Evening star., 1942-09-14
Of Stors, Men
And Atoms
Notebook Of Science Progress
In Laboratory, Field
And Study
Bu Thomas r. Henry.

Three hundred years ago a Cafmellte
friar, Fray Antonio VaZauez de Espinosa,
| returned to Spain after spending the
! greater part of his life in the newly
discovered Western World, and pro-
ceeded to devote his declining years to
compiling an encyclopedia of the lands
across the Atlantic.
This has just been published by the
| Smithsonian Institution, after remain
| ing in manuscript over the centuries. 1t
was discovered in the Vatican Library by
DR.. Charles Upson Clark of the Smith
| sonian staff.
The work was completed about 1923,
| but the volume of the manuscript was
so bulky that only small parts of 1t ever
were printed. 1t had been considered
lost until DR.. Clark's chance discovery
| Much of what Espinosa described he
had seen himself. For the rest he relied
| upon contemporary writings and on the
word-of mouth accounts of missionaries,
explorers and soldiers. The great value
| of the work lies in the friar's keen OBJ
servations and curiosity. He was inter-
ested in everything he saw-Indians,
| flowers, trees, birds and beasts, min
erals, scenery. The manuscript gives the
only known accounts of various Indian
tribes and preserves few words of their
languages, long since extinct. 1t will be
invaluable from the point of view both of
the anthropologist and the historian.
Espinosa was a man of his times.
Consequently he was under many illu-
was an island. In other respects, his
geography was equally askew But his
descriptions of what he saw himself are
true and graphic.
The manuscript contains one Of the
earliest descriptions of territory within
the present limits of the United States
especially the so-called provinces of
Quivira in the District of New Mexico
which were visited by Coronado and may
have included parts Of Kansas and Ne
braska.
Espinosa himself does not claim to
have been there. Of Quivira he says:
ut is a level country, chilly and with
few trees, with quantities of chilly hump
backed cattle with two short horns
twisted backward. They move over the
prairies grazing in herds, and are the sole
sustenance. of the savages. They are very
ugly and wild. The wool on their chests
in front is long and curly. They make
excellent rugs from their hides, which
are used in these regions and in many
parts of New Spain, and they are very
good"
The bison, undoubtedly the animal re-
ferred to, had first been described from
specimen in the ZOO OF Montezuma.
Espinosa was impressed with the
Pueblo settlements to the southwest OF
"Quivira," where, he says, "the natives
are very intelligent and well governed.
They wear cotton clothing and antelope
skins which are well decorated. AS
jewelry they wear turquoises.
"At the end of the province there is
splendid valley, cool and delightful
There they grow corn and other vege-
tables and fruit. The Indians are very
reasonable people. From this valley one
travels four days through uninhabited
country to another large valley which
Is fertile and thickly settled. This Is all
under irrigation, and they raise quanti-
ties of corn and other cereals, pumpkins,
melons and other vegetables.
There is another kingdom beyond
these mentioned. 1t has large settle
nents. The people wear clothing and
are civilized. In the large valley there
was the hide Of an animal half as large
again as our bulls. 1t had horn on
its forehead. Evidently it was a uni
corn. From there it is 10 leagues to Ci-
bola, which today is New Mexico. It is
situated in a plain by the side of a
rounded elevation and it is slightly and
attractive spot. The houses are two or
three stories high with fiat roofs"
Legends of an Gel Dorato" were very
much in the minds Of the Spaniards of
| Espinosa's day. 1t was mirage that
| constantly vanished. The friar placed it
| somewhere In the unexplored country
| between the Orinoco and the Amazon,
where there are extensive provinces of
| various peoples, some clothed and some
| naked From all of them there come
great stories Of the great city Of Manoa
| and the Provinces of FL Dorado.
| hIIlOltk tIlc lluulCIOuS lIlNCStlSdblOIlS
made in this regard, Gov. Don Fernando
de Berrio found in the province of Los
Chimores two very skillfully painted
cloaks like the Peruvian ones, and goat
skins and horns. When he asked them
where they got them they replied that
they had got them by trade with Indians
of other adjoining inland provinces who
had brought them from the provinces of
Manoa, where, beside large lake, there
is city or town which is more than
three leagues across, called Manoa. This
possesses great wealth in gold and silver
and other valuables. They affirm it has
one street more than two leagues long
of goldsmiths and silversmiths. who FASH
ion the metals after their method. They
say also there are large herds of goats
and other livestock there. All the build
ings of this city are of very skillfully
| hewn stone.
They say it lies near great salt lake
which is 200 leagues long, 100 across and
over 600 in coastline. Round about it
lie more than 5000 towns with 5000, 1000
or 5000 Indians each and in the lake
there are many islands with large towns
and many lords and chieftains who gov
ern them. And they have innumerable
/ NJ I,1N TIL.