| [Réaumur's] Thermometer. | | Wind.
Date. +---------+---------+--------+ Sky. +-------+-------
|sun-rise.| 3 p. m. |sun-set.| |Course.| Force.
-------+---------+---------+--------+-----------------+-------+-------
Mar. 3 | 4 | .... | .... | cloudy and snow | W | fresh
4 | 1 | .... | 2 | snow | E | do.
5 | 4 | .... | .... | clear | N W | gentle
6 | .... | .... | 2 | cloudy and snow | N | do.
7 | 1 | .... | .... | hail | N | ....
8 | .... | .... | 3 | cloudy | W | ....
9 | 3 | .... | 4 | clear | W | ....
10 | 0 | .... | 6 | hail and snow | S W | ....
11 | 1 | .... | 6 | .... | W | fresh
12 | 3 | .... | 3 | .... | W | gentle
13 | 1 | .... | .... | .... | N | fresh
14 | 3 | .... | 6 | cloudy | S W | ....
15 | 0 | .... | 6 | .... | W | ....
16 | 7 | .... | 2 | clear | S W | gentle
17 | 4½ | .... | 7 | .... | E | ....
18 | 6 | .... | 6 | .... | E | fresh
19 | 2 | .... | 7 | .... | .... | ....
20 | .... | .... | .... | .... | E | ....
21 | 9 | .... | .... | clear and cold | .... | ....
22 | .... | .... | .... | snow and hail | S E | ....
23 | .... | .... | .... | .... | .... | ....
24 | 2 | .... | 6 | clear | E | gentle
25 | .... | .... | .... | do. | .... | ....
26 | 1 | .... | 6 | do. | E | gentle
27 | 1 | .... | .... | do. | S | fresh
28 | 2 | .... | 8 | do. | S | gentle
29 | 2 | .... | 9 | .... | N | fresh
30 | 1 | 14 | 4 | .... | N | ....
31 | 5 | .... | 11 | .... | W | gentle
| | | | | |
Apr. 4 | 13 | 16 | 15 | .... | .... | ....
5 | 14 | 17 | 15 | .... | S | ....
6 | 15 | 16 | 14 | .... | .... | ....
7 | 13 | 15 | 16 | cloudy | .... | ....
8 | 14 | 16 | 17 | .... | .... | ....
9 | 13 | 17 | 15 | .... | .... | ....
10 | 14 | 16 | 14 | .... | .... | ....
11 | 15 | 18 | 15 | .... | .... | ....
12 | 13 | 19 | 17 | .... | .... | ....
13 | 14 | 17 | 18 | light snow | .... | ....
14 | 15 | 19 | 15 | .... | .... | ....
15 | 14 | 20 | 18 | .... | .... | ....
16 | 13 | 18 | 16 | .... | .... | ....
17 | 16 | 20 | 15 | .... | .... | ....
18 | 17 | 19 | 16 | .... | .... | ....
19 | 18 | 18 | 15 | .... | .... | ....
20 | 15 | 18 | 16 | .... | .... | ....
21 | 14 | 13 | 15 | .... | .... | ....
22 | 16 | 18 | 16 | .... | .... | ....
23 | 15 | 19 | 19 | .... | .... | ....
24 | 13 | 19 | 16 | .... | .... | ....
25 | 15 | 19 | 16 | clear | .... | ....
26 | 14 | 18 | 17 | .... | .... | ....
27 | 15 | 19 | 17 | .... | .... | ....
28 | 14 | 17 | 16 | .... | .... | ....
29 | 15 | 24 | 20 | .... | .... | ....
30 | 15 | .... | 20 | .... | .... | ....
-------+---------+---------+--------+-----------------+-------+-------
_Meteorological Observations made by Captain Pike (Continued)._
-------+----------------------------+-----------------+---------------
| [Réaumur's] Thermometer. | | Wind.
Date. +---------+---------+--------+ Sky. +-------+-------
|sun-rise.| 3 p. m. |sun-set.| |Course.|Force.
-------+---------+---------+--------+-----------------+-------+-------
May 1 | 11 | .... | .... | .... | .... | ....
2 | 12 | 24 | 17 | .... | .... | ....
3 | 15 | 23 | 16 | some rain | .... | ....
4 | 14 | 24 | 17 | clear | .... | ....
5 | 17 | 23 | 16 | .... | W | ....
6 | 17 | 28½ | 16 | .... | S | ....
7 | 14 | 29 | 15 | .... | S W | ....
8 | 12 | 27 | 15 | .... | W | ....
9 | 9 | 26 | 20 | .... | .... | ....
10 | 11 | 24 | 17 | .... | W | ....
11 | .... | 25 | .... | .... | .... | ....
12 | 15 | 27 | .... | .... | .... | ....
13 | 27 | 20 | .... | .... | E | ....
14 | 10 | 30 | 20 | .... | S W | ....
15 | 11 | 32½ | .... | clear | S E | ....
16 | .... | 25 | .... | cloudy | S | ....
17 | .... | 23 | 20 | some rain | .... | ....
18 | 29 | 24 | 21½ | rain | .... | ....
19 | 20½ | .... | 15 | cloudy | E | gentle
20 | 13 | 24 | .... | some rain | .... | ....
21 | .... | 22 | 19 | cloudy | .... | ....
22 | .... | 24 | .... | rainy morning | .... | ....
23 | 15 | 23 | 15 | clear | W | ....
24 | 14 | 22 | 21 | .... | .... | ....
25 | 16 | 24 | 23 | .... | .... | ....
26 | 15 | 23 | 22 | cloudy and rain | W | ....
27 | 14 | 21 | 18 | rain | .... | ....
28 | 15 | 23 | 15 | cloudy | S | ....
29 | 19 | .... | .... | do. | .... | ....
30 | .... | 30 | 20 | do. | .... | ....
31 | 22 | 27 | 25 | do. | S | ....
| | | | | |
June 1 | 17 | 2 | .... | .... | .... | ....
2 | .... | 25 | .... | cloudy | S E | ....
3 | .... | 26 | .... | .... | .... | ....
4 | .... | 30 | .... | .... | .... | ....
-------+---------+---------+--------+-----------------+-------+-------
FOOTNOTES:
[III'-1] Pike is now seen to have been all the while on the old
Spanish trail from Coahuila into Texas--for it was the "old" trail of
his day, a century ago. The place is 40 m. below Eagle Pass or old
Fort Duncan, and 90 m. above Laredo or old Fort McIntosh. It is thus
the middle one of three places on the river within easy striking
distance of San Antonio, Tex. From each of the three roads still
converge to the latter point; but this most historic place on the
lower Rio Grande has in the course of time fallen between two stools,
so to speak. For now one railroad runs from San Antonio nearly S. to
Laredo, by the way of Pearsall, Derby, Cotulla, Encinal, Webb, and
Sanchez, and another comes W. to Laredo from Corpus Christi on the
Gulf; while a third railroad connects San Antonio with Eagle Pass by
way of Castroville, Salinal, and Brackettville (Fort Clark). The last
named one is that which Pike kept so close to on his way out of
Mexico; the one from Laredo runs in Nuevo Leon to Monterey and so on.
Eagle Pass is roundly 500 m. up the Rio Grande, by any practicable
road, but less than half as far from the Gulf in a direct line. Forty
years ago it had a population of 300, and Fort Duncan, which adjoined
the town, was our uppermost military post on the river. On the other
side the Mexicans had their similar establishment at a place called
Piedras Negras or Black Rocks. A fine view of this place is given on
one of the engravings of the U. S. and Mex. B. Survey, supposed to be
bound opp. p. 72. The Ciudad Porfirio Diaz is there or thereabouts
now, and another settlement called Fuentes is in the neighborhood; but
Fort Duncan has disappeared, except from history. Fuentes is on a
small river which falls in just above; higher up on the same is San
Fernando de Rosas, or Zaragoza, a point whence various roads radiate.
Laredo or Loredo is a very old place, whose history dates back to the
early Spanish occupation of the country. Emory writes that in his
time, say 1850, it was a decayed place of 600 inhabitants, having been
ravaged by savage hordes, and being then supported mainly by old Fort
McIntosh, which was built a mile above the town. He thinks that the
countless herds of horses which had been stampeded and stolen by the
Indians were the progenitors of the mustangs which roamed the plains
of Texas thence N. and E. Laredo is now a focal point of roads from
every direction, including two railroads; and a place called Nuevo
Laredo is established across the river. At 61 or 62 m. by the road
below Laredo, and thus opposite the mouth of Rio Sabinas (which takes
the undesirable name of Rio Salado below its forks), a fortified
trading-post was built, and called Bellville. This name appears on
maps of 40 years ago, but has lapsed, like that of Redmond's Ranch by
which it was once known, and there is nothing on the American side to
show for what would supposably be a marked place--the confluence of so
large a river with the Rio Grande. But there is a town of Carrizo a
few miles below, on the Texan side. The Mexican town of Guerro or
Guerrero is located on the N. bank of Rio Salado, 4 m. up; and 3 m.
further are the handsome falls, a colored plate of which should be
found opp. p. 65 of the Report last named. Forty miles below this
confluence, Rio Alamo, also known as Rio Alcontre, falls in on the
Mexican side, and 4 m. up this river is the town of Mier, on its S.
bank. Mier, or a town of that name in this vicinity, must be an old
place; Pike marks a Mier on the Texan side. The Mier of the Mexican
War became a celebrated place, during the Texan invasion of 1840, when
a desperate fight occurred on its plaza. It was then a town of 2,000
or 3,000 inhabitants, and had many stone buildings among the
straw-thatched huts. It made much history, and was a point of
strategic importance, being the starting-place of the shortest and
most direct road to Monterey. Military operations on the Rio Grande
during the American occupation of Mier are said by Emory to have
altered the channel of the river, with the result of throwing the
island of Los Adjuntos over to the Mexican side, and thus changing
what had been the United States and Mexican boundary. About 5 m.
further down the Rio Grande stands Roma, a town on the American side,
notable as the head of ordinary steamboat navigation. Below this, at
the distance of 16 or 17 m., are the adjoining localities of Rio
Grande City and Ringgold Barracks. These notable places are opposite
the mouth of the San Juan r., on some of whose headwaters Pike was
found in the country W. of Saltillo, and which is the first
considerable stream that falls in on the Mexican side above the Gulf.
The town of Camargo is built on its E. bank, about 4 m. up. The
original establishment of Fort Ringgold is old (for our young history
on the Rio Grande); it was a mean place in 1850, when Rio Grande City
had a population of about 300, but came into prominence during the
years of the Boundary Survey, when it was a base of various
operations, and a point of observation: distance from the sea, 241 m.
by the river; alt. 521 feet; lat. 26° 22´ 27.79´´ N.; long. 98° 46´
32.85´´ W. (Emory, _l. c._). All the points here in mention, between
and including Ringgold Barracks and Laredo, are in Texas or in
Tamaulipas; for Nuevo Leon is cut off from the Rio Grande by the
Tamaulipan "Panhandle" which runs up to Coahuila. To return now from
our trip up and down the river to the famous place where we left Pike:
The name of Presidio Rio Grande which Pike uses is not yet entirely
obsolete, but the place is now better known as Presidio Salto--that
is, "Fort Falls," or the Mexican military post which was established
near the falls of the Rio Grande. Las Isletas, or The Islets, is the
name of the place in the river where the usually impassable falls or
rapids occur, and just above these is the crossing. The scene is well
shown on the plate opp. p. 68 of the Report cited. The latitude of Las
Isletas was determined by Michler in 1853 to be 28° 16´ 11.5´´ N.
[III'-2] N. E., heading straight for San Antonio de Bexar, on the old
trail, to the vicinity of Carrizo springs, Maverick Co.
[III'-3] The Nueces (R. des Noix of F. maps, as Vaugondy, 1783; Neuces
on Winterbotham's, 1795) is the first one of the large series of
rivers which drain Texas to the S. E. and S., and fall into one
another or separately into the Gulf. Among these are the San Antonio,
the Guadalupe, the Colorado (Red river of Texas), the Brazos, the
Trinity, the Nechez, and the Sabine--all of which Pike had to cross,
in the order in which they are here named, to reach Natchitoches on
the Red r. in the present State of Louisiana. During this journey to
the last named he continued in what was then the Spanish province of
Coahuila until he was almost to San Antonio, and thereafter traversed
the then province of Texas, though he passed into what is now the U.
S. State of Texas on crossing the Rio Grande.
[III'-4] Those three streams which Pike lays down across his trail,
before the San Antonio is reached, are the Nueces; the Leona, a branch
of the Frio; and the Frio, main branch of the Nueces. These are
successively crossed in the order here given. To-day's pond is marked
on the map, between the Nueces and the Leona; a second pond is also
marked, between the Leona and the Frio. Pike letters the Frio "Cold
Creek," and runs the Nueces into the Rio Grande at or near Mier (see
note 1); but it empties separately into the Gulf of Mexico near
Corpus Christi. Fort Ewell was built on the Nueces, on the road
between San Antonio and Laredo (Fort McIntosh); near the headwaters of
the Leona was situated Fort Inge, on the road from San Antonio to
Eagle Pass (Fort Duncan).
My maps differ irreconcilably concerning a certain Rio Quihi,
tributary to the Nueces system. The best one, of 1857-58, makes it a
large branch of the Leona, reaching across the direct route from
Presidio Salto to San Antonio, and therefore across Pike's trail.
