# The Coronado expedition, 1540-1542/Translation of the narrative of Castañeda

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TRANSLATION OF THE NARRATIVE OF CASTASÑEDA
Account of the Expedition to Cibola which took place in the year 1540, in which all those settlements, their ceremonies and customs, are described. Written by Pedro de Castañeda, of Najera.
PREFACE
To me it seems very certain, my very noble lord, that it is a worthy ambition for great men to desire to know and wish to preserve for posterity correct information concerning the things that have happened in distant parts, about which little is known. I do not blame those inquisitive persons who, perchance with good intentions, have many times troubled me not a little with their requests that I clear up for them some doubts which they have had about different things that have been commonly related concerning the events and occurrences that took place during the expedition to Cibola, or the New Land, which the good viceroy—may he be with God in His glory—Don Antonio de Mendoza, ordered and arranged, and on which he sent Francisco Vazquez de Coronado as captain-general. In truth, they have reason for wishing to know the truth, because most people very often make things of which they have heard, and about which they have perchance no knowledge, appear either greater or less than they are. They make nothing of those things that amount to something, and those that do not they make so remarkable that they appear to be something impossible to believe. This may very well have been caused by the fact that, as that country was not permanently occupied, there has not been anyone who was willing to spend his time in writing about its peculiarities, because all knowledge was lost of that which it was not the pleasure of God—He alone knows the reason—that they should enjoy. In truth, he who wishes to employ himself thus in writing out the things that happened on the expedition, and the things that were seen in those lands, and the ceremonies and customs of the natives, will have matter enough to test his judgment, and I believe that the result can not fail to be an account which, describing only the truth, will be so remarkable that it will seem incredible. ​And besides, I think that the twenty years and more since that expedition took place have been the cause of some stories which are related. For example, some make it an uninhabitable country, others have it bordering on Florida, and still others on Greater India, which does not appear to be a slight difference. They are unable to give any basis upon which to found their statements. There are those who tell about some very peculiar animals, who are contradicted by others who were on the expedition, declaring that there was nothing of the sort seen. Others differ as to the limits of the provinces and even in regard to the ceremonies and customs, attributing what pertains to one people to others. All this has had a large part, my very noble lord, in making me wish to give now, although somewhat late, a short general account for all those who pride themselves on this noble curiosity, and to save myself the time taken up by these solicitations. Things enough will certainly be found here which are hard to believe. All or the most of these were seen with my own eyes, and the rest is from reliable information obtained by inquiry of the natives themselves. Understanding as I do that this little work would be nothing in itself, lacking authority, unless it were favored and protected by a person whose authority would protect it from the boldness of those who, without reverence, give their murmuring tongues liberty, and knowing as I do how great are the obligations under which I have always been, and am, to your grace, I humbly beg to submit this little work to your protection. May it be received as from a faithful retainer and servant. It will be divided into three parts, that it may be better understood. The first will tell of the discovery and the armament or army that was made ready, and of the whole journey, with the captains who were there; the second, of the villages and provinces which were found, and their limits, and ceremonies and customs, the animals, fruits, and vegetation, and in what parts of the country these are; the third, of the return of the army and the reasons for abandoning the country, although these were insufficient, because this is the best place there is for discoveries—the marrow of the land in these western parts, as will be seen. And after this has been made plain, some remarkable things which were seen will be described at the end, and the way by which one might more easily return to discover that better land which we did not see, since it would be no small advantage to enter the country through the land which the Marquis of the Valley, Don Fernando Cortes, went in search of under the Western star, and which cost him no small sea armament. May it please our Lord to so favor me that with my slight knowledge and small abilities I may be able by relating the truth to make my little work pleasing to the learned and wise readers, when it has been accepted by your grace. For my intention is not to gain the fame of a good composer or rhetorician, but I desire to give a faithful account and to do this slight service to your grace, who will, I hope, receive it as from a faithful servant and soldier, who took part in ​it. Although not in a polished style, I write that which happened—that which I heard, experienced, saw, and did.
I always notice, and it is a fact, that for the most part when we have something valuable in our hands, and deal with it without hindrance, we do not value or prize it as highly as if we understood how much we would miss it after we had lost it, and the longer we continue to have it the less we value it; but after we have lost it and miss the advantages of it, we have a great pain in the heart, and we are all the time imagining and trying to find ways and means by which to get it back again. It seems to me that this has happened to all or most of those who went on the expedition which, in the year of our Savior Jesus Christ 1640, Francisco Vazquez Coronado led in search of the Seven Cities. Granted that they did not find the riches of which they had been told, they found a place in which to search for them and the beginning of a good country to settle in, so as to go on farther from there. Since they came back from the country which they conquered and abandoned, time has given them a chance to understand the direction and locality in which they were, and the borders of the good country they had in their hands, and their hearts weep for having lost so favorable an opportunity. Just as men see more at the bullfight when they are upon the seats than when they are around in the ring, now when they know and understand the direction and situation in which they were, and see, indeed, that they can not enjoy it nor recover it, now when it is too late they enjoy telling about what they saw, and even of what they realize that they lost, especially those who are now as poor as when they went there. They have never ceased their labors and have spent their time to no advantage. I say this because I have known several of those who came back from there who amuse themselves now by talking of how it would be to go back and proceed to recover that which is lost, while others enjoy trying to find the reason why it was discovered at all. And now I will proceed to relate all that happened from the beginning.
FIRST PART.
Chapter 1, which treats of the way we first came to know about the Seven Cities, and of how Nuño de Guzman made an expedition to discover them.
In the year 1530 Nuño de Guzman, who was President of New Spain,ref>President, or bead, of the Audiencia, the administrative and judicial board which governed the province.</ref> had in his possession an Indian, a native of the valley or valleys of Oxitipar, who was called Tejo by the Spaniards. This Indian said he was the son of a trader who was dead, but that when he was a little boy his father had gone into the back country with line feathers to trade for ornaments, and that when he came back he brought a large amount of gold and silver, of which there is a good deal in that country. He ​went with him once or twice, and saw some very large villages, which he compared to Mexico and its environs. He had seen seven very large towns which had streets of silver workers. It took forty days to go there from his country, through a wilderness in which nothing grew, except some very small plants about a span high. The way they went was up through the country between the two seas, following the northern direction. Acting on this information, Nuño de Guzman got together nearly 400 Spaniards and 20,000 friendly Indians of New Spain, and, as he happened to be in Mexico, he crossed Tarasca, which is in the province of Michoacan, so as to get into the region which the Indian said was to be crossed toward the North sea, in this way getting to the country which they were looking for, which was already named "The Seven Cities." He thought, from the forty days of which the Tejo had spoken, that it would be found to be about 200 leagues, and that they would easily be able to cross the country. Omitting several things that occurred on this journey, as soon as they had reached the province of Culiacan, where his government ended, and where the New Kingdom of Galicia is now, they tried to cross the country, but found the difficulties very great, because the mountain chains which are near that sea are so rough that it was impossible, after great labor, to find a passageway in that region. His whole army had to stay in the district of Culiacan for so long on this account that some rich men who were with him, who had possessions in Mexico, changed their minds, and every day became more anxious to return. Besides this, Nuño de Guzman received word that the Marquis of the Valley, Don Fernando Cortes, had come from Spain with his new title, and with great favors and estates, and as Nuño de Guzman had been a great rival of his at the time he was president, and had done much damage to his property and to that of his friends, he feared that Don Fernando Cortes would want to pay him back in the same way, or worse. So he decided to establish the town of Culiacan there and to go back with the other men, without doing anything more. After his return from this expedition, he settled at Xalisco, where the city of Compostela situated, and at Tonala, which is called Guadalaxara, and now this is the New Kingdom of Galicia. The guide they had, who was called Tejo, died about this time, and thus the name of these Seven Cities and the search for them remains until now, since they have not been discovered.
​Chapter 2, of how Francisco Vazquez Coronado came to be governor, and the second account which Cabeza de Vaca gave.
Eight years after Nuño de Guzman made this expedition, he was put in prison by a juez de residencia, named the licentiate Diego de la Torre, who came from Spain with sufficient powers to do this. After the death of the judge, who had also managed the government of that country himself, the good Don Antonio de Mendoza, viceroy of New Spain, appointed as governor of that province Francisco Vazquez de Coronado, a gentleman from Salamanca, who bad married a lady in the city of Mexico, the daughter of Alonso de Estrada, the treasurer and at one time governor of Mexico, and the son, most people said, of His Catholic Majesty Don Ferdinand, and many stated it as certain. As I was saying, at the time Francisco Vazquez was appointed governor, he was traveling through New Spain as an official visitor, and in this way he gained the friendship of many worthy men who afterward went on his expedition with him. It happened that just at this time three Spaniards, named Cabeza de Vaca, Dorantes, and Castillo Maldonado, and a negro, who had been lost on the expedition which Pamfilo de Narvaez led into Florida, reached Mexico. They came out through Culiacan, having crossed the country from sea to sea, as anyone who wishes may find out for himself by an account which this same Cabeza de Vaca wrote and dedicated to Prince Don Philip, who is now King of Spain and our sovereign. They gave the good Don Antonio de Mendoza an account of some large and powerful villages, four and five stories high, of which they had heard a great deal in the countries they had crossed, and other things very different from what turned out to be the truth. The noble viceroy communicated this to the new governor, who gave up the visits he had in hand, on account of this, and hurried his departure for his government, taking with him the negro who had come [with Cabeza de Vaca] with the three friars of the order of Saint Francis, one of whom was named Friar Marcos of Nice, a regular priest, and another Friar Daniel, a lay brother, and the other Friar Antonio de Santa Maria. When he reached the province of Culiacan he sent the friars just mentioned and the negro, who was named Stephen, off in search of that country, because Friar Marcos offered to go and see it, because he had been in Peru at the time Don Pedro de Alvarado went there overland. It seems that, after the friars I have mentioned and the negro had started, the negro did not get on well with the friars, because he took the women that were given him and collected turquoises, and got together a stock of everything. Besides, the Indians in those places through which they went got along with the negro better, because they had seen him before. This was the reason he was sent ​on ahead to open up the way and pacify the Indians, so that when the others came along they had nothing to do except to keep an account of the things for which they were looking.
Chapter 3, of how they killed the negro Stephen at Cibola, and Friar Marcos returned in flight.
After Stephen had left the friars, he thought he could get all the reputation and honor himself, and that if he should discover those settlements with such famous high houses, alone, he would be considered bold and courageous. So he proceeded with the people who had followed him, and succeeded in crossing the wilderness which lies between the country he had passed through and Cibola. He was so far ahead of the friars that, when these reached Chichilticalli, which is on the edge of the wilderness, he was already at Cibola, which is 80 leagues beyond. It is 220 leagues from Culiacan to the edge of the wilderness, and 80 across the desert, which makes 300, or perhaps 10 more or less. As I said, Stephen reached Cibola loaded with the large quantity of turquoises they had given him and several pretty women who had been given him. The Indians who accompanied him carried his things. These had followed him from all the settlements he had passed, believing that under his protection they could traverse the whole world without any danger. But as the people in this country were more intelligent than those who followed Stephen, they lodged him in a little hut they had outside their village, and the older men and the governors heard his story and took steps to find out the reason he had come to that country. For three days they made inquiries about him and held a council. The account which the negro gave them of two white men who were following him, sent by a great lord, who knew about the things in the sky, and how these were coming to instruct them in divine matters, made them think that he must be a spy or a guide from some nations who wished to come and conquer them, because it seemed to them unreasonable to say that the people were white in the country from which he came and that he was sent by them, he being black. Besides these other reasons, they thought it was hard of him to ask them for turquoises and women, and so they decided to kill him. They did this, but they did not kill any of those who went with him, although they kept some young fellows and let the others, about 60 persons, return freely to their own country. As these, who were badly scared, were returning in flight, they happened to come upon the friars in the desert 60 leagues from Cibola, and told them the sad news, which frightened them so much that they would not even trust these folks who had been with the negro, but opened the packs they were carrying and gave away everything they had except the holy vestments for saying mass. They returned from here by double marches, prepared for anything, without seeing any more of the country except what the Indians told them.
​Chapter 4, of how the noble Don Antonio de Mendoza made an expedition to discover Cibola.
After Francisco Vazquez Coronado had sent Friar Marcos of Nice and his party on the search already related, be was engaged in Culiacan about some business that related to his government, when he heard an account of a province called Topira, which was to the north of the country of Culiacan. He started to explore this region with several of the conquerors and some friendly Indians, but be did not get very far, because the mountain chains which they had to cross were very difficult. He returned without finding the least signs of a good country, and when he got back, he found the friars who had just arrived, and who told such great things about what the negro Stephen had discovered and what they bad beard from the Indians, and other things they had heard about the South sea and islands and other riches, that, without stopping for anything, the governor set off at once for the City of Mexico, taking Friar Marcos with him, to tell the viceroy about it. He made the things seem more important by not talking about them to anyone except his particular friends, under promise of the greatest secrecy, until after he had reached Mexico and seen Don Antonio de Mendoza. Then be began to announce that they had really found the Seven Cities, which Nuño de Guzman had tried to find, and for the conquest of which be had collected a force. The noble viceroy arranged with the friars of the order of Saint Francis so that Friar Marcos was made father provincial, as a result of which the pulpits of that order were filled with such accounts of marvels and wonders that more than 300 Spaniards and about 800 natives of New Spain collected in a few days. There were so many men of such high quality among the Spaniards, that such a noble body was never collected in the Indies, nor so many men of quality in such a small body, there being 300 men. Francisco Vazquez Coronado, governor of New Galicia, was captain general, because be had been the author of it all. The good viceroy Don Antonio did this because at this time Francisco Vazquez was his closest and most intimate friend, and because he considered him to be wise, skillful, and intelligent, besides being a gentleman. Had he paid more attention and regard to the position in which he was placed and the charge over which be was placed, and less to the estates he left behind in New Spain, or, at least, more to the honor be had and might secure from having such gentlemen under his command, things would not have turned out as they did. When this narrative is ended, it will be seen that he did not know bow to keep his position nor the government that be held.
​Chapter 5, concerning the captains who went to Cibola.
