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 The gilded man (El Dorado) and other pic 
 
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Cornell University 
 Library 
 
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 http://www.archive.org/details/cu31 92402041 2387 
 
THE GILDED MAN 
 
 (EL DORADO) 
 
 AND OTHER PICTURES OF THE SPANISH 
 OCCUPANCY OF AMERICA 
 
 BY 
 A. F. BANDELIER 
 
 AUTHOR OF MEXICO, THE PUEBLOS OF PECOS, ETC. 
 
 NEW YORK 
 D. APPLETON AND COMPANY 
 
 1893 
 
/53. I 
 
 Copyright, 1893, 
 By D. APPLETON AND COMPANY. 
 
 F 
 
PUBLISHERS' NOTE. 
 
 As compared with the peopling of our Atlantic sea- 
 board, the first explorations of our Southwest by a 
 white race have received comparatively slight atten- 
 tion, the minor consequences of the latter, and the 
 inaccessibility of the early Spanish records, being the 
 sufficiently obvious causes which have combined to 
 prevent minute and exhaustive studies until within the 
 past few years. 
 
 Dramatic and intensely interesting conditions have 
 been revealed as Mr. Bandelier — whose work under 
 the auspices of the Archaeological Institute of America 
 and on the Hemenway Survey has entitled him to 
 stand first as the documentary historian of this region, 
 and also to rank as the most exhaustive of its explorers 
 — has brought the facts of this long-hidden history 
 once more to the light. It is the history of a search for 
 the Golden Fleece, which was full of strange and ro- 
 mantic episodes ; a history of the progress of the cross 
 and the sword, which was accompanied by deeds of su- 
 perhuman endurance, dauntless courage, and a pitiless 
 bigotry and ravening cruelty that drove even the gentle 
 Pueblos to revolt, and to the attempted destruction 
 and concealment of all traces of their conquerors. 
 The Southwest is the land of romantic history, albeit 
 the history is often dark and bloody, and the pictures 
 
iv PUBLISHERS' NOTE. 
 
 of Spanish exploration and domination which Mr. 
 Bandelier presents in this volume are of profound in- 
 terest. The legends of the mysterious Seven Cities 
 of Cibola, and of the elusive Gran Quivira, are set 
 forth clothed in no other romantic garb than that due 
 to the truth ascertained by a learned explorer and 
 archaeologist; but the bare truth is so strange and 
 moving that it has needed no adornment. Directly 
 from the records we have the final facts in the after- 
 life of one of La Salle's murderers. In the true story 
 of El Dorado — that is to say, The Gilded Man — there 
 is settled definitely a matter that has undergone in- 
 determinate dispute through three hundred years. 
 These several papers, with the othei's here presented, 
 selected from the records of Spanish conquest on both 
 continents of America, do not constitute a continuous 
 nor a complete history. Each, however, is complete 
 in itself ; each probably crystallizes the subject that it 
 embraces ; and the interest and historical value of the 
 collection as a whole make it a necessary part of 
 every library in which American history is adequately 
 represented. 
 
 Owing to Mr. Bandelier's absence in Peru while 
 this volume was passing through the press, he has 
 been unable to revise the proofs — a duty which Mrs. 
 Thomas A. Janvier, utilizing her familiarity with 
 Mexican and Spanish historical literature, very oblig- 
 ingly has performed in his behalf. In accordance 
 with her wish we add that to the inability of the 
 author to give his work this final revision must be 
 attributed any errors which may be found in the text. 
 
 D. Appleton & Co. 
 
CONTENTS. 
 
 The Gilded Man: page 
 
 I. — Chndinamarca 1 
 
 II.— Mbta 31 
 
 III.— Omaqua 56 
 
 IV. — The expedition of Ursua and Aguirbe . . 87 
 Cibola : 
 
 Introduction Ill 
 
 I. — The Amazons 113 
 
 II. — The seven cities 125 
 
 III. — Francisco Vasquez Coronado .... 163 
 IV. — The New Mexican Pueblos . . . 193 
 
 v.— QuiviRA . . • 223 
 
 The massacre of Cholula (1519) .... 258 
 
 The age of the city of Santa Fb 283 
 
 Jean L'Archev^que 289 
 
J 
 THE GILDED MAN. 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 CUNDINAMARCA. 
 
 While the early Spanish adventurers in America 
 are justly charged with neglecting the true interests 
 of colonization in their excessive greed for treasure, 
 and thereby bringing harm to those parts of the 
 Western Continent which they entered, it cannot be 
 denied that their irrepressible seeking for the 
 precious metals contributed directly to an earlier 
 knowledge and a more rapid settlement of the 
 country. The Spaniards' thirst for gold led them 
 into adventures which excite admiration and won- 
 der as expressions of manly energy, while they 
 offer the saddest pictures from the point of view 
 of morals. 
 
 In every age gold has presented one of the strong- 
 est means of enticing men from their homes to re- 
 mote lands, and of promoting trade between distant 
 regions and the settlement of previously uninhabited 
 districts. We have received from the earliest antiqui- 
 ty the stories of the voyage of the Argonauts, of the 
 
 1 
 
2 THE GILDED MAN. 
 
 expedition of Hercules after the golden apples of the 
 Hesperides, and of the settlement of the Phoenicians 
 in Spain, the gold of which they carried to the Syrian 
 coast. For gold the Semitic navigators sailed from 
 the Red Sea to Tarshish and Ophu*.* 
 
 Portuguese seamen as early as the middle of the 
 fifteenth century brought gold from the west coast 
 of Africa ; in order to find a sea-route to the gold- 
 lands of India, Vasco da Gama sailed around the 
 Cape of Good Hope ; and in order to obtain a shorter 
 route from Spain to India Christopher Columbus 
 ventured out upon the Atlantic Ocean and there 
 reached the new gold-land, America. 
 
 On Thursday, October 11, 1492, Columbus landed 
 upon WatUng Island, or Guanahani, one of the Ba- 
 hama group, and on Saturday, the 13th, he wrote : 
 " Many of these people, aU men, came from the shore, 
 . . . and I was anxious to learn whether they had 
 gold. I saw also that some of them wore little pieces 
 of gold in their perforated noses. I learned by 
 signs that there was a king in the south, or south 
 
 * While we may look for the former treasure region in 
 Sumatra, the latest researches make it probable that Ophir 
 represented not only Sof ala, but also the coasts and interior 
 of East Africa south of it, including Mozambique, Monomo- 
 tapa, and the country of the ruins of Zimbabue (Mashonaland). 
 This conclusion appears more credible than the opinion per- 
 sistently maintained by Montesino that Ophir was Peru. The 
 difficulties of a long sea-voyage from Ezion-Geber to the 
 western coast of South America would be partly removed if 
 we could accept Professor Haeckel's hypothesis of a continent 
 of Lemuria having once stood in the Indian Ocean, and 
 should also suppose the Western Atlantis to have existed — 
 which the natives of Australia sought in the eastern part of 
 their quarter of the globe. 
 
CUNDINAMAECA. 3 
 
 of the island, who owned many vessels filled with 
 gold." * 
 
 This was the first trace of gold which the Eui-o- 
 peans found in America. Cuba, where the Admiral 
 next landed, afforded him no gold, but he found the 
 precious metal so abundant in Hispaniola (Santo Do- 
 mingo, or Hayti) that he was able, after he returned, 
 to write from Lisbon to his sovereigns, March 14, 
 1493 : " To make a short stoiy of the profits of this 
 voyage, I promise, with such small helps as our in- 
 vincible Majesties may afford me, to furnish them 
 all the gold they need." 
 
 Hispaniola continued till the first decade of the 
 sixteenth century to be the seat of gold production 
 in the newly discovered western land. The conse- 
 quences of this gold-seeking to the unhappy natives 
 are well known, and need not be dwelt upon. The 
 operations were continued on this island for only a 
 very short time. As a result of the fearfuUy rapid 
 disappearance of the aborigines, the supply of labor- 
 ers began to fail, and the mines fell into disuse, al- 
 though, according to Herrera, t they furnished to the 
 mother-country, Spain, down to the discovery of 
 Mexico, five hundred thousand ducats in gold. 
 
 The Admiral saw the mainland of South America 
 for the first time on his third voyage, at Punta de 
 Icacos, Trinidad, July 31, 1498, and found evidences 
 of gold on the coast of Venezuela. The expedition 
 of Ojeda in 1499 and 1500, although it sailed along 
 
 * Journal of the Admiral, published by Navarrete, from 
 the "Sistoria apologetica de las Indicts " of Bartolomeo de Las 
 Casas, MSS. at Madrid. 
 
 t Decada iii. 
 
4 THE GILDED MAN. 
 
 the whole northern coast to New Granada, yielded 
 only a small return, for after the largest pearls and 
 gold pieces were tm-ned into the royal treasury only 
 five hundred ducats were left to be divided among 
 one hundred and fifty sharers. A few months be- 
 fore Ojeda, an expedition had returned to Spain 
 from the same region which had attained consid- 
 erable material results, notwithstanding the small 
 means with which it had been undertaken. Chris- 
 toval Guerra and Pero Alonzo Nino, with a poor 
 caravel of fifty tons and thirty-three men, had crossed 
 the ocean to Venezuela and sailed along its coast 
 from bay to bay, trading and bartering with the 
 natives, and had thus acquired much gold and more 
 than one hundred and fifty marks' worth of pearls. 
 They brought the report that while gold-dust was 
 rare in the eastern part of the northern coast of 
 South America, the metal was more abundant the 
 farther west they went. When in 1500 Rodrigo de 
 Bastidas of Santa Marta discovered the snow-covered 
 foot-hills of the Cordilleras, his- first thought might 
 weU have been that the noble metal which the 
 warlike Indians of the coast wore so abundantly 
 as a decoration was derived from those distant 
 heights.* 
 While Ojeda was vainly trying to found a settle- 
 
 * Emeralds may also have been shown to the Spaniards 
 then ; for in the capitulation with Ojeda, on his second voy- 
 age, July 5, 1501, islands are mentioned, near Quiquevacoa, 
 on the mainland, where the green stones were of which speci- 
 mens had been brought to him. Quiquevacoa, or Coquivacoa, 
 was the Indian name for the country around the Gulf of 
 Venezuela. 
 
CUNDINAMAECA. 5 
 
 ment near Maracaybo, the great Admiral was indus- 
 triously preparing for a new voyage of discovery. 
 He sailed in 1502, and on the 17th of August of that 
 year he landed, after meeting much tempestuous 
 weather, at Truxillo in Honduras. Sailing along 
 the Mosquito Coast, beaten day and night by severe 
 storms, Columbus reached Porto BeUo and Chiriqui. 
 Gold was found in quantities at Chiriqui and Vera- 
 gua, in the vicinity of the famous mines of Tisingal, 
 which the French filibuster Eavenau de Lussan 
 mentioned as late as 1698.* The various efforts of 
 the Spanish to plant colonies on the Isthmus and in 
 western New Granada f had only insignificant re- 
 sults tUl Vasco Nunez de Balboa in 1511 assumed 
 the direction of the colony in Darien, with a firm 
 hand, but without any higher right, and with great 
 sagacity immediately brought about closer relations 
 with the surrounding Indian tribes. The tribe of 
 Dabaybe on the Eio Atrato, who had many orna- 
 ments of gold, pointed to the west and south as the 
 regions from which this gold came. Balboa, fol- 
 lowing the directions of the Indians, who hoped to 
 get rid of their distrusted guests and send them 
 to their nearest enemies, reached the coast of the 
 Pacific Ocean on the 25th of September, 1543. 
 There he seems to have heard a report | of a 
 wealthy tribe which lived on the seacoast far to the 
 south and used large sheep as beasts of burden. 
 From this time forward the attention of the Span- 
 
 * The name of "The Rich Coast," Costa Eica, is still at- 
 tached to that part of Central America north of Chiriqui. 
 t Ojeda and Diego de Nicuesa. 
 t Quintana, and Herrera, dec. i. lib. x. cap. iii. 
 
6 THE GILDED MAN. 
 
 iards was directed to the countries south of the 
 Isthmus.* 
 
 Prescott says, in his "Conquest of Peru/' that 
 Balboa learned in this way of the riches of that 
 kingdom. His authorities are Herrera, who says : 
 "And this was the second report which Vasco Nunez 
 received of the condition and wealth of Peru;"t 
 and the later Quintana. Pascual de Andagoya, who 
 went in 1522'as far as Punta de Pinas, on the west- 
 ern coast of New Granada, says : " He had received 
 there exact accounts through traders and chiefs con- 
 cerning the whole coast to Cuzco." | Still, it may be 
 doubtful whether this notice does not refer to the 
 civilized tribes of central New Granada, who carried 
 their salt over the beaten mountain paths to the 
 cannibal inhabitants of the Cauca Valley and re- 
 ceived gold in exchange for it. Without forgetting 
 that the Uama was never used as a beast of burden 
 in New Granada, the supposition that accounts of 
 Peru had reached the Isthmus, notwithstanding the 
 great distance, involves nothing impossible. Prod- 
 
 * The discovery of Mexico Toy C6rdova and its conquest 
 afterward by Cortes affected tlie Spanish colonies south of 
 the Isthmus very little. The influence of the colonization of 
 the Mexican table-land extended no farther than to Yucatan, 
 Guatemala, and a part of Honduras. The booty which the 
 Spaniards gained there, partly in gold, was not great. The 
 presents which the chiefs at Tenoehtitlau sent to the seacoast 
 to Cortes were lost at sea, and all the treasures which the 
 Mexicans had accumulated in their great "pueblo" in the 
 lagoon were ruined by the inundation during the retreat of 
 July 1, 1519, or were burned diu'ing the subsequent attack. 
 
 t Deeada i., p. 267. 
 
 t " Eelacion de los sucesos de Pedrarias Davila," etc. 
 
CUNDINAMARCA. 7 
 
 nets of nature and art, and reports of conditions and 
 events in single countries, ai-e alike carried to great 
 distances through war and trade. 
 
 Although languages and dialects were separated 
 from one another by uniahabited neutral regions, 
 prisoners of war could tell of what was going on at 
 their homes ; the booty would include a variety of 
 strange objects ; and traders traversed the country 
 in the face of numerous dangers, visited the eneiny's 
 markets, and carried their goods to them, with many 
 novelties. This process was repeated from tribe to 
 tribe ; and in that way the products of one half of 
 the continent passed, often in single objects, to the 
 other half, and with them accounts of f ai--off regions, 
 though changed and distorted by time and distance, 
 into remote quai-ters. 
 
 The centers of this primitive trade were among 
 those tribes which, being the most civilized, had the 
 largest number of wants and the most abundant pro- 
 ductions. They were the agricultural tribes, the " vil- 
 lage Indians " of the higher races. These, although 
 in America they never lived in a gold-bearing coun- 
 try, accumulated the metallic treasures of the lands 
 around them, acquiring them by means of successful 
 wars, or through an active and extensive trade. But 
 the Spaniards, who had no taste for work, prefer- 
 ring chivalrous robbery, sought first the centres of 
 trade and the treasure already laid up in them. The 
 conquest of Mexico gave them evidence of the exist- 
 ence of such a centre in the central part of the 
 "Western Continent ; but concerning South America 
 there were only rumors and vague guesses. 
 
 Excepting the colonies on the Isthmus of Darien 
 
8 THE GILDED MAN. 
 
 and at Panamd, the Spanish settlements in New 
 Granada and Venezuela made little progress. Pana- 
 ma grew vigorously ; ships sailed thence southward 
 to the Pearl Islands and to the west coast of New 
 Granada. The whole western slope of the Andes, 
 from the Rio Atrato southward, the provinces of 
 Antioquia and Cauca, were veiy rich in gold. But 
 they were inhabited by savage and warlike tribes 
 addicted to a hon-ible cannibalism, whose villages 
 were rarely situated upon the coast, while access to 
 them by land from Panama was attended with great 
 difficulties. The Spaniards on the western side of 
 South America were therefore involuntarily led into 
 making coast voyages, which in the course of time 
 took them to Peru. 
 
 The Spanish enterprises in Venezuela, after the 
 pearl fisheries on the island of Margarita were or- 
 ganized, were limited to making single landings, the 
 chief purpose of which was -barter, and especially 
 man-stealing. This practice depopulated the coast, 
 and embittered the natives to such a degree that 
 they became dangerous enemies to all attempts at 
 permanent colonization. By them the well-intended 
 effort of the famous lieutenant Las Casas to found 
 a colony at Cumand was defeated with bloodshed in 
 the year 1521. Only in Coro, on the narrow, arid 
 isthmus that connects the peninsula of Paraguana 
 with the country around Lake Maracaybo, Juan de 
 Ampues succeeded in 1527, with seventy men, in 
 founding a colony and establishing friendly relations 
 with the Coquetios Indians around him. 
 
 The Spaniards had by their predatory expeditions 
 excited the resentment of the Indians along the 
 
CUNDINAMARCA; 9 
 
 northern coast of New Granada, and those tribes, 
 populous and rich in treasures accumulated by their 
 trade with the interior, but little civilized, offered 
 them a vigorous resistance. Their poisoned arrows 
 were formidable weapons, and the thick woods gave 
 them secure hiding-places and natural fortifications. 
 Rodrigo de Bastidas, having founded a settlement 
 at Santa Marta in 1525, returned to San Domingo ia 
 consequence of an outbreak among his men. His 
 successors, Palomino, BadJllo, and Heredia, tried 
 without success to overcome the gold-rich tribes of 
 northern New Granada. They could advance no 
 farther than the valley of La Ramada. Palomino 
 was drowned, and a bitter quarrel arose between 
 Heredia and Badillo, the adjustment of which was 
 left to the Emperor Charles V. Without regarding 
 the claims of the two candidates, the Spanish Gov- 
 ernment appointed Garcia de Lerma governor of 
 Santa Marta, with a new military force. At the 
 same time the Emperor leased the Province of Vene- 
 zuela, extending from Cape de la Vela on the west 
 to Maracapanna, now Piritii, on the east, to the 
 house of Bartholomaus Welser & Co., of Augsburg, 
 and in 1529 Ambrosius Dalfinger and Bartholomaus 
 Seyler landed at Coro with four hundred men, and 
 took possession of the post for " M. M. H. H. Wel- 
 ser." Ampues had to yield, and the Germans became 
 lessees of a large part of northern South America. 
 They found the colony of Coro prospering, and the 
 Indians in the neighborhood friendly. A story was 
 current among these Indians of a tribe dwelling in 
 the moiiutains to the south with whom gold- was so 
 abundant that they powdered the whole body of their 
 
10 THE GILDED MAN. 
 
 chief with it. This was the legend of " the gilded 
 man " — el hombre dorado, or, more briefly, el dorado, 
 "the gilded." The story was based on a fact: a 
 chieftain who was gilded for a certain ceremonial 
 occasion once really existed, on the table-land of Bo- 
 gota, in the province of Cundinamarca, in the heart 
 of New Granada. 
 
 According to Lucas Fernandez Piedrahita, Bishop 
 of Panam^,* the district of Cundinamarca included 
 nearly all eastern and central New Granada. The 
 eastern Cordilleras bounded it on the east, it extend- 
 ed on the north to the Rio Cesar and the region of 
 Lake Maracaybo, on the west to the Rio Magdalena, 
 and on the south to Reyva. But the heart of the 
 district, Cundinamarca, in its strictest sense, was the 
 high table-land of Bogota, once the home of " the do- 
 rado." " This table-land," says Alexander von Hum- 
 boldt, in his "Vues des Gordillhres et Monuments indi- 
 ghies " (Chute de Tequendama), on which the city of 
 Santa P6 is situated, " has some similarity to the 
 plateau that encloses the Mexican lakes. Both lie 
 higher than the convent of St. Bernard ; the former 
 is 2660 metres and the latter 2277 metres above the 
 level of the sea. The Valley of Mexico, surrounded 
 by a circular wall of porphyritic mountains, was 
 covered in the central part with water, for before 
 the Europeans dug the canal of Huehuetoca the nu- 
 merous mountain streams that fell into the valley 
 had no outlet from it. The table-land of Bogotd is 
 likewise surrounded by high mountains, whUe the 
 perfect eveimess of the level, the geological consti- 
 tution of the ground, and the form of the rocks of 
 
 • " Historia general del nttevo Beyno de Granada, 1688." 
 
CUNDINAMAECA. H 
 
 Suba and Facatativa, whicli rise like islands from 
 the midst of the savannas, aU snggest the existence 
 of a former lake-basin. The stream of Funza, com- 
 monly called the Rio de Bogota, has forced a channel 
 for itself through the mountains southwest of Santa 
 F6. It issues from the valley at the estate of Tequen- 
 dama, falling through a narrow opening into a canon 
 which descends to the valley of the Magdalena. If 
 this opening, the only outlet the valley of Bogota has, 
 were closed, the fertile plain would gradually be con- 
 verted into a lake like that of the Mexican plateau." 
 On this high plain, whose even, mild climate per- 
 mitted the cultivation of the grains of the temperate 
 zone, lived, in small communities, according to their 
 several dialects, the agricultural village Indians, the 
 Muysca. Isolated by nature, for the highland that 
 girt them on every side could be reached only through 
 narrow ravines, they were entirely surrounded by 
 savage cannibal tribes. Such were the Panehes west 
 of Bogota, and in the north the semi-nomadic kin- 
 dred tribes to the Muysca, the Musos and Colimas. 
 Engaged in constant war with one another, the Muy- 
 sca lived in hereditary enmity with their neighbors. 
 While the Panehes ate with relish the bodies of fallen 
 Muysca, the latter brought the heads of slain Panehes 
 as trophies to their homes. Yet these hostilities did 
 not prevent an active reciprocity of trade. The Muy- 
 sca wove cotton cloths, and their country contained 
 emeralds, which, Hke all green stones, were valued 
 by the Indians as most precious gems. But then- 
 most valuable commodity was salt. In white cakes 
 shaped Eke sugar loaves this necessary was carried 
 over beaten paths west to the Rio Cauca, and north, 
 
12 THE GILDED MAN. 
 
 from tribe to tribe down the Magdalena, for a dis- 
 tance of a hundred leagues. Regular markets were 
 maintained, even in hostile territories, and the Muy- 
 sca received in exchange for their goods, gold, of 
 which their own country was destitute, while their 
 uncivilized neighbors, particularly the Panches and 
 other western tribes, possessed it in abundance. The 
 precious metal was thus accumulated to superfluity 
 on the table-land of Bogota. The Muysca under- 
 stood the art of hammering it and casting it in 
 tasteful shapes, and they adorned with it their 
 clothes, their weapons, and both the interior and the 
 exterior of their temples and dwellings. 
 
 The Muysca lived in villages — "pueblos" — of 
 which an exaggerated termiaology has made cities ; 
 and their large communal houses, which were in- 
 tended, according to the Indian custom, for the 
 whole family, have been magnified into palaces. 
 These buildings were made of wood and straw ; but 
 the temple at Iraca had stone pillars. Their tools 
 and weapons were of stone and hard wood ; but ves- 
 sels of copper or bronze, such as the Peruvians pos- 
 sessed, have not been found among them, although a 
 recent authority, Dr. Rafael Zerda, believes that they 
 were acquainted with alloys. Their organization was 
 a military democracy, such as prevailed throughout 
 America. In each tribe the position of chief was 
 hereditary in a particular clan or gens, out of which 
 the uzaque, as he was called, was chosen. This chief, 
 or uzaque, simply represented the executive power. 
 As in Mexico, the council of the elders of the tribe 
 aeted with him in decision. 
 
 yoncerning the religious ideas of the Muysca, as 
 
CUNDINAMAECA. 13 
 
 well as concerning tlieir language, so much has been 
 published in recent times and since Herr von Hum- 
 boldt directed attention to them in his celebrated 
 researches ("Vues des Cordilleres," etc., and "Galen- 
 drier des Muyscas") that we refrain from superfluous 
 repetition. Their language was probably similar 
 to the Peruvian Quichua, but their numeral system 
 was more hke that of the Central American peoples. 
 Their calendar combined with the Peruvian month 
 of thirty days the double, civil, and ritual year of the 
 Mexica. Besides the worship of the sun and moon 
 (Boehica and Bachue or Chia), which was performed 
 with stated human sacrifices, in which the Mexican 
 rite of cuttiag out the heart was employed, there ex- 
 isted, as in Peru, a kind of fetish worship of striking 
 natural objects. The numerous lakes of the plateau 
 were holy places. /Each of them was regarded as the 
 seat of a special divinity, to which gold and emer- 
 alds were offered by throwing them into the water. 
 In the execution of the drainage works which have 
 been instituted at different places in more recent 
 times, as at the lagoon of Siecha, interesting objects 
 of art and of gold have been brought to hght. 
 
 Among the many lakes of the table-land ofEo got& 
 known as such places of offering, the'laEe''OTGua- 
 tavita became eminently famous as the spot wEere 
 the myth of el dor ad/), or the "gilded man, originated. 
 This water lies' north of Santa Fe, on the p&ramo 
 of the same name, picturesquely situated at a height 
 of 3199 metres above the sea. A symmetrical cone, 
 the base of which is about two hours in circumfer- 
 ence, bears on its apex the lake, which has a 
 circuit of five kilometres and a depth of sixteen 
 
14 THE GILDED MAN. 
 
 fathoms. The bottom of the lake is of fine sand. 
 Near this water, at the foot of the p^amo, lies the 
 village of Gugjavit^. The inhabitants of this place 
 about theyear 1490 constituted an independent tribe. 
 A legend was current among them that the wife of 
 one of their earlier chiefs had thrown herself into 
 the water in order to avoid a punishment, and that 
 she survived there as the goddess of the lake. 
 Besides the Indians of the tribe of Guatavitd, pil- 
 grims came from the communes around to cast their 
 offerings of gold and emeralds into the water. At 
 every new choice of a uzaque of Guatavitd., an impos- 
 ing ceremonial was observed. The male population 
 marched out in a long procession to the paramo. In 
 front walked wailing men, nude, their bodies painted 
 with red ochre, the sign of deep mourning among 
 the Muysca. Groups followed, of men richly deco- 
 rated with gold and emeralds, their heads adorned 
 with feathers, and braves clothed in jaguars' skins. 
 The greater number of them went uttering joyful 
 shouts, others blew on horns, pipes, and conchs. 
 Xeqiies, or priests, were in the company, too, in long 
 black robes adorned with white crosses, and taU black 
 caps. The rear of the procession was composed of 
 the nobles of the tribe and tiie chief priests, beariag 
 the newly elected chieftain, or uzaque, upon a bar- 
 I row hung with discs of gold. His naked body was 
 anointed with resinous gums, and covered all over 
 with gold-dust. This was the gilded man, el Jiombre 
 dorado, whose fame had reached to the seacoast.* 
 
 * Zamora treats these ceremonies as fabulous, but they are 
 vouched for by Piedrahita, Pedro Simon, and others, as having 
 once existed. 
 
