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Papers of the Archaeological Institute of America.
_AMERICAN SERIES._
Volume I
[Illustration: PLATE XI. MAPS OF COUNTRY NEAR SANTA FE.]
Papers of the Archaeological Institute of America.
_AMERICAN SERIES._
I.
* * * * *
1. HISTORICAL INTRODUCTION TO STUDIES
AMONG THE SEDENTARY INDIANS OF
NEW MEXICO.
2. REPORT ON THE RUINS OF THE PUEBLO
OF PECOS.
BY
A. F. BANDELIER.
BOSTON:
PUBLISHED BY A. WILLIAMS AND CO.
LONDON: N. TRUeBNER AND CO.
1881.
UNIVERSITY PRESS:
JOHN WILSON AND SON, CAMBRIDGE.
ARCHAEOLOGICAL INSTITUTE OF AMERICA.
* * * * *
Executive Committee, 1880-81.
CHARLES ELIOT NORTON, _President_.
MARTIN BRIMMER, _Vice-President_.
FRANCIS PARKMAN.
W. W. GOODWIN.
H. W. HAYNES.
ALEXANDER AGASSIZ.
WILLIAM R. WARE.
O. W. PEABODY, _Treasurer_.
E. H. GREENLEAF, _Secretary_.
I.
HISTORICAL INTRODUCTION
TO
STUDIES AMONG THE SEDENTARY INDIANS
OF
NEW MEXICO.
PART I.
BY AD. F. BANDELIER.
I.
HISTORICAL INTRODUCTION.
Part I.
The earliest knowledge of the existence of the sedentary
Indians in New Mexico and Arizona reached Europe
by way of Mexico proper; but it is very doubtful whether or
not the aborigines of Mexico had any _positive_ information to
impart about countries lying north of the present State of
Queretaro. The tribes to the north were, in the language of
the valley-confederates, "Chichimecas,"--a word yet undefined,
but apparently synonymous, in the conceptions of the
"Nahuatl"-speaking natives, with fierce savagery, and ultimately
adopted by them as a warlike title.
Indistinct notions, indeed, of an original residence, during
some very remote period of time, at the distant north, have
been found among nearly all the tribes of Mexico which speak
the Nahuatl language. These notions even assume the form
of tradition in the tale of the _Seven Caves_,[1] whence the Mexicans
and the Tezcucans, as well as the Tlaxcaltecans, are said
to have emigrated to Mexico.[2] Perhaps the earliest mention
of this tradition may be found in the writings of Fray Toribio
de Paredes, surnamed Motolinia. It dates back to 1540 A.D.[3]
But it is not to be overlooked that ten years previously, in
1530, the story of the _Seven Cities_, which was the form in
which the first report concerning New Mexico and its sedentary
Indians came to the Spaniards, had already been told to
Nuno Beltran de Guzman in Sinaloa.[4] The parallelism between
the two stories is striking, although we are not authorized
to infer that the so-called seven _cities_ gave rise to what
appeared as an aboriginal myth of as many _caves_.[5]
The tale of the Seven Caves, as the original home of the
Mexicans and their kindred, prevailed to such an extent that,
as early as 1562, in a collection of picture-sheets executed in
aboriginal style, the so-called "Codex Vaticanus," "Chicomoztoc,"
and the migrations thence, were graphically represented.
All the important Indian writers of Mexico between
1560 and 1600, such as Duraro, Camargo, Tezozomoc, and
Ixtlilxochitl, refer to it as an ancient legend, and they locate
the site of the story, furthermore, very distinctly in New Mexico.
Even the "Popol-Vuh," in its earliest account of the
Quiche tribe of Guatemala, mentions "Tulan-Zuiva, the seven
caves or seven ravines."[6]
While it is impossible as yet to determine whether or not
this legend exercised any direct influence on the extension
of Spanish power into Northern Mexico, another myth, well
known to eastern continents from a remote period, became
directly instrumental in the discovery of New Mexico. This
is the tale of the _Amazons_.
About 1524 A.D., Cortes was informed by one of his officers
(then on an expedition about Michhuacan) that towards
the north there existed a region called Ciguatan ("Cihuatlan"--place
of women), near to which was an island inhabited
by warlike females exclusively.[7] The usual exaggerations
about metallic wealth were added to this report; and when, in
1529, Nuno de Guzman governed Mexico he set out northwards,
first to conquer the sedentary Indians of Michhuacan,
and then to search for the gold and jewels of the Amazons.[8]
It was while on this foray that he heard of the Seven Cities in
connection with Ciguatan. This latter place was reached;
and, while the fancies concerning it were speedily dispelled
by reality, those concerning the Seven Cities flitted further
north.[9] Guzman overran, laid waste, and finally colonized
Sinaloa. He sent parties into Sonora; but, after his recall,
slow colonization superseded military forays on a large scale,
at least for a few years.
During this time, Pamfilo de Narvaez had undertaken the
colonization of Florida.[10] His scheme failed, and cost him
his life. Of the few survivors of his expedition, four only
remained in the American continent, wandering to and fro
among the tribes of the south-west. After nine years of untold
hardships, these four men finally reached Sonora, having
traversed the continent, from the Gulf of Mexico to the
coast of the Pacific. The name of the leader and subsequent
chronicler of their adventures was Alvar Nunez Cabeza de
Vaca.[11]
It is not possible to follow and to trace, geographically,
the erratic course of Cabeza de Vaca with any degree of certainty.
His own tale, however authentic, is so confused[12] that
it becomes utterly impossible to establish any details of location.