When the viceroy, Don Antonio de Mendoza, saw what a noble company had come together, and the spirit and good will with which they had all presented themselves, knowing the worth of these men, he would have liked very well to make every one of them captain of an army; but as the whole number was small he could not do as he would have liked, and so he appointed the captains and officers, because it seemed to him that if they were appointed by him, as he was so well obeyed and beloved, nobody would find fault with his arrangements. After everybody had heard who the general was, he made Don Pedro de Tovar ensign general, a young gentleman who was the son of Don Fernando de Tovar, the guardian and lord high steward of the Queen Doña Juana, our demented mistress—may she be in glory—and Lope de Samaniego, the governor of the arsenal at Mexico, a gentleman fully equal to the charge, army-master. The captains were Don Tristan de Arellano; Don. Pedro de Guevara, the son of Don Juan de Guevara and nephew of the Count of Oñate; Don Garcia Lopez de Cardenas; Don Rodrigo Maldonado, brother-in-law of the Duke of the Infantado; Diego Lopez, alderman of Seville, and Diego Gutierres, for the cavalry. All the other gentlemen were placed under the flag of the general, as being distinguished persons, and some of them became captains later, and their appointments were confirmed by order of the viceroy and by the general, Francisco Vazquez. To name some of them whom I happen to remember, there were Francisco de Barrionuevo, a gentleman from Granada; Juan de Saldivar, Francisco de Ovando, Juan Gallego, and Melchior Diaz—a captain who had been mayor of Culiacan, who, although he was not a gentleman, merited the position he held. The other gentlemen, who were worthy substitutes, were Don Alonso Manrique de Lara; Don Lope de Urrea, a gentleman from Aragon; Gomez Suarez de Figueroa, Luis Ramirez de Vargas, Juan de Sotomayor, Francisco Gorbalan, the commissioner Riberos, and other gentlemen, men of high quality, whom I do not now recall. The infantry captain was Pablo de Melgosa of Burgos, and of the artillery, Fernando de Alvarado of the mountain district. As I say, since then I have forgotten the names of many good fellows. It would be well if I could name some of them, so that it might be clearly seen what cause I had for saying that they had on this expedition the most brilliant company ever collected in the Indies to go in search of new lands. But they were unfortunate in having a captain who left in New Spain estates and a pretty wife, a noble and excellent lady, which were not the least causes for what was to happen.
​Chapter 6, of how all the companies collected in Compostela and set off on the journey in good order.
When the viceroy Don Antonio de Mendoza had fixed and arranged everything as we have related, and the companies and captaincies had been arranged, he advanced a part of their salaries from the chest of His Majesty to those in the army who were in greatest need. And as it seemed to him that it would be rather hard for the friendly Indians in the country if the army should start from Mexico, he ordered them to assemble at the city of Compostela, the chief city in the New Kingdom of Galicia, 110 leagues from Mexico, so that they could begin their journey there with everything in good order. There is nothing to tell about what happened on this trip, since they all finally assembled at Compostela by shrove-tide, in the year (fifteen hundred and) forty-one. After the whole force had left Mexico, he ordered Don Pedro de Alarcon to set sail with two ships that were in the port of La Natividad on the South sea coast, and go to the port of Xalisco to take the baggage which the soldiers were unable to carry, and thence to sail along the coast near the army, because he had understood from the reports that they would have to go through the country near the seacoast, and that we could find the harbors by means of the rivers, and that the ships could always get news of the army, which turned out afterward to be false, and so all this stuff was lost, or, rather, those who owned it lost it, as will be told farther on. After the viceroy had completed all his arrangements, he set off for Compostela, accompanied by many noble and rich men. He kept the New Year of (fifteen hundred and) forty-one at Pasquaro, which is the chief place in the bishopric of Michoacan, and from there he crossed the whole of New Spain, taking much pleasure in enjoying the festivals and great receptions which were given him, till he reached Compostela, which is, as I have said, 110 leagues. There he found the whole company assembled, being well treated and entertained by Christobal de Oñate, who had the whole charge of that government for the time being. He had had the management of it and was in command of all that region when Francisco Vazquez was made governor. All were very glad when he arrived, and he made an examination of the company and found all those whom we have mentioned. He assigned the captains to their companies, and after this was done, on the next day, after they had all heard mass, captains and soldiers together, the viceroy made them a very eloquent short speech, telling them of the fidelity they owed to their general and showing them clearly the benefits which this expedition might afford, from the conversion of those peoples as well as in the profit of those who should conquer the territory, and the ​advantage to His Majesty and the claim which they would thus have on his favor and aid at all times. After he had finished, they all, both captains and soldiers, gave him their oaths upon the Gospels in a Missal that they would follow their general on this expedition and would obey him in everything he commanded them, which they faithfully performed, as will be seen. The next day after this was done, the army started off with its colors flying. The viceroy, Don Antonio, went with them for two days, and there he took leave of them, returning to New Spain with his friends.
Chapter 7, of how the army reached Chiametla, and the killing of the army-master, and the other things that happened up to the arrival at Culiacan.
After the viceroy Don Antonio left them, the army continued its march. As each one was obliged to transport his own baggage and ​all did not know how to fasten the packs, and as the horses started off fat and plump, they had a good deal of difficulty and labor during the first few days, and many left many valuable things, giving them to anyone who wanted them, in order to get rid of carrying them. In the end necessity, which is all powerful, made them skillful, so that one could see many gentlemen become carriers, and anybody who despised this work was not considered a man. With such labors, which they then thought severe, the army reached Chiametla, where it was obliged to delay several days to procure food. During this time the army-master. Lope de Samaniego, went off with some soldiers to find food, and at one village, a crossbowman having entered it indiscreetly in pursuit of the enemies, they shot him through the eye and it passed through his brain, so that he died on the spot. They also shot five or six of his companions before Diego Lopez, the alderman from Seville, since the commander was dead, collected the men and sent word to the general. He put a guard in the village and over the provisions. There was great confusion in the army when this news became known. He was buried here. Several sorties were made, by which food was obtained and several of the natives taken prisoners. They hanged those who seemed to belong to the district where the army-master was killed.
It seems that when the general Francisco Vazquez left Culiacan with Friar Marcos to tell the viceroy Don Antonio de Mendoza the news, as already related, he left orders for Captain Melchior Diaz and Juan de Saldivar to start off with a dozen good men from Culiacan and verify what Friar Marcos had seen and heard. They started and weht as far as Chichilticalli, which is where the wilderness begins, 220 leagues from Culiacan, and there they turned back, not finding anything important. They reached Chiametla just as the army was ready to leave, and reported to the general. Although the bad news was kept as secret as possible, some things leaked out which did not seem to add luster to the facts. Friar Marcos, noticing that some were feeling disturbed, cleared away these clouds, promising that what they would see should be good, and that the army was on the way to a country where their hands would be filled, and in this way he quieted them so that they appeared well satisfied. From there the army marched to Culiacan, making some detours into the country to seize provisions. They were two leagues from the town of Culiacan at Easter vespers, when the ​inhabitants came out to welcome their governor and begged him not to enter the town till the day after Easter.
Chapter 8, of how the army entered the town of Culiacan and the reception it received, and other things which happened before the departure.
When the day after Easter came, the army started in the morning to go to the town and, as they approached, the inhabitants of the town came out on to an open plain with foot and horse drawn up in ranks as if for a battle, and having its seven bronze pieces of artillery in position, making a show of defending their town. Some of our soldiers were with them. Our army drew up in the same way and began a skirmish with them, and after the artillery on both sides had been fired they were driven back, just as if the town had been taken by force of arms, which was a pleasant demonstration of welcome, except for the artilleryman who lost a hand by a shot, from having ordered them to fire before he had finished drawing out the ramrod. After the town was taken, the army was well lodged and entertained by the townspeople, who, as they were all very well-to-do people, took all the gentlemen and people of quality who were with the army into their own apartments, although they had lodgings prepared for them all just outside the town. Some of the townspeople were not ill repaid for this hospitality, because all had started with fine clothes and accouterments, and as they had to carry provisions on their animals after this, they were obliged to leave their fine stuff, so that many preferred giving it to their hosts instead of risking it on the sea by putting it in the ship that had followed the army along the coast to take the extra baggage, as I have said. After they arrived and were being entertained in the town, the general, by order of the viceroy Don Antonio, left Fernandarias de Saabedra, uncle of Hernandarias de Saabedra, count of Castellar, formerly mayor of Seville, as his lieutenant and captain in this town. The army rested here several days, because the inhabitants had gathered a good stock of provisions that year and each one shared his stock very gladly with his guests from our army. They not only had plenty to eat here, but they also had plenty to take away with them, so that when the departure came they started off with more than six hundred loaded animals, besides the friendly Indians and the servants—more than a thousand persons. After a fortnight had passed, the general started ahead with about fifty horsemen and a few foot soldiers and most of the Indian allies, leaving the army, which was to follow him a fortnight later, with Don Tristan de Arellano in command as his lieutenant.
At this time, before his departure, a pretty sort of thing happened to the general, which I will tell for what it is worth. A young soldier named Trugillo (Truxillo) pretended that he had seen a vision while he was bathing in the river which seemed to be something extraordinary, ​that be was brought before the general, whom he gave to understand that the devil had told him that if he would kill the general, be could marry his wife, Doña Beatris, and would receive great wealth and other very fine things. Friar Marcos of Nice preached several sermons on this, laying it all to the fact that the devil was jealous of the good which must result from this journey and so wished to break it up in this way. It did not end here, but the friars who were in the expedition wrote to their convents about it, and this was the reason the pulpits of Mexico proclaimed strange rumors about this affair.
The general ordered Truxillo to stay in that town and not to go on the expedition, which was what he was after when he made up that falsehood, judging from what afterward ap])eared to be the truth. The general started off with the force already described to continue his journey, and the army followed him, as will be related.
Chapter 9, of how the army started from Culiacan and the arrival of the general at Cibola and of the army at Señora and of other things that happened.
The general, as has been said, started to continue his journey from the valley of Culiacan somewhat lightly equipped, taking with him the friars, since none of them wished to stay behind with the army. After they bad gone three days, a regular friar who could say mass, named Friar Antonio Victoria, broke his leg, and they brought him back from the camp to have it doctored. He stayed with the army after this, which was no slight consolation for all. The general and his force crossed the country without trouble, as they found everything peaceful, because the Indians knew Friar Marcos and some of the others who had been with Melchior Diaz when he went with Juan de Saldibar to investigate. After the general had crossed the inhabited region and came to Chichilticalli, where the wilderness begins, and saw nothing favorable, he could not help feeling somewhat downhearted, for, although the reports were very fine about what was ahead, there was nobody who had seen it except the Indians who went with the negro, and these had already been caught in some lies. Besides all this, be was much affected by seeing that the fame of Chichilticalli was summed up in one tumbledown house without any roof, although it appeared to have been a strong place at some former time when it was inhabited, and it was very plain that it had been built by a civilized and warlike race of strangers who bad come from a distance. This building was made of red earth. From here they went on through the wilderness, and in fifteen days came to a river about 8 leagues from Cibola, which they called Red river, because its waters were muddy and reddish. In this river they found mullets like those of Spain. The first Indians from that country were seen here—two of them, who ran away to give the news. During ​the night following the next day, about 2 leagues from the village, some Indians in a safe place yelled so that, although the men were ready for anything, some were so excited that they put their saddles on hind-side before; but these were the new fellows. When the veterans had mounted and ridden round the camp, the Indians fled. None of them could be caught because they knew the country.
The next day they entered the settled country in good order, and when they saw the first village, which was Cibola, such were the curses that some hurled at Friar Marcos that I pray God may protect him from them.
It is a little, unattractive village, looking as if had been crumpled all up together. There are mansions in New Spain which make a better appearance at a distance. It is a village of about 200 warriors, is three and four stories high, with the houses small and having only a few rooms, and without a courtyard. One yard serves for each section. The people of the whole district had collected here, for there are seven villages in the province, and some of the others are even larger and stronger than Cibola. These folks waited for the army, drawn up by divisions in front of the village. When they refused to have peace on the terms the interpreters extended to them, but appeared defiant, the Santiago was given, and they were at once put to flight. The Spaniards then attacked the village, which was taken with not a little difficulty, since they held the narrow and crooked entrance. During the attack they knocked the general down with a large stone, and would have killed him but for Don Garcia Lopez de Cardenas and Hernando de Alvarado, who threw themselves above him and drew "him away, receiving the blows of the stones, which were not few. But the first fury of the Spaniards could not be resisted, and in less than an hour they entered the village and captured it. They discovered food there, which was the thing they were most in need of. After this the whole province was at peace. ​The army which had stayed with Don Tristan de Arellano started to follow their general, all loaded with provisions, with lances on their shoulders, and all on foot, so as to have the horses loaded. With no slight labor from day to day, they reached a province which Cabeza de Vaca had named Hearts (Corazones), because the people here offered him many hearts of animals. He founded a town here and named it San Hieronimo de los Corazones (Saint Jerome of the Hearts). After it bad been started, it was seen that it could not be kept up here, and so it was afterward transferred to a valley which had been called Señora. The Spaniards call it Señora, and so it will be known by this name.
From here a force went down the river to the seacoast to find the harbor and to find out about the ships. Don Rodrigo Maldonado, who was captain of those who went in search of the ships, did not find them, but he brought back with him an Indian so large and tall that the best man in the army reached only to his chest. It was said that other Indians were even taller on that coast. After the rains ceased the army went on to where the town of Señora was afterward located, because there were provisions in that region, so that they were able to wait there for orders from the general.
About the middle of the month of October, Captains Melchior Diaz and Juan Gallego came from Cibola, Juan Gallego on his way to New Spain and Melchior Diaz to stay in the new town of Hearts, in command of the men who remained there. He was to go along the coast in search of the ships.
Chapter 10, of how the army started from the town of Señora, leaving it inhabited, and how it reached Cibola, and of what happened to Captain Melchior Diaz on his expedition in search of the ships and how he discovered the Tison {Firebrand) river.
