Description
The Pastias inhabited the area south of San Antonio, largely between the Medina and San Antonio Rivers and the southward bend of the Nueces River running through modern day La Salle and McMullen counties. They were first contacted by Spanish explorers in the early eighteenth century, and were extinct as an ethnic group by the middle of the following century. Early Spanish explorers encountered a number of ethnically distinct bands of aboriginal peoples near the Medina River. he name, Pastias, is equivalent to "chamuscados" in Spanish, translated as the "scorched," "seared," or "singed" peoples. This name may be a reference to the tattooing, body painting, and body ornamentation favored by the Pastia.
Language
They seem to have spoken a Coahuiltecan dialect, though little of their language is known
Culture
The Pastia people were a hunter-gatherer tribe of the Coahuiltecan. These tribes also shared similar societal values and traditions. This group included the Anxau, Pampopa, Pastia, Payaya, and others. he Pastia survived by harvesting and storing the area's abundance of pecans and other nuts and seeds.[5] Prickly pear cacti also contributed a large part to their diet. The Pastia, as well as the other tribes of the southeastern Texas tidal plain, reportedly subsisted in the lean months on roots; raw insects, lizards, and worms; and the undigested nuts picked from deer dung.