CUNDINAMAECA. 15 
 
 Arrived at tlie shore, the gilded chief and his compan- 
 ions stepped upon a halsa and proceeded upon it to 
 the middle of the lake. There the chief plunged into 
 the water and washed off his metallic covering, while 
 the assembled company, with shouts and the sound 
 of instruments, threw in the gold and the jewels they 
 had brought with them. The offerings completed, 
 the chief returned to the shore and to the village 
 of Guatavit^. The festival closed with dancing and 
 feasting.* 
 
 Till about the year 1470 the tribe of the Tunja 
 was the most powerful clan on the highland ; at that 
 time the Muysca of Bogota t began to extend their 
 dominion. Their chief, or zippa, Nemequene, over- 
 came the Guatavita Indians in the last decade of the 
 fifteenth century, and made them tributary. With 
 that he put an end to the cerem6ny of the c?ora(?o. 
 The^lded cEi^Eid cease'dTo^aiEliff Eis^ntEering 
 coat in the waters of Guatavita thirty years before 
 Juan de Ampues founded the colony of Coro, but 
 news of this change on the highlands of Cundina- 
 marca had not yet reached the coast, and the dorado 
 still contmaed toJiv-ain-the mouths of tne natives" 
 
 Ambrosius Dalfinger, of Ulm, in Suabia, the new 
 German governor of Venezuela, was the first to hunt 
 upon the trail of the " gilded man." He left Coro in 
 July, 1529, sailed across the Gulf of Venezuela, on 
 the western coast of which he established the post of 
 Maracaybo, and then pressed westwardly inland to 
 
 * A group of ten golden figures has been found in the la- 
 goon of Siecha, representing the halsa with the dorado. 
 t Baoatd — the extreme cultivated land. 
 
16 THE GILDED MAN. 
 
 the Rio Magdalena. He was not aware that he 
 was thereby encroaching upon the territory of the 
 government of Santa Marta. No white man had 
 ever entered these regions before him. Thick woods, 
 partly swampy and partly hOly, covered the coimtry, 
 and warlike tribes, who often possessed gold, lived 
 in the valleys. Dalfinger was a valiant soldier, who 
 permitted no obstacle interposed by tropical nature, 
 or resistance offered by the natives, to keep him 
 back. He was, moreover, a rough, heartless warrior 
 of a kind of which the European armies of the time 
 supplied many examples. Gold and slaves were his 
 object, and in pursuit of them he plundered the in- 
 habited country, and then devastated it in so ter- 
 rible a manner that even the Spanish historians re- 
 late his deeds with revulsion. The rich valley of 
 Cupari was whoUy overrun and partly depopulated. 
 When in 1529 Dalfinger reached the Magdalena at 
 Tamalameque, he found the stream in flood, and the 
 Indian villages surrounded by water, so that he could 
 not get to them ; he then turned up the river toward 
 the hills. Herrera says : " He went up the country, 
 keeping by the river and the hills, to the Rio de 
 Lebrija, the windings of which he followed as closely 
 as possible. And when the way became barred by 
 the numerous lagoons he went up into the hills, 
 where he found a cool region (tierra fria) thickly 
 populated. He was forced to fight with the people, 
 and suffered severely from them." * He had here in 
 all probability reached the edge of the plateau of 
 Bogotd, and the Indians before whose resistance his 
 weakened army had to yield were the Muysca, to 
 
 * Dec. iv. lib. iv. cap. i., p. 101. 
 
^ CUNDINAMAECA. 17 
 
 whose linguistic stem the dorado had belonged 
 Dalflnger wintered at the foot of the hUls. The 
 next year (1530) he continued his murderous cam- 
 paign of plunder on the right bank of the Magda- 
 lena, till in the Ambrosia Valley the natives inflicted 
 a second defeat upon him. Then he, with his troops, 
 diminished to a few more than a hundred men, re- 
 treated to Coro, where he arrived about May. He 
 brought with him 40,000 pesos in gold. He had 
 already sent 30,000 pesos to Coro the year before, 
 but both the treasure and its escort had been lost in 
 the forest.* 
 
 From the settlement of Santa Marta, on the north- 
 ern coast of New Granada, the Spaniards advanced 
 in the meantime very slowly toward the south. The 
 periodical overflows of the Magdalena, the thick 
 
 * Dr. Clements E. Markham supposes, following Oviedo y 
 Banos {"Sistoria de Venezuela," 1728), that Dalfinger died from 
 a wound in 1530 ; but this appears to be erroneous, as is the 
 assertion, too, of the same author that Dalfinger got no farther 
 than the Eio Cesar. As to the latter point, Herrera, who is 
 very exact in relating the deeds of the Europeans, mentions 
 very plainly his reaching the cool country (adonde hallo 
 tierra fria). Dalfinger's death can hardly have taken place 
 before 1532. Nicolaus Federmann, Dalfinger's provincial 
 successor, says that he went to San Domingo in 1530 to be 
 cured of a fever. When Federmann returned, in 1532, from 
 his first expedition (southward to the plain of Meta), the gov- 
 ernor was still living. Herrera's statement (dec. iv. lib. ii. 
 cap. ii.) that Dalfinger died at Coro in 1532 is the probable one. 
 Federmann went back to Europe, but we shall see him later 
 seeking for the dorado. Hans Seissenhoffer (Juan Aleman) 
 succeeded him as governor of Coro, but died soon afterward 
 without having undertaken anything. His successor, Georg 
 von Speyer, was likewise inactive till the year 1535. 
 
18 THE GILDED MAN. 
 
 woods of the interior, the resistance of the exasper- 
 ated Indians, and, above all, the previous devastar 
 tion of the inhabited districts by Dalfinger, created 
 extremely formidable obstacles to their progress. 
 Tamalameque, which Luis de Cardoso captured in 
 1531, was, till 1536, the most southern point which 
 the Spaniards could reach from Santa Marta or Car- 
 tagena. 
 
 In the meantime reports had been brought from 
 the western coast of South America which caused 
 great excitement in all the Spanish colonies in 
 America, and even in the mother-land itself. The 
 coasting voyages southward, initiated by Pascual de 
 Ahdagoya in 1522, were continued by Francisco 
 Pizarro in 1524. , The accounts which he received 
 concerning the southern country (Peru) on his first 
 expedition determined him on his return to Panama 
 to lay out the plans for a larger enterprise, and on 
 March 10, 1526, an agreement was made between 
 him, Diego Almagro, and the licentiate Gaspar de 
 Espinosa, in which the subsequent conquest of Peru 
 was designated as a " business." On a third voyage, 
 in 1528, Pizarro touched at Tumbez, in Quito, and 
 saw the stone houses, the llamas, the emeralds, and 
 the gold of the land of the Quichua. Three years 
 later the actual descent upon the Peruvian coast 
 began, and events succeeded one another with sur- 
 prising rapidity. On the 15th of November, 1532, 
 the Capac Inca Atahualpa was a prisoner of the 
 white men at Cassamarca. The weak bonds which 
 held together the government of the Quichua tribe 
 were broken at once, and every chief, every subjected 
 district, acted independently. Huascar Inca, the reg- 
 
CUNDINAMAECA. 19 
 
 ularly chosen chief in Cuzco, was murdered at his 
 brother's command ;. the Apu Quizquiz tried in vain 
 to defend Cuzeo; the Apn Ruminavi fled to the 
 north, whither Sebastian de Belalcazar pursued him 
 as far as Quito, worrying him with bloody battles ; 
 and the Inca Manco Yupanqui surrendered to the 
 Spaniards. The conquerors found the whole land 
 open to them almost without having to draw the 
 sword, and their spoil in precious metals was im- 
 mense. According to the partition deed which the 
 royal notary, Pedro Sancho, drew up at Cassamarca 
 in July, 1533, Atahualpa's ransom, as it was called, 
 amounted to 3,933,000 ducats of gold aB4~^72,670 
 ducats of silver. The plundering of/^uzco^ yielded 
 at least as much more. In the presenge of such 
 treasure the recollection of the riches of Mexico grew 
 faiut. A gold fever seized the Spanish colonists 
 everywhere in America, and every one who could 
 wandered to Peru. The existence of many of the 
 settlements was thereby endangered. The leaders 
 and founders of those colonies could not look on 
 quietly while their men were leaving them to hasten 
 into new lands of gold. In order to retain them 
 they were obliged to make fresh efforts to find treas- 
 ures in the vicinity, and occupation that would at- 
 tach them to the country. 
 
 Georg von Speyer fitted out a campaign fi-om 
 Coro southward into the plain of the Meta. In Santa 
 Marta, where a new governor, Pedro Fernandez de 
 Lugo, adelantado of the Canary Islands, had arrived 
 in 1535 with a reenforcement of twelve hundred men, 
 an expedition was organized to ascend the Rio Mag- 
 dalena to the highlands— those highlands concerning 
 
20 THE GILDED MAN. 
 
 ■which vague accounts were afloat, and from which 
 came the white cakes of salt that were found in the 
 possession of the Indians of Tamalameque. 
 
 This expedition was divided into two parts. One 
 part was to ascend the river in a number of brigan- 
 tines, and was commanded by Lugo himself. The 
 other division was to proceed inland from Santa 
 Marta to Tamalameque on the right bank of the 
 river and there meet the brigantines. The command 
 of this division was given to the governor's lieu- 
 tenant, the thirty-seven-years-old hcentiate Gonzalo 
 Ximenes de Quesada of Granada, afterward rightly 
 surnamed el Conquistador. Under his leading were 
 six hundred and twenty foot-soldiers and eighty-five 
 horsemen. Both divisions started on April 5, 1536, 
 but the flotilla, badly directed and overtaken by 
 storms, never reached its destination. Some of the 
 carelessly built boats went to the bottom, and all but 
 two of the others returned to Cartagena in a damaged 
 condition. Lugo died before a new flotilla could be 
 collected ; the building of new vessels was given up 
 after his death ; and the land expedition under Que- 
 sada, left alone to its fate, was gradually forgotten 
 at the coast. 
 
 Before Quesada lay dense woods, in which lived 
 once wealthy Indian tribes, who were now shy and 
 hostile. A way had to be cut through the luxuriant 
 tropical vegetation of these forests. They afEorded 
 the Spaniards but httle food, while they abounded 
 in poisonous reptiles and insects, with treacherous 
 swamps in the lowlands, out of which rose danger- 
 ous miasms. The once fertile valleys were deserted ; 
 an ambuscade was often lying in wait in the forest 
 
CUNDINAMAECA. 21 
 
 border that girt them; and instead of nourishing 
 fruits the Spaniards received a rain of poisoned 
 arrows. Dalflnger had, indeed, previously accom- 
 plished a similar march, but in his time the country 
 was populated, and he could support his men on the 
 stored provisions and ripening crops of the natives. 
 Quesada found only the wastes which his predecessor 
 had created ; every day some of his men fell 01 or 
 succumbed to the hardships. The Indian porters 
 soon died because of them. Their services had be- 
 come of little value, for there were shortly no more 
 provisions for them to carry. The energy, quiet 
 consideration, and self-denial of the leader had then 
 to be brought into play to keep up the courage of his 
 men. 
 
 Quesada justified the trust which his former supe- 
 rior had, perhaps without particular forethought, 
 placed in him. He never spared his own person, and 
 he did all he could for his men. If a rapid stream was 
 to be bridged he was the first to lay the axe to the 
 trees of which the bridge was to be built. He car- 
 ried the sick and feeble in his own ai-ms through 
 swamps and across fords. He thus, by devotion 
 combined with strictness in discipline, controlled his 
 men so that the exhausted company followed him 
 without demuiTcr to Tamalameque, where they ex- 
 pected to find the boats. The Eio Magdalena was 
 in flood, and its shores were overflowed for mUes. 
 Instead of the expected flotUla loaded with provi- 
 sions, Quesada found only two leaky brigantines, 
 and a hundred and eighty famishing men. The dis- 
 appointment was bitter ; he felt as if he were aban- 
 doned. But the round cakes of salt that came from 
 
22 THE GELDED MAN. 
 
 the mountains in the south had reached this region, 
 and Quesada determined to follow the paths over 
 which they had been brought. A retreat by land 
 would, at any rate, involve sure destruction. Again 
 his weary men followed him, and he reached Latora, 
 one hundred and fifty leagues from the mouth of 
 the Magdalena. Eight months had passed since he 
 had left the coast, and his march had been disastrous, 
 but the worst seemed to be yet awaiting him at this 
 spot. A wooded, uninhabited waste of waters encom- 
 passed the force, and the swollen river cut oflf alike aU 
 advance and all retreat. Attempts to move the brig- 
 antines up the stream were vain ; they could not be 
 taken more than twenty-five leagues. Despair then 
 overcame discipline. The men, dejected and weep- 
 ing, besought their leader to send them back in the 
 brigantines by detachments to the coast, and to give 
 up an enterprise which had so far brought them, in- 
 stead of gold, only misery, hunger, and death. The 
 moment was imminent in which every bond of re- 
 spect for their leader seemed about to be broken, 
 when the captains Cardoso and Alburazin returned to 
 the camp after several days of absence and reported 
 that they had discovered a river flowing down from 
 the mountains, and ascending it had come to a spot 
 where traces of men could be seen. On the strength 
 of this story Quesada was able to silence his men's 
 complaints and gain time to make further research 
 in the direction pointed out by his captains. Captain 
 San Martin found, twenty-five miles farther up this 
 mountain stream, a trodden path leading up into the 
 mountains, and along it a number of huts which 
 contained salt. Quesada himself started off with his 
 
CUNDINAMAECA. 23 
 
 best men and found the path, but fell ill and was 
 obliged to halt. Antonio de Lebrixa went on to the 
 mountains with twenty-five men, and came back with 
 the welcome intelligence that he had found there a 
 fertile plain inhabited by men who lived in villages 
 and went about clothed in cotton. Quesada hastened 
 back to his camp at Latora, put the sick and weak 
 upon the brigantines, and sent them back to Carta- 
 gena. In the beginning of the year 1537 Quesada, 
 at the head of one hundred and sixty-six of his most 
 effective men, stepped upon the plateau of Cundina- 
 marca, the former home of the dorado. He had lost 
 more than five hundred men by hunger, illness, and 
 exposure. 
 
 The sight of the JBLrst villages on the plateau satis- 
 fied the Spaniards of the wealth of the country. The 
 people imagined that the strangers were man-eating 
 monsters and fled to the woods, but left behiad them 
 a quantity of provisions, which were very acceptable 
 to the half -starved Spaniards, and some^old and em- 
 eralds^JHie Indians posted themselves on the defend 
 sive in a ravine near Zorocota. Quesada tried im- 
 successfully to storm their strong bairicade. In the 
 evening, after both sides had returned, tired with 
 fighting, to their camps, two of the Spaniards' horses 
 broke loose and ran, chasing one another, over to the 
 natives. The Indians, frightened by the strange 
 beasts, fled into the woods. The Spaniards found the 
 large village of Guacheta deserted, the inhabitants 
 having taken refuge among the rocks overlooking it. 
 In the midst of the place was an old man stripped 
 and bound to a stake, as an offering of food to the 
 whites. They unbound him, gave him a red cap, and 
 
24 THE GILDED MAN. 
 
 sent him away. Thereupon the men on the rocks, 
 supposing that they considered him too tough, cast 
 living children down to them. Seeing that these little 
 ones, too, were not touched by the strangers, they 
 sent down from the heights a man and a woman, both 
 stripped, and a stag, bound. The Spaniards sent 
 back the man and woman with small gifts, and kept 
 the stag. The Indians upon this were reassured, left 
 their place of refuge, came down from the rocks, and 
 gave themselves up to the white men. This was on 
 March 12, 1537. Quesada followed the wise policy 
 of conserving the strictest discipline. He caused one 
 of his men who had stolen cloth from an Indian to 
 be hung. This course secured him the good-wiU of 
 the natives, so that many places received the Span- 
 iards as liberators ; for the country they had so far 
 passed through was tributary to the Muysca of Bo- 
 gota, and, as was the case everywhere among the 
 Indians, the subjected races hated the conquering 
 tribe. The people were therefore not at all loath to 
 point out to the strangers by signs the direction of 
 Muequeta, the chief town of Bogota, near the pres- 
 ent Santa ¥6, where, they intimated to the eager 
 Spaniards, emeralds and gold were plentiful. The 
 rulers of Bogota witnessed with apprehension the 
 approach of the strangers, and their braves having 
 assembled for a campaign against Tunja, the whole 
 force, in which there were five hundred uzaques, 
 or chiefs, alone, turned against the Spaniards. 
 The Muysca fell upon Quesada's rear-guard near 
 the Salines of Zippaquira, their xeques, or priests, 
 carrying in front the bones of deceased chieftains, 
 while in the midst of the host was the head chief of 
 
CUNDINAMARCA. 25 
 
 Bogota, Thysqueshuza, on a gilded barrow. The first 
 assault having been repelled by the Spaniards, the 
 Indian warriors scattered ia every direction ; the zip- 
 pa leaped from his barrow and fled to the woods, and 
 each chief hastened back with his men into his vil- 
 lage. Quesada took possessign^of Muegueta without 
 meeting resistance, for the power of the tribe ^of 
 Bogota was broken forever. But he did not find the 
 treasure he was in search of and had expected to 
 obtain. The place had been stripped of everything, 
 valuable, and the conqueror surveyed the bare and 
 empty rooms with no Httle disappointment. Every /' 
 attempt to put himself in communication with thCj 
 fugitive zippa miscarried, while no promises of re- 1 
 ward, no torture, could extract from the Indians of 
 Muequeta the secret of the spot whither the treasure 
 had been taken. Muequeta became Quesada's head- 
 quarters, and thence he sent out scouting paaiies to 
 explore the country. A few villages surrendered to 
 the Spaniards, but others, Hke Guatavitd, the home 
 of the dorado, resisted them strenuously, and hid 
 their gold or threw it into the lagoons of the para- 
 mos. The region subjected to the Spaniards in this 
 way grew continuously larger, for the Muysca nevei^ 
 offered a united resistance. The dissensions and 
 the mutual hatreds of the smaller tribes contributed 
 quite as much as the superioritj' of their own weap- 
 ons to the victory of the conquerors. Out of hos- 
 tility to that clan a rival uzaque informed a Spanish 
 scouting party of the great wealth of the powerful 
 tribe of the Tunja. Quesada himself went against 
 them, and so quiet was his march that the uzaque of 
 Tunja and aU the chiefs of the tribe were siirprised 
 3 
 
26 THE GILDED MAN. 
 
 in their council-house. Quesada was about to em- 
 brace the chief, but the Indians looked upon this as 
 an offence, and threw themselves, armed, upon the 
 Spaniards. A savage combat ensued, within and 
 without the council-house. By sunset the village 
 of Tunja was in the possession of the whites, the 
 uzaque was a prisoner, and the pillage was fully 
 under way. The booty, when piled up in a court- 
 yard, formed a heap so large that a rider on horse- 
 back might hide himself behind it. "Peru, Peru, 
 we have found a second Cassamarca ! " exclaimed 
 the astonished victors. 
 
 The Spaniards were less fortunate in Duytama 
 than in Tunja. They were not able to captiire the 
 fortified position ; but they anticipated a rich com- 
 pensation for this failure,when they beheld the glit- 
 ter of the golden plates of the large town of Iraca. 
 The Sugamuxi of Iraca submitted, but a fire broke 
 out, through the carelessness of two Spaniards, dur- 
 ing the pillage of the great temple of the sun, and 
 consumed the whole building with aU its treasure of 
 gold and emeralds. Quesada returned to Muequeta, 
 where the spoil was divided, and the royal fifth was 
 set aside. Although it is certain that much gold had 
 been stolen or lost or hidden by individuals, and the 
 treasures of the wealthy tribes of Bogotd and Iraca 
 had all disappeared, the prize was still worthy of 
 the home of the dorado. It was officially valued at 
 246,976 pesos in gold and 1815 emeralds, among 
 which were some of great value. 
 
 The conquerors of Cundinamarca had, however, not 
 yet found the dorado himself. Exaggerated stories 
 were still current of Muysca chiefs rich in gold, and it 
 
CUNDINAMARCA. 27 
 
 was said that the fugitive zippa of Bogotd lived in 
 the mountains in a golden house. That chief was 
 hunted out and mui-dered in his hiding-place, but his 
 death did not bring to light the gold of Bogotd. 
 One reconnoitring party of Spaniards looked down 
 from a mountain summit eastward upon the plain 
 of the Upper Meta, and another party brought in a 
 report that there or in the south lived a tribe of war- 
 like women who had much gold. In this way the 
 myth of the Amazons became associated in 1538 
 with the tradition of the dorado. 
 
 Quesada felt himself too weak to go iu search of 
 the origin of these reports; it was necessary first 
 to secure the conquered country. In August, 1538, 
 therefore, the foundation of the present city of Santa 
 F6 de Bogotd was laid, not far from Muequeta. Que- 
 sada intended then to go iu person to the coast and 
 obtain reinforcements; but before he could carry 
 out this design news was brought to him from the 
 south that caused him to delay his departure. 
 
 He was informed that a number of men like his 
 own, having horses, had come down out of the Cauca 
 Valley into the valley of the Magdalena. A few 
 days later it was said that this troop had crossed 
 the Magdalena and was advancing into southern 
 Cundinamarca. It was the force of the conqueror 
 of Quito, Sebastian de Belaleazar, who, after driv- 
 ing the Peruvian Apu Euminavi out of Quito, and 
 by his intervention making Pedro de Alvarado's 
 landing at Manta harmless, had gone northward 
 through Pasto to Papayan. An Indian from New 
 Granada had already, according to Castellano, told 
 him in Quito the story of the gilded chieftain, and 
 
28 THE GILDED MAN. 
 
 had tlius induced him to undertake this march. From 
 Papayan he had proceeded along the Upper Cauca to 
 the tribes of Auzeiiua and Lile, which were rich in 
 gold but addicted to the most abominable cannibal- 
 ism, and thence following the path on which salt was 
 brought down from the mountains to the high table- 
 land of the interior. 
 
 Quesada had hardly received this news when it 
 was also reported to him that white men with sev- 
 eral horses were approaching from the east out of 
 the plain of Meta, and were coming up through the 
 ravines of the mountain. These men were the Ger- 
 man Nicolaus Federmann of Ulm and his company. 
 On his return from Europe Federmann had received 
 a position as lieutenant of Georg von Speyer in Coro. 
 His chief was engaged in a campaign in the southern 
 plains, and Federmann was to have gone after him 
 with reinforcements, but had faithlessly struck out 
 for the mountains, and was following on the track 
 of Dalflnger to the home of the dorado. 
 
 Thus, led thither by the same inducement, Quesada 
 from the north, Belalcazar from the south, and 
 Federmann from the east, found themselves at the 
 same time on the plateau of Cundinamarca. The 
 positions which the three Spaniards took formed 
 an equiangled triangle, each side of which was six 
 leagues long. Each leader had the same nxmiber of 
 men — one hundred and sixty-three soldiers and a 
 priest. None of them had been aware of the vicinity 
 of the others, and therefore each of them thought 
 he was the discoverer of the country. A fatal con- 
 flict seemed inevitable, but the encounter, which 
 might have provoked a rising of the Indians and a 
 
CUNDINARMAKCA. 29 
 
 massacre of the Spaniards, was averted by the wis- 
 dom of Quesada and the mediation of the priests. 
 The three leaders agreed to submit their claims in 
 person to the Spanish court, and in the meantime to 
 leave all their forces on the plateau in order to hold 
 the conquered land. The three — Gonzalo Ximenes 
 de Quesada, Sebastian de Belalcazar, and Nicolaus 
 Federmann — then departed from Bogota and pro- 
 ceeded together to Spain. Federmann was destined 
 never to see America again, for the Welsers would 
 not overlook the treachery which he had committed 
 against his commander, Georg von Speyer. Quesada 
 suffered the basest ingratitude from the Court. Nine 
 years passed before he was allowed to return to the 
 scene of his activity, and he received as the only re- 
 ward for his great services the title of Marshal of the 
 new kingdom of Granada. 
 
 The brother of the conqueror, the avaricious and 
 cruel Heman Perez de Quesada, remained at Bogota 
 as the commanding oflcer of the Spaniards. He 
 completed the subjugation of the Muysca. The un- 
 happy natives suffered exceedingly cruel maltreat- 
 ment, for the sake of gold, from him and his barba- 
 rous lieutenants. No means was too violent or too 
 unmoral if gold could be got by it. Hernan Perez 
 made an unsuccessful attempt in 1540 to drain the 
 lake of Guataviti in order to recover from it the 
 gold of the dorado; but four thousand pesos was all 
 the return he realized from the experiment. The 
 Muysca, plundered and plagued by the whites 
 amongst them, and warred upon on their borders 
 by the Panches and Musos living around them, who 
 were not subjected to the Spaniards tUl some time 
 
30 THE GILDED MAN. 
 
 afterward, went down almost irresistibly to extinc- 
 tion. Their vigor was broken, and they had no hoi^e 
 of consideration or forbearance from their rulers. 
 When the former Sugamuxi of Iraca was told that 
 a new governor had come who was a friend to the 
 Indians, he asked a Spaniard if he believed the river 
 was going to flow upstream ; when the white man 
 answered this question in the negative, the chief 
 responded, " How do you suppose, then, that I am 
 going to believe in the existence of a Spanish officer 
 who will feel and act justly and reasonably toward 
 us?" 
 
 With the conquest of Cundinamarca was secured 
 the last great treasure of gold that awaited the Span- 
 iards in America. Their wild greed was, however, 
 doubly excited by their succe ss so far, and they 
 thirsted for more and greater. The Minorite monk, 
 Fray Toribio of Benevento,* wrote with truth in 
 1540 : "And gold is, like another golden calf, wor- 
 shipped by them as a god ; for they come without 
 intermission and without thought, across the sea, to 
 toil and danger, in order to get it. May it please 
 God that it be not for their damnation." Then rose 
 again, like an avenging spirit, the legend of the 
 gilded chieftain, in the stiU unknown regions of the 
 South American continent. Transplanted by the 
 over-excited imagination of the white men, the vision 
 of the dorado appeared, like a mirage, enticing, de- 
 ceiving, and leading men to destnicti<in, on the,banks 
 of the Orinoco and the Amazon, in Oma^ua and 
 Parime. 
 
 * Called Motolinia, "the poor." "Historia de los Indios de 
 Nacva EspaHa." 
 
CHAPTER n. 
 
 META. 
 
 As we have mentioned, the conquest of New Gra- 
 nada by Gonzalo Ximenes de Quesada concluded, as 
 to the whole of Spanish America, that series of ex- 
 traordinary discoveries of precious metals in the 
 possession of the natives which exercised so sudden 
 an influence on the value of gold, among European 
 peoples in particular. When the Peruvian spoil was 
 divided at Cassamarca ia 1533 the peso, which con- 
 tains about the same quantity of metal as our doUar, 
 had an exchangeable value nearly the same as that 
 of a pound sterling, or $4.85 ; but by 1553 its value 
 had declined, according to the learned Mexican stu- 
 dent, Orozco y Berra, to $2.93, or about forty per 
 cent. During these twenty years Mexico alone 
 yielded in gold and silver together 1,355,793 pesos. 
 The four ships which arrived in Spain from Peru 
 on the 5th of December, 1533, and the 9th of Janu- 
 ary and 3d of June, 1534, carried, without including 
 golden vessels and ornaments, 708,590 pesos in gold 
 and 240,680 pesos in silver. The spoil of New 
 Granada amounted to 246,972 pesos ia gold alone. 
 These examples, drawn from two years only in 
 South America, show clearly that the great depre- 
 ciation of the precious metals we have just cited is 
 to be ascribed principally to the findings in Peru and 
 New Granada. The value of silver fell about eighty- 
 
 31 
 
32 THE GILDED MAN. 
 
 four per cent, in Europe between 1514 and 1610, a 
 fall which was caused by the working of the silver 
 mines of Potosi in Bolivia. These yielded, between 
 15-15 and 1564, 641,250,000 pesos or piastres in silver. 
 The discovery of New Granada had an especial effect 
 on the value of emeralds. 
 