_This_ Quihi r. is the present San Miguel r., which joins the Frio in
McMullen Co. On an earlier map, 1849, there is no such river, but an
insignificant Quihi cr., branch of a Rio Hondo, branch of a Rio Seco,
branch of the Rio Frio. Some of these maps lay down a branch of the
Frio called Artaceoasa cr. in one instance, and Atascosa cr. in
another; this name is the same as that of a place Pike marks
"Astecostota," and of present Atascosa Co., in which the creek runs to
fall into the Frio in Live Oak Co.
[III'-5] "Lee Panes" looks at first sight as if intended for Les
Panis, the Pawnees. But this is Pike's way of rendering Lipans. These
were a tribe cognate with Apaches, and therefore of Athapascan stock.
They were often called Lipan Apaches, and sometimes Sipans. Pike
elsewhere speaks of "the language of the Appaches and Le Panis,"
showing what he means.
[III'-6] The trip from the Rio Grande to the San Antonio r. made about
151 m. by Pike's estimates, serving to show the course of the old
Spanish trail as the most direct route then practicable. Pike's
Mariano is now called Medina r.; on this is Castroville, seat of
Medina Co., and the river mostly separates this county from Bexar Co.
Pike sets San Antonio on the N. bank of an affluent of a fork large
enough to look as if it were Rio Cibolo; but this last comes in much
further down the San Antonio, and no doubt he intended simply to
delineate the small forked San Pedro, on one of whose branches the
city was situated. The San Antonio itself is represented as joining
the Guadalupe high up; but these two great rivers only come together
as they approach the coast, to fall into Espiritu Santo bay opposite
Matagorda isl., between Indianola and Arkansas City. On some old maps,
as that in Winterbotham's History, 1795, San Antonio is set on a
stream called Rio Hondo, which is run separately into the Gulf of
Mexico between the Nueces and the Guadalupe. The early importance of
the Mariano or Medina r. as a political boundary ceased of course with
the retirement of Coahuila beyond the Rio Grande, and thus the
extension of Texan territory, through what had been Coahuilan
territory, to New Mexico. The city was formerly more fully called San
Antonio de Bexar, Bejar, Behar, Bexer, etc., to distinguish it from
uncounted other places dedicated to the patron saint of highways by
highwaymen and other persons, and is still the seat of Bexar Co.; pop.
lately 37,673 (scarcely less than that of Dallas). The mission of "St.
Joseph," commonly called San José, is figured on p. 69 of Major
Emory's reports, probably looking much as it did when Pike was
received there by the priest; and the steel engraving which forms the
frontispiece of the same volume shows the plaza of the city. San
Antonio is a very old place, having been occupied for military and
ecclesiastical purposes before 1720, was long the most important one
in Texas, was styled Thermopylæ of Texas after the massacre of Texans
by Mexicans at Fort Alamo, Mar. 6th, 1836, and is now the second in
size, though the capital of the present State is Austin, on the Rio
Colorado of Texas.
[III'-7] Sabine r. still forms a portion of the boundary between Texas
and Louisiana--that is, from the Gulf to 32° N., the remainder being
along a meridian to 33°. In consequence of its delimiting office, it
was formerly called Rio Mexicano and Mexican r. Thus "Mexicano R."
appears on the map accompanying Winterbotham's History, N. Y., J.
Reid, 1795.
[III'-8] Striking the Guadalupe at about the nearest point, in the
vicinity of present town of New Braunfels; to reach it, Rio Cibolo was
crossed, and there was the place called El Beson. There is no such
disparity of size between the Guadalupe and San Antonio rivers as
Pike's map indicates. The former has two main forks, the western one
retaining the name Guadalupe, for which Pike letters "Buenacus." The
other is called Rio San Marco, or San Marcos; it falls in at or near
Gonzales, about 40 m. (direct) below New Braunfels.
[III'-9] Camp in vicinity of the present town of Lockhart (?).
[III'-10] Camp short of Bastrop, a comparatively old place on the Rio
Colorado, located at the point where the Spanish trail crossed the
river, about 35 m. below Austin, and present seat of the county of the
same name. Bastrop is a mere village, pop. about 1,650, but the name
was famous in the early annals of Texas, when the Baron Bastrop had
his immense estate on the Washita. Dunbar and Hunter, in their
well-known Observations, etc., which formed one of the tracts
accompanying Jefferson's Message to Congress of Feb. 19th, 1806,
inform us that the Baron's great grant of land from the Spanish
government began near the Bayou Bartholomew, about 12 leagues above
the post on the Washita, and consisted of a square 12 leagues on each
side, or over a million French acres (London ed. 1807, p. 83). Bastrop
seems to have been a prototype of the modern "cattle barons," or
"cattle kings," as they are styled, who generally manage to cover more
ground than Queen Dido did when she stretched a bull's-hide around her
famous city.
[III'-11] This Red r. or Rio Colorado requires attention to
discriminate it from several others of the same name; they are all
great streams, not to be confounded, in spite of their homonymity: 1.
Red r. of the North, flowing into British America between North Dakota
and Minnesota: see Part I., _passim._ 2. Red r., the uppermost and
smallest one of three branches of the Arkansaw which have been so
called. This was oftenest called Negracka r., but is now usually known
as the Salt fork of the Arkansaw: see note 10, p. 552. 3. Red r., the
middle one of three branches of the Arkansaw which have been so
called, now known as the Cimarron r.: see note 10, p. 553. 4. Red r.,
the lowest and largest of the three branches of the Arkansaw which
have been so called; it is the main fork of the Arkansaw, often known
as the Red r. of Arkansas, oftenest now as the Canadian r.: see note
17, p. 558. 5. The Red r. of Louisiana, the Red r. of Natchitoches,
the Red r. of the Mississippi--_the_ Red r. of Pike's Expedition,
which he never found. This is the first (lowest) great branch of the
Mississippi from the W., and the one now most commonly known as the
Red r., without any qualifying phrase, probably never called Colorado
r. One of its Indian names is Kecheahquehono, to be found on some
maps. 6. The Red r. of Texas, the one Pike crosses this 16th of June
near Bastrop, and which flows into the Gulf of Mexico at Matagorda,
between the Guadalupe and the Brazos rivers. This is also the Rio Roxo
or Rojo, and the Rio Colorado, of the Spanish, sometimes qualified as
Rio Colorado del Este, or Colorado r. of the East (though it is the
southernmost of the lot), to distinguish it from: 7. Red r. of the
West; Rio Colorado del Occidente; Colorado r. of the West, flowing
into the Gulf of California. This has seldom been called Red r., and
is always now known as the Colorado, without qualifying terms, as we
very early adopted the Spanish name. We hear of cowboys who "paint the
town red" in carrying their jags, but that is nothing to the way these
rivers have rubricated maps. Easy alliteration of the words "red" and
"river" has doubtless tended to spread the phrase, in the lack of
nomenclatural resources, and in ignorance of the connections of
several of these rivers.
[III'-12] The "Tancards" of whom Pike speaks on the 16th and 17th,
also called Tankahuas, Tonkawans, Tankaways, etc., were a remarkable
people--a sort of Ishmaelites who roamed about, and seemed to belong
nowhere in particular. Powell styles them a "colluvies gentium" or
fusion of tribes; and what little we know of their local habitation is
derived mainly from Dr. Sibley's notes, supplemented by the above
passages in Pike's narrative. Dr. Sibley's historical letter to
General Dearborn, dated Natchitoches, Apr. 5th, 1805, and first
published with other tracts in Jefferson's Message to Congress of Feb.
19th, 1806, is one of the bases of the literature on this subject.
"The Tankaways (or Tanks, as the French call them)," says Sibley, p.
45 of the London ed., 1807, "have no land, nor claim the exclusive
right to any, nor have any particular place of abode, but are always
moving, alternately occupying the country watered by the Trinity,
Braces [Brazos], and Colerado, towards St. a Fé. Resemble, in their
dress, the Cances [Kanzas] and Hietans [Comanches], but [are] all in
one horde or tribe. Their number of men is estimated at about 200; are
good hunters; kill buffaloe and deer with the bow; have the best breed
of horses; are alternately friends and enemies of the Spaniards. An
old trader lately informed me that he has received 5000 deer skins
from them in one year, exclusive of tallow, rugs and tongues. They
plant nothing, but live upon fruits and flesh: are strong, athletic
people, and excellent horsemen." The history of the tribe dates back
of Sibley and Pike nearly a century, if the first mention of these
Bedouins of the Texan sands in 1719 be taken as its starting-point. In
1876 Gatschet had collected a vocabulary of about 300 words, upon
which linguistic material he classed the people as a separate stock
called Tonkawa, from the Caddoan or Wakoan word _tonkaweya_, implying
that these Indians kept by themselves, aloof from other tribes. The
Tonkawan family is recognized by Powell as one of the 58 distinct
linguistic stocks he adopts in his classification; his map locates the
tribe agreeably with the above indications, and his text adds: "About
1847 they were engaged as scouts in the United States Army, and from
1860-62 (?) were in the Indian Territory; after the secession war till
1884 they lived in temporary camps near Fort Griffin, Shackleford
County, Texas, and in October, 1884, they removed to the Indian
Territory (now on Oakland Reserve). In 1884 there were 78 individuals
living; associated with them were 19 Lipan Apache" (Seventh Ann. Rep.
Bur. Ethn., 1885-86, published 1891, p. 126). Two other Tonkawan
tribes, the Mayes and Yakwal, are extinct or merged in the former; and
several minor bands have been known by name.
[III'-13] The full style of this river was el Rio de los Brazos de
Dios, River of the Arms of God, which seemed neither blasphemous nor
sacrilegious to the admirable fanatics who so solemnly theographized
geography in their excursions for the salvation of souls, ad majorem
Dei gloriam. It is difficult for us to realize what a queer lot they
were, with their "Monastery Road" to the "Opening of the Virgin,"
their Corpus Christi in one place and Sangre de Cristo elsewhere, Holy
Ghost bay, Todos Santos collectively when they ran out of individual
saints, and Rio Trinidad for the whole Trinity after the members of
the divine family had been separately complimented. It is fortunate
that we cannot commit the intellectual anachronism of putting
ourselves in the place of these very sincere servants of a very
moderate polytheism, though the result be that the Brazos is also
called Brasses and Braces r., bringing up a ludicrous association of
ideas with the buttons and suspenders which uphold our trousers, ad
majorem pudorem virorum. Other names of this stream are Rivière Ste.
Thérèse (or Rio Santa Teresa), and R. Maligne; thus the phrase "St.
Théreseor or Maline R." appears on the map in Winterbotham's History,
1795. The river is the largest one of the series Pike is crossing; it
drains a great area in Texas from the Llanos Estacados or Staked
Plains to the Gulf, which it reaches between Galveston and Matagorda.
The point at which the old Spanish trail struck it is indicated by
Pike's mention of the Little Brazos, a sort of bayou or side-sluice
which runs close to the E. side of the main stream for a great
distance. The crossing was near the mouth of this bayou.
[III'-14] The streams passed to-day are tributaries of the Brazos, the
larger one mentioned being that afterward known as Navasota r., which
falls in a good way below, at or near a place which was once named
Washington. The high land on the other side, on which was camp,
represents some of the elevation which forms the water-shed between
Brazos and Trinity rivers, and which is passed over next day. The
clause of the text reading "impassable four miles. Overflows swamps,
ponds, etc.," I suppose may be read "impassable for (some) miles
(along its course, where it) overflows (in) swamps, ponds, etc."
[III'-15] The original Rio Trinidad has become better known under its
equivalent English name of the Trinity, and there is a place lower
down on it which is or was called Trinidad or Trinity (now
Swartwout?). It empties into Galveston bay, and so into the Gulf. The
Spanish trail from the crossing led on to a place called Crockett, in
Houston Co., at or near which camp of the 21st was pitched. A little
above the crossing, on the E. bank of the river, we are informed by
Dr. Sibley, was the residence of the Keyes or Keychias, a Caddoan
tribe which in 1805 mustered 60 men. These are now called Kichais, and
now or lately consisted of about 60 persons.
[III'-16] For Nacogdoches see next note. The above lacuna in the text
may be presumptively supplied from Pike's map, where the post is
marked to that effect.
[III'-17] Natches and Neches are obviously the same Indian word, the
root of which appears in Natchitoches and various other names. The two
have run through the usual range of variation in spelling in the
course of writing and printing; but of late years the form Natchez has
become fixed as the name of the well-known city on the Mississippi
below Vicksburg, while the designation of the river has perhaps
acquired stability in the form of Neches. The latter is the principal
stream between the Trinity and the Sabine; it runs south approximately
parallel with both, and falls into the Gulf through Sabine l., as the
Sabine does; in fact, it is collateral with the Sabine, and has been
considered a branch of the latter. The Spanish trail crossed it high
up. Its own main branch is that eastern one known as Rio Angelina or
Angeline r., which Pike crosses on the 24th; and E. of a small branch
of the latter was the site of Nacogdoches. It is now an obscure
village, pop. about 1,200, seat of the county of its own name, which
occupies a space between Angelina and Atoyac rivers; but the place is
an old one, which, like all the others which the Spanish trail went
through, has a long ethnic, civil, and military history. Neches or
Natches r. is to be particularly noted as the ancient seat of a tribe
of Indians who, though a mere handful a century ago, left their name
as a legacy for all time. Sibley (_l. c._, p. 43) speaks of "a small
river, a branch of the Sabine, called the Naches," on which lived the
"Inies, or Tachies (called indifferently by both names)," and adds:
"From the latter name the name of the province of Tachus or Taxus is
derived," _i. e._, Texas. Among the permutations of the word and its
derivatives not the least singular is the English adjective and noun
_Texican_--a word obviously formed upon the model of _Mexican_ from
_Mexico_. I suppose this is modern, and what may be termed cowboy
dialect; I used to hear it constantly when I was in those parts.