We only know that, in the year A.D. 1536, he and
his associates finally met with their own countrymen about
Culiacan.[13]
They reported that, when their shiftings had cast them far
to the west of the sinister coast of what was then called "Florida,"
settlements of Indians were reached which presented a
high degree of culture.[14] These settlements they described as
having a character of permanence, but we look in vain for any
accurate description of the buildings, or of the material of
which they were composed.[15] For such a report of important
settlements in the north, the mind of the Spanish conquerors
in Mexico was, as we have already intimated, well prepared.
During their stay among the nondescript tribes of South-western
North America, Cabeza de Vaca and his companions
had tried to scatter the seeds of Christianity,--at least, they
claimed to have done so. The monks of the order of St.
Francis then represented the "working church" in Mexico.
One of their number, Fray Marcos de Nizza, who had joined
Pedro de Alvarado upon his return from his adventurous tour
to Quito in Ecuador, and who was well versed in Indian lore,[16]
at once entered upon a voyage of discovery, determining to
go much farther north than any previous expedition from the
colonies in Sinaloa. He took as his companion the negro
Estevanico, who had been with Cabeza de Vaca on his marvellous
journey.
Leaving San Miguel de Culiacan on the 7th of March,
1539,[17] and traversing Petatlan, Father Marcos reached Vacapa.[18]
If we compare his statements about this place with
those contained in the diary of Mateo Mange,[19] who went
there with Father Kino in 1701, we are tempted to locate it
in Southern Arizona, somewhat west from Tucson, in the "Pimeria
alta,"[20] at a place now inhabited by the Pima Indians,
whose language is also called "Cora" and "Nevome."[21] Vacapa
was then "a reasonable settlement" of Indians. Thence
he travelled in a northerly direction, probably parallel to the
coast at some distance from it. It is impossible to trace his
route with any degree of certainty: we cannot even determine
whether he crossed the Gila at all; since he does not mention
any considerable river in his report, and fails to give
even the direction in which he travelled, beyond stating at
the outset that he went northward. Still we may suppose,
from other testimony on the subject, that he went beyond
the Rio Gila,[22] and finally he came in sight of a great Indian
pueblo, "more considerable than Mexico,"--the houses
of stone and several stories high. The negro Estevanico had
been killed at this pueblo previous to the arrival of Fray Marcos,
so the latter only gazed at it from a safe distance, and
then hastily retired to Culiacan. While the date of his departure
is known, we are in the dark concerning the date of
his return, except that it occurred some time previous to the
2d of September, 1539.[23]
To this great pueblo, "more considerable than Mexico,"
Fray Marcos was induced to give the name of Cibola.[24] The
comparison with Mexico shows a lively imagination; still, we
must reflect that in 1539 Mexico was not a large town,[25] and
the startling appearance of the many-storied pueblo-houses
should also be taken into account.[26]
With the report about Cibola came the news that the said
pueblo was only one of seven, and the "Seven Cities of Cibola"
became the next object of Spanish conquest.
It is not our purpose here to describe the events of this
conquest, or rather series of conquests, beginning with the
expedition of Francisco Vasquez Coronado in 1540, and
ending in the final occupation of New Mexico by Juan de
Onate in 1598. For the history of these enterprises, we refer
the reader to the attractive and trustworthy work of Mr.
W. W. H. Davis.[27] But the numerous reports and other documents
concerning the conquest enable us to form an idea
of the ethnography and linguistical distribution of the Indians
of New Mexico in the sixteenth century. Upon this
knowledge alone can a study of the present ethnography
and ethnology of New Mexico rest on a solid historical foundation.
There can be no doubt that Cibola is to be looked for in
New Mexico. From the vague indications of Fray Marcos,
we are at least authorized to place it within the limits of New
Mexico or Arizona, and the subsequent expedition of Coronado
furnishes more positive information.
Coronado marched--"leaving north slightly to the left"[28]--from
Culiacan on. In other words, he marched east of
north. Hence it is to be inferred that Cibola lay nearly north
of Culiacan in Sinaloa. Juan Jaramillo has left the best itinerary
of this expedition. We can easily identify the following
localities: Rio Cinaloa, upper course, Rio Yaquimi, and upper
course of the Rio Sonora.[29] Thence a mountain chain was
crossed called "Chichiltic-Calli,"[30] or "Red-house" (a Mexican
name), and a large ruined structure of the Indians was
found there.
Within the last forty years at least, this "Red house" has
been repeatedly identified with the so-called "Casas Grandes,"
lying to the south of the Rio Gila in Arizona.[31] It should not
be forgotten that from the upper course of the Rio Sonora
_two_ groups of Indian pueblos in ruins were within reach of
the Spaniards. One of these were the ruins on the Gila, the
other lay to the right, across the Sierra Madre, in the present
district of Bravos, State of Chihuahua, Mexico. Jaramillo
states that Coronado crossed the mountains to the _right_.[32] Now,
whether the "Nexpa," whose stream the expedition descended
for two days, is the Rio Santa Cruz or the Rio San Pedro, their
course after they once crossed the Sierra could certainly not
have led them to the "great houses" on the Rio Gila, but
much farther east. The query is therefore permitted, whether
Coronado did not perhaps descend into Chihuahua, and thence
move up due north into South-western New Mexico. In any
case,--whether he crossed the Gila and then turned north-eastward,
as Jaramillo intimates,[33] or whether he perhaps struck
the small "Rio de las Casas Grandes" in Chihuahua, and
then travelled due north to Cibola, according to Pedro de
Castaneda,[34]--the lines of march necessarily met the first sedentary
Indians living in houses of stone or adobe about the
region in which the pueblo of Zuni exists. It is not to be
wondered at, therefore, if all the writers on New Mexico, from
Antonio de Espejo (1584) down to General J. H. Simpson
(1871), with very few exceptions, have identified Zuni with
Cibola.
There are numerous other indications in favor of this assumption.
1. Thus Castaneda says: "Twenty leagues to the north-west,
there is another province which contains seven villages.
