[The MS. here given in fac simile, with the translation by Miss Casis, belongs to the Agricultural and Mechanical College of Texas, and has been kindly lent for publication by the authorities of that institution. It is of especial interest for its account of the founding of the mission San Francisco de los Tejas, the first established by the Spaniards in what is now Texas. Yoakum and others who have followed him are wrong in supposing that this mission was located near the ruins of the French settlement, Fort St. Louis, on the La Vaca. It was, in fact, far in the interior, not a great distance from the present town of Nacogdoches.
As to the history of the MS., nothing certain has been learned further than that it belonged to the collection of Ramirez, Maximilian's Secretary of State, and that President John G. James of the Agricultural and Mechanical College bought it in 1881 from Bernard Quaritch, London.
On the back of the MS. is the following:
A 30 dias, del mes de sepre año de 1709, a la madrugada, sucedÍo un terromoto, en el puerto de la Vera Cruz, de vientos en contrados, q se sumergieron y se hisieron pedasos, once, navios, y se caieron algunas casas, y aseguran se perdieron en esta rruina mas de Trecientos mill pesos.
This is in a different hand from the rest, and is, like the letter itself, undated.
The title given above does not appear in the MS.; it was that given in Quaritch's Catalogue. The size of the written page of the MS. is 6½ × 11¾ inches—Editor Quarterly.\]
How to cite:
"CARTA DE DON DAMIAN MANZANET Á DON CARLOS DE SIGUENZA SOBRE EL DESCUBRIMIENTO DE LA BAHÍA DEL ESPÍRITU SANTO ", Volume 002, Number 4, Southwestern Historical Quarterly Online, Page 253 - 280. http://www.tsha.utexas.edu/publications/journals/shq/online/v002/n4/article_1.html
[Accessed Tue Dec 2 20:55:22 CST 2008]