[III'-18] Three lacunæ in this sentence, two of which I fill, omitting
the other, which was a long dash in place of the Frenchman's name. We
seem bound by Pike's map to supply "Toyac" as the missing name of the
river he means, though there is certainly no such large river as he
lays down between the Neches and the Sabine. The map is evidently at
fault here, for he runs the Neches into Trinity r., and thus into
Galveston bay, and his "Rio Toyac" comes nearer exhibiting the proper
relations of the Neches with the Sabine. Exactly what his great "Rio
Toyac" may pass for is thus questionable, but the "little river" of
the text, which he crosses after leaving Nacogdoches, must be the
present Atoyac r. (the branch of the Angelina which separates
Nacogdoches Co. from San Augustin Co., for the most part). The route
continues to-day past San Augustin, which was on the Spanish trail,
and on or near another small branch of the Angelina, which runs
between San Augustin Co. and Sabine Co. The place where he stopped on
the 28th, only three hours' march from the Sabine, and where he found
both Frenchmen and Americans, was evidently the exact locality of
which Sibley speaks concerning certain Caddoan Indians known as
Aliche, Eyeish, or Eyish. They were then on the verge of extinction,
having been in 1801 reduced by the smallpox till only 25 of them were
left in 1805. Writing in the latter year he says (_l. c._, p. 43) that
"they were, some years ago, a considerable nation, and lived on a
bayou which bears their name, which the road from Nachitoch to
Nacogdoches crosses, about 12 miles west of Sabine r., on which a few
French and American families are settled." These data fix Pike's camp
with precision.
[III'-19] The former office of the Sabine or Mexican r. in delimiting
Spanish from American possessions continues to-day in so far as it
represents the boundary between Texas and Louisiana. On crossing it,
our fervid young patriot passed from the military protection of his
Catholic Majesty to that of his Brother Jonathan and Uncle Sam--the
former of these two, by the way, being as actual a person as King
Charles IV. of Spain, and no other than Jonathan Trumbull of
Connecticut. The Spanish trail entered what is now the State of
Louisiana at a point between Hamilton and Sabinetown, both of which
were places on the Texan side of the river. The crossing was but
little above Sabinetown, and between two small watercourses known as
Bayou San Patricio and Bayou San Miguel, both running in Sabine Co.,
La. His camp of the 30th seems to have been between Bayou Miguel and
the next below, now called Lennan; and these two I suppose to be the
ones he lays down as running into the Sabine together, as they do,
pretty nearly.
[III'-20] General Wilkinson's "marquee," the location of which Pike
took pleasure in imagining, was the large tent used by field and
general officers; the name is not often heard now, though the word is
hardly obsolete. Old Fort Jesup was built directly on the continuation
of the Spanish trail in Louisiana, rather less than half-way from the
Sabine to Red r. A short distance S. of this was a place whose name
appears on various maps as Many, Manny, Maney, and by accident
Mary--the latter on Emory's, 1857-58, which I think is one of the most
accurate and altogether useful maps ever drawn to a scale of 1 :
6,000,000. A glance at this shows Pike's trail from the Rio Grande to
the Red r. in all its main features; and though many desirable details
are necessarily lacking, not one is misleading.
[III'-21] This short clause brings up a number of interesting points.
The hill is among the slight elevations which together form the
water-shed between the Sabine and Red r. This rise of ground
corresponds in a general way with the boundary between Sabine and
Nachitoches cos. in Louisiana, parting the numberless and mostly
unnamed small waters which make on either hand for their respective
outlets in the two rivers. Pike is already on the Red River side,
among the runs which discharge into the body of water known as the
Spanish l., and which finds its way into Red r. by various channels.
This is the place where "anciently stood," as he informs us, the
village of the mysterious tribe of Indians he calls Adyes and Adayes.
These have a long history; but the literature of the subject is mainly
a presentation of our ignorance. Powell says that the first mention of
them occurs in the Naufragios of Cabeça de Vaca, who calls them
Atayos, about 1540, and that they are also noted by various early
French explorers of the Mississippi, as d'Iberville and Joutel. The
fortified camp of which Pike speaks was built in 1715 and known as the
Mission of Adayes. From documents preserved in San Antonio de Bexar,
examined by Mr. A. S. Gatschet in 1886, it appears that 14 Adai
families emigrated to a place S. of that town in 1792; these were
afterward lost sight of. According to Baudry de Lozieres, as cited by
Powell, 100 Adaizans were left at home in 1802. Turning to Sibley (_l.
c._ p. 42), we find that in 1805 there were 20 men and more women
living "about 40 miles from Natchitoches, below the Yattassees [a
tribe that lived on Bayou Pierre or Stony creek], on a lake called Lac
Macdon, which communicated with the division of Red river that passes
by Bayau Pierre. They live at or near where their ancestors have lived
from time immemorial. They being the nearest nation to the old Spanish
fort, or Mission of Adaize, that place was named after them, being
about 20 miles from them, to the south." Dr. Sibley collected a
vocabulary of about 250 words, the sole basis we have for the modern
scientific classification of the tribe, upon the only sure principle
of natural generation as indicated by mother-tongues. "Their language
differs from all others," says Dr. Sibley, "and is so difficult to
speak or understand, that no [other] nation can speak ten words of it:
but they all speak Caddo, and most of them French." He adds that they
were always attached to the latter, with whom they sided against the
Natchez; and that after the Natchez massacre of 1798, while the
Spanish occupied Fort Adaize, the priests took much pains in vain to
make them believe what was told them about Catholic dogma. This is
practically the sum of what is known of these evidently intelligent
and manly people; the rest of the literature is mainly the conclusions
reached upon the subject by various authors. The consensus of opinion
very properly classifies the Adaize, Adaizi, Adaise, Adaes, Adees,
Adayes, Adyes, Adahi, or Adai, as a distinct linguistic stock, lately
called the Adaizan family, whose affinities, more or less remote, are
with the Caddoan.
[III'-22] Natchitoches, or some other form of this word, was
originally the name of a certain tribe of Indians of the Southern
Caddoan family, and of the island on which they dwelt in Red r., at
the site of the town which later arose there and is still so called.
We hear of these people and their place very early in French colonial
history. In Sept., 1688, Henri de Tonti was visited at his Fort St.
Louis on the Illinois, by Couture, one of his men whom he had left at
Arkansas Post in 1686, who apprized him of La Salle's tragic death. He
set off (he says, in Oct., 1689--probably a wrong date from memory) in
Dec., 1688, descended the Illinois and Miss. rivers to Red r., and
went up this, reaching the Natchitoches Feb. 17th and the Caddodaquis
Mar. 28th, 1689: so Parkman's La Salle, etc., p. 439. He was told that
some of the assassins or those in the plot to murder their leader were
at a village of the Naouadiches, some 85 leagues S. W., whither he
went, but found no trace of Hiens and his confederates. After much
suffering, including an illness at his Arkansas Post, he regained Fort
St. Louis Sept., 1689: Wallace, Hist. Ill. and La., 1893, p. 188
_seq._ According to this authority the present town dates from Jan.,
1717, when Antoine de la Mothe Cadillac, governor of Louisiana under
Crozat, sent a sergeant and some soldiers to establish a post on the
island, which was commanded _ca._ 1721-28 by Louis Juchereau de St.
Denis (b. Quebec, Sept. 18th, 1676, d. _post_ 1731). This notable
character, uncle of D'Iberville's wife, Chevalier, etc., is the "Mons.
St. Dennie" of Sibley's notice of the Natchitoches, p. 49, where it is
said he was still in command after the Natchez massacre of 1728; "the
Indians called him the Big Foot, were fond of him, for he was a brave
man." According to Gayarré, Hist. La., II. p. 355, the foreign
population of Natchitoches was 811 by a census made under Gov.
O'Reilly, _ca._ 1769, or when the French had been in Louisiana 70
years. Sibley, writing at Natchitoches Apr. 5th, 1805, says that an
elderly French gentleman then living had shortly before informed him
that the informant remembered when the Natchitoches were 600 men
strong: this should represent _ca._ 3,000 total souls.
[III'-23] Constant Freeman of Massachusetts had been a captain in the
Revolutionary army when he was made major of the 1st Regiment of
Artillerists and Engineers, Feb. 28th, 1795; promoted to be
lieutenant-colonel of Artillerists, Apr. 1st, 1802; transferred to
corps of Artillery, May 12th, 1814; and honorably discharged June
15th, 1815; he had been brevetted colonel July 10th, 1812, and he died
Feb. 27th, 1824.
Elijah Strong of Connecticut was an ensign of the 1st sub-Legion Feb.
23d, 1793; lieutenant, July 1st, 1794; transferred to 1st Infantry,
Nov. 1st, 1796; captain, Oct. 23d, 1799; major, 7th Infantry, Dec.
15th, 1808; and died June 9th, 1811.
Charles Wollstonecraft of England was appointed from Pennsylvania to
be a lieutenant of the 2d Artillerists and Engineers, June 4th, 1798;
he became a lieutenant of Artillerists, Apr. 1st, 1802; captain, Mar.
15th, 1805; was transferred to the corps of Artillery, May 12th, 1814;
on the 15th of March, 1815, he was brevetted major for 10 years'
faithful service in one grade, and Sept. 28th, 1817, he died.
Thomas A. Smith of Virginia was appointed from Georgia a second
lieutenant of Artillerists, Dec. 15th, 1803; became first lieutenant,
Dec. 31st, 1805, and captain of Rifles, May 3d, 1808; he was a
brigadier general in 1814, resigned Nov. 10th, 1818, and died in a few
weeks.
[III'-24] In the orig. ed. this weather diary occupied an unpaged leaf
following p. 278 of the main text of Pt. 3, being thus pp. 279, 280. I
leave it in the same relative position, and pass it without further
remark.
CHAPTER IV.
OBSERVATIONS ON NEW SPAIN.[IV'-1]
The kingdom of New Spain[IV'-2] lies between 16° and 44° N. lat., and
96° and 118° W. long. It is divided into two separate and independent
governments, and these again into various subdivisions.
I. The viceroyalty includes:
1. The administration of Guadalaxara,[IV'-3] which lies between 18°
30´ and 24° 30´ N. lat., and 104° and 109° W. long., and is bounded
south and west by the South Sea, north by the provinces of Biscay
[Nueva Viscaya] and Sinaloa; N. E. by the administration of Zacatecas;
E. by the administration of Guanaxuato, and S. E. by that of
Valladolid. It is 350 miles in length from northwest to southeast, and
250 in width east and west. Its population may be estimated at
100,000. It is one of the most luxuriant and rich administrations in
the viceroyalty; and is watered from east to west by the great river
de Santego [Rio Grande de Santiago], which receives most of its waters
from Lac [Lago] de Chapala. Guadalaxara, the capital, was built by one
of the Gusman family in 1551, and in 1570 the bishopric was removed
from Compostela to that place. It is the seat of the audience of
Guadalaxara, which includes Guadalaxara and the administration of
Zacatecas. The population of this city may be estimated at 75,000; it
stands in N. lat. 20° 50´, W. long. 105°.
2. The administration of Valladolid[IV'-4] lies between 22° 10´ and
18° 12´ N. lat., and 102° and 105° W. long., and is bounded south by
the South sea [Pacific ocean] and part of Mexico, east and northeast
by the latter, and north by that of Guanaxuato. Its greatest length
from northeast to southwest is 230 miles, and its greatest width, east
and west, 190 miles. Its population may be estimated at 360,000. Its
capital of the same name is situated in about 20° N. lat., 103° 25´´
W. long. Population unknown.
3. The administration of Mexico[IV'-5] lies between 21° 30´ and 16°
30´ N. lat., and 99° and 105° W. long., and is bounded south by the
South Sea, east by the governments of La Puebla and La Vera Cruz,
north by that of St. Louis, and west by Valladolid and Guanaxuato. Its
greatest length, north and south, may be 360 miles, and its greatest
width, which is on the Western Ocean, is 200 miles. Its population may
be estimated at 1,500,000 souls. The capital of this administration,
and of the whole kingdom, is Mexico; a particular description of which
is deemed unnecessary. From every information I could obtain from
persons who had resided in it for years, it does not contain more than
200,000 inhabitants. Its being the residence of the viceroy, whose
court is more splendid than that at Madrid; its central position as to
the ports of Acapulco and Vera Cruz; together with the rich and
luxuriant vale which surrounds it, will, whenever the Spanish
Americans burst the present bonds of slavery in which they are bound,
give to Mexico all those advantages which great wealth, a large
population, and a commanding situation concentrate, and assuredly make
it one of the greatest cities in the world. In point of population, it
is now in the second rank, and in beauty, riches, magnificence, and
splendor, in the first.
4. The administration of Oxaca [Oaxaca or Oajaca[IV'-6]] lies between
18° and 16° N. lat., and 98° and 112° W. long., and is bounded south
by the South Sea, west by the government of La Puebla, north by Mexico
and Vera Cruz, and east by the province of Gualamalia [Guatemala].
Its greatest length, east and west, is 230 miles, and its width, north
and south, 175 miles. Its population may be estimated at 520,000
souls. Its capital is Oxaca, in 17° 30´ N. lat., 99° 25´ W. long.