The inhabitants have the same costumes, the same customs,
and the same religion as those of Cibola."[35] This district is the
one called "Tusayan" by the same author, who places it at
twenty-five leagues also; and "Tucayan" by Jaramillo, "to
the left of Cibola, distant about five days' march."[36] These
seven villages of "Tusayan" were visited by Pedro de Tobar.
West of them is a broad river, which the Spaniards called
"Rio del Tizon."[37]
2. Five days' journey from Cibola to the east, says Castaneda,
there was a village called "Acuco," erected on a rock. "This
village is very strong, because there was but one path leading
to it. It rose upon a precipitous rock on all sides, etc."[38]
Jaramillo mentions, at one or two days' march from Cibola
to the east, "a village in a very strong situation on a precipitous
rock; it is called Tutahaco."[39]
3. According to Jaramillo: "All the water-courses which
we met, whether they were streams or rivers, until that of
Cibola, and I even believe one or two journeyings beyond,
flow in the direction of the South Sea; further on they take
the direction of the Sea of the North."[40]
4. The village called "Acuco," or "Tutahaco," lay between
Cibola and the streams running to the south-east, "entering
the Sea of the North."[41]
It results from points 3 and 4, that the region of Cibola
lay at all events _west of the present grants to the pueblo of
Acoma_. There are watercourses in their north-western corner,
and through the western half thereof, which become
tributaries to the Rio Grande del Norte. The only settled
region, or rather the region containing the remains of large
settlements, lying west of the water-shed between the Colorado
of the West and the Rio Grande, is much farther north.
It is the so-called San Juan district, where extensive ruins are
still found, for the description of which we are indebted to
General Simpson, to Messrs. Jackson and Holmes, and to Mr.
Lewis H. Morgan. To reach this region, Coronado had to
pass either between Acoma and Zuni, or between the Zuni
and the Moqui towns. In either case he could not have
failed to notice one or the other of these pueblos; whereas
Nizza, as well as the reports of Coronado's march, particularly
insist upon the fact that Cibola lay on the borders of
a great uninhabited waste.
Our choice is therefore limited between Zuni and the
Moqui towns themselves; for there can be no doubt as to the
identity of the rock of Acuco or Tutahaco, east of Cibola,
with the pueblo of Acoma, whose remarkable situation, on
the top of a high, isolated rock, has made it the most conspicuous
object in New Mexico for nearly three centuries.[42]
But there can be as little doubt, also, in regard to the identity
of the Moqui district with the "Tusayan" of Castaneda
and of Jaramillo. When the Moqui region first was made
known under that name ("Mohoce," "Mohace") in 1583,
by Antonio de Espejo, it lay westward from Cibola "four
journeys of seven leagues each." One of its pueblos was
called "Aguato" ("Aguatobi").[43] Fifteen years later (1598),
Juan de Onate found the first pueblo of "Mohoce," twenty
leagues of the first one of "Juni" ("Zuni") to the westward.[44]
Besides, the "Rio del Tizon" was, at an early day,
distinctly identified with the Colorado River of the West.[45]
Finally, we must notice here that the text of Hackluyt's
version of Espejo's report is in so far incorrect as it leads to
the inference that Espejo only admitted Cibola to be a
Spanish name for Zuni, therefore making it doubtful whether
or not it was the original place ("y la llaman los Espanoles
Cibola"). The original text of Espejo's report distinctly
says, however, "a province of six pueblos, called Zuni,
and by another name, Cibola," thus positively identifying
the place.[46]
We cannot, therefore, refuse to adopt the views of General
Simpson and of Mr. W. W. H. Davis, and to look to the
pueblo of Zuni as occupying, if not the actual site, at least
one of the sites within the tribal area of the "Seven cities of
Cibola." Nor can we refuse to identify Tusayan with the
Moqui district, and Acuco with Acoma.
This investigation has so far enabled us to locate, at the
time of their first discovery, _three_ of the principal pueblos or
groups of pueblos of New Mexico and Arizona. The pueblo
of Acoma appears to have occupied at that time the identical
striking position in which it is found to-day. The pueblo of
Zuni, while it undoubtedly occupies the ground once claimed
by the cluster to which the name of Cibola was given, is but
the remaining one of six or seven villages then forming that
group, or a recent construction sheltering the remnants of
their former occupants. The Moqui towns appear to be the
same which the Spaniards found three hundred and forty
years ago, though additions from other tribes have, as we
shall subsequently establish, modified the character of their
dwellers.
But the information to be derived from Coronado's march,
on the ethnography of New Mexico, is not confined to the
above. While at Cibola, Indians from a tribe or region called
"Cicuye," which was said to be found far to the east, came to
see him. They brought with them buffalo-hides, prepared
and manufactured into shields and "helmets." Although
the Spaniards had heard of the buffalo before reaching Zuni,
the animal itself had not been met with, and accordingly
Coronado sent Hernando de Alvarado to Cicuye, and in quest
of the "buffalo country."[47]
Cicuye is the "Cicuique" of Juan Jaramillo, and the "Acuique"
of an anonymous relation of the year 1541: it lay to
the east of Acoma, through which the Spaniards passed.[48]
Between it and Acoma was the pueblo of "Tiguex," at a distance
of three days' march, while Cicuye was five days from
Tiguex.[49] General Simpson identifies the latter with a point
on the Rio Grande del Norte, "at the foot of the Socorro
Mountains," and then places Cicuye at "Pecos."[50] Between
Acoma and the Rio Grande there lies the Rio Puerco; and
on its banks other authorities, conspicuous among whom
is Mr. W. W. H. Davis, have located Tiguex, while Cicuye,
according to them, was on the Rio Grande, somewhere
near the valley of Guadalupe.[51] Both conclusions have their
strong points; but both of them have also their weak sides.
