On the march the following order was observed. Sergeant Ortega, with six
or eight soldiers, went in advance, laid out the route, selected the
camping place, and cleared the way of hostile Indians by whom he was
frequently surrounded. At the head of the column rode the comandante,
with Fages, Costanso, the two priests, and an escort of six Catalonia
volunteers; next came the sappers and miners, composed of Indians, with
spades, mattocks, crowbars, axes, and other implements used by pioneers;
these were followed by the main body divided into four bands of
pack-animals, each with its muleteers and a guard of presidial soldiers.
The last was the rear guard, commanded by Captain Rivera, convoying the
spare horses and mules (caballada y mulada).
The presidial soldiers were provided with two kinds of arms, offensive
and defensive. The defensive consisted of the cuera (leather jacket) and
the adarga (shield)[16]. The first, being made in the form of a coat
without sleeves, was composed of six or seven thicknesses of dressed
deer skins impervious to the Indian arrows, except at very short range.
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