After Melchior Diaz and Juan Gallego had arrived in the town of Señora, it was announced that the army was to depart for Cibola; that Melchior Diaz was to remain in charge of that town with 80 men; that Juan Gallego was going to New Spain with messages for the viceroy, and that Friar Marcos was going back with him, because he did not think it was safe for him to stay in Cibola, seeing that his report had ​turned out to be entirely false, because the kingdoms that he had told about had not been found, nor the populous cities, nor the wealth of gold, nor the precious stones which he had reported, nor the fine clothes, nor other things that had been proclaimed from the pulpits. When this had been announced, those who were to remain were selected and the rest loaded their provisions and set off in good order about the middle of September on the way to Cibola, following their general. Don Tristan de Arellano stayed in this new town with the weakest men, and from this time on there was nothing but mutinies and strife, because after the army had gone Captain Melchior Diaz took 25 of the most efficient men, leaving in his place one Diego de Alcaraz, a man unfitted to have people under his command. He took guides and went toward the north and west in search of the seacoast. After going about 150 leagues, they came to a province of exceedingly tall and strong men—like giants. They are naked and live in large straw cabins built underground like smoke houses, with only the straw roof above ground. They enter these at one end and come out at the other. More than a hundred persons, old and young, sleep in one cabin. When they carry anything, they can take a load of more than three or four hundredweight on their heads. Once when our men wished to fetch a log for the fire, and six men were unable to carry it, one of these Indians is reported to have come and raised it in his arms, put it on his head alone, and carried it very easily. They eat bread cooked in the ashes, as big as the large two-pound loaves of Castile. On account of the great cold, they carry a firebrand (tison) in the hand when they go from one place to another, with which they warm the other hand and the body as well, and in this way they keep shifting it every now and then. On this account the large river which is in that country was called Rio del Tison (Firebrand river). It is a very great river and is more than 2 leagues wide at its mouth; here it is half a league across. Here the ​captain beard that there had been ships at a point three days down toward the sea. When he reached the place where the ships had been, which was more than 15 leagues up the river from the mouth of the harbor, they found written on a tree: "Alarcon reached this place; there are letters at the foot of this tree." He dug up the letters and learned from them how long Alarcon had waited for news of the army and that he had gone back with the ships to New Spain, because he was unable to proceed farther, since this sea was a bay, which was formed by the Isle of the Marquis, which is called California, and it was explained that California was not an island, but a point of the mainland forming the other side of that gulf.
After he had seen this, the captain turned back to go up the river, without going down to the sea, to find a ford by which to cross to the other side, so as to follow the other bank. After they had gone five or six days, it seemed to them as if they could cross on rafts. For this purpose they called together a large number of the natives, who were waiting for a favorable opportunity to make an attack on our men, and when they saw that the strangers wanted to cross, they helped make the rafts with all zeal and diligence, so as to catch them in this way on the water and drown them or else so divide them that they could not help one another. While the rafts were being made, a soldier who had been out around the camp saw a large number of armed men go across to a mountain, where they were waiting till the soldiers should cross the river. He reported this, and an Indian was quietly shut up, in order to find out the truth, and when they tortured him he told all the arrangements that had been made. These were, that when our men were crossing and part of them had got over and part were on the river and part were waiting to cross, those who were on the rafts should drown those they were taking across and the rest of their force should make an attack on both sides of the river. If they had had as much discretion and courage as they had strength and power, the attempt would have succeeded.
When he knew their plan, the captain had the Indian who had confessed the affair killed secretly, and that night he was thrown into the river with a weight, so that the Indians would not suspect that they were found out. The next day they noticed that our men suspected them, and so they made an attack, shooting showers of arrows, but when the horses began to catch up with them and the lances wounded them without mercy and the musketeers likewise made good shots, thy had to leave the plain and take to the mountain, until not a man of them was to be seen. The force then came back and crossed all right, the Indian allies and the Spaniards going across on the rafts and the horses swimming alongside the rafts, where we will leave them to continue their journey. ​To relate how the army that was on its way to Cibola got on: Everything went along in good shape, since the general had left everything peaceful, because he wished the people in that region to be contented and without fear and willing to do what they were ordered. In a province called Vacapan there was a large quantity of prickly pears, of which the natives make a great deal of preserves. They gave this preserve away freely, and as the men of the army ate much of it, they all fell sick with a headache and fever, so that the natives might have done much harm to the force if they had wished. This lasted regularly twenty-four hours. After this they continued their march until they reached Chichilticalli. The men in the advance guard saw a flock of sheep one day after leaving this place. I myself saw and followed them. They had extremely large bodies and long wool; their horns were very thick and large, and when they run they throw back their heads and but their horns on the ridge of their back. They are used to the rough country, so that we could not catch them and had to leave them.
Three days after we entered the wilderness we found a horn on the bank of a river that flows in the bottom of a very steep, deep gully, which the general had noticed and left there for his army to see, for it was six feet long and as thick at the base as a man's thigh. It seemed to be more like the horn of a goat than of any other animal. It was something worth seeing. The army proceeded and was about a day's march from Cibola when a very cold tornado came up in the afternoon, followed by a great fall of snow, which was a bad combination for the carriers. The army went on till it reached some caves in a rocky ridge, late in the evening. The Indian allies, who were from New Spain, and for the most part from warm countries, were in great danger. They felt the coldness of that day so much that it was hard work the next day taking care of them, for they suffered much pain and had to be carried on the horses, the soldiers walking. After this labor the army reached Cibola, where their general was waiting for them, with their quarters all ready, and here they were reunited, except some captains and men who had gone off to discover other provinces.
Chapter 11, of how Don Pedro de Tovar discovered Tusayan or Tutahaco and Don Garcia Lopez de Cardenas saw the Firebrand river and the other things that had happened.
While the things already described were taking place, Cibola being at peace, the General Francisco Vazquez found out from the people of the ​province about the provinces that lay around it, and got them to tell their friends and neighbors that Christians had come into the country, whose only desire was to be their friends, and to find out about good lands to live in, and for them to come to see the strangers and talk with them. They did this, since they know how to communicate with one another in these regions, and they informed him about a province with seven villages of the same sort as theirs, although somewhat different. They had nothing to do with these people. This province is called Tusayan. It is twenty-five leagues from Cibola. The villages are high and the people are warlike.
The general had sent Don Pedro de Tovar to these villages with seventeen horsemen and three or four foot soldiers, Juan de Padilla, a Franciscan friar, who had been a fighting man in his youth, went with them. When they reached the region, they entered the country so quietly that nobody observed them, because there were no settlements or farms between one village and another and the people do not leave the villages except to go to their farms, especially at this time, when they had heard that Cibola had been captured by very fierce people, who traveled on animals which ate people. This information was generally believed by those who had never seen horses, although it was so strange as to cause much wonder. Our men arrived after nightfall and were able to conceal themselves under the edge of the village, where they heard the natives talking in their houses. But in the morning they were discovered and drew up in regular order, while the natives came out to meet them, with bows, and shields, and wooden clubs, drawn up in lines without any confusion. The interpreter was given a chance to sneak to them and give them due warning, for they were very intelligent people, but nevertheless they drew lines and insisted that our men should not go across these lines toward their village. While they were talking, some men acted as if they would cross the lines, and one of the natives lost control of himself and struck a horse a blow on the cheek of the bridle with his club. Friar Juan, fretted by the time that was being wasted in talking with them, said to the captain: "To tell the truth, I do not know why we came here." When the men heard this, they gave the Santiago so suddenly that they ran down many Indians and the others tied to the town in confusion. Some indeed did not have a chance to do this, so quickly did the people in the village come out with presents, asking for peace. The captain ordered his force to collect, and, as the natives did not do any more harm, he and those who were with him found a place to establish their headquarters near the village. They had dismounted here when the natives came peacefully, saying that they had come to give in the submission of the whole province and that they wanted him to be friends with them and to accept the presents which they gave him. ​This was some cotton cloth, although not much, because they do not make it in that district. They also gave him some dressed skins and corn meal, and pine nuts and corn and birds of the country. Afterward they presented some turquoises, but not many. The people of the whole district came together that day and submitted themselves, and they allowed him to enter their villages freely to visit, buy, sell, and barter with them.
It is governed like Cibola, by an assembly of the oldest men. They have their governors and generals. This was where they obtained the information about a large river, and that several days down the river there were some people with very large bodies.
As Do!i Pedro de Tovar was not commissioned to go farther, he returned from there and gave this information to the general, who dispatched Don Garcia Lopez de Cardenas with about twelve companions to go to see this river. He was well received when he reached Tusayan and was entertained by the natives, who gave him guides for his journey. They started from here loaded with provisions, for they had to go through a desert country before reaching the inhabited region, which the Indians said was more than twenty days' journey. After they had gone twenty days they came to the banks of the river, which seemed to be more than 3 or 4 leagues above the stream which flowed between them. This country was elevated and full of low twisted pines, very cold, and lying open toward the north, so that, this being the warm season, no one could live there on account of the cold. They spent three days on this bank looking for a passage down to the river, which looked from above as if the water was feet across, although the Indians said it was half a league wide. It was impossible to descend, for after these three days Captain Melgosa and one Juan Galeras and another companion, who were the three lightest and most agile men, made an attempt to go down at the least difficult place, and went down until those who were above were unable to keep sight of them. They returned about 4 oclock in the afternoon, not having succeeded in reaching the bottom on account of the great difficulties which they found, because what seemed to be easy from above was not so, but instead very hard and difficult. They said that they had been down about a third of the way and that the river seemed very large from the place which they reached, and that from what they saw they thought the Indians had given the width correctly. Those who stayed above had estimated that some huge rocks on the sides of the cliffs seemed to be about as tall as a man, but those who went down swore that when they reached these rocks they were bigger than the great tower of Seville. They did not go farther up the river, because they could not get water. Before this they had had to go a league or two inland every day late in the evening in order to find water, and the guides said that if they should go four days farther it would not be possible ​to go on, because there was no water within three or four days, for when they travel across this region themselves they take with them women loaded with water in gourds, and bury the gourds of water along the way, to use when they return, and besides this, they travel in one day over what it takes us two days to accomplish.
This was the Tison (Firebrand) river, much nearer its source than where Melchior Diaz and his company crossed it. These were the same kind of Indians, Judging from what was afterward learned. They came back from this point and the expedition did not have any other result. On the way they saw some water falling over a rock and learned from the guides that some bunches of crystals which were hanging there were salt. They went and gathered a quantity of this and brought it back to Cibola, dividing it among those who were there. They gave the general a written account of what they had seen, because one Pedro de Sotomayor had gone with Don Garcia Lopez as chronicler for the army. The villages of that province remained peaceful, since they were never visited again, nor was any attempt made to find other peoples in that direction.
Chapter 12, of how people came from Cicuye to Cibola to see the Christians, and how Hernando de Alvarado went to see the cows.
While they were making these discoveries, some Indians came to Cibola from a village which was 70 leagues east of this province, called Cicuye. Among them was a captain who was called Bigotes (Whiskers) by our men, because he wore a long mustache. He was a tall, well-built young fellow, with a line figure. He told the general that they had come in response to the notice which had been given, to offer themselves as friends, and that if we wanted to go through their country they would consider us as their friends. They brought a present of tanned hides and shields and head-pieces, which were very gladly received, and the general gave them some glass dishes and a number of pearls and little bells which they prized highly, because these were things they had never seen. They described some cows which, from a picture that one of them had painted on his skin, seemed to be cows, although from the hides this did not seem possible, because the hair was woolly and snarled so that we could not tell what sort of skins they had. The general ordered Hernando de Alvarado to take 20 companions and go with them, and gave him a commission for eighty days, after which he should return to give an account of what he had found. Captain Alvarado started on this journey and in five days reached a village which was on a rock called Acuco having a population of about 200 men. These people were robbers, feared by the whole country ​round about. The village was very strong, because it was up on a rock out of reach, having steep sides in every direction, and so high that it was a very good musket that could throw a ball as high. There was only one entrance by a stairway built by hand, which began at the top of a slope which is around the foot of the rock. There was a broad stairway for about 200 steps, then a stretch of about 100 narrower steps, and at the top they had to go up about three times as high as a man by means of holes in the rock, in which they put the points of their feet, holding on at the same time by their hands. There was a wall of large and small stones at the top, which they could roll down without showing themselves, so that no army could possibly be strong enough to capture the village. On the top they had room to sow and store a large amount of corn, and cisterns to collect snow and water. These people came down to the plain ready to light, and would not listen to any arguments. They drew lines on the ground and determined to prevent our men from crossing these, but when they saw that they would have to fight they offered to make peace before any harm had been done. They went through their forms of making peace, which is to touch the horses and take their sweat and rub themselves with it, and to make crosses with the fingers of the hands. But to make the most secure peace they put their hands across each other, and they keep this peace inviolably. They made a present of a large number of [turkey-] cocks with very big wattles, much bread, tanned deerskins, pine [piñon] nuts, flour [corn meal], and corn.
From here they went to a province called Triguex, three days distant. The people all came out peacefully, seeing that Whiskers was with them. These men are feared throughout all those provinces. Alvarado sent messengers back from here to advise the general to come and winter in this country. The general was not a little relieved to hear that the country was growing better. Five days from here he came to Cicuye, a very strong village four stories high. The people came out from the village with signs of joy to welcome Hernando de Alvarado and their captain, and brought them into the town with drums and pipes something like flutes, of which they have a great many. They made many presents of cloth and turquoises, of which there are quantities in that region. The Spaniards enjoyed themselves here for several days and talked with an Indian slave, a native of the country toward Florida, which is the region Don Fernando de Soto discovered. This fellow said that there were large settlements in the farther part of that country. Hernando de Alvarado took him to guide them to the cows; but he told them so many and such great things about the wealth of gold and silver in his country that they did not care about looking for cows, but returned after they had seen some few, to report the rich news to the general. ​They called the Indian "Turk," because he looked like one. Meanwhile the general had sent Don Garcia Lopez de Cardenas to Tiguex with men to get lodgings ready for the army, which had arrived from Senora about this time, before taking them there for the winter; and when Hernando de Alvarado reached Tiguex, on his way back from Cicuye, he found Don Garcia Lopez de Cardenas there, and so there was no need for him to go farther. As it was necessary that the natives should give the Spaniards lodging places, the people in one village had to abandon it and go to others belonging to their friends, and they took with them nothing but themselves and the clothes they had on. Information was obtained here about many towns up toward the north, and I believe that it would have been much better to follow this direction than that of the Turk, who was the cause of all the misfortunes which followed.
Chapter 13, of how the general went toward Tutahaco with a few men and left the army with Don Tristan, who took it to Tiguex.