If it took five days of march from Zuni to Acoma, three
days more, in a north-easterly direction, would have brought
the Spaniards to the Rio Grande, and certainly much beyond
the Rio Puerco; and then Pecos could easily be reached in
five days.[52]
But we are unable to guess, even, at the length of each
journey. From Zuni to Acoma the country was uninhabited;
therefore the length of each journey may have been great,
because there was nothing to attract the attention of the
Spaniards,--nothing to prevent them from hastening their
progress in order to reach their point of destination. From
Acoma on, the ethnographical character changed. The actual
distance to the Rio Grande may be shorter; but pueblos
sprung up at small intervals of space, which necessitated
greater caution, and therefore greater delay, in the movements
of the advancing party. Still, we have a guide of
great efficiency in another branch of information. The pueblo
of "Tiguex," mentioned as lying three days from Acoma,
indicates, seemingly, a settlement of _Tehua_-speaking Indians.
Now, the "Tehua" idiom is spoken in those pueblos which lie
directly north of Santa Fe. San Ildefonso, San Juan, Santa
Clara, Pohuaque, Nambe, and Tesuque. But it is quite apparent
that, considering the great distance of Santa Fe from
Acoma, the journeys, as indicated in Castaneda, would fall
very short of any of the pueblos mentioned.[53]
The Tehua, like all the tribes along the Rio Grande,
suffered vicissitudes and consequent displacements; and
it might be advanced that one or the other of the Tehua
villages, formerly known as Tiguex, might now be destroyed.
Fortunately, we need not resort to such hypotheses. It appears,
from documentary evidence of the year 1598, that there
was, distinct from the Tehua or Tegua, a tribe of "Chiguas,"
or "Tiguas;"[54] and, from the notes of Father Juan Amando
Niel (written between 1703 and 1710), it results that their
settlements were near Bernalillo, on the Rio Grande; there
being at that time three villages, the most northern of which
was Santiago, the central one Puaray, near Bernalillo, and
the most southern one San Pedro.[55] The distance between the
first two pueblos, according to Fray Zarate Salmeron, in 1626,
was about one and a half leagues, or five and a half English
miles.[56] Tiguex, therefore, must be located on or near the
site of Bernalillo. The "Rio Tiguex" of Castaneda is the
Rio Grande del Norte, and the Indians of Tiguex belonged to
the stock of the "Tanos" language, now spoken still by a
few Indians at Galisteo, and by the inhabitants of the pueblos
of Sandia and Isleta.[57] Even the direction in which the Spaniards
moved from Acoma--that is, to the north-east--perfectly
agrees with that in which Bernalillo lies, whereas the
mouth of the Rio Puerco, below which General Simpson locates
Tiguex, lies south-east of the pueblo of Acoma.
Having thus, as we believe, satisfactorily located Tiguex, it
is easy to locate Cicuye. It can be nothing else than Pecos,
whose aboriginal Indian name, in the Jemez language, is
"Agin," whereas Pecos is the "Paego" of the Qq'ueres idiom.
There is no other Indian pueblo answering to its description
and geographical location as given by the chroniclers of
Coronado. The fact that "when the army quitted Cicuye to
go to Quivira, we entered the mountains, which it was necessary
to cross to reach the plains, and on the fourth day we
arrived at a great river, very deep, which passes also near
Cicuye,"[58] does not at all militate against it. The easiest passage,
and the most accessible one from Pecos eastward, leads
directly to the slopes between the Rio Gallinas and the Rio
Pecos; and either of these two streams could be, and had to
be, met with very near to the confluence of both.[59] For other
proof, and very conclusive too, I refer to my detailed description
of the Ruins of the Pueblo de Pecos.
I repeat, it is not to our purpose to describe the "faits et
gestes" of Coronado and of his men, but only to discuss the results
of his march for the Ethnography of New Mexico. I even
exclude Ethnology in as far as it does not include language.
The distribution of tribes and stocks of tribes designated by
idioms, as Coronado revealed it in 1540 to 1543, is to be the
final result of the discussion. Therefore, I leave the acts of the
Spaniards aside everywhere, when they are not essential to the
object, and do not even follow a strict chronological sequence.
After Alvarado had left Cibola for Tiguex, Coronado himself
followed him; and, "taking the road to Tiguex," he crossed
a range of mountains where snow impeded his march,--and
during which march he and his men were once two and a half
days without water,--until finally he reached a pueblo called
"Tutahaco."[60] General Simpson has not paid any attention
to this place. Mr. Davis places it near Laguna.[61] This author
has forgotten that Tutahaco was further from Zuni than
Tiguex itself, since it took Coronado more than eleven days
to reach it.[62] This could not have been the case, had he
passed _north_ of Acoma; he must consequently have passed
_south_ of it, and, while originally following the trail to Tiguex,
deviated in a direction from N.E. to E.S.E., crossing the
mountains, and then finally struck the "Tiguex" pueblos,
but in their southern limits, on the Rio Grande about "Isleta."[63]
Castaneda is very positive in regard to the fact that
"Tutahaco" was on the same river as "Tiguex," and that
from the former Coronado _ascended_ the stream to the latter.[64]
This river was the Rio Grande; and, consequently, "Tutahaco"
was south of "Puaray" or Bernalillo. There, he heard
of other pueblos further south still.[65] "Tutahaco" was "four
leagues to the south of Tiguex."[66]
When Coronado reached "Tiguex" at last, it thereafter
became the centre of his operations. Castaneda very justly
remarks: "Tiguex is the central point;"[67] and a glance at the
map, substituting Bernalillo for it, will at once satisfy the reader
of the accuracy of this statement.
