The Missions of New Mexico, 1776.

Dominguez, Fray Francisco; Adams, Eleanor; Chavez, Fray Angelico

This collection (Dominguez' report, some letters, an account of an attempt to cross from New Mexico to California) will be rewarding to scholars concerned with the early history of the region, as it adds many new facts, but as these facts add no new understanding nor ideas, it will interest non-specialists less. The main report, discovered in 1928 in the Mexican National Archives, is extremely detailed, giving dimensions and numbers of beams in the ceiling of each church and full inventory of the contents of its sacristy. The translation reads easily for the most part, and seems to be accurate. Sometimes, however, particularly in connection with architectural terms, it is so literal as to be unclear ("wrought beams'' for carved beams, '' squared door'' for square-headed doorway). Sometimes it is pleonastic ("vaulted arch") and occasionally pedantic (" St. Didacus" for San Diego). Occasionally it is unintelligible (" turreted balustrade," "on the walls which stand below the sanctuary in imitation of a transept,'' '' beyond these are three open varas to substitute for a vaulted arch, and, imitating a vault, or transept, they have a ceiling. . . . '' One would prefer something clearer, if less literal; in the most difficult passages the original Spanish could well be given in a footnote. Occasionally the translation is misleading: a "porteria" is not the same as what we understand by a "porter's lodge" and had best be left untranslated. (Incidentally there is no evidence that any porterias served as open chapels. Most could not have, as there is a door right where the altar would have to go.) The typography and layout are clear, fresh and attractive. However, had they been less extravagant, there might have been room for the full Spanish text which, in a book primarily for scholaria:, might have been desirable. For illustrations, one misses photographs of the actual missions. The reconstruction drawings offered instead are attractive and informative, though misleading in some cases where they are based only on descriptions and not on actual remains, but are not so labelled. This seems inconsistent in a scholarly publication. There is a wealth of footnotes, apparently the fruit of years of research. Although some may seem irrelevant, one does not complain of too much information, and with the exception of the architectural awkwardnesses, scholars will be grateful to Miss Adams and Father Chavez for making these documents available with such careful editing and annotation. Wellesley College JoHN McANDREW