Everything already related had happened when Don Tristan de Arellano reached Cibola from Senora. Soon after he arrived, the general, who had received notice of a province containing eight villages, took 30 of the men who were most fully rested and went to see it, going from there directly to Tiguex with the skilled guides who conducted him. lie left orders for Don Tristan de Arellano to proceed to Tiguex by the direct road, after the men had rested twenty days. On this journey, between one day when they left the camping place and midday of the third day, when they saw some snow-covered mountains, toward which they went in search of water, neither the Spaniards nor the horses nor the servants drank anything. They were able to stand it because of the severe cold, although with great difficulty. In eight days they reached Tutahaco, where they learned that ​there were other towns down the river. These people were peaceful. The villages are terraced, like those at Tiguex, and of the same style. The general went up the river from here, visiting the whole province, until he reached Tiguex, where he found Hernando de Alvarado and the Turk. He felt no slight joy at such good news, because the Turk said that in his country there was a river in the level country which was 2 leagues wide, in which there were fishes as big as horses, and large numbers of very big canoes, with more than 20 rowers on a side, and that they carried sails, and that their lords sat on the poop under awnings, and on the prow they had a great golden eagle. He said also that the lord of that country took his afternoon nap under a great tree on which were hung a great number of little gold bells, which put him to sleep as they swung in the air. He said also that everyone had their ordinary dishes made of wrought plate, and the jugs and bowls were of gold. He called gold aeochis. For the present he was believed, on account of the ease with which he told it and because they showed him metal ornaments and he recognized them and said they were not gold, and he knew gold and silver very well and did not care anything about other metals.
The general sent Hernando de Alvarado back to (Cicuye to demand some gold bracelets which this Turk said they had taken from him at the time they captured him. Alvarado went, and was received as a friend at the village, and when he demanded the bracelets they said they knew nothing at all about them, saying the Turk was deceiving him and was lying. Captain Alvarado, seeing that there were no other means, got the captain Whiskers and the governor to come to his tent, and when they had come he put them in chains. The villagers prepared to light, and let fly their arrows, denouncing Hernando de Alvarado, and saying that he was a man who had no respect for peace and friendship. Hernando de Alvarado started back to Tiguex, where the general kept them prisoners more than six months. This began the want of confidence in the word of the Spaniards whenever there was talk of peace from this time on, as will be seen by what happened afterward.
Chapter 14, of how the army went from Cibola to Tiguex and what happened to them on the way, on account of the snow.
We have already said that when the general started from Cibola, he left orders for Don Tristan de Arellano to start twenty days later. He did so as soon as he saw that the men were well rested and provided with food and eager to start off to find their general. He set off with his force toward Tiguex, and the first day they made their camp in the best, largest, and finest village of that (Cibola) province. This is the only village that has houses with seven stories. In this village certain houses are used as fortresses; they are higher than the others and set ​up above them like towers, and there are embrasures and loopholes in them for defending the roofs of the different stories, because, like the other villages, they do not have streets, and the flat roofs are all of a height and are used in common. The roofs have to be reached first, and these upper houses are the means of defending them. It began to snow on us there, and the force took refuge under the wings of the village, which extend out like balconies, with wooden pillars beneath, because they generally use ladders to go up to those balconies, since they do not have any doors below.
The army continued its march from here after it stopped snowing, and as the season had already advanced into December, during the ten days that the army was delayed, it did not fail to snow during the evenings and nearly every night, so that they had to clear away a large amount of snow when they came to where they wanted to make a camp. The road could not be seen, but the guides managed to find it, as they knew the country. There are junipers and pines all over the country, which they used in making large brushwood fires, the smoke and heat of which melted the snow from 2 to 4 yards all around the fire. It was a dry snow, so that although it fell on the baggage and covered it for half a man's height it did not hurt it. It fell all night long, covering the baggage and the soldiers and their beds, piling up in the air, so that if anyone had suddenly come upon the army nothing would have been seen but mountains of snow. The horses stood half buried in it. It kept those who were underneath warm instead of cold. The army passed by the great rock of Acuco, and the natives, who were peaceful, entertained our men well, giving them provisions and birds, although there are not many people here, as I have said. Many of the gentlemen went up to the top to see it, and they had great difficulty in going up the steps in the rock, because they were not used to them, for the natives go up and down so easily that they carry loads and the women carry water, and they do not seem even to touch their hands, although our men had to pass their weapons up from one to another.
From here they went on to Tiguex, where they were well received and taken care of, and the great good news of the Turk gave no little joy and helped lighten their hard labors, although when the army arrived we found the whole country or province in revolt, for reasons which were not slight in themselves, as will be shown, and our men had also burnt a village the day before the army arrived, and returned to the camp.
Chapter 15 of why Tiguex revolted and how they were punished, without being to blame for it.
It has been related how the general reached Tiguex, where he found Don Garcia Lopez de Cardenas and Hernando de Alvarado, and how he ​sent the latter back to Cicuye, where he took the captain Whiskers and the governor of the village, who was an old man, prisoners. The people of Tiguex did not feel well about this seizure. In addition to this, the general wished to obtain some clothing to divide among his soldiers, and for this purpose he summoned one of the chief Indians of Tiguex, with whom he had already had much intercourse and with whom he was on good terms, who was called Juan Aleman by our men, after a Juan Aleman who lived in Mexico, whom he was said to resemble. The general told him that he must furnish about three hundred or more pieces of cloth, which he needed to give his people. He said that he was not able to do this, but that it pertained to the governors; and that besides this, they would have to consult together and divide it among the villages, and that it was necessary to make the demand of each town separately. The general did this, and ordered certain of the gentlemen who were with him to go and make the demand; and as there were twelve villages, some of them went on one side of the river and some on the other.-As they were in very great need, they did not give the natives a chance to consult about it, but when they came to a village they demanded what they had to give, so that they could proceed at once. Thus these people could do nothing except take off their own cloaks and give them to make up the number demanded of them. And some of the soldiers who were in these parties, when the collectors gave them some blankets or cloaks which were not such as they wanted, if they saw any Indian with a better one on, they exchanged with him without more ado, not stopping to find out the rank of the man they were stripping, which caused not a little hard feeling.
Besides what I have just said, one whom I will not name, out of regard for him, left the village where the camp was and went to another village about a league distant, and seeing a pretty woman there he called her husband down to hold his horse by the bridle while he went up; and as the village was entered by the upper story, the Indian supposed he was going to some other i)art of it. While he was there the Indian heard some slight noise, and then the Spaniard came down, took his horse, and went away. The Indian went up and learned that he had violated, or tried to violate, his wife, and so he came with the important men of the town to complain that a man had violated his wife, and he told how it happened. When the general made all the soldiers and the persons who were with him come together, the Indian did not recognize the man, either because he had changed his clothes or for whatever other reason there may have been, but he said that he could tell the horse, because he had held his bridle, and so he was taken to the stables, and found the horse, and said that the master of the horse must be the man. He denied doing it, seeing that he had not been recognized, and it may be that the Indian was mistaken in the horse; ​anyway, he went off without getting any satisfaction. The next day one of the Indians, who was guarding the horses of the army, came running in, saying that a companion of his had been killed, and that the Indians of the country were driving off the horses toward their villages. The Spaniards tried to collect the horses again, but many were lost, besides seven of the general's mules.
The next day Don Garcia Lopez de Cardenas went to see the villages and talk with the natives. He found the villages closed by palisades and a great noise inside, the horses being chased as in a bull fight and shot with arrows. They were all ready for fighting. Nothing could be done, because they would not come down onto the plain and the villages are so strong that the Spaniards could not dislodge them. The general then ordered Don Garcia Lopez de Cardenas to go and surround one village with all the rest of the force. This village was the one where the greatest injury had been done and where the affair with the Indian woman occurred. Several captains who had gone on in advance with the general, Juan de Saldivar and Barrionuevo and Diego Lopez and Melgosa, took the Indians so much by surprise that they gained the upper story, with great danger, for they wounded many of our men from within the houses. Our men were on top of the houses in great danger for a day and a night and part of the next day, and they made some good shots with their crossbows and muskets. The horsemen on the plain with many of the Indian allies from New Spain smoked them out from the cellars into which they had broken, so that they begged for peace. Pablo de Melgosa and Diego Lopez, the alderman from Seville, were left on the roof and answered the Indians with the same signs they were making for peace, which was to make a cross. They then put down their arms and received pardon. They were taken to the tent of Don Garcia, who, according to what he said, did not know about the peace and thought that they had given themselves up of their own accord because they had been conquered. As he had been ordered by the general not to take them alive, but to make an example of them so that the other natives would fear the Spaniards, he ordered 200 stakes to be prepared at once to burn them alive. ​Nobody told him about the peace that had been granted them, for the soldiers knew as little as he, and those who should have told him about it remained silent, not thinking that it was any of their business. Then when the enemies saw that the Spaniards were binding them and beginning to roast them, about a hundred men who were in the tent began to struggle and defend themselves with what there was there and with the stakes they could seize. Our men who were on foot attacked the tent on all sides, so that there was great confusion around it, and then the horsemen chased those who escaped. As the country was level, not a man of them remained alive, unless it was some who remained hidden in the village and escaped that night to spread throughout the country the news that the strangers did not respect the peace they had made, which afterward proved a great misfortune. After this was over, it began to snow, and they abandoned the village and returned to the camp just as the army came from Cibola.
Chapter 16, of how they besieged Tiguex and took it and of what happened during the siege.
As I have already related, it began to snow in that country just after they captured the village, and it snowed so much that for the next two months it was impossible to do anything except to go along the roads to advise them to make peace and tell them that they would be pardoned and might consider themselves safe, to which they replied that they did not trust those who did not know how to keep good faith after they had once given it, and that the Spaniards should remember that they were keeping Whiskers prisoner and that they did not keep their word when they burned those who surrendered in the village. Don Garcia Lopez de Cardenas was one of those who went to give this notice. He started out with about 30 companions and went to the village of Tiguex to talk with Juan Aleman. Although they were hostile, they talked with him and said that if he wished to talk with them he must dismount and they would come out and talk with him about a peace, and ​that if he would send away the horsemen and make his men keep away, Juan Aleman and another captain would come out of the village and meet him. Everything was done as they required, and then when they approached they said that they had no arms and that he must take his off. Don Garcia Lopez did this in order to give them confidence, on account of his great desire to get them to make peace. When he met them, Juan Aleman approached and embraced him vigorously, while the other two who had come with him drew two mallets which they had hidden behind their backs and gave him two such blows over his helmet that they almost knocked him senseless. Two of the soldiers on horseback had been unwilling to go very far off, even when he ordered them, and so they were near by and rode up so quickly that they rescued him from their hands, although they were unable to catch the enemies because the meeting was so near the village that of the great shower of arrows which were shot at them one arrow hit a horse and went through his nose. The horsemen all rode up together and hurriedly carried off their captain, without being able to harm the enemy, while many of our men were dangerously wounded. They then withdrew, leaving a number of men to continue the attack. Don Garcia Lopez de Cardenas went on with a part of the force to another village about half a league distant, because almost all the people in this region had collected into these two villages. As they paid no attention to the demands made on them except by shooting arrows from the upper stories with loud yells, and would not hear of peace, he returned to his companions whom he had left to keep up the attack on Tiguex. A large number of those in the village came out and our men rode off slowly, pretending to flee, so that they drew the enemy on to the plain, and then turned on them and caught several of their leaders. The rest collected on the roofs of the village and the captain returned to his camp.
After this affair the general ordered the army to go and surround the village. He set out with his men in good order, one day, with several scaling ladders. When he reached the village, he encamped his force near by, and then began the siege; but as the enemy had had several days to provide themselves with stores, they threw down such quantities of rocks upon our men that many of them were laid out, and they wounded nearly a hundred with arrows, several of whom afterward died on account of the bad treatment by an unskillful surgeon who was with the army. The siege lasted fifty days, during which time several ​assaults were made. The lack of water was what troubled the Indians most. They dug a very deep well inside the village, but were not able to get water, and while they were making it, it fell in and killed 30 persons. Two hundred of the besieged died in the fights. One day when there was a hard fight, they killed Francisco de Obando, a captain who had been army-master all the time that Don Garcia Lopez de Cardenas was away making the discoveries already described, and also Francisco Pobares, a fine gentleman. Our men were unable to prevent them from carrying Francisco de Obando inside the village, which was regretted not a little, because he was a distinguished person, besides being honored on his own account, affable and much beloved, which was noticeable. One day, before the capture was completed, they asked to speak to us, and said that, since they knew we would not harm the women and children, they wished to surrender their women and sons, because they were using up their water. It was impossible to persuade them to make peace, as they said that the Spaniards would not keep an agreement made with them. So they gave up about a hundred persons, women and boys, who did not want to leave them. Don Lope de Urrea rode up in front of the town without his helmet and received the boys and girls in his arms, and when all of these had been surrendered, Don Lope begged them to make peace, giving them the strongest promises for their safety. They told him to go away, as they did not wish to trust themselves to people who had no regard for friendship or their own word which they had pledged. As he seemed unwilling to go away, one of them put an arrow in his bow ready to shoot, and threatened to shoot him with it unless he went off, and they warned him to put on his helmet, but he was unwilling to do so, saying that they would not hurt him as long as he stayed there. When the Indian saw that he did not want to go away, he shot and planted his arrow between the fore feet of the horse, and then put another arrow in his bow and repeated that if he did not go away he would really shoot him. Don Lope put on his helmet and slowly rode back to where the horsemen were, without receiving any harm from them. When they saw that he was really in safety, they began to shoot arrows in showers, with loud yells and cries. The general did not want to make an assault that day, in order to see if they could be brought in some way to make peace, which they would not consider.
Fifteen days later they decided to leave the village one night, and did so, taking the women in their midst. They started about the fourth watch, in the very early morning, on the side where the cavalry was. The alarm was given by those in the camp of Don Rodrigo ​Maldonado. The enemy attacked them and killed one Spaniard and a horse and wounded others, but they were driven back with great slaughter until they came to the river, where the water flowed swiftly and very cold. They threw themselves into this, and as the men had come quickly from the whole camp to assist the cavalry, there were few who escaped being killed or wounded. Some men from the camp went across the river next day and found many of them who had been overcome by the great cold. They brought these back, cured them, and made servants of them. This ended that siege, and the town was captured, although there were a few who remained in one part of the town and were captured a few days later.
Two captains, Don Diego de Guevara and Juan de Saldivar, had captured the other large village after a siege. Having started out very early one morning to make an ambuscade in which to catch some warriors who used to come out every morning to try to frighten our camp, the spies, who had been placed where they could see when they were coming, saw the people come out and proceed toward the ​try. The soldiers left the ambuscade and went to the village and saw the people fleeing. They pursued and killed large numbers of them. At the same time those in the camp were ordered to go over the town, and they plundered it, making prisoners of all the people who were found in it, amounting to about a hundred women and children. This siege ended the last of March, in the year '42. Other things had happened in the meantime, which would have been noticed, but that it would have cut the thread. I have omitted them, but will relate them now, so that it will be possible to understand what follows.