From Tiguex an expedition was sent along the Rio Grande
and west of it. It discovered in succession: Quirix on the
river, with seven villages; Hemes with seven villages; Aguas
Calientes, three; Acha to the north-east; and, furthest in a
north-easterly direction, Braba. Four leagues west of the
river, Cia was met with; and, between Quirix and Cicuye,
Ximera. Further north of Quirix, Yuque-Yunque was found
on the Rio Grande. An officer was also despatched to the
south beyond Tutahaco, and he indeed discovered "four villages"
at a great distance from the latter, and beyond these a
place where the Rio Grande "disappeared in the ground, like
the Guadiana in Estremadura."[68]
Through our identifications of "Tiguex" with _Bernalillo_,
of "Cicuye" with _Pecos_, and "Tutahaco" with _near Isleta_, it
becomes now extremely easy to locate all these pueblos in
the most satisfactory manner. "Quirix" is the _Queres_ district
Santo-Domingo, Cochiti, etc.[69] "Hemes" and "Aguas
Calientes," together form the _Jemez_ and _San Diego_ clusters
of pueblos,[70] "Acha" is _Picuries_, "Braba," _Taos_.[71] The pueblo
of "Ximera" between Pecos and Queres is the _Tanos_ pueblo of
_San Cristobal_.[72] "Yuque-Yunque" are the _Tehuas_, north of
Santa Fe,[73] and the four villages on the Rio Grande far south
of Isleta, naturally are found in the now deserted towns of
the "Piros" near Socorro, the most southerly and the least
known of the linguistical stocks of sedentary Indians in New
Mexico.[74]
In sending the officers mentioned along the Rio Grande, as
far south as Mesilla probably, Coronado explored the territory
beyond the range of the pueblos, and he thus secured information
also concerning the roaming tribes. It is essential that
I should touch these here also, because the subsequent history
of the village Indians cannot be understood without connection
with their savage surroundings. I might as well state
here, that west of the Rio Grande and south of Zuni, the entire
south-west corner of New Mexico, appears to have been uninhabited
in 1540. Stray hunting parties may have visited
it, though there was hardly any inducement, since the buffalo
was found east of the Rio Grande only, as far as New
Mexico is concerned.[75]
The country visited along the Rio Grande, as far as Mesilla,
appears not to have given any occasion for its explorers, to
mention any wild tribes as its occupants. Still we know that,
east of Socorro and south-east, not forty years after Coronado,
the "Jumanas" Indians claimed the Eastern portions of
Valencia and Socorro counties; the regions of Abo, Quarac,
and Gran Quivira.[76] These savages, also called "Rayados"
("Striated" from their custom of painting or cutting their
faces and breasts for the sake of ornament), were reduced to
villages in 1629 only, by the Franciscans; and the ruins which
are now called Gran Quivira date from that time.[77] Dona
Ana county was (from later reports which I shall discuss in
a subsequent paper), roamed over, towards the Rio Grande,
by equally savage hordes, to which Antonio de Espejo and
others give the name of "Tobosas."[78] It is, of course,
impossible to assign boundaries to the Ranges of such
tribes.
Very distinct ethnographic information, however, is given
by Coronado himself, as well as by Castaneda and by Jaramillo,
in regard to north-eastern New Mexico. This information
was secured in the year 1542, during his adventurous expedition
in search of Quivira.
In regard to the route followed by him, I can but, in
a general way, heartily accept the conclusions of General
Simpson.[79] If, in some details, we may have some doubts
yet, I gladly bow to his superior knowledge of the country
and to his experience of travelling in the plains, in the
latter of which I am totally deficient. Coronado started
from Pecos, he crossed, probably, the Tecolote chain, threw
a bridge over the Rio Gallinas, and then moved on to the
north-east at an unknown distance. Although not as yet
satisfied that he reached as far north-east as General Simpson
states, and believing that he moved more in a _circle_ (as
men wandering astray in the plains are apt to do), there is
no doubt but that he went far into the "Indian territory,"
and that Quivira--which, by the way, is plainly described
as an agglomeration of Indian "lodges" inhabited, not by
sedentary Indians of the pueblo type, but by a tribe exactly
similar in culture to the corn-raising aborigines of the Mississippi
valley[80]--was situated at all events somewhere between
the Indian territory and the State of Nebraska. This
is plainly confirmed by the reports of Juan de Onate's fruitless
search of Quivira in 1599,[81] and principally by the
statements of the Indians of Quivira themselves, when
they visited that governor at Santa Fe thereafter.[82] They
told him that the direct route to Quivira was by the pueblo
of Taos.
The Quivira of Coronado and of Onate has therefore not
the slightest connection,--and never had, with the Gran
Quivira of this day, situated east of Alamillo, near the
boundaries of Socorro and Lincoln Counties, New Mexico,
and the ruins there;[83] which ruins are those of a Franciscan
mission founded after 1629, around whose church a village of
"Jumanas" and probably "Piros" Indians had been established
under direction of the fathers.
The reports of Coronado, and others, reveal to us the east
and north-east of New Mexico as the "Buffalo Country," and
consequently as inhabited or roamed over by hunting savages.
Of these, two tribes were the immediate neighbors
of the Pueblos,--the "Teyas" to the north-east, and the
"Querechos" more to the east, south of the former probably.
The Ranges intermingled, and both tribes were at
war with each other. The "Teyas" were possibly Yutas,[84]
as these occupied the region latterly held by the Comanches.
About the "Querechos" I have, as yet, and at this distance
from all documentary evidence, not a trace of information.
On the ethnographical map accompanying this sketch, I
have indicated the _Apaches_ as occupying _North-western New
Mexico_. In this locality they were found by Juan de Onate
in 1598-99.[85]
Coronado's homeward march offering no new points of
interest, I shall, in conclusion, briefly survey the Ethnography
of New Mexico, as it is sketched on the map, and
as established by the preceding investigation of the years
1540-43.
