Perhaps the best indication of how the Franciscans suffered during the first half of the 18th century was the recommendation for reorganization of the order submitted by the viceroy of New Spain in 1753. In his report he proposed 11 friars to fill the religious needs of the colony—one superior and five friars in the convent, there lay brothers to teach the children of Saint Augustine, and two friars to labor among the Indians. With only the four tiny Indian villages of Tolomato, Palica, Pocotalaca, and Punta still enjoying religious instruction, the viceroy suggested consolidation of these missions into two Franciscan centers at Tolomato and Punta, lying west of Fort San Marcos on the San Sebastian River. Contrasted with the Franciscan report 100 years earlier claiming 26,000 Indian converts in 39 mission villages, this recommendation indicates all too clearly that the day of the Franciscans in Florida had come and gone. (Tepaske GSF)