the nave floor 25 1/2 feet across and 3 feet wide at the north edge of the side chapels.

As the date approached Mid-summer's Day, June 22, the sunlit area became smaller and smaller, and the time during which the light entered the church shorter and shorter. On about June 1 a very thin line of light would appear briefly at local noon, extending from side to side of the nave about 6 1/2 feet north of the south edge of the side chapels. For the next six weeks no direct light would enter the clerestory window.

On about July 13 the first brief line of sunlight would appear at the point where it was last seen, 6 1/2 feet north of the south edge of the side chapels. Each day at noon the band of light would be a little wider, appearing further north up the nave, until in the Christmas season it again reached its maximum.

Because of the different shape of its clerestory window, the cycle at Quarai would have been different. The light through the clerestory first appeared at noon on about September 19 as a thin line 27 1/2 feet across and 2 3/4 feet south of the lowest step of the main altar stairs near the edge of the stair platform. At noon on the equinox, September 22, the sunlight made a line about 2 inches wide at the edge of the lowest step. The band of sunlight grew higher each day until the Christmas season, when at noon on Christmas Day it was about 2 feet wide, 27 1/2 feet across, and lit the area directly above the main altar table surface, approximately where the Tabernacle would be placed. During noon Mass on this day, the raising of the Host in its monstrance above the priest's head would have thrust the brightly gilded container directly into a brilliant beam of sunlight.

SACRISTY

The sacristan was the person in charge of keeping the sacristy, and usually the entire church, clean and tidy. He was responsible for the cleanliness, repair, and storage of the vestments, furnishings, and other valuables of the sacristy. He also assisted the priest during mass, and at this time wore a decorated cassock, or robe somewhat like a habit. The sacristan kept the ornamentos y alajas, the vestments and accessories, stored in a large cabinet in the sacristy. The cabinet built into the sacristy of Nuestra Señora de Guadalupe of El Paso del Norte, dedicated in January, 1668, was "a handsome chest of drawers of fourteen divisions, as elaborate as if it had been made in Mexico City." [32] The last phrase indicated that the cabinet had been made in New Mexico. A typical set of vestments included: [33]

The Amice, a linen cloth placed on the head and tied by two ribbons crossing over the chest and tied around the waist under the Alb.

The Alb, a loose-fitting white linen gown worn over the priest's cassock, or habit and tied at the waist with the Cincture, or cord.

The Stole, a scarf of the same material as the Chasuble, worn over the shoulders and secured in front by the Cincture.

The Dalmatic, a wide-sleeved overgarment with slit sides, usually worn over the Alb.

The Chasuble, the outer vestment of the minister at Mass. The color of the Chasuble depends on the feast or season, so that several of different colors are needed. Sometimes made reversible so that one garment could have two of the appropriate colors.

The Choir Cope, a hooded cape worn by members of the choir.

The Sacristan's Cassock, a decorated habit-like robe worn by the Sacristan when he assists the minister during Mass.

The Maniple, a long strip of cloth worn over the left arm during Mass.

The Surplice, a loose white outer vestment, knee length, with wide sleeves.

Accessories were any items used during the various services through the year. They included a number of articles made of fabric:

The Altar Cloths, three long linen cloths for the table of the main altar on which Mass is celebrated. Other Altar Cloths were undoubtedly needed for the side altars.

The Frontal, the cloth used as the front facing or decorative curtain of an altar table, usually of the same color and material as the Chasuble worn on a given occasion.

The Canopy, a portable cloth covering, carried on four poles, one at each corner, used to protect special items during processions.

The Cross Sheath, a sleeve-like cylinder of fine cloth tied onto a processional cross, hanging from the base of the cross and covering the shaft of the staff. The Spanish sheath had a cylindrical frame so that it was held out round.

The Pall, a cloth used to cover the Chalice during Mass.

The Purificator, a linen cloth folded to form a small narrow towel, used to clean and dry the chalice after the Communion.

The Corporal, a square piece of cloth used with the Chalice during Mass.

The Banner, a flag or pennant, usually hanging down vertically from a crosspiece on a staff, carried during processions.

Towels, sometimes decorated, used by the Minister after washing his hands in preparation for Mass.

