I said, and then, as they brought no news except what the alderman
had delivered, the army left the ravine and returned to the Teyas,
where they took guides who led them back by a more direct road. They
readily furnished these, because these people are always roaming over
this country in pursuit of the animals and so know it thoroughly.
They keep their road in this way: In the morning they notice where
the sun rises and observe the direction they are going to take,
and then shoot an arrow in this direction. Before reaching this
they shoot another over it, and in this way they go all day toward
the water where they are to end the day. In this way they covered
in twenty-five days what had taken them thirty-seven days going,
besides stopping to hunt cows on the way. They found many salt
lakes on this road, and there was a great quantity of salt. There
were thick pieces of it on top of the water bigger than tables, as
thick as four or five fingers. Two or three spans down under water
there was salt which tasted better than that in the floating pieces,
because this was rather bitter. It was crystalline. All over these
plains there were large numbers of animals like squirrels[426] and
a great number of their holes. On its return the army reached the
Cicuye river more than thirty leagues below there--I mean below the
bridge they had made when they crossed it, and they followed it up
to that place.[427] In general, its banks are covered with a sort
of rose bushes, the fruit of which tastes like muscatel grapes.
They grow on little twigs about as high up as a man. It has the
parsley leaf. There were unripe grapes and currants(?) and wild
marjoram. The guides said this river joined that of Tiguex more
than twenty days from here, and that its course turned toward the
east. It is believed that it flows into the mighty river of the Holy
Spirit (Espiritu Santo), which the men with Don Hernando de Soto
discovered in Florida.[428] A painted Indian woman ran away from
Juan de Saldibar and hid in the ravines about this time, because she
recognized the country of Tiguex where she had been a slave. She fell
into the hands of some Spaniards who had entered the country from
Florida to explore it in this direction.[429] After I got back to New
Spain I heard them say that the Indian told them that she had run
away from other men like them nine days, and that she gave the names
of some captains; from which we ought to believe that we were not far
from the region they discovered, although they said they were more
than 200 leagues inland. I believe the land at that point is more
than 600 leagues across from sea to sea.
[426] Prairie-dogs.
[427] This would make the point at which the army reached Pecos
River about eighty miles below Puerto de Luna, or not far from
the present town of Roswell.
[428] Castañeda is writing about twenty years later. De Soto's
army was exploring the eastern country as Coronado was traversing
the buffalo plains. The Espiritu Santo is the Mississippi.
[429] See the Gentleman of Elvas in the second part of the
present volume.
As I said, the army followed the river up as far as Cicuye, which it
found ready for war and unwilling to make any advances toward peace
or to give any food to the army. From there they went on to Tiguex
where several villages had been reinhabited, but the people were
afraid and left them again.
Chapter 22
_Of how the general returned from Quivira and of other
expeditions toward the North._
After Don Tristan de Arellano reached Tiguex, about the middle of
July, in the year '42,[430] he had provisions collected for the
coming winter. Captain Francisco de Barrionuevo was sent up the river
toward the north with several men. He saw two provinces, one of
which was called Hemes[431] and had seven villages, and the other
Yuqueyunque.[432] The inhabitants of Hemes came out peaceably and
furnished provisions. At Yuqueyunque the whole nation left two very
fine villages which they had on either side of the river entirely
vacant, and went into the mountains, where they had four very strong
villages in a rough country, where it was impossible for horses to
go.[433] In the two villages there was a great deal of food and some
very beautiful glazed earthenware with many figures and different
shapes.[434] Here they also found many bowls full of a carefully
selected shining metal with which they glazed the earthenware. This
shows that mines of silver would be found in that country if they
should hunt for them.
[430] As usual Castañeda gives a date a year later than the
actual one.
[431] The pueblos occupied by the Jemez people. Only one of these
now exists; this is on the Rio Jemez, a western tributary of the
Rio Grande, which enters the latter stream above Bernalillo, New
Mexico. See p. 359, note 2.
[432] This was Yukiwingge, on the site of the present small
village of Chamita, at the mouth of the Rio Chama, opposite San
Juan pueblo. The other one of the two villages was doubtless San
Juan. Both of these were occupied by Tewa Indians. At Yukiwingge
was established, in 1598, by Juan de Oñate, the colonizer of New
Mexico, the settlement of San Gabriel de los Españoles, which
was occupied until the spring of 1605, when the seat of the
provincial government was moved to Santa Fé, founded for the
purpose in that year. See p. 359, note 4.
[433] These may have been the pueblos, now in ruins, in and north
of the Pajarito Park, one of which, called Puye, gives evidence
of occupancy in post-Spanish times.
[434] It is not known definitely whether actually glazed pottery
or merely the black, highly polished earthenware characteristic
of the Tewa Indians of the neighborhood is here meant. The
ancient Pueblos manufactured a ware with decoration in what
appears to be a salt glaze. Specimens of this have been gathered
in the Pajarito Park, at Zuñi, among the Hopi of Arizona, and
from ancient ruins around Acoma, but the art seems to have been
lost. There is abundant evidence that this form of decoration was
prehistoric. The finding of the "shining metal" (called antimony
in Pt. 2, chap. 4) would seem to indicate that the polished
rather than the glazed ware was here meant.
There was a large and powerful river, I mean village, which was
called Braba, twenty leagues farther up the river, which our men
called Valladolid.[435] The river flowed through the middle of it.
The natives crossed it by wooden bridges, made of very long, large,
squared pines. At this village they saw the largest and finest hot
rooms or estufas that there were in the entire country, for they had
a dozen pillars, each one of which was twice as large around as one
could reach and twice as tall as a man. Hernando de Alvarado visited
this village when he discovered Cicuye. The country is very high and
very cold.[436] The river is deep and very swift, without any ford.
Captain Barrionuevo returned from here, leaving the province at peace.
[435] This was the pueblo of Taos, which stood near the site of
the present village of the same name, on both sides of the little
stream (Taos River). The present Taos has 425 inhabitants. The
swift and deep river without the ford, here referred to, must
have been the Rio Grande in the neighborhood of Taos, rather than
the Rio de Taos, which is insignificant except in seasons of
freshet. Castañeda was evidently not one of Barrionuevo's party.
[436] The altitude of Taos is 6983 feet; of Taos Peak, 13,145
feet.
Another captain went down the river in search of the settlements
which the people at Tutahaco had said were several days distant
from there. This captain went down eighty leagues and found four
large villages which he left at peace.[437] He proceeded until he
found that the river sank into the earth, like the Guadiana in
Estremadura.[438] He did not go on to where the Indians said that it
came out much larger, because his commission did not extend for more
than eighty leagues' march. After this captain got back, as the time
had arrived which the captain had set for his return from Quivira,
and as he had not come back, Don Tristan selected forty companions
and, leaving the army to Francisco de Barrionuevo, he started with
them in search of the general. When he reached Cicuye the people came
out of the village to fight, which detained him there four days,
while he punished them, which he did by firing some volleys into the
village. These killed several men, so that they did not come out
against the army, since two of their principal men had been killed
on the first day. Just then word was brought that the general was
coming, and so Don Tristan had to stay there on this account also,
to keep the road open. Everybody welcomed the general on his arrival,
with great joy. The Indian Xabe, who was the young fellow who had
been given to the general at Cicuye when he started off in search of
Quivira, was with Don Tristan de Arellano and when he learned that
the general was coming he acted as if he was greatly pleased, and
said, "Now when the general comes, you will see that there are gold
and silver in Quivira, although not so much as the Turk said." When
the general arrived, and Xabe saw that they had not found anything,
he was sad and silent, and kept declaring that there was some. He
made many believe that it was so, because the general had not dared
to enter into the country on account of its being thickly settled
and his force not very strong, and that he had returned to lead
his army there after the rains, because it had begun to rain there
already, as it was early in August when he left. It took him forty
days to return, travelling lightly equipped. The Turk had said when
they left Tiguex that they ought not to load the horses with too much
provisions, which would tire them so that they could not afterward
carry the gold and silver, from which it is very evident that he was
deceiving them.
[437] Seemingly the Piros villages on the Rio Grande south of
Isleta. They are now extinct, having been finally abandoned
during the revolt in 1680, the inhabitants fleeing with Governor
Otermin to El Paso. Senecu and Socorro (taking their names from
former villages) were afterward established below El Paso, where
the few survivors of the Piros, almost entirely Mexicanized,
still reside.
[438] This rendering, doubtless correct, is due to Ternaux.
The Guadiana, however, reappears above ground some time before
it begins to mark the boundary of the Spanish province of
Estremadura. The Castañeda family had its seat in quite the other
end of the peninsula. (Winship.)
The general reached Cicuye with his force and at once set off
for Tiguex, leaving the village more quiet, for they had met him
peaceably and had talked with him. When he reached Tiguex, he made
his plans to pass the winter there, so as to return with the whole
army, because it was said that he brought information regarding large
settlements and very large rivers, and that the country was very much
like that of Spain in the fruits and vegetation and seasons. They
were not ready to believe that there was no gold there, but instead
had suspicions that there was some farther back in the country,
because, although this was denied, they knew what the thing was and
had a name for it among themselves--_acochis_.[439] With this we end
this first part, and now we will give an account of the provinces.
[439] See p. 337, note 1.
SECOND PART
_Which treats of the high villages and provinces and of their
habits and customs, as collected by Pedro de Castañeda, native
of the city of Najara._
_Laus Deo_
It does not seem to me that the reader will be satisfied with having
seen and understood what I have already related about the expedition,
although that has made it easy to see the difference between the
report which told about vast treasures, and the places where nothing
like this was either found or known. It is to be noted that in place
of settlements great deserts were found, and instead of populous
cities villages of 200 inhabitants and only 800 or 1000 people in
the largest. I do not know whether this will furnish grounds for
pondering and considering the uncertainty of this life. To please
these, I wish to give a detailed account of all the inhabited region
seen and discovered by this expedition, and some of their ceremonies
and habits, in accordance with what we came to know about them, and
the limits within which each province falls, so that hereafter it may
be possible to understand in what direction Florida lies and in what
direction Greater India; and this land of New Spain is part of the
mainland with Peru, and with greater India or China as well, there
not being any strait between to separate them. On the other hand,
the country is so wide that there is room for these vast deserts
which lie between the two seas, for the coast of the North sea beyond
Florida stretches toward the Bacallaos[440] and then turns toward
Norway, while that of the South sea turns toward the west, making
another bend down toward the south almost like a bow and stretches
away toward India, leaving room for the lands that border on the
mountains on both sides to stretch out in such a way as to have
between them these great plains which are full of cattle and many
other animals of different sorts, since they are not inhabited, as I
will relate farther on. There is every sort of game and fowl there,
but no snakes, for they are free from these. I will leave the account
of the return of the army to New Spain until I have shown what
slight occasion there was for this. We will begin our account with
the city of Culiacan, and point out the differences between the one
country and the other, on account of which one ought to be settled by
Spaniards and the other not. It should be the reverse, however, with
Christians, since there are intelligent men in one, and in the other
wild animals and worse than beasts.
[440] The Newfoundland region.
Chapter I
_Of the province of Culiacan and of its habits and customs._
Culiacan is the last place in the New Kingdom of Galicia, and was
the first settlement made by Nuño de Guzman when he conquered this
kingdom.[441] It is 210 leagues west of Mexico.[442] In this province
there are three chief languages, besides other related dialects. The
first is that of the Tahus, who are the best and most intelligent
race. They are now the most settled and have received the most light
from the faith. They worship idols and make presents to the devil of
their goods and riches, consisting of cloth and turquoises. They do
not eat human flesh nor sacrifice it. They are accustomed to keep
very large snakes, which they venerate. Among them there are men
dressed like women who marry other men and serve as their wives.
At a great festival they consecrate the women who wish to live
unmarried, with much singing and dancing, at which all the chiefs of
the locality gather and dance naked, and after all have danced with
her they put her in a hut that has been decorated for this event and
the chiefs adorn her with clothes and bracelets of fine turquoises,
and then the chiefs go in one by one to lie with her, and all the
others who wish, follow them. From this time on these women can not
refuse anyone who pays them a certain amount agreed on for this.
Even if they take husbands, this does not exempt them from obliging
anyone who pays them. The greatest festivals are on market days.
The custom is for the husbands to buy the women whom they marry, of
their fathers and relatives at a high price, and then to take them
to a chief, who is considered to be a priest, to deflower them and
see if she is a virgin; and if she is not, they have to return the
whole price, and he can keep her for his wife or not, or let her be
consecrated, as he chooses. At these times they all get drunk.
[441] See p. 285, note 1.
