SALINAS "In the Midst of a Loneliness": The Architectural History of the Salinas Missions

LIFE AND TIMES IN THE CONVENTO (continued)

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.