5. The administration of Vera Cruz[IV'-7] lies between 17° and 22° N.
lat., and 98° and 101° W. long., and is bounded north and east by the
gulf of Mexico, south by Oxaca, west by Puebla and Mexico. Its
greatest length, N. W. and S. E., is 430 miles, and its width, E. and
W., not more than 60 miles. Its population may be estimated at
220,000. Its capital is Vera Cruz, which is the sole port of entry for
all the kingdom on the Atlantic ocean, as that of Acapulco is on the
Western. Its population may be estimated at 30,000 souls, and is in
19° 10´ N. lat. and 98° 30´ W. long. This city was taken and sacked by
the English on the 17th of May, 1683, since which the works for its
defense [present Castle of San Juan de Ulúa] have been made so very
strong as almost to bid defiance to an attack from the sea.
6. The administration de la Puebla[IV'-8] lies between 20° and 16° N.
lat., and 100° and 102° W. long., and is bounded south by the South
sea, east by Oxaca and Vera Cruz, north and west by Mexico; it is near
300 miles in its greatest length from north to south, and 120 in its
greatest width from east to west. Its population may be estimated at
800,000 souls. Its capital is the city of La Puebla, estimated at
80,000 souls, which is in 19° 12´ N. lat., and 100° 50´ W. long.
7. The administration of Guanaxuato [or Guanajuato[IV'-9]] lies
between 21° 30´ and 23° 30´ N. lat., and 103° and 105° W. long., and
is bounded south by Valladolid, east by Mexico, south by St. Louis
[and] Zacataca, and west by Guadalaxara. Its greatest extent, from
north to south, is 75 miles, and from east to west, 85. Its population
may be estimated at 500,000 souls. Its capital city is Guanaxuato, in
lat. 21° N., long. 103° W.
8. The administration of Zacataca [Zacatecas[IV'-10]] lies between 21°
20´ and 24° 52´ N. lat., and 103° and 105° 30´ W. long., and is
bounded north by the internal province of Biscay, east by St. Louis,
west by Guadalaxara, and south by Guanaxuato. Its greatest length is
210 miles, north and south, and its greatest width is 145 miles, from
east to west. Its population may be estimated at 250,250 souls. The
capital, Zacataca, stands in 23° N. lat. and 104° W. long.
9. The administration of St. Louis [San Luis Potosí[IV'-11]] lies
between 21° 20´ and 28° 50´ N. lat., and 99° and 102° W. long.,
includes Texas and St. Ander [Nuevo Santander] in this dimension, and
is bounded north by New Leon, east by the province of St. Ander, south
by Guanaxuato and Mexico, and west by Zacataca. Its greatest length
from north to south is 200, and its width from east to west is 170
miles. Its population may be estimated at 311,500 souls. Its capital
is St. Louis de Potosi, the population of which is 60,000; it stands
in 22° N. lat., 103° W. long., and was founded in 1568 [1576].
II. The province of Nuevo San Ander [Santander[IV'-12]] is bounded
north by the province of Texas, west by Nuevo Leon and Cogquillo
[Coahuila], south by St. Louis, and east by the Atlantic Ocean; from
north to south it is about 500 miles in length, but from east to west
not more than 150. Its population may be estimated at 38,000 souls.
The capital, New San Ander [Nuevo Santander], is on the river of that
name [also known as the Rio Jimenez, and Rio de las Palmas], about 40
miles from the sea, in 23° 45´ N. lat. and 101° W. long.
III. The kingdom of New Leon [Nuevo Leon[IV'-13]] is bounded east by
New San Ander, north by Cogquilla, west by Biscay, and south by St.
Louis and Zacataca; its greatest length north and south is 250 miles;
width, east and west, 100 miles. Its population may be estimated at
30,000 souls. Its capital, Mont El Rey [Monterey], is situated on the
headwaters of Tiger river, which discharges into the gulf of Mexico.
The city of Mont El Rey contains about 11,000 souls, and is the seat
of the bishop, Don Dio Premiro, who visited the port of Natchitoches
when it was commanded by Captain Turner, of the 2d U. S. regiment of
infantry. His episcopal jurisdiction extends over Nuevo San Ander, New
Leon, Cogquilla, and Texas, and his salary is equal to $100,000 per
annum. Mont El Rey is situated in 26° N. lat. and 102° W. long. There
are many rich mines near the city of Mont El Rey, whence, I am
informed, there are taken to be coined 100 mule-loads of bullion in
silver and gold monthly, which may be presumed to be not more than the
three-fifths of what is taken from the mines, as there are many
persons who prefer never getting their metal coined, as then it is
not so easily ascertained what they are worth, which is an
all-important secret in a despotic government.
* * * * *
The foregoing nine administrations or intendencias, the province of
Nuevo San Ander, and the kingdom of [Nuevo] Leon, are included in the
two audiences of Guadalaxara and Mexico, and form, as I believe, the
whole political government of the viceroy of Mexico; but I am not
positive whether his jurisdiction does not include the audience of
Guatimalia [Guatemala], which lies to the south, and includes the
province of that name, that of Chiapa [Chiapas], Yucatan, Veraqua
[Veragua], Costa Rica, and Honduras. An audience is the high court of
appeals in which the viceroy presides and has two votes; it is
intended as a check on his power and authority.
The administrations are governed by intendants, who are officers of
high rank, and always Europeans.
The longitude given is from the meridian of Paris.
In the general view of New Spain,[IV'-14] I shall take some notice of
the manners, customs, political force, etc., of the viceroyalty; but,
as I do not pretend to be correctly informed as to that quarter of the
kingdom, and there have been so many persons who have given statements
on those heads, I shall confine my observations principally to the
internal provinces through which I passed, and on which I made my
observations.
INTERNAL PROVINCES.
1. NEW MEXICO. [_Geography._ The province of New Mexico] lies between
lat. 30° 30´ and 44° N., and long. 104° and 108° W., and is the most
northern province of the kingdom of New Spain. It extends northwest into
an undefined boundary, is bounded north and east by Louisiana, south
by Biscay and Cogquilla, and west by Senora and California.[IV'-15]
Its length is unknown; its breadth may be 600 miles; but the inhabited
part is not more than 400 miles in length and 50 in breadth, lying
along the river del Norte, from lat. 37° to 31° 30´ N.; but in this
space there is a desert of more than 250 miles.
_Air and Climate._ No persons accustomed to reside in the temperate
climate of lat. 36° and 37° N. in the United States can form any idea
of the piercing cold which is experienced on that parallel in New
Mexico; but the air is serene and unaccompanied by damps or fogs, as
it rains but once a year, and some years not at all. It is a
mountainous country. The grand dividing ridges which separate the
waters of the rio del Norte from those of California border it on the
line of its western limits, and are covered, in some places, with
eternal snows, which give a keenness to the air that could not be
calculated upon or expected in a temperate zone.
_Timber and Plains._ The cotton tree [_Populus_] is the only tree of
this province, except some scrubby pines and cedars at the foot of the
mountains [and many other species there and elsewhere]. The former
borders the banks of the rio del Norte and its tributary streams. All
the rest of the country presents to the eye a barren wild of poor
land, scarcely to be improved by culture, and appears to be only
capable of producing sufficient subsistence for those animals which
live on succulent plants and herbage.
_Mines, Minerals, and Fossils._ There are no mines known in the
province, except one of copper situated in a mountain on the west side
of the rio del Norte, in lat. 34° N. [see note 26, p. 637]. It is
worked, and produces 20,000 mule-loads of copper annually. It also
furnishes that article for the manufactories of nearly all the
internal provinces. It contains gold, but not quite sufficient to pay
for its extraction; consequently it has not been pursued.
There is, near Santa Fe, in some of the mountains, a stratum of talc,
which is so large and flexible as to render it capable of being
subdivided into thin flakes, of which the greater proportion of the
houses in Santa Fe, and in all the villages to the north, have their
window-lights made.
_Rivers._ The river del Norte takes its source in the mountains which
give birth to the headwaters of California, the Plata [South Platte],
Pierre Jaune ["Yellowstone," _i. e._, North Platte] of the Missouri,
and Arkansaw of the Mississippi, in lat. 40° N. and long. 110°
W.[IV'-16] Its distance from its source to the gulf of Mexico may be,
by its meanders, estimated at 2,000 miles, passing through the
provinces of New Mexico, part of Biscay, Cogquilla, and New San Ander,
where it falls into the gulf at lat. 26° N. It cannot, in any part of
its course, be termed a navigable stream, owing to the sand-bars. In
the flat country and mountains in the upper part, with which its
course is interrupted, small boats might ascend as high as the
Presidio de Rio Grande in Cogquilla, and it might be navigable for
canoes in various parts of its course. In the mountains above Santa Fe
it afforded amply sufficient water for canoe navigation, and even
more than appeared to be flowing in its bed in the plains. This must
be attributed to numerous canals and the dry sandy soil through which
the river courses, where much of the water which flows from the
mountains must be absorbed and lost. In the province of New Mexico it
is called the Rio del Norte; below it is termed the Rio Grande; but in
no instance did I hear it called the Rio Bravo, as many of our ancient
maps designate it.
There are also, in the limits of this province, to the west, the
rivers San Rafael, San Xavier, de los Dolores, also de los Anamas or
Nabajoa, all of which join and form the great Rio Colorado of
California.[IV'-17] The two first take their sources in the same
mountains as the Rio del Norte, but on the west side.
The river Colorado, by its meanders, may be about 1,000 miles in
length, from its sources to its discharge into the head of the gulf of
California, in the 33d degree of N. lat. [about 32°]. It has been
represented to me, by men of information and research, to be
navigable for square-rigged vessels at least 300 miles from the gulf.
By this river and the Arkansaw there could be the best communication
established between the Pacific and the Atlantic oceans. There are
represented to be various numerous and warlike nations of Indians on
its banks. Through the whole of its course its banks are entirely
destitute of timber, and indeed I was informed that for 300 miles
there was not a tree ten inches in diameter.
The river S. Buenaventura empties into the Pacific ocean to the north
of California in 39° 30´ N. latitude, and takes its source in the
Sierre Madre to the north of the Colorado and del Norte.[IV'-18]
The Rio Gila[IV'-19] heads opposite the copper-mines, and discharges
into the gulf of California, just below the Colorado, in the 33d
degree of N. latitude.
The Rio Puerto [Pecos[IV'-20]] is a branch of the Rio del Norte; it
comes from the north and joins that river about 100 miles below the
Presidio del Norte.
None of the foregoing streams present any evidence of civilization on
their shores excepting the Rio del Norte.
_Lakes._ I heard of no lakes in the province, except that of
Tampanagos, the existence of which I consider very doubtful. It is
said to commence, according to Father Escalante, in the 40th deg. N.
lat., and to have been explored to the 42d deg. in a N. W. direction,
where it enlarged its dimensions, and the discoverer thought proper to
return.[IV'-21]
_Animals._ North Mexico produces deer, elk, buffalo, cabrie, the
gresley [grizzly and] black bear, and wild horses.
_Population._ Its population is not far short of 30,000 souls,
one-twentieth of which may be Spaniards from Europe, or Chapetones
[Gachupines[IV'-22]], four-twentieths Creoles, five-twentieths Metifs,
and the other half civilized Indians.
The capital is Santa Fe, situated on a small stream which empties into
the east side of the Rio del Norte, at the foot of the mountains which
divide the waters of that river from the Arkansaw and the Red river of
the Mississippi, in 36° N. lat. and 100° W. long. It is an oblong
square, extending about one mile from east to west on the banks of the
creek. In the centre is the public square, one side of which forms
the flank of the soldiers' square, which is closed and in some degree
defended by the round towers in the angles which flank the four
curtains; another side of the square is formed by the palace of the
governor, his guard-houses, etc.; the third side is occupied by the
priests and their suite, and the fourth by the Chapetones who reside
in the city. The houses are generally only one story high, with flat
roofs, and have a very mean appearance on the outside; but some of
them are richly furnished, especially with plate.
The second cities in the province are Albuquerque and Passo [El Paso]
del Norte. The latter is the most southern city of the province, as
Tons [Taos] is the most northern. Between the village of Sibilleta and
the Passo there is a wilderness of near 200 miles [including the
Jornada del Muerto].
_Trade and Commerce._ New Mexico carries on a trade direct with Mexico
through Biscay [Nueva Viscaya], also with Senora [Sonora] and Sinaloa;
it sends out about 30,000 sheep annually, tobacco, dressed deer and
cabrie skins, some furs, buffalo robes, salt, and wrought copper
vessels of a superior quality. It receives in return, from Biscay and
Mexico, dry goods, confectionery, arms, iron, steel, ammunition, and
some choice European wines and liquors; from Senora and Sinaloa,
gold, silver, and cheese. The following articles sell in this
province, as stated, which will show the cheapness of provisions and
the extreme dearness of imported goods: Flour sells, per hundred, at
$2; salt, per mule-load, $5; sheep, each, $1; beeves, each, $5; wine
del Passo, per barrel, $15; horses, each, $11; mules, each, $30;
superfine cloths, per yard, $25; fine cloths, per yard, $20; linen,
per yard, $4, and all other dry goods in proportion.
The journey with loaded mules from Santa Fe to Mexico, and returning
to Santa Fe, takes five months. They manufacture rough leather,
cigars, a vast variety and quantity of potters' ware, cotton, some
coarse woolen cloths, and blankets of a superior quality. All those
manufactures are carried on by the civilized Indians, as the Spaniards
think it more honorable to be agriculturists than mechanics. The
Indians likewise far exceed their conquerors in their genius for, and
execution of, all mechanical operations.