[442] Castañeda, like many other early Spanish chroniclers,
is careless in his directions. It will be observed that he
frequently says west, east, etc., when he means westwardly,
eastwardly. This has led one writer on the Coronado expedition
seriously astray. Culiacan is decidedly _northwest_ of Mexico
City.
The second language is that of the Pacaxes, the people who live in
the country between the plains and the mountains. These people are
more barbarous. Some of them who live near the mountains eat human
flesh. They are great sodomites, and have many wives, even when these
are sisters. They worship painted and sculptured stones, and are much
given to witchcraft and sorcery.
The third language is that of the Acaxes, who are in possession of
a large part of the hilly country and all of the mountains. They
go hunting for men just as they hunt animals. They all eat human
flesh, and he who has the most human bones and skulls hung up around
his house is most feared and respected. They live in settlements
and in very rough country, avoiding the plains. In passing from one
settlement to another, there is always a ravine in the way which
they can not cross, although they can talk together across it. At
the slightest call 500 men collect, and on any pretext kill and eat
one another. Thus it has been very hard to subdue these people, on
account of the roughness of the country, which is very great.
Many rich silver mines have been found in this country. They do not
run deep, but soon give out. The gulf of the sea[443] begins on the
coast of this province, entering the land 250 leagues toward the
north and ending at the mouth of the Firebrand (Tizon) River. This
country forms its eastern limit, and California[444] the western.
From what I have been told by men who had navigated it, it is thirty
leagues across from point to point, because they lose sight of this
country when they see the other. They say the gulf is over 150
leagues broad (or deep), from shore to shore. The coast makes a turn
toward the south at the Firebrand River, bending down to California,
which turns toward the west, forming that peninsula which was
formerly held to be an island, because it was a low sandy country.
It is inhabited by brutish, bestial, naked people who eat their own
offal. The men and women couple like animals, the female openly
getting down on all fours.[445]
[443] The Gulf of California.
[444] Lower California is of course meant.
[445] For an account of the Indians of Lower California in the
eighteenth century, see the translation of Father Jacob Baegert's
narrative, by Charles Rau, in the _Report of the Smithsonian
Institution_ for 1863 and 1864.
Chapter 2
_Of the province of Petlatlan and all the inhabited country as
far as Chichilticalli._
Petlatlan is a settlement of houses covered with a sort of mats made
of plants. These are collected into villages, extending along a river
from the mountains to the sea.[446] The people are of the same race
and habits as the Culuacanian Tahues. There is much sodomy among
them. In the mountain district there is a large population and more
settlements. These people have a somewhat different language from the
Tahues, although they understand each other. It is called Petlatlan
because the houses are made of petates or palm-leaf mats. Houses
of this sort are found for more than 240 leagues in this region,
to the beginning of the Cibola wilderness.[447] The nature of the
country changes here very greatly, because from this point on there
are no trees except the pine, nor are there any fruits except a few
tunas,[448] mesquites, and pitahayas.[449]
[446] The Rio Petlatlan is the present Rio Sinaloa. The name
Sinaloa is synonymous in application with Cahita, a group of
tribes including the present Yaqui and Mayo.
[447] That is, as far northward as the Rio Gila.
[448] The fruit of the prickly-pear cactus.
[449] The giant cactus. See p. 305, note 1.
Petlatlan is twenty leagues from Culiacan, and it is 130 leagues from
here to the valley of Señora. There are many rivers between the two,
with settlements of the same sort of people--for example, Sinoloa,
Boyomo, Teocomo, Yaquimi, and other smaller ones. There is also the
Corazones (Hearts), which is in our possession, down the valley of
Señora.[450]
[450] Sonora. See p. 301, notes 1 and 2.
Señora is a river and valley thickly settled by able-bodied people.
The women wear petticoats of tanned deerskin, and little san benitos
reaching half way down the body.[451] The chiefs of the villages
go up on some little heights they have made for this purpose, like
public criers, and there make proclamations for the space of an
hour, regulating those things they have to attend to. They have some
little huts for shrines, all over the outside of which they stick
many arrows, like a hedgehog. They do this when they are eager for
war. All about this province toward the mountains there is a large
population in separate little provinces containing ten or twelve
villages. Seven or eight of them, of which I know the names, are
Comupatrico, Mochilagua, Arispa,[452] and the Little Valley. There
are others which we did not see.
[451] See p. 334, note 1.
[452] This was Arizpe, on the upper waters of the Rio Sonora.
Jaramillo calls it Ispa.
It is forty leagues from Señora to the valley of Suya.[453] The town
of San Hieronimo was established in this valley, where there was a
rebellion later, and part of the people who had settled there were
killed, as will be seen in the third part. There are many villages in
the neighborhood of this valley. The people are the same as those in
Señora and have the same dress and language, habits, and customs,
like all the rest as far as the desert of Chichilticalli. The women
paint their chins and eyes like the Moorish women of Barbary. They
are great sodomites.[454] They drink wine made of the pitahaya, which
is the fruit of a great thistle which opens like the pomegranate. The
wine makes them stupid. They make a great quantity of preserves from
the tuna; they preserve it in a large amount of its sap without other
honey. They make bread of the mesquite, like cheese, which keeps good
for a whole year. There are native melons in this country so large
that a person can carry only one of them. They cut these into slices
and dry them in the sun. They are good to eat, and taste like figs,
and are better than dried meat; they are very good and sweet, keeping
for a whole year when prepared in this way.[455]
[453] See p. 326, note 2.
[454] These are, from the south northward, the Pimas Bajos or
Nevome, Opatas, Papagos, and Pimas. The older Pima women still
paint their faces in fine lines and also are tattooed, but the
custom is becoming a thing of the past. The Opatas are almost
entirely Mexicanized.
[455] These were doubtless cantaloupes The southwestern Indians
still slice and dry them in a manner similar to that here
described.
In this country there were also tame eagles, which the chiefs
esteemed to be something fine.[456] No fowls of any sort were seen
in any of these villages except in this valley of Suya, where fowls
like those of Castile were found. Nobody could find out how they came
to be so far inland, the people being all at war with one another.
Between Suya and Chichilticalli there are many sheep and mountain
goats with very large bodies and horns. Some Spaniards declare that
they have seen flocks of more than a hundred together, which ran so
fast that they disappeared very quickly.
[456] The Pueblo Indians, particularly the Zuñi and the Hopi,
keep eagles for their feathers, which are highly prized because
regarded as sacred and are much used in their ceremonies.
At Chichilticalli the country changes its character again and the
spiky vegetation ceases. The reason is that the gulf reaches as far
up as this place, and the mountain chain changes its direction at
the same time that the coast does. Here they had to cross and pass
through the mountains in order to get into the level country.[457]
[457] Probably Dragoon Pass, through the Dragoon and Galiuro
Mountains of southeastern Arizona, thence between the Pinaleño
and Chiricahua mountains to the plains of San Simon.
Chapter 3
_Of Chichilticalli and the desert, of Cibola, its customs and
habits, and of other things._
Chichilticalli is so called because the friars found a house at this
place which was formerly inhabited by people who separated from
Cibola. It was made of colored or reddish earth.[458] The house
was large and appeared to have been a fortress. It must have been
destroyed by the people of the district, who are the most barbarous
people that have yet been seen. They live in separate cabins and not
in settlements.[459] They live by hunting. The rest of the country
is all wilderness, covered with pine forests. There are great
quantities of the pine nuts. The pines are two or three times as high
as a man before they send out branches. There is a sort of oak with
sweet acorns, of which they make cakes like sugar plums with dried
coriander seeds. It is very sweet, like sugar. Watercress grows in
many springs, and there are rosebushes, and pennyroyal, and wild
marjoram.
[458] This ruin is supposed to have been in the vicinity of
the present Solomonsville, Graham County. The name is Aztec
(_chichiltic_ "red," _calli_ "house"). Writers have endeavored
to identify it with the celebrated Casa Grande farther to the
northwest, but this is inconsistent with the directions recorded
in the narratives, and all students of the subject have now
abandoned this theory.
[459] These people are not identifiable with certainty. If
the Apaches of Arizona, it is the only mention of them and is
contrary to all other testimony. The Sobaipuris lived on the
upper Rio San Pedro and on the Gila near the mouth of the former
stream, until the latter part of the eighteenth century.
There are barbels and picones,[460] like those of Spain, in the
rivers of this wilderness.[461] Gray lions and leopards were
seen.[462] The country rises continually from the beginning of the
wilderness until Cibola is reached, which is eighty leagues, going
north. From Culiacan to the edge of the wilderness the route had kept
the north on the left hand.
[460] Picones are catfish.
[461] The "wilderness," or uninhabited region, extended from the
Gila in central Graham County to the crossing of the New Mexico
boundary by Zuñi River, where Cibola began.
[462] These are the mountain lion and the wildcat.
Cibola[463] is seven villages. The largest is called Maçaque.[464]
The houses are ordinarily three or four stories high, but in Maçaque
there are houses with four and seven stories. These people are very
intelligent. They cover their privy parts and all the immodest parts
with cloths made like a sort of table napkin, with fringed edges and
a tassel at each corner, which they tie over the hips. They wear long
robes of feathers and of the skins of hares, and cotton blankets. The
women wear blankets, which they tie or knot over the left shoulder,
leaving the right arm out.[465] These serve to cover the body. They
wear a neat well-shaped outer garment of skin. They gather their hair
over the two ears, making a frame which looks like an old-fashioned
headdress.[466]
[463] See p. 300, note 1.
[464] See p. 315, note 1.
[465] Identical with the dress of the Zuñi women of to-day.
Rabbit-skin robes have been replaced by woollen blankets, like
those woven by the Navaho, who learned the art from the Pueblos.
The rabbit-skin robes are now manufactured chiefly by the
Paiutes, the Pueblos having almost ceased to make them.
[466] This custom has been abandoned except by the Hopi maidens,
who still wear their hair in picturesque whorls, one on each side
of the head, until married.
The country is a valley between ridges resembling rocky mountains.
They plant in holes. Maize does not grow high; ears from a stalk
three or four to each cane, thick and large, of eight hundred grains,
a thing not seen in these parts. There are large numbers of bears in
this province, and lions, wildcats, deer, and otter. There are very
fine turquoises, although not so many as was reported.[467] They
collect the pine nuts[468] each year, and store them up in advance.
A man does not have more than one wife. There are estufas or hot
rooms[469] in the villages, which are the courtyards or places
where they gather for consultation. They do not have chiefs as in
New Spain, but are ruled by a council of the oldest men. They have
priests who preach to them, whom they call papas.[470] These are the
elders. They go up on the highest roof of the village and preach to
the village from there, like public criers, in the morning while the
sun is rising, the whole village being silent and sitting in the
galleries to listen.[471] They tell them how they are to live, and
I believe that they give certain commandments for them to keep, for
there is no drunkenness among them nor sodomy nor sacrifices, neither
do they eat human flesh nor steal, but they are usually at work. The
estufas belong to the whole village.[472] It is a sacrilege for the
women to go into the estufas to sleep. They make the cross as a sign
of peace. They burn their dead, and throw the implements used in
their work into the fire with the bodies.[473]
[467] See p. 308, note 3. This entire description is
characteristic of the present Zuñi country, except that game is
not so abundant.
[468] Piñon nuts, which are still gathered in large quantities.
[469] The _kivas_, or ceremonial chambers, of which there are
usually several in each pueblo. It is in these that most of the
secret rites are performed.
[470] _Pápa_ is a true Zuñi word, signifying "elder brother," as
distinguished from sú-e, "younger brother." These terms allude
both to age and to rank.
[471] All public announcements are still made in this way.
[472] Rather to the religious societies. Some of them belong
exclusively to the women.
[473] Excavations made at Halona, one of the Seven Cities of
Cibola, yielded only skeletons that had been interred within the
houses, beneath the floors. In the Salt River and Gila valleys,
southern Arizona, this method was also practised, but in addition
remains were cremated and deposited in earthen vessels in mounds
near by.
It is twenty leagues to Tusayan,[474] going northwest. This is a
province with seven villages, of the same sort, dress, habits, and
ceremonies as at Cibola. There may be as many as 3,000 or 4,000 men
in the fourteen villages of these two provinces.[475] It is forty
leagues or more to Tiguex, the road trending toward the north. The
rock of Acuco, which we described in the first part, is between these.
[474] See p. 307, note 1; p. 358, note 3.
[475] This would indicate a population of 10,500 to 14,000, which
is doubtless an excessive estimate for the sixteenth century. The
present population of Zuñi is 1514; of the Hopi villages, about
2000.