These items of cloth were made of a variety of materials and decorated in several ways. The chasuble and other vestments could be of Rouen, brocatel, damask, or lamé. Rouen was a kind of linen, usually made in Rouen, France. The name became generic, however, so that any linen cloth made in the same way was called by that name. Brocatel was a heavy fabric with a very pronounced raised design woven into its surface. It was usually made of silk with wool or cotton. Damask was a rich fabric with a wavy decorative pattern resembling the marks on Damascus steel, and could be made of cotton, silk, linen or wool. Lamé was a fabric worked with metallic threads, either gold or silver. Watered lamé had a wavy or watermarked pattern, like damask, in addition to the metallic threads.

Decoration could be by embroidery, galloon, point lace, or drawn work. Embroidery was the addition of decorative figures or patterns by needlework. Galloon was a narrow band or braid added to the edge of fabric, and made of lace, embroidery, or metallic thread. Point lace was lace made by needlepoint, following a pattern. Drawn work was fabric worked into patterns by pulling up individual threads of the weave, or by drawing selected threads out of the fabric altogether, leaving a lace-like pattern.

The accessories included a number of silver vessels:

The Chalice, the communion cup, covered with the Corporal and Pall.

The Paten, a silver dish, gold-plated on top, used to carry the bread used at Mass.

The Dish, a silver plate on which the Cruets were carried during Mass.

The Cruets, two small vessels, one for the wine and one for the water used at Mass.

The Thurible, or censer, a metal receptacle with a perforated lid, suspended from a ring by chains, for burning incense in church ceremonies.

The Monstrance, a highly decorated silver receptacle in the Tabernacle, in which the consecrated bread, the Holy Eucharist or Host, was displayed during Mass.

The Ciborium, a goblet-shaped vessel for holding the Eucharist.

In 1612, for example, the silversmith Miguel de Torres of Mexico City made seven chalices with their patens for the missions of New Mexico. Each chalice and its paten weighed a total of 31.1 onzas, or 28.8 troy ounces. Torres charged 31.6 pesos for the silver in each chalice and paten, plus an additional 24 pesos for making and gilding each one, for a total of 55.6 pesos for a chalice and paten. [34]

Starting Supplies for the Sacristy

As part of the materials given to a friar for founding a new mission, the king supplied an initial set of vestments and accessories:

One complete set of vestments including Chasuble, Stole, Maniple, Frontal, and bundle of Corporals.
One Alb of Rouen cloth.
One Surplice.
One pair of Palls for the altar, made of Rouen, each 36 feet long.
One embroidered Pall for the altar.
One damask Pall for the altar.
Some coarse Corporals.
Two Cassocks of "Chinese stuff."
One rug for the altar steps.
Three yards of Rouen to make Amices. [35]

Each mission received additional items:

Two choir robes of chinese damask.
Two sets of Dalmaticas of chinese damask.
One Pall for the Holy Sacrament.
Three Cross Sheaths of velvet with gold edgings. [36]

Accessories usually received as starting supplies by each friar were:

One enameled silver chalice, with gilded paten.
One cupboard for the chalice.
One small bell to sound the Sanctus.
One pair of gilded wooden processional candle-holders.
One pair of brass candlesticks.
One pair of snuffing scissors.
One small chest with chrismeras, vials of baptismal oil.
One copper vessel for the Holy Water.
One tin plate with Cruets.
One crucifix with gilded brass handle, probably a processional cross.
One wafer box for the unconsecrated host.

Each mission also received:

One Ciborium.
One communion wafer iron or mold.
One brass oil lamp for the altar.

Other supplies needed by the friar to prepare for Mass were:

Two and a half pounds of incense.
Two and a half pounds of copal, a transparent resin used as incense.
Three ounces of silk wicking to make candles.
Three pesos' worth of soap for washing the vestments.
One missal and three books of chants.

Every three years the friar received:

45 gallons of sacramental wine.
85 1/2 pounds of prepared candle wax.
26 gallons of lamp oil for illuminating the altar.

"In addition, things to replace vestments and things for the sacristy, and other necessities." This would have included more incense, copal, wicking, and soap as needed.

Over time the friars purchased additional items for the church and sacristy. This would have included musical instruments for the choir, such as an organ, trumpets, oboes and bassoons, [37] and new vestments of improved appearance.