 It cannot be denied that this sudden depreciation 
 of the metallic media of exchange had a great influ- 
 ence on the demand for them, while it covered the 
 search for them with the mantle of a legitimate 
 want. The need of specie was evident, and the less 
 the material of which coins were made was worth, 
 the more of it must be had. To this was added the 
 fact that the simple necessities of life on which 
 Europeans depended for existence were at first not 
 to be got, for example, in Peru. The first horses 
 sold there brought 6000 pesos (equivalent to at least 
 $28,000 in present values) ; and in 1554 Alonzo de 
 Alvarado offered in vain 10,000 pesos, or $29,300, for 
 an ordinary saddle-horse. Between thirty and forty 
 pesos were paid in Cassamarca soon after the division 
 of the spoil for a pair of half-boots, and forty or 
 fifty pesos for a sword. The first cow was sold in 
 Cuzco in 1550 for two hundred pesos. Nine years 
 later the price of a cow had fallen to seventeen 
 pesos. Wine began to be cheaper about 1554, when 
 a ship landed at Truxillo with two thousand casks ; 
 the first cask was sold for six hundred ducats, and 
 the last one for two hundred ducats. 
 
 Still, no explanation or excuse can be found in 
 these extreme instances for the reckless, passionate 
 eagerness with which the Spaniards, without waiting 
 to secure one treasure, pursued the visions of others. 
 
META. 33 
 
 The transactions and expeditions subsequent to tlie 
 conquest of New Granada, of which the dorado was 
 the object, depended on such fancies. 
 
 Before describing the second period of the search 
 for the dorado, let us return to the fourth decade of 
 the sixteenth century and take a view of a number of 
 enterprises carried out at the same time with the 
 conquests of Peru and New Granada, by the aid of 
 which we may be better prepared in historical and 
 geographical knowledge for the understanding of 
 later events. The regions on which we have to fix 
 our attention for this purpose are the present re- 
 public of Venezuela and southeastern New Granada. 
 
 While Dalflnger was engaged in his arduous expe- 
 dition to the Magdalena, considerable attempts were 
 begun to found colonies on the northeastern coast 
 of the South American continent. Antonio Sedeno, 
 contador of the island of Puerto Rico, was a wealthy 
 and prominent man. One of his contemporaries, 
 Gonzalo Fernandez de Oviedo y Valdes, says of him 
 that " under the pretext of serving God and his kiug 
 he hoped, through what he possessed and through 
 his estates on the island of St. John, to acquire a 
 larger property on the island of Trinidad and on the 
 mainland, and greater honor. But it did not turn 
 out to the advantage of his purse, for while he de- 
 spised what he had, he pursued the schemes of his 
 fancy. . . . This lust for ruling and for being more 
 than others caused him to lose his property, and, what 
 was more, his time too, and exposed his body as weU 
 as his soul to great danger and trouble." * Sedeno 
 sought and obtained the appointment of governor 
 * "Hist. gen. y nat. de Indias," lib. xxiv. cap. i. 
 
34 THE GILDED MAN. 
 
 of Trinidad, witli the design of " building a strong 
 house there " {de Idbrar una casa fuerte),* of which he 
 should be the alcalde. But his concession did not 
 extend beyond the island. 
 
 Nevertheless, having left San Liicar de Barrameda 
 on the 18th of September, 1530, with seventy men, 
 Sedeno's first act after reaching Trinidad was to 
 take formal possession of it and then pass over to 
 the mainland. There, on the Gulf of Paria, he buUt, 
 outside of his province, and conti'ary to his com- 
 mission, the " strong house " which he had contem- 
 plated biulding in Trinidad. This act, apparently 
 insignificant in itself, was of great importance for 
 the future. Sedeno left a small garrison in the 
 " strong house," and sailed to the Antilles to procure 
 reenf orcements. He hoped that he had in the mean- 
 time secured undisputed possession of the mainland, 
 even though it was without higher sanction. But 
 without his knowledge a former companion of 
 Cortes, Diego de Ordaz, the same person to whom is 
 ascribed the first ascension of the Mexican volcano 
 Popocatepetl, had obtained in Spain a concession 
 for the colonization of the then very indefinite 
 district of Maranon on the mainland. This con- 
 cession was granted in 1530, and included permis- 
 sion to occupy the coast from the territory leased 
 to Welser & Co. to the mouth of the Maranon, and 
 to erect four fortresses. An allowance of 725,000 
 maravedis a year was set aside for him, while he 
 had also an assured income from Mexico of between 
 COOO and 7000 pesos. Ordaz fitted out two ships and 
 a caravel in Spain at his own cost, and sailed from 
 * Herrera, dec. v. lib. ii. cap. i. 
 
MBTA. 35 
 
 San Lucar de BaiTameda with four hundred and fifty 
 men on the 20th of October, 1531. Although an 
 additional caravel joined the squadron at the Canary- 
 Islands, and the aggregate force was increased to six 
 hundred men, yet, in consequence of heavy storms, 
 the Admiral's ship was the only vessel that came in 
 sight of the South American coast, near the mouth 
 of the Amazon.* Ordaz sailed on thence northward 
 along the coast to Paria, where he found the fort 
 huilt by Sedeno. He captured this post by assault, 
 regarding it as belongiag to his concession, and kept 
 it for a further base of operations. Ordaz thought so 
 little of the region of the mouths of the Amazon and 
 of the coast of southern Guiana that he abandoned 
 all attempts there and decided to turn to the nearer- 
 lying mouths of the Orinoco. He fitted out a flotOla 
 of seven galleys from Paria, with which, with two 
 hundred and eighty men and eighteen horses, to ex- 
 plore the thickly wooded labyrinth of the delta of 
 that river. 
 
 The fleet was worked with great difficulty through 
 one of the numerous channels up into the principal 
 arm of the river. The relations of Ordaz with the 
 ArnakSjt the scattered inhabitants of that swampy, 
 unhealthy wilderness, were for the most part of a 
 tolerably friendly character. But when the tribe of 
 Baratubaro refused to furnish him provisions he 
 
 * The knowledge of this river was so imperfect at this time 
 that we cannot be sure this statement is correct, although 
 Herrera says (dec. iv. lib. x. cap. ix.) : "Diego de Ordd,s 
 reached the Rio Marafion with the intention of beginning his 
 explorations there." 
 
 t From arna, tiger. 
 
36 THE GILDED MAN. 
 
 punished them severely for it. SaiUng up the prin- 
 cipal stream, he at length came to the falls of the 
 Orinoco, near Atures and Maj'pures, since made fa- 
 mous by Alexander von Humboldt, where the miles 
 of rapids and small cataracts by which the course of 
 the river was broken made further na\'igation im- 
 possible. Before this the officers of the expedition 
 had vainly tried to persuade Ordaz to abandon his 
 boats and press into the interior. Now it was neces- 
 sary to leave the boats. On the right extended a 
 broad savanna, on which a hostile encoimter took 
 place with the Indians. They informed Ordaz that 
 the river flowed from a large lake which lay in the 
 midst of high and rugged mountains. The way 
 thither lay through a province called Meta, which 
 was thickly populated and rich in gold. Silver, 
 which the Spaniards showed the natives, was not 
 known to them, but they recognized gold at once as 
 the substance that was abundant in Meta. They 
 pointed to the west as the direction in which this 
 land was to be found. Unfortunately, the river was 
 falling so rapidly that Ordaz would not venture to 
 march inland. Unwillingly he had to embark again 
 and begin a dangerous and laborious retreat. Eighty 
 of his men died from the hardships of the voyage ; 
 with the rest, ill and despondent, he reached Paria. 
 His pui"pose was, since the Indians near the falls of 
 the Orinoco had spoken so highly of the wealth of 
 Meta, to march overland thither from the northern 
 coast of Venezuela — the Gulf of Cariaco. He left a 
 little colony of a hundred souls at Paria, and sent a 
 part of his force under Alonzo de Herrera to 
 Cumand, following it himself eight days later. To 
 
META. 37 
 
 his surprise he was received at Cumand with can- 
 non-shots, and was informed that his men were on 
 the island of Cubagua, and that the post belonged 
 to that jurisdiction. Greatly astonished at this un- 
 expected communication and at his hostile reception, 
 he crossed over to Cubagua, where most unpleasant 
 information was imparted to him. 
 
 During the period of nearly two years which Ordaz 
 had spent on the Orinoco Sedeno had been informed 
 of the occupation of the post he had estabhshed at 
 Paria. He at once appealed to Spain against what 
 he styled a violent attack on his rights. He cited 
 the terms of Ordaz's concession, which, indeed, con- 
 firmed to him the coast from the Maranon to the 
 limits of Welser's leasehold, but defined the length 
 of the coast-line as two hundred leagues from the 
 mouth of the Maranon. Sedeno insisted that under 
 the latter clause Paria was outside of that conces- 
 sion, and therefore contested the right of Ordaz to 
 occupy the post there. The contention was in many 
 respects characteristic of the times. It especially 
 illustrates the vagueness of the geographical ideas 
 of the period, which estimated the distance from the 
 easternmost point of the German concession in Vene- 
 zuela to the mouth of the Amazon as only two hun- 
 dred leagues. The Crown decided in favor of Sedeno 
 so far as to order Ordaz to restore to him the prop- 
 erty he had seized, and to satisfy himself with the 
 prescribed two hundred leagues of coast, which he 
 could choose either " from the Cape of La Vela to- 
 ward the Maranon, or from the Maranon toward the 
 Cape of La Vela," as he might prefer.* Ordaz was 
 * Herrera, dec. iv. lib. x. cap. x. 
 
38 THE GILDED MAN. 
 
 fui'ther ordered to restore to the jurisdiction of the 
 city of New Cadiz, on the island of Cubagua, the 
 coast of Cumana, which he claimed. The inhabitants 
 of Cubagua had joined with Sedeno against Ordaz, 
 and when the latter came upon the island he found 
 that his people had been dispersed, and his lieuten- 
 ant, Alonzo Herrera, was held a prisoner. Ordaz 
 aU at onco found himself alone, and grieving bit- 
 terly over his loss, sailed for Spain, in order to con- 
 tend there for his claims, and if possible to organize 
 a new expedition. Death overtook him on the ocean 
 in 1533, and the waves were his grave. 
 
 Of all their laborious enterprises, there was left to 
 the party of Ordaz only the post in Paria. Sedeno 
 seized this also, and thus seemed to make himself 
 sole heir of the scanty acquisitions of his unfortunate 
 rival. The chief of them was, so far as the interests 
 of the time were concerned, a name — Meta ; signify- 
 ing the intangible, enticing vision of a land of gold, 
 which was to be found west of the Orinoco. But be- 
 fore Sedeno could enter upon the pursuit of this vision 
 a bitter quarrel arose between him and his confeder- 
 ates at Cubagua over the ambiguous decision of the 
 Crown already mentioned. The control of the island 
 of Trinidad cost him much labor and a large sum of 
 money, and when he landed at Paria on his return 
 thence he found that the island of Cubagua now 
 claimed that post. 
 
 It is aside from the purpose of this sketch to con- 
 sider the controversies and contentions, continuing 
 till the end of 1534, between Sedeno and the admin- 
 istration of Cubagua, of which the " strong house " 
 in Paria, called by Oviedo "the house of discord" 
 
META. 39 
 
 {casa de discardia), was the object. In consequence 
 of them Sedeno was put in prison. Nothing was 
 accomphshed on the mainland, because each party 
 alternately stood in the way of the other engaging 
 in any important enterprise ; but man-steahng was 
 carried on on the northern coast of Venezuela, as 
 before from Cubagua and Margarita, without hin- 
 drance. Notwithstanding the complete miscarriage 
 of the enterprises of Diego de Ordaz and his death, 
 a number of men and officers at Paria remained 
 faithful to the memory, at least, of his plans. They 
 had indeed to submit to the authority which was 
 exercised alternately by Sedeno and the people at 
 Cubagua, but they never gave up the hope of mak- 
 ing use on their own account of the information 
 which they had collected on their memorable cam- 
 paign to the falls of the Orinoco. Alonzo de Her- 
 rera, the former prisoner at Cubagua, afterward 
 Sedeno's associate, finally acquired and maintained 
 the command of the "house of discord" on the 
 mainland at Paria. 
 
 Among the few comrades who had sailed with 
 Ordaz was Geronimo D'Ortal, his treasurer, who 
 reached Spain, and obtained from the Crown a con- 
 cession, as successor of the deceased Ordaz, to occupy 
 and administer Paria. The report of this arrange- 
 ment soon reached the West Indies, and produced 
 no little commotion there. Sedeno, leaving Trinidad, 
 sailed for Margarita, but his former allies of Cu- 
 bagua pursued him there and compelled him to go 
 back to Puerto Rico. In revenge, he determined to 
 join with D'Ortal, as soon as he should arrive, 
 against the people of Cubagua. 
 
D'Ortal arrived in Paria with two hundred men in 
 October, 1534, and was joyfully received by Alonzo 
 de Herrera and his company of about thirty men. 
 He at once began preparations to explore the Ori- 
 noco, and " find there that province of Meta, of which 
 he had learned through the natives that it was a land 
 of great wealth." * But, mindful of the experience 
 of his predecessors, he sent thither only a part of his 
 force (one hundred and thirty men) under the com- 
 mand of Alonzo de Herrera, with nine galleys and 
 a caravel. Herrera was to establish himself at the 
 upper end of the delta of the Orinoco, among the 
 Aruas (Waruas or Aruaks), while D'Ortal should 
 wait in Paria for the arrival at the West India Islands 
 of the reiof orcement of a hundred men, which Juan 
 Fernandez de Alderete was to bring him from Spain. 
 The reinforcement came to Cubagua, and D'Ortal 
 went there to receive it. Then, in the year 1535, he 
 returned to Paria.f Thence he went to Trinidad, 
 and sent a detachment of his men back to the coast 
 to unload a ship that was waiting there with pro- 
 visions. Ten leagues from Trinidad they found 
 three small boats, and in them, to their no little 
 surprise, the dwindled remnant of the expedition of 
 Alonzo de Herrera. 
 
 That valiant and adventurous officer, of whom 
 Oviedo says that " he knew much better how to kill 
 
 * Oviedo, lib. xxiv. cap. vii. 
 
 t According to Oviedo there were two San Miguels : the 
 " house of contention," where D'Ortal landed, " en aquel golpho 
 4 costa de Paria" (lib. xxxiv. cap. viii.); and the later San 
 Miguel de Neveri, east of Piritd. Oviedo and Herrera do not 
 agree concerning the latter post. 
 
META. 41 
 
 Indians than to govern them," had gone up the Or- 
 inoco to the Rio Apnre (Carao), and thence — where 
 he was assured that "Guiana lay behind him and 
 Meta before him," and the reports of the wealth of 
 the latter region were confirmed — " to a bay or arm 
 of the sea, which empties into the same river Huya- 
 pari, and is called the bay of Meta." * In twenty days 
 he reached " the mouth of that bay," which seems to 
 be nothing else than the mouth of the Rio Meta. 
 It was the rainy season, the streams were very high, 
 and the boats had to be drawn with ropes. The 
 water often came up to the breasts of the towing 
 men, and it was only with extreme toil that they 
 succeeded in advancing in forty days twenty leagues 
 westward up the Meta. Oviedo, a contemporary 
 whom we have often cited, says of this incident : " I 
 do not believe that any of those who took part in 
 this expedition would have taken so much trouble to 
 get into Paradise." By the end of the forty days the 
 current had grown to be so strong that farther 
 advance on the river, even by towing, became impos- 
 sible. The whole country was inundated ;t yet a 
 himdred men left the boats and tried to press, 
 through these plains converted into a series of 
 lagoons, farther west to Meta. Most of the scat- 
 tered inhabitants had fled, but they at last met an 
 Indian woman who understood the dialects they had 
 so far heard. She promised to conduct the Span- 
 iards to a large village, but warned them that its 
 
 * Huyapari was one of tlie many names of the Orinoco. It 
 is also written Biapari and TJiapari. 
 
 t The height of water in the Orinoco in the interior of 
 Guiana varies from twenty-eight to thirty-four feet annually. 
 4 
 
42 THE GILDED MAN. 
 
 inhabitants would certainly eat up the Christians, 
 seeing they were so few. When she had told enough 
 falsehoods to the whites, Herrera had her hanged 
 " in thanks for her work, and since he was groping 
 around, as it were, in the dark, he thought he might 
 find the way better by means of this kind of holy 
 torch, or by this good act. No wonder that an 
 equally speedy and still sadder death fell upon him 
 and others." * 
 
 The country assumed a more favorable aspect fif- 
 teen or twenty leagues from the point where the boats 
 were left. The dry spots, which had hitherto only 
 rarely shown themselves out of the boundless waters, 
 became more evident, and upon them were vestiges 
 of food plants, such as maize and yucca. The troops 
 halted at a group of twelve huts, and sent thence 
 some provisions to the sick and dying who had been 
 left on the boats. The rest at this place was, however, 
 of short duration, for the Indians soon attacked the 
 camp by night. The assault was repiilsed, but Alonzo 
 de Herrera and three other Spaniards were mortally 
 wounded, and died soon afterward in violent delirium 
 from arrow poisoning. AH the horses but one were 
 killed in the fight, and the men were obhged, after 
 returning to their boats, to use this one for food. 
 The return voyage was speedily made, and they 
 reached the Orinoco in fourteen days. Their leader 
 was Alvaro de Ordaz. Willingly complying with the 
 wishes of his men, he decided to leave this river as 
 quickly as possible and return to Paria. Hunger 
 and privation of every kind, hostile attacks and ill- 
 ness were diminishing the company nearly every 
 
 * Oviedo. 
 
META. 43 
 
 day, so that the remnant, which, as already men- 
 tioned, met D'Ortal's men at the seashore, formed 
 only a little band of haggard sufferers. Their ac- 
 counts showed that D'Ortal had abandoned the 
 Orinoco in order to approach Meta overland from 
 the north, from the Gulf of Cariaco. The conilicts 
 of which the post at Paria was the occasion were 
 renewed this time about the coast-land between 
 Cumana and the Kio Neveri. Three parties were 
 jealously keeping watch upon one another, and, 
 wherever it was possible, barring one another from 
 the interior. Sedeno had at first united with D'Ortal, 
 and then separated from him. Opposed to both were 
 the " men of Cubagua," whose chief interest was to 
 hold the coast for the preservation of their own 
 existence, and for the prosecution of the ti*affic in 
 men. 
 
 The expedition to the south, begun by D'Ortal in 
 1535, entirely miscarried. He tried to reach Meta, 
 first by single reconnaissances, and then in a general 
 campaign. But his men rose against him on the 
 Orinoco, which he possibly struck below the Rio 
 Apure.* A part of them wandered away, and we 
 shaU find them again later on in Federmann's fol- 
 lowing. The rest went back to the coast, where they 
 delivered their commander up to justice. He re- 
 mained a prisoner sixteen months, although his only 
 crime was misfortune; and when he was released 
 he had lost all desire for further campaigns, and 
 " determined to marry." "And as his purpose was 
 a good one," Oviedo says, " God gave him a good 
 wife, a respectable and virtuous widow of suitable 
 * Oviedo, lib. xxiv. cap. xv. 
 
44 THE GILDED MAN. 
 
 age, who had means . . . enough for him to live 
 decently in our city of San Domingo on the island of 
 Hispaniola, with more security and fame than could 
 come to him in all these wars, or in hunting the 
 fabulous riches of Meta, of which no one knows any- 
 thing to this day, or can find the way there without 
 its costing yet more human lives and leading to other 
 troubles. To this point has our story come, this 
 month of August, in the year one thousand five hun- 
 dred and forty-five." * This event took place in 1536. 
 
 The map which Oviedo made about 1545 of the 
 regions successively traversed by Ordaz, Herrera, and 
 D'Ortal defined the results of all these expeditions 
 better than any description could do. The fancied 
 golden empire had not been found north of the lower 
 course of the Orinoco and east of the territory given 
 to the Welsers. It was the fortune of the Germans 
 in Venezuela to determine what was the foundation 
 of the myth which had thus transplanted itself into 
 the eastern region of northern South America. 
 
 While Ambrosius Dalfinger was still lost on his 
 campaign towards the Magdalena, the Welsers 
 sent to Coro to his support a division of soldiers, 
 with twenty-four German miners, under the com- 
 mand of Nicolaus Federmann, a burger of Ulm. 
 This reinforcement probably arrived at Coro in 
 June, 1530. Immediately afterward came another 
 reinforcement upon three ships, and with it an agent 
 of the Welsers, Hans Seissenhoifer, who was made 
 governor in Dalfinger's absence. Federmann, who 
 seems to have been a capable, crafty, and energetic 
 man, became Seissenhoffer's lieutenant. On account 
 * Oviedo, lib. xxiv. cap. xvi. 
 
META. 45 
 
 of tliese changes the Spanish officers were withdrawn 
 from Coro, an act which seems to have produced a 
 great bitterness, especially against Federmann. 
 When Dalfinger unexpectedly returned a short time 
 after this, Seissenhoffer resigned his position, but 
 Federmann remaiaed — "as Heutenant of the gov- 
 ernor and captain general, as which the whole army 
 recognized me." * 
 
 Dalfinger brought back only vague accounts and a 
 relatively considerable quantity of gold. He had not 
 found the dorado, and had again withdrawn from the 
 northeastern border of Cundinamarca. He did not 
 tarry long at Coro, but sailed to San Domingo for 
 the recovery of his health, leaving Federmann in his 
 place. Federmann says : " Finding myself now in 
 the city of Coro with a number of men who were un- 
 occupied, I determined to undertake a campaign into 
 the iuterior toward the south or the Southern Sea, 
 in the hope of finding something profitable." He 
 left the coast on the 12th of September, 1530, with 
 " one hundred and ten Spaniards on foot, and sixteen 
 on horseback, and a hundred Indians." His geo- 
 graphical notices are so extremely vague that we can 
 f oUow him only a little way on this remarkable cam- 
 paign. His estimates of distances are entirely im- 
 trustworthy, and the names of the Indian tribes which 
 he met are often hardly recognizable. He reached 
 
 * "Seladon de Nicolaiis Federmann le Jeune," cap. ii. 
 Translated by Ternaux-Compans. The original was printed 
 at Haguenau in 1557. We here follow almost exclusively 
 the story of Federmann himself. Oviedo does not mention 
 Federmann's next campaign, but says that he was in Coro 
 during the rest of Dalfinger's life. Herrera also says nothing 
 ahriTit. if. Hatipp his own afifioimt is our only authoritv. 
 
46 THE GILDED MAN. 
 
 the Rio Tocuyo in northwestern Venezuela on the 
 1st of October, crossed it, and went south in search 
 of a tribe of dwarfs called the Ayemanes. He met 
 these little people,* who, he says, averaged five 
 " palmos," or three and a half feet in height, and 
 were well shaped.t Thence he went south, from 
 tribe to tribe, across the district of Barquicimeto, to 
 the Cuybas, near Truxillo, and the Cuyones, against 
 whom he could not make headway, and was obliged 
 to turn toward the west. The farthest point he 
 reached was Itabana, situated on a river which he 
 calls the Coaheri, and which was perhaps the Apure. 
 Here he turned back, and arrived again in Coro 
 March 17, 1531. The material results of his journey 
 were small. The country he passed through con- 
 sisted by turns of rugged sierras and savannas. The 
 tribes, warlike and partially cannibal, were nomadic 
 or half -sedentary people, and his contact with them 
 was usually of a hostile character. He obtained 
 some gold (3000 pesos) from a tribe near Barquici- 
 meto ; and there, too, a report was current of a coun- 
 try rich in gold in the direction of the " Southern 
 Sea." The whole campaign was a mere reconnais- 
 sance, but was at the same time to Federmann him- 
 self a preparatory school for his subsequent great 
 expedition. Federmann went to Spain from Coro, 
 and on the death of Dalfinger, shortly afterward, 
 obtained the position of governor of Venezuela. But 
 the Spanish colonists there protested most earnestly 
 against his appointment, and in order to satisfy 
 
 * Probably near the present Barquicimeto. 
 t We should add to this that nobody but Federmann men- 
 tions these dwarfs. 
 
META. 47 
 
 them -without offending the Welsers the Cardinal de 
 Siguenaa recalled him after he had started, and Georg 
 von Speyer was sent as governor to Coro. Pedermann 
 followed him privately, and Von Speyer, appreciating 
 his energy and knowledge of the country, made him 
 his lieutenant, about the year 1535. 
 
 A dispute was then going on between the prov- 
 inces of Venezuela and Santa Marta concerning the 
 possession of the valley inhabited by the Pacabueyes 
 Indians, south of Cabo de la Vela, between the lake 
 of Maracaybo on the east and the Sierra Santa Marta 
 on the west. In order to put an end to this contention, 
 Georg von Speyer despatched Pedermann thither, 
 with instructions to occupy the country, hold it by 
 force of arms against " the people of Santa Marta," 
 and then proceed farther west. After Pedermann's 
 departure on this errand, Georg von Speyer himself 
 began a campaign southward. He seems to have 
 been led to this enterprise by some indefinite reports, 
 and to have considered the expedition to the west, 
 which he entrusted to his lieutenant, as a secondary 
 affair. He had doubtless heard of Meta. Georg von 
 Speyer, following a vanguard which he had sent for- 
 ward, left Coro May 13, 1535, and reached the vicinity 
 of Barquicimeto by the middle of July. He there 
 found his vanguard in full retreat, it having been beat- 
 en by the Cuybas Indians, the same whom we met on 
 Pedermann's first journey holding the countiy around 
 Tucuyo. They were a warlike tribe, and, according 
 to Herrera, cannibals, but also gave some attention 
 to agriculture. Von Speyer, whose whole command 
 now consisted of thi-ee hundred and sixty-one men, 
 with eighty horses, easily overcame the Cuybas, but 
 
48 THE GILDED MAN. 
 
 his men soon felt the effects of the unhealthy climate 
 of the country, with its rivers everywhere out of their 
 banks, so much that he was obliged to give up the 
 march to the south and proceed southwesterly, along 
 the mountains on his right. Thus he followed Feder- 
 mann's former route. The health of his men became 
 so critical when among the Cuyones Indians, eight 
 days' journey from the Cuybas, that he could go on 
 with only one hundred foot soldiers and thirty horse- 
 men. He left the rest ^f his men behind, as being 
 in no condition to march, under Francisco de Velasco. 
 The country east and south being flooded, he could 
 do nothing else than foUow the southwestern slope 
 of the sierra. Occasional ^aids into the mountains 
 procured maize and salt. In a short time he was 
 joined by most of the men he had left behind, who 
 had recovered ; but soon, afterward he had to leave 
 one hundred and thirty sick under the command of 
 Sancho de Murga. The (place where this occurred 
 was, according to Oviedo, about one hundred and 
 seventy leagues from Coro. 
 