Chapter 4
_Of how they live at Tiguex, and of the province of Tiguex and
its neighborhood._
Tiguex is a province with twelve villages on the banks of a large,
mighty river; some villages on one side and some on the other.[476]
It is a spacious valley two leagues wide, and a very high, rough,
snow-covered mountain chain lies east of it.[477] There are seven
villages in the ridges at the foot of this--four on the plain and
three situated on the skirts of the mountain.
[476] The Rio Grande, as previously described.
[477] The Sandia Mountains.
There are seven villages seven leagues to the north, at Quirix,
and the seven villages of the province of Hemes are forty leagues
northeast [northwest]. It is forty leagues north or east to
Acha,[478] and four leagues southeast[479] to Tutahaco, a province
with eight villages. In general, these villages all have the same
habits and customs, although some have some things in particular
which the others have not. They are governed by the opinions of the
elders. They all work together to build the villages, the women being
engaged in making the mixture and the walls, while the men bring
the wood and put it in place. They have no lime, but they make a
mixture of ashes, coals, and dirt which is almost as good as mortar,
for when the house is to have four stories, they do not make the
walls more than half a yard thick. They gather a great pile of twigs
of thyme [sagebrush] and sedge grass and set it afire, and when it
is half coals and ashes they throw a quantity of dirt and water on
it and mix it all together. They make round balls of this, which
they use instead of stones after they are dry, fixing them with the
same mixture, which comes to be like a stiff clay. Before they
are married the young men serve the whole village in general, and
fetch the wood that is needed for use, putting it in a pile in the
courtyard of the villages, from which the women take it to carry to
their houses.[480]
[478] The pueblo of Picuris, about twenty miles south of Taos.
This is a Tigua village of about 125 inhabitants.
[479] Compare the previous reference to Tutahaco (p. 314). Both
the distance and the direction here given seem to be erroneous.
[480] This would indicate the existence of a true communal system
that does not prevail at the present time.
The young men live in the estufas, which are in the yards of the
village. They are underground, square or round, with pine pillars.
Some were seen with twelve pillars and with four in the centre as
large as two men could stretch around. They usually had three or four
pillars. The floor was made of large, smooth stones, like the baths
which they have in Europe. They have a hearth made like the binnacle
or compass box of a ship, in which they burn a handful of thyme at
a time to keep up the heat, and they can stay in there just as in a
bath. The top was on a level with the ground. Some that were seen
were large enough for a game of ball. When any man wishes to marry,
it has to be arranged by those who govern. The man has to spin and
weave a blanket and place it before the woman, who covers herself
with it and becomes his wife.[481] The houses belong to the women,
the estufas to the men. If a man repudiates his woman, he has to go
to the estufa. It is forbidden for women to sleep in the estufas,
or to enter these for any purpose except to give their husbands or
sons something to eat. The men spin and weave. The women bring up the
children and prepare the food. The country is so fertile that they
do not have to break up the ground the year round, but only have to
sow the seed, which is presently covered by the fall of snow, and
the ears come up under the snow. In one year they gather enough for
seven. A very large number of cranes and wild geese and crows and
starlings live on what is sown, and for all this, when they come to
sow for another year, the fields are covered with corn which they
have not been able to finish gathering.
[481] See Voth, "Oraibi Marriage Customs," _American
Anthropologist_, II. 238 (1900).
There are a great many native fowl in these provinces, and cocks
with great hanging chins.[482] When dead, these keep for sixty days,
and longer in winter, without losing their feathers or opening, and
without any bad smell, and the same is true of dead men.
[482] The American turkey cocks.
The villages are free from nuisances, because they go outside to
excrete, and they pass their water into clay vessels, which they
empty at a distance from the village.[483] They keep the separate
houses where they prepare the food for eating and where they grind
the meal, very clean. This is a separate room or closet, where they
have a trough with three stones fixed in stiff clay. Three women
go in here, each one having a stone, with which one of them breaks
the corn, the next grinds it, and the third grinds it again.[484]
They take off their shoes, do up their hair, shake their clothes,
and cover their heads before they enter the door. A man sits at the
door playing on a fife while they grind, moving the stones to the
music and singing together. They grind a large quantity at one time,
because they make all their bread of meal soaked in warm water, like
wafers. They gather a great quantity of brushwood and dry it to use
for cooking all through the year. There are no fruits good to eat
in the country, except the pine nuts. They have their preachers.
Sodomy is not found among them. They do not eat human flesh nor make
sacrifices of it. The people are not cruel, for they had Francisco
de Ovando in Tiguex about forty days, after he was dead, and when
the village was captured, he was found among their dead, whole and
without any other wound except the one which killed him, white as
snow, without any bad smell. I found out several things about them
from one of our Indians, who had been a captive among them for a
whole year. I asked him especially for the reason why the young
women in that province went entirely naked, however cold it might be,
and he told me that the virgins had to go around this way until they
took a husband, and that they covered themselves after they had known
man. The men here wear little shirts of tanned deerskin and their
long robes over this. In all these provinces they have earthenware
glazed with antimony and jars of extraordinary labor and workmanship,
which were worth seeing.[485]
[483] A custom still common at Zuñi and other pueblos. Before the
introduction of manufactured dyes the Pueblos used urine as a
mordant.
[484] See Mindeleff's "Pueblo Architecture," in the _Eighth
Annual Report of the Bureau of Ethnology_, p. 208; also Cushing,
"Zuñi Breadstuff," in _The Millstone_ (Indianapolis, 1884-1885).
[485] A number of memoirs on the pottery of the ancient Pueblos
may be consulted in the _Annual Reports_ of the Bureau of
American Ethnology.
Chapter 5
_Of Cicuye and the villages in its neighborhood, and of how some
people came to conquer this country._
We have already said that the people of Tiguex and of all the
provinces on the banks of that river were all alike, having the same
ways of living and the same customs. It will not be necessary to say
anything particular about them. I wish merely to give an account of
Cicuye and some depopulated villages which the army saw on the direct
road which it followed thither, and of others that were across the
snowy mountains near Tiguex, which also lay in that region above the
river.
Cicuye[486] is a village of nearly five hundred warriors, who are
feared throughout that country. It is square, situated on a rock,
with a large court or yard in the middle, containing the estufas.
The houses are all alike, four stories high. One can go over the
top of the whole village without there being a street to hinder.
There are corridors going all around it at the first two stories, by
which one can go around the whole village. These are like outside
balconies, and they are able to protect themselves under these. The
houses do not have doors below, but they use ladders, which can be
lifted up like a drawbridge, and so go up to the corridors which
are on the inside of the village. As the doors of the houses open
on the corridor of that story, the corridor serves as a street. The
houses that open on the plain are right back of those that open on
the court, and in time of war they go through those behind them. The
village is enclosed by a low wall of stone. There is a spring of
water inside, which they are able to divert.[487] The people of this
village boast that no one has been able to conquer them and that they
conquer whatever villages they wish. The people and their customs are
like those of the other villages. Their virgins also go nude until
they take husbands, because they say that if they do anything wrong
then it will be seen, and so they do not do it. They do not need to
be ashamed because they go around as they were born.
[486] This is Pecos, the largest pueblo of New Mexico in the
sixteenth century and for a long time after. Its people belonged
to the Tanoan family, although their language was understood only
by the Jemez villagers, their nearest kindred. It was the scene
of the missionary labors of Fray Luis Descalona, who remained
behind when Coronado returned to Mexico in 1542, but he was
probably killed before the close of that year. Pecos became the
seat of an important Franciscan mission early in the seventeenth
century, but it began to decline after the revolt of 1680-1692,
and in 1838 the half-dozen survivors removed to Jemez, where
one of them still (1906) lives. Cicuye is the Isleta, or Tigua,
name for Pecos, while "Pecos" itself is the Keresan, or Queres,
appellation, with the Spanish-English plural. The ruins of the
town are plainly visible from the Santa Fé Railway. See Bandelier
in _Papers of the Archaeological Institute of America_, Amer.
ser., I. (1881); Hewett in _American Anthropologist_, n. s., VI.
No. 4, 1904.
[487] The spring was "still trickling out beneath a massive ledge
of rocks on the west sill" when Bandelier (_op. cit._) sketched
it in 1880.
There is a village, small and strong, between Cicuye and the province
of Quirix, which the Spaniards named Ximena,[488] and another village
almost deserted, only one part of which is inhabited.[489] This
was a large village, and judging from its condition and newness it
appeared to have been destroyed. They called this the village of the
granaries (_silos_), because large underground cellars were found
here stored with corn. There was another large village farther on,
entirely destroyed and pulled down, in the yards of which there were
many stone balls, as big as twelve-quart bowls, which seemed to have
been thrown by engines or catapults, which had destroyed the village.
All that I was able to find out about them was that, sixteen years
before, some people called Teyas[490] had come to this country in
great numbers and had destroyed these villages. They had besieged
Cicuye but had not been able to capture it, because it was strong,
and when they left the region, they had made peace with the whole
country. It seems as if they must have been a powerful people, and
that they must have had engines to knock down the villages. The only
thing they could tell about the direction these people came from was
by pointing toward the north. They usually call these people Teyas
or brave men, just as the Mexicans say chichimecas or braves,[491]
for the Teyas whom the army saw were brave. These knew the people
in the settlements, and were friendly with them, and they (the
Teyas of the plains) went there to spend the winter under the wings
of the settlements. The inhabitants do not dare to let them come
inside, because they can not trust them. Although they are received
as friends, and trade with them, they do not stay in the villages
over night, but outside under the wings. The villages are guarded
by sentinels with trumpets, who call to one another just as in the
fortresses of Spain.
[488] The former Tanos pueblo of Galisteo, a mile and a half
northeast of the present town of the same name.
[489] According to Mota Padilla, _Historia de la Conquista_, 1742
(Mexico, 1870), this was called Coquite.
[490] These Indians were seen by Coronado during his journey
across the plains. See p. 333, note 3.
[491] The name applied in Mexico at the time to any warlike,
unsubdued tribe.
There are seven other villages along this route, toward the snowy
mountains,[492] one of which has been half destroyed by the people
already referred to. These were under the rule of Cicuye. Cicuye is
in a little valley between mountain chains and mountains covered with
large pine forests. There is a little stream[493] which contains
very good trout and otters, and there are very large bears and good
falcons hereabouts.
[492] The mountains to the north, in which the Rio Pecos has its
source.
[493] The Rio Pecos, still noted for trout.
Chapter 6
_Which gives the number of villages which were seen in the
country of the terraced houses, and their population._
Before I proceed to speak of the plains, with the cows and
settlements and tribes there, it seems to me that it will be well for
the reader to know how large the settlements were, where the houses
with stories, gathered into villages, were seen, and how great an
extent of country they occupied.[494] As I say, Cibola is the first:
Cibola, seven villages.[495]
Tusayan, seven villages.[496]
The rock of Acuco, one.[497]
Tiguex, twelve villages.[498]
Tutahaco, eight villages.[499]
These villages were below the river.[500]
Quirix, seven villages.[501]
In the snowy mountains, seven villages.[502]
Ximena, three villages.[503]
Cicuye, one village.[504]
Hemes, seven villages.[505]
Aguas Calientes, or Boiling Springs, three villages.[506]
Yuqueyunque, in the mountains, six villages.[507]
Valladolid, called Braba, one village.[508]
Chia, one village.[509]
[494] Only the pueblos of Acoma and Isleta occupy their
sixteenth-century sites, all the other villages having shifted
their locations after the great revolt of 1680-1692, when the
Spaniards granted specific tracts of land, usually a league
square, later confirmed to the Indians by Congress under the
provisions of the treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo.
[495] Zuñi, including the pueblos of Halona, Matsaki, Kiakima,
Hawiku, Kyanawe, and two others which have not been identified
with certainty.
[496] The Hopi villages, among them being Awatobi (destroyed
at the beginning of the eighteenth century), Oraibi, Walpi,
Mishongnovi, Shongopovi, and Shupaulovi. The remaining pueblo
has not been determined absolutely. Sichomovi and Hano are
comparatively modern.
[497] Acoma. See p. 311, note 2.
[498] The Tigua pueblos; see p. 312, note 2.
[499] See p. 314, note 1.
[500] Meaning that the provinces of Tiguex and Tutahaco were
those farthest down the valley.
[501] The pueblos of the Queres, or Keresan, family. See p. 327,
note 3.
[502] Toward the north, in the direction of Santa Fé.
[503] Ximena itself was Galisteo. The others were "Coquite" and
the "Pueblo de los Silos." See p. 356, notes 2 and 3.
[504] Pecos. See p. 355, note 2.
[505] Jemez, including Giusiwá, Amushungkwá, Patoqua, and
Astyalakwá. There are many ruins in the vicinity, including those
of a large Spanish church at Giusiwá. Evidently some of the Sia
villages are here included.