Chapter 17, of how messengers reached the army from the valley of Señora and how Captain Melchior Diaz died on the expedition to the Firebrand river.
We have already related how Captain Melchior Diaz crossed the Firebrand river on rafts, in order to continue his discoveries farther in that direction. About the time the siege ended, messengers reached the army from the city of San Hieronimo with letters from Diego de Alarcon, who had remained there in the place of Melchior Diaz. These contained the news that Melchior Diaz had died while he was conducting his search, and that the force had returned without finding any of the things they were after. It all happened in this fashion:
After they had crossed the river they continued their search for the coast, which here turned back toward the south, or between south and east, because that arm of the sea enters the land due north and this river, which brings its waters down from the north, flowing toward the south, enters the head of the gulf. Continuing in the direction they bad been going, they came to some sand banks of hot ashes which it was impossible to cross without being drowned as in the sea. The ground they were standing on trembled like a sheet of paper, so that it seemed as if there were lakes underneath them. It seemed wonderful and like something infernal, for the ashes to bubble up here in several places. After they had gone away from this place, on account of the danger they seemed to be in and of the lack of water, one day a greyhound belonging to one of the soldiers chased some sheep which they were taking along for food. When the captain noticed this, he threw his lance at the dog while his horse was running, so that it stuck up in the ground, and not being able to stop his horse he went over the lance so that it nailed him through the thighs and the iron came out behind, rupturing his bladder. After this the soldiers turned back with their captain, having to light every day with the Indians, who had remained hostile. He lived about twenty days, during which they proceeded with great difficulty on account of the necessity of carrying him. They ​returned in good order without losing a man, until he died, and after that they were relieved of the greatest difficulty. When they reached Señora, Alcaraz dispatched the messengers already referred to, so that the general might know of this and also that some of the soldiers were ill disposed and had caused several mutinies, and that he had sentenced two of them to the gallows, but they had afterward escaped from the prison.
When the general learned this, he sent Don Pedro de Tovar to that city to sift out some of the men. He was accompanied by messengers whom the general sent to Don Antonio de Mendoza the viceroy, with an account of what had occurred and with the good news given by the Turk. When Don Pedro de Tovar arrived there, he found that the natives of that province had killed a soldier with a poisoned arrow, which had made only a very little wound in one hand. Several soldiers went to the place where this happened to see about it, and they were not very well received. Don Pedro de Tovar sent Diego de Alcaraz with a force to seize the chiefs and lords of a village in what they call the Valley of Knaves (de los Vellacos), which is in the hills. After getting there and taking these men prisoners, Diego de Alcaraz decided to let them go in exchange for some thread and cloth and other things which the soldiers needed. Finding themselves free, they renewed the war and attacked them, and as they were strong and had poison, they killed several Spaniards and wounded others so that they died on the way back. They retired toward the town, and if they had not had Indian allies from the country of the Hearts, it would have gone worse with them. They got back to the town, leaving 17 soldiers dead from the poison. They would die in agony from only a small wound, the bodies breaking out with an insupportable pestilential stink. When Don Pedro de Tovar saw the harm done, and as it seemed to them that they could not safely stay in that city, he moved 40 leagues toward Cibola into the valley of Suya, where we will leave them, in order to relate what happened to the general and his army after the siege of Tiguex.
Chapter 18, of how the general managed to leave the country in peace so as to go in search of Quivira, where the Turk said there was the most wealth.
During the siege of Tiguex the general decided to go to Cicuye and take the governor with him, in order to give him his liberty and to promise them that he would give Whiskers his liberty and leave him in the village, as soon as he should start for Quivira. He was received peacefully when he reached Cicuye, and entered the village with several soldiers. They received their governor with much joy and gratitude. After looking over the village and speaking with the natives he returned ​to his army, leaving Cicuye at peace, in the hope of getting back their captain Whiskers.
After the siege was ended, as we have already related, he sent a captain to Chia, a fine village with many people, which had sent to offer its submission. It was 4 leagues distant to the west of the river. They found it peaceful and gave it four bronze cannon, which were in poor condition, to take care of. Six gentlemen also went to Quirix, a province with seven villages. At the first village, which had about a hundred inhabitants, the natives fled, not daring to wait for our men; but they headed them off by a short cut, riding at full speed, and then they returned to their houses in the village in perfect safety, and then told the other villagers about it and reassured them. In this way the entire region was reassured, little by little, by the time the ice in the river was broken up and it became possible to ford the river and so to continue the journey. The twelve villages of Tiguex, however, were not repopulated at all during the time the army was there, in spite of every promise of security that could possibly be given to them.
And when the river, which for almost four months had been frozen over so that they crossed the ice on horseback, had thawed out, orders were given for the start for Quivira, where the Turk said there was some gold and silver, although not so much as in Arche and the Guaes. There were already some in the army who suspected the Turk, because a Spaniard named Servantes, who had charge of him during the siege, solemnly swore that he had seen the Turk talking with the devil in a pitcher of water, and also that while he had him under lock so that no one could speak to him, the Turk had asked him what Christians had been killed by the people at Tiguex. He told him "nobody," and then the Turk answered: "You lie; five Christians are dead, including a captain." And as Cervantes knew that he told the truth, he confessed it so as to find out who had told him about it, and the Turk said he knew it all by himself and that he did not need to have anyone tell him in order to know it. And it was on account of this that he watched him and saw him speaking to the devil in the pitcher, as I have said.
While all this was going on, preparations were being made to start from Tiguex. At this time people came from Cibola to see the general, and he charged them to take good care of the Spaniards who were coming from Señora with Don Pedro de Tovar. He gave them letters to give to Don Pedro, informing him what he ought to do and how he should go to find the army, and that he would find letters under the crosses which the army would put up along the way. The army left Tiguex on the 5th of May and returned to Cicuye, which, as I have said, is twenty-five marches, which means leagues, from there, taking Whiskers with them. Arrived there, he gave them their captain, who already went about freely with a guard. The village was very glad to see him, and the people were peaceful and offered food. The governor and ​Whiskers gave the general a young fellow called Xabe, a native of Quivira, who could give them information about the country. This fellow said that there was gold and silver, but not so much of it as the Turk had said. The Turk, however, continued to declare that it was as he had said. He went as a guide, and thus the army started off from here.
Chapter 19, of how they started in search of Quivira and of what happened on the way.
The army started from Cicuye, leaving the village at peace and, as it seemed, contented, and under obligations to maintain the friendship because their governor and captain had been restored to them. Proceeding toward the plains, which are all on the other side of the mountains, after four days' journey they came to a river with a large, deep current, which flowed down toward Cicuye, and they named this the Cicuye river. They had to stop here to make a bridge so as to cross it. It was finished in four days, by much diligence and rapid work, and as soon as it was done the whole army and the animals crossed. After ten days more they came to some settlements of people who lived like Arabs and who are called Querechos in that region. They had seen the cows for two days. These folks live in tents made of the tanned skins of the cows. They travel around near the cows, killing them for food. They did nothing unusual when they saw our army, except to come out of their tents to look at us, after which they came to talk with the advance guard, and asked who we were. The general talked with them, but as they had already talked with the Turk, who was with the advance guard, they agreed with what he had said. That they were very intelligent is evident from the fact that although they conversed by means of signs they made themselves understood so well that there was no need of an interpreter. They said that there was a very large river over toward where the sun came from, and that one could go along this river through an inhabited region for ninety days without a break from settlement to settlement. They said that the first of these settlements was called Haxa, and that the river was more than a league wide and that there were many canoes on it. These folks started off from here next day with a lot of dogs which dragged their possessions. For two days, during which the army marched in the same direction as that in which they had come from the settlements — that is, between north and east, but more toward the north — they saw ​other roaming Querechos and such great numbers of cows that it already seemed something incredible. These people gave a great deal of information about settlements, all toward the east from where we were. Here Don Garcia broke his arm and a Spaniard got lost who went off hunting so far that he was unable to return to the camp, because the country is very level. The Turk said it was one or two days to Haya (Haxa). The general sent Captain Diego Lopez with ten companions lightly equipped and a guide to go at full speed toward the sunrise for two days and discover Haxa, and then return to meet the army, which set out in the same direction next day. They came across so many animals that those who were on the advance guard killed a large number of bulls. As these fled they trampled one another in their haste until they came to a ravine. So many of the animals fell into this that they filled it up, and the rest went across on top of them. The men who were chasing them on horseback fell in among the animals without noticing where they were going. Three of the horses that fell in among the cows, all saddled and bridled, were lost sight of completely.
As it seemed to the general that Diego Lopez ought to be on his way back, he sent six of his companions to follow up the banks of the little river, and as many more down the banks, to look for traces of the horses at the trails to and from the river. It was impossible to find tracks in this country, because the grass straightened up again as soon as it was trodden down. They were found by some Indians from the army who had gone to look for fruit. These got track of them a good league off, and soon came up with them. They followed the river down to the camp, and told the general that in the 20 leagues they had been over they had seen nothing but cows and the sky. There was another native of Quivira with the army, a painted Indian named Ysopete. This Indian had always declared that the Turk was lying, and on account of this the army paid no attention to him, and even now, although he said that the Querechos had consulted with him, Ysopete was not believed.
The general sent Don Rodrigo Maldonado, with his company, forward from here. He traveled four days and reached a large ravine like those of Colima, in the bottom of which he found a large settlement of people. Cabeza de Vaca and Dorantes had passed through this place, so that they presented Don Rodrigo with a pile of tanned skins and other things, and a tent as big as a house, which he directed them to keep until the army came up. He sent some of his companions to guide the array to that place, so that they should not get lost, although he had been making piles of stones and cow dung for the army to follow. This was the way in which the army was guided by the advance guard.
​When the general came up with the army and saw the great quantity of skins, he thought lie would divide them among the men, and placed guards so that they could look at them. But when the men arrived and saw that the general was sending some of his companions with orders for the guards to give them some of the skins, and that these were going to select the best, they were angry because they were not going to be divided evenly> and made a rush, and in less than a quarter of an hour nothing was left but the empty ground.
The natives, who happened to see this also took a hand in it. The women and some others were left crying, because they thought that the strangers were not going to take anything, but would bless them as Cabeza de Vaca and Dorantes had done when they passed through here. They found an Indian girl here who was as white as a Castilian lady, except that she had her chin painted like a Moorish woman. In general they all paint themselves in this way here, and they decorate their eyes.
Chapter 20, of how great stones fell in the camp, and how they discovered another ravine, where the army was divided into two parts.
While the army was resting in this ravine, as we ha'^e related, a tempest came up one afternoon with a very high wind and hail, and in a very short space of time a great quantity of hailstones, as big as bowls, or bigger, fell as thick as raindrops, so that in places they covered the ground two or three spans or more deep. And one hit the horse — or I should say, there was not a horse that did not break away, excej)t two or three which the negroes protected by holding large sea nets over them, with the helmets and shields which all the rest wore; and some of them dashed up on to the sides of the ravine so that they got them down with great difficulty. If this had struck them while they were upon the plain, the army would have been iu great danger of being left without its horses, as there were many which they were not able to cover. The hail broke many tents, and battered many helmets, and wounded many of the horses, and broke all the crockery of the army, and the gourds, which was no small loss, because they do not have any crockery in this region. They do not make gourds, nor sow corn, nor eat bread, but instead raw meat — or only half cooked — and fruit. ​From here the general sent out to explore the country, and they found another settlement four days from there. . . The country was well inhabited, and they had plenty of kidney beans and prunes like those of Castile, and tall vineyards. These village settlements extended for three days. This was called Cona. Some Teyas, as these people are called, went with the army from here and traveled as far as the end of the other settlements with their packs of dogs and women and children, and then they gave them guides to proceed to a large ravine where the army was. They did not let these guides speak with the Turk, and did not receive the same statements from these as they had from the others. These said that Quivira was toward the north, and that we would not find any good road thither. After this they began to believe Ysopete. The ravine which the army had now reached was a league wide from one side to the other, with a little bit of a river at the bottom, and there were many groves of mulberry trees near it, and rosebushes with the same sort of fruit that they have in France. They made verjuice from the unripe grapes at this ravine, although there were ripe ones. There were walnuts and the same kind of fowls as in New Spain, and large quantities of prunes like those of Castile, During this journey a Teya was seen to shoot a bull right through both shoulders with an arrow, which would be a good shot for a musket. These people are very intelligent; the women are well made and modest. They cover their whole body. They wear shoes and buskins made of tanned skin. The women wear cloaks over their small under petticoats, with sleeves gathered up at the shoulders, all of skin, and some wore something like little sanbenitos with a fringe, which reached half-way down the thigh over the petticoat.
The army rested several days in this ravine and explored the country. Up to this point they had made thirty-seven days' marches, traveling ​6 or 7 leagues a day. It had been the duty of one man to measure and count his steps. They found that it was 250 leagues to the settlements. When the general Francisco Vazquez realized this, and saw that they had been deceived by the Turk heretofore, and as the provisions were giving out and there was no country around here where they could procure more, he called the captains and ensigns together to decide on what they thought ought to be done. They all agreed that the general should go in search of Quivira with thirty horsemen and half a dozen foot-soldiers, and that Don Tristan de Arellano should go back to Tiguex with all the army. When the men in the army learned of this decision, they begged their general not to leave them to conduct the further search, but declared that they all wanted to die with him and did not want to go back. This did not do any good, although the general agreed to send messengers to them within eight days saying whether it was best for them to follow him or not, and with this he set off with the guides he had and with Ysopete. The Turk was taken along in chains.
Chapter 21, of how the army returned to Tiguex and the general reached Quivira.
The general started from the ravine with the guides that the Teyas had given him. He appointed the alderman Diego Lopez his armymaster, and took with him the men who seemed to him to be most efficient, and the best horses. The army still had some hope that the general would send for them, and sent two horsemen, lightly equipped and riding post, to repeat their petition.
The general arrived — I mean, the guides ran away during the first few days and Diego Lopez had to return to the army for guides, bringing orders for the army to return to Tiguex to find food and wait there for the general. The Teyas, as before, willingly furnished him with new guides. The army waited for its messengers and spent a fortnight here, preparing jerked beef to take with them. It was estimated that during this fortnight they killed 500 bulls. The number of these that were there without any cows was something incredible. Many fellows were lost at this time who went out hunting and did not get back to the army for two or three days, wandering about the country as if they were crazy, in one direction or another, not knowing how to get back where they started from, although this ravine extended in either direction so that they could find it. Every night they took account of who was missing, fired guns and blew trumpets and beat drums and built great fires, but yet some of them went off so far and wandered about so much that all this did not give them any help, although it helped others. The only way was to go back where they had killed an animal and start from there in one direction and another until ​they struck the ravine or fell in with somebody who could put them on the right road. It is worth noting that the country there is so level that at midday, after one has wandered about in one direction and another in pursuit of game, the only thing to do is to stay near the game quietly until sunset, so as to see where it goes down, and even then they have to be men who are practiced to do it. Those who are not, had to trust themselves to others.
