Arizona silver belt., 1895-10-26
EAuIs EXPLORATIONS oF ARIZONA.
And Description of tlc san XayIer ssissiOn
 Church,

[The following article is republished to supply the demand for additional copies, our issue of Sept, l4th, in which it appeared, being exhausted
 The carly history of Arizonais fraught with intense interest. According to the American Encyclopedia of History, Arizona was first explored by Don Jose de Vasconcellos in the year 1926. Bancroft makes no mention of this pioneer traveller. Cabaza de yaca, he says traycrsed the continent from the Texas coast to California in 1886, but probably did not go as far north as Arizona. However, his reports of the populous towns which the natives told him lay north of his route, excited great interest in the Spanish provinces of Mexico, and expeditions were planned to explore the unknown country, but none were carried out until the year
 l589, when Fray Marcos de Niza or ganiaed m expedition, accompanied by Francisco Vasquez de Coronado.
 Nizo sent negro Franciscan friar, named Estayauico, ahead of him into the territory that is now Arizona. Estoyanico pushed north sending run ners back to the main company of explorers with wonderful stories of the natural wealth of the country and of it's inhabitants. Estayanico was we'll re- ceived by the natives until he reached one of the famed seven cities of Cibola, the home of the Zuuis, where he was met with hostile demonstration, and he and most of his companions finally killed.
 Arizona was explored by Christians, therefore, either l9l or lsl years (ac. cording to which statement is accepted) before the landing of Che Pilgrims on the coast of Massachusetts.
 The subjusation of the natives must be credited to the Jesuit and Fran ciscan missionaries, who were the path finders for the military expeditions winch followed them. To these mis- sionaries We are indebted for the most reliable historial data of that early period, and for interesting relics and architectural monuments which are not less valuable to the antiquarian than the written records,
 The most important and best preserved of the old missions in the Southwest is perhaps, San Eazier del Bac, nine miles south of Tucson. The mission is supposed to have been estab- lished by the Jesuits, for the Papagos, about the year 1894, and a small adobe church occupied the site where stands the present structure, begun obout the year l7s3 and completed in l797 The Jesuits were expelled in l7G7 and tho Franciscan friars were placed in charge of the missions in Sonora.
 A sketch of the Mission of San Xavier del Bac, by a missionary of Arizona, gives Q very good description of the church. Tho edifce belongs to the Moorish style. On the frontis- piece, which shows the full width of the church with its two towers, in low relief, is the coat of arms of the order of St. Francis of Assist, founder of the Franciscan Order. 1t consists of an escutcheon, with a white ground filled 1 in with twisted cord (a part of the Franciscan drcss) and Q cross on which | are nailed one arm of the Savior and ! one of St. Francis, representing the union of the disciple with Che Divine ! Master in charity and tho love of suf- l fering On the right siio of the !. cscutcheon is the monogram of Jesas, the Savior of men, and that of the :. Blessed Virgin Mary on the left. The | ife-sizo statue of St. Francis that sur mounted the frontispiece has decayed 1 and fallen away.
 The chdrch, built of stone and brick, is 1J5x27 feet inside the walls. Its . form is that of cross, the trunsept | forming on each side of the nave n chapel of tweuty-ono feet square. The | nave is divided into six portions, marked | by as many arches, each resting on two pillars set against the walls, support ing the roof which is of brick and cement three feet thick. Above the tronsept is q cupole fifty feet in eleYa- ton. The main walls of the church are to ' feet thick.
 As you face the altar, there is on the right wall fresco representing the coming of the Holy Ghost upon the disciples, and on the opposite wall picture, also in frosco, of the Last Supper. These paintings measure about 9x5 feet ench
 In the first chapel to the right are the two altars, one facing the nave with the image of Our Lady of Sorrows, 5nnding at the foot of Q large cross which is deeply engraved in the wall, and the other with the image of tho Immaculate Conception. In the same chapel arc two frescoes representing