 With a hundred and fifty foot and forty-nine cav- 
 alry. Von Speyer reached and crossed the Rio Apure, 
 the great northern tributary of the Orinoco, on the 2d 
 of February, 1536. To that point we hear of no clue 
 leading him, of no new accounts brought to him, 
 which might have excited the hope of a liberal re- 
 ward. Like Quesada, he pursued with iron tenacity 
 a vague purpose, that of searching the south. His 
 experiences were all discouraging. The country, 
 though rich in its profusion of tropical vegetation, 
 gave him no gold. The western sierra was dreary 
 and rugged, the eastern plains were unhealthy wastes 
 
META. 49 
 
 of flooded marshes and intindated woods and prairies. 
 The vast region was only sparsely inhabited by wild 
 Indian tribes. While the endurance, the careful di- 
 rection, and wise leading which he displayed dur- 
 ing this first period of his campaign stamp him as 
 one of the greatest captains of the time in America, 
 his mild and discreet behavior toward the aborigines 
 likewise marks Georg von Speyer as a man of honor- 
 able disposition. Even the Spanish writers agree in 
 this. Although, unhappily, too little appreciated, he 
 is one of the noblest figures of the Spanish conquest. 
 Pursuing his unhopef id way toward the southwest, 
 he crossed the upper part of the Casanare. The 
 Zaquitios Indians inhabiting the slope of the sierra 
 were friendly and weU disposed, and told him that 
 on the other side of the mountains, on an unwooded 
 plateau, dwelt a tribe rich in gold, who had tame 
 sheep. Two moons farther in that direction was a 
 chieftain named Caziriguey, who ruled over many 
 people, and had a great temple. While the direction 
 in which this rich land was said to lie (west) un- 
 doubtedly pointed to Bogota, the story of the " tame 
 sheep " makes it certain that knowledge of Peru had 
 penetrated to this place, which was in northeastern 
 New Granada. The Zaquitios offered to show Georg 
 von Speyer the pass through which he could reach 
 that plateau, and he eagerly accepted the service. 
 Oviedo says : " This information gratified, strength- 
 ened, and encouraged the governor and the Span- 
 iards so much that all the hardships they had 
 endured were forgotten, and the way lying before 
 them appeared as safe and easy as the streets of 
 Valladolid and Medina del Campo." 
 
50 THE GILDED MAN. 
 
 But they searched for the pass in vain. Having 
 arrived at the foot of the sierra, they were attacked 
 by night in a village. A desperate battle took place, 
 and although after two hours victory rested with the 
 whites, they gave up further advance in that direc- 
 tion, and again followed the slope of the mountain 
 toward the south. They had now entered the terri- 
 tory of a powerful tribe of Indians, which was then 
 widely spread between the sources of the western 
 tributaries of the Orinoco and the Cassiquiare, but is 
 now conj&ned to the shores of one branch of the 
 Rio Negro. This tribe was that of the Uaup6s. 
 
 No other branch of the South American aborigines 
 affords so complete an example of that peculiar form 
 of social organization which Mr. Lewis H. Morgan 
 has shown to have existed among the Indians of the 
 whole United States, as the Uaupes. They are, and 
 were in the sixteenth century, village Indians of a 
 low type. Their houses, built of wood, with gable 
 roofs supported on upright posts, form large par- 
 allelograms, one hundred and fifteen feet long, sev- 
 enty-five feet wide, and thirty feet high. The en- 
 trance, eight feet high, on one of the gable sides, 
 is curtained with a mat. Several families inhabit 
 a communal building of this kind, and choose from 
 among themselves the "tushaua" or chief of the 
 house. The Uaup6s were divided into a number of 
 gentes (probably about thirty), and the names of 
 twenty-one of them are well known.* 
 
 * They are : Ananas ; Cob6u8 (man-eater) ; Piraiums (flsh- 
 snoTit) ; Pisas (net) ; Tapurus (tapir) ; Uaracus (fish) ; Tucun- 
 deras (ant) ; Jacamis (trumpet-bird) ; Muouras (opossum) ; 
 Taiassus (hog) ; Tijucos (mud) ; Arapassos (woodpecker) ; 
 
META. 51 
 
 The Uaupfe plant and cultivate maize and manioc, 
 and have ia later times raised besides sugar-cane and 
 tobacco. They are skilful fishermen, and their ca- 
 noes, hollowed out of logs, are often forty feet long. 
 Both sexes go entirely naked, but the men wear a 
 crown of feathers on their heads. Their houses are 
 also used as burial-places for the dead. They re- 
 ceived Von Speyer in an unfriendly manner, painted 
 ia black, and opposing the Spaniards with spears, 
 bows and arrows, and clubs, under the protection of 
 large shields of tapir-skin ; but they could not resist 
 the firearms and cavalry of the white men. 
 
 Von Speyer was forced to make a slow retreat, 
 more by the violent raias than by the resistance of 
 the Uaupes. Raging torrents pouring down from 
 the mountains in the west often prevented his move- 
 ments for days at a time. He heard agaia there, 
 however, the name of Meta, and learned that he was 
 near the source of that river. He was assured that 
 civilized tribes having much gold dwelt there, and 
 he determiued to seek those tribes first of all. 
 
 Having returned to the country of the Zaquitios, 
 he sent a detachment farther back to bring up the 
 rest of his troops, whom he had left in the rear, sick. 
 But they were not found. Following the route of 
 their commander, they had gone on to the Apure, and 
 
 Tueanas (pepper-eater) ; tlaearras (crane) ; Ipeeas (duck) ; 
 Gis (axe) ; Coua (wasp) ; Corocoro (green ibis) ; Armadillos 
 (armadillo) ; Tatus ; Penimbucas (ashes). These names are 
 somewhat similar to the designations which the Iroquois chose 
 for their gentes, and prove, by the use of the names of pecu- 
 liar animals, that the tribe of the Uaup6s was certainly formed 
 or divided up within tropical America. 
 
52 THE GILDED MAN. 
 
 then, giving him up, had returned to Coro. There 
 were left to Von Speyer one hundred and forty men 
 and forty-four horses. "With these he went forward 
 again to the Uaupes, and finally reached the sources 
 of the Meta. The Uaup6s who inhabited this region 
 had some gold of twenty-two carats and some fine 
 silver, but he was told that the rich tribe he was 
 looking for dwelled beyond that coimtry, on the 
 other side of the western mountains. He tried in 
 vain to push into the mountains ; their inaccessible 
 cliffs repelled every effort. He heard here of white 
 men who some time before had tried to reach the 
 Meta from the east with boats.* 
 
 Georg von Speyer was persuaded by his captain, 
 Estevan Martin, to go farther south. Bloody conflicts 
 took place with the Uaup6s before he crossed the 
 Rio Guaviare (or Boayare). On the other side of this 
 river, Diego de Montes, " cosmographer and a man 
 skilled in the use of the astrolabe," determined the 
 latitude — 2° 40'. The western mountain range here 
 took a southwesterly direction ; Von Speyer was on 
 the borders of Ecuador. The hope rose again that 
 by proceeding along that chain he could find a pass. 
 Estevan Martin encouraged his hopes, and the Uaup6s 
 pointed thither to the strange ti'ibe of the Chogues 
 as being at the gateway to the land of gold. But 
 after crossing the Rio Caqueta (also called the 
 Japura) ia northern Ecuador, a detachment sent 
 out under Estevan Martin to ascend that stream was 
 attacked by the Chogues, and its leader was slain. 
 Von Speyer at once avenged the death of his asso- 
 ciate, and explored the course of the river to the 
 
 * This story related to the unfortunate expedition of Herrera. 
 
META. 53 
 
 mountains, but was not able to cross them anywhere. 
 His men were now exhausted, and yielding to their 
 entreaties and remonstrances, he began a retreat on 
 August 10, 1537, with one hundred and thirty men, 
 of whom hardly fifty were fit for service. He had 
 got to one degree north of the equator, and his road, 
 i£ he had succeeded in crossing the mountains, would 
 have led him to Pasto, between Quito and New 
 Granada. 
 
 The advance had been continued through twenty- 
 seven months ; the retreat over the same road occu- 
 pied more than nine months. The Guaviare detamed 
 him several days. He was surprised to learn when 
 near the Rio Apure that his lieutenant Federmann 
 had been there two months before, a fact he could 
 not account for, because he had supposed Federmann 
 to be engaged in the northwest. Without delaying 
 longer he continued his march, and finally arrived 
 at Coro, May 27, 1538, after an absence of three 
 years. 
 
 While the material returns of this extraordinary 
 campaign (5518 pesos in gold) were so small that it 
 must be considered a total failure as to that object, 
 the geographical results were of great value for later 
 times. Besides visiting aU. the western tributaries 
 of the Orinoco, the llanos of Casanare and Zaguan, 
 the northwestern branches of the Amazon, and the 
 eastern slope of the Cordillera of Pasto, Georg von 
 Speyer's expedition gives us our earliest data con- 
 cerning the ethnography of these regions. The cam- 
 paign was also of the greatest importance for the 
 special object of our research. Ordaz, Herrera, and 
 D'Ortal had heard the story of the riches of Meta on 
 
54 THE GILDED MAN. 
 
 the lower aud middle Orinoco and in western Vene- 
 zuela, and had sought for them. The result of their 
 arduous campaigns was that the treasure was not 
 to be found in those districts, that its seat was to be 
 sought farther west, in the mountains in which the 
 river rises, near a great lake. Georg von Speyer 
 had now traversed the whole of western Venezuela 
 and western New Granada, had reached the source 
 of the Meta, and had thereby made it evident that 
 the story of Meta referred to the treasures of New 
 Granada, and was the echo, in another shape, of the 
 legend of the dorado, which had been transported to 
 the lower Orinoco. The gilded chieftain had van- 
 ished from the picture, and only the indefinite idea 
 of a tribe in the highlands rich in gold was left ; to 
 this was joined the recollection of a late, afterward 
 transformed into the great " lagoon of the dorado," 
 which we shall find again in "Parime." While 
 Georg von Speyer was thus imwittinglj' determining 
 the true character of the myth, his able but faithless 
 lieutenant had found the real home of the dorado — 
 the plateau of Cundinamarca. 
 
 Instead of proceeding westward, as his commission 
 required, Nicolaus Federmann had hardly learned 
 that Von Speyer had gone south when he followed in 
 nearly the same direction, but more toward the south- 
 east. Arriving in the vicinity of the Orinoco east 
 of the Apure, he met the mutinous soldiers of the 
 troop of Geronimo D'Ortal, and incorporated them 
 with his own company. Then he turned toward the 
 west, crossed the Meta, went on to the foot of the 
 mountains, and after he had ascertained that Von 
 Speyer was retreating, pressed boldly into the sierra. 
 
META. 55 
 
 Where his chief had failed, he succeeded ; he crossed 
 over the steep mountain, and, as we have recorded in 
 the first part of the " Dorado,^' reached the plateau of 
 Cundinamarca. But he had come too late. Quesada, 
 as we know, had anticipated him. Federmann bit- 
 terly deplored the fact in his letter of August 1, 1539, 
 from Jamaica to Francisco Davila. He charged the 
 dead Dalfinger, as weU as the then still living Georg 
 von Speyer, with incapacity and want of courage, he- 
 cause " they might otherwise — ^the one eight years, 
 the other three years before — have secured the wealth 
 which now the people of Santa Marta had taken." In 
 this letter, which Oviedo has preserved in abstract, 
 Federmann wrote : " The stories about Meta are not 
 wholly false, for that river does rise in the mountains 
 that border the plain ; and the House of Meta which 
 was sought for so long is the Temple of Sogamosa, 
 the holy objects in which the people of Santa Marta 
 have now carried away in sacks." These words of 
 an important eye-witness prove that it was the legend 
 of the dorado which, transferred to Meta, distorted 
 and diluted in many ways and spread throughout 
 eastern South America, stimulated the bold enter- 
 prises we have sketched. If we dwell a little longer 
 on some of these enterprises, it is, first, because they 
 are so httle known — in no case so well known as 
 they ought to be ; and second, there is associated 
 with them, especially to the German pubhc, a direct 
 interest in the deeds of the Germans in South Amer- 
 ica. We shall, in the third part of the "Dorado,^' 
 again, and for the last time, meet Germans iq pursuit 
 of the gilded chieftain. 
 
CHAPTER ni. 
 
 OMAQUA. 
 
 The licentiate Juan de Castellanos, in Ms "Megias 
 de Varones Illustres de Indias" (1589), sang the leg- 
 end of the dorado as it was current in Quito in 1536 : 
 
 When with that folk came Annaseo, 
 Benalcazar learned from a stranger 
 Then living in the city of Quito, 
 But who called Bogota his home. 
 Of a land there rich in golden treasure, 
 Eioh in emeralds glistening in the rock. 
 
 A chief was there, who, stripped of vesture, 
 Covered with golden dust from crown to toe, 
 Sailed with offerings to the gods upon a lake, 
 Borne by the waves upon a fragile raft. 
 The dark flood to brighten with golden light. 
 
 In these words of a poet who can make far more 
 pretension to historical accuracy than his contempo- 
 raries ErxcDla and Martin de Barco * lies a significant 
 confirmation of the thesis maintained in our chap- 
 ter on Cundinamarca : that the fame of the dorado 
 had penetrated southward. Belalcazar's contempo- 
 rary Oviedo declares positively that much was said 
 in those regions of a great chief called " Dorado." 
 Herrera, although not really contemporarj' (he was 
 bom in 1549), but one of the best authorities con- 
 
 • The former sings in "Arauoana" of Chili; the latter of 
 La Plata iu " Argentina." 
 
 56 
 
OMAGUA. 57 
 
 cerning Spanish America, says that an Indian in 
 La Tacunga, from Cundinamarca, told Belaleazar 
 much concerning the wealth of that country, and 
 of a chief reigning there, "which was the cause 
 of many undertaking the discovery of the dorado, 
 who had tiH then appeared to be a phantom." * Con- 
 cerning the nature and form of what was said of 
 this dorado, Castellanos gives us the version we have 
 quoted, which is confirmed by Oviedo, who says : 
 
 " When I asked why this prince or chief or king 
 was called dorado, the Spaniards who had been in 
 Quito and had now come to San Domingo (of whom 
 there were more than ten here) answered, that, ac- 
 cording to what had been heard from the Indians 
 concerning that great lord or prince, he went about 
 constantly covered with fine powdered gold, because 
 he considered that kind of covering more beautiful 
 and noble than any ornaments of beaten or pressed 
 gold. The other princes and chiefs were accustomed 
 to adorn themselves with the same, but their decora- 
 tion seemed to him to be more common and meaner 
 than that of the other, who put his on fresh every 
 morning and washed it off in the evening. . . . 
 The Indians further represent that this cacique, or 
 king, is very rich and a great prince, and anoints 
 himself every morning with a gum or fragrant 
 liquid, on which the powdered gold is sprinkled and 
 fixed, so that he resembles from sole to crown a brill- 
 iant piece of artfully shaped gold." 
 
 While these notices afford sufficient and circum- 
 stantial evidence of the existence of the legend south 
 of Bogota, it is a remarkable fact that the story was 
 * Dec. V. lib. viii. cap. xiv. 
 
58 THE GILDED MAN. 
 
 found, in an identical form, without any connection 
 with this, and without any local relation, on the 
 northern coast of South America ; as has been al- 
 ready remarked in treating of Cundinamarca* In 
 both cases the seat of the dorado was located at Cun- 
 dinamarca, although in one case this lay north, and 
 in the other case directly south. We have further 
 seen (in the second chapter) that accounts of a golden 
 " Meta " were spread through all northeastern South 
 America, to the lower Orinoco. Following the foot- 
 steps of those who pursued these reports, we found 
 their origin again to be in New G-ranada, in the pla- 
 teau of Cundinamarca ; and that story of Meta was 
 proved to be an echo of that of the dorado, faintly re- 
 soundiag in the farther distance. Also among the 
 aborigines of that plateau itself existed a detailed 
 tradition of the sacred ceremonial ablution of the 
 chief of Guatavita.t The lake stOl exists on the 
 Bahlen Paramo, and at the beginning of this cen- 
 tury the remains of ladders were stOl visible, which 
 could not have been brought to the isolated moun- 
 tain-top without a purpose. Many treasures of con- 
 siderable value have been taken from this lake, 
 among them a group of golden figures of antique 
 Indian manufacture, which we have already men- 
 tioned, and concerning which the chronicler Don 
 Rafael Zerda says : " Undoubtedly this piece repre- 
 
 * Father Gumilla says likewise in "Ml Orinoco ilustrado," 
 etc. : " Reports concerning the gilded king were current from 
 the earliest times of the conquest at Santa Marta, as well as on 
 the coast of Venezuela." 
 
 t As Fray Pedro Simon records in the fragment of his 
 " Notidaa historiales " printed by Lord Kingsborough. 
 
OMAGUA. 59 
 
 sents the religious ceremony wliicli Zamora has de- 
 scribed, with the cacique of Guatavita surrounded by- 
 Indian priests, on the raft, which was taken on the 
 day of the ceremony to the middle of the lake. It 
 may be, as some persons believe, that Siecha lagune, 
 and not the present Puatavita, was the place of the 
 dorado ceremony and consequently the ancient Gua- 
 tavita. But everything seems to indicate that there 
 was really once a dorado at Bogota." 
 
 We refer to this fact in order to clear up as fully 
 as possible the question of the historical probability 
 of the dorado, and to prepare the way for further 
 discussion of the subject. The personal dorado has 
 vanished, but his elusive shade still floats before us. 
 The vaHant figures of the conquest, knights who 
 were little inferior in bravery and adventurous spirit 
 to those of the Round Table, went in pursuit of him. 
 Their career, begun with violence, ended usually in 
 crime, and the generation which called forth and 
 bore the great figures of Cort6s, Pizarro, Quesada, 
 and Georg von Speyer expired in the iniquities of 
 Carvajal and the revolting monster Lope de Aguirre. 
 We specify the last in order to mark with his end 
 the close of the second period of the search for the 
 dorado, for in him aU the passions of the conquest 
 blazed up again into a lurid flame. 
 
 Our narrative must this time be a chronological 
 one, beginning in the year 1535, when Sebastian 
 de Belalcazar, freed through negotiations from the 
 threatening presence of Alvarado, who had landed 
 from Guatemala, was at liberty to give his mind to 
 e.sitablishinfi' and further extending: Spanish rule in 
 
60 THE GILDED MAN. 
 
 sent out from Quito to explore the region that Louis 
 Daza met the Indians who told the story of the do- 
 rado. The immediate result of this -was the slow ad- 
 vance of Belalcazar to the north in 1538, which took 
 him, as we have seen, by Pasto, Popayan, Cali, etc., 
 to the Rio Cauca, and over the cordillera to Neyva, 
 and then to Cundinamarca — a march which is usu- 
 ally described as an act of insubordination on his 
 part. It took place, at all events, without the knowl- 
 edge of Belalcazai-'s chief, Francisco Pizarro, who 
 was no little exasperated by it. 
 
 On the other hand, it may not have been un- 
 pleasant to the cunning, although mad, conqueror 
 of Peru to be relieved in this way of a subordinate 
 who was his equal in craft and not far behind him 
 in skill and energy. He therefore immediately sent 
 his brother, Gonzalo Pizarro, to Quito to take the 
 chief command there.* Gonzalo was, according to 
 his instructions, more solicitous to prevent Belalca- 
 zar's possible return than to pursue him ; and when 
 he learned, in 1539, that Pascual de Andagoya and 
 Jorge Robledo had occupied southern New Granada 
 (Cauca), while Belalcazar had gone on " to find the 
 valley which was called the Valley of the Gilded 
 One,"t he, considering himself secure against the 
 return of his formidable companion in arms, deter- 
 mined upon an expedition on his own account. 
 
 * In this act he abused his powers, which only permitted 
 him to concede the whole government of Peru at pleasure, 
 while single districts were put under the direction of com- 
 manders who could not he changed by him. See Herrera, dee. 
 vi. lib. iii. cap. xi. , and lib. viii. cap. vl. 
 
 t Herrera, dec. vl. lib. viii. cap. vi. 
 
OMAGUA. 61 
 
 A version of the dorado legend lay at the bottom 
 of his motives in this undertaking. Gonzalo Diaz 
 de Pineda had, about 1539, gone to the village of 
 Quixos, situated southeast of Quito, in the -woods of 
 the Upper Eio Napo (called by the chroniclers of the 
 time Rio de la Canela), and had there found the cin- 
 namon tree (N'ectandra Ginnamomoides of the order 
 Lauracece).* He also heard there of the Indians — 
 Cofanes, Jibaros, Huambayos, etc. — and further, 
 " that there were wealthy regions, in which the people 
 went round adorned with gold, and where there were 
 no mountains or woods." This was a reference to the 
 plain, a confused echo of Meta, and gave a new stim- 
 ulus to the anticipation that the spices of the Orient, 
 then monopolized by the Portuguese, might be foimd 
 in America. 
 
 Gonzalo Pizarro determined, without making any 
 closer inquiry — a trait of the times as well as of his 
 own personality — ^to follow up this story. He left 
 Quito with 220 men on foot and on horse,t and pro- 
 ceeded toward Zumaco, beyond the Sierra, to press 
 thence into the thick woods which encompass all 
 the tributaries of the Amazon east of the Andes. It 
 would lead us too far away to follow him on his 
 march, which is known as the "Journey to the 
 Cinnamon Country." It was an impotent groping 
 around in a tropical wilderness, where, surrounded 
 by an overwhelming profusion of impenetrable veg- 
 etation, man had to give up every other purpose 
 
 * It was probably the black cinnamoii wMcb Balmont de 
 Bomar6 in his "DicHonnaire cCJSistoire Naturelle" of 1765 
 calls " Canelle geroflie, Capelet on Bois de Crabe." 
 
 t Oviedo says 230 ; Zarate, 200, and 4000 Indians. 
 
62 THE GILDED MAN. 
 
 than that of maintaining himself, and might in the 
 end consider that he had done well if he escaped 
 ■with his life. All their horses perished, and also the 
 Indians ; and the condition of the miserable remnant 
 of the troop when it appeared again, on the table- 
 land of Quito, after two years' absence, is thus de- 
 scribed by the contemporary Augustin de Zarate, 
 who came to Peru in 1543 as royal treasurer : "All, 
 the General as well as the officers and men, were 
 nearly naked, their clothes having been rotted by the 
 constant raias and torn besides, so that their only 
 covering consisted of the skins of animals worn in 
 front and behind, and a few caps of the same mate- 
 rial. . . . Their swords were without sheaths, and all 
 eaten up with rust. Their feetwere bare and wounded 
 by thorns and roots, and they were so wan and 
 wasted that one could no longer recognize them. . . . 
 They threw themselves upon the food with so much 
 eagerness that they had to be held back and to be 
 gradually accustomed to the taking of it."* Such 
 was the ending of the campaign to the cinnamon 
 countrj'. 
 
 It would be unjust to hold Gonzalo Pizarro respon- 
 sible for this failure. The numerous rivers in these 
 forest wildernesses are the only highways practicable 
 to man, and his plan was from the beginning to use 
 for his further movements one of the tributaries of 
 the Amazon — ^that is, one of the streams issuing from 
 the eastern slopes of the Andes; of the existence 
 of the Amazon itself, as well as of its magnitude, he 
 had no knowledge. For this purpose he had ordered 
 his lieutenant, Francisco de OreUana (a native of 
 
 * "Sistoria del Descubrimiento y de la Conquista del Peru." 
 
OMAGUA. 63 
 
 Truxillo in Estremadura), to follow him on tlie Rio 
 Napo witli a bark * and provisions. But the stream 
 carried his unwieldy boat much faster than the men 
 could march, who were obliged to cut their way 
 along the shore. Hence Orellana, with fifty-three 
 men, including two priests, was soon far in advance 
 of the main division. It was not possible to go back 
 against the swift current. He halted, but the longer 
 he waited the harder his situation became. The pro- 
 visions were exhausted, the bonds of subordination 
 became relaxed, and still no signs were perceived 
 of Pizarro, who with the best will could not over- 
 come the impediments interposed by nature. Thus 
 all the precautions the able commander had taken 
 were in the end nullified.t The impression prevailed 
 from this time J that OreUana had treacherously de- 
 serted Pizarro — an impression which, in my opinion, 
 is not well founded. The natural diflQculties were 
 of such a character that OreUana could not wait for 
 Pizarro. His only hope for existence lay in his 
 giving himself up to the stream for an indefinitely 
 longer voyage. Thus Orellana went on down to the 
 Amazon. The magnitude of the immense river in- 
 creased the longer he trusted himself upon it. It is 
 known that Orellana passed the mouth of the Ama- 
 zon on his wretched vessels, and thence committing 
 himself to the sea, arrived at Cubagua on the 11th of 
 
 * " Vne Barca Uena de BasUmento." 
 
 t Fray Gaspar de Carvajal, a Dominican, -who went in Orell- 
 ana's voyage, says that the current was so strong that they 
 travelled twenty-five leagues a day. 
 
 X On which a contemporary, Gdmara, in his "Historia Gen- 
 eral de las Indias," division, "Rio de Orellana," lays special 
 emphasis. 
 
64 THE GILDED MAN. 
 
 September, 1541. The accounts of the details of his 
 remarkable voyage do not agree, and it is not ger- 
 mane to our purpose to discuss them. The chief 
 result of it was that the proportions of the gigantic 
 stream which divides South America into a northern 
 and southern half were at last appreciated, and that 
 exaggerated notions were spread over Europe con- 
 cerniag the rich countries that lay north of the 
 Amazon. The fable of the Amazons survived from 
 classical antiquity as one of the cycle of myths that 
 were credited or held possible. OreUana's chroni- 
 cler, the Dominican Carvajal, transplanted it to the 
 banks of the great South American river. This has 
 been charged against him as an offence. 
 
 If we examine his account carefully, we shall find 
 two distinct matters in it. One, relating what he 
 witnessed himself, is simply a statement that below 
 the mouth of the Rio Negro women took part in the 
 fighting against the Spaniards ; and that seems very 
 plausible. The other matter comprises the account 
 by a captive Indian of a tribe of Amazons rich in 
 gold living north of the river. Tales of that kind 
 were often imposed by the natives upon the Span- 
 iards. The story bears immediately on the object of 
 this work only to the extent that the Amazon River 
 henceforward formed the southern boundary of the 
 mythical region within which the dorado could still 
 find a place.* 
 
 * The later Peruvian fable of tlie Paytiti is eonnected, as 
 Von Humboldt has justly remarked, with the last concerted 
 efforts of the Inca tribe to hold its position on the upper tribu- 
 taries of the Amazon, and has therefore no connection with 
 the real dorado legend. 
 