The general followed his guides until he reached Quivira, which took forty-eight days' marching, on account of the great detour they had made toward Florida. He was received peacefully on account of the guides whom he had. They asked the Turk why he had lied and had guided them so far out of their way. He said that his country was in that direction and that, besides this, the people at Cicuye had asked him to lead them off on to the plains and lose them, so that the horses would die when their provisions gave out, and they would be so weak if they ever returned that they could be killed without any trouble, and thus they could take revenge for what had been done to them. This was the reason why he had led them astray, supposing that they did not know how to hunt or to live without corn, while as for the gold, he did not know where there was any of it. He said this like one who had given up hope and who found that he was being persecuted, since they had begun to believe Ysopete, who had guided them better than he had, and fearing lest those who were there might give some advice by which some harm would come to him. They garroted him, which pleased Ysopete very much, because he had always said that Ysopete was a rascal and that he did not know what he was talking about and had always hindered his talking with anybody. Neither gold nor silver nor any trace of either was found among these people. Their lord wore a copper plate on his neck and prized it highly.
The messengers whom the army had sent to the general returned, as I said, and then, as they brought no news except what the alderman had delivered, the army left the ravine and returned to the Teyas, where they took guides who led them back by a more direct road. They readily furnished these, because these people are always roaming over this country in pursuit of the animals and so know it thoroughly. They keep their road in this way: In the morning they notice where the sun rises and observe the direction they are going to take, and then shoot an arrow in this direction. Before reaching this they shoot another over it, and in this way they go all day toward the water where they are to end the day. In this way they covered in 25 days ​what had taken them 37 days going, besides stopping to hunt cows on the way. They found many salt lakes on this road, and there was a great quantity of salt. There were thick pieces of it on top of the water bigger than tables, as thick as four or five fingers. Two or three spans down under water there was salt which tasted better than that in the floating pieces, because this was rather bitter. It was crystalline. All over these plains there were large numbers of animals like squirrels and a great number of their holes. On its return the army reached the Cicuye river more than 30 leagues below there — I mean below the bridge they had made when they crossed it, and they followed it up to that place. In general, its banks are covered with a sort of rose bushes, the fruit of which tastes like muscatel grapes. They grow on little twigs about as high up as a man. It has the parsley leaf. There were unripe grapes and currants (?)$^{ComparetheSpanishtext;Ternauxomitsthissentence.}$ and wild marjoram. The guides said this river joined that of Tiguex more than 20 days from here, and that its course turned toward the east. It is believed that it flows into the mighty river of the Holy Spirit (Espiritu Santo), which the men with Don Hernando de Soto discovered in Florida. A painted Indian woman ran away from Juan de Saldibar and hid in the ravines about this time, because she recognized the country of Tiguex where she had been a slave. She fell into the hands of some Spaniards who had entered the country from Florida to explore it in this direction. After I got back to New Spain I heard them say that the Indian told them that she had run away from other men like them nine days, and that she gave the names of some captains; from which we ought to believe that we were not far from the region they discovered, although they said they were more than 200 leagues inland. I believe the land at that point is more than 600 leagues across from sea to sea.
As I said, the army followed the river up as far as Cicuye, which it found ready for war and unwilling to make any advances toward peace or to give any food to the army. From there they went on to Tiguex where several villages had been reinhabited, but the people were afraid and left them again.
Chapter 22, of how the general returned from Quivira and of other expeditions toward the North.
After Don Tristan de Arellano reached Tiguex, about the middle of July, in the year '42, he had provisions collected for the coming winter. Captain Francisco de Barrionuevo was sent up the river toward the north with several men. He saw two provinces, one of which was called Hemes and had seven villages, and the other Yuqueyunque. The inhabitants of Hemes came out peaceably and furnished provisions. At Yuqueyunque the whole nation left two very fine villages which ​they had on either side of the river entirely vacant, and went into the mountains, where they had four very strong villages in a rough country, where it was impossible for horses to go. In the two villages there was a great deal of food and some very beautiful glazed earthenware with many figures and different shapes. Here they also found many bowls full of a carefully selected shining metal with which they glazed the earthenware. This shows that mines of silver would be found in that country if they should hunt for them.
There was a large and powerful river, I mean village, which was called Braba, 20 leagues farther up the river, which our men called Valladolid. The river flowed through the middle of it. The natives crossed it by wooden bridges, made of very long, large, squared pines. At this village they saw the largest and finest hot rooms or estufas that there were in the entire country, for they had a dozen pillars, each one of which was twice as large around as one could reach and twice as tall as a man. Hernando de Alvarado visited this village when he discovered Cicuye. The country is very high and very cold. The river is deep and very swift, without any ford. Captain Barrionuevo returned from here, leaving the province at peace.
Another captain went down the river in search of the settlements which the people at Tutahaco had said were several days distant from there. This captain went down 80 leagues and found four largo villages which he left at peace. He proceeded until he found that the river sank into the earth, like the Guadiana in Estremadura. He did not go on to where the Indians said that it came out much larger, because his commission did not extend for more than 80 leagues march. After this captain got back, as the time had arrived which the captain had set for his return from Quivira, and as he had not come back, Don Tristan selected 40 companions and, leaving the army to Francisco de Barrionuevo, he started with them in search of the general. When he reached Cicuye the people came out of the village to fight, which detained him there four days, while be punished them, which he did by firing some volleys into the village. These killed several men, so that they did not come out against the army, since two of their principal men had been killed on the first day. Just then word was brought that the general was coming, and so Don Tristan had to stay there on this account also, to keep the road open.<ref>Mota Padilla, xxxiii, 4., p. 165: "Al cabo de dos meses, poco mas ó ménos, volvió con su gente el general á Tigües, y dieron razon que habiendo caminado mas de cien leguas. • • • Quivira se hallo ser un pueblo de hasta cien casas."Everybody welcomed the general on his arrival, with great joy. The Indian Xabe, who was the young fellow who had been given to the general at Cicuye when he started off in search of Quivira, was with Don Tristan de Arellano and when he learned that the ​general was coming be acted as if he was greatly pleased, and said, "Now when the general comes, you will see that there is gold and silver in Quivira, although not so much as the Turk said." When the general arrived, and Xabe saw that they had not found anything, he was sad and silent, and kept declaring that there was some. He made many believe that it was so, because the general had not dared to enter into the country on account of its being thickly settled and his force not very strong, and that he had returned to lead his army there after the rains, because it had begun to rain there already, as it was early in August when he left. It took him forty days to return, traveling lightly equipped. The Turk had said when they left Tiguex that they ought not to load the horses with too much provisions, which would tire them so that they could not afterward carry the gold and silver, from which it is very evident that he was deceiving them.
The general reached Cicuye with his force and at once set off for Tiguex, leaving the village more quiet, for they had met him peaceably and had talked with him. When he reached Tiguex, he made his plans to pass the winter there, so as to return with the whole army, because it was said that he brought information regarding large settlements and very large rivers, and that the country was very much like that of Spain in the fruits and vegetation and seasons. They were not ready to believe that there was no gold there, but instead had suspicions that there was some farther back in the country, because, although this was denied, they knew what the thing was and had a name for it among themselves—acochis. With this we end this first part, and now we will give an account of the provinces.
* ↑ There were several representatives of the family of Castañeda among the Spaniards in America as early as the middle of the sixteenth century, but the only possible mention of this Pedro, of the Biscayan town of Najera, which I have seen outside of the present document, is the following item from a Relacion do los pesos de oro que están señalados por indios vacos á los conquistadores de Nueva España y á sus hijos, cuyos nombres se expresan (año 1554), in Pacheco y Cardenas, Doc. de Indias, xiv, 206: "A los nueve hijos de Pero Franco, couquistador, é su mujer, que son: Maria de Acosta, madre de todos, Pero Francisco de Castañeda, Juana de Castañeda, Inés de Castañeda, Francisco de Castañeda, Lorenzo Franco, Marta de Castañeda, Anton de Vargas y Juana de Castañeda, les están señalados de entretenimiento en cada un año duzientos y setenta pesos. cclxx."
* ↑ Mendoza died in Lima, July 21, 1552.
* ↑ Ternaux renders this; "C'est ainsi que l'homme qui se place derrière la barrière qui. dans les courses des taureaux, sépare le spectateur des combattants, voit bien mieux la position dans laquelle il se trouvait lorsqu'il combattait, qu'alors même qu'il était dans la carrière."
* ↑ The Segunda Relacion Anónima de la Jornada que hizo Nuño de Guzman, 1529, Icazbelceta'a Docamentos para la Historia de Mexico, vol. 11, p. 303, also implies that the Dame of the "Seven Cities" had already been given to the country which he was trying to discover.
* ↑ Marqués del Valle de Oaxaca y Capitan General de la Nueva España y de la Costa del Sur.
* ↑ Guzman had presided over the trial of Cortes, who was in Spain at the time, for the murder of bis first wife seven years previously (October, 1522). See Zaragoza's edition of Suarez de Peralta's Tratado, p. 315.
* ↑ The name was changed in 1540.
* ↑ The best discussion of the stories of the Seven Caves and the Seven Cities is in Bandolier's Contributions, p. 9, ff.
* ↑ A judge appointed to investigate the accounts and administration of a royal official.
* ↑ A full account of the licentiate de la Torre and his administration is given by Mota Padilla (ed. Icazbalceta, pp. 103-106). He was appointed juez March 17, 1536, and died during 1538.
* ↑ They appeared in New Spain in April, 1536, before Coronado's appointment. Castañeda may be right in the rest of his statement.
* ↑ This account has been translated by Buckingham Smith. See Bibliography for the full title.
* ↑ Bandolier (Contributions, p. 104) says this was Topia, in Durango, a locality since noted for its rich mines.
* ↑ Mota Padilla, xxii, 2, p. 111: "Determinó el virey lograr la ocasion de la mucha gente noble que habia en México, que como corcbo sobre el agua reposado, se andaba sin tener qué hacer ni en qué ocuparse, todos atenidos á que el virey les hiciese algunas mercedes, y á que los vecinos de México les sustentasen á sua mesas; y asi, le fué fácil aprestar mas de trescientos hombres, los mas de á caballo, porque ya se criaban muchos; dióles á treinta pesos y prometioles repartimientos en la tierra que se poblase, y mas cuando se afirmaba haber un cerro de plata y otras minas."
* ↑ See Mendoza'a letter to the King, regarding Samaniego's position.
* ↑ Mota Padilla, xxii, iii, p. 112, mentions among those who had commands on the expedition D. Diego de Guevara and Diego Lopez de Cardenas. The second error may be due to the presence of another Diego Lopez in the party.
* ↑ The correct date is 1540. Castañeda carries the error throughout the narrative.
* ↑ See the instructions given by Mendoza to Alarcon, in Buckingham Smith's Florida, p. 1. The last of them reads: "Llevareys ciertas cossas que doña Beatrix de Strada embia para el Capitan General sa marido, y mandareys que en ello y en lo que mas llevaredes para algunos de los soldadoa que con él estan que os ayan recormendado amigos ó parientes suyos haya buen recaudo."
* ↑ See the writings of Telle and Mota Padilla concerning Oñate. Much of the early prosperity of New Galicia—what there was of it—seems to have been due to Oñate's skillful management.
* ↑ The following sections from the Fragmento de la Visita hecha á don Antonio de Mendoza, printed in Icazbalceta's Documentos para la Historia de Mexico, ii, 72, add something to the details of the departure of the expedition: "199. Item, bi aaben &c. que la gente que salió de la villa de S. Miguel de Culnacan, que es el ostrer llugar de Galicia de la Nueva España, para ir en descubrimiento de la tierra nueva de Cibola con el capitan general Francisco Vazquez de Coronado, fueron hasta doscientos y cincuenta españoles de á caballo. los cuales asi para sus persónas, como para su carruaje, armas, y bastimentos, y municiones, y otras cosas necesarias para el dicho viaje, llevaron mas de mill caballos y acémilas, y así lo dirán los testigos, porque lo vieron y hallaron presentes, y fueron al dicho viaje: digan lo que saben &c. "200. Item, . . . que asimismo con la dicha gente española salieron de la dicha villa de S. Miguel de Culuacan hasta trescientos indios, poco mas ó menos, los cuales fueron de su voluntad á servir en la dicha jornada, y el dicho visorey les mandó socorrer, y se les socorrió con dineros y provisiones, yá los que eran casados y dejaban acá sus mujeres les proveyó de lo necesario para an austentamiento, yesto es público y notorio, . . . "201. Item, . . . que el dicho visorey proveyó para la gente que fué al dicho descubrimiento, demas de los socorros que les hizo en dineros, y caballos, y armas y otras cosas, les dió mucha cantidad de ganados vacunos y ovejunos, sin otra macha cantidad de ganados que llevahan los capitanes y soldados, que bastaron para proveerae todo el tiempo que estuvieron al dicho descubrimiento; y asimismo el dicho visorey les dió mucha cantidad de rescates que llevaba á cargo el fator de S. M., para que con ellos comprasen maiz y las otras cosas de bastimentos de la tierra por do paaasen, porque no se hiciese nioleatía á los indios: . . . "202. Item, . . . que el dicho visorey mandó y encargó al dicho capitan general tuviese especial caidado que los indios que desta tierra iban á servir en el dicho descubrimiento, fuesen hien tratados y proveidos de lo que hubiesen menester, y los que se quisiesen volver no fuesen detenidos, antes los enviase ricos y contentos, y el dicho general así lo hizo y cumplió, . . . "203. Item, si saben que por razon de los dichoa caballos y carruaje que llevaron los capitanes y españoles, los indios fueron reservados de llevar cargas de los capitanes españoles, y si algunos llevaron, seria de su comida, y ropa y bastimentos, como otros españoles lo hacian, que cargaban sus caballos y sus personas de bastimentos, . . . "204. Item, . . . que de todos los dichos indios que fueron á servir en la dicha Jornada, murieron tan solamente hasta veinte ó treinta personas, y si mas murieran, los testigos lo vieran y supieran: . . . "205, Item, . . . que todos los tamemes que los indios dieron, . . . se les pagó muy á su contento á los indios, por mandado del dicho visorey:". . . The evidence of the Informacion, which was taken at Compostela just after the army departed, is so suggestlve that I have translated the most valuable portions in full at the end of this memoir. Mota Padilla, xxii, 3, p. 112: . . . "habiendo llegado la comitiva á Compostela hizo el gobernador reseña de la gente y halló doscientos y sesenta hombres de á caballo con lanzas, espadas y otras armas manuales, y algunos con cotas, celadas y barbotes, unas de hierro y otras de cuero de vaca crudío, y los caballos con faldones de manta de la tierra; sesenta infantes, ballesteros y arcabuceroa, y otros con eapadas y rodelas: divididó la gente en ocho compañias. . . . Repartida, pues, la gente de esta suerte, con mas de mil caballus sin acémilas, y otros de carga con seis pedrerus, pó1vora y municion, y mas de mil indios amigos é indias de servicio, vaqueros y pastores de ganado mayor y menor."