[506] The Jemez villages about the Jemez Hot Springs, above the
present Jemez pueblo. Castañeda here duplicates his provinces
somewhat, as the Aguas Calientes pueblos were Jemez, Giusiwá
being one of the most prominent.
[507] See p. 340, note 1. This group of Tewa villages doubtless
included San Juan, Santa Clara, San Ildefonso, Tesuque, Nambe,
Pojoaque, and Yukiwingge. Jacona, Cuyamunque, and others were
also occupied by the Tewas during this period, no doubt, but
these may have been included in Castañeda's province of the Snowy
Mountains.
[508] Taos. See p. 340, note 4.
[509] Sia, a Queres pueblo, probably included, with Santa Ana, in
his "Quirix" group, above.
In all, there are sixty-six villages.[510] Tiguex appears to be in
the centre of the villages. Valladolid is the farthest up the river
toward the northeast. The four villages down the river are toward the
southeast, because the river turns toward the east.[511] It is 130
leagues--ten more or less--from the farthest point that was seen down
the river to the farthest point up the river, and all the settlements
are within this region. Including those at a distance, there are
sixty-six villages in all, as I have said, and in all of them there
may be some 20,000 men, which may be taken to be a fair estimate of
the population of the villages.[512] There are no houses or other
buildings between one village and another, but where we went it is
entirely uninhabited. These people, since they are few, and their
manners, government, and habits are so different from all the nations
that have been seen and discovered in these western regions, must
come from that part of Greater India, the coast of which lies to
the west of this country, for they could have come down from that
country, crossing the mountain chains and following down the river,
settling in what seemed to them the best place. As they multiplied,
they have kept on making settlements until they lost the river when
it buried itself underground, its course being in the direction
of Florida. It [the Rio Grande] comes down from the northeast,
where they [Coronado's army] could certainly have found signs of
villages. He [Coronado] preferred, however, to follow the reports
of the Turk, but it would have been better to cross the mountains
where this river rises. I believe they would have found traces of
riches and would have reached the lands from which these people
started, which from its location is on the edge of Greater India,
although the region is neither known nor understood, because from the
trend of the coast it appears that the land between Norway and China
is very far up. The country from sea to sea is very wide, judging
from the location of both coasts, as well as from what Captain
Villalobos discovered when he went in search of China by the sea to
the west,[513] and from what has been discovered on the North Sea
concerning the trend of the coast of Florida toward the Bacallaos, up
toward Norway.[514]
[510] Castañeda lists seventy-one, probably having added others
without altering the total here given.
[511] The trend of the Rio Grande is really southwestward until
after the southern limit of the old Pueblo settlements is passed.
Perhaps Castañeda had in mind the southeastward course of the
stream farther south "toward Florida," as mentioned later in this
paragraph. He is probably here speaking from hearsay, as the
exploration downstream was not made by the main body.
[512] This would give a total Pueblo population of about 70,000,
whereas it could scarcely have much exceeded Castañeda's
estimated number of men alone.
[513] Ruy Lopez de Villalobos sailed from Acapulco, Mexico, in
command of four vessels, in 1542, discovered the Caroline and
Pelew archipelagos and sighted Caesarea Caroli, believed to be
Luzon, of the Philippine group. Later he established a colony on
an island which he called Antonio or Saragan. Supplies failing,
he despatched three of the vessels to Mexico, but these were
wrecked. Forced by hunger to flee to Amboina, Villalobos was
imprisoned by the Portuguese. One of his men, escaping, carried
the news to Mexico in 1549.
[514] "The Spanish text," remarks Mr. Winship, "fully justifies
Castañeda's statement that he was not skilled in the arts of
rhetoric and geography."
To return then to the proposition with which I began, I say that the
settlements and people already named were all that were seen in a
region seventy leagues wide and 130 long, in the settled country
along the river Tiguex.[515] In New Spain there are not one but
many establishments containing a larger number of people. Silver
metals[516] were found in many of their villages, which they use for
glazing and painting their earthenware.
[515] Castañeda here contradicts himself, as Pecos, Acoma, and
the Zuñi and Tusayan groups of pueblos are not in the valley of
the Rio Grande.
[516] Previously called antimony. See p. 355, note 1.
Chapter 7
_Which treats of the plains that were crossed, of the cows, and
of the people who inhabit them._
We have spoken of the settlements of high houses which are situated
in what seems to be the most level and open part of the mountains,
since it is 150 leagues across before entering the level country
between the two mountain chains which I said were near the North
Sea and the South Sea, which might better be called the Western Sea
along this coast. This mountain series is the one which is near
the South Sea. In order to show that the settlements are in the
middle of the mountains, I will state that it is eighty leagues from
Chichilticalli, where we began to cross this country, to Cibola; from
Cibola, which is the first village, to Cicuye, which is the last on
the way across, is seventy leagues; it is thirty leagues from Cicuye
to where the plains begin. It may be we went across in an indirect or
roundabout way, which would make it seem as if there was more country
than if it had been crossed in a direct line,[517] and it may be more
difficult and rougher. This can not be known certainly, because the
mountains change their direction above the bay at the mouth of the
Firebrand (Tizon) River.[518]
[517] After leaving Cicuye (Pecos) the army marched down the
river for four days, crossed the stream over a bridge that
they had built, and then reached the Staked Plain of Texas by
travelling first a northeasterly then a southeasterly course. See
Pt. 1, chap. 19.
[518] The Rio Colorado.
Now we will speak of the plains. The country is spacious and level,
and is more than 400 leagues wide in the part between the two
mountain ranges--one, that which Francisco Vazquez Coronado crossed,
and the other that which the force under Don Fernando de Soto
crossed, near the North Sea, entering the country from Florida. No
settlements were seen anywhere on these plains.[519]
[519] That is, if the writer overlooks the settlements (one of
them called Cona) in the ravines of the headwaters of the Texas
streams, about the eastern escarpment of the Staked Plain,
previously mentioned.
In traversing 250 leagues, the other mountain range was not seen, nor
a hill nor a hillock which was three times as high as a man. Several
lakes were found at intervals; they were round as plates, a stone's
throw or more across, some fresh and some salt.[520] The grass grows
tall near these lakes; away from them it is very short, a span or
less. The country is like a bowl, so that when a man sits down, the
horizon surrounds him all around at the distance of a musket shot.
There are no groves of trees except at the rivers, which flow at the
bottom of some ravines where the trees grow so thick that they were
not noticed until one was right on the edge of them. They are of dead
earth. There are paths down into these, made by the cows when they
go to the water, which is essential throughout these plains. As I
have related in the first part, people follow the cows, hunting them
and tanning the skins to take to the settlements in the winter to
sell, since they go there to pass the winter, each company going to
those which are nearest, some to the settlements at Cicuye, others
toward Quivira, and others to the settlements which are situated
in the direction of Florida. These people are called Querechos and
Teyas. They described some large settlements, and judging from what
was seen of these people and from the accounts they gave of other
places, there are a good many more of these people than there are
of those at the settlements. They have better figures, are better
warriors, and are more feared. They travel like the Arabs, with their
tents and troops of dogs loaded with poles[521] and having Moorish
pack-saddles with girths. When the load gets disarranged, the dogs
howl, calling some one to fix them right. These people eat raw flesh
and drink blood. They do not eat human flesh.[522] They are a kind
people and not cruel. They are faithful friends. They are able to
make themselves very well understood by means of signs.[523] They dry
the flesh in the sun, cutting it thin like a leaf,[524] and when dry
they grind it like meal to keep it and make a sort of sea soup of
it to eat. A handful thrown into a pot swells up so as to increase
very much. They season it with fat, which they always try to secure
when they kill a cow.[525] They empty a large gut and fill it with
blood, and carry this around the neck to drink when they are thirsty.
When they open the belly of a cow, they squeeze out the chewed grass
and drink the juice that remains behind, because they say that this
contains the essence of the stomach. They cut the hide open at the
back and pull it off at the joints, using a flint as large as a
finger, tied in a little stick, with as much ease as if working
with a good iron tool. They give it an edge with their own teeth.
The quickness with which they do this is something worth seeing and
noting.
[520] The salt lakes near the Texas-New Mexico boundary. Further
allusion to these salt lakes is made in Pt. 1, chap. 21.
[521] The well-known travois of the plains tribes. The poles were
those used to support the tents, or tipis, and were usually of
cedar.
[522] Some of the tribes of Texas, however, especially the
Attacapa and the Tonkawa, were noted as cannibals.
[523] The sign language was in general use among the tribes
of the great plains, rendered necessary by the diversity of
languages. See Mallery, _Introduction to the Study of Sign
Language_ (Washington, 1880); Clark, _Indian Sign Language_
(1885).
[524] The "jerked beef" of the later frontiersmen.
[525] The _pemmican_ of the Indians.
There are very great numbers of wolves on these plains, which go
around with the cows. They have white skins. The deer are pied with
white. Their skin is loose, so that when they are killed it can
be pulled off with the hand while warm, coming off like pigskin.
The rabbits, which are very numerous, are so foolish that those
on horseback killed them with their lances. This is when they are
mounted among the cows. They fly from a person on foot.
Chapter 8
_Of Quivira, of where it is and some information about it._
Quivira is to the west[526] of those ravines, in the midst of the
country, somewhat nearer the mountains toward the sea, for the
country is level as far as Quivira, and there they began to see some
mountain chains. The country is well settled. Judging from what was
seen on the borders of it, this country is very similar to that of
Spain in the varieties of vegetation and fruits. There are plums like
those of Castile, grapes, nuts, mulberries, oats, pennyroyal, wild
marjoram, and large quantities of flax, but this does not do them any
good, because they do not know how to use it.[527] The people are of
almost the same sort and appearance as the Teyas. They have villages
like those in New Spain. The houses are round, without a wall, and
they have one story like a loft, under the roof, where they sleep and
keep their belongings. The roofs are of straw.[528] There are other
thickly settled provinces around it containing large numbers of men.
A friar named Juan de Padilla remained in this province, together
with a Spanish-Portuguese and a negro and a half-blood and some
Indians from the province of Capothan,[529] in New Spain. They killed
the friar because he wanted to go to the province of the Guas,[530]
who were their enemies. The Spaniard escaped by taking flight on a
mare, and afterward reached New Spain, coming out by way of Panuco.
The Indians from New Spain who accompanied the friar were allowed by
the murderers to bury him, and then they followed the Spaniard and
overtook him. This Spaniard was a Portuguese, named Campo.[531]
[526] Castañeda is sometimes confused in his directions. In
this instance unless "west" (_poniente_) is a slip of the pen,
he evidently forgot that the army travelled for weeks to the
north, "by the needle," after journeying for some distance toward
sunrise from the ravines of western Texas.
[527] This flora is characteristic of the upper plains generally,
and the passage has been quoted by students of the route to show
that Quivira lay both in Kansas and in Nebraska.
[528] Note the character of the houses as one of the chief means
of determining the inhabitants of Quivira. See p. 337, note 1.
[529] The Jaramillo narrative says Capottan or Capotean.
[530] Possibly the Kaw or Kansa Indians. See Pt. 3, chap. 4.
[531] Compare Herrera, _Historia General_, dec. vi., lib. ix.,
cap. xii., Vol. III., p. 207 (ed. 1730); Gomara, _Historia
General_, cap. CCXIIII. (1553); Mota Padilla, _Historia de la
Conquista_, 1742, p. 167 (1870); and specially Bandelier in
_American Catholic Quarterly Review_, XV. 551-565 (Philadelphia,
July, 1890).
The great river of the Holy Spirit (Espiritu Santo),[532] which Don
Fernando de Soto discovered in the country of Florida, flows through
this country. It passes through a province called Arache,[533]
according to the reliable accounts which were obtained here. The
sources were not visited, because, according to what they said, it
comes from a very distant country in the mountains of the South
Sea, from the part that sheds its waters onto the plains. It flows
across all the level country and breaks through the mountains of the
North Sea, and comes out where the people with Don Fernando de Soto
navigated it. This is more than 300 leagues from where it enters
the sea.[534] On account of this, and also because it has large
tributaries, it is so mighty when it enters the sea that they lost
sight of the land before the water ceased to be fresh.[535]
[532] The Missouri-Mississippi.
[533] The Harahey of Jaramillo's account--evidently the Pawnee
country, about the Platte River, Nebraska. The "Relacion
del Suceso," _Fourteenth Report of the Bureau of Ethnology_
(Washington, 1896), spells it Harale.
[534] The North and the South seas are the Atlantic and the
Pacific oceans respectively.
[535] See Cabeza de Vaca's narrative in the present volume.