OMAGUA. 65 
 
 Almost contemporaneously with this hazardous ex- 
 pedition, the starting-point of which lay south of Cun- 
 dinamarca, and immediately after the departure of 
 Gronzalo Ximenes de Quesada from Bogota for Spain, 
 Quesada's brother, Hernan Perez, who had remained 
 on the high plateau as commander, determined to 
 attempt a campaign to the west. The occasion of 
 this resolution * was a report that great wealth of 
 gold, silver, and emeralds was to be found on the 
 slopes of a mountain west of New Granada. He 
 left New Granada on the 1st of September, 1541, 
 with 270 men and 200 horses, and went as far as the 
 region which Georg von Speyer had fruitlessly trav- 
 ersed before him — ^the country of the Uaup6s and 
 Chogues in northern Ecuador. Hunger and suffer- 
 ing were his companions, but gold, which he sought 
 so eagerly, he did not find. He returned after six- 
 teen months, with his object unaccomplished. He 
 had found neither the " House of the Sun," of which 
 his far nobler brother had heard,! nor the Ama- 
 zons, although, as we have already said in " Cundina- 
 marca," the latter myth was also current in New 
 Granada. We only refer passingly to this unfortu- 
 nate expedition, and return to Coro, on the northern 
 coast of Venezuela, where, as we mentioned at the 
 close of " Meta," the Germans were preparing for new 
 enterprises in the interior. 
 
 Georg von Speyer had not been discouraged by 
 the failure of his march to Meta, but his bodily 
 strength was broken. Yet he had hardly arrived in 
 
 * Herrera, dec. vii. lib. iv. cap. xii. 
 t Oviedo, lib. xxvi. cap. xxx. 
 
66 THE GILDED MAN. 
 
 Coro again when he sent some of the little gold * in- 
 cluded in the spoil to San Domingo, to buy horses 
 and other supplies necessary for fitting out a new 
 expedition, t But he died before he was able to 
 begin this campaign, at Coro, probably near the end 
 of October or the beginning of November, 1540. 
 Oviedo says: "May God be merciful to him, for 
 truly, though I had little to do with him, he appeared 
 to me worthy of his office, and I believe if he had 
 lived that God and their Majesties woidd have gained 
 through him. For, besides being virtuous and pru- 
 dent, he was in the prime of life, and had acquired 
 an amount of experience that would have made him 
 a desirable leader in other enterprises." f 
 
 The death of Von Speyer left the Welser grant in 
 Venezuela without a director. Such a contingency 
 had been, however, provided for. The Bishop of 
 San Domingo, Eodrigo de Bastidas, had authority 
 
 * According to Oviedo (lib. xxv. cap. xvi.), 1262 pesos for 
 the men and 1700 pesos for Von Speyer. 
 
 t Oviedo quotes from a report of Von Speyer's dated Coro, 
 Oetotier 9, 1538, which has not since received any attention. 
 Possibly it no longer exists. 
 
 X Benzoni, "Storia di Nuovo Mondo," etc., says that Von 
 Speyer came to a tragical end, and vs^as murdered in bed by 
 the Spaniards. There is no further evidence on this point. 
 Benzoni was in America, it is true, from 1541 to 1556, but his 
 statements have not nearly the value of those of Oviedo, who 
 was very much interested in Von Speyer, was personally ac- 
 quainted with him, and would at least have spoken of such 
 a crime with indignation, especially as Benzoni himself says 
 the King of Spain caused the murderers to be punished. 
 Benzoni has probably confounded Von Speyer's death with 
 some later bloody event. 
 
OMAGUA. 67 
 
 to act as administrator ad interim at Coro. At the 
 end of November, 1540, that prelate, who was a man 
 of mmsual ^.bility, went thither with 150 men and 
 120 horses. He perceived at once that the colony, 
 which had never been put upon an agricultural basis, 
 could be restored to life only through a series of brill- 
 iant campaigns. The expeditions of Von Speyer and 
 Federmann had defined the object of these further 
 enterprises. He could not reckon upon Federmann, 
 who would have been a valuable aid, because he was 
 in Spain, whence, instead of returning, he was sum- 
 moned to Germany by the house of Welser & Co. to 
 answer for his equivocal conduct. He never came 
 to America again. Federmann, however, had left a 
 man in his place who was in no way inferior to him in 
 vigor, recklessness, and energy, and had besides the 
 extraordinary gift of making himself familiar with 
 strange languages with great ease. This man, who 
 had gained valuable experience in Federmann's fol- 
 lowing, was Pedro de Limpias. 
 
 "We name this Spanish soldier especially because 
 he was destined finally to play the part of an evil 
 genius in the enterprises of the Germans. Fray 
 Pedro Simon says that it was he who brought the 
 legend of the dorado to Coro ; but this is contradicted 
 by the declaration of Gumilla. His knowledge and 
 character nevertheless made him the soul of the con- 
 templated campaign. An immediate occasion was 
 offered for entering upon it. Georg von Speyer had 
 sent on one of his ofiicers, Lope de Montalvo, with a 
 vanguard and the direction to wait for him " in the 
 interior." " And nothing had been heard from this 
 
68 THE GILDED MAN. 
 
 captain or from his men when the bishop amved at 
 Coro." • To seek for Montalvo and to find the way 
 to the wealth supposed to exist in the south formed, 
 therefore, the object which it was determined to 
 pursue. 
 
 As leader of the expedition, the bishop, with wise 
 regard for the Welsers, appointed the knight PhiUp 
 von Hutten of WtLrtemberg, who had participated 
 in Von Speyer's expedition as a lieutenant. He was 
 stOI a young man, chivalrous, noble, and frank, the 
 idol of his men, and in many respects the worthy 
 successor of Georg von Speyer. Beside him, Pedro 
 de Limpias acted as his adviser ; Rodrigo de Ribera 
 was alcalde mayor; and Bartholomaus Welser was 
 one of the lieutenants. Pew expeditions were or- 
 ganized iu South America with better guarantees in 
 the capacity and knowledge of their leaders. The 
 bishop assured himself of the concurrence of the 
 royal revenue oflcers in Coro, as weU as of that of 
 Welser's factor, Melchior Grubel, or G-ruber, and 
 thus combined the wishes and interests of both of the 
 pai-ties who were jealously watching one another.t 
 
 Thus enjoying every condition that could assure 
 success, Philip von Hutten left Coro in August, 1541. 
 He had a hundred horsemen. The route, which had 
 been laid down in writing, was the same as that of 
 Von Speyer, except that Von Hutten was to press 
 
 * Oviedo. 
 
 t It appears that Welser's agents were, besides, creditors 
 of most of the soldiers who went in this campaign, so that 
 their interests commanded them to give the men all possible 
 assistance, in order that they might recover what was due 
 them. 
 
OMAGUA. 69 
 
 farther on. From Burburata, wlither he went by 
 boat, he marched rapidly through Barquicimeto to 
 the plain of the Apure, wintered there in "La 
 Fragua," and then advanced to the borders of 
 Ecuador, in the vicinity of the mountain range of 
 Timana, west of the cordillera of Suma Paz. Here, 
 where he came upon the trail of the unfortunate ex- 
 pedition of Heman Perez de Quesada, the Indians 
 tried to induce him to go eastward by telling him of 
 a powerful, wealthy tribe which inhabited a " city " 
 in the plain called Macotoa. Von Hutten paid no 
 attention to these deceptive stories, but followed 
 the trail which Quesada had left ; that is, he spent 
 nearly a year of great privation, suffering, and toU, 
 marching in a cii'cle, and returned, at the beginning 
 of 1543, to the same place, near the sources of the 
 Caqueta or Japura, whence he had set out. The 
 steadiness his men displayed during this terrible 
 march speaks well for his capacity as well as for his 
 character. Yet it is not impossible that Pedi-o de 
 Limpias, then still true, contributed much, by his 
 knowledge of the country and his iron tenacity, to 
 the holding of the men together. He probably ad- 
 vised them to follow Quesada's trail, if for no other 
 reason than because he was suspicious of the repre- 
 sentations of the natives, and did the contrary of 
 what they advised him. 
 
 When, however, he found himself back at his origi- 
 nal starttug-place with a small company of sickly 
 men. Von Hutten recollected what the Indians had 
 said about the gold-rich lands in the east, and deter- 
 mined to go forward in that direction, accompanied 
 by Limpias, with forty horsemen. He proceeded 
 
70 THE GILDEB MAN. 
 
 to the Rio Guaviare, where the Uaup^s received him 
 in a friendly manner, assisted him in crossing the 
 river, and furnished him with provisions. Their 
 village contained about eight hundred inhabitants. 
 They, however, advised Von Hutten not to go farther 
 south, for his little company was much too weak to 
 contend with the powerful tribe that dwelt in that 
 region. They called this tribe the Omaguas. 
 
 OreUana had arrived at an Indian settlement, the 
 chief of which he calls Aomaguas, on the 12th of May, 
 1541, at San Fernando de Machiparo at the junction 
 of the Putumayo and the Amazon.* Fray Gaspar 
 de Carvajal, in his report preserved by Oviedo,t 
 speaks of " the tribe or settlement of Machiparo, of 
 which we heard from Aparia 'el grande,^ as also of an- 
 other kingdom called Homaga, which was in con- 
 flict with that of Machiparo." The analogy between 
 Homaga and Omagua can hardly be disregarded; 
 and as the account continues, "After the latter had 
 withdrawn from the Machiparo to pursue us, we 
 went on eight or ten leagues farther to an elevated vil- 
 lage which we judged to be on the border of the set- 
 tlements and of the kingdom of Homaga " — the sup- 
 position is therefore not improbable that the tribe 
 of the Omaguas inhabited, in the middle of the six- 
 teenth century, that extensive tract which is bounded 
 on the north by the Guaviare, on the south by the 
 Amazon, and may have had the Cassiquiare and Rio 
 Negro (partly) on its eastern, the Rio Uaup^s and the 
 Japura on its western borders. Herrera's remark in 
 his introductory "Descripcion " (of the year 1611) is 
 
 * Herrera, dec. vi. lib. ix. cap. iii. 
 t Lib. 1. cap. xxiv. 
 
OMAGTJA. 71 
 
 not without significance : that "south of the province 
 of Venezuela are the Omaguas and Omigos, with the 
 provinces of the dorado." At all events, the tribe 
 seems to have inhabited a large tract, which included 
 in the north extensive grassy plains, and in the south 
 the thick woods of the shores of the Amazon. 
 
 The Omaguas belonged in all probability to the 
 linguistic family of the Tupi-Guarani, and therefore 
 to the principal division of the Brazilian aborigines. 
 Many words in their language are undoubtedly of 
 the Tupi idiom. Indeed, Velasco said in 1789 : 
 "This people is scattered over an extent of more 
 than fifteen hundred leagues in the interior of 
 America, under the names of Omaguas, Aguas, 
 Tupis, and Gruaranis." According to the Jesuit 
 Cristoval de Acuna,* who visited the Amazons in the 
 Spanish service in 1639, their name means "Aguas," 
 or Flatheads. The Portuguese called them " Cam- 
 bebas," which has the same meaning in the Tupi 
 language. Though unanimously pronounced, even 
 as late as 1743, physically the handsomest Indians 
 of the Ama^ion shores, their figures were deformed 
 by the custom of pressing the heads of their infant 
 children flat between two boards. The custom had 
 been discontinued in 1777 when the Ouvidor Ribeira 
 visited them at Olivenza at the mouth of the Rio 
 Yavari, thirteen leagues below Tabatinga on the 
 Amazon. 
 
 The Omaguas appear to have been at least half- 
 sedentary Indians. They were probably divided 
 into two groups, according to the character of the 
 
 * "El Nuevo Deseubrimiento del gran Rio de las Amazonas," 
 Madrid, 1664. 
 
72 THE GILDED MAN. 
 
 country they occupied: a northern group, or the 
 Omaguas of the plains ; and a southern group, or 
 the Omaguas of the wooded river-banks. The pop- 
 ulation cannot be supposed to have been dense ; cer- 
 tain eligible points, usually in convenient proximity 
 to the water, were the seats of villages, between 
 which often lay uninhabited wildernesses several 
 days' journey in breadth. No connection between 
 the individual settlements and no kingdom of the 
 Omaguas can be assumed. 
 
 The southern Omaguas are the best known to us. 
 We have already referred to OreUana's chronicler, 
 Padre Carvajal, as indicating the boundary where, 
 according to his view, the territory of the tribe be- 
 gan. At all events, the Omaguas lived in the same 
 region of the Amazon shore from 1639 to 1852, and 
 we can therefore accept the Dominican's account as 
 relating to that tribe. It appears further from his 
 description that they lived in villages built of wood, 
 usually on elevations on the shore. In one of these 
 villages the Spaniards found two large idols made of 
 palm-tree bark, which were set up in the great com- 
 munal house {galpon 6 casa principal). Much earth- 
 enware, very weU worked, with dark colors and 
 " glazed," was likewise found there, besides a cop- 
 per axe, " such as the Indians in Peru use." These 
 facts indicate some degree of skill in art, and there- 
 fore a settled abode and agriculture; and this is 
 confirmed by the acquaintance of the people with 
 natural products. The Portuguese first obtained 
 caoutchouc from the Omaguas, and manioc meal, 
 cassava, and maize were abundant in their houses. 
 But fishing appeal's to have been their chief Indus- 
 
OMAGUA. 73 
 
 trial occupation. They were very skilful in man- 
 aging and steering the pirogue ; and Velasco * calls 
 them " the Phcanieians of the Amazon." Their weap- 
 ons appear to have been javelins and the peculiar 
 slings called estolica, and their warriors protected 
 themselves with wooden shields. Concerning their 
 organization, their religious rites and customs, the 
 writers of the sixteenth century have left us no in- 
 formation. Later statements on the subject are 
 scanty and indefinite, and are of a time when their 
 rites had suffered notable changes through the mem- 
 orable efforts of the Jesuits to introduce Christianity 
 among them. 
 
 After the Spaniards of Quito had made several 
 efforts, partiy by force of arms, partly by spiritual 
 means, to advance down the Amazon, Pray Gas- 
 par Cuxia in the year 1645 founded "the mission 
 to the Omaguas, who live on the islands of the 
 Maranon and are excellent sailors. They have the 
 fashion of lengthening their heads by compressing 
 the skulls of their children in a kind of press of 
 boards." 
 
 This effort of the Society of Jesus was based 
 upon a grand plan, unique in its way, for connecting 
 the aborigines of South America with one another 
 through the gradual introduction of a general lan- 
 guage, in order to prepare a spiritual kingdom which, 
 though in this world, would not be for the world 
 of that age, but should form in future centuries 
 a point of support, or perhaps a place of refuge. 
 Without dwelling on the particular features of this 
 great rehgio-political missionary enterprise, we sim- 
 
 * " Historia del reyno de Quito." 
 
74 THE GILDED MAN. 
 
 ply mention a Bohemian, Father Samuel Fritz, who 
 gained the special title of " The Apostle of the Oma- 
 guas." He was born in Bohemia in 1650, and in 
 1687 foiinded seven mission stations among these 
 Indians — San Joaquin, Nuestra Senora de Guada- 
 lupe, San Pablo, San Cristoval, San Francisco 
 Xavier, Traguatua, and a seventh station which in- 
 cluded twenty-seven small villages. Father Fritz 
 spent fifty years on the forest-shores of the Amazon, 
 shirking no danger, and died, one of the grandest 
 figures in American missionary history, at the age 
 of eighty years, among the Jeberos, in 1730. The 
 constant attacks of the Portuguese hindered the 
 prosperity of these colonies to an extraordinary 
 degree. The suppression of the Society of Jesus at 
 last terminated their existence, and the settled In- 
 dians went speedily to destruction. La Condamine 
 visited the Omaguas at San Joaquin in 1743, and 
 praised their industry and artistic skill. When 
 Lieutenant Hemdon visited them in 1852 there 
 were only two hundred and thirty-two individuals 
 left of the once numerous tribe. 
 
 Our knowledge of the northern group of the 
 Omaguas is of the most indefinite character. All we 
 have is derived from the reports of Philip von Hut- 
 ten's expedition. We therefore take up again the 
 thread of the story at the point where the German 
 knight went on in the face of the wai'nings of the 
 Uaup6s, with only forty mounted men, in search of 
 the Omaguas. 
 
 The little troop went southward in the best practi- 
 cable order. They soon came to cultivated fields, in 
 which natives were working. The Uaup6s explained 
 
OMAGUA. 75 
 
 they were slaves, cultivating and taking care of the 
 plantations of the Omaguas. They offered no re- 
 sistance, and the white men hurried forward to sur- 
 prise the "city" which was supposed to be in the vi- 
 cinity. Looking down from the top of a hill, they ob- 
 served a settlement of considerable extent, regularly 
 laid out, with large dwellings, and a high structure 
 amidst them. The view was a surprise. Convinced 
 by it that this was the long-sought city and that the 
 high building was the "palace" of the gilded chieftain, 
 the Spaniards rode full speed down the hill ; simul- 
 taneously the war drum sounded from out the vil- 
 lage, and armed soldiers rushed into the streets and 
 opposed the assailants with wild cries, letting fly a 
 shower of missiles against them. Von Hutten at once 
 saw that he could not accept battle on this ground. 
 He therefore withdrew in good order to a level spot, 
 hoping that he might find there compensation for his 
 inferiority in numbers in the superior weight of his 
 cavalry. Although pursued, he reached the position 
 he sought without great difficulty. The sun had set, 
 and the Omaguas remained quiet during the night. 
 On the next morning they appeared again in great 
 masses — fifteen thousand strong, Fray Pedro Simon 
 asserts, and after him GumiUa; and their attack 
 was so fierce as to occasion the most serious appre- 
 hensions. The contest was too unequal. One cav- 
 alry attack after another was repulsed, and Pedro 
 de Limpias, who was in the lead everywhere, was 
 wounded. At length the little troop struggled no 
 longer for victory, but for life. With imexampled 
 bravery a few leaders finally succeeded in forcing 
 their wav throueh, and with the remnant of their 
 
76 THE GILDED MAN. 
 
 men reaching the settlements of the Uaup^s, when 
 the pursuit by the Omaguas ceased. 
 
 Although the unfortunate ending of the campaign 
 against the Omaguas made further progress imprac- 
 ticable, the leaders of the expedition stiU believed 
 they had obtained an important result. Their ex- 
 cited fancy discerned a great city in the large village 
 of the Omaguas, and in the communal house that oc- 
 cupied the middle of the town the castle or palace 
 of a powerful prince. Such illusions have often 
 occurred in America, and the mere introduction of 
 a European terminology into the domain of the eth- 
 nology of the new continent has occasioned a serious 
 confusion which can only be gradually cleared up. 
 In the eyes of Von Hutten and his companions that 
 great settlement coidd only be the kingdom of the 
 gilded chieftain, and they comforted themselves for 
 their disaster in the fancy that they had at last 
 found the seat of -the long-sought dorado. 
 
 Philip von Hutten had received a serious wound in 
 the battle, which necessitated a longer stay with the 
 Uaup6s. The examination of the wound was per- 
 formed in a singular manner. An aged war pris- 
 oner of the Uaup^s was dressed in the armor of 
 the knight and set upon his horse. He was then 
 wounded by an Indian in the same way as Von 
 Hutten had been. The flesh was then cut about the 
 wound, the course of which was thus determined 
 upon the poor victim. The Uaup4s inferred that Von 
 Hutten's wound was of similar shape, and treated 
 it upon that supposition. 
 
 In the meantime, and before Von Hutten could 
 even begin the retreat, Pedro dc Limpias, as the old- 
 
OMAGUA. 77 
 
 est captain, demanded the position of commander. 
 It cannot be denied that in consideration of his ex- 
 perience and knowledge he was entitled to it. But 
 Bartholomaus Welser, as a son of the family which 
 had leased Venezuela, seems to have thought other- 
 wise; and although we have no exact account of 
 what took place, it is certain that a bitter quarrel 
 arose between the old Spanish soldier and the young 
 son of the German merchant. It_is easily conceiv- 
 able tliat Von Hutten would ultimately incline to 
 the side of his German companion in arms. The 
 little troop, nursing the germ of strife within itself, 
 began, probably in 1544, the retreat, directly toward 
 Coro. The usual difficidties attended their march, 
 but the accustomed order does not seem to have pre- 
 vailed. It soon became evident that the troop was 
 divided. At last Pedro de Limpias abruptly took 
 leave of it and hastened forward to the coast. His 
 departure left Von Hutten without a captain. Bar- 
 tholomaus Welser, it is true, commanded a small 
 advance-guard, but he was little acquainted with 
 the region. In the meantime, Limpias hurried on, 
 occupied with thoughts of revenge: with the in- 
 tention of going to Coro in order to bring about 
 the downfall of the Germans and of their rule in 
 Venezuela. 
 
 Philip von Hutten had now been absent four 
 years from the settlement on the seacoast, and in 
 that time events there had taken a turn very favor- 
 able to the plans of the revengeful Spaniard. After 
 Von Hutten was sent to the south in the year 1541, 
 and their main support was thereby taken from the 
 
78 THE GILDED MAN. 
 
 turned to the Antilles. He left Diego de Boiga as 
 liis representative in Coro, •who, however, was soon 
 obliged to flee to Honduras on account of his misde- 
 meanors. The chief court of justice (Audiencia) next 
 appointed as alcalde mayor Enrique Eembdl, who, 
 with a wasteful expenditure of the Welsers' prop- 
 erty, brought a hundred men from Cubagua, and 
 thus contributed somewhat to the encouragement of 
 the settlement. The oflce was held after his death 
 by Bernardino Manso and Juan de Bonilla, who 
 both had, however, to seek safety in flight from the 
 consequences of their misdeeds. Finally, in order to 
 prevent the ruin of the colony, the licentiate Frias was 
 in 1545 appointed controlling inquisitorial judge, 
 and the licentiate Juan de Carvajal governor, of the 
 Province of Venezuela. The latter appointment was 
 significant of the intention of the Spaniards to ter- 
 minate the contract with the Welsers. Frias re- 
 mained on the island of Margarita, while Carvajal 
 proceeded to Coro. 
 
 The new governor was a man of indubitable abil- 
 ity and vigor, but unprincipled and violent. His 
 first important transaction was an act of formal 
 disobedience. In the course of three months he by 
 persuasion or intimidation induced the more active 
 part of the population to leave Coro, and taking 
 their property, to follow him across the country to 
 New Granada, where he promised them wealth which 
 the Venezuelan coast could not afford them. His 
 adherents first plundered those who remained be- 
 hind, and then, having collected their domestic ani- 
 mals, set forth on their migration. The route lay 
 southward, along the plains, avoiding the woods. 
 
OMAGUA. 79 
 
 Carvajal halted at Tocuyo, among the Cuybas Indi- 
 ans, in a pleasant and fertile region, favorable to 
 agriculture and cattle-raising ; and the fact that he 
 began a settlement there speaks weU for his judg- 
 ment. He collected about two hundred well-armed 
 men at Tocuyo, whose devotion to himself he assured 
 by skilfully anticipating and gratifying their unre- 
 strained passions and wants. The inquisitorial judge, 
 Frias, proceeded to Coro to call the governor to 
 account, but in the ruinous and plundered condition 
 of the colony he had no means of making his author- 
 ity felt. Carvajal therefore remained undisturbed 
 in Tocuyo, stamped by his own acts as a rebel against 
 the Spanish Crown, and the sworn enemy of the 
 Welsers and their representatives. 
 
 Such was the man whom Pedro de Limpias met 
 on his way as he was hastening to Coro, flUed with 
 hatred and thirsting for vengeance against the Ger- 
 mans. Limpias came into Tocuyo at night with sis 
 soldiers, called upon Juan de ViUegas, one of Carva- 
 jal's oflcers, and represented himself to be a fugitive 
 from the Germans, who were on the way to Coro to 
 offer themselves to the judge there. This was suffi- 
 cient to alarm all Tocuyo, for such a union of Von 
 Hutten's tried soldiers with the inquisitorial judge's 
 weak force would be highly dangerous to Carvajal. 
 It seemed necessary to stop their march, to remove 
 their leader by stratagem or force, and win over his 
 men to their side. 
 
 Pedro de Limpias, at all events, gave his counsel in 
 favor of the execution of this piirpose. First, the ad- 
 vance-guard under BartholomausWelser must be cap- 
 tured. It had already reached Barquicimeto, north of 
 
80 THE GILDED MjVN. 
 
 Tocuyo. Juan de Villegas met it there, and as Philip 
 von Hutten had not come with it, two written mes- 
 sages were sent to him representing that Welser was 
 waiting for him at Tocuyo. Thinking of nothing else 
 than that his companion in arms was briaging him 
 reenf orcements, Von Hutten hurried on with his troop 
 of sixty men to Barquieimeto. To his no little aston- 
 ishment he was informed by Villegas that Governor 
 Juan de Carvajal summoned him to appear at once be- 
 fore him, otherwise "he would come for him with fifty 
 horse." The threateniug tone of this message was 
 clear enough, but Von Hutten was the weaker party 
 and he thought it best to temporize and to submit, 
 at least in appearance, to the " governor." Carvajal 
 received him with a show of friendliness, prepared a 
 feast for him, and tried to dissuade him from going 
 to Coro. If he would stay with him he would show 
 him a valley where much gold could be got, by the 
 use of which reenf orcements could be obtained from 
 Cubagua and Margarita. The German knight did 
 not directly refuse this invitation, but pleaded his 
 duty to the emperor. If this required it he would 
 stay where they were; but nothing could prevent 
 him from defending himself before the imperial 
 judge in Coro. 
 
 In the meantime the rest of the troops had arrived 
 at Tocuyo. The two camps or parties had, as it 
 were, coalesced. The moment seemed favorable for 
 strildng a decisive blow. On the second day of Von 
 Hutten's presence Carvajal proclaimed orders early 
 in the morning that all of the soldiers of the for- 
 mer shotdd report themselves to him. The German 
 knight, greatly astonished at this assumption, hurried 
 
OMAGUA. 81 
 
 to the house of the governor, whom he met at the door. 
 He remonstrated with him and repeated his former 
 declaration, that he was ready to account to " the king, 
 the judge, and the Welsers" for what he had done. 
 Carvajal had been waiting for the mention of the 
 "Welsers, and he used the occasion to caU oiit aloud, 
 " You are witnesses that he says this province belongs 
 to the "Welsers," hoping by this means to excite the 
 animosity of the Spaniards against the Germans 
 and provoke an immediate conflict. The passage of 
 words between the leaders brought the soldiers to 
 the spot. Carvajal ordered a notary (a necessary ac- 
 companiment of aU Spanish expeditions) to draw up 
 a warrant against Von Hutten. He protested, and 
 both drawing their swords, appealed to the king. 
 They were separated, but the men of the two leaders 
 ranged themselves under their respective banners; 
 two hostile camps ready for battle confronted one 
 another — and Carvajal's plan to separate the leader 
 from his soldiers had failed. In the conflict, Bar- 
 tholomaus "Welser rushed three times against Carva- 
 jal with upraised lance. His exhausted, famished 
 horse failed him the third time, else, Herrera says, 
 he would certainly have killed the "tyrant." He 
 fled to his house, and the approach of night put an 
 end to further action. 
 