* ↑ The account which Mota Padilla gives, cap. xxii, sec. 4, p. 112, is much clearer and more specific than the somewhat confused text of Castañeda. He says: "Á Chametla. . . hallaron la tierra alzada, de snerte que fué precise entrar á la sierra en busca de maiz, y por cabo el maese de campo, Lopez de Samaniego; internáronse en la espesura de en monte, en donde un soldado que inadvertidamente se aparto, fué aprehendido por los indios, dió voces, á las que, como vigilante, acudió el maese de campo, y libró del peligro al soldado, y pareciéndole estar seguro, alzó la vista á tiempo que de entre unoa matorrales se lo disparó una flecha, que entrándole por un ojo, le atravesió el cerebro. . . . Samaniego (era) uno de los mas esforzados capitanes y amado de todos; enteróse en una ramada, de donde despues sus huesos fueron trasladados á Compostela."
* ↑ Compare the Spanish text.—The report of Diaz is incorporated in the letter from Mendoza to the King, translated herein. This letter seems to imply that Diaz stayed at Chichilticalli; but if such was his intention when writing the report to Mendoza, he must have changed his mind and returned with Saldivar as far as Chiametla.
* ↑ Compare the Spanish text for this whole paragraph. Ternaux renders this clause "feignant d'étre trés-effrayé."
* ↑ Bandelier, in his Gilded Man. identifles this with Zuñi river. The Rio Vermejo of Jaramillo is the Little Colorado or Colorado Chiquito.
* ↑ Mota Padilla, p. 113; "They reached Tzibola, which was a village divided into two parts, which were encircled in such a way as to make the village round, and the houses adjoining three and four stories high, with doors opening on a great court or plaza, leaving one or two doors in the wall, so as to go in and out. In the middle of the plaza there is a hatchway or trapdoor, by which they go down to a subterranean hall, the roof of which was of large pine beams, and a little hearth in the floor, and the walls plastered. The Indian men stayed there days and nights playing (or gaming) and the women brought them food; and this was the way the Indians of the neighboring villages lived."
* ↑ The war cry or "loud invocation addressed to Saint James before engaging in battle with the Infidels."—Captain John Stevens' Dictionary.
* ↑ Compare the translation of the Traslado do las Nuevas herein. There are some striking resemblances between that account and Castañeda's narrative.
* ↑ Gomara, Hist. Indias, cap. ccxiii, ed. 1554: "Llegando a Sibola reqnirieron a loa del pueblo que los recibiessen de paz; ca no yuan a les hazer mal, sino muy gran bien, y prouecho, y que les diessen comida, ca lleuauan falta de ella. Ellos respondieron que no querian, pues yuan armados. y en son de les dr guerra: que tal semblante mostrauan. Assi que cõbatieron el pueblo los nuestros, defendieron lo gran rate ochocientos hombres, que dentro estauan; descalabraron a Francisco Vazquez, capitan general del exercito, y a otros muchos Españoles; mas al cabo se salieron huyendo. Entraron los nuestros y nombraron la Granada, por amor del virrey. q ei natural dela de España. Es Sibola de hasta doziẽtas casas de tierra y madera tosca, altas quatro y cinco sobrados, y las puertas como escotillones de nao, suben a ellos con escaleras de palo, que quitan de noche y en tiempos de guerra. Tiene delante cada casa una cuena, donde como en estufa, se recogen los inuiernos, que son largas, y de muchas nienes. Aunque qo esta mas de 371/2 grados de la Equinocial: que sino fuesse por las montañas, seria del temple de Sevilla. Las famoasas siete ciudades de fray Marcos de Niça, que estan en espacio de seys leguas. ternan obra de 4,000 hombres. Las riquezas de su reyno es no tener que comer, ni que vestir, durãdo la nieve siete meses."
* ↑ Oviedo, Historia, vol. iii. lib. xxxv, cap. vi, p. 610 (ed. 1853), says of Cabeza de Vaca and his companions: "Pues passadas las sierras ques dicho, llegaron estos quatro chripstianos. . . á tres pueblos que estaban juntos é pequeños, en que avia hasta veynte casas en elios, las quales eran como las passadas é juntas, . . . á este pueblo, ó mejor diçiendo pueblos juntos, nombraron los chripstianos la Villa de los Coraçones, porque les dieron alli más de seysçientos coraçones de venados escalades é secos." Cabeza de Vaca describes this place in his Naufragios, p. 172 of Smith's translation.
* ↑ It is possible that the persistent use of the form Señora, Madame, for the place Souora, may be due to the copyists, although it is as likely that the Spanish settlers made the change in their common parlance.
* ↑ This should be September. See the next chapter; also the Itinerary.
* ↑ Bandelier, in his Final Report, vol. i, p. 108, suggests the following from the Relacion of Padre Sedelmair, S. J., 1746, which he quotes from the manuscript: "Sus ranchcerias, por grandes do gentio que sean, se reducen á una ó dos casas, con techo de terrado y zacate, armadas sobre muchos horconea por pilares con viguelos de unos á otros, y bajas, tan capaces que cabon en cada una mas de cien personas, con tres divisiones, la primera una enramada del tamaño de la casa y baja para dormir en el verano, luego la segunda division como sala, y la tercera como alcoba, donde por el abrigo meten loa viejos y viejas, muchachitos y muchachitas, escepto los pimas que viven entro ellos, que cada familia tiene su choza aparte." These were evidently the ancestors of the Yuman Indians of Arizona.
* ↑ Fletcher, in The World Encompassed by Sir Francis Drake, p. 131, (ed. 1854) tells a similar story of some Indians whom Brake visited on the coast of California: "Yet are tho men commonly so strong of body, that that which 2 or 3 of our men could hardly beare, one of them would take upon his backe, and without grudging, carrie it easily away, up hill and downe hill an English mile together." Mota Padilla, cap. xxxii, p. 158, describes an attempt to catch one of these Indians; "Quiso el capitan [Melchior Diaz] remitir A un indio, porque el virey viese su corpulencia y hallando á un mancebo, trataron de apresario; mas hizo tal resistencia, que entre quatro españoles no pudieron amarrario, y daba tales gritos, que los obligaron á dejarlo, per no indisponer los ánimos de aquellos indios."
* ↑ Father Sedelmair, in his Relacion, mentions this custom of the Indians. (See Bandolier, Final Report, vol. i, p. 108): "Su frazada en tiempo de frio es un tizon eucendido que aplicándole á la boca del estómago caminan por las mañanas, y calentando ya el sol como á las ocho tiran los tizones, que por muchos que hayan tirado por los caminos, purden ser guias de los caminantes: de suerto que todos estos rios pueden llarmarse rios del Tizon, nombre que algunas mapas ponen á uno solo.
* ↑ Cortes.
* ↑ Mota Padilla, sec. xxxii, p. 158, says: Melchior Dias paso el rio del Tison "en unos cestus grandes que los indios tienen aderezados con un betum que no les pasa el agua. y asidoa de él cuatro ó seis indios, lo llevan nadando, . . . á to que ayudaron tambien las indias."
* ↑ The Zuñis make a similar sort of preserves from the fruit of the tuna and the yucca. See Cushing in The Millstone, Indianapolis, July, 1884, ii]). 108-109.
* ↑ Compare the Spanish text for this whole description. Mota Padilla, sec. xxii, 6, p. H:i. says: "Chichilticali (que quiere decir casa colorada, por una que estaba en él embarrada con tierra colorada, que llaman almagre); aquí so hallaron pinos con grandes piñas de piñoues muy buenos; y mas adelante, en la ciuiade unas peñas, se hallaron cahezas de carneros de grandes cuernos, y algunos dijeron haber visto tres ó cuatro carneros de aquellos, y que eran muy ligeros (de estos animales se han visto en el Catay, que es la Tartaria.)"
* ↑ Compare chapter 13. These two groups of pueblos were not the same.
* ↑ Compare the lines which the Hopi or Moki indians still mark with sacred meal daring their festivals, as described hy Dr Fewkes in his "Few Summer Ceremonials." in vol. ii of the Journal of American Ethnology and Archæology.
* ↑ Compare the Spanish text.
* ↑ Compare the Spanish text. Ternaux translates it: "Les bords sont tellement élevés croyaient être à trois ou quatre lienes en l'air."
* ↑ The report of Alvarado, translated herein, Is probably the official account of what he accomplished.
* ↑ In regard to the famous rock fortress of Acoma see Bandelier's Introduction, p. 14, and his final Report, vol. i, p. 133. The Spaniards called it by a name resembling that which they heard applied to it in Zuñi-Cibola. The true Zuñi name of Acoma, on the authority of Mr F. W. Hodge, is Hákukla; that of the Acoma people, Háiukwe.
* ↑ An error for Tiguex, at or near the present Bernalillo. Simpson located this near the mouth of the river Puerco, southeast of Acoma, but I follow Bandelier, according to whom Alvarado pursued a northeasterly direction from Acoma. See his Introduction, p. 30, and Final Report, vol. i, p. 129.
* ↑ Pecos. Besides his Final Report, vol. i, p. 127, see Bandelier's Report on the Pecos Ruins.
* ↑ The accoant which Mota Padilla (cap. xxxii, 5, p. 161) gives of the Turk and his stories is very significant; Alvarado "halló un indio en aquellos llanos quien le dijo, mas por señas que por voces, ser de una provincia que distaba treinta soles, la enal se llamaba Copala, y al indio se le puso por nombre el Turco, por ser muy moreno, apersonado y de buena disposicion; y lea díjo tantas cosas de aquella provincia, que loa puso en admiracion, y en especial que había tanta cantidad do oro, que no solo podian cargar los caballos, sino carros; que había una laguna en la que navegaban cauoas. y qne las del cacique tenian argollas de oro; y para que se explicase, le mostraban plata, y decia que no, sino como un auillo que vió de oro: decia que á su cacique lo sacaban en audaa á las guerras, y que cuando queria, les quitaban los bozalos á unos lebreles que despedazaban á loa enemigos; que tenian una easa muy grande, adonde todos acudian á servirle; que en las puertas tenian mantas de algodon." Gomara, Indias, cap. ccxiiii, adds some details: "Viendo lapoca gente, y muestra do riqueza, dieron los soldados muy pocas gracias a los frayles, que conellos yuan, y que loauan aquella tierra do Sibola: y por no boluer a Mexico sin hazer algo, ni las nianos vazias, acordaron de passar adelante, que les dezian ser mejor tierra. Assi que fueron a Acuco, lugar sobre va fortissimo peñol, y desde alli fue don Garci lopez de Cardenas con su compañia de canallos a la mar, y Francisco Vazquez con los de mas a Tiguex. que esta ribera de va gran rio. Alli tuuieron nueuade Axa, y Quiuira; donde dezian, que estana vn Rey, dicho por nombre Tatarrax, barbudo, canos, y rico, que ceñia vu bracamarte, que rezaua cu horas, que adorana vna cruz do oro, y vna ymagen de muger, Senora Del cielo. Mucho alegro, y sostuno esta nueua al exercito, aunque algunos la tunieron por falsa, y echadiza de fraylea. Determinaron yr alla con intencion de inuernar en tierra tan rica como so sonaua."
* ↑ Coronado probably reached the Rio Grande near the present Isleta. Jaramillo applies this name to Aconia, and perhaps he is more correct, if we ought to read it Tutahaio. since the Tiguas (the inhabitants of Isleta, Sandia, Taos, and Picuris pueblos) call Acoma Tuthea-uáy, according to Bandelier, Gilded Man, p. 211.
* ↑ This was Matsaki, at the northwestern base of Thunder mountain, about 18 miles from Hawikuh, where the advance force had encamped.
* ↑ The Spanish manuscript is very confusing; throughout this chapter. As usual, Ternaux passes over most of the passages which have given trouble, omitting what he could not guess.
* ↑ Dutch Jack, perhaps.
* ↑ The instructions which Mendoza gave to Alarcon show how carefully the viceroy tried to guard against any such trouble with the natives. Buckingham Smith's Florida, p. 4: "Iten; di poblaredes en alguna parte, no sea entre los yndios. sino apartado dellos. y mandareys quo ningun español ni otra persona de las vuestras vaya al lugar ni á las cassas de los yndios sino fuere con expressa liceunia vuestra. y al que lo contrario hiziere castigalle eys muy asperamente, y la licencia aveya de daila las vezes que fuero necessario para alguna cossa que convenga y á personas de quien vos esteys confiado que no hará cossa mal hecha, y estad muy advertido en guardar esta orden, porque es cossa que conviene mas de lo que vos podeys pensar."
* ↑ Espejo, Relacion del Viaje, 1584 (Pacheco y Cardenas, Doc. de Indias, vol. xv, p. 175), says that at Puala (Tiguex) pueblo, "ballamos relacion muy verdadera: que estubo en esta provincia Francisco Vazquez Coronado y le mataron en ella nueve soldados y cuarenta caballos, y que por este respeto habia asolado la gente de un pueblo desta provincia, y destos nos dieron razon los naturales deatos pueblos por señas que entendimos."
* ↑ Ternaux says Diego Lopez Melgosa. and when Melgosa's name appears again he has it Pablo Lopez Melgosa.
* ↑ Evidently the underground, or partially underground, ceremonial chambers or kivas.
* ↑ Compare the Spanish text.
