In February, 1746, the Spanish commandant, Juan Isidro de Leon, reported that he did not have enough food to last through the month of March and that he desperately needed rice, flour, vegetables, and fresh meat to keep his garrison from perishing. The Uchizes had visited him at Fort San Marcos just before Christmas of the previous year and stripped the trading post and his warehouse of all but a little food and rum. The rum and few staples remaining had enabled his garrison to celebrate the holidays festively, but the aguardiente was an inadequate substitute for essential foodstuffs. Relief finally came, but his desperate pleas indicated how poorly the tienda served to establish better relations with the Indians. (Tepaske GSF)