For example, in 1672, at Tajique, the mission eleven miles north of Quarai, the sacristy contained four complete sets of vestments, including the chasuble, alb, amice, and stole. One set was of red watered lamé and two were of Chinese damask with gold trimming; one of these was black. The fourth set was of white cloth with no other description. In addition to the full sets of vestments, there were another 12 chasubles of damask in different colors. Each had a matching frontal for the altar table. There were four albs decorated with drawn work from the waist down, and with an eight-inch wide section of point lace; another six albs without decoration; twelve amices decorated with drawn work; twelve altar cloths, four with drawn work and point lace; twenty palls, "all very rich and splendid;" twelve towels with drawn work and point lace; and two choir copes, one of pearl-colored Italian damask trimmed with silver galloon. Accessories included two silver chalices with patens, one silver thurible and incense boat, one silver-gilt tabernacle 1 1/2 feet high with monstrance with rays, and a silver dish with cruets. [38] All these items were somewhat more luxurious than the basic issue sent to each new mission, and must have been bought with the proceeds from sales of livestock and produce from the mission fields or Indians. [39]

All of these items had to be stored safely in the sacristy, and yet be available for use as needed. In about 1662, for example, two persons climbed into the convento of Quarai, rifled the despensa, or pantry, and other storerooms, and took several vestments from the chests of the sacristy. [40]

LIFE AND TIMES IN THE CONVENTO

In the eighteenth century, missions had shops for carpentry, blacksmithing, weaving, and sometimes stoneworking. However, other than weaving, craft activities were not incorporated into the buildings at the New Mexico missions in the seventeenth century. These activities were apparently conducted by specialists located elsewhere in the province, or in the Pueblo where the mission was located. For example, carpentry was carried out by Indians from the pueblo of Pecos. Their finished goods or their expertise was transported all over the province. It is likely that Pecos Indian carpenters cut and carved virtually all the wooden items at the Salinas missions. Details of the decorated woodwork at all three Salinas missions are known, and show a strong resemblance.

Blacksmithing may have been relatively rare in the pueblos and at the missions, although it must have been practiced in the civil settlements and military establishments. Most necessary iron items such as hinges, nails, and tools were probably shipped from Mexico. Zuñi maintained a large smithy in the 19th century; whether this reflects earlier skills at this pueblo is not known. The mission wagon trains, however, must have needed smiths as part of their travelling staff, to take care of the almost certain breakdowns during the long months of travel to New Mexico. This expertise would surely have been made available to individual missions as needed. Bulk iron and steel was occasionally shipped to the missions to be made into necessary items needed sooner than the next round trip of the wagon train, six years later.

Some missionaries included a weaving workshop, using imported looms and other equipment, in the convento. [41] The workshop could, however, just as easily have been maintained in the pueblo, although a convento workroom is more likely since the equipment was costly and replacement time would be three or six years. The missionary probably supplied the Indian workers with the necessary equipment and supplies through the mission supply system. No such equipment is listed as part of the founding stock sent to a new mission, but it may have been usual to start this industry later, after the new mission operation was stabilized. [42]

Undoubtedly a weaving industry existed in New Mexico during the 17th century. [43] The missions were strongly involved in this industry, as is shown by an order of governor Peñalosa Brizeño in 1664 in which he prohibited the missionaries from employing "Indian women in spinning, weaving mantas, stockings, or any other things" without permission from the governor. [44] The prohibition, part of the ongoing competition between the Franciscan establishment and civil enterprises in New Mexico in the later 17th century, indicates that such activities must have been relatively common in the missions. [45]

Staff and Daily Activity in the Convento

Life for the Franciscan on the New Mexican frontier was not always harsh or difficult. It was common, for example, for several friars to get together in one or another convento to exchange news and discuss politics. [46] Occasionally the convento saw a more formal dinner with a visiting governor, as at Quarai in 1661, when four Franciscans, including the guardian, Fray Francisco de Salazar, and the governor all eating at the same table. [47]

Luxuries were not forbidden to the Franciscans. For example, on social occasions, chocolate was served as coffee would be in the United States today. [48] Some items were very expensive, such as a large clock purchased in 1628. It cost 450 pesos, more than the full three-year stipend for a missionary. [49] It is difficult to imagine that the friars could afford such an expenditure unless the income from the sales of mission products was quite good.