This country of Quivira was the last that was seen, of which I am
able to give any description or information. Now it is proper for
me to return and speak of the army, which I left in Tiguex, resting
for the winter, so that it would be able to proceed or return in
search of these settlements of Quivira, which was not accomplished
after all, because it was God's pleasure that these discoveries
should remain for other peoples and that we who had been there should
content ourselves with saying that we were the first who discovered
it and obtained any information concerning it, just as Hercules knew
the site where Julius Cæsar was to found Seville or Hispales. May
the all-powerful Lord grant that His will be done in everything.
It is certain that if this had not been His will Francisco Vazquez
[Coronado] would not have returned to New Spain without cause or
reason, as he did, and that it would not have been left for those
with Don Fernando de Soto to settle such a good country, as they
have done, and besides settling it to increase its extent, after
obtaining, as they did, information from our army.[536]
[536] Mr. Winship calls attention to Mota Padilla's reasons
for the failure of the expedition: "It was most likely the
chastisement of God that riches were not found on this
expedition, because, when this ought to have been the secondary
object of the expedition, and the conversion of all those heathen
their first aim, they bartered with fate and struggled after the
secondary; and thus the misfortune is not so much that all those
labors were without fruit, but the worst is that such a number
of souls have remained in their blindness." _Historia de la
Conquista_, 1742, p. 166 (repr. 1870).
THIRD PART
_Which describes what happened to Francisco Vazquez Coronado
during the winter, and how he gave up the expedition and
returned to New Spain._
_Laus Deo_
Chapter 1
_Of how Don Pedro de Tovar came from Señora with some men, and
Don Garcia Lopez de Cardenas started back to New Spain._
At the end of the first part of this book, we told how Francisco
Vazquez Coronado, when he got back from Quivira, gave orders to
winter at Tiguex, in order to return, when the winter was over, with
his whole army to discover all the settlements in those regions. Don
Pedro de Tovar, who had gone, as we related, to conduct a force from
the city of San Hieronimo, arrived in the meantime with the men whom
he had brought. He had not selected the rebels and seditious men
there, but the most experienced ones and the best soldiers--men whom
he could trust--wisely considering that he ought to have good men in
order to go in search of his general in the country of the Indian
called Turk. Although they found the army at Tiguex when they arrived
there, this did not please them much, because they had come with
great expectations, believing that they would find their general in
the rich country of the Indian called Turk. They consoled themselves
with the hope of going back there, and lived in anticipation of
the pleasure of undertaking this return expedition which the army
would soon make to Quivira. Don Pedro de Tovar brought letters from
New Spain, both from the viceroy, Don Antonio de Mendoza, and from
individuals. Among these was one for Don Garcia Lopez de Cardenas,
which informed him of the death of his brother, the heir, and
summoned him to Spain to receive the inheritance. On this account
he was given permission, and left Tiguex with several other persons
who received permission to go and settle their affairs.[537] There
were many others who would have liked to go, but did not, in order
not to appear fainthearted. During this time the general endeavored
to pacify several villages in the neighborhood which were not well
disposed, and to make peace with the people at Tiguex. He tried also
to procure some of the cloth of the country, because the soldiers
were almost naked and poorly clothed, full of lice, which they were
unable to get rid of or avoid.
[537] According to the _Relacion del Suceso_: "Don Garcia Lopez
de Cardenas started off for Mexico, who, besides the fact
that his arm was very bad, had permission from the viceroy on
account of the death of his brother. Ten or twelve who were sick
went with him, and not a man among them all who could fight."
Cardenas, it will be recalled, had broken his arm. See Pt. 1,
chap. 19.
The general, Francisco Vazquez Coronado, had been beloved and obeyed
by his captains and soldiers as heartily as any of those who have
ever started out in the Indies. Necessity knows no law, and the
captains who collected the cloth divided it badly, taking the best
for themselves and their friends and soldiers, and leaving the rest
for the soldiers, and so there began to be some angry murmuring on
account of this. Others also complained because they noticed that
some favored ones were spared in the work and in the watches and
received better portions of what was divided, both of cloth and food.
On this account it is thought that they began to say that there was
nothing in the country of Quivira which was worth returning for,
which was no slight cause of what afterward happened, as will be seen.
Chapter 2
_Of the general's fall, and of how the return to New Spain was
ordered._
After the winter[538] was over, the return to Quivira was announced,
and the men began to prepare the things needed. Since nothing in this
life is at the disposition of men, but all is under the ordination
of Almighty God, it was His will that we should not accomplish
this, and so it happened that one feast day the general went out on
horseback to amuse himself, as usual, riding with the captain Don
Rodrigo Maldonado. He was on a powerful horse, and his servants had
put on a new girth, which must have been rotten at the time, for it
broke during the race and he fell over on the side where Don Rodrigo
was, and as his horse passed over him it hit his head with its hoof,
which laid him at the point of death, and his recovery was slow and
doubtful.
[538] Of 1541-1542.
During this time, while he was in his bed, Don Garcia Lopez de
Cardenas, who had started to go to New Spain, came back in flight
from Suya, because he had found that town deserted and the people and
horses and cattle all dead.[539] When he reached Tiguex and learned
the sad news that the general was near his end, as already related,
they did not dare to tell him until he had recovered, and when he
finally got up and learned of it, it affected him so much that he
had to go back to bed again. He may have done this in order to bring
about what he afterward accomplished, as was believed later. It was
while he was in this condition that he recollected what a scientific
friend of his in Salamanca had told him, that he would become a
powerful lord in distant lands, and that he would have a fall from
which he would never be able to recover. This expectation of death
made him desire to return and die where he had a wife and children.
As the physician and surgeon who was doctoring him, and also acted as
a talebearer, suppressed the murmurings that were going about among
the soldiers, he treated secretly and underhandedly with several
gentlemen who agreed with him. They set the soldiers to talking
about going back to New Spain, in little knots and gatherings, and
induced them to hold consultations about it, and had them send papers
to the general, signed by all the soldiers, through their ensigns,
asking for this. They all entered into it readily, and not much
time needed to be spent, since many desired it already. When they
asked him, the general acted as if he did not want to do it, but all
the gentlemen and captains supported them, giving him their signed
opinions, and as some were in this, they could give it at once,
and they even persuaded others to do the same. Thus they made it
seem as if they ought to return to New Spain, because they had not
found any riches, nor had they discovered any settled country out of
which estates could be formed for all the army. When he had obtained
their signatures, the return to New Spain was at once announced, and
since nothing can ever be concealed, the double dealing began to
be understood, and many of the gentlemen found that they had been
deceived and had made a mistake. They tried in every way to get
their signatures back again from the general, who guarded them so
carefully that he did not go out of one room, making his sickness
seem very much worse, and putting guards about his person and room,
and at night about the floor on which he slept. In spite of all this,
they stole his chest, and it is said that they did not find their
signatures in it, because he kept them in his mattress; on the
other hand, it is said that they did recover them. They asked the
general to give them sixty picked men, with whom they would remain
and hold the country until the viceroy could send them support, or
recall them, or else that the general would leave them the army and
pick out sixty men to go back with him. But the soldiers did not
want to remain either way, some because they had turned their prow
toward New Spain, and others because they saw clearly the trouble
that would arise over who should have the command. The gentlemen, I
do not know whether because they had sworn fidelity or because they
feared that the soldiers would not support them, did what had been
decided on, although with an ill-will, and from this time on they did
not obey the general as readily as formerly, and they did not show
any affection for him. He made much of the soldiers and humored them,
with the result that he did what he desired and secured the return of
the whole army.
[539] Cardenas had "reached the town of the Spaniards and found
it burned and two Spaniards and many Indians and horses dead,
and he returned to the river on this account." (_Relacion del
Suceso._)
Chapter 3
_Of the rebellion at Suya and the reasons the settlers gave for
it._
We have already stated in the last chapter that Don Garcia Lopez de
Cardenas came back from Suya in flight, having found that country
risen in rebellion. He told how and why that town was deserted,
which occurred as I will relate. The entirely worthless fellows were
all who had been left in that town, the mutinous and seditious men,
besides a few who were honored with the charge of public affairs
and who were left to govern the others. Thus the bad dispositions
of the worthless secured the power, and they held daily meetings
and councils and declared that they had been betrayed and were not
going to be rescued, since the others had been directed to go through
another part of the country, where there was a more convenient route
to New Spain, which was not so, because they were still almost on the
direct road. This talk led some of them to revolt, and they chose one
Pedro de Avila as their captain. They went back to Culiacan, leaving
the captain, Diego de Alcaraz, sick in the town of San Hieronimo,
with only a small force. He did not have anyone whom he could send
after them to compel them to return. They killed a number of people
at several villages along the way. Finally they reached Culiacan,
where Hernando Arias de Saabedra,[540] who was waiting for Juan
Gallego to come back from New Spain with a force, detained them by
means of promises, so that Gallego could take them back. Some who
feared what might happen to them ran away one night to New Spain.
Diego de Alcaraz, who had remained at Suya with a small force, sick,
was not able to hold his position, although he would have liked to,
on account of the poisonous herb which the natives use.[541] When
these noticed how weak the Spaniards were, they did not continue to
trade with them as they formerly had done. Veins of gold had already
been discovered before this, but they were unable to work these,
because the country was at war. The disturbance was so great that
they did not cease to keep watch and to be more than usually careful.
[540] Compare the spelling of this name on p. 297.
[541] That is, to poison their arrows.
The town was situated on a little river.[542] One night they suddenly
saw fires which they were not accustomed to, and on this account
they doubled the watches, but not having noticed anything during
the whole night, they grew careless along toward morning, and the
enemy entered the village so silently that they were not seen until
they began to kill and plunder. A number of men reached the plain as
well as they could, but while they were getting out the captain was
mortally wounded. Several Spaniards came back on some horses after
they had recovered themselves and attacked the enemy, rescuing some,
though only a few. The enemy went off with the booty, leaving three
Spaniards killed[543] besides many of the servants and more than
twenty horses.
[542] The San Pedro, in Sonora near the Arizona boundary. The
Indians who made this attack may have been the Sobaipuri.
[543] See p. 368, note 2.
The Spaniards who survived started off the same day on foot, not
having any horses. They went toward Culiacan, keeping away from the
roads, and did not find any food until they reached Corazones where
the Indians, like the good friends they have always been, provided
them with food. From here they continued to Culiacan, undergoing
great hardships. Hernandarias de Saabedra, the mayor, received them
and entertained them as well as he could until Juan Gallego arrived
with the reinforcements which he was conducting, on his way to find
the army. He was not a little troubled at finding that post deserted,
when he expected that the army would be in the rich country which had
been described by the Indian called Turk, because he looked like one.
Chapter 4
_Of how Friar Juan de Padilla and Friar Luis remained in the
country and the army prepared to return to Mexico._
When the general, Francisco Vasquez, saw that everything was now
quiet, and that his schemes had gone as he wished, he ordered that
everything should be ready to start on the return to New Spain by the
beginning of the month of April, in the year 1543 [1542].
Seeing this, Friar Juan de Padilla, a regular brother of the lesser
order, and another, Friar Luis,[544] a lay brother, told the general
that they wanted to remain in that country--Friar Juan de Padilla in
Quivira, because his teachings seemed to promise fruit there, and
Friar Luis at Cicuye. On this account, as it was Lent at the time,
the father made this the subject of his sermon to the companies one
Sunday, establishing his proposition on the authority of the Holy
Scriptures. He declared his zeal for the conversion of these peoples
and his desire to draw them to the faith, and stated that he had
received permission to do it, although this was not necessary. The
general sent a company to escort them as far as Cicuye, where Friar
Luis stopped, while Friar Juan went on back to Quivira with the
guides who had conducted the general, taking with him the Portuguese,
as we related, and the half-blood, and the Indians from New Spain.
He was martyred a short time after he arrived there, as we related
in the second part, Chapter 8. Thus we may be sure that he died a
martyr, because his zeal was holy and earnest.
[544] Fray Luis Descalona, or De Escalona, or De Ubeda. For
references on these friars, see p. 365, note 1. See also p. 355,
note 2.
