[The fame of the Enchanted Rock in Llano County, as Miss Estill has
pointed out, goes back a long time. There are various references to it
in Texasana, as the bibliography will show; but it is noteworthy that
none of the early accounts of the Enchanted Rock even so much as refer
to the legend of the lovers, the details of which are very similar to
those in the most popular version of the legend of Mount Bonnell.
However, in more recent years the lover legend seems to have had a wide
vogue. It has appeared in print various times, once in the form of a
German novel, Die Tochter Tehuans, printed at Fredericksburg, and my
correspondence files indicate an extensive popularity of the legend.
The Indians no doubt had an awe for the mountain that they expressed in
narrative detail; the early Texans heard these accounts; then the
descendants of those early Texans invented a story in which the
Spaniard played a part to fit the legendary atmosphere of the mountain.
Thus should I account for the genesis of the legend that is now told.
Writing from “Colorado River, Texas,” October 31, 1834, W. B. Dewees
tells of what must be the Enchanted Rock of the Llano. He says: “A
short time since, a few of our young men started to go up to the
headwaters of the Colorado and Brazos rivers to examine a large rock of
metal which has for many years been considered a wonder. It is supposed
to be platinum. The Indians have held it sacred for centuries, and go
there once a year to worship it. They will not permit any white person
to approach it. It is almost impossible to make any impression on it
with chisel and hammers. When struck it gives forth a ringing sound
which can be heard miles around. The party were successful in finding
the rock, but were unable to break off any specimens to bring home.”
Dewees, W. B., Letters from an Early Settler of Texas, Louisville,
Kentucky, 1852, p. 152. (Mr. E. G. Littlejohn contributes this
reference.)
Doctor Alex. Dienst of Temple, Texas, sends in an item copied from the
New York Mirror of October 20, 1838, in which a traveler, lately
returned to New York from a prospecting tour in the San Saba country,
tells of having found an “Enchanted” or “Holy Mountain” on the upper
waters of the Sandy—beyond all doubt the Enchanted Rock of other
accounts. The traveler reports that “the Comanches regard this hill
with religious veneration, and that Indian pilgrims frequently assemble
from the remotest borders of the region to perform the Paynim rites
upon its summit.”
Samuel C. Reid, Jr., in a book published in 1848, The Scouting
Expeditions of McCulloch’s Texas Rangers, pages 111–112, says, in
connection with a scouting trip that Captain Jack Hays had made into
the then unsettled vicinity of the Enchanted Rock:
“We are unable to give to the reader the traditionary cause why
this place was so named, but nevertheless, the Indians had a great
awe, amounting almost to reverence, for it, and would tell many
legendary tales connected with it and the fate of a few brave
warriors, the last of a tribe now extinct, who defended themselves
there for many years as in a strong castle, against the attacks of
their hostile brethren. But they were finally overcome and totally
annihilated, and ever since, the ‘Enchanted Rock’ has been looked
upon as the exclusive property of these phantom warriors. This is
one of the many tales which the Indians tell concerning it.”
Reid goes on to tell that at one time Hays saved himself from such a
tight place in a fight with the Indians near the Enchanted Rock that
they became more convinced than ever that “Devil Jack” bore a charmed
life.—Editor.]
In the southwestern part of Llano County, very near the Gillespie
County line, lies a huge mound of solid granite covering 640 acres and
known far and wide as the Enchanted Rock. At night spirit fires dance
on the summit, and by day millions of isinglass stars glint in the
sunlight. During an early morning shower in the hills, when the sun
shines out from under the passing cloud, the streams of water coursing
down the sides of the massive boulder resemble sheets of molten silver.
Then above the gigantic dome there forms a rainbow-path which will lead
the seeker directly to a mine of gold, so the old legend goes. In fact,
the sands of the sluggish stream winding lazily around the base of the
rock testify of gold in the vicinity. And the oldest pioneer in the
neighborhood will tell you that there is a lost mine somewhere near the
rock, the shaft having been sunk by Spaniards in the eighteenth
century.
The Indian legends woven about the enchanted mound are, however, far
more interesting to the folk-lorist than is the story of a fabulous
mine. My great-grandfather, Thomas A. Likens, who was first lieutenant
of Captain Highsmith’s Company of Texas Rangers when, in 1847, they
camped near the Enchanted Rock, told my grandfather, William H. Estill,
of the remarkable veneration the Comanches had for the Rock, and of the
awesome fear they manifested when at night the spirit fires danced
aloft on it. The daring ranger always knew that if he could induce his
sure-footed pony to climb the Rock, horse and rider would be safe from
the pursuing savage, for the Comanche would not follow, nor would he
direct an arrow toward the white man who sought the protection of the
Spirit of the Rock.
At the foot of the enormous boulder the Indians offered
sacrifices—sometimes a beautiful captive snatched from the white man’s
clearing at the edge of the woods. Then, for months, perhaps, the
Spirit of the Rock would smile on the savage tribe, and success would
attend their raids down the river valleys to the south.
On one such expedition, according to the story told by Father Hörmann,
[112] a priest at one of the missions near San Antonio, the marauders
ventured farther than usual and were within attacking distance of
Mission San José, near San Antonio, when José Navarro, commander of the
mission, learned of their designs. Forthwith, preparations for the
defense of the mission were begun, Don Hesu Navarro, a recent arrival
from Spain and a bold soldier of fortune, aiding enthusiastically in
strengthening the defenses.
Now, within the mission lived the Indian chief Tehuan and his beautiful
daughter, christened Rosa by the good fathers of the mission. The
dashing young Spaniard fell desperately in love with the pretty
dark-skinned maid, and succeeded in winning her love in return. Soon,
though, came a desperate separation. In the attack by the Comanches
that had been expected, Don Hesu fell by an Indian tomahawk and pretty
Rosa was carried away by the alien savages. Fortunately, however, the
young Spaniard had received merely a stunning blow, and, after a time,
revived and dragged himself back within the mission walls, only to find
his beloved gone. From an Indian boy, the distracted lover learned that
Rosa was being taken away to the Enchanted Rock to be offered as a
sacrifice to the Spirit of the Rock.
Realizing the futility of a single-handed combat with the fleeing
Indians, Don Hesu hastened to Goliad for aid, and, together with a
daring band of Spaniards and Texas colonists, started in pursuit of the
Comanches. Upon discovering the camping place of the savages, the
impetuous Spaniard proposed an immediate attack; but the remainder of
the party, who were better versed in Indian ways and beliefs, persuaded
Don Hesu that a better way would be to play upon the superstitious
beliefs of the savages. Accordingly, the party secretly harassed the
Indians by stampeding their horses and assaulting their guards in the
dark. And the red men, believing that the spirits were incensed by the
recent attack upon the mission, mounted their mustangs, and, with the
captive maid safe in their midst, galloped away to the hills, where
they intended to offer to the Spirit of the Enchanted Rock the fair
prize they had won at San José.
The pursuers followed as best they might. However, when they reached
the gulch between the Enchanted Rock and a neighboring peak, they saw,
to their horror, that the beautiful captive was already bound to the
stake, the faggots piled high around her. The rescue party was divided
into two sections, one section skirting the peak so as to surprise the
Indians encamped on the north while Don Hesu and a few chosen men
rushed upon the guards who stood in the gulch. Frenzied by the sight of
his beloved at the stake ready to be offered as a sacrifice, Don Hesu,
fighting like a demon, succeeded in freeing the captive maid and
escaping with her beyond the reach of the savages. Thus was the Spirit
of the Enchanted Rock once, at least, deprived of the joy of a human
sacrifice.