Writing smack

This signature is by Athanase De Mézières, who signed a letter, dated February 12, 1772, briefly describing his expedition to the northern parts of today's Texas. Athanase De Mézières, a Frenchman, served as the Lieutenant Governor of Natchitoches and French trader-ambassador in the service of Spain after Spain took over the Louisiana Territory after 1763.

I have not translated the whole letter, but from some cursory glances as well as from the description of the letter by archivists at Tulane University, I see that he mentions that he liked the "barbarean people" of the North - meaning, the Comanches, Caddos, Wichitas, and Tayovayans, whom he encountered along the Red River - better than the inhabitants of Natchitoches, whom he describes as insubuordinate and intolerant of authority.

You can read the letter in its full, 18th century Spanish, at Tulane University's digital library: https://digitallibrary.tulane.edu/islandora/object/tulane%3A12336