Friar Luis remained at Cicuye. Nothing more has been heard about him
since, but before the army left Tiguex some men who went to take him
a number of sheep that were left for him to keep, met him as he was
on his way to visit some other villages, which were fifteen or twenty
leagues from Cicuye, accompanied by some followers. He felt very
hopeful that he was liked at the village and that his teaching would
bear fruit, although he complained that the old men were falling away
from him. I, for my part, believe that they finally killed him. He
was a man of good and holy life, and may Our Lord protect him and
grant that he may convert many of those peoples, and end his days in
guiding them in the faith. We do not need to believe otherwise, for
the people in those parts are pious and not at all cruel. They are
friends, or rather, enemies of cruelty, and they remained faithful
and loyal friends.[545]
[545] Gen. W. W. H. Davis, in his _Spanish Conquest of New
Mexico_, p. 231, gives the following extract, translated from an
old Spanish MS. at Santa Fé: "When Coronado returned to Mexico,
he left behind him, among the Indians of Cibola, the father Fray
Francisco Juan de Padilla, the father Fray Juan de la Cruz, and
a Portuguese named Andres del Campo. Soon after the Spaniards
departed, Padilla and the Portuguese set off in search of the
country of the Grand Quivira, where the former understood there
were innumerable souls to be saved. After travelling several
days, they reached a large settlement in the Quivira country. The
Indians came out to receive them in battle array, when the friar,
knowing their intentions, told the Portuguese and his attendants
to take to flight, while he would await their coming, in order
that they might vent their fury on him as they ran. The former
took to flight, and, placing themselves on a height within view,
saw what happened to the friar. Padilla awaited their coming upon
his knees, and when they arrived where he was they immediately
put him to death. The same happened to Juan de la Cruz, who was
left behind at Cibola, which people killed him. The Portuguese
and his attendants made their escape, and ultimately arrived
safely in Mexico, where he told what had occurred." In reply to
a request for further information regarding this manuscript,
General Davis stated that when he revisited Santa Fé, a few
years ago, he learned that one of his successors in the post
of governor of the territory, having despaired of disposing of
the immense mass of old documents and records deposited in his
office, by the slow process of using them to kindle fires, had
sold the entire lot--an invaluable collection of material bearing
on the history of the Southwest and its early European and native
inhabitants--as junk. (Winship.) The governor referred to was
Rev. William A. Pile, appointed by President Grant and serving in
1869-1870.
After the friars had gone, the general, fearing that they might be
injured if people were carried away from that country to New Spain,
ordered the soldiers to let any of the natives who were held as
servants go free to their villages whenever they might wish. In my
opinion, though I am not sure, it would have been better if they had
been kept and taught among Christians.
The general was very happy and contented when the time arrived and
everything needed for the journey was ready, and the army started
from Tiguex on its way back to Cibola. One thing of no small note
happened during this part of the trip. The horses were in good
condition for their work when they started, fat and sleek, but more
than thirty died during the ten days which it took to reach Cibola,
and there was not a day in which two or three or more did not die. A
large number of them also died afterward before reaching Culiacan, a
thing that did not happen during all the rest of the journey.
After the army reached Cibola, it rested before starting across the
wilderness, because this was the last of the settlements in that
country. The whole country was left well disposed and at peace, and
several of our Indian allies remained there.[546]
[546] When Antonio de Espejo visited Cibola, or Zuñi, in 1583,
he found three Indians, natives of Mexico, who had been left by
Coronado but who had forgotten their mother tongue. He also found
crosses that had been erected by Coronado.
Chapter 5
_Of how the army left the settlements and marched to Culiacan,
and of what happened on the way._
Leaving astern, as we might say, the settlements that had been
discovered in the new land, of which, as I have said, the seven
villages of Cibola were the first to be seen and the last that were
left, the army started off, marching across the wilderness. The
natives kept following the rear of the army for two or three days,
to pick up any baggage or servants, for although they were still at
peace and had always been loyal friends, when they saw that we were
going to leave the country entirely, they were glad to get some of
our people in their power, although I do not think that they wanted
to injure them, from what I was told by some who were not willing to
go back with them when they teased and asked them to. Altogether,
they carried off several people besides those who had remained of
their own accord, among whom good interpreters could be found to-day.
The wilderness was crossed without opposition, and on the second
day before reaching Chichilticalli Juan Gallego met the army, as he
was coming from New Spain with reenforcements of men and necessary
supplies for the army, expecting that he would find the army in the
country of the Indian called Turk. When Juan Gallego saw that the
army was returning, the first thing he said was not, "I am glad you
are coming back," and he did not like it any better after he had
talked with the general. After he had reached the army, or rather
the quarters, there was quite a little movement among the gentlemen
toward going back with the new force which had made no slight
exertions in coming thus far, having encounters every day with the
Indians of these regions who had risen in revolt, as will be related.
There was talk of making a settlement somewhere in that region
until the viceroy could receive an account of what had occurred.
Those soldiers who had come from the new lands would not agree to
anything except the return to New Spain, so that nothing came of
the proposals made at the consultations, and although there was some
opposition, they were finally quieted. Several of the mutineers who
had deserted the town of Corazones came with Juan Gallego, who had
given them his word as surety for their safety, and even if the
general had wanted to punish them, his power was slight, for he had
been disobeyed already and was not much respected. He began to be
afraid again after this, and made himself sick, and kept a guard. In
several places yells were heard and Indians seen, and some of the
horses were wounded and killed, before Batuco[547] was reached, where
the friendly Indians from Corazones came to meet the army and see the
general. They were always friendly and had treated all the Spaniards
who passed through their country well, furnishing them with what
food they needed, and men, if they needed these. Our men had always
treated them well and repaid them for these things. During this
journey the juice of the quince was proved to be a good protection
against the poison of the natives, because at one place, several days
before reaching Señora, the hostile Indians wounded a Spaniard called
Mesa, and he did not die, although the wound of the fresh poison is
fatal, and there was a delay of over two hours before curing him with
the juice. The poison, however, had left its mark upon him. The skin
rotted and fell off until it left the bones and sinews bare, with
a horrible smell. The wound was in the wrist, and the poison had
reached as far as the shoulder when he was cured. The skin on all
this fell off.
[547] There were two settlements in Sonora bearing this name, one
occupied by the Eudeve and the other by the Tegui division of the
Opata. The latter village, which was probably the one referred
to by Castañeda, was situated on the Rio de Oposura, a western
tributary of the Yaqui, eight leagues east of San José Matape. It
became the seat of the Jesuit mission of Santa María in 1629.
The army proceeded without taking any rest, because the provisions
had begun to fail by this time. These districts were in rebellion,
and so there were not any victuals where the soldiers could get them
until they reached Petlatlan, although they made several forays into
the cross country in search of provisions. Petlatlan is in the
province of Culiacan, and on this account was at peace, although they
had several surprises after this.[548] The army rested here several
days to get provisions. After leaving here they were able to travel
more quickly than before, for the thirty leagues of the valley of
Culiacan, where they were welcomed back again as people who came with
their governor, who had suffered ill treatment.
[548] See pp. 346, 347. Petatlan is an Aztec word signifying
"place of the petates," or mats, referring to the character of
the native dwellings.
Chapter 6
_Of how the general started from Culiacan to give the viceroy an
account of the army with which he had been intrusted._
It seemed, indeed, as if the arrival in the valley of Culiacan had
ended the labors of this journey, partly because the general was
governor there and partly because it was inhabited by Christians.
On this account some began to disregard their superiors and the
authority which their captains had over them, and some captains even
forgot the obedience due to their general. Each one played his own
game, so that while the general was marching toward the town, which
was still ten leagues away, many of the men, or most of them, left
him in order to rest in the valley, and some even proposed not to
follow him. The general understood that he was not strong enough
to compel them, although his position as governor gave him fresh
authority. He determined to accomplish it by a better method, which
was to order all the captains to provide food and meat from the
stores of several villages that were under his control as governor.
He pretended to be sick, keeping his bed, so that those who had any
business with him could speak to him or he with them more freely,
without hindrance or observation, and he kept sending for his
particular friends in order to ask them to be sure to speak to the
soldiers and encourage them to accompany him back to New Spain, and
to tell them that he would request the viceroy, Don Antonio de
Mendoza, to show them especial favor, and that he would do so himself
for those who might wish to remain in his government. After this
had been done, he started with his army at a very bad time, when
the rains were beginning, for it was about Saint John's day,[549]
at which season it rains continuously. In the uninhabited country
which they passed through as far as Compostela there are numerous
very dangerous rivers, full of large and fierce alligators. While the
army was halting at one of these rivers, a soldier who was crossing
from one side to the other was seized, in sight of everybody, and
carried off by an alligator without its being possible to help him.
The general proceeded, leaving the men who did not want to follow
him all along the way, and reached Mexico with less than 100 men.
He made his report to the viceroy, Don Antonio de Mendoza, who did
not receive him very graciously, although he gave him his discharge.
His reputation was gone from this time on. He kept the government of
New Galicia, which had been entrusted to him, for only a short time,
when the viceroy took it himself, until the arrival of the court,
or audiencia, which still governs it. And this was the end of those
discoveries and of the expedition which was made to these new lands.
[549] June 24, 1542.
It now remains for us to describe the way in which to enter the
country by a more direct route, although there is never a short cut
without hard work. It is always best to find out what those know
who have prepared the way, who know what will be needed. This can
be found elsewhere, and I will now tell where Quivira lies, what
direction the army took, and the direction in which Greater India
lies, which was what they pretended to be in search of, when the army
started thither. Today, since Villalobos[550] has discovered that
this part of the coast of the South Sea trends toward the west, it
is clearly seen and acknowledged that, since we were in the north,
we ought to have turned to the west instead of toward the east, as
we did. With this, we will leave this subject and will proceed to
finish this treatise, since there are several noteworthy things of
which I must give an account, which I have left to be treated more
extensively in the two following chapters.
[550] See p. 360, note 2.
Chapter 7
_Of the adventures of Captain Juan Gallego while he was bringing
reenforcements through the revolted country._
One might well have complained when in the last chapter I passed in
silence over the exploits of Captain Juan Gallego with his twenty
companions. I will relate them in the present chapter, so that in
times to come those who read about it or tell of it may have a
reliable authority on whom to rely. I am not writing fables, like
some of the things which we read about nowadays in the books of
chivalry. If it were not that those stories contained enchantments,
there are some things which our Spaniards have done in our own day
in these parts, in their conquests and encounters with the Indians,
which, for deeds worthy of admiration, surpass not only the books
already mentioned, but also those which have been written about the
twelve peers of France, because, if the deadly strength which the
authors of those times attributed to their heroes and the brilliant
and resplendent arms with which they adorned them, are fully
considered, and compared with the small stature of the men of our
time and the few and poor weapons which they have in these parts, the
remarkable things which our people have undertaken and accomplished
with such weapons are more to be wondered at to-day than those of
which the ancients write, and just because, too, they fought with
barbarous naked people, as ours have with Indians, among whom there
are always men who are brave and valiant and very sure bowmen, for
we have seen them pierce the wings while flying, and hit hares while
running after them. I have said all this in order to show that some
things which we consider fables may be true, because we see greater
things every day in our own times, just as in future times people
will greatly wonder at the deeds of Don Fernando Cortes, who dared
to go into the midst of New Spain with 300 men against the vast
number of people in Mexico, and who with 500 Spaniards succeeded in
subduing it, and made himself lord over it in two years.
The deeds of Don Pedro de Alvarado in the conquest of Guatemala, and
those of Montejo in Tabasco, the conquests of the mainland and of
Peru, were all such as to make me remain silent concerning what I now
wish to relate; but since I have promised to give an account of what
happened on this journey, I want the things I am now going to relate
to be known as well as those others of which I have spoken.
The captain Juan Gallego, then, reached the town of Culiacan with a
very small force. There he collected as many as he could of those who
had escaped from the town of Hearts, or, more correctly, from Suya,
which made in all twenty-two men, and with these he marched through
all of the settled country, across which he travelled 200 leagues
with the country in a state of war and the people in rebellion,
although they had formerly been friendly toward the Spaniards, having
encounters with the enemy almost every day. He always marched with
the advance guard, leaving two-thirds of his force behind with the
baggage. With six or seven Spaniards, and without any of the Indian
allies whom he had with him, he forced his way into their villages,
killing and destroying and setting them on fire, coming upon the
enemy so suddenly and with such quickness and boldness that they did
not have a chance to collect or even to do anything at all, until
they became so afraid of him that there was not a town which dared
wait for him, but they fled before him as from a powerful army;
so much so, that for ten days, while he was passing through the
settlements, they did not have an hour's rest. He did all this with
his seven companions, so that when the rest of the force came up
with the baggage there was nothing for them to do except to pillage,
since the others had already killed and captured all the people they
could lay their hands on and the rest had fled. They did not pause
anywhere, so that although the villages ahead of him received some
warning, they were upon them so quickly that they did not have a
chance to collect. Especially in the region where the town of Hearts
had been, he killed and hung a large number of people to punish them
for their rebellion. He did not lose a companion during all this,
nor was anyone wounded, except one soldier, who was wounded in the
eyelid by an Indian who was almost dead, whom he was stripping. The
weapon broke the skin and, as it was poisoned, he would have had to
die if he had not been saved by the quince juice; he lost his eye
as it was. These deeds of theirs were such that I know those people
will remember them as long as they live, and especially four or five
friendly Indians who went with them from Corazones, who thought that
they were so wonderful that they held them to be something divine
rather than human.[551] If he had not fallen in with our army as he
did, they would have reached the country of the Indian called Turk,
which they expected to march to, and they would have arrived there
without danger on account of their good order and the skill with
which he was leading them, and their knowledge and ample practice in
war. Several of these men are still in this town of Culiacan, where I
am now writing this account and narrative, where they, as well as I
and the others who have remained in this province, have never lacked
for labor in keeping this country quiet, in capturing rebels, and
increasing in poverty and need, and more than ever at the present
hour, because the country is poorer and more in debt than ever before.