Sometimes the rooms of a convento could acquire individual names or specialized uses. For example, the principal cell at Quarai was called "of the Custodians," probably because it had been used by custodian Estevan de Perea in the 1630s. [50] One room of the convento was used as the office of the Inquisition for a time in the 1640s. In about 1641 it was broken into by unknown persons and the Inquisition records disturbed. [51] One unusual use of the convento was the confinement of Fray Salvador de Guerra in the convento of Concepción de Quarai in July, 1655, to be held there until taken back to Mexico City by the returning supply train in the winter of 1656. [52]

Fray Alonso de Benavides described a standard convento in the late 1620s as having only one Franciscan. Later the Franciscans anticipated two or three friars at a convento, although usually this did not happen. Two friars in a convento became relatively common by 1666, and two missions had three, but the Franciscans were still requesting additional friars.

In addition to the friars, each mission had a number of persons as semipermanent staff. In the 1620s, more than twenty Indians with the friar in the convento. They worked as gardeners, waiters, an interpreter, a sacristan, a choir leader, a bell ringer, an organist, a herdsman, a cook, a porter, and a horse-tender. [53] Benavides says that they "perform their duties with as much attention and care as if they were friars." [54] The sacristans, at least, wore cassocks when assisting at mass. [55] As the mission establishment developed, however, the number of people on staff seems to have increased. In 1660, for example, Captain Nicolás de Aguilar testified that more than 70 Indians worked for the conventos of Salinas "as acolytes, sacristans, singers, aides, horsemen, cooks, shepherds, and farm hands, and in other things, and besides this, every day all the [families of these] Indians, women as well as children, were kept busy . . . ." During a normal day, the Indians attended the teaching of doctrine, and rang the mission bells to mark the hours of the day, specifically the Ave Maria and the sunset bell. At some time during the day they attended choir. [56]

The Franciscans were said to have as many as twenty Indians as cantors and sacristans. The mission schools could have up to seventy students, some of them adult. More than forty Indians might be used as porters, wood cutters, or millers. At Tajique, and apparently in all the missions, women entered the convento to do the cooking and bread-making. On the farms, the Indians planted and guarded "very large fields of wheat and corn for the religious," as well as vegetable gardens and orchards. As well as planting it, the Indians reaped the wheat for the Franciscans. On the ranches, the Indians herded and protected the cattle and horses. [57]

The Oficinas

The oficinas, or storage rooms of the convento, were not a minor part of the mission operation. They contained the produce of the friars' fields, other staples collected by the Indians and given to the convento, the cotton and wool to be made into cloth for the convento in the Pueblo, and the supplies shipped to the mission by the triennial wagon trains. The goods brought in each shipment had to last until the next arrival three years later, and therefore had to be well protected.

During the active life of the Salinas missions, ca. 1622 to ca. 1677, the supply system was very dependable, arriving on time every three years. The normal procedure was for the procurador, or buyer and distributor, to bring the wagons to each mission and deliver the supplies to the friar in charge. The triennial shipment for a given mission would take up about half of one of the wagons.

Each shipment contained a basic allotment that was sent every three years. Beyond this basic allotment, the terms of the contract of 1631 indicated that other goods and supplies could be ordered as needed. Unfortunately no supply train accounts listing typical additional supplies are presently available.

The Infirmary and its Storeroom

Fray Alonso de Benavides briefly mentions one of the principle functions of the convento: "Scarcely does one [of the Indians] begin to be sick before he comes quickly to see the Religious . . . . This is the continuous occupation of the Religious, treating them in their sicknesses and supplying all their necessities. [58] Ricard, while describing the hospitals established in major Indian towns in Mexico in the Sixteenth century, said that they were not only intended "to shelter and care for sick natives, but also to receive and entertain travelers and passers-by . . . . The hospitals were, moreover, free provisioning centers, where the natives found everything they could want: meat, oil, wine, lard, and sugar . . . ." [59]

This importance is demonstrated by the basic allotment of triennial supplies sent to the missions. Nearly half of the items listed in these goods are for the infirmary. The supplies would have been stored in the infirmary or the oficina and used as needed. Clothes, bedding, and bandages are part of the list:

One shirt.
One sheet of Rouen.
One pillow.
One blanket.
Six and a half yards of coarse linen.

Instruments formed part of the stock renewed every three years:

A copper cupping instrument.
A syringe.
A lancet.

These were basic tools of the healing arts of the time.

In the seventeenth century, the surgeon was usually also the barber, and the combination of these two activities in the Infirmary is reflected in the supplies for the room:

One pair of barber's scissors.
One razor.
Four pairs of razor hones.
One large brass basin, both for barbering and general use.