 On the next morning Philip von Hutten escaped 
 from the trap that had been set for him in Tocuyo, 
 and collected his men on the llanos of Quibore. 
 Carvajal now tried negotiations. Priests and "Wel- 
 ser's factor, Melchior Grubel, served as emissaries. 
 It was flnaUy agreed that Carvajal and his officers 
 should swear peace and permit the Germans to go 
 
82 THE GILDED MAN. 
 
 unmolested to Coro. With this assurance Von Hut- 
 ten started thither, accompanied by his men. 
 
 It was often the case at that time, and in those 
 wild, thinly inhabited regions, that two war parties 
 could march one a short distance behind the other 
 without knowing anything of each other. As soon 
 as Von Hutten had started Carvajal followed upon 
 his track, being probably guided by Limpias. The 
 Germans went on in fancied security, not suspect- 
 ing they had anything to fear, and apparently even 
 neglecting the usual measures of precaution. Car- 
 vajal feU upon their sleeping camp on the night of 
 the seventh day, and his ofQcers, who had with him 
 a little while before sworn peace with Von Hutten, 
 seized the German knight in his bedroom. After 
 the leaders had been captured the men surrendered 
 without resistance. 
 
 By this act of perfidy Ulrich von Hutten and 
 Bartholomaus Welser were now helpless prisoners. 
 An old Spanish proverb says, " When the dog is dead 
 the madness is over." Carvajal, therefore, did not 
 wait long. He called a council of war at dawn to 
 determine what the fate of the prisoners should be ; 
 they were promptly sentenced to death. Before the 
 Sim had set both the German knights were brought 
 bound into the naidst of the Spanish camp, and, 
 together with two of their associates, were beheaded 
 with a rusty machete that had been used a short time 
 before for cutting wood. 
 
 Shortly after this tragical event the licentiate 
 Juan Perez de Tolosa came to Coro as a representa- 
 tive of the weak inquisitorial judge Frias. He was 
 an earnest, conscientious, inflexible, strict man. He 
 
OMAGUA. 83 
 
 collected the few soldiers that could be found on the 
 coast, and fearlessly went with them in 1546 to meet 
 Carvajal. He succeeded, notwithstanding the su- 
 periority of Carvajal's force, in arresting hiTn without 
 resistance, and in a few days Von Hutten's murderer 
 was publicly beheaded at Tocuyo. Of the further 
 fortunes of Pedro de Limpias we are not able to 
 speak. 
 
 Although by this act of justice a kind of atone- 
 ment was offered to the G-ermans, their rule in Ven- 
 ezuela wholly ceased from this time. It had lasted 
 eighteen years, and had, it must be admitted, con- 
 tributed very little to the development of the colo- 
 nies. Robertson justly remarks that under the direc- 
 tion of such persons as the Welsers it might have 
 been expected that a settlement would be founded 
 on a plan different fromH;hat of the Spaniards, and 
 more favorable to the advancement of those useful 
 industries which commercial proprietors recognize 
 as the most direct sources of prosperity and wealth. 
 The failure to fulfil these expectations is ascribed by 
 Robertson to the mistakes and misconduct of indi- 
 vidual German leaders in Venezuela. His designa- 
 tion of these men as adventurers, who in their 
 impatience thought of nothing but of snatching 
 wealth, fits Ambrosius Dalfinger very well, and 
 Federmann to a certain extent, although the latter 
 was too prudent fully to come under it. But we can- 
 not affix such a reproach to the grand and richly 
 endowed nature of Georg von Speyer or the noble 
 and knightly personality of Philip von Hutten. The 
 cause of the lamentable failure lies in the nature of 
 
84 THE GILDED MAN. 
 
 session of Venezuela was conveyed to the Welsers. 
 They received the province from the Spanish Crown, 
 not so much in the form of a leasehold as of a mort- 
 gage secm'ity for money loaned, and as commercial 
 men their first object was to recover the advances 
 they had made as quickly as possible from the rev- 
 enues of the district. Whatever they might gain 
 after that would be '' good business." Their repre- 
 sentatives acted in their interest as seen from this 
 point of view. 
 
 The coast lands of Venezuela offered no hope of a 
 profitable result ; but golden reports came from the 
 interior, and, clad in the alluring dress of the dorado 
 legend, led the Germans on to those useless and 
 destructive expeditions of which we have just 
 described the last one. In pursuit of the gUded 
 chieftain Dalfinger conducted his fatal campaign of 
 desolation ; after him Federmann pressed fruitlessly 
 into New Granada ; in the chase for the echo of the 
 dorado in "Meta" Von Speyer sacrificed his fine troop 
 and his own precious person ; in the final effort to 
 grasp the phantom were extinguished Von Hutten's 
 young life and the last spark of the manhood and 
 vigor of the colony. When we give close attention 
 to the history of the German settlement in Vene- 
 zuela, the importance of the part played in it by the 
 dorado appears very clearly. 
 
 We have already shown that Von Hutten came 
 back persuaded that he had really seen the home of 
 the gilded chieftain in the country of the Omaguas. 
 Henceforth, therefore, Omagua becomes nearly syn- 
 onymous with the dorado, and the legend is localized 
 near the Amazon, west of the Rio Neirro and Cassi- 
 
OMAGUA. 85 
 
 quiare. Oviedo had already placed it there at the 
 time of the death of Philip von Hutten. Von Hut- 
 ten's iinhappy fate, the complete extinction of the 
 settlement at Coro, the threatened depopulation of 
 the Venezuelan peninsula, precluded any further 
 thought of an expedition into the interior south- 
 ward. The Brazilian coast, hardly touched at a few 
 points by the Portuguese, was too far from the un- 
 known interior, which was concealed in immense 
 forests. The western coasts, particularly those of 
 New Granada and of Peru, where the Amazon begins 
 its course, not only lay geographically nearest to the 
 region in question, but were also the seat of the 
 strongest and richest settlements of the Spaniards 
 in South America, the only ones from which any 
 campaigns could now be undertaken. 
 
 But although the population had rapidly increased 
 under the stimulus of the rich metallic; treasures 
 found in the country, events occurred, especially in 
 Peru, which made further expeditions impossible for 
 many years. The civil disturbances in Peru pro- 
 voked in the extreme south by the conflict between 
 Pizarro and Almagro concerning the limits of their 
 respective jurisdictions culminated in bloodshed at 
 Las Salinas near Cuzco, on the 26th of April, 1538. 
 Hardly three months afterward, Almagro was stran- 
 gled by Pizarro's command. An unbroken succes- 
 sion of betrayals and crimes, to which nearly all the 
 conquistadors of importance fell victims (thereby 
 expiating their own offences), marked the progress 
 of the insurrection, tiU it reached such a height 
 as to overshadow the whole west coast, like a dark 
 cloud, from Chili to Popayan. And when, in conse- 
 
8G THE GILDED MAN. 
 
 quence of the new laws and ordinances issued by 
 the Spanish Crown for the protection of the aborig- 
 ines, this cloud began to unload itself in a storm 
 of open revolt against the mother-country; when 
 Gonzalo Pizarro, m-ged by his lieutenant Carvajal,* 
 refused obedience ; when the viceroy Blasco Nunez 
 de Vela had f aUen at Anaquito in Ecuador on the 
 18th of January, 1546, and the insurrectionists pre- 
 vailed from Popayan to Atacamata — then the threat- 
 ening storm loomed also over the southern horizon 
 of New Granada, and the stunning reverberations 
 of the thunders of revolt reached the heart of Cun- 
 dinamarca. It was no time for daiing expeditions 
 into the mythical interior; every force had to be 
 used for self-preservation. In this period a man 
 came upon the stage of history in New Granada 
 who was to be especially associated with the phan- 
 tom of the gilded chieftain. He was Don Pedro de 
 Ursua, a young knight from Pampluna, in the king- 
 dom of Navarre. He was the nephew of the royal 
 judge Miguel Diaz de Armendariz, and arrived with 
 him in New Granada in the year 1545. Armen- 
 dariz came to the "new kingdom" as inquisito- 
 rial judge, "Juez de Besidencia," and appointed his 
 nephew his " Keutenant." 
 
 * The third of the able monsters of that name who lived 
 in South America in the middle of the sixteenth century. 
 
CHAPTER IV. 
 
 THE EXPEDITION OP XIRSUA AND AGUIRRE. 
 
 The government of Bogotd. and Santa Marta was 
 lodged in 1542 in the hands of Alonzo de Lnga, a 
 son of the former overseer of Gonzalo Ximenes 
 de Quesada, the conqueror of Cundinamarca. "With 
 reckless greed Lugo had levied contributions on the 
 province, plundered the original Spanish conquerors, 
 and robbed the royal treasury. When he learned 
 that a royal inquisitorial judge had been sent to 
 Bogota he hastily gathered up Ms spoil — 300,000 
 ducats, according to Joaquin Aeosta — and fled to 
 Europe, where he died in MUan. Armendariz, hav- 
 ing at first enough to do at Cartagena in hearing the 
 numerous complaints against Lugo, despatched his 
 nephew Pedro de Ursua into the interior. The lat- 
 ter established himself in Bogota without opposi- 
 tion, and summarily arrested Lope Montalbo de 
 Lugo, who had remained there as the deputy of the 
 fugitive governor. Armendariz himself occupied 
 the capital of New Granada in the year 1546, while 
 Ursua became his military aid, although he was then 
 only twenty years old. 
 
 The sedentary Indian tribe of Cundinamarca, the 
 Muysca, had been completely subjugated, but numer- 
 ous hordes of warlike, cannibal natives stiU roamed 
 around their territory. These rovers by their con- 
 stant attacks endangered the settlements of the 
 
 87 
 
88 THE GILDED MAN. 
 
 Muysca and the Spanish colony itself. Their sub- 
 jugation was therefore a necessity for the prosperity 
 of the " new kingdom," and seemed the more desir- 
 able because the gold which the Muysca possessed 
 came from the regions inhabited by them. Already, 
 under Lugo's wretched administration, the captain 
 Vanegas had chastised the Panches in the west 
 and conquered their country, but northwest of Bo- 
 gota the Musos still roamed in the extensive forest 
 flats and grassy prairies, and their predatory attacks 
 threatened to depopulate the district of Tunja. 
 Ursua had led an expedition to the northeast in 
 1548 and founded the settlement of Pampluna. On 
 his return to Bogota from this expedition (which is 
 commonly spoken of as a "dorado journey") the 
 proposition was made to him, by the three royal 
 judges who now ruled New Granada in place of his 
 deposed uncle, to subjugate the Musos. 
 
 The knight, now twenty-three years old, advanced 
 confidently into the enemy's territory with one hun- 
 dred and fifty men. So rapid were his movements 
 that he assailed a fortified camp in the middle of the 
 region before the Musos could coUeet their forces. 
 A bitter war of extermination followed. Unable to 
 repel the well-armed Spaniards by direct attacks, the 
 savages swarmed daily around their camp, and tried 
 to starve them out by burning their own crops. 
 Ursua held his position and finally forced the Musos 
 to negotiate ; but when a large number of chiefs 
 had come to him to conclude the treaty, he in- 
 duced them to go inside of his tent, where they 
 were murdered to the last man. He hoped by an 
 act of such surpassing terror to paralyze the force 
 
THE EXPEDITION OP UKSUA AND AGUIREB. 89 
 
 of the tribe ; but tbe war only broke out again all 
 tbe more furiously, and as soon as Ursua returned 
 to Bogota, the Spaniards were expelled and the set- 
 tlement of Tudela was laid in ashes by the natives. 
 Notwithstanding the crime he had committed, Ursua 
 obtained the position of chief-justice in Santa Marta. 
 He subdued the Tayronas Indians ia 1551 and 1552, 
 but he did not remain long in New Granada, for his 
 mind had been turned toward Peru, and he went 
 to Panama. He waited there till Don Andreas 
 Hurtado de Mendoza, Marquis of Caneta, viceroy of 
 Peru, began his journey to Lima. The environs of 
 Panamd and the Isthmus were then kept in a state 
 of insecurity by bands of fugitive negroes (Cunar- 
 rones), and the perplexed municipality of the city 
 were looking for a capable soldier who could deliver 
 them from the plague. The story of Ursua's deeds 
 was known to the viceroy, and he recommended him 
 to the officers. Ursua exterminated the blacks in a 
 two years' " bush war," and then, ia 1558, followed 
 the Marquis of Caneta to Peru. 
 
 Ten years previous to this the licentiate Pfedro de 
 la Gasca had suppressed the great Peruvian insur- 
 rection. Two later uprisings — those of Sebastian 
 de CastiHa in 1552 and of Francesco Hernandez 
 Giron in 1554 — ^had been likewise suppressed by the 
 adherents of the Crown ; but quiet was not yet fully 
 established. A considerable number of men were 
 living in Peru, Bolivia, and Ecuador who witnessed 
 the return of order with a dissatisfaction that was 
 well founded, because their past would not bear 
 an examination in the light of the law. The num- 
 ber of this " disorderly rabble " was so large that the 
 7 
 
90 THE GILDED MAN. 
 
 new viceroy did not rely upon the mere exercise of 
 force against them, but was considering upon the 
 ways and means of removing the dangerous element 
 from Peru by means of a campaign into distant 
 regions. 
 
 The unknown lands east of the Andes offered the 
 only objective point for such a campaign. ChDi, 
 New Granada, and the banks of the La Plata were 
 already occupied by the Spaniards, and it was de- 
 sirable to send the expedition only to some point 
 where it could disturb no already existing colony, 
 and whence the danger of its returning to Peru 
 would be smaU. Then, veiy opportunely, by a cu- 
 rious accident, the legend of the dorado again rose 
 in Peru. 
 
 Pedro de Cieza of Leon says in the seventy-eighth 
 chapter of his "Groniea del Peru" : "In the year of 
 the Lord 1550 there came to the city of La Frontera 
 . . . more than two hundred Indians. They said 
 that since lea^dng their home a few years before 
 they had wandered through great distances, and 
 had lost most of their men in wars with the inhabit- 
 ants of the country. As I have heard, they also told 
 of large and thickly populated countries toward the 
 rising sun, and said that some of them were rich in 
 gold and silver." Cieza was in Peru from 1547 tiU 
 1550, and his statement is fully corroborated by a 
 contemporary, Toribio de Ortiguera, who came to 
 South America at the latest in 1561. It appears 
 from the manuscript of the latter, entitled " Jornada 
 del Maranon," that these Indians originally lived on 
 the BrazUian coast, near the mouth of the Amazon. 
 They had started between 2000 and 4000 strong, 
 
THE EXPEDITION OP UESUA AND AGUIERE. 91 
 
 under the lead of a chief named Viraratu, accom- 
 panied by two Portuguese, and sailed into the Ama- 
 zon and up that river, amid hard-fought battles with 
 the shore-dweUers, to the borders of Peru. Their 
 appearance aroused great interest amongst the 
 Spaniards. Fray Pedro Simon says of the event: 
 " Those Indians brought accounts from the province 
 of the Omaguas, which Captain Francisco de Ore- 
 Uana mentioned when he went down the Maranon 
 River. ... In that province, of which the Indians 
 told when they came into Peru, lived the gilded 
 man." * Thus the idea of the dorado was awakened 
 anew. 
 
 In the disordered condition of the country years 
 passed before an expedition to the golden land 
 of the Omaguas could be contemplated. The Mar- 
 quis of Canete readily perceived how favorable an 
 occasion this story of the Brazilian visitors and the 
 ^'■dorado fever" it excited afforded him. After a 
 personal interview with the Indians he proceeded 
 energetically with preparations for an expedition to 
 the shores of the Middle Amazon. Drafts were 
 made upon the royal treasury for this object. The 
 disorderly elements in the country seized the occa- 
 sion with not less eagerness than the viceroy to se- 
 cure for themselves an unmolested withdrawal ; and 
 thus the dorado, which had provoked the conquest 
 of New Granada and had brought the colony of 
 Venezuela to the verge of destruction, was this time 
 the beneficent messenger of rest to Peru. 
 
 A campaign of this kind required a strong leader. 
 The choice of the Marquis of Canete fell upon Pedro 
 
 * "Noticias liistoriales," Part I., Notieia VI., cap. i. 
 
92 THE GILDED MAN. 
 
 de Ursua, who readily accepted the dangerous com- 
 mission. Besides several other rewards he was to 
 receive, in case of success, the title and all the rights 
 of a governor of the countries expected to be con- 
 quered and settled. 
 
 A whole year passed before the preparations were 
 completed, and it was not till the spring of 15C0 
 that Ursua collected his men at Santa Cruz de Capa- 
 coba, on the Rio Llamas, a branch of the Huallaga, 
 where he had had boats built for the voyage to the 
 Amazon and upon it. It was really a " picked com- 
 pany" that met there. The scum of Peru formed 
 the principal part of it ; the majority, men accus- 
 tomed to everything except order and morals ; and 
 with them were women. 
 
 To lead such a rabble with success in the face of 
 uncertainties required an earnest and prudent, and 
 at the same time a decided, character of moral worth. 
 Ursua was frivolous and indolent, and often rashly 
 bold. His preparations were incomplete. Much was 
 still lacking when his money had all been spent, 
 and his men were eager to embark. With the help 
 of some officers — " all doughty champions with elas- 
 tic consciences," says Simon — Ursua forced the 
 priest of Santa Cruz to "lend" him all his ready 
 money, some four or five thousand pesos. By this 
 act he set the example of violence. 
 
 He likewise furnished an example of immorality 
 from the beginning. He kept up a close relation 
 with Inez de Atienza of Pinira (near the coast), 
 the young and beautiful widow of Pedro de Arcos. 
 Without heeding the counsels of his friends, he took 
 his mistress with him on this campaign in search of 
 
THE EXPEDITION OP UESUA AND AGUIRBE. 93 
 
 the dorado, and lived with her so intimately that the 
 chronicler feels impelled to make the remark, in ex- 
 cuse, that " they aU said, indeed, that he intended at 
 some later time to marry Inez de Atienza." 
 
 "While the start was delayed, in consequence of 
 the defects in Ursua's prepai-ations, trouble was 
 brewing in the camp. It culminated in crime — the 
 murder of Ursua's lieutenant, Pedro Ramiro. Ursua's 
 behavior in this affair (he drew the perpetrators of 
 the murder from their hiding-places by promising 
 them immunity and then in the face of his pledge 
 had them arrested and himg) made him personal 
 enemies. With the other elements of discontent 
 among the men were now associated hatred and 
 vindictiveness agaiast their leader. 
 
 On the first day of July, 1560, Juan de Vargas 
 was able to go forward with an advance guard ia a 
 brigantine to the mouth of the Rio Ucayali. The 
 main body, increased by the colonists of Moyobamba 
 with their goods, should have followed at once, but 
 of all the fleet only three flatboats and one brigantine 
 were seaworthy ; the other vessels were unavailable. 
 It was necessary to build rafts and canoes. The em- 
 barkation could not be effected till September 26th, 
 when it took place in great confusion. The availa- 
 ble space in the boats was unevenly allotted ; only 
 forty out of three hundred horses were taken ; and 
 all the cattle were left, without masters, on the shore. 
 The flotnia at last moved slowly down along the 
 thickly wooded shores of the Rio HuaUaga. It sailed 
 three hundred leagues, accordiag to Pedro Simon 
 (vi.), withojit passing in sight of a single Indian hut. 
 Harmony among the men was not promoted by their 
 
94 THE GILDED MAN. 
 
 getting under way. Every one appeared dissatisfied 
 and envious of the others, while most of them cen- 
 sured Pedro de Ursua. At the mouth of the Ucayali 
 they came upon the advance expedition under Juan 
 de Vargas; the men were nearly famished in the 
 midst of the richest vegetation. Theu- vessel had 
 rotted, and it was necessary to distribute them 
 among those who crowded the other already over- 
 loaded boats. Fresh discontent arose over this meas- 
 ure, and the dissatisfaction was increased by the fact 
 that Ursua always claimed a full share of room for 
 himself and Inez de Atienza. At last settlements 
 were reached above the mouth of the Rio Napo, 
 in which were found maize, sweet potatoes, beans, 
 and other vegetables. At one of these places the 
 flotilla landed, and the boats were repaired and re^ 
 built. Some of the Brazilian Indians who had given 
 the original motive to the expedition and who accom- 
 panied it as guides pointed farther eastward as the 
 direction of the rich country of which they were in 
 search. The Ticunas, indeed, on the southern side 
 of the Amazon (between the Ucayali and the Yavari) 
 possessed some gold, but the dorado lived north of 
 that river. The fleet therefore sailed on, despite the 
 murmiirs of the men, who had become tired of the 
 constant promises and deceptions. 
 
 Before Christmas of 1560 Ursua reached Machi- 
 paro, where he was near the country of the Oma- 
 guas. Encouraged by the extent of the Indian 
 settlements he found there, and by the friendly de- 
 meanor of the inhabitants, he determined to make a 
 longer sojourn at that place, for his crews were worn 
 out by their labor, especially by rowing. The men 
 
THE EXPEDITION OF UESUA AND AGUIRKE. 95 
 
 were glad to resign themselves to rest on the shore, 
 but their idleness also gave them leisure to consider 
 and mature criminal plans. Besides their dissatis- 
 faction with Ursua's leading, personal hatred, and 
 many worse passions, thoughts of wider bearing lay 
 at the bottom of their schemes. 
 
 Some of the members of the band had divined the 
 secret thoughts of the viceroy of Peru, or had joined 
 the expedition while realizing the improbability of 
 the dorado legend, in order to use it for their own 
 purposes. It is only certain that a conspiracy 
 against Ursua was formed at Machiparo. He and 
 his lieutenant were to be killed, and Fernando de 
 Guzman, a young knight from Seville and the en- 
 sign of the campaign, was to be chosen commander 
 in Ursua's place. Under his direction they would 
 return to Peru and with armed hand conquer the 
 country, expel the royal officers, and establish a new 
 kingdom there. The soul of this conspiracy was the 
 Biscayan Lope de Aguirre. 
 
 Bom at Onate in Biscay, Aguirre was then about 
 fifty years old. He had spent twenty years in Peru, 
 chiefly in the occupation of a horse-trainer. In- 
 volved in all kinds of violent and seditious acts, he 
 had been several times condemned to death and then 
 pardoned, and having become at last a fugitive from 
 province to province, was glad of the opportunity to 
 join Ursua's expedition. He is described as having 
 been "small and spare in figure, ugly, . . . with 
 black beard and an eagle eye, which he turned 
 straight upon others, particularly when he was 
 angry." Burning through and through with hatred 
 
96 THE aiLDED I.IAN. 
 
 same time, in all circles and ranks, endowed with 
 remarkable shrewdness and great physical and men- 
 tal force — a logical and impressive speaker, withal 
 — with clearly defined purposes, he was in every re- 
 spect a dangerous man. He was the most detestable 
 character of the conquest. 
 
 Even before the beginning of the voyage earnest 
 warnings against Aguirre had reached Ursua, but 
 the indiscreet knight had disregarded them. The 
 Biscayan had abundant leisure to intrigue with the 
 men. Ursua was so bUnd as to allow the con- 
 spiracy to be organized under his eyes, without re- 
 garding the plainest evidences of it. On the 26th of 
 December he embarked again and proceeded six or 
 eight leagues farther to another village. Here a 
 broad path led from the shore into the interior ; a 
 landing was effected, and a camp formed. "The 
 path," it was said, "led to a large city and prov- 
 ince ;" the Spaniards had, in fact, entered the terri- 
 toiy of the Omaguas. A strong detachment started 
 out "to explore the new country" — by which the 
 most faithful soldiers were removed from the camp, 
 and the conspirators were given the opportunity 
 they had been waiting for. 
 
 On the first day of Jamiary, 1561, two hours after 
 sunset, a well-armed party, with Alonzo de Montoya 
 and Cristoval de Chavez at its head, came into 
 Ursua's quarters. He was lying in the hammock 
 and speaking with a page. Surprised, he asked 
 them, " What are you looking for here at so late an 
 hour ? " and was answered with a number of scatter- 
 ing shots. Before he could put himself on guard 
 the whole band pressed in upon him, and with the 
 
THK EXPEDITION OP UESUA AND AGUIERB. 97 
 
 cry, " Confessio, confessio, miserere mei Beus ! " he fell 
 to tlie ground and expired. The murderers has- 
 tened out, one of them crying aloud, "Liberty, lib- 
 erty! Long live the king, the tyrant is dead!" 
 The alarm brought Juan de Vargas, Ursua's lieu- 
 tenant, to the place. He was immediately pros- 
 trated, and the conspirators returned to the hut that 
 served as the quarters of Fernando de Guzman. 
 
 Dismay and terror prevailed iu the camp. Those 
 not in the conspiracy stood surprised and helpless 
 before the numerous and well-armed murderers. 
 These took advantage of the confusion to remove 
 on the next morning a few other of Ursua's friends. 
 A general meeting was then compulsorily assembled, 
 in which Fernando de Guzman was without oppo- 
 sition proclaimed governor. New appointments of 
 oflcers were made all around. Aguirre received the 
 second highest place, with the rank of a maestro del 
 campo. 
 
 The conspirators did not agree as to theu" further 
 proceedings. The larger number, of whom Fer- 
 nando de Guzman was the leader, would not give up 
 the dorado. A second general meeting was called. 
 Against the earnest opposition of Aguirre and Lo- 
 renzo de Salduendo, the view of the majority pre- 
 vailed, and a continuance of the campaign was de- 
 termined upon. A paper was drawn up ia which 
 Ursua's death was excused as being a necessity, and 
 was signed by those present. Aguirre joined in 
 the signature, and wrote with a firm hand, " Lope 
 de Aguirre, the traitor." Murmurs were uttered 
 audibly against this act, and Aguirre answered defi- 
 antly : " You have killed the representative of the 
 
98 THE GILDED MAN. 
 
 king among us, the bearer of his power; do you 
 think that this writing will exculpate you ? Do you 
 suppose that the king and his judges do not know 
 what such papers are worth ? "We are all traitors 
 and rebels, and even if the new country should be 
 ten times as rich as Peru, more populous than New 
 Spain, and more profitable to the king than the In- 
 dies, our heads are at the order of the first licentiate 
 or pettifogger who comes among us with royal au- 
 thority." 
 
 This speech was shrewdly calculated, and was 
 based on known facts which were extremely un- 
 pleasant to most of the men. The meeting broke 
 up in disorder; even the conspirators were now 
 divided into two parties. Aguirre had on his side 
 the active and determined mutineers. His unex- 
 ampled audacity dazzled many and also made him 
 many enemies, but he carried, his point, for he was 
 the only one among the reckless, disorderly advent- 
 urers who was seeking to execute a clearly defined 
 purpose. 
 
