The diaries of Pedro de Rivera and the Marques de Rubi, written in the eighteenth century during inspections of the far northern frontier of New Spain, are crucial documents for studying and understanding the Spanish presence on the frontier of what would one day be Texas. Rivera's diary, previously unavailable in English translation, and the heretofore unknown Rubi diary are both presented here, carefully placed in historical context by Jackson and Foster. Because of Spain's tenuous hold on the distant frontier, Rubi and Rivera saw it as an imaginary possession -- the king's domain in name only.