Medicine and medicinal items made up a large part of the supplies, and would have required careful storage:

Thirty-five pesos' worth of medicines.
Six and a half pounds of sweetmeats.
Twenty-five pounds of sugar.
Three ounces of saffron.
One pound of pepper.
Six ounces of cinnamon.
Ten and a half pounds of raisins.
Six pounds of almonds.
Two jugs of Campeche honey "for the entire infirmary."
Five boxes of conserves.
Five pounds of conserves in syrup.

This list seems to include items that should be in the kitchen, such as the sugar, pepper, cinnamon, and saffron. The attitude of seventeenth-century Franciscan Spaniards towards the difference between spices and medicines is difficult to determine; conceivably the spices sent for the infirmary could also be used as medicinally effective cooking spices.

Finally, three items of general equipment were sent every three years:

One grindstone.
Two stills, for distilling water.
One box of loza de Puebla.

The stills were alquitaras, or alembics. [60] An alembic was a large two-piece apparatus used to distill liquids or brew medicinal curatives and essences, and could be made of copper or ceramic. The base of the alembic was a squat cylindrical pot called a cucurbit. It was placed on a stove or oven serving as a heat-source. Into the cucurbit was placed the mixture from which the distillate was to be extracted. On top of the cucurbit and fitting onto it tightly sat the helm, a conical vessel with a channel or trough inside the rim communicating with a spout extending from the side like a hollow handle. The evaporated distillate would rise from the cucurbit, condense on the inner surface of the helm, run down into the channel, and out the spout into a catch container such as a pot or jar. [61]

The last item was a box of plates, bowls, and cups made in the city of Puebla. This item on the triennial shipment list is the source of virtually all the majolica found in small amounts in seventeenth century New Mexico. [62]

The Kitchen and its Storeroom

The "standard" kitchen in the missions appears to have been a rectangular room with a bench along one wall, probably for food preparation, and a large rectangular fireplace or hearth along another wall for cooking. Over the hearth the friar built a large hood to collect the smoke and exhaust it through a chimney. The hearth was lined with stone slabs, and had several upright slabs partitioning it into sections. Some of these partitions would serve to support comales, or griddles, of iron, copper, ceramic, or even sandstone. [63]

The equipment to be found in the convento kitchen was issued to the friar as part of his basic allotment on his departure from Mexico City. These items were for general use during the trip to New Mexico, but would have continued in use at the convento to which the friar was assigned.

 6 wooden bowls.
12 small bowls or cups, possibly made of gourd.
 6 pewter plates.
 2 pewter bowls.
 2 barrels for water.
 2 metates for grinding corn and wheat.
 2 table cloths.
24 napkins.
 2 iron spoons.
 1 tin grater.
 3 spits, one of them large.
 2 sieves.
 1 frying pan.
 1 comal, or griddle of copper, iron or ceramic.
 1 grinding bowl, or mortar and pestle.

In addition, each mission received:

1 bronze olla.
1 bronze saucepan or kettle.

Food and Supplies

As part of his supplies for the trip to New Mexico, each friar received a stock of foodstuff to last during the journey, which lasted six to eight months. Some of these supplies would have lasted beyond the trip and been used in the convento. More importantly, the list shows what was considered to be staples in the colonial Franciscan's diet. A six to eight month food supply for one man included:

52 pounds of bacon.
 41 pounds of cheese.
 25 pounds of dried shrimp.
 54 pounds of dried haddock.
 12 1/2 pounds of dried tollo (dog-fish).
  6 pounds of dried oysters.
600 pounds of flour.
300 pounds of biscuits.
 13 bushels of corn.
  1 1/2 bushels of beans.
1/6 bushel of garbanzo beans.
1/6 bushel of lentils.
1/3 bushel of chiles.
1/2 box of onions and garlic.
  2 gallons of wine.
  2 gallons of cooking oil.
  5 pints of vinegar.
 12 1/2 pounds of lard.
  1 bushel of salt.
  8 pounds of sugar.
  6 pounds of raisins.
  4 pounds of almonds.
  4 pounds of conserves.

The last items are of interest because the restocking supplies automatically sent on every triennial shipment included a large quantity of sugar, raisins, almonds, and conserves for the infirmary, as well as four gallons of vinegar. The infirmary may have served as the pantry for the convento kitchen, and its stock as part of the convento food supply.