About two miles above the town of Passo del Norte is a bridge over the
river, where the road passes to the west side, at which place is a
large canal [acequia]. This takes out an ample supply of water for the
purpose of cultivation, which is here carried on in as great
perfection as at any place that I visited in the provinces. There is a
wall bordering the canal the whole way on both sides, to protect it
from the animals; and when it arrives at the village, it is
distributed in such a manner that each person has his fields watered
in rotation. At this place were as finely cultivated fields of wheat
and other small grain as I ever saw; and numerous vineyards, from
which were produced the finest wine ever drank in the country, which
was celebrated through all the provinces, and was the only wine used
on the table of the commanding general.
_Agriculture._ They cultivate corn, wheat, rye, barley, rice, tobacco,
vines, and all the common culinary plants cultivated in the same
latitude in the United States. New Mexico has the exclusive right of
cultivating tobacco. They are, however, a century behind us in the
art of cultivation; for, notwithstanding their numerous herds of
cattle and horses, I have seen them frequently breaking up whole
fields with a hoe. Their oxen draw by the horns, after the French
mode. Their carts are extremely awkward and clumsily made. During the
whole of the time we were in New Spain I never saw a horse in a
vehicle of any description, mules being made use of in carriages, as
well as for the purposes of labor.
_Antiquities._ On the river St. Francis,[IV'-23] a large branch of
the river Gila, which heads near the copper mines in New Mexico and
discharges into the Red river of California, are the remains of old
walls and houses which are ascertained to have been the work of the
Mexicans on their route emigrating from the northwest to the plains of
Mexico, where they finally established themselves. Those walls are of
a black cement, the durability of which increases with its age, so
that it has hitherto bid defiance to the war of time. Its composition
is now entirely lost. There is also found at this place many broken
pieces of earthenware, which still possess the glazing as perfectly as
when first put on.
_Aborigines._[IV'-24] The Kyaways [Kiowas] wander on the sources of
La Platte and are supposed to be 1,000 men strong. They possess
immense herds of horses, and are at war with both Pawnees and Tetaus
[Ietans, Comanches], as well as the Sioux. They are armed with bows,
arrows, and lances, and hunt the buffalo. This nation, with the Tetaus
and Utahs, all speak the same language. The Utahs wander at the
sources of the Rio del Norte, are supposed to be 2,000 warriors
strong, are armed in the same manner, and pursue the same game, as
the Kyaways. They are, however, a little more civilized, from having
more connection with the Spaniards, with whom they are frequently at
war, but were then at peace, and waging war with the Tetaus.[IV'-25]
A battle was fought between them and the Tetaus in September, 1806,
near the village of Tons [Taos]: there were about 400 combatants on
each side, but they were separated by a Spanish alcalde riding out to
the field of battle. There were 8 or 10 killed on each side. The Utahs
gave all the horses taken to the Spaniards. This shows in a strong
degree the influence the Spaniards have over those Indians.
The Nanahaws [Navajos[IV'-26]] are situated to the N. W. of Santa Fe.
They frequently war with the Spaniards, and are supposed to be 2,000
warriors strong. They are armed in the same manner as the two
preceding nations. This nation, as well as all the others to the west
of them bordering on California, speak the language of the Appaches
and Le Panis [Lipans[IV'-27]], who are in a line with them to the
Atlantic.
The Appaches[IV'-28] are a nation of Indians who extend from the
Black mountains in New Mexico to the frontiers of Cogquilla, keeping
the frontiers of three provinces in a continual state of alarm, and
making it necessary to employ nearly 2,000 dragoons to escort the
caravans, protect the villages, and revenge the various attacks they
are continually making on the subjects of his Catholic Majesty. This
nation formerly extended from the entrance of the Rio Grande to the
Gulf of California, and have waged a continual warfare, excepting
short truces, with the Spaniards, from the time these pushed their
enterprises back from Mexico into the internal provinces. It is
extremely difficult to say what are their numbers at the present day,
but they must be very much reduced, from their long and constant
warfare, the wandering and savage life they lead in the mountains,
which is so injurious to an increase of population, and in which they
are frequently extremely pinched by famine.
At the commencement of their warfare the Spaniards used to take them
prisoners and make slaves of them; but finding that their
unconquerable attachment to liberty made them surmount every
difficulty and danger in returning to their mountains, they adopted
the mode of sending them to Cuba. This the Appaches no sooner learned
than they refused to give or receive quarter, and in no instance have
any been taken since that period, except those surprised when asleep,
or knocked down and overpowered.
Their arms are the bow and arrow, and the lance. Their bow forms two
demi-circles, with a shoulder in the middle; the back of it is
entirely covered with sinews, which are laid on in so nice a manner,
by the use of some glutinous substance, as to be almost imperceptible;
this gives great elasticity to the weapon. Their arrow is more than
the "cloth yard" of the English, being three feet and a half long, the
upper part consisting of some light rush or cane, into which is
inserted a shaft of about one foot, made of some hard, seasoned light
wood; the point is of iron, bone, or stone, and, when the arrow enters
the body, in attempting to extract it the shaft comes out of its
socket and the point remains in the wound. With this weapon they shoot
with such force as to go through the body of a man at a distance of
100 yards, and an officer told me that in an engagement with them, one
of their arrows struck his shield and dismounted him in an instant.
Their other weapon of offense is a lance of 15 feet in length, with
which they charge with both hands over their heads, managing their
horses principally with their knees. With this weapon they are
considered an overmatch for any Spanish dragoon single-handed; but,
for want of a knowledge of tactics, they can never stand the charge of
a body which acts in concert. They all carry shields. Some few are
armed with guns and ammunition taken from the Spaniards. Those, as
well as the archers, generally march to war on foot; but the lancemen
are always mounted. Numerous are the anecdotes I have heard related of
their personal bravery and the spirit of their partisan corps. Not
long before I went into that country a cornet, with 63 dragoons,
between New Mexico and Biscay, was surrounded by about 200 Apaches'
infantry. Instead of charging through them, as [he should have done,
since] it was on the plain, he ordered his dragoons to dismount and
fight with their carabines; in consequence of which he and his whole
party fell a sacrifice.
Malgares related an instance when he was marching with 140 men and
they were attacked by a party of Appaches, both horse and foot, who
continued the fight for four hours. Whenever the Spanish dragoons
would make a general charge, the Appaches' cavalry would retreat
behind their infantry, who met the Spaniards with a shower of arrows,
who immediately retreated; and even the gallant Malgares spoke of the
Spanish cavalry's breaking the Appaches infantry as a thing not to be
thought of.
Malgares assured me that, if the Appaches had seconded the efforts and
bravery of their chieftain, the Spaniards must have been defeated and
cut to pieces; that in various instances he rallied his men and
brought them up to the charge, and that when they fled, he retired
indignantly to the rear. Seeing Malgares very actively engaged in
forming and bringing up the Spaniards, the Appache chieftain rode out
ahead of his party and challenged him to single combat with his lance.
This my friend refused, as he said that the chief was one of the
stoutest men he knew, carried a remarkably heavy lance, and rode a
very fine charger; but one of his corporals, enraged to see the
Spaniards thus braved by this savage, begged permission to meet the
"infidel." His officer refused his request and ordered him to keep his
ranks; but he reiterating the request, his superior in a passion told
him to go. The Indian chief had turned his horse to join his party,
but seeing an enemy advancing, he turned, gave a shout, and met him at
full speed. The dragoon thought to parry the lance of his antagonist,
which he in part effected; but not throwing it quite high enough, it
entered his neck before and came out at the nape, when he fell dead to
the ground, and his victorious enemy gave a shout of victory, in which
he was joined by all his followers. This enraged the Spaniards to
such a degree that they made a general charge, in which the Indian
cavalry again retreated, notwithstanding the entreaties of their
gallant leader.
In another instance a small smoke was discovered on the prairie; three
poor savages were surrounded by 100 dragoons and ordered to lay down
their arms; they smiled at the officer's demand, and asked him if he
could suppose that men who had arms in their hands would ever consent
to become slaves. The officer, being loath to kill them, held a
conference for an hour; when, finding that his threats had as little
effect as his entreaties, he ordered his men to attack them at a
distance, keeping out of the reach of their arrows, and firing at them
with their carabines, which they did, the Indians never ceasing to
resist as long as life remained.
In a truce which was held a Spanish captain was ordered to treat with
some of the bands. He received their deputies with hauteur, and they
could not come upon terms. The truce was broken, and the Indians
retreated to their fastnesses in the mountains. In a day or two this
same officer pursued them. They were in a place called the Door in the
Mountain, where but two or three dragoons could enter at a time, and
there were rocks and caves on the flanks behind which the Indians
secreted themselves until a number of the Spaniards had come in. Then
the Indians sounded a trumpet; the attack began, and continued on the
side of the Appaches until the Spanish captain fell, when the Indian
chief caused the firing to cease, saying that the man who had so
haughtily spurned the proffered peace was now dead. On this occasion
they deviated from their accustomed rule of warfare, and made a
prisoner of a young officer, who, during the truce, had treated them
with great kindness, and sent him home safe and unhurt.
Some of the bands have made temporary truces with the Spaniards, and
received from them 25 cents per diem each. Those people hang round the
fortifications of the country, drink, shoot, and dissipate their time;
they are haughty and independent. Great jealousy exists between them
and the Spaniards. An officer was under trial, when I was in the
country, for anticipating an attack on his fortress by attacking the
chiefs of the supposed conspiracy, and putting them to death before
they had time to mature and carry their plan into execution. The
decision of his case I never learned; but those savages who have been
for some time about the forts and villages become by far the most
dangerous enemies the Spaniards have, when hostile, as they have
acquired the Spanish language, manners, and habits, pass through the
populated parts under the disguise of civilized and friendly Indians,
commit murders and robberies, and are not suspected. There is in the
province of Cogquilla a partisan by the name of Ralph, who, they
calculate, has killed more than 300 persons. He comes into the towns
under the disguise of a peasant, buys provisions, goes to the
gambling-tables and to mass, and before he leaves the village is sure
to kill some person or carry off a woman, which he has frequently
done. Sometimes he joins people traveling on the road, insinuates
himself into their confidence, and takes his opportunity to
assassinate them. He has only six followers, and from their knowledge
of the country, activity, and cunning, he keeps about 300 Spanish
dragoons continually employed. The government has offered $1,000 for
his head.
The civilized Indians of the province of New Mexico are of what were
formerly 24 different bands, the different names of which I did not
become acquainted with, but the Keres were one of the most powerful;
they form at present the population of St. Domingo, St. Philips, Deis,
and one or two other towns.[IV'-29] They are men of large stature,
round full visage, fine teeth, appear to be of a gentle, tractable
disposition, and resemble the Osage more than any nation of whom I
possess any knowledge. They are not the vassals of individuals, yet
may properly be termed the slaves of the State, for they are compelled
to do military duty, drive mules, carry loads, or, in fact, perform
any other act of duty or bondage that the will of the commandant of
the district, or of any passing military tyrant, chooses to ordain.
I was myself eye-witness of a scene which made my heart bleed for
those poor wretches, at the same time that it excited my indignation
and contempt, that they would suffer themselves, with arms in their
hands, to be beaten and knocked about by beings no ways their
superiors, unless a small tint of complexion could be supposed to give
that superiority. Before we arrived at Santa Fe, one night, we were
near one of the villages where resided the families of two of our
Indian horsemen. They took the liberty to pay them a visit in the
night. Next morning the whole of the Indian horsemen were called up,
and because they refused to testify against their imprudent
companions, several were knocked down from their horses by the Spanish
dragoons with the butt of their lances; yet, with the blood streaming
down their visages, and arms in their hands, they stood cool and
tranquil--not a frown, not a word of discontent or palliation escaped
their lips. Yet what must have been the boiling indignation of their
souls at the indignities offered by the wretch clothed with a little
brief authority! The day of retribution will come in thunder and in
vengeance.
Those savages are armed with bow and arrows, and with lances, or
escopates. Although they are said to be converted to Christianity,
they still retain many of their ancient rituals, feasts, and
ceremonies, one of which is so remarkable it must not be passed
unnoticed. Once a year there is a great feast prepared for three
successive days, which they spend in eating, drinking, and dancing.
Near this scene of amusement is a dark cave, into which not a glimpse
of light can penetrate, and in which are prepared places to repose on.
To this place persons of all description, of both sexes and of all
ages, after puberty, repair in the night, when there is an
indiscriminate commerce of the votaries, as chance, fortune, and
events direct. Those revels certainly have great affinity to some of
the ancient mystic rites of Greece and Rome.
_Government and Laws._ The government of New Mexico may be termed
military, in the pure sense of the word; for although they have their
alcaldes, or inferior officers, their judgments are subject to a
reversion by the military commandants of districts. The whole male
population are subject to military duty, without pay or emolument, and
are obliged to find their own horses, arms, and provision. The only
thing furnished by the government is ammunition. It is extraordinary
with what subordination they act when they are turned out to do
military duty. A strong proof of this was exhibited in the expedition
of Malgares to the Pawnees. His command consisted of 100 dragoons of
the regular service and 500 drafts from the province. He had continued
down the Red river until their provision began to be short; they then
demanded of the lieutenant where he was bound and the intention of the
expedition. To this he haughtily replied, "Wherever my horse leads
me." A few mornings after he was presented with a petition, signed by
200 of the militia, to return home. He halted immediately, caused his
dragoons to erect a gallows, and then beat to arms. The troops fell
in; he separated the petitioners from the others, then took the man
who had presented the petition, tied him up and gave him 50 lashes,
and threatened to put to death, on the gallows erected, any man who
should dare to grumble. This effectually silenced them, and quelled
the rising spirit of sedition; but it was remarked that it was the
first instance of a Spaniard receiving corporal punishment ever known
in the province.