* ↑ Gomara, cap. ccxiiii, gives the following account of these events: "Fueronse los Indios una noche y amanecieron muertos treynta cauallos, que puso temor al exercito. Caminando, quemaron un lugar, y en otro que acometieron, les matarou ciertos Españoles, y hirieron cinquenta cauallos, y metieron dentro loe vezinos a Francisco de Ouãdo, herido, o muerto, para comer, y sacrificar, a lo que pensaron, o quiça para mejor ver, que hombres eran los Españoles, ca no se hallo por alli rastro de sacrificio hamano. Pusieron cerco los nuestros al lugar, pero no lo pudieron tomar en mas de quarenta, y cinco dias. Beuian nieue los cercados por falta de agua, y viendose perdidos, hizieron una hoguera, echaron en ella sua mãtas, plumajes, Turquesas, y cosas preciadas, porquo no las gozaasen aquellos estrangeros. Salieron en esquadron, con los niños, y mugeres en medio, para abrir camino por fuerça, y saluarse: mas pocos escaparon de las eapadas, y cauallos, y do un rio q cerca estaua. Murieron en la pelea siete Españoles y quedaron heridoa ochẽta, y muchos cauallos, porq veays quanto vale la determlnacion en la neceasidad. Muchoa indios se boluieron al pueblo, con la gente menuda, y se defendieron hasta que se les puso fuego. Elose tanto aquel rio estãdo en siete y treynta grados de la Equinocial, que sufria passar encima hombres a cauallo, y cauallos con carga. Dura la nieve medio año. Ay en aqlls ribera melones, y algodon bianco, y colorado, de que hazen muy mas anchaa mantas, que en otras partes de Indias." Mota Padilla, xxxii, 6, p. 161: "Esta accion se tuvo en España por mala, y con razon, porque fué una crueldad considerable; y habiendo el maese de campo, Garcia Lopez pasado á España & heredar un mayorazgo, estuvo preso en una fortaleza por este cargo."
* ↑ Wooden warclubs shaped like potato-mashers.
* ↑ Mota Padilla, xxxii, 7, p. 161, describes this encounter: "D. Garcia pasó at pueblo mayor á requerir al principal cacique, que se llamaba D. Juan Loman, aunque no estaba bautizado, y se dejó ver por los muros sin querer bajar de paz, y á instancias de D. Garcia, ofreció salirie á hablar, como dejase el caballo y espada, porque tenia mucho miedo; y en esta conformidad, desmontó D. Garcia del caballo, entrególe con la espada á sus soldados, á quienes hizo retirar, y acercándose á los muros, luego que Juan Loman se afrontó, se abrazó de él, y al punto, entre seis indios que habia dejado apercíbidos, lo ilevaron en peso y lo entraran en el pueblo si lapuerta no es pequeña, por lo que en ella hizo hincapié, y pudo resistir hasta que llegaron soldados de á caballo, que le defendieron. Quisieron los indios hacer alguna crueldad con dicbo D. Garcia, por lo que intentaron llevarlo vivo, que si los indios salen con macanas ó porras que usaban, le quitan la vida."
* ↑ But see the Spanish. Ternaux tranelates it: "Les Indiens parvinrent à s'emparer de (d'Obando) et l'emmenèrent vivant dans leur village,. . . car c'était un homme distingué qui, par sa vertu et son affabilité a'était fait aimer de tout le monde."
* ↑ Ternaux substituted the name of Don Garci-Lopez for that of Don Lope throughout this passage.
* ↑ Compare the Spanish text. Ternaux: "Ils prirent le parti d'abandonner le village pendant la nuit: ils se mirent donc en route: les femmes marchaient au milieu d'eux. Quand ils furent arrivés à un endroit oh campait don Rodrigo Maldonado, lea sentinelles donnèrent l'alarme."
* ↑ There is much additional information of the siege and capture of Tiguex in the account given by Mota Padilla, xxxii, 8, p. 161: "Habiéndose puesto el cerco, estuvieron los indios rebeldes á los requerimientos, por lo que se intentó abrir brecha, y rota la argamasa superficial, se advirtió que el centro del muro era de palizada, troncos y mimbres bien hincados en la tierra, por lo que resistian los golpes que daban con unas malas barras, en cuyo tiempo hacian de las azoteas mucho daño en los nuestros con las piedras y con la flechas por las troneras; y quoriendo un soldado tapar con lodo una tronera de donde se hacia mucho daño, por un ojo le entraron una flecha, de que cayó muerto: llamábase Francisco Pobares; y á otro que se Ilamaba Juan Paniagua, muy buen cristiano y persona noble, le dieron otro flechazo en el párpado de un ojo, y publicaha que á la devocion del rosario, quo siempre rezaba, dobió la vida; otro soldado, llamado Francisco de Ovando, se entró de bruzas por una portañuela, y apenas hubo asomado la cabeza, cuando lo asieron y lo tiraron para adentro, quitándole la vida: púsose unaescala por doude á todo trance subieron algunos; pero con arte, los indios tenian muchas piezas á cielo descubierto, para que se no comunicasen; y como d cortas distancias habia torrecillas con muchas saeteras y troneras, hacian mucho daño, de suerte que hirieron mas de sesenta, de los que murieron tres: un fulano Carbajal, hermano de Hernando Trejo, quien fué despues teniente de gobernador por Francisco de Ibarra, en Chametla: tambien murió un vizcaino, llamado Alonso de Castañeda, y un fulano Benitez; y esto fué por culpa de ellos, pues ya que habia pocas annas de fuego con que ofender, pudieron haber pegado fuego á los muros, pues eran de troncones y palizadas con solo el embarrado de tierra. "9. Viendo el gobernador el poco efecto de su invasion, mandó se tocase á recoger, con ánimo de rendirlos por falta de agua, ya que no por hambre, porque sabia tenian buenas trojes de maiz. Trataron de curar los heridos, aunque se enconaron, y se cicatrizaban; y segun se supo, era la causa el que en unas vasijas de mimbre encerraban los indios vivoras, y con las flechas las tocaban para que mordiesen las puntas y quedasen venenosas; y habiéndose mantenido algun tiempo, cuando se esperaba padeciesen falta do agua, comenzó á nevar, con cuya nieve so socorrieron y mantuvieron doa meses, en los que intentaron los unestros muchos desatinos: el uno fué formar unos ingenios con unos maderos, que llamaban vaivenes, y son los antiguos arietes con que se batian las fortalezas en tiempo que no se conocia la pólvora; mas no acertaron: despues, por falta do artillería, intentaron hacer unos cañones de madera bien liados de cordeles á modo de cohetes; mas tampoco sirvió; y no arbitraron el arrinuar leña á los muros y prenderles fuego: á mi ver entiendo que la crueldad con que quitaron la vida á los ciento y treinta gandules, los hizo indignos del triunfo; y así, en una noche los sitiados salieron y se pusieron en fuga, dejando á los nuestros burlados y sin cosa du provecho que lograsen por despojos de la plaza sitiada y se salieron los indios con su valeroso becho. "10. Por la parte que salieron estaban de centinelas dos aoldados poco apercibidos, de loscuales el uno no pareció, y el otro fué hallado con el corazon atravesado con una flecha; y traido el cuerpo, le pusieron junto á la lumbrada comun del campo; y cuando volvieron los soldados que intentaron el alcance do los indios, al desmontar uno de ellos del caballo, le pisó la boca al miserable, y se atribuyó su fatal muerte á haber sido renegador y blasfemo. Luego que amaneció, se trató de reconocer el pueblo, y entrando, se halló abastecido pero sin agua, y ao reconoció un pozo profundo en la plaza que aquellos indios abrieron en busca de agua, y por no encontrarla, se resolvieron á la fuga, que consiguieron.". . .
* ↑ Ternaux translated this, "á la fin de 1542." Professor Haynes corrected the error in a note in Winsor's Narrative and Critical History, vol. ii, p. 491, saying that "it is evident that the siege must have been concluded early in 1541."
* ↑ Should be Alcaraz.
* ↑ Mota Padilla's account of the death of Diaz i translated in the Introduction.
* ↑ Compare the Spanish text. Ternaux: "Le général le rétablit dans sa dignité, examina le pays et retourna au camp."
* ↑ Or Cervantes, as Ternaux spells it.
* ↑ Coronado says, in his letter of October 20, that he started April 23.
* ↑ The Rio Pecos. The bridge, however, was doubtless built across the upper waters of the Canadian.
* ↑ There is an elaborate account of the sign language of the Indians, by Garrick Mallery, in the first annual report of the Bureau of Ethnology, 1879-80.
* ↑ Mota Padilla, xxxiii, 3, p. 165. says; "Hasta allí caminaron los nuestros. guiados por el Turco para el Oriente, con mucha inclinacion al Norte, y desde entónces los guió via recta al Oriente; y habiendo andado tres jornadas, hubo do hacer alto el gobernador para conferir sobro si seria acertado dejarse llevar do aquel indio, habiendo mudado de rumbo, en cuyo intermedio un soldado,ó por traveaura. ó por hacer carne, se apartó, y aunque lo esperaron, no se supo mas de é1; y á dos jornadas que anduvieron, guiados todavia del indio, pasaron una barranca profunda, que fué la primera quebra que vieron de la tierra desde Tigües." Compare the route of the expedition in the Introduction, and also in the translation of Jaramillo.
* ↑ Compare the Spanish. Ternaux: "Mais cette fois on n'avait pas voulu le croire; les Querechos ayant rapporté la méme chose que le Turc."
* ↑ Ternaux read this Coloma. The reference is clearly to the district of Colima in western Mexico, where one of the earliest Spanish settlements was made.
* ↑ The Spanish text is very confused. Ternaux says: "Les chevaux rompirent leure liens et s'échappàrent tous à l'exception de deux ou trois qui furent retenus par des nègres qui avaient pris des casques et des boucliers pour se mettre à l'abri. Le vent en enleva d'autres et les colla contre les parois du ravin."
* ↑ Mota Padilla, xxiiii, 3, p. 165: "A la primera barranca. . . . á las tres de la tarde hicieron alto, y repentinamente un recio riento les llevó una nube tan cargada, que cause horror el granizo, que despedia tan gruesos como nueces, huevos de gallina y de ánsares, de suerte que era necesario arrodelarse para la resistencia; los caballos dieron estampida y se pusieron en fuga. y no se pudieran ballar si la barranca no los detiene: las tieudas que se habian armado quedaron rotas, y quebradas todas las ollas, cazuelas, coniales y denias vasijas; y afligidos con tan varios suceaos, determinaron en aquel dia que fué el de Ascension del Señor de 541, que el ejército se volviese á Tigües á reparar, como que era tierra abastecida de todo."
* ↑ Herrera, Historia General, dec. vi, lib. ix, cap. xi, xii, vol.iii, p. 206, ed. 1728: "La relacion que este Indio hacia, de la manera con que se governaban en una Provincia mas adelante, Hamada Harae, i.juzgandose, que era imposible quo alli dexasede haver algunos Christianos perdidos del Armada de Panfilo de Narvaez, Francisco Vazquez acordò de escrivir una Carta, i la embiò con el Indio fiel de aquellos dos, porque el que bavia de quedar, siempre le llevaron de Retaguarda, porque el bueno no le viese. . . . Embiada la Carta, dando cuenta do la jornada que hacia el Exercito, i adonde havia llegado, pidiendo aviso, i relacion de aquella Tierra, i llamando aquellos Christianos, ai por caso los huviese, ò que aviaasen de lo que havian menester para salir de cautiverio."
* ↑ A manera de alixares. The margin reads Alexeres, which I can not find in the atlases. The word means threshing floor, whence Ternaux: "autres cabanes semblables à des bruyères (alixares)."
* ↑ Bandelier suggests that the name may have originated in the Indian exclamation, Texia! Texia! — friends! friends! — with which they first greeted the Spaniards.
* ↑ Ternaux: "il y avait des vigues, dea mûriers et des rosiers (rosales), dont le fruit que l'on trouve en France, sert en guise de verjus; il y en avait de mûr."
* ↑ Captain John Stevens's New Dictionary says the sanbenito was "the badge put upon converted Jews brought out by the Inquisition, being in the nature of a scapula or a broad piece of cloth banging before and behind, with a large Saint Andrews cross on it, red and yellow. The name corrupted from Saco Benito, answerable to the sackcloth worn by penitenta in the primitive church." Robert Tomson, in his Voyage into Nova Hispania, 1555, in Hakluyt, iii, 536, describes his imprisonment by the Holy Office in the city of Mexico: "We were brought into the Church, every one with a S. Benito upon his backe, which is a halfe a yard of yellow cloth, with a hole to put in a mans head in the middest, and cast over a mans head: both flaps hang one before, and another behinde. and in the middest of every flap, a S. Andrewes crosse, made of red cloth, sowed on upon the same, and that is called S. Benito."
* ↑ The Tiguex country is often referred to as the region where the settlements were. Ternaux says "depuis Tiguex jusqn'au dernier village."
* ↑ Compare the Spanish text.
* ↑ Herrera, Historia General, dec. vi, lib. ix, cap. xii, vol. iii, p. 206 (ed. 1728): "Los treinta Caballos fueron en busca tie la Tierra poblada, i hallaron buenos Pueblos, fundados junto à Buenos Arroios, que van à dàr al Rio Grande, que pasaron. Auduvieron cinco, ó seis dias por estos Pueblos, llegaron à lo vitimo de Quivira, quedecian Ids Indies ser mucho, i hallaron un Rio de mas Agua, i poblacion quo los otros; i preguntando que si adelante havla otra cosa, dixeron, que de Quivira no havia sino Harae, i que era de la misma manera en Poblaciones, i tamaño. . . . Embiòse à llamar al Señor, el qual era un Hombre grande, y de grandes miembros, de buena proporcion, llevò docientos. Hombres desnudos, i mal cubiertas sue carnes, llevaban Arcos, i Flechas, i Plu. .s en las as." Compare Jaramillo's statement and Coronado's letter, as discussed in the introduction.
* ↑ Ternaux; "les rives, qui aont couvertes d'une plante dont le fruit ressemble au raisin mascat."
* ↑ Castañeda's date ia, as usual, a year later than the actual one.
* ↑ Yuge-uing-ge, as Bandelier spells it, is the aboriginal name of a former Tewa village, the site of which is occupied by the hamlet of Chamita, opposite San Juan. The others are near by.
* ↑ Taos, or Te-uatha. See Bandelier's Final Report, vol. i, p. 123, for the identification of these places.
* ↑ This rendering, doubtless correct, is duo to Temaux. The Guadiana, however, reappears above ground some time before it begins to mark the boundary of the Spanish province of Estremadura. The Castañeda family had its seat in quite the other end of the peninsula.