We find the sedentary Indians of New Mexico agglomerated
in the following clusters:--
1. Between the frontier of Arizona and the Rio Grande,
from west to east: _Zuni_, _Acoma_, with possibly _Laguna_.
2. Along the Rio Grande, from north to south, between
"Sangre de Cristo" and Mesilla: _Taos_, _Picuries_, _Tehua_,
_Queres_, _Tiguas_ (branch of the _Tanos_), _Piros_.
3. West of the Rio Grande valley: _Jemez_, including _San
Diego_ and _Cia_.
4. East of the Rio Grande: _Tanos_, _Pecos_.
Around these "pueblos," then, ranged the following wild
tribes.
1. In the north-west: _Apaches_.
2. In the north-east: _Teyas_.
3. North-east and east: _Querechos_.
4. South-east and south: _Jumanas_, _Tobosas_.
The south-west of the territory appears to have been completely
uninhabited, and also devoid of the buffalo. The
innumerable herds of this quadruped roamed over the plains
occupying the eastern third of New Mexico and extending
into Texas.
The _Moqui_ of Arizona, clearly identified with Coronado's
"Tusayan" are not noticed on the map, of course.
If now we compare these localities in 1540 with the present
sites of the pueblos of New Mexico, it is self-evident that the
Zuni, Acoma, Tiguas, Queres, Jemez, Tehua, and Taos still
occupy (Acoma excepted), if not the identical houses, at
least the same tribal grounds. The Piros have removed
to the frontier of Mexico, the Pecos are extinct as a tribe;
of the Tanos and Picuries, a few remain on their ancient
soil. Their fate is not a matter of conjecture, but of historical
record.
While this discussion has proved, we believe, the truthfulness
and reliability of the chroniclers of Coronado's expedition,
and their great importance for the history of American
aborigines, it establishes at the same time the superior
advantages of New Mexico as a field for archaeological and
ethnological study. It is the only region on the whole continent
where the highest type of culture attained by its aborigines--the
village community in stone or adobe buildings--has
been preserved on the respective territories of the tribes.
These tribes have shrunk, the purity of their stock has been
affected, their customs and beliefs encroached upon by civilization.
Still enough is left to make of New Mexico the objective
point of serious, practical archaeologists; for, besides the
living pueblo Indians, besides the numerous ruins of their
past, the very history of the changes they have undergone is
partly in existence, and begins three hundred and forty years
ago, with Coronado's adventurous march.[86]
AD. F. BANDELIER.
SANTA FE, N. M., Sept. 19, 1880.
NOTE.
THE GRAND QUIVIRA. See p. 26.
The following extract is from the "General Description" in the
field-notes of the survey in 1872 of the base line of the public surveys
in New Mexico by United States Deputy Surveyor Willison, taken from the
original notes on file at the United States Surveyor General's office at
Santa Fe:--
"The Gran Quivira, about which so much has been written and
so many attempts made to reconcile with the city of that
name spoken of by the early Spanish explorers, and which was
said by them to be the seat of immense wealth, is passed
through by the line in Sec. 34, range 8 East. The most
prominent building is the church, which, as well as all the
other buildings, is of limestone laid in mortar. The ground
plan presents the form of a cross. The dimensions of the
buildings are as follows:--
"Width of short arm of cross, 33 feet; width of long arm of
cross, 42 feet. Their axes are respectively 48 feet long and
140.5 feet long, and their intersection 35 feet from the
head of the cross. The walls have a thickness of 6 feet, and
a height of about 30 feet. The main entrance has a height of
11 feet, an outside width of 11 feet, and an inside width of
16.5 feet. The church is situated due east and west, having
its front to the east.
"Extending south from the church a distance of 160 feet, and
connected with it by a door in the short arm of the cross,
is a building containing a number of apartments. On the
window-frames of this building the mark of the carpenter's
scribe is still plainly visible, though doubtless exposed to
the action of the atmosphere for nearly two centuries. The
carved timbers in the church are still in a good state of
preservation; a portion of the roof still remains; some of
the timbers must have weighed 3,000 pounds at the time they
were brought to this place, and they could not have been
procured within a less distance than sixteen miles.
"The site of the ruins is elevated about one hundred feet
above the surrounding country, and embraces an area of about
eighteen acres. The town has been well and compactly built,
and probably contained a population approaching five
thousand souls. Numerous excavations have been made by the
Mexicans in search of the treasures said to have been left
by the Jesuits when they were expelled by the Indians. In
one of these excavations I found a large quantity of human
bones, including a skull. From the formation of the latter,
and its thickness, it was undoubtedly that of an Indian.
"The questions that arise in contemplating these ruins are,
how was it possible for such a number of people not only to
exist, but to build a town of such superior construction at
a point which is now entirely destitute of water, and to
which water cannot be brought from any present source, the
nearest water being fifteen miles distant? what was their
occupation? and what has become of them?
"That this town was the abode of Jesuit [Franciscan?]
priests, and a tribe of Indians under their control, the
architecture of the buildings conclusively shows.
"That they were there for agricultural and pastoral purposes
I consider certain, from the fact that there are no
evidences of mines, or any mineral indications of any kind
in the surrounding country, and that the country, with the
single exception of the absence of water, is well adapted to
the mode of cultivation pursued and crops raised by the
Indians.
"That water was brought there from some distant point--and
distant it would have been--cannot be the case, as the face
of the country would have required the construction of
numerous aqueducts for its conveyance, remains of which
would be found at the present time; and why would a people
bring water a long distance for the purpose of working lands
no more valuable than such as could have been had at the
water?