_Morals, Manners, etc._ There is nothing peculiarly characteristic in
this province that will not be embraced in my general observations on
New Spain, except that, being on the frontier and cut off, as it were,
from the more inhabited parts of the kingdom, together with their
continual wars with some of the savage nations who surround them,
renders the people the bravest and most hardy subjects in New Spain;
being generally armed, they know the use of arms. Their want of gold
and silver renders them laborious, in order that the productions of
their labor may be the means of establishing the equilibrium between
them and the other provinces where those metals abound. Their isolated
and remote situation also causes them to exhibit, in a superior
degree, the heaven-like qualities of hospitality and kindness, in
which they appear to endeavor to fulfill the injunction of the
scripture which enjoins us to feed the hungry, clothe the naked, and
give comfort to the oppressed in spirit; and I shall always take
pleasure in expressing my gratitude for their noble reception of
myself and the men under my command.
_Military Force._ There is but one troop of dragoons in all New Mexico
of the regular force, which is stationed at Santa Fe, and is 100
strong. Of this troop the governor is always the captain, entitling
himself captain of the royal troop of Santa Fe dragoons; but they are
commanded by a first lieutenant, who is captain by brevet. The men
capable of bearing arms in this province may be estimated at 5,000, of
which probably 1,000 are completely armed, 1,000 badly, and the rest
not at all.
_Religion._ The catholic religion is practiced in this province after
the same manner as in the other provinces, and will hereafter be taken
notice of generally.
_History._ In the year 1594 two friars came out from Old Mexico to New
Mexico, and were well received by the savages. They returned, and the
ensuing year Juan de Ouate,[IV'-30] a monk, went out, explored the
country, and returned. After this 100 troops and 500 men, women, and
children came out and settled on the Rio del Norte, at some no very
great distance from where Santa Fe now stands. They entered into an
arrangement with the Indians on the subject of their establishment;
but a few years after [in 1680] the Indians rose _en masse_, fell on
the Spaniards by surprise, killed most of the soldiers, and obliged
them to retreat to the Passo del Norte; whence it acquired its name.
Here they awaited a re-enforcement from Biscay, which they received,
of 70 men and two field-pieces, with which they recommenced their
march and finally arrived at Santa Fe, then the capital Indian
village, to which they immediately laid siege. The Indians maintained
themselves 22 days, when they surrendered and entered into a second
negotiation; since which time the Spaniards have been engaged in
continual warfare with the various savage tribes which surround them
on all sides. These have been near ruining the Spaniards several
times, and obliged them to apply for re-enforcements from Biscay and
Senora. A few years since the Tetaus carried on a warm and vigorous
war against them, but are now at peace and considered as their firmest
allies.
In the history of New Mexico it may not be improper to record the name
of James Pursley, the first American who ever penetrated the immense
wilds of Louisiana, and showed the Spaniards of New Mexico that
neither the savages who surround the deserts which divide them from
the habitable world, nor the jealous tyranny of their rulers, was
sufficient to prevent the enterprising spirit of the Americans from
penetrating the arcanum of their rich establishment in the new world.
Pursley was from near Baird's town, Kentucky, which he left in 1799.
In 1802, with two companions, he left St. Louis and traveled west, on
the head of the Osage river, where they made a hunt; thence they
struck for the White river of the Arkansaw, and intended to descend it
to Orleans; but, while making preparations, the Kans stole their
horses. They secured their peltries, and pursued the Kans into the
village. The horses were there, but the Indians refused to give them
up. Pursley saw his horse, with an Indian on him, going to the water
at the edge of the town, pursued him, and with his knife ripped open
the horse's bowels. The Indian returned to the village, got his gun,
and came and snapped it at Pursley, who pursued him into the village
with his knife. The Indian took refuge in a lodge surrounded by women
and children. This struck the chiefs with astonishment and admiration
of the "mad Americans," as they termed them, and they returned the
other horses to the hunters. This anecdote was related by traders who
had been in the village at the time.
Pursley and his companions then returned to where they had buried
their peltry, and determined to pursue the route by land to St. Louis;
but some persons stole their horses a second time, when they were at
no great distance from the Osage river, on which they formed a rough
canoe and descended that stream. Near the entrance of the Missouri
they overset their canoe and lost their whole year's hunt, but saved
their arms and ammunition, which is always the primary object in a
desert. On the Missouri they met Monsieur [Blank] in his barge, bound
to the Mandanes. Pursley embarked with him for the voyage; his two
companions preferred returning to their homes. On their arrival at the
point of destination, his employer dispatched Pursley on a hunting and
trading tour with some bands of the Paducahs and Kyaways, with a small
quantity of merchandise. In the ensuing spring they were driven from
the plains by the Sioux into the mountains which give birth to La
Platte, the Arkansaw, etc., and it was their sign which we saw in such
amazing abundance on the headwaters of La Platte [in South Park, Col.,
Dec. 16, 1806]. Their party consisted of near 2,000 souls, with 10,000
beasts. The Indians, knowing they were approximating to New Mexico,
determined to send Pursley, with his companions and two of their body,
into Santa Fe, to know of the Spaniards if they would receive them
friendly and enter into a trade with them. This being acceded to by
Governor Allencaster, the Indian deputies returned for their bands;
but Pursley thought proper to remain with a civilized people, among
whom a fortuitous event had thrown him--a circumstance of which, he
assured me, he had at one time entirely despaired.
He arrived at Santa Fe in June, 1805, and has been following his trade
as a carpenter ever since; at this he made a great deal of money,
except when working for the officers, who paid him little or nothing.
He was a man of strong natural sense and dauntless intrepidity. He
entertained me with numerous interesting anecdotes of his adventures
with the Indians, and of the jealousy of the Spanish government. He
was once near being hanged for making a few pounds of gunpowder, which
he innocently did as he had been accustomed to do in Kentucky, but
which is a capital crime in these provinces. He still retained the gun
which he had with him his whole tour, and said confidently that if he
had two hours' start not all the province could take him. He was
forbidden to write, but was assured he should have a passport whenever
he demanded it, and was obliged to give security that he would not
leave the country without permission of the government. He assured me
that he had found gold on the head of La Platte, and had carried some
of the virgin mineral in his shot-pouch for months; but that, being in
doubt whether he should ever again behold the civilized world, and
losing in his mind all the ideal value which mankind have stamped on
that metal, he threw the sample away. He had imprudently mentioned it
to the Spaniards, who had frequently solicited him to go and show a
detachment of cavalry the place; but, conceiving it to be in our
territory, he had refused, and was fearful that the circumstance might
create a great obstacle to his leaving the country.
2. BISCAY. _Geography._ [The province of Nueva Vizcaya[IV'-31]] lies
between lat. 33° and 24° N., and long. 105° and 111° W. It is bounded
on the north by New Mexico, on the west by Senora and Sinaloa, and on
the east by New Leon and Cogquilla. It is 600 miles in length from
northwest to southeast, and 400 miles in width from east to west,
taking it at its greatest extent.
_Air and Climate._ The air is dry and the heat very great at that
season of the year which precedes the rainy season, which latter
commences in June and continues until September by light showers.
During the other part of the year there is not the least rain or snow
to moisten the earth. The atmosphere had therefore become so
electrified that when we halted at night, in taking off our blankets
the electric fluid would almost cover them with sparks, and in
Chihuahua we prepared a bottle with gold-leaf as a receiver, and
collected sufficient electric fluid from a bear-skin to give a
considerable shock to a number of persons. This phenomenon was more
conspicuous in the vicinity of Chihuahua than in any other part that
we passed over.[IV'-32]
_Mines and Minerals._ This province abounds in silver and gold mines,
which yield an immense quantity of those metals, but not so great a
revenue to the king as those which are nearer the mint, and
consequently present a greater facility to coinage. I am not
acquainted with the proportion of the metals which the mineral yields
in any instance, except in one of the silver mines at Chihuahua, which
belonged to a friend of mine, who informed me that his mine yielded
him $13.50 per cwt. I one day, with Robinson, went through many of
these furnaces and noticed the manner which they pursued in analyzing
the mineral and extracting the metals; but, as I had previously asked
several Spanish officers to accompany me, who had always declined or
deferred it to a future period, I conceived it probable it was too
delicate a subject to make a minute inquiry into. I, however, so far
observed the process as to learn that the mineral was brought from the
mines in bags, on mules, to the furnace; it was then ground or pounded
into small lumps, not more than the size of a nut, and precipitated
into water, in a sieve which permitted the smaller particles to escape
into a tub, through several progressive operations. From the small
particles which remained at the bottom of the tubs, after it had been
purified of the earthy qualities, there was a proportion of metal
extracted by a nicer process; but the larger parts were put into a
furnace similar to our iron furnaces, and when the mass was in a state
of fusion, it was let out into a bed of sand prepared for it, which
formed it into bars about the size of our common pig iron, averaged in
value at about $2,500. The gold was cast into a mold similar to a bowl
and stamped with its value, as was each bar of silver, by the king's
assayer of metals. They were worth from $8,000 to $10,000. These
masses of silver and gold are received into the king's treasury in
payment, and in fact have a currency through the kingdom; but there
are vast speculations made on the coinage, as people who have not
large capital prefer selling their bullion in the internal provinces,
at a considerable discount, to being obliged to transport it to
Mexico, in order to have it converted into specie. The present
C[ommandant?], I was informed, was engaged in this traffic, on which,
from the province of Senora, he sometimes made 25 per cent. Numbers of
the proprietors who have no immediate use for their bullion put it
into their cellars, where it remains piled up for their posterity, of
no service to themselves or the community.
There are at Chihuahua and in its vicinity 15 mines, 13 silver, one
gold, and one copper, the furnaces of all of which are situated round
the town and suburbs, and present, except on Sundays, volumes of smoke
arising to the eye in every direction, which can be seen from a
distance long before the spires of the city strike the view. It is
incredible the quantity of cinders which surround the city in piles 10
or 15 feet high; next the creek they have formed a bank of it to check
the encroachments of the stream, and it presents an effectual barrier.
I am told that an European employed some hands and wrought at the
cinders, which yielded $1.25 for each per day; but that this not
answering his expectations, he ceased his proceedings.
At Mausseme [Mapimi] there are one gold and seven silver mines. At
Durango there are many rich mines, but the number to me is unknown.
There are also gold mines in the Sierra Madre, near Alomas [Alamos],
and many others of which I have no knowledge. There is in the
province, about 100 miles south of Chihuahua, a mountain or hill of
loadstone. Walker, who had been on the ground and surveyed it,
informed me it appeared to be in solid strata, as regular as those of
limestone, or any other of the species. He had brought home a square
piece of near a foot and a half, was preparing some to be sent to
Spain, and likewise forming magnets to accompany it, in order that
their comparative strength might be ascertained with magnets formed
in Europe.
_Rivers._[IV'-33] Rio Conchos is the largest in the province. It takes
its source in the Sierra Madre, near Batopilis, in lat. 28° N., and
discharges itself into the Rio del Norte [at the Presidio del Norte]
in lat. 31°, after a course of about 300 miles. It is the largest
western branch of the Rio del Norte, and receives in its course the
Rio Florido from the east and San Paubla [now San Pedro] from the
west. Where we struck the Conchos, it appeared to be nearly as large
as the Rio del Norte at the Passo.
The Rio San Paubla is the largest western branch of the Conchos; it
heads in lat. 28° 50´ N., and empties into the latter at Bakinoa[?].
Its whole course is about 150 miles; in summer it is nearly dry, and
in the rainy seasons impassable.
The Rio Florido takes its rise in lat. 26° 30´ N., and after a course
of about 150 miles discharges into the Conchos. Guaxequillo is
situated on its east bank, about its center.
The Rio Nassas [Nasas] is in part the line between Biscay and
Cogquilla; it runs north and sinks in the lake du Cayman [Laguna del
Muerto]; it is nearly dry in the dry seasons, but at some seasons it
is impassable.
_Lakes._ Lac du Cayman and lac du Parras are two small lakes situated
at the foot of the mountains [in the Bolson de Mapimi], and are full
of fish.
_Animals, Insects, etc._ There are some few bears, deer, and wild
horses, but they are not in abundance. The scorpions of Durango are
one of the most remarkable instances of the physical effects of
climate or air that I ever saw recorded. They come out of the walls
and crevices in May, and continue about a fortnight in such numbers
that the inhabitants never walk in their houses after dark without a
light, and always shift or examine the bed-clothes and beat the
curtains previous to going to bed; after which the curtains are
secured under the bed, similar to the precautions we take with our
mosquito curtains. The bite of those scorpions has been known to prove
mortal in two hours. The most extraordinary circumstance is that by
taking them 10 leagues from Durango they become perfectly harmless and
lose all their venomous qualities. Query: Does it arise from a change
of air, sustenance, or what other cause?[IV'-34]
_Population and Chief Towns._ The population of Biscay may be
estimated at 200,000: of these three-twentieths may be Spaniards from
Europe, five-twentieths Creoles, five-twentieths Metifs and Quatroons,
and seven-twentieths Indians. Durango [or Guadiana] was founded in
1550. It is the principal city, the seat of government for the
province of Biscay and of the bishopric of Durango. Its population may
be estimated at 40,000 souls. It is situated in lat. 25° N. and long.
107° W.
Pallalein, situated somewhere at the foot of the Sierra Madria
[Madre], is supposed to contain 25,000 souls.
Chihuahua,[IV'-35] the place of residence of the commandant-general of
the internal provinces, was founded in 1691; it is situated in lat.