 The first thing to be done was to divert the band 
 from the pursuit of the dorado. When his powers 
 of persuasion failed to be of effect in this attempt, 
 Aguirre bmlt upon the knowledge of the men. The 
 reconnoitring party which Ursua had sent out came 
 back with the report that the path which they fol- 
 lowed led to some abandoned huts, and that the 
 thick woods prevented further advance. The com- 
 pany then reimbarked and went on. The shores of 
 the Amazon were solitary and deserted ; for weeks 
 they saw no signs of men. Food became scarce; 
 the horses were killed and eaten, and thus all possi- 
 
THE EXPEDITION OF UKSUA AND AGUIREE. 99 
 
 bility of an advance overland was taken away. The 
 spirit of license grew more and more rife under 
 these toils and privations. Aguirre secretly made 
 use of the demoralization to remove the most influ- 
 ential men under various pretexts, and to put in 
 their places persons in whom he could perceive will- 
 ing tools. Fernando de Guzman permitted these 
 crimes, for he was himseK only a tool in the Bis- 
 cayan's hands, and was even so infatuated as to call 
 the monster "father." When at length the Bra- 
 zilian Indians confessed that they knew nothing of 
 this country, and that it was not like the one they 
 had previously passed through, Guzman concurred in 
 Aguirre's plan to give up the dorado and invade Peru. 
 A halt of three months took place above the 
 mouth of the Japura, and there it was determined 
 at a general meeting to sail down the river to the sea. 
 Margarita was to be secured by a sudden attack; 
 thence Nombre de Dios and Panama, should be 
 surprised; and once in possession of Panam4, 
 the Europeans believed that the success of their 
 scheme would be assured. This audacious plan was 
 so attractively presented by Aguirre that a formal 
 declaration of independence of Spaia was drawn up, 
 from which only three men ventured to withhold 
 their signatures. Only one of these escaped death 
 — the bachelor Francisco Vasquez, afterward histo- 
 rian of the campaign. Aguirre having thus suc- 
 ceeded in the first part of his design, it remained for 
 him to acquire exclusive control of the expedition. 
 A series of murders had relieved him of the offlcers 
 most in his way, and the time had now come for 
 Fernando de Guzman to fall. Knowing the ambi- 
 
100 THE GILDED MAN. 
 
 tious character of the young Sevillan, he decided to 
 exalt him to such a height that a fall should in any 
 event be destructive. "With absurd ceremonies Guz- 
 man was therefore proclaimed " Prince and King of 
 the mainland and of Peru." The puppet-play did 
 not fail of its anticipated effect. Guzman, naturally 
 courteous and therefore beloved, after this became 
 proud and imperious, and surrounded himself with 
 a silly ceremonial, which was impleasant to the men. 
 They soon ceased to love him; he was disliked, 
 avoided, and finally hated; and his fall became a 
 question only of time and opportunity. 
 ^- The •tiflTO^ months' halt above the Japura was 
 devoted to the building of two new brigantines of 
 stronger construction for the contemplated sea voy- 
 age. When they were completed the company em- 
 barked upon them, and started, before Easter of 1561, 
 down the river. Evidences of a numerous popidation 
 were apparent on the right shore; and when the 
 Indian guides said that wealthy tribes lived there, 
 Aguirre, fearing that the thought of the dorado might 
 be aroused again, contrived to change the course of 
 the voyage. According to Simon,* he conducted the 
 flotilla " through a bend into an arm of the river on 
 the left side." Simon's account is based on the 
 manuscript testimony of the eye-witness Vasquez, 
 and he continues: "Therefore Aguirre determined 
 to turn out of the direct way ; and after they had 
 gone three days and one night in a westerly direc- 
 tion, they came to some vacant huts." This took 
 place above the mouth of the Rio Negro, and it 
 indicates, as Mr. Clements R. Markham likewise 
 * Cap. xviii. 
 
THE EXPEDITION OP URSUA AND AGUIREE. 101 
 
 supposes, that the band left the continuous course 
 of the Amazon and went through one of the numer- 
 ous bayous that form a network of channels between 
 the Japura and the Rio Negro, iuto the latter river. 
 Von Hi^mboldt and Southey are, on the other hand, 
 of the opiuion that Aguirre sailed down the Amazon 
 to its mouth. 
 
 Yet that station of "some vacant huts" appears 
 to have been situated, not on the main stream, but 
 on a northern tributary. 
 
 The forsaken Indian town, surrounded by muddy 
 water, in which the band found quarters while it 
 consumed its scanty provisions, plagued day and 
 night by clouds of mosquitoes, was a sorry stopping- 
 place in which to spend the Easter season in idleness. 
 Aguirre thought the place and the opportunity favor- 
 able for striking his last blow. Fernando de Guz- 
 man was ripe for his fall. Few of the men still 
 adhered to him. But his death was to be preceded 
 by those of two other persons whom Aguirre still 
 feared. They were his former associate, Lorenzo de 
 Salduendo, and Inez de Atienza. This woman had 
 soon forgotten her lover Ursua, and yielded herself 
 without hesitation shortly after his death to the 
 murderer Salduendo, with whom she afterward lived. 
 Aguirre mortally hated her. A trifling contention 
 about the division of the rooms gave the Biscayan 
 a pretext for a quarrel with Salduendo. The result 
 was that Aguirre killed his comrade hi Guzman's 
 presence. Then two hired murderers rushed into 
 the lodging of Inez de Atienza and took the life of 
 the young woman in the most revolting manner. 
 
 Dr. Markham, on the strength of a few verses 
 
102 THE GILDED MAN. 
 
 of the licentiate Castellanos, calls Inez de Atienza, 
 after Madame Godin des Odonais, the heroine of the 
 Amazon. The comparison is hardly admissible be- 
 tween Ursua's mistress, who shortly after his death 
 became so readily the mistress of his murderer, and 
 the faithful wife who, to seek her husband toiling 
 in the service of science at Cayenne, bravely made 
 her way through the wilderness of the Amazon 
 shores almost alone. It is also painful to read 
 Dr. Markham, in his defence of this woman, a concu- 
 bine in station, calling the eye-witness Vasquez, who 
 maintained his fidehty to the Crown through con- 
 stant danger to his Mfe, a "gold-seeking advent- 
 urer," and the noble Bishop Piedrahita, of Panam^, 
 a " dirty friar." 
 
 Salduendo's death aroused Guzman from his 
 dreams, but it was too late. Not able to accomplish 
 anything openly against Aguirre, he determined to 
 make an attack upon his life. Aguirre anticipated 
 this, and speedily collected his adherents. The mur- 
 derers pressed in the darkness of night into the 
 quarters of the " prince of terra firma." The priest 
 Henao was the first victim, six captains fell next, 
 and lastly the simple-minded youth himself was 
 shot. On the next morning, Aguirre, accompanied 
 by eighty armed men, came into the midst of the 
 camp and was without opposition proclaimed " Gen- 
 eral of the Maranon." 
 
 By this name, Maranon, Aguirre henceforth called 
 the mutiny, of which he was now absolute com- 
 mander, and it was so applied by the men them- 
 selves. Simon * says the word was derived from 
 * Cap, xxiii. 
 
THE EXPEDITION OP UESUA AND AGUIEEE. 103 
 
 marana (complication), and survived after Aguirre's 
 campaign as a by-name for the Amazon. This is, 
 however, not correct. Peter Martyr had already, 
 in his "De Orbe Novo," applied the name to the 
 Amazon, of which Pinzon had seen the mouths; 
 Oviedo, who died in 1557, describes the Amazon 
 River as the Maranon ; and G-omara., whose "Sistoria 
 general de las Indias " was printed in 1552, applied the 
 name in an indefinite way to the great South Ameri- 
 can river that empties into the Atlantic Ocean. 
 
 The Amaaon is, however, also known as the Eio 
 de OreUano; and in view of the extremely vague 
 geographical ideas that prevailed in the siKteenth 
 century, no conclusion can be drawn from the ap- 
 plication of the term " Maranones " to Aguirre's men 
 concerning the further course or route of the expe- 
 dition. It is significant that Acosta* says, on the 
 authority of a witness who was in the expedition of 
 Ursua and Aguirre, and afterward went into the 
 Order of Jesus, that the Amazon, Maranon, or Rio 
 de Orellana, emptied into the sea opposite the isl- 
 ands of Margarita and Trinidad. In connection 
 with this the statement of Cristoval de Acuna 
 (1639), that Aguirre reached the sea through a 
 side-mouth of the Amazon opposite Trinidad, is of 
 considerable importance. Mr. Markham, therefore, 
 does not seem to be wholly unjustified in supposing 
 that the Maranones, having sailed up the Rio Negro, 
 passed into the Orinoco through the Cassiquiare and 
 thence through one of the mouths of the Orinoco, 
 and not through the Amazon, into the Atlantic 
 Ocean. In further confirmation of this view is the 
 
104 THE GILDED MAN. 
 
 mention by Pedro Simon of Aguu-re's having met a 
 cannibal tribe, the Arnaquinas. In fact, the Arekai- 
 nas, thorough-going cannibals, now dwell on the 
 Upper Rio Negro. On the other side are the facts 
 that the Falls of the Orinoco are not mentioned in 
 the few meagre accounts we have of the further 
 course of the expedition, and that the torrent at 
 Atures and Maypures, and even below, was hardly 
 navigable for the brigantines although, according 
 to Simon, they were "as strongly built as ships of 
 three hundred tons." But whether through the Ori- 
 noco or the Amazon, it seems to be certain that 
 Aguirre with his two vessels reached the ocean on 
 the first day of July, 1561. 
 
 With the murder of Guzman, Aguirre obtained 
 supreme authority; and the compressed narrative 
 of the voyage down the river to its mouth and into 
 the ocean, which lasted not quite three months, gives 
 us but little else than accounts of the Biscayan's 
 behavior in the exercise of unlimited power. His 
 whole course was intended to establish this power, 
 and since he was burdened with guUt and ciime, 
 and guilt and crime alone bound his men to him, 
 doubt and suspicion of his own people were his 
 predominant feelings. At least eight of the Mara- 
 nones fell victims to these feelings in the course of 
 three months; and every new crime attached the 
 rest, by the sense of common guilt, more closely to 
 their leader, who, like an evil spirit, led them, with 
 an ii'on will, to further crimes. No one dared to 
 speak or hardly to think of the dorado; the men 
 were permitted to entertain but one thought — that 
 of the conquest of Peru. 
 
THE EXPEDITION OF TJRSUA AND A6TJIERE. 105 
 
 The island of Margarita was to afford the first 
 base for this enterprise. Agnirre reached it in seven- 
 teen days, saUiag around Trinidad. The appearance 
 of the two brigantines excited general astonishment. 
 Aguin-e knew how to appeal to the emotions of the 
 inhabitants. The governor of the island and some 
 of the other officers went down to the landing to 
 see the new-comers. Aguirre seized and imprisoned 
 the governor ; his men then captured the fort ; and 
 before the people of Margarita came to their senses 
 the island had passed without drawing a sword into 
 the hands of the Marahones. The royal treasury 
 was immediately seized, independence of Spain was 
 proclaimed, and provisions and ammunition for the 
 further prosecution of the campaign were energet- 
 ically collected, by gentle means or forcible. Aguirre 
 now needed larger and swifter vessels for the execu- 
 tion of his audacious plan, for Nombre de Dios and 
 Panamd were to be surprised in the same manner as 
 Margarita had been, before the news of the event 
 could spread. A large vessel, which had brought 
 the Dominican-Provincial Montesinos with his mih- 
 tary escort to Venezuela, was anchored before Mara- 
 capanna (the present Piritu), on the coast of the 
 mainland, opposite Margarita. Some of the Mara- 
 nones were sent to seize the vessel. Instead of doing 
 that, they took the opportunity to desert the standard 
 of rebellion and surrender to the Provincial, to 
 whom they also made a circumstantial confession of 
 all the atrocities which Aguirre and his band had 
 committed. Fray Francisco de Montesinos was 
 shocked by the story, and at once sent messengers 
 to all the settlements in Venezuela. The report of 
 8 
 
106 THE GILDED MAN. 
 
 the impending danger spread so rapidly over the 
 mainland that in a short time fifteen hundred men 
 were nnder arms in New Granada. Venezuela had 
 been so exhausted by the dorado expeditions of the 
 previous period that it was only with extreme effort 
 that it could supply two hundred and sixty poorly 
 armed men. 
 
 Aguirre, who had in the meantime sunk both 
 brigantines, confidently awaited the arrival of the 
 expected ships at Margarita. In the excited and 
 tense condition of his mind, delay was hardly pos- 
 sible without violent outbreaks occurring. Not only 
 were Aguirre's own men exposed to his murderous 
 caprices, but the defenceless people of the island 
 stood in constant peril of death. Aguirre regarded 
 their property as his legitimate spoH, and disposed 
 of it arbitrarily for his own purposes. While the 
 men of influence and means were robbed and mur- 
 dered by him, the bad elements flocked to his party, 
 and the reign of terror on the island increased as 
 the Maranones gained accessions from the scum of 
 the population. At last the Provincial's vessel came 
 in sight, but flying the royal standard. Aguirre fell 
 into a furious passion. Having caused the governor 
 of Margarita and the principal officers to be slain, 
 he proceeded hastily down to the port to prevent 
 the vessel's landing. No battle ensued, however, 
 for after an exchange of empty threats the Provin- 
 cial set sail again in order to carry the alarm to the 
 Antilles and the Isthmus. 
 
 Aguirre's plan for surprising Panamd having been 
 thus defeated, he determined to invade Venezuela. 
 
THE EXPEDITION OP UESUA AND AGUIKEE. 107 
 
 Before doing so lie instigated a number of murders 
 at Margarita. At length lie succeeded in getting a 
 vessel, on which he sailed " on the last Sunday of 
 August, 1561," at the head of a well-armed band 
 of criminals, for Burburata. The people of this 
 place fled into the woods with their property as soon 
 as they saw the vessel, which bore two blood-red 
 swords, crossed, on its flag. Without haltiag at 
 Burburata, Aguirre marched inland to Lake Tacari- 
 gua, on the shore of which the settlement of Va- 
 lencia had existed since 1555. Some of his men 
 deserted him in the tropical wilderness through 
 which his road lay. Valencia had been abandoned, 
 and the Maranones burned the vacant houses. 
 Aguirre was ill, and therefore twice as irritable as 
 usual, and gave himself up to the wildest cruelty, 
 even toward his own men. In Valencia he com- 
 posed a manifesto to the King of Spain, and sent it 
 by a priest whom he had brought from Margarita 
 as a hostage to the coast. The letter, which has 
 been preserved by Vasquez and by Oviedo y Bahos, 
 begins, " To King Philip, a Spaniard, son of Charles 
 the Invincible," and ends with the words, " and on 
 account of this ingratitude, I remain tUl death a 
 rebel against thee. — Lope de Aguirre, the Wander- 
 er." The document is full of reasonable and unrea- 
 sonable reproaches, contains the most glaring and 
 absurd contradictions, and bears throughout the 
 marks of insanity. From Valencia Aguirre went 
 southwest toward Barquicimeto. The royal party 
 was not prepared for resistance in the open field ; 
 but the number of the Maranones was perceptibly 
 
108 THE GILDED MAN. 
 
 diminishing. Aguirre's daily recurring frenzies 
 were continually costing the lives of some of the 
 men; the scanty population, instead of joining his 
 party as he had anticipated, fled from before him, 
 and his people deserted him at every opportunity. 
 
 The end was approaching. Barquicimeto was 
 deserted, but the military force on the side of the 
 king now appeared before the place, under the lead 
 of the maestro del campo, Diego de Paredes. While 
 not strong enough to attack him, it prevented 
 Aguirre from proceeding farther. WeU mounted, 
 the royalists passed around his camp daily, cut off 
 aU access to it, and by the judicious circulation of 
 amnesty proclarnations which Governor CoUado 
 sagaciously issued, they encouraged his men to de- 
 sert. The number of these diminished every day, 
 and Aguirre's mad speUs of fury became steadily 
 more impotent. At last Paredes decided to risk an 
 attack on Barquicimeto. On the advance of the 
 royal troops most of the Maranones threw away 
 their arms and met their assailants with the cry, 
 " Long live the king ! " Agtiirre found himself all 
 at once entirely forsaken. Pale and trembling, he 
 went into the chamber of his only child, a grown- 
 up maiden, and with the words, " My child, God 
 have mercy on your soul, for I am going to kill 
 you, so that you shall not live in misery and shame 
 the child of a traitor," stabbed her in the heart, and 
 then weakly tottered toward the door which the royal 
 soldiers were approaching. He suffered himself to 
 be taken without resistance. The royal maestro del 
 campo desired to spare his Hfe, but the Maranones 
 insisted on the instant death of their former leader, 
 
THE EXPEDITION OF URSUA AND AGUIKEE. 109 
 
 and lie fell under the discharge of musketry. His 
 head was cut off and was exhibited at Tocuyo in an 
 iron cage. His memory survives to the present time 
 in Venezuela as that of an evil spirit ; and when at 
 night the jaek-o'-lantems dance over the marshy 
 plains, the solitary wanderer crosses himself and 
 whispers, " The soul of the tyrant Aguirre." 
 
 With this closes the account of the series of expe- 
 ditions which we undertook to describe in connec- 
 tion with the legend of the gilded man. The story 
 justifies our comparison of the vision of the dorado 
 after his real home had been conquered with a 
 mirage, "enticing, deceiving, and leading men to 
 destruction." 
 
 Notwithstanding the tragical consequences which 
 the search for this phantom invariably entailed, it 
 remained long fixed like an evil spell upon the north- 
 eastern half of the South American continent. Mar- 
 tin de Proveda tiied and failed, in 1556, to reach 
 Omagua and the " provinces of the doradoP Diego 
 de Cerpa, in 1569, and Pedro Malaver de Silva, in 
 1574, met their deaths at the mouths of the Orinoco. 
 There Antonio de Berreo, after he had fruitlessly 
 marched through the whole interior of Venezuela, 
 fell a prisoner into the hands of the English in 
 1582. The great expedition of Sir Walter Raleigh 
 in 1595 only got as far as the Salto Caroni. In the 
 meanwhile the locality of the legend, as Humboldt 
 has remarked, kept shifting farther to the east, tiU 
 it took final refuge in Guyana, " in the periodically 
 overflowed plains between the rivers Rupununi, 
 Essequibo, and Branco " — ^but shrunken at the same 
 time t.n a rmrelv e-eoaranhical mvth of Lake Parime. 
 
110 THE GILDED MAN. 
 
 As in the first half of the sixteenth century Ger- 
 man soldiers were the earliest to pursue the gilded 
 chieftain, the fact also appears like a curious fate 
 that in the first half of the nineteenth century the 
 German travellers Alexander von Humboldt and 
 Schomburgk laid that phantom of the great lake, 
 and with it terminated the last survival of the legend 
 of the gilded man. 
 
CIBOLA. 
 
 INTRODUCTION. 
 
 The most interesting period in the history of the 
 discoveries on the American continent was in that 
 part of the sixteenth century when the efforts of 
 the Spanish people were directed to pushing from 
 the already settled coast lands and isthmuses into 
 the Ulterior of both North and South America. I 
 have already endeavored, in the preceding chapters, 
 to project a brief view of the exploring expeditions 
 of the Spaniards in northern South America. Since 
 those sketches were composed, fortune has several 
 times led me into those countries of southern North 
 America which formed the scene of the most arduous 
 efforts of the Spaniards in the sixteenth century to 
 reach the north. I now purpose, as a contribution 
 I owe to knowledge, to f oUow step by step the tracks 
 of the earliest Spanish campaigns in the southwest of 
 the present United States into the interior of Sonora. 
 
 The value of historical research on the American 
 continent consists not only in the enrichment it af- 
 fords to the fund of scientific knowledge, which has 
 an indirect influence upon life, but also in the de- 
 struction it effects of deeply rooted errors, in which 
 it acts immediately upon practical life. Accordingly 
 as we represent to ourselves a people or a country 
 
112 INTEODUCTION. 
 
 when they fii-st become known to us, so we shape 
 our expectations of them when we go to estabUsh 
 our home among them. A correct notion of the 
 past furnishes the basis for an intelligent forecasting 
 of the future. I have tried to show in the history of 
 the dorado what harm may result from incorrect 
 views of history and misapprehensions of manners 
 and customs. 
 
 The eiTors of this kind which arose in the south- 
 ern half of the "Western Continent were, fortunately, 
 corrected at a comparatively early date. In North 
 America similar errors have been reechoed, with mis- 
 chievous results, down to near the present time. Ex- 
 pectations awakened and cherished in the beginning 
 of the sixteenth century, not fulfilled but never com- 
 pletely dispelled, have in past years prepared for the 
 failure of many enterprises in the southwest of the 
 United States. These expectations were built upon 
 the basis of a misunderstood fact. The tradition of 
 the "Seven Cities of Cibola" included a kernel of 
 fact enveloped by a shell of exaggerated fancies and 
 hopes. Much interest has been taken in recent limes 
 in inquiries respecting the " where " and the " how " 
 of that kernel. While those questions were correctly 
 answered by earnest and intelligent investigation 
 thirty years ago, the practical seeker has been led 
 by them into many unfortunate wanderings, and the 
 settler looking for his future in the west has been 
 lured into attempts that have forever buried his 
 fortunes and those of his companions. The follow- 
 ing pages have been prepared in the hope that, con- 
 veying the warnings of history, they may furnish 
 the basis for the formation of more correct views. 
 
CHAPTER I. 
 
 THE AMAZONS. 
 
 Columbus had heard of the Amazons on his gi-eat 
 voyage. He said, on the 4th of March, 1493, of the 
 Caribs : " They are the same who have intercourse 
 with the women on the first island which is found 
 on the voyage from Spain to the Indies, on which 
 no men live. These do not follow any womanly 
 occupations, but use bows and arrows of cane, like 
 those mentioned above, and cover and arm them- 
 selves with brazen plates, of which they have many." 
 In the same letter the Admiral spoke of a part of 
 the island of Cuba (Juana), "called Cibau, where 
 the people come into the world with tails ; " and of 
 another island, " where, as they assured me, the men 
 have no hair." In such a company, at that time, the 
 Amazons also could not fail to be present. 
 
 The legend of the Amazons was unquestiona- 
 bly domiciled upon the American continent by the 
 Spaniards, and was suggested by imperfectly under- 
 stood accounts of distant tribes given by the natives, 
 to whose words the Spaniards were not inattentive. 
 Keeping pace with the efforts of the Spaniards to 
 penetrate to the north, it appears first in the fourth 
 letter of Cort6s to the Emperor Charles V. (October 
 15, 1524) : "And among the reports which he brought 
 from that province [Colima] was an account of a 
 
 113 
 
114 CIBOLA. 
 
 very good harbor which was found on that coast ; 
 . . . and also he told me of the lords of the province 
 of Ciguatan, that many of them asserted there was 
 an island inhabited only by women without any 
 men, and that from time to time men went out to 
 them from the mainland; . . . when they bore 
 daughters they kept them, but the sons were put 
 away. This island is ten days distant from the 
 province, and many persons have gone there from 
 the province and seen them. I was also told that 
 they were rich in pearls and in gold." 
 
 It was Gonzalo Sandoval, Cort6s's most faithful 
 lieutenant and friend, who brought this account. It 
 was not allotted to Cortes himself to pursue the 
 search for the Amazons' island, for the insurrection 
 which another associate in his conquest of the Mex- 
 ican tribes, Crist6bal de OHd, excited against him 
 in Honduras forced him into the arduous campaign 
 in that part of Central America, in which he only 
 with great difficulty escaped death. Until that re- 
 markable expedition, which penetrated southward 
 from Mexico to the now hardly accessible interior re- 
 gions of Chiapas and Yucatan, the Spaniards held 
 the northern coast of the Mexican gulf to the present 
 state of Tamaulipas, but on the western coast they 
 had advanced but little beyond the twentieth de- 
 gree of north latitude in the state of Jalisco. The 
 subjugation of the tribes of the Rio Pdnuco on the 
 eastern coast brought about a conflict in the year 
 1523 between Cortes and the contemporary discov- 
 erer, Francisco de Garay, which ended in Garay's 
 goiag to Mexico, where he espoused the natural 
 daughter of Cortes, and then suddenly died. The be- 
 
THE AMAZONS. 115 
 
 havior of Cortes had already aroused the distrust of 
 the Spanish Government. There is no longer much 
 doubt that, feeling his separation from the mother- 
 country, and counting on the support of the natives, 
 which he was beginning to cultivate systematically, 
 he was working for the establishment of an iadepend- 
 ent kingdom in Mexico. He was therefore danger- 
 ous to all who stood near him in importance, and 
 used every means to remove them. To this end he 
 sent the most capable and most popular of his lieuten- 
 ants, Pedro de Alvarado, to Guatemala, and Cristo- 
 bal de Olid to Honduras, while Sandoval, in whose 
 frank and innocent character alone he could trust, 
 was allowed to remain in Mexico. He had man- 
 aged to get the first commissioner whom the Gov- 
 ernment sent to Mexico, Cristobal de Tapia, out of 
 the country; but Garay he permitted to come to 
 Mexico — to die. 
 
 Cortes considered himself secure, and wrote a let- 
 ter to the Spanish Crown, the language of which is 
 little known, in which, while he insisted in the plaia- 
 est manner upon his services and personal devotion, 
 he in the most courtly terms denied allegiance, and 
 declined any interference of the royal officers in 
 the administration of the new colony. This let- 
 ter, which bears the same date as the famous paper 
 called the Carta Cuarta (October 15, 1524), was writ- 
 ten when four officers of the Spanish Crown — the 
 treasurer, Alonso de Estrada; the accountant and 
 paymaster, Rodrigo de Albornoz ; the factor, Gonzalo 
 de Salazar ; and the inspector, Peral Mendez Chirinos 
 — ^had come to Mexico to take care of the financial 
 interests of the monarch. The insurrection of OM 
 
116 CIBOLA. 
 
 called away the conqueror of Mexico and took him 
 to Honduras, else he would have carried out his am- 
 bitious plans at that time, when, it is hardly to be 
 doubted, they would have been more successful than 
 was afterward the struggle for independence of 
 Gonzalo Pizarro in Pera. 
 
 After the departure of Cortes from Mexico, Octo- 
 ber 12, 1524, the administration of the province fell 
 into the hands of the oflcers of the Crown. They 
 soon quarrelled, and disastrous complications arose. 
 Mexico itself was the scene of great disorder, while 
 the Indians in the country rebelled. This interreg- 
 num lasted till the year 1525, and ended with the 
 arrest of Salazar and Chirinos by the partisans of 
 Cortes. Cort6s, after restoring order in Honduras, 
 returned to Mexico on June 20, 1526. 
 
 A brOhant reception was prepared for him there, 
 but it had only a transient importance. The Span- 
 ish Government had perceived the magnitude of the 
 danger with which it was threatened from the ex- 
 traordinary but reckless conqueror, and had made the 
 best of his absence. Cortes had indeed been honored 
 with the title of "Adelantado " of New Spain, and 
 with many personal privileges, but the most north- 
 ern part of Mexico that had been discovered, from 
 the mouth of the Panuco River, was withdrawn from 
 his dominion and placed under the administration 
 of Nuno de Guzman. By this change he lost aU the 
 fruits of his agreement with Francisco de Garay and 
 of Garay's premature death. A young jurist, Luis 
 Ponce de L6on, was immediately sent to Mexico to 
 make an impartial investigation on the spot of the 
 complaints that were brought against Cortes. For 
 
THE AMAZONS. 117 
 
 this purpose he was privately given full power to 
 arrest Cort4s if necessary and send him to Spain, or 
 in the other event to confirm him in his office. 
 