"Where, then, did the inhabitants get the water necessary
for their subsistence? There are two arroyos between the
ruins and the Mesa Jumanes, within a mile of the town,
having well-defined watercourses, which might have
contained permanent water at the time that the town was
inhabited. Even at the present time, the drainage from these
arroyos furnishes water for a laguna some five miles below
that lasts during about one half the year. Again, springs
may have existed around the rise upon which the town is
situated that, from natural causes, have become dry.
"The phenomenon of the failures of water is no uncommon one
in this region, as is evidenced by the numerous vents where
the surrounding rocks show the action of running water.
"A case directly supporting the assumption of the failure of
the water is furnished at a place about thirty-five miles
northerly from the Gran Quivira, known as 'La Cienega.' At
this point a stream of water, furnished by two springs, and
running to a distance of about a mile at all seasons of the
year, which has never been known to be dry within the memory
of the oldest inhabitant, has, within the last year,
entirely disappeared; and even digging to a considerable
depth in the bed of the late springs fails to find the
stream, or the channel by which it has so mysteriously
disappeared.
"To those at all familiar with the cretaceous formation of
the south-eastern portion of New Mexico, and who have seen
the numerous rivers that flow hundreds of inches of water
within a few yards of where they make their first
appearance, and the total disappearance of these streams
within a few miles, who have seen the water flowing in caves
and subterraneous streams, and the fact that the whole
country is cavernous, can easily imagine the possibility of
a stream acting upon its cretaceous bed, and eventually
wearing a channel, to connect with some immense cavern, and
disappearing at once from the surface beyond all reach of
human power.
"To the south of the Gran Quivira, at a distance of about
twenty miles, commences a _mal pais_, an immense bed of
lava, sixty miles in length from north to south, and
covering an area of five hundred square miles. To the
south-west of this commences a salt marsh, which has an area
of fifty square miles, and which is fed entirely by
subterranean streams from the Sacramento and White
Mountains, receiving without doubt by the same means the
drainage of this plain for a hundred miles to the north. The
above facts are, I think, sufficient to account for the
absence of water at the present time near Gran Quivira.
"As to what became of the inhabitants of this place, as well
as those of Abo and Quarra to the north-west,--towns that
are coeval with the Gran Quivira,--we can only conjecture.
The most reasonable conclusion that can be arrived at is
that they were exterminated by the Spaniards upon their
reoccupation of the country. Though history is silent as to
the complete operations of the Spaniards upon their return
to New Mexico, yet it is a fact established by documentary
evidence that a relentless war was waged against the
Indians, and a number of tribes are spoken of as being
engaged in certain battles, of which tribes we know nothing
at the present day; and in some instances it is stated that
some tribes sued for peace, and promised obedience to the
rule of the conquerors, for which they received grants of
lands that they at present occupy. The inhabitants of Gran
Quivira, Abo, and Quarro would be among the first that the
Spaniards would meet on their reoccupation of the country,
and there is every reason to believe that they were
exterminated by the incensed invaders."
[1] _Las siete cuevas_: in Nahuatl _Chicomoztoc_, from _chicome_, seven,
and _oztoc_, cave. Alonzo de Molina, _Vocabulario Mexicano_, 1571, parte
iia. pp. 20 and 78. Fray Juan de Tobar, _Codice Ramirez_, p. 18.
[2] Fray Diego Duran, _Historia de las Yndias de Nueva-Espana, e Islas
de Tierra Firme_, cap. i. p. 8; _Codex Vaticanus_, Kingsborough, vols.
i., ii., vi.; _Anales de Cuauhtitlan: Anales del Museo Nacional de
Mexico_, tom. i. entrega 7, p. 7 of 2d vol., but incorporated in the
first. "I acatl ipan quizque Chicomoztoc in Chichimeca omitoa moternuh
in imitoloca."
[3] _Historia de los Indios de la Nueva-Espana, in Coleccion de
Documentos para la Historia de Mexico_, by J. G. Icazbalceta, vol. i. p.
7.
[4] _Segunda Relacion Anonima de la Jornada de Nuno de Guzman, in
Coleccion de Documentos_, etc., vol. ii. p. 303.
[5] The early literature on this subject will only be fully known when
the remarkable collection called _Libro de Oro_ shall have been
published by Senor Icazbalceta, its meritorious owner. This valuable
collection of manuscripts dates from the sixteenth century, and
contains, besides a number of official reports on local matters of
Mexico and districts pertaining to it, the chronicles of the tezcucan
Juan Bautista Pomar, a copy of Motolinia, and a number of MSS. written
between 1529 and 1547 at the instance of the much-abused Bishop
Zumarraga. These MSS. contain the results of the earliest investigations
on Mexican history and tradition.
The natives of Mexico appear to have had no knowledge, nay, not even the
most dim recollection, of the _fauna_ of South-western North America.
While their so-called calendar, in the graphic tokens used to designate
each one of the twenty days of their conventional "month," contains the
forms of all the larger quadrupeds roaming over Mexico and Central
America, the tapir excepted, we look in vain for the coyote, the bear,
the mountain-sheep, and the buffalo.
[6] _Popol Vuh_, part iii. cap. iv. p. 216, cap. vi. pp. 226, 228, cap.
viii. p. 238, etc.
[7] Hernando Cortes, _Carta Quarta_, dated Temixtitan, 15 October, 1524,
Vedia i. p. 102. Gonzalo Fernandez de Oviedo y Valdes, _Historia General
y Natural de las Indias_, lib. xxxiii. cap. xxxvi. vol. iii. p. 447,
lib. xxxiv. cap. viii. p. 576, Madrid, 1853. The information was derived
from Gonzalo de Sandoval. See Antonio de Herrera, _Historia General de
los Hechos de los Castellanos en las Islas y Tierra Firme del Mar
Oceano_, dec. iii. lib. iii. cap. xvii. p. 106, edition of 1726.