[551] The Indians of this vicinity had a similar regard for
Cabeza de Vaca and his companions. See the narrative in the
present volume.
Chapter 8
_Which describes some remarkable things that were seen on the
plains, with a description of the bulls._
My silence was not without mystery and dissimulation when, in Chapter
7 of the second part of this book, I spoke of the plains and of
the things of which I will give a detailed account in this chapter,
where all these things may be found together; for these things were
remarkable and something not seen in other parts. I dare to write of
them because I am writing at a time when many men are still living
who saw them and who will vouch for my account. Who could believe
that 1,000 horses and 500 of our cows and more than 5,000 rams and
ewes and more than 1,500 friendly Indians and servants, in travelling
over those plains, would leave no more trace where they had passed
than if nothing had been there--nothing--so that it was necessary to
make piles of bones and cow-dung now and then, so that the rear guard
could follow the army. The grass never failed to become erect after
it had been trodden down, and, although it was short, it was as fresh
and straight as before.
Another thing was a heap of cow bones, a crossbow shot long, or a
very little less, almost twice a man's height in places, and some
eighteen feet or more wide, which was found on the edge of a salt
lake in the southern part, and this in a region where there are no
people who could have made it. The only explanation of this which
could be suggested was that the waves which the north winds must make
in the lake had piled up the bones of the cattle which had died in
the lake, when the old and weak ones who went into the water were
unable to get out. The noticeable thing is the number of cattle that
would be necessary to make such a pile of bones.
Now that I wish to describe the appearance of the bulls, it is to
be noticed first that there was not one of the horses that did not
take flight when he saw them first, for they have a narrow, short
face, the brow two palms across from eye to eye, the eyes sticking
out at the side, so that, when they are running, they can see who is
following them. They have very long beards, like goats, and when they
are running they throw their heads back with the beard dragging on
the ground. There is a sort of girdle round the middle of the body.
The hair is very woolly, like a sheep's, very fine, and in front of
the girdle the hair is very long and rough like a lion's. They have
a great hump, larger than a camel's. The horns are short and thick,
so that they are not seen much above the hair. In May they change the
hair in the middle of the body for a down, which makes perfect lions
of them. They rub against the small trees in the little ravines to
shed their hair, and they continue this until only the down is left,
as a snake changes his skin. They have a short tail, with a bunch of
hair at the end. When they run, they carry it erect like a scorpion.
It is worth noticing that the little calves are red and just like
ours, but they change their color and appearance with time and age.
Another strange thing was that all the bulls that were killed had
their left ears slit, although these were whole when young. The
reason for this was a puzzle that could not be guessed. The wool
ought to make good cloth on account of its fineness, although the
color is not good, because it is the color of buriel.[552]
[552] The kersey, or coarse woollen cloth out of which the habits
of the Franciscan friars were made. Hence the name Grey Friars.
(Winship.) Various attempts were made to manufacture the hair
into garments, especially stockings, but the ventures did not
prove profitable. See Hornaday, "The Extinction of the American
Bison," _Report of the United States National Museum_ for
1886-1887.
Another thing worth noticing is that the bulls travelled without cows
in such large numbers that nobody could have counted them, and so far
away from the cows that it was more than forty leagues from where we
began to see the bulls to the place where we began to see the cows.
The country they travelled over was so level and smooth that if one
looked at them the sky could be seen between their legs, so that if
some of them were at a distance they looked like smooth-trunked pines
whose tops joined, and if there was only one bull it looked as if
there were four pines. When one was near them, it was impossible to
see the ground on the other side of them. The reason for all this was
that the country seemed as round as if a man should imagine himself
in a three-pint measure, and could see the sky at the edge of it,
about a crossbow shot from him, and even if a man only lay down on
his back he lost sight of the ground.
I have not written about other things which were seen nor made
any mention of them, because they were not of so much importance,
although it does not seem right for me to remain silent concerning
the fact that they venerate the sign of the cross in the region where
the settlements have high houses. For at a spring which was in the
plain near Acuco they had a cross two palms high and as thick as
a finger, made of wood with a square twig for its crosspiece, and
many little sticks decorated with feathers around it, and numerous
withered flowers, which were the offerings.[553] In a graveyard
outside the village at Tutahaco there appeared to have been a recent
burial. Near the head there was another cross made of two little
sticks tied with cotton thread, and dry withered flowers.[554] It
certainly seems to me that in some way they must have received some
light from the cross of Our Redeemer, Christ, and it may have come by
way of India, from whence they proceeded.
[553] The cross is common to the Indians and always has been. It
often is symbolic of the morning and the evening stars. Those
referred to as having been seen by Coronado's men at Acoma were
characteristic prayer-sticks, the downy feathers representing
the breath of life. Such are still in common use by the Pueblo
Indians.
[554] Probably dried corn-husk.
Chapter 9
_Which treats of the direction which the army took, and of how
another more direct way might be found, if anyone was to return
to that country._
I very much wish that I possessed some knowledge of cosmography or
geography, so as to render what I wish to say intelligible, and so
that I could reckon up or measure the advantage those people who
might go in search of that country would have if they went directly
through the centre of the country, instead of following the road the
army took. However, with the help of the favor of the Lord, I will
state it as well as I can, making it as plain as possible.
It is, I think, already understood that the Portuguese, Campo, was
the soldier who escaped when Friar Juan de Padilla was killed at
Quivira, and that he finally reached New Spain from Panuco,[555]
having travelled across the plains country until he came to cross the
North Sea mountain chain, keeping the country that Don Hernando de
Soto discovered all the time on his left hand, since he did not see
the river of the Holy Spirit (Espiritu Santo) at all.[556] After he
had crossed the North Sea mountains, he found that he was in Panuco,
so that if he had not tried to go to the North Sea, he would have
come out in the neighborhood of the border land, or the country of
the Sacatecas,[557] of which we now have some knowledge.
[555] The northeastern province of New Spain.
[556] That is, he travelled from the Quivira province, in the
present Kansas, southwestwardly to Mexico.
[557] Zacatecas.
This way would be somewhat better and more direct for anyone going
back there in search of Quivira, since some of those who came
with the Portuguese are still in New Spain to serve as guides.
Nevertheless, I think it would be best to go through the country of
the Guachichules,[558] keeping near the South Sea mountains all the
time, for there are more settlements and a food supply, for it would
be suicide to launch out on to the plains country, because it is so
vast and is barren of anything to eat, although, it is true, there
would not be much need of this after coming to the cows. This is
only when one goes in search of Quivira, and of the villages which
were described by the Indian called Turk, for the army of Francisco
Vazquez Coronado went the very farthest way round to get there, since
they started from Mexico and went 110 leagues to the west, and then
100 leagues to the northeast, and 250 to the north, and all this
brought them as far as the ravines where the cows were, and after
travelling 850 leagues they were not more than 400 leagues distant
from Mexico by a direct route. If one desires to go to the country
of Tiguex, so as to turn from there toward the west in search of the
country of India, he ought to follow the road taken by the army,
for there is no other, even if one wished to go by a different way,
because the arm of the sea which reaches into this coast toward the
north does not leave room for any. But what might be done is to have
a fleet and cross this gulf and disembark in the neighborhood of the
Island of Negroes[559] and enter the country from there, crossing the
mountain chains in search of the country from which the people at
Tiguex came, or other peoples of the same sort. As for entering from
the country of Florida and from the North Sea, it has already been
observed that the many expeditions which have been undertaken from
that side have been unfortunate and not very successful, because that
part of the country is full of bogs and poisonous fruits, barren,
and the very worst country that is warmed by the sun. But they might
disembark after passing the river of the Holy Spirit, as Don Hernando
de Soto did. Nevertheless, despite the fact that I underwent much
labor, I still think that the way I went to that country is the best.
There ought to be river courses, because the necessary supplies can
be carried on these more easily in large quantities. Horses are the
most necessary things in the new countries, and they frighten the
enemy most.... Artillery is also much feared by those who do not know
how to use it. A piece of heavy artillery would be very good for
settlements like those which Francisco Vazquez Coronado discovered,
in order to knock them down, because he had nothing but some small
machines for slinging and nobody skilful enough to make a catapult
or some other machine which would frighten them, which is very
necessary.[560]
[558] This wild tribe inhabited chiefly the region of the present
state of San Luis Potosí, Mexico. They were known also as
Cuachichiles and Quachichiles.
[559] The dictionary of Dominguez says: "Isla de negros; ó isla
del Almirantazgo, en el grande Océano equinoccial; grande isla
de la América del Norte, sobre la costa oeste." Apparently the
location of this island gradually drifted westward with the
increase of geographical knowledge, until it was finally located
in the Philippine group. (Winship.)
[560] This would indicate that the bronze cannon which Coronado
left at Sia pueblo were worthless.
I say, then, that with what we now know about the trend of the coast
of the South Sea, which has been followed by the ships which explored
the western part, and what is known of the North Sea toward Norway,
the coast of which extends up from Florida, those who now go to
discover the country which Francisco Vasquez entered, and reach the
country of Cibola or of Tiguex, will know the direction in which
they ought to go in order to discover the true direction of the
country which the Marquis of the Valley, Don Hernando Cortes, tried
to find, following the direction of the gulf of the Firebrand (Tizon)
River.[561]
[561] The Gulf of California (which had been navigated by Cortés)
and the Rio Colorado.
This will suffice for the conclusion of our narrative. Everything
else rests on the powerful Lord of all things, God Omnipotent, who
knows how and when these lands will be discovered and for whom He has
guarded this good fortune.
_Laus Deo._
Finished copying, Saturday the 26th of October, 1596, in Seville.
INDEX
INDEX
Aays, not to be confounded with Ayas, 225 n.;
Moscoso at, 243;
Indians of, give battle, 243.
_See also_ Ayas.
Açamor, mentioned, 126.
Acaxes, Indians of Culiacan, 345.
Acela, town of, 155.
Acha, _see_ Picuris.
Achese, cacique of, addresses De Soto, 166-167.
Acochis, Indian name for gold, 314, 337 n., 342.
Acoma, identification of Acuco with, 311 n.;
visit of Alvarado to, 311;
description of, 311-312;
visited by Arellano, 316;
route to, 316;
mentioned, 358;
worship of cross at, 384.
Acoma Indians, water supply of, 312.
Acosta, Maria de, wife of Pedro Castañeda, 276.
Acoste, cacique of, comes to De Soto, 180.
Acubadaos Indians, 87.
Acuco, _see_ Acoma.
Adai Indians, 76 n.
Adobe, making of, described, 352.
Aguacay, mentioned, 237;
Moscoso at, 238.
Aguar, Indian deity, 118.
Aguas Calientes, pueblos of, 359;
identification of, 359 n.
Aguenes Indians, 84, 85.
Alabama, 183 n.
Alaniz, Hieronymo, notary, with Narvaez, 22;
objects to abandonment of ships, 23;
death of, 57.
Alarcon, Diego de, confusion of, with Alcaraz, 324 n.
Alarcon, Hernando de, expedition of by sea, 294;
narrative of, 279, 294 n.;
message of, found by Diaz, 303.
Alarcon, Pedro de, 294 n.
Albino, Indian, 332 n.
Alcaraz, Diego de, meeting with Cabeza de Vaca, 112-113;
his need of food, 113;
returns from incursion, 119;
lieutenant of Diaz, 303, 324;
inefficiency of, 326;
death of, 371.
Aleman, Juan, name given Indian of Tiguex, 317, 321.
Alimamos, overtakes De Soto, 177.
Alimamu, an Indian chief, 195, 200.
Alligators, do harm to Indians, 143;
in rivers of New Galicia, 378.
Almirantazgo, or Isle of Negroes, 386 n.
Altamaca, _see_ Altamaha.
Altamaha, 167 n.
Altamaha River, 167 n.