29° N., long. 107° 30´ W. Its population may be estimated at 7,000. It
is an oblong square, on the east side of a small stream which
discharges into the river Conchos. On its south extremity is a small
but elegant church. In the public square stands the principal church,
royal treasury, town-house, and the richest shops. At the western
extremity is another church for the military, a superb hospital
belonging formerly to the Jesuits' possessions, the church of the
monks of St. Francis, St. Domingo, the military academy, and quartel
del tropa. On the northwest were two or three missions, very
handsomely situated on a small stream which comes in from the west.
About one mile to the south of the town is a large aqueduct which
conveys the water round it, to the east, into the main stream below
the town, in the center of which is raised a reservoir for the water,
whence it is to be conducted by pipes to the different parts of the
city, and in the public square is to be a fountain and _jet d'eau_,
which will be both ornamental and useful. The principal church at
Chihuahua was the most superb building we saw in New Spain. Its whole
front was covered with statues of the apostles and the different
saints, set in niches of the wall, and the windows, doors, etc., were
ornamented with sculpture. I never was within the doors, but was
informed by Robinson that the decorations were immensely rich. Some
men, whom we supposed entitled to credit, informed us that the church
was built by a tax of 12½ cents laid on each ingot of gold or silver
taken out of the mines in the vicinity in [blank] years. Its cost,
with decorations, was $1,500,000, and when it was finished there
remained $300,000 of the fund unappropriated. At the south side of
Chihuahua is the public walk, formed by three rows of trees whose
branches nearly entwine over the heads of the passengers below. At
different distances there are seats for persons to repose on. At each
end of the walks there were circular seats, on which, in the evening,
the company collected and amused themselves with the guitar, and songs
in Spanish, Italian, and French, adapted to the voluptuous manners of
the country. In this city, as well as all others of any consideration,
there are patrols of soldiers during the night, who stop every person
at nine o'clock and examine them. My countersign was "Americans."
_Trade, Commerce, and Manufactures._ Biscay trades with North Mexico,
Senora, and the viceroyalty, from the latter of which places they
bring on mules all their dry goods, European furniture, books,
ammunition, etc. They furnish a great quantity of horses, mules,
sheep, beeves, and goats, to the parts of the kingdom which are more
populous and have less spare ground for pasturage, etc. Some persons
make large fortunes by being carriers from Mexico to Chihuahua, the
freight being $8 per cwt., and they generally putting 300 pounds on
each mule. The merchants make their remittances twice a year in
bullion. Goods sell at Chihuahua at about 200 per cent, on the prices
of our Atlantic seaport towns. Their horses average at $6, but some
have sold as high as $100; their trained mules at $20, but
extraordinary matches for carriages have sold at $400 per pair. Rice
sells at $4 per cwt. They manufacture some few arms, blankets, stamped
leather, embroidery, coarse cotton and woolen cloths, and a species of
rough carpeting. Their blankets average $2, but some sell as high as
$25.
_Agriculture._ They cultivate wheat, corn, rice, oats, cotton, flax,
indigo, and vines. What I have said relative to the cultivation of
those articles in New Mexico will equally apply to this province; but
it may be proper to observe here that one of Nolan's men constructed
the first cotton-gin they ever had in the province, and that Walker
had caused a few churns to be made for some private families, and
taught them the use of them.
_Timber, Plains, and Soil._ To the north of Chihuahua, about 30 miles
to the right of the main road, there is some pine timber; at a spring
on this side of Carracal [Carrizal] we saw one walnut tree, and on all
the small streams there are shrubby cotton trees. With these few
exceptions the whole province is a naked, barren plain, which presents
to the eye an arid, unproductive soil, more especially in the
neighborhood of mines; even the herbage appears to be poisoned by the
mineral qualities of the soil.
_Antiquities._ There are none in the province which came within my
notice but the Jesuits' college and church at Chihuahua, which were
about a century old, and used as hospitals. In these there was
nothing peculiar, except a certain solidity and strength, in which
they appeared to surpass the other public buildings of the city.
_Aborigines._ There are no uncivilized savages in this province except
the Appaches, of whom I have spoken largely. The Christian Indians are
so incorporated amongst the lower grades of Metifs that it is scarcely
possible to draw the line of distinction, except at the ranchos of
noblemen or large landholders, where they are in a state of vassalage
[peonage]. This class of people laid a conspiracy, which was so well
concerted as to baffle the inquiries of the Spaniards for a length of
time, and to occasion them the loss of several hundred inhabitants.
The Indians used to go out from their villages in small parties; in a
short time a part would return with the report that they had been
attacked by the Indians; the Spaniards would immediately send out a
detachment in pursuit, when they were led into an ambuscade and every
soul cut off. They pursued this course so long that the whole province
became alarmed at the rapid manner in which their enemies multiplied;
but some circumstances leading to suspicion, they made use of the
superstition of those people for their ruin. Some officers disguised
themselves like friars and went round amongst the Indians, pretending
to be possessed of the spirit of prophecy. They preached up to the
Indians that the day was approaching when a general delivery from
Spanish tyranny was about to take place, and invited the Indians to
join in concerting with them the work of God. The poor creatures came
forward, and in their confessions stated the great hand that had
already been put to the work. After these pretended friars had
ascertained the nature and extent of the conspiracy, and had a body of
troops prepared, they commenced the execution and put to death about
400 of the unsuspecting Indians. This struck terror and dismay through
the Indian villages, and they dared not rise to declare their freedom
and independence.
_Government and Laws._ In this province there is some shadow of civil
law; but it is merely a shadow, as the following anecdote may
illustrate: An officer, on arriving at a village, demanded quarters
for himself and troops. The supreme civil officer sent him word that
he must show his passport. The military officer immediately sent a
file of men, who brought the judge a prisoner before him, when he
severely reprimanded the judge for his insolence and obliged him to
obey his orders instantly. This was done by a subaltern, in a city of
20,000 inhabitants. The only laws which can be said to be in force are
the military and ecclesiastic, between which there is a perfect
understanding.
The governor is a brigadier-general, resides at Durango, and receives
$5,000 in addition to his pay in the line. It is proper to observe
that there are ordinances to bear on each subject of civil discussion;
but the administration of them is so corrupt that the influence of
family and fortune generally procures the determination that they have
right on their side.
In each town is a public magazine for provisions, to which every
farmer brings whatever grain and produce he may have for sale, and
where he is sure to find a market; and should there be a scarcity the
ensuing year, it is retailed out to the inhabitants at a reasonable
rate. To this place all the citizens of the town repair to purchase.
_Morals, Manners, etc._ There is nothing peculiar in the manners or
morals of the people of this province, but a much greater degree of
luxury among the rich, misery among the poor, and a corruption of
morals more general than in New Mexico. As to military spirit, they
have none. At a muster of a regiment of militia at Chihuahua one of my
men attended, and informed me that there were about 25 who had
fire-arms and lances, 50 with bows and arrows and lances, and the
balance with lances or bows and arrows only.
_Military Force._ The regular military force of Biscay consists of
1,100 dragoons, distributed as follows: On the frontiers of the
deserts of New Mexico and Senora, at the forts of Elisiaira
[Elizario], Carracal [Carrizal], San Buenaventura, Presidio del Norte,
Janos, Tulenos, and San Juan Baptist [Bautista]. Farther south are
Chihuahua, Jeronime [Jeronimo or Hieronimo], Cayone, San Paubla
[Pablo], Guaxequillo [Guajuquilla], and Conchos, with several other
places which are appendages of those positions. The complement of each
of those posts is 150 men, but may be averaged at 1,100 in all, say
100 at each post. The militia are not worthy of particular notice.
_Religion._ Biscay is in the diocese of Durango, the bishop's salary
being estimated at $100,000 per annum. The catholic religion is here
in its full force, but the inferior clergy are very much dissatisfied.
The people's superstition is so great that they run after the holy
father in the streets, endeavoring to kiss the hem of his garment; and
should the bishop be passing the street, the rich and poor all kneel.
_History._ I shall not presume to say anything on this subject, except
that I believe this province has been populated about 270 years.
3. SENORA. _Geography._ The province of Senora lies between lat. 33°
and 27° N., and long. 110° and 117° W. Its greatest length from north
to south is about 420 miles, and its width from east to west 380
miles. It is bounded north by New Mexico, west by California, south by
Sinaloa and the gulf, east by Biscay and New Mexico.[IV'-36]
_Air and Climate._ Dry, pure, and healthy generally, but near the gulf
the ground is marshy, and it is, in some of the districts, unhealthy.
_Mines, Minerals, and Fossils._ On this subject I can only speak in
general. Senora abounds in rich gold and silver mines, but more
especially the former, inasmuch as gold does not preserve its usual
exchange with silver in this province. General Salcedo told me that in
this province the largest piece of pure gold had been found ever yet
discovered in New Spain, and that it had been sent to the king to be
put in his cabinet of curiosities.
_Rivers._[IV'-37] Rio de l'Ascencion is a short river which enters the
Gulf of California about 31° N. lat. Rio Yaqui heads on the borders of
Biscay and Senora, and discharges into the Gulf of California in
Guyamas [Guaymas], lat. 23° N.
_Timber, Plains, and Soil._ This province is, like Biscay, destitute
of timber, but has some rich soil near the gulf.
_Animals._ There are deer, cabrie, and bear; there are also remarkably
large lizards [_Ctenosaura teres_ of Harlan], which are said to weigh
ten pounds; these are perfectly harmless, tamed by the inhabitants,
and trained to catch mice.
_Population and Chief Towns._ The population of Senora may be
estimated at 200,000 souls, of which three-twentieths probably are
Spaniards, four-twentieths Creoles, six-twentieths Metifs, and
seven-twentieths Indians.
Arispea [Arizpe[IV'-38]], the capital of Senora, and until 20 years
past the seat of government of the internal provinces, is situated in
lat. 31° N. and long. 111° W., near the head of the river Yaqui. It is
celebrated throughout the kingdom for the urbanity and hospitality of
its inhabitants, and the vast quantity of gold table utensils made use
of in their houses. Its population is 3,400 souls. Sonora and Terenate
are the next cities in magnitude in the province, the latter to the
north and the former to the south of the capital.
_Trade and Commerce._ Senora trades with New Mexico and Biscay for the
productions of those different provinces, and with Old Mexico both by
land and sea, through the gulf of California. It is celebrated for its
cheese, horses, and sheep.
_Agriculture._ They cultivate the same as in Biscay.
_Aborigines._ There are a number of savage nations bordering on
Senora, which obliges the king to keep up a number of military posts
on the north and west frontiers; but the names of the tribes, or any
of their distinguishing characters, I am unacquainted with. However,
it may not be improper to observe that they are armed with bows,
arrows, shields, and lances, like their savage neighbors. The
civilized Indians are in the same situations as in the other
provinces.
_Government and Laws._ Similar to Biscay, the governor being a
brigadier-general and receives $7,000 in addition to his pay in the
line.
_Morals and Manners._ In every respect similar to Biscay, except that
they are more celebrated for hospitality.
_Military Force._ The regular military force of this province is 900
dragoons and 200 infantry, stationed as follows: Tubson, San Cruz,
Tubac, and Altac on the north, with 100 dragoons each for a garrison;
Fiuntenas, Bacuachi, Bavista, and Horcasites in the center, with 300
dragoons and 200 infantry; Buenavista on the south, with 100 dragoons
as a garrison.[IV'-39] The infantry mentioned above are of a nation of
Indians called the Opejas, and are said to be the best soldiers in New
Spain. I saw a detachment of them at Chihuahua who appeared to be
fine, stout, athletic men, and were the most subordinate and faithful
troops I ever knew, acting like a band of brothers and having the
greatest attachment for their officers.
_Religion._ Catholic, in the diocese of the bishop of Durango.
_History._ I am unacquainted with it, except that the seat of government
of the internal provinces was formerly at Arispea, at which time the
government of California was also under the commandant-generalcy of
the internal provinces; but the removal of the seat of government to
Chihuahua and the disjunct situation of California induced his Majesty
to annex it to the government of the viceroyalty. The increasing
magnitude of the relations of New Spain with the United States also
gave an importance to the eastern interests which induced the
continuance of the seat of government at Chihuahua.
4. SINALOA. _Geography._ The province of Sinaloa lies between lat.
23° and 28° N., and long. 108° and 111° W. It is bounded north by
Senora and Biscay, east by the latter, south by the administration of
Guadalaxara, and west by the gulf of California; in its greatest
length it is 300 miles north and south, and in width from east to west
150 miles.[IV'-40]
_Air and Climate._ On the sea-coast humid, but back [of the coast] dry
and pure.
_Mines, Minerals, and Fossils._ There are both gold and silver mines;
but with their relative value or productions I am unacquainted.
_Rivers._[IV'-41] Rio [del] Fuerte takes its source in lat. 27° N. and
long. 110° W., and disembogues into the gulf of California. It crosses
the whole province, and is nearly 150 miles long. Rio Culican
[Culiacan] is not more than 50 miles in length, and enters the gulf of
California in lat. 25° N.
_Timber, Plains, and Soil._ No timber; soil similar to that of Senora.
_Animals._ Domestic only.
_Population and Chief Towns._ Its population may be estimated at
60,000, not more than three-twentieths of whom are Spaniards; the
remainder Creoles, Metifs, and Indians.
Sinaloa is the capital, but its population, extent, etc., to me is
unknown.
_Trade and Commerce._ Unacquainted with.
_Agriculture._ The same as Senora.
_Aborigines._ None who are not civilized.
_Government and Laws._ Unacquainted with.
_Military Force._ One hundred dragoons for expresses, and a guard for
the governor.
_Religion._ Catholic, in the diocese of the bishop of Durango.
_History._ To me unknown.
