Next to the Alamo, the sightseer (unless an enthusiasm for matters military takes him straight to San Antonio’s famous army post, Sam Houston), will find worth while a visit to the old Franciscan Missions, now in ruins, that are strung along the San Antonio River to the south of the city. There are four of these, the first about 2 miles from the Alamo, the rest at similar intervals of a couple of miles. Americans have got in the way of calling them, in numerical fashion, First, Second, Third and Fourth Missions, respectively, to the neglect of their fine old Spanish names. The First, which is on the southern outskirts of the city, and may be reached by a moderate walk from a street car line, is the Mission _Nuestra Señora de la Purísima Concepcion de Acuña_ (Our Lady of the Immaculate Conception, of Acuña). From quite a distance one catches sight of its twin square towers with pyramidal tops and its high dome peeping above a tangle of mesquite, chinnaberry and pecan trees, and sprawling juisache bushes. A Mexican family lives in an end of the ruined _convento_ part, and a small fee is charged for showing the inside of the church and permitting you to climb the belfry for a fine view over the country. The façade is interesting with much curious sculpturing. The knotted cord of St. Francis winds above the austere polygonal “arch” of the doorway, upon which is this Spanish inscription: _A su patrono y princessa con estas armas atiende esta mission y defiende el_ _punto de su pureza_. (With these arms this Mission attends her Patroness and Princess and defends the state of her immaculateness.) This is an obvious allusion to the controversy long maintained among old-time theologians concerning the dogma of the Virgin Mary’s immaculate conception—a doctrine defended and preached by the Franciscans from the first. In the corners immediately above the arch are two medallions, the one bearing an unusual form of the Franciscan Order’s coat-of-arms—the Saviour’s naked arm and the sleeved arm of St. Francis nailed together to the Cross; the other carved in the semblance of five blood-drops, to symbolize perhaps the stigmata of St. Francis. Upon the keystone is another elaborate embellishment now much worn by the elements. The central figure of this is plainly representative of the consecrated elements in the Lord’s Supper—a slender Spanish chalice surmounted by the Sacred Host. Worn figures at the sides of the chalice may have represented clouds or adoring angels. The whole carving of the keystone obviously typifies the Church’s missionary purpose. The front was once gaily frescoed in red, yellow, blue and orange; but Time’s remorseless hand has fallen heavily on that. Begun in 1731, the building was not completed until 1752. After Mexican independence from Spain was accomplished, this Mission as well as the others, was abandoned and was not infrequently used by both Mexican and United States troops for barracks and stables.