Alvarado, Hernando de, appointed captain, 293;
protects Coronado at Cibola, 301;
expedition of, to Rio Grande, 311;
report of, 279, 311 n.;
visits Acoma, 311;
imprisons Pecos chiefs, 315;
route of, 316 n.;
at Braba, 341.
Alvarado, Pedro de, expedition of, to Peru, 288;
deeds of, 380.
Alvarez, death of, 6.
Amaye, Moscoso at, 238.
Aminoya, Spaniards hear of, 248;
take quarters at, 249;
brigantines built at, 250.
Amushungkwa, a Jemez pueblo, 359 n.
Anagados Indians, 71 n.
Anane, a fruit, 140.
Añasco, Juan de, 135;
sent by De Soto to explore harbor in Florida, 145;
goes to Espiritu Santo, 162;
sent in quest of habitations, 171;
finds a town twelve leagues off, 171;
makes road through the woods, 172;
sent on a reconnoissance, 200, 228, 229;
advises Moscoso to put out to sea, 260;
and does so with him, 261;
meets with opposition from those with him, 261-262;
again advises putting out to sea, 264.
Anguille River, 215 n.
Anhayca Apalache, De Soto at, 161, 162, 164.
Anhocan, Cabeza de Vaca at, 116.
Anilco, 227, 228, 245, 248, 249.
_See also_ Nilco.
Animals, of Apalachen, 29;
of Florida, mentioned by the Gentleman of Elvas, 271-272.
Anoixi, De Soto takes many inhabitants of, 222.
Antonio de Santa Maria, Franciscan friar, 288.
Antonio Victoria, friar, accident of, 299.
Apalache, mentioned, 161;
has much maize, 156, 226;
distance from, to Cutifachiqui, 188;
direction and distance of, from Espiritu Santo, 271, 272.
_See also_ Apalachen.
Apalachee Indians, war against, by Creeks, 21 n.;
by English, 21 n.;
overcome by Cabeza de Vaca, 28;
attack the Spaniards, 30, 31;
eastern tribes of, 330 n.;
mentioned, 349 n.
Apalachen, indicated to Narvaez as source of gold, 21-22;
taken by the Spanish, 28;
region of, described, 29-30;
climate of, is cold, 29;
animals of, 29.
Apalachicola, town on Savannah River, 21 n.
Appalachian Mountains, origin of name of, 21 n.
Appalachee Bay, origin of name of, 21 n.
Aquiguate, largest town seen by De Soto in Florida, 214;
De Soto returns to, 215;
country of, described, 215.
Aquixo, 227, 270;
direction of, 271.
Aquixo, cacique of, comes to De Soto, 203;
loses five or six of his men, shot by crossbowmen, 203;
and ten, killed by De Soto's cavalry, 205.
Arache, province of, 365.
Arawakan Indians, 21;
dance ceremony of, 52 n.
Arbadaos Indians, 80.
Arche, _see_ Harahey.
Areitos, among Indians of Malhado,
held in honor of Cabeza de Vaca, 89.
Arellano, Tristan de, appointment of, as captain, 292;
lieutenant to Coronado, 298, 335;
at Corazones, 301, 303;
arrives at Cibola, 313;
route of, 315 n.;
at Tiguex, 317, 339;
attacks Cicuye, 341.
Arispe, _see_ Arizpe.
Aristotle, quoted, 134.
Arizpe, 347 n.
Arkadelphia, 238 n.
Arkansas city, 227 n.
Arkansas Post, 226 n.
Arkansas River, 222 n., 248 n., 249 n.
Artillery, at Culiacan, 297;
used by Indians, 357;
usefulness of, in exploration, 386.
Astorga, Marquis of, learns what Cabeza de Vaca relates
to the Emperor regarding New Spain, 137.
Astudillo, a native of Çafra, to seek Panuco, 49.
Asturian, the, with Figueroa, 61, 64;
seen by the Avavares, 79.
Asturiano, a clergyman, 68, 69.
Astyalakwa, a Jemez pueblo, 359 n.
Atabalipa, lord of Peru, 135, 175.
Atayos Indians, 76, 87.
Atchafalaya, lower course of Red River, 261 n.
Attacapan Indians, 51 n., 363 n.
Audiencia, definition of, 285 n.
Audiencia of Española, report to, 8;
edition of report by Oviedo, 8, 10.
Auia, island of, 49;
probably not Malhado Island, 49 n.
Aute, town south of Apalachen, 30, 31;
reached by Narvaez, 32.
Autiamque, mentioned, 221, 225, 227, 237;
De Soto winters at, 222-224;
distance to Guacay, 270;
direction of, 271.
Avavares Indians, receive Cabeza de Vaca, 73;
healed by him, 6-7, 78;
ignorant of time, 79.
Avellaneda, killed by an Indian, 32.
Avila, Pedro de, leader in rebellion at Suya, 370.
Awatobi, Hopi pueblo, 307 n., 358 n.
Axille, De Soto at, 161.
Ayas, Moscoso crosses river at, 248.
Ayays, not to be confounded with Aays, 225 n.;
De Soto at, 225.
Ayllon, Governor-licentiate, death of, 174.
Aymay, named Socorro, 171;
De Soto at, 172;
location of, 172 n.
Azores, mentioned, 122.
Bacallaos, Spanish name for Newfoundland, 343 n., 360.
Badthing, story of, 78-79.
Baegert, Father Jacob, on Indians of lower California, 346 n.
Bahíos, 108.
_See also_ Buhíos.
Baldwyn, Mississippi, 212 n.
Bandelier, A. F., researches on the Seven Cities, 287 n.;
on Topira, 290 n.;
on Cicuye, 355 n.
Bandelier, A. F. and Fanny, _Journey of Nuñez Cabeza de Vaca_,
cited, 22 n., 59, 87 n., 102 n., 103 n.
Baracoa, town in Cuba, 142.
Barbacoa, a store house for maize, 165.
Barbels, native American fish, 349.
Barrionuevo, Francisco de, companion of Coronado, 292;
at Tiguex, 319;
explorations of, 339-340.
Baskett, James Newton, investigations of, 326 n.
Bastian, Francisco, drowning of, 225.
Batuco, identification of, 376 n.
Báyamo, town in Cuba, 142, 143.
Bayou de Vue, 215 n.
Bayou Macon, 255 n.
Bears, in pueblo region, 357.
Béjar, mentioned, 125.
Bermuda, Cabeza de Vaca at, 121.
Bernalillo, settlement on site of Tiguex, 278, 317 n.
Bidai Indians, 80 n.
Biedma, narrative of, cited, 40 n.;
referred to, 130 n.
Big Bayou Meto, 225.
Big Creek, 21, 215 n.
Bigotes, _see_ Whiskers.
Birds, mentioned, 29-30, 272.
Biscayan Indians, 115 n.
Bison, first printed reference to, 68 n.;
described by Cicuye Indians, 311;
hunted by plains Indians, 330, 362, 363;
stampede of, 331;
Coronado's army supplied with meat of, 336;
piles of bones of, 382;
Castañeda's description of, 382-383.
Black Warrior River, 188 n., 189 n.
Blankets, of cotton, 350.
Blizzard, experienced by Coronado, 333.
Bog of Pia, breeds mosquitos, 144.
Boston Mountains, 221 n.;
crossed by De Soto, 221.
Boyomo, settlement of, 347.
Braba, _see_ Taos.
Brazos River, 58 n., 244 n., 245 n.
Bread, maize, 271;
Indian, 303, 340, 340 n.
Bridge, built by Spaniards across Cicuye River, 329;
Indian, across Rio Grande, 340.
Brigantines, built by Spaniards at Aminoya, 250;
become separated in the Gulf of Mexico, 263.
Buffalo, _see_ Bison.
Buhíos, Arawak word, 19, 79.
_See also_ Bahíos.
Burgos, André de, printer, 134, 272.
Buriel, cloth used by Franciscan friars, 383 n.
Burning of Indians at stake by Spaniards, 320.
Caballos, Bahia de, 37, 162 n.
_See also_ Horses, Bay of.
Cabeza de Vaca, Alvar Nuñez, narrative of, 1-126;
birth and parentage, 3;
significance of name, 3;
trades and heals among the Indians, 6-7;
line of travel, 7;
character of his chronicle, 7;
his accomplishment, 8;
report to Audiencia of Española, 8;
appointed governor of provinces of Rio de la Plata, 8;
dies, 9;
bibliography of the _Relacion_, 10-11;
salutation to Charles V., 12;
duration of his wandering, 13;
his idea of the value of his narrative, 13;
leaves San Lúcar de Barrameda, 4, 14;
is treasurer and high-sheriff, 4, 14;
reaches Santo Domingo, 14;
proceeds to Trinidad and is overtaken by a terrible
storm, 15-17;
passes winter at Jagua, 17;
explores mainland of Florida, with Narvaez, 4, 20;
believes it wiser to return to vessels, 22-23;
refuses to sail in charge of them, preferring to share
risks of march into the country, 24;
goes with forty men to seek a harbor, 25-26;
enters Apalachen, 28;
goes from Aute to find the sea, 33;
embarks in open boat, 36;
sufferings of his men, 38-40;
is assaulted by Indians, 41;
deserted by Narvaez, 42;
lands on an island among friendly Indians, 5, 44-45;
loses three men, in endeavor to re-embark, 46;
destitute condition of the survivors, 46;
aid given by Indians, 47-48;
is overtaken by Dorantes and Alonzo del Castillo, 48;
agrees that four of the party shall try to reach Panuco, 49;
learns Indians believe the Christians are sorcerers, 50;
names island Malhado, 50;
heals the sick by breathing on them, and by prayer, 53;
on the mainland, 52, 55;
his party now numbers fourteen, 55;
suffers great hardships, 56;
trafficks among the Indians, 56-57;
rescues Oviedo from Malhado, 57;
is left by him, 59;
finds Dorantes, Castillo, and Estevanico, 59-60;
waits six months before attempting to escape, 60, 61, 70;
is made a slave, 61;
is forced to postpone escape another year, 71;
succeeds at last, 73;
works more cures among the Indians, 74, 77, 78;
goes naked, 80, 81;
goes among the Maliacones, 80;
eats dogs, 80, 81;
barters with Indians, 81;
performs more cures, 91;
reaches a mountainous country, 92;
receives presents from the Indians, 92-93;
cuts an arrow head out of a wounded native, 96-97;
reaches the Rio Grande, 99;
is feared by the Indians because of deaths among them, 101;
heals the sick, 101;
goes among the Jumanos, 102;
calls them the Cow nation, 103;
starts in search of maize, 105;
touches and blesses both sick and well, 106-107;
teaches Christian religion, 107;
finds news of Christians, 109;
checks fear among his Indian companions, 111;
is taken to Diego de Alcaraz, 112;
joins party of Diego and dismisses his Indian
followers, 114-115;
is received by Melchior Diaz, 116;
arrives at Mexico, 120;
at Havana, 121;
at Lisbon, 123;
mentioned as a survivor of Narvaez's party, 125;
disagrees with De Soto, 136;
mentioned by the Gentleman of Elvas, 136, 221, 246;
returns from expedition, 288;
narrative of, 288;
in Corazones valley, 301;
traces of, found by Coronado, 332;
regard of Indians for, 381 n.
Cabeza de Vaca, Teresa, mother of Nuñez Cabeza de Vaca, 3, 125.
Cabo Cruz, 15 n.
Cabo de Santa Cruz, 15.
Cabusto, 194.
Caçabe bread, _see_ Cassava bread.
Cache River, 215 n.
Cactus belt, northern limit of, 70 n.
Cahita, synonymous with Sinaloa, 346 n.
Cahoques Indians, 87.
Calahuchi, 161 n.
Calderon, Captain, 155;
at Espiritu Santo, 162;
commands a brigantine, 265.
Cale, province of, reported to be abundant in gold, 154;
mentioned, 162.
California, Gulf of, 109 n.;
explored, 304, 346;
natives of peninsula of, 346, 346 n.
Caliquen, reached by De Soto, 157.
Calpista, mentioned by Ranjel, 216 n.
Caluça, in northeastern part of Mississippi, 212.
Camolas Indians, 87 n.
Camones Indians, are reported to have killed Peñalosa and
Tellez, 72.
Campo, Andres del, Portuguese companion of Padilla, 365, 373, 385;
returns to New Spain, 385.
Canarreo shoals, 18.
Canasagua, De Soto at, 178.
Caney creek, 58 n.
Cannibalism in Culiacan, 345.
Cannouchee River, 170 n.
Cantaloupes, as food of Indians, 348.
Capachiqui, De Soto at, 165.
Capoques Indians, 54 n., 55 n., 65 n., 66 n., 87 n.