5. COGQUILLA. _Geography._ The province of Cogquilla lies between lat.
31° and 33° 30´ N., and long. 101° and 105° W. Its greatest length
north and south may be 500 miles, and its greatest width east and west
200 miles. It is bounded north by New Mexico and Texas, east by the
latter, San Ander, and New Leon, south by the administration of
Zacataca, and west by Biscay.[IV'-42]
_Air and Climate._ Pure and healthy, except about the middle of May,
when the heat is intense, and sometimes a scorching wind is felt, like
the flame issuing from an oven or furnace, which frequently skins the
face and affects the eyes. This phenomenon is felt more sensibly about
the setting of the sun than at any other period of the 24 hours.
_Mines, Minerals, and Fossils._ I know of no mines in this province,
except at Montelovez and San Rosa, with the value of which I am
unacquainted; but those of San Rosa are reputed to be as rich as any
silver mines in the kingdom. Montelovez has none very considerable.
_Rivers._ This province has no river of magnitude or consequence but
the Rio Grande, which crosses its northern part in a S. E.
direction.[IV'-43]
_Lakes._ There is a small lake called the Aqua [Agua] Verde, situated
on its western extremities, which gives rise to a small stream that
discharges into the Rio del Norte.
_Timber, Plains, and Soil._ From the river Nassus [Nasas] to the east
there is the palmetto, which grows to the height of 20 and 25 feet,
with a trunk of 2 feet in diameter. Its leaves are in the shape of a
spear, and cover all the trunk when young, but fall off as the tree
grows old. Its wood is of a spongy nature, and from every information
I could procure, is of the same species as that of the same name in
the Southern States.[IV'-44] One hundred miles to the east of the Rio
Grande oak timber commences, being the first we saw in the provinces;
but it is very small and scrubby, and presents from this to the line
of Texas (the river Mariana [Medina, near San Antonio, Tex.]), a very
perceptible gradation of the increase of timber, both in quantity,
luxuriance, and variety. The country here becomes very similar to the
Indiana territory.
_Animals._ Deer, wild horses, a few buffalo and wild hogs [peccaries].
_Population and Chief Towns._ Montelovez [Monclova[IV'-45]] is the
capital of Cogquilla. It is situated on a small stream of water in
lat. 26° 30´ N. and long. 103° 30´ W. It is about one mile in length,
on a course N. 70° E. by the main street. It has two public squares,
seven churches, a powder magazine, mills, king's hospital, and quartel
del tropa [soldiers' barracks]. This is the principal military depot
for the provinces of Cogquilla and Texas. Its population may be
estimated at 3,500 souls. This city being the stated residence of his
Excellency Governor Cordero, he has ornamented it with public walks,
columns, and fountains, and made it one of the handsomest cities in
the internal provinces.
Santa Rosa, about 38 miles N. W. of Montelovez, is represented to be
the most healthy situation in the province, and to have the best water
and fruit. It is on the headwaters of the river Millada [read here
Sabinas]. Its population is represented at 4,000 souls. Paras [Parras]
is situated on a small stream; with its suburbs it is supposed to
contain 7,000 souls, and San Lorenzo, three miles to the north, 500
souls. This place may be termed the vineyard of Cogquilla, the whole
population pursuing no other occupation than the cultivation of the
grape. Its name denotes the Branches of the Vine. At the Hacienda of
San Lorenzo, where we halted, there were 15 larger stills, larger
cellars, and a greater number of casks than I ever saw in any brewery
of the United States. Its gardens were delightfully interspersed with
figs, vines, apricots, and a variety of fruits which are produced in
the torrid zone; fine summer-houses, where were wine, refreshments,
and couches to repose on, and where the singing of the birds was
delightful. There were, likewise, mills and a fine water-fall.
The Presidio [Salto] of Rio Grande is situated on that river, and is
remarkable for nothing but three or four handsome missions with which
it is surrounded, a powder magazine, quarters for the troops, and a
few iron field-pieces on miserable truck carriages. Population 2,500
souls.
The population of this province may be estimated at 70,000 souls, not
more than 10,000 of whom are Spaniards.
_Trade, Commerce, and Manufactures._ This province receives all its
merchandise from Mexico by land, and in return gives horses, mules,
wines, gold, and silver. There is an annual fair held at Saltelo
[Saltillo], in New Leon [Coahuila], where an immense quantity of
merchandise is disposed of, and where merchants of very large capitals
reside.
_Agriculture._ They cultivate the vine principally, with grain and
corn sufficient for their own consumption, and to supply the greatest
part of Texas.
_Aborigines._ The Appaches cover the northwest frontier. The Lee
Pawnees [Lipans: see note 27, p. 746] are a nation who rove from the
Rio Grande to some distance into the province of Texas. Their former
residence was on the Rio Grande, near the sea-shore. They are at
present divided into three bands, of 300, 350, and 100 men each. They
are at war with the Tetaus and Appaches, and at peace with the
Spaniards. They have fair hair, and are generally handsome, armed with
bows, arrows, and lances. They pursue the wild horses, of which they
take numbers, and sell them to the Spaniards.
_Government and Laws._ Military and ecclesiastical power is all that
is known or acknowledged in this province; but its administration was
mild under their excellent Governor Cordero. The governor's civil
salary is $4,000 per annum.
_Morals and Manners._ It was evident to the least discerning eye that,
as we diverged from these parts which produced such vast quantities of
the precious metals, the inhabitants became more industrious, and
there were fewer beggars. Thus the morals of the people of Cogquilla
were less corrupt than those of Biscay or New Leon, their neighbors.
_Military Force._ There are 400 dragoons maintained in this province,
and stationed at Montelovez, San Rosa, Pres. Rio del Norte, and San
Fernandez.
_Religion._ Catholic, but mild. It is in the diocese of Durango.
_History._ Cogquilla had not pushed its population as far as the Rio
Grande in the year 1687, as at that time La Salle[IV'-46] established
himself at the entrance of that river, it being a wilderness; but
Montelovez was established some time before this era. Of its
particular history I have no knowledge.
6. TEXAS. _Geography._ The province of Texas lies between lat. 27° 30´
and 35° N., and long. 98° and 104° W., bordered north by Louisiana,
east by the territory of Orleans, west by Cogquilla and New Mexico,
and south by New San Ander. Its greatest length from north to south
may be 500 miles, and breadth from east to west 350.
_Air and Climate._ One of the most delightful temperatures in the
world; but, being a country covered with timber, the new emigrants
are generally sickly, which may justly be attributed to putrescent
vegetation, which brings on intermittent and bilious attacks, and, in
some instances, malignant fevers. The justice of these remarks is
proved by the observations of all the first settlers of our western
frontiers, that places which in the course of 10 or 15 years become
perfectly healthy, were the first two or three years quite the
reverse, and generally cost them the loss of two or three members of
their families.
_Mines, Minerals, and Fossils._ The only one known and worked is a
mine of lead.
_Rivers._[IV'-47] The river St. Antonio takes its source about one
league to the northeast of the capital of the province, St. Antonio,
and is navigable for canoes to its source, affording excellent fish,
fine mill seats, and water to every part of the town. It is joined
from the west by the river Mariana, which forms part of the line
between Cogquilla and Texas, and then discharges into the Rio
Guadelupe about 50 miles from the sea. At the town of St. Antonio it
is about 20 yards wide, and in some places 12 feet in depth. The river
Guadelupe takes its source about 150 miles to the northwest of St.
Antonio; where we crossed it, it was a beautiful stream, at least 60
yards in width. Its waters are transparent and navigable for canoes.
After receiving the waters of the St. Antonio and St. Marco it
discharges into the southwest end of the bay of St. Bernardo
[Matagorda]. At the crossing of this river there is a range for the
horses of St. Antonio and a guarde de caballo, with an elegant site
for a town. . The river St. Marco takes its source about 100 miles
north, 20 west of St. Antonio, and at the crossing of the road is 30
yards in width, a clear and navigable stream for canoes. By the road
this river is only 14 miles from the Guadelupe, into which it
discharges.
The Red [or Colorado] river [of Texas] takes its source in the
province of Cogquilla in lat. 33° N. and long. 104° 30´ W., but,
bending to the east, enters the province of Texas, and after a winding
course of about 600 miles disembogues into the bay of St. Bernard
[Matagorda], in lat. 29° N. Where the road traverses it, it is at
least 150 yards wide, and has a guard of dragoons stationed on its
banks. Its waters are of a reddish cast, whence it probably derived
its name. This stream is navigable for boats of three or four tons
burden.
The river Brassos [Brazos] takes its source in the province of
Cogquilla in lat. 34° N. and long. 105° W., enters the province of
Texas, and discharges into the gulf of Mexico in lat. 28° 40´, after a
course of 750 miles. It is the largest river in the province, and,
where the road crosses, is 300 yards wide and navigable for large
keels. From the appearances on its banks it must rise and fall 100
feet. Its waters were red and turbid; its banks well timbered, with a
rich, prolific soil. Here was kept the only boat I recollect to have
seen in the provinces.
The river Trinity takes its source in lat. 34° N. and long. 99° W.,
and discharges into Galueston's [Galveston] bay in lat. 29° 30´ N. By
its meanders it is about 300 miles in length. Where the road crosses
it is about 60 yards in width, with high, steep banks covered with
timber, and a rich, luxuriant soil.
The Nachez [Neches] and Angelina are small rivers, of about 20 yards
in width, which, after forming a junction, discharge into the Trinity.
The river Toyac is a small stream, which discharges into the gulf of
Mexico, at the same bay with the Sabine, in about lat. 29° 50´ N. and
long. 97° W.[IV'-48]
The Sabine river, the present limits between the Spanish dominions and
the territories of the United States in that quarter, takes its source
in about lat. 33° N., and enters the gulf of Mexico in 29° 50´. It may
be 300 miles in length by its meanders, and at the road about 50 yards
in width. Here the Spaniards keep a guard and a ferry-boat.
_Lakes._ Some small ones near the head of the Guadelupe and some
branches of Red river.
_Timber, Plains, and Soil._ This province is well timbered for 100
miles from the coast, but has some small prairies interspersed through
its timbered land; take it generally, it is one of the richest, most
prolific, and best watered countries in North America.
_Animals._ Buffalo, deer, elk, wild hogs [peccaries], and wild horses,
the latter of which are in such numbers as to afford supplies for all
the savages who border on the province, the Spaniards, and vast droves
for the other provinces. They are also sent into the United States,
notwithstanding the trade is contraband. They go in such large gangs
that it is requisite to keep an advanced guard of horsemen in order to
frighten them away; for should they be suffered to come near the
horses and mules which you drive with you, by their snorting,
neighing, etc., they would alarm them, and frequently the domestic
animals would join them and go off, notwithstanding all the exertions
of the dragoons to prevent them. A gentleman told me he saw 700 beasts
carried off [stampeded] at one time, not one of which was ever
recovered. They also in the night frequently carry off the droves of
travelers' horses, and even come within a few miles of St. Antonio,
and take off the horses in that vicinity.
The method pursued by the Spanish in taking them is as follows: They
take a few fleet horses and proceed into the country where the wild
horses are numerous. They then build a large strong inclosure, with a
door which enters a smaller inclosure; from the entrance of the large
pen they project wings out into the prairie a great distance, and then
set up bushes, etc., to induce the horses, when pursued, to enter into
these wings. After these preparations are made they keep a lookout for
a small drove, for, if they unfortunately should start too large a
one, they either burst open the pen or fill it up with dead bodies,
and the others run over them and escape; in which case the party are
obliged to leave the place, as the stench arising from the putrid
carcasses would be insupportable; and, in addition to this, the pen
would not receive others. Should they, however, succeed in driving in
a few, say two or three hundred, they select the handsomest and
youngest, noose them, take them into the small inclosure, and then
turn out the remainder; after which, by starving, preventing them
taking any repose, and continually keeping them in motion, they make
them gentle by degrees, and finally break them to submit to the saddle
and bridle. For this business I presume there is no nation in the
world superior to the Spaniards of Texas.
_Population and Chief Towns._ St. Antonio, the capital of the
province, lies in lat. 29° 50´ N. and long. 101° W., and is situated
on the headwaters of the river of that name; it contains perhaps 2,000
souls, most of whom reside in miserable mud-wall houses, covered with
thatched grass roofs. The town is laid out on a very grand plan. To
the east of it, on the other side of the river, is the station of the
troops.
About two, three, and four miles from St. Antonio are three missions,
formerly flourishing and prosperous. Those buildings, for solidity,
accommodation, and even majesty, were surpassed by few that I saw in
New Spain. The resident priest treated us with the greatest
hospitality, and was respected and beloved by all who knew him. He
made a singular observation relative to the aborigines who had
formerly formed the population of those establishments under charge of
the monks. I asked him what had become of the natives. He replied that
it appeared to him that they could not exist under the shadow of the
whites, as the nations who formed those missions had been nurtured,
taken all the care of that it was possible, and put on the same
footing as the Spaniards; yet, notwithstanding, they had dwindled away
until the other two missions had become entirely depopulated, and the
one where he resided had not then more than sufficient to perform his
household labor; from this he had formed an idea that God never
intended them to form one people, but that they should always remain
distinct and separate.
Nacogdoches is merely a station for troops, and contains nearly 500
souls. It is situated on a small stream of the river Toyac.
The population of Texas may be estimated at 7,000. These are
principally Spanish, Creoles, some French, some Americans, and a few
civilized Indians and half-breeds.
_Trade and Commerce._ This province trades with Mexico by Mont El Rey
and Montelovez for merchandise, and with New Orleans by Nachitoches;
but the latter trade, being contraband, is liable to great danger and
risks. They give in return specie, horses, and mules.