His successor, Francisco de Corcoles y Martinez, presented another plan for solving the economic problems of the colony. Corcoles pointed out that Spaniards in Florida had been unable to grow their own food and that all attempts at farming or fruit culture had been abortive. Predatory Indians had torn up seed beds, burned maturing crops, and murdered innovators who planted in the sandy soil near Saint Augustine. These Indians had also prevented lone hunters and fishermen from adding variety to the monotonous diets of the Floridians. The only farmers who succeeded at all were those who tilled small plots under the protective cannon of Fort San Marcos and the few Christian Indians who cultivated land in the fertile areas near Apalache. [Note: In the 17th century the Indians of Apalache produced considerable quantities of corn and beans. Some years they shipped as many as 3,000 to 4,000 bushels of these commodities to Saint Augustine.] These two sources, however, provided only a scanty, undependable food supply. It would be advantageous, stated Corcoles, to settle 200 Galician families in Florida to farm the rich land in Apalache. Since Galicia [Note: A province in northwestern Spain.] was an unproductive, poverty-stricken province, the inhabitants would surely welcome the opportunity to make a new start in northwest Florida, a land flowing with milk and honey. AN484 Once these immigrants began farming, they would relive the perpetual food shortage and increase the amount of specie available from the subsidy. This could be used to strengthen the defenses of the colony. At the same time a large Spanish population in Apalache would serve as a bulwark against English encroachments on the Gulf Coast. Corcoles, however, did not reckon with the attitude of the Galicians, who proved extremely reluctant to take up the plan. Later, even when presented with the crown’s offer of free passage and aid in money, seeds, implements, and tax relief, they refused to go to Saint Augustine. They claimed they would rather die of hunger at home in Spain than far away in Florida. [Note: Consejo 7/15/1739] And probably they were right. (Tepaske GSF)