Once at his new mission, the friar would depend as much as possible on local food supplies, because the cost of shipping most foodstuffs except spices and special items such as raisins and almonds would have been prohibitive. The mission was to be self-supporting as much as possible.

The Cell

For the trip to New Mexico, each friar received an issue of supplies which was to feed and clothe him for the duration of the trip. Most of these materials were apparently intended to last beyond the trip itself, and formed a basic stock of personal equipment and supplies. Clothing issued was:

 2 pairs of shoes.
 2 pairs of stockings.
 2 pairs of leggings.
 6 yards of Rouen.
15 yards of burlap.
 1 hat and hat-box.

Bedding:

2 blankets.
9 yards of canvas for making mattresses.
1 travelling bag of leather or canvas for the mattress.

Other personal items included:

1 wine-bottle.
1 drinking jug.
1 chest with a lock and key.
1 large brass basin.
1 hundred-weight of tallow candles.
2 brush-axes for cutting firewood.
2 tin-plated lanterns.
1 table and benches.

The tin-plated lanterns were provided for saying mass on the road, but again would have been available for use in the convento after more permanent provisions were made. The table and benches were to be used to make a temporary altar on the road and while in the Pueblo before a permanent altar was completed, but would have thereafter been available for use in the convento. [64]

Over the years, the missionaries ordered the shipment of additional furnishings and luxury items for the convento, such as a large clock or chocolate for the friars. [65] Other items would have been made either by the friar himself or on his request by local craftsmen. These would probably have included chairs, a desk, a bed frame, and extra tables as needed. [66]

Every three years the friar received additional supplies for use in the convento:

  8 gallons of lamp oil.
 1 ream of paper.
 2 blankets.
 3 pairs of sandals.
 2 pairs of woolen stockings.
 1 friar's hat.
 1 pound of domestic yarn.
 1 hundred yards of sack-cloth.
12 yards of Rouen.
12 yards of linen.
 2 pairs of scissors.
12 awls with handles.
12 square needles.
12 coarse needles.
24 regular needles.
20 large knives.
 6 common rosaries.

The last two items may have been intended for use as trade goods or gifts. Knives, rosaries and rings were commonly ordered gift items in the Texas missions of the Eighteenth century. The provision of cloth and sewing equipment rather than finished clothing indicates that the friar was expected to make or have made his own garments.

The Second Courtyard:

The second courtyard contained the pens, sheds, corrals, feed barns and lofts, stables. Here the shearing of sheep and the fattening of cattle took place. Milk cows were kept in their sheds and pastured nearby. The first issue of farm animals to a friar consisted of:

10 heifers.
10 sheep.
Unspecified number of chickens.

With time and patience, these few animals could be built up into the huge herds described as held by the missions of New Mexico. Benavides remarks that European domestic animals did very well in New Mexico. The ewes bore three lambs at a birth, for example. He added pigs, horses, and mules to the list of animals probably held by the missions. [67]

The friars usual rode mules, but this rule may not have been followed in New Mexico. At any rate, the first issue to a friar was:

1 mule.
1 saddle.
1 bridle.
1 pair of saddlebags.

Twenty, thirty or forty horses for each missionary, stables where they keep three or four saddle horses, p. 71. Twenty or thirty horses at Las Humanas in 1660, p. 142. Armor for horses, leather jackets, swords, arquebuses and pistols for the Franciscans, p. 71. Lay brothers rode horses and carried arquebuses, p. 152.

Every three years, the friar received:

12 horseshoes
 1 pair of spurs.
 1 Jérez bridle.

The shipping of horseshoes to the convento rather than iron stock from which they and other tools could be made indicates that it was difficult for a convento to get the services of a blacksmith on a regular basis. However, sometimes bulk iron and steel were sent to the missions, indicating that a blacksmith was available, at least on occasion. For example, one hundred pounds of steel were shipped in 1612, and 609 pounds of iron in 1624. [68]

The picture presented by these goods and furnishings in the church and convento is not one of poverty. Instead, the missions appear to have been healthy, prosperous establishments with huge fields and herds--the equivalent of great wealth--and hopes of continuing prosperity. It is unfortunate that a similar picture of life in the civil settlements is not available. However, in spite of the lack of information at present, it is likely that some, at least, of the families of New Mexico lived at the same level of comfort as the missions.