[8] _Relacion de las Ceremonias y Ritos, Poblacion y Gobierno de los
Indios de la Provincia de Mechuacan_, p. 113, from the _Coleccion de
Documentos para la Historia de la Espana. Tercera Relacion Anonima de la
Jornada de Nuno de Guzman, Coleccion de Documentos_, Icazbalceta, ii.
pp. 443, 449, 451. _Matias de la Mota Padilla, Historia de la
Nueva-Galicia_, published 1870, cap. iii. p. 27. Oviedo, lib. vi. cap.
xxxiii. vol. i. pp. 222, 223.
[9] _Quarta Relacion Anonima de la Jornada de Nuno de Guzman, Coleccion
de Documentos_, Icazbalceta, ii. p. 475. Oviedo, lib. vi. cap. xxxiii.
vol. i. p. 223.
[10] In 1527, Herrera, dec. iv. lib. ii. cap. iv. pp. 26, 27.
[11] He was treasurer of Narvaez' expedition, and subsequently, upon his
return, or rather in 1541, became _adelantado_ of Paraguay.
[12] He wrote all from memory. The title of his work is _Naufragios de
Alvar Nunez Cabeza de Vaca, y Relacion de la Jornada que hizo a la
Florida_. It was first printed in 1555, at Valladolid. My references are
to the reprint in Vedia's _Historiadores Primitivos de Indias_, vol. i.
[13] Cabeza de Vaca, _Naufragios_, etc., cap. xxxvii. p. 548, xxxiv. p.
545. According to Herrera, dec. vi. lib. i. cap. vii. p. 11 and cap.
viii. p. 11, it might be either 1536 or 1534, "el ano pasado de 1534."
Oviedo, lib. xxxv. cap. vi. p. 614, intimates as much as 1538. Fray
Antonio Tello, _Historia de la Nueva-Galicia_, fragment preserved in
_Coleccion de Documentos_, Icazbalceta, ii. cap. xii. p. 358, says
"habian llegado ese ano de treinta y tres a aquellas tierras," 1533.
[14] Cabeza de Vaca, cap. xxxi. pp. 542, 543.
[15] Id., p. 543.
[16] He was a native of Savoy, Italy, and was with Sebastian de
Belalcazar during the latter's conquest of Quito. Juan de Velasco,
_Histoire du royaume de Quito_, French translation by Ternaux-Compans,
Introd. p. viii. He wrote the following books: _Conquista de la
Provincia del Quito: Ritos y Ceremonias de los Indios_; _Las dos Lineas
de los Incas y de los Scyris en las Provincias del Peru y del Quito_;
_Cartas Informativas de lo Obrado en las Provincias del Peru y del
Cuzco_. These manuscripts may still exist. According to Fray Augustin de
Vetancurt (Menologio Franciscano, ed. of 1871, pp. 117, 118, 119), he
was born at Nizza, and in 1531 came to America, being in Peru in 1532.
Thence he went to Nicaragua and Mexico. He was provincial from 1540 to
1543, and died at Mexico, March 25, 1558.
[17] Fray Marcos Nizza, _Descubrimiento de las Siete Ciudades_, p. 329.
[18] Nizza, p. 332. Herrera, dec. vi. lib. vii. cap. vii. p. 156.
[19] In _Documentos para la Historia de Mejico_, 1856, 4 serie, vol. i.
p. 327. The diary has not even a title. Mentioned by Father Jacob
Sedelmair, S. J., _Relacion que hizo ... Misionero de Tubatama_, in
_Documentos para la Historia de Mejico_, 3a serie, vol. ii. pp. 846,
848, 857, 859.
[20] On the map of Father Eusebio Francisco Kino, in _Der neue
Weltbott_, by P. Joseph Stoecklein, vol. i. 2d edition, 1728, there
appears St. Ludov. de Bacapa. The diary of Mange, p. 327, is explicit.
[21] Manuel Orozco y Berra, _Geografia de las Lenguas y Carta
Etnografica de Mexico_, part iii. cap. xxiii. pp. 345-353, etc.
Francisco Pimentel, _Cuadro Descriptivo y Comparativo de las Lenguas
Indigenas de Mexico_, 1865, vol. ii. pp. 91, 92-116.
[22] The fact that he became the guide of Coronado, and led him to
Cibola, indicates that Fray Marcos crossed the Gila, since otherwise the
Spaniards would have traversed the Sierra Madre, and entered New Mexico
from Chihuahua. It is true that the general direction of Coronado's
march from Culiacan was from south to north, inclining to the _east_.
[23] The attest of D. Antonio de Mendoza, concerning Nizza's report,
bears the date, Mexico, 2 Sept., 1539. Consequently, Fray Marcos had
returned previously. See _Relation du Voyage de Cibola_,
Ternaux-Compans, Appendix, p. 282.
[24] This word is said to be now found only in the dialect of the pueblo
of Isleta, south of Santa Fe, under the form _sibuloda_, buffalo. Albert
S. Gatschet, _Zwoelf Sprachen aus dem Suedwesten Nord Amerika's_, Weimar,
1876, p. 106.
[25] Herrera, _Descripcion de las Indias_, cap. ix. p. 17, says that
Mexico has 4,000 vecinos. This was in 1610, about.
[26] Lewis H. Morgan, _On the Ruins of a Stone Pueblo on the Animas
River_, in _12th Annual Report of the Peabody Museum of American
Archaeology_, etc., 1880, p. 550.
[27] _The Spanish Conquest of New Mexico_, Doylestown, Pa., 1869.
[28] Pedro de Castaneda y Nagera, _Relation du Voyage de Cibola_,
translation of Ternaux-Compans, Paris, 1838, part ii. cap. iii. p. 163.