 Ponce de L^on arrived at the City of Mexico on 
 July 2, 1526, and was received with pomp by Cortes, 
 who placed himself wholly at his disposition; but 
 the climate agreed no better with the new function- 
 ary than it had before agreed with Graray. He died 
 ia the same month after a short illness ; and eight 
 weeks afterward his successor ia office, the Bachelor 
 Marcos de Aguilar, also died. The process against 
 Cortfe dragged slowly along with many interrup- 
 tions amid great disquiet in the country ; for Alonso 
 de Estrada had taken the reins of government, and 
 had abridged the conqueror's prerogatives to the 
 domain of military command and Indian adminis- 
 tration. Shorn of all power, Cortes had to submit 
 to the inevitable, and to sufiEer patiently a banish- 
 ment from the City of Mexico, which Estrada im- 
 posed upon him in order to secure tranquillity. 
 
 Although further explorations in the north were 
 temporarily interrupted by the disorders that pre- 
 vailed in the country, Cort6s found time to organize 
 an expedition to the Molukkes on the western coast, 
 and at least to open communication with them. The 
 royal officers, on the contrary, could accomplish 
 nothing, and in order to circumscribe their power, 
 as weU as that of the governor of Panamd, Pedro 
 Arias D4vila, independent jurisdictions were created 
 out of Honduras, Guatemala, and Yucatan. At the 
 same time the Church assumed the control of Indian 
 affairs, and finally, in order to terminate the arbi- 
 trary provisional system of government, the royal 
 
118 CIBOLA. 
 
 court of law, Audiencia real, was set up in the year 
 1527 as the chief authority in Mexico. 
 
 Nuno Beltrdn de Guzman entered into possession 
 of his government in Pdnuco in the year 1528. He 
 was young, vigorous, and energetic, but imperious, 
 and his inconsiderate ambition was not capable of 
 the wise patience that Cortes manifested. His first 
 step was to stir up boundary disputes with the ad- 
 jacent jurisdiction of New Spain or Mexico, and 
 when no results accrued from them, he sent Sancho 
 de Caniego to Madrid with a series of complaints 
 against Hernando Cortes, which could not fail to ex- 
 cite earnest attention. Besides the charge of treason 
 against the Crown already raised, Guzman accused 
 the conqueror with having murdered Francisco de 
 Garay and Luis Ponce de L6on. Cort6s presented 
 himself in Spain almost simultaneously with the 
 charges, to defend himself personally against them. 
 But an accusation of another more heinous offence 
 had been more recently filed in secret against him 
 at the court. His wife, Dona CataHna Xuarez, with 
 whom he had not long shared the happiness of wed- 
 ded life, having been separated from her a few years 
 after their marriage by absence on Ms campaigns, 
 had joined him again after the conquest of Mexico, 
 and suddenly died three months later. He was there- 
 fore, although not openly, accused of murdering her. 
 The Acts of the Process against Cortes included a 
 " secret inquiry " (pesquisa secreta) into this terrible 
 accusation. The Process resulted in an official 
 acquittal; but the Acts themselves presented the 
 death of Francisco de Garay in the most suspicious 
 light, left the manner in which the death of Ponce 
 
THE AMAZONS. 119 
 
 de L6011 occurred an open question, and made it 
 certain that Cortes had with his own hands stran- 
 gled in bed his first faithful wife, who had followed 
 him to Mexico at his request. The Process did 
 not detain Cortes later than till the year 1530. In 
 the meantime the Spanish Crown, as soon as it was 
 informed of the new accusations that had been 
 brought against Cortes, appointed Nuno Beltrin de 
 Guzman president of the court of law in Mexico, 
 and thus elevated him to the highest oflcial position 
 in New Spain. The selection was an unwise one. 
 Gruzman proceeded to Mexico, where he arrived in 
 1529. His demeanor was very arrogant. The com- 
 plaints against him soon became as loud, even on 
 the side of the Audienda, as they had been against 
 Cortes. At last the King of Spain (the Emperor 
 Charles V.) named a new Audienda, and appointed 
 as its president Sebastian Ramirez de Fuenleal, 
 bishop of Santo Domingo. The president did not 
 go directly to the mainland, but spent some time in 
 his episcopal see, pai'tly in order to observe quietly 
 the course of affairs in Mexico, and partly to perfect 
 his plans for the reorganization of the country. 
 
 Guzman's conduct was in the meantime intolera- 
 ble. Directly in the face of the Spanish laws he pur- 
 sued the natives in order to extort gold and slaves 
 from them, and abused the former associates of Cor- 
 tes. Even the Audienda was glad when he left Mex- 
 ico, on the 20th of December, 1529, at the head of a 
 large Spanish squadron and more than eight 1;hou- 
 sand Indians, for the purpose of continuing the dis- 
 coveries begun by Sandoval for Cort6s in the north- 
 west. The drafting of Indians to engage in this 
 
120 
 
 campaign was a transgression of tlie law, but he 
 was personally supported in it by some of the mem- 
 bers of the court. His march was directed first 
 toward Michoacan, but its ultimate goal was the 
 gold-rich and pearl-bearing island of the fabulous 
 Amazons. 
 
 The Tarasca lived and still live in Michoacan. 
 Although they spoke a different language from the 
 Mexicans, their traditions pointed to an original 
 connection with them, and they were in the same 
 stage of civilization. The Tarasca were split up 
 into a number of groups, which, like the other lin- 
 guistic stocks or their subdivisions, of which Tlax- 
 cala, Cholula, and the three large settlements of the 
 Mexican VaUey — Mexico, Tezcuco, and Tlacopan — 
 were conspicuous examples, had a common leadership 
 in war. The tribes of Michoacan had two such head 
 war-chiefs, of whom commonly only one — like Mon- 
 tezuma in his day in Mexico — who is called Cazonci, 
 is named. The Tarasca had voluntarily submitted 
 to Cortes, and stood in friendly relations toward the 
 Spaniards as long as the famous conqueror com- 
 manded in Mexico. Guzman, having arrived at 
 Michoacan, in his rude way imposed considerable 
 requisitions on the chiefs. As these could not be 
 granted quickly enough, the principal leader, " Zin- 
 zicha," was tortured to death. Guzman then went 
 northward, and this campaign constitutes the sad- 
 dest page for the natives in the history of Mex- 
 ico. The Indians there suffered generally only dur- 
 ing two periods : first under the confusion which 
 prevailed during the absence of Cort6s, from 1524 
 to 1526 ; and, second, under the administration of 
 
THE AMAZONS. 121 
 
 Nuno de Guzman, from 1529 to 1531. Tie rule of 
 Cortes was wisely just and mild; and the later 
 policy of the Spaniards was a paternal one, marked 
 by a correct knowledge of the Indian character, its 
 weaknesses and its capabilities. 
 
 Guzman has been often accused, by his contem- 
 poraries as well as by later writers, of having exer- 
 cised deliberate cruelties on his march through the 
 present states of Jalisco and Sinaloa, and his cam- 
 paign has been described as one of devastation. 
 Numerous acts of violence certainly occurred. The 
 Indian tribes, divided, scattered, and living in con- 
 stant war with one another, suffered much, but a 
 careful examination of the authorities shows that it 
 was more from fear than anything else ; while no 
 reliance can be placed upon the numerical state- 
 ments concerning the so-called Spanish blood-baths, 
 particularly none upon those of the bishop of Chia- 
 pas, Bartholome de las Casas. The whole literature 
 of that period should be read with the same reserves 
 with which we receive the political "campaign lit- 
 erature " of the present ; and the numerous official 
 hearings of the Spanish civil officers furnish the 
 most contradictory statements. Guzman was am- 
 bitious and avaricious; his outbreaks of cruelty 
 were provoked by those passions. Where his inter- 
 ests demanded patience he could be gentle enough, 
 but when excited by contradiction or negligence, he 
 raged against his own Spaniards as well as against 
 hostile Indians. Contrary to the orders of the 
 Spanish Crown, he made slaves of a number of In- 
 dians in order that he might at least compensate him- 
 self for the disappointments he suffered in other re- 
 
122 CIBOLA. 
 
 spects ; for the chief object of his search -was gold in 
 quantities, but he could only obtain it scantily. The 
 civilization of the natives appeared to decline as he 
 went toward the northwest ; the houses of stone and 
 plaster gave way to lighter structures of cane and 
 wood, and shelters made of branches and foliage. 
 
 A bitter disappointment was awaiting him in 
 Cihuatlan in the present state of Sinaloa. Sandoval 
 had brought the story of the Amazons from there ; 
 but instead of the island on which he had placed the 
 soldierly women, Guzman was shown only a few 
 insignificant villages. He found them, however, 
 exclusively inhabited by women and children, for 
 the men had fled to the mountains. The legend of 
 the Amazons was thus resolved into one of those 
 mistakes which were sure to arise at that time on 
 the first contact of Europeans with natives whose 
 language they did not understand. No trace was 
 found, of gold, pearls, or treasures of any kind. 
 The story of the Amazons ceases from this time to 
 be of any significance in the history of discovery in 
 the northern half of America. It plainly appears 
 from the accounts of contemporaries that it was 
 not a native legend in America, but was an importa- 
 tion from Europe, a survival from classical antiq- 
 uity, which emigrated along with cultivated and un- 
 cultivated Europeans into what was called the New 
 World. 
 
 Guzman, although unsuccessful as to his principal 
 object, did not abandon the effort to press farther 
 north. He reached Culiacan, and founded there a 
 settlement under the name of San Miguel de Culia- 
 can. His force, however, was exhausted and par- 
 
THE AMAZONS. 123 
 
 tially destroyed. His Indian guides especially had 
 suffered much. He therefore despatched the Captain 
 Chirinos toward the north, and the latter in turn sent 
 his captains, Cebreros and Diego de Alcdraz, still 
 farther in that direction. Guzman in the meantime 
 started on his return. His direct work in this region 
 ended with the foundation of the Spanish settlement 
 in Culiacan. In the beginning of May, 1531, he 
 left the young town and began a continuous march 
 to the south. His kingdom had come to an end ; 
 Cortes had returned to Mexico and amved at an 
 understanding with the new Audiencia. Grave ac- 
 cusations were raised against Nuno de Guzman. 
 AH his orders concerning the Indians were revoked, 
 and when at last the new president of the royal 
 court of justice, Bishop Don Sebastian Eamirez de 
 Fuenl^al, came into Mexico, he took control of 
 affairs with a firm hand, and banished his violent 
 predecessor to the scene of his march on the western 
 coast. In 1537 he was arrested by order of the 
 Spanish Government and carried a prisoner to 
 Spain, where, having been deprived of his property 
 by confiscation, he died in poverty in 1544. When 
 Guzman, even after he had become satisfied at 
 Cihuatlan that he had been pursuing a phantom in 
 the shape of the river of the Amazons, still endeav- 
 ored to go farther north, he was moved by another 
 story which excited his avarice and his imagination. 
 Unable himself to follow this second phantom, he 
 charged Captain Chirinos with the object. The 
 latter went as far as the Eio de Petatlan, and thence 
 sent out his subordinates, Cebreros and Alcdraz, to 
 the Rio Mayo. The numerous though small towns 
 
124 CIBOLA. 
 
 which were found on the banks of this river were 
 inhabited by the Mayo Indians, who now form a 
 branch of the linguistic stock of the Yaqui, or Hya- 
 qiun. Cebreros crossed the Mayo, proceeded in 1532 
 into the present Sonora, and although he had hardly 
 twenty men reached the Rio Yaqui. He did not 
 venture to go farther than to the north bank of 
 that river, but returned to Sinaloa. The Indians 
 there were in active revolt, and the Spaniards had 
 great difficulty in maintaining themselves in the 
 weak settlement of San Miguel CuHacan. They had 
 found on their northern excursions fertile intervales 
 inhabited by warlike tribes. Beyond these tribes 
 lived a people who built their houses of clay. Still 
 farther north another wonder-story invited them, 
 which promised more than the most fertile intervale, 
 more than the most civilized Indian settlements. 
 The account of Indians in Sonora who lived in large 
 houses of clay was true, for it referred to the south- 
 em Pimas. But the story that attracted the Span- 
 iards to the north was the legend of the "Seven 
 Cities." 
 
CHAPTER II. 
 
 THE SEVEN CITIES. 
 
 The planisphere whici. Martin Deliaiin constructed 
 in the year 1492 for the Portuguese service con- 
 tained, among other features, an island of Antilia 
 west of the Cape de Verde group, with a note relat- 
 ing that at the time of the conquest of Spaiu by 
 the Arabs a Portuguese archbishop and a number 
 of Christians had fled to that island and founded 
 seven cities upon it. The story is still more plainly 
 marked on the map of Johannes Ruysch — Universa- 
 lior Cogniti Orbis Tabula, a.d. 1508. The legend of the 
 seven cities thus appears, Uke the myth of the Ama- 
 zons, to have been known in Europe previous to the 
 landing of Columbus. After the successive discov- 
 eries of the islands of the West Indian group iu the 
 last years of the fifteenth century "Antilia" [ante 
 insula) ceased to designate a proper and special part 
 of the land. The name of Antilles remained, and 
 was apphed to the whole chain of islands that sepa- 
 rate the Grulf of Mexico and the Caribbean Sea from 
 the Atlantic Ocean. The seven cities also passed into 
 complete oblivion till they were brought again into 
 a kind of indefinite recollection about the year 1530 
 by the expedition of Nuno de Guzman. It is uncer- 
 tain when, how, or where Guzman heard of the " siete 
 cibdadis." The anonymous author of the "Primua 
 Belacion" speaks of them in connection with that 
 125 
 
126 CIBOLA. 
 
 campaign as if he had already heard the storjj in 
 Mexico ; while other contemporary writers say n(;'>th- 
 ing of them, but mention a large river that empt;'ed 
 into the Southern Sea, which the inhabitants had 
 barred with an iron chain. Neither the seven cities^ 
 nor the broad river with its barrier chain were found' 
 by Cebreros and Alckraz. ; 
 
 It is proper, therefore, to inquire whether, or to 
 what extent, a story concerning the seven cities ex- 
 isted among the natives of Mexico before the arriv- 
 al of the Europeans. But such an inquiry should be 
 prefaced by this statement of general fact : Wher- 
 ever it is possible to follow the development of popu- 
 lar legends in groups of men not acquainted with 
 writing, but who have been taught to transmit these 
 stories by verbal tradition from generation to gener- 
 ation, we are surprised at finding that the legend has 
 been preserved with careful fidelity through centu- 
 ries, and that any novelty or change which has been 
 introduced into it must always be ascribed to foreign 
 influence. Such influence is not necessarily to be at- 
 tributed to an extrarcontinental contact ; but where 
 such a contact takes place — and where, as everywhere 
 in America, one group of the human race is suddenly 
 caused to live with another of whom it is so far in 
 advance in established historical foundations and 
 linowledge, and in the means of perpetuating the 
 remembrance of them, as the Europeans of the six- 
 teenth century were then in advance of the Ameri- 
 can aborigines all over the continent without excep- 
 tion ; and where this living in contact is at the same 
 time combined with the exercise of a religious influ- 
 ence by the superior race on the other — ^then a recon- 
 
THE SEVEN CITIES. 127 
 
 struction of the legends is iuevitable. It is expressed 
 first in efforts to adapt the mythology of the inferior 
 people to that of the higher ; and as mythology and 
 history are closely iaterwoven, a partial insinuation 
 of the sagas, stories, and legends of the superior peo- 
 ple into tlhose of the others can hardly be avoided. 
 
 Great care is therefore necessary to extract the 
 real kernel of the Indian traditions, in Mexico for 
 instance, from the iavesting shell of the legends of 
 the sixteenth century. The subject has been treated 
 tin now not only with little critical care as to this 
 poiut, but for the most part without any critical 
 sense. Everything has been accepted as pm-e coin 
 which, since the subjection of the Mexican tribes by 
 Cortes, has been called Indian historical tradition. 
 Only superficial consideration has been given to the 
 time, place, and manner of the origiu of the Indian 
 paintings and other documents. It has not been 
 considered, in using them as historical authorities, 
 that the Codex Mendocino, the Codex Vaticanus, 
 and the Codex Telleriano Ramensis were painted by 
 Indians in the middle and second half of the six- 
 teenth century, by order of the Spanish viceroy and 
 Don Martin Enriquez, as illustrations of the local 
 traditions which were collected at the time by a 
 commission in the name of the Crown. No inquiry 
 has been made into the extent to which those paint- 
 ings agree with the earliest declarations of the 
 natives, which were made and recorded not more 
 than ten years after the institution of Spanish rule. 
 The Church also, as well as the Spanish Government, 
 made earnest efforts a short time after the conquest 
 to collect the historical legends and stories of the 
 
^ 
 
 128 CIBOLA. 
 
 Indians. About the middle of the sixteenth century 
 a statement was introduced into the publications 
 concerning these traditions, that the Nahuatl tribes 
 of Mexico beheved that they had origLaated out of 
 seven eaves. The Codex Mendocino had nothing 
 about this, aud it was not composed much before 
 1549. La.ter writers made seven tribes out of tlie 
 seven caves, and finally seven towns or cities. We 
 have already seen that Nuno de Guzman had heard 
 or knew of the story of the seven cities about 1530 ; 
 and the supposition therefore seems not unauthor- 
 ized that the seven caves of the Mexican tradition, 
 as they were conceived and represented after the 
 discovery of New Mexico, were an interpolation of 
 the European legend into the Indian recollections 
 of their history. 
 
 In 1531 the bishop of San Domingo assumed con- 
 trol of the government in Mexico as president of the 
 Royal Law Court. No further advance of impor- 
 tance was made in the discoveries in the northwest, 
 and the settlement of San Miguel de Culiacan in 
 Sinaloa was held as the extreme post in that direc- 
 tion whence occasional excursions to the north were 
 attempted. In the meantime Nuno de Guzman was 
 removed from the scene and called to answer for his 
 misdemeanors before the Spanish courts. Melchior 
 Diaz commanded in Culiacan as capitan and alcalde 
 mayor, and Diego de Alcaraz was at the head of an 
 advanced post which was pushed out between Culia- 
 can and the borders of the present Sonora. Some 
 of the men of this reconnoitring party, when about 
 eighty miles north of Culiacan, met in the last days 
 of March, 1536, a strange spectacle. A man, nearly 
 
THK SEVEN CITIES. 129 
 
 naked, with long tangled hair and beard, accompanied 
 by eleven Indians and a negro, came to them, and 
 spoke to them in Spanish, with warm emotion, express- 
 ing great joy that after eight years of wandering he 
 had at last been permitted to meet white men, and 
 Spanish countrymen. He bore the outer traces of 
 great physical suffering, and spoke ia so excited a 
 manner that the other Spaniards at first regarded 
 him and listened to him with suspicion. He gave his 
 name as Alvar Numez Cabeza de Vaea, and that of 
 the negro who was with him was Est6vanico. Two 
 other Spaniards, Alonzo del Castillo Maldonado and 
 Andres Dorantes, were a day's journey back, in com- 
 pany with a number of Indians who had followed 
 them from the north. 
 
 "When the Spaniards had recovered from their sur- 
 prise, they took the new-comers to Diego de Alciraz, 
 who immediately sent three of his men with fifty In- 
 dians to search for the other Spaniards. His pur- 
 pose, however, was not so much to deliver his coun- 
 trymen as to find provisions and gold. For this 
 object he kept back the Indians who had come with 
 Maldonado and Dorantes, removed the latter from 
 them, and finally put the four, including Cabeza de 
 Vaca and the negro, under arrest. The Indians es- 
 caped by flight ; and the prisoners, after having been 
 abused in various ways, were delivered on May 1st 
 to the commander, Melchior Diaz, at Cuhaean, who 
 gave them an honorable reception, and to whom they 
 were permitted to relate the wonderful history of 
 their adventures. 
 
 This story of the wanderings of Cabeza de Vaca 
 and his companions is indeed a wonder-tale, and is 
 
130 CIBOLA. 
 
 hardly matched in thriUing incident by anything of 
 the kind of the sixteenth century. De Vaca has him- 
 self written it out in the book "Naufragios de Alvar 
 Nunez Cdbeza de Vaca y Beladon de la Jornada que hizo 
 d la Florida con el Adelantado Pdmfilo de Narvacz," 
 -which was printed at VaUadoM in 1555. Having 
 been composed from recollection and not on the 
 basis of notes of any kind, the book is obscure in its 
 geographical data. Many of the details are erro- 
 neously set forth, and the glowing fancies excited 
 by the contemplation of the author's terrible suffer- 
 ings and privations are in many cases obviously 
 detrimental to historical truth. The substance of 
 the story is true, and gives a vivid picture of the 
 fortunes of Cabeza de Vaca and his companions. 
 
 An expedition was organized in 1527 under the 
 command of Pdmfilo de Narvaez, the former rival of 
 Cort6s, whom he had attacked and captured in 1520 
 at Cempohual, to explore the peninsula of Florida, 
 concerning the wealth of which extremely vague and 
 therefore exaggerated accounts were in circulation. 
 Five vessels, with six hundred men, left San Lucar 
 de Barrameda in Spain on June 17th. Cabeza de 
 Vaca was treasurer of the enterprise. Rarely has 
 any campaign of conquest met with such a series of 
 consecutive disasters as bef eU this unhappy expedi- 
 tion of the "Armada of Pdmfilo de Narvaez." One 
 of the vessels went down in a squall during the stay 
 of the fleet at the island of Cuba. The flotilla could 
 not leave Havana till February, 1528, and it was so 
 hiudered by storms and head-winds that it did not 
 reach the coast of Florida tiU Maundy-Thiu-sday of 
 that year. It anchored in a bay on the shore of 
 
THE SEVEN CITIES. 131 
 
 which was an Indian village. The men were landed, 
 and it was decided, against the advice of Cabeza de 
 Vaca, to leave the ships and march inland. The un- 
 fortunate march began on May 1, 1528, with three 
 hundred men and forty horses.* Amidst great dif- 
 ficulties, without provisions, they went northward 
 through marshy woods and morasses, and across 
 broad rivers, at no very great distance from the sea- 
 shore. Till the 17th of June they found only a single 
 Indian village (on May 16th). Then some Indians 
 met them from whom they learned that they were 
 near the settlement of Apalache, of which they were 
 in search, concerning the wealth of which fabulous 
 reports had found their way to the Spanish Antil- 
 les. They suffered a bitter disappointment when, 
 on June 24th, they came in sight of the desired 
 place. Forty Indian huts constituted the whole vil- 
 lage. They were now in northern Florida, on the 
 Suwanee River. At Apalache serious hostilities be- 
 gan with the natives, who daily harassed the weary 
 and famishing Spaniards and killed some of their 
 men. After a halt there of twenty-five days, Narvaez 
 decided to go westward. 
 
 It is not necessary to go further into the melan- 
 choly details of the march of this expedition. Once 
 iu the swamps and bayous that extended along the 
 coast of Alabama, and perhaps Louisiana, no es- 
 cape was to be hoped for. An attempt to build 
 rafts and sail upon them across the gulf to the 
 Mexican coast resulted ia the drowning of a part of 
 the men. The rest, cast back upon the shore with- 
 
 » The Bay of Santa Cruz, in the present State of Florida, 
 appears to have been the point where Narvaez landed. 
 
132 CIBOLA. 
 
 out food and without water, fell victims to the hos- 
 tility of the natives, to hunger, and to the winter, 
 which came upon them. Only four survived, viz., 
 Cabeza de Vaca, Castillo Maldonado, Dorantes, and 
 the negro Estevanico. The vessels which had been 
 left in the Bay of Santa Cruz, Florida, went to pieces 
 in the storm, and their crews perished. 
 
 The subsequent adventures of the four survivors 
 may be described very briefly. Buffeted from one 
 Indian tribe to another, often cruelly treated, par- 
 ticipating in the privations to which their savage 
 masters were exposed by their miserable way of liv- 
 ing, they arrived in northwestern Mexico, as we have 
 already seen, in the year 1536. 
 
 Two facts are ofBciaUy and indubitably estab- 
 lished: that Cabeza de Vaca and his companions 
 were members of the expedition of P4mfilo de Nar- 
 vaez, which went from Spain in 1527 to Cuba, and 
 in the following year from Cuba to Florida and there 
 vanished ; and that they appeared again in the year 
 1536, in a naked and almost savage condition, in the 
 company of Indians, in the present state of Sinaloa. 
 It is therefore evident that they had wandered dur- 
 ing an iuterval of eight years across the North 
 American contiaent from east to west, from the pen- 
 insula of Florida to the GuK of California. 
 
 It is almost impossible to determine the course 
 they took, or probably took. They remained for a 
 long time with the tribes which periodically inhab- 
 ited the marshy regions of the Mississippi Delta, 
 and were then conducted westward. The fact is of 
 importance that the kma, or fruit of the great 
 leaf -cactus (o2mntia), constituted a principal food re- 
 
THE SEVEN CITIES. I33 
 
 soui'ce during the whole time. This indicates that 
 the first year was mostly spent in the southern parts 
 of the present United States ; and the description of 
 the country, as well as the fact that the mesquite tree 
 is mentioned, are evidence that they passed through 
 the present State of Texas. Their course was gener- 
 ally westward, and it may be very clearly inferred 
 from that that they at all events crossed the Eio 
 Grande. 
 
 At a considerable distance beyond that river they 
 found permanent dwellings, the inhabitants of which 
 planted beans, melons, and maize. In this part of 
 their wanderings they heard of an animal which 
 Cabeza de Vaca called a cow. It has been concluded 
 from this that the wanderers entered New Mexico 
 and saw there the American bison or buffalo. I can- 
 not agree with this opinion. The casas de asiento 
 were much too far west to be identified with the 
 pueblos. The Pimas of southern Sonora, their 
 northern neighbors the Opatas, and several tribes 
 of the Sierra Madre, lived in permanent houses of 
 clay and stone ; and if Cabeza de Vaca and his com- 
 panions had seen the large, many-stoned houses of 
 New Mexico they would not have omitted to describe 
 their remarkable stairlLke structure. The dress of 
 the inhabitants of these " permanent dwellings " also 
 agrees rather with the costume of Sonora and Chi- 
 huahua than with the recognized dress of the Pueblo 
 Indians. By the word " cow " Cabeza de Vaca prob- 
 ably meant to speak of the hides he saw rather than 
 to describe the animal itself. The untanned hide of 
 the large brown deer (cervus canadensis) is but little 
 smaller than that of a cow ; and a description of the 
 
134 CIBOLA. 
 
 striking figure of the bison would not have been 
 wanting in the " Wcmfragios " if Cabeza de Vaca had 
 actually seen the "hump-backed cow," as the older 
 Spanish \vriters called it. It is possible that he 
 heard of the buffalo and perhaps saw some of th& 
 robes, but it is not certain ; for, in the verbal ex- 
 planations which he gave at Madrid in 1547 to the 
 historian Gronzalo Fernandez de Oviedo y Vald6s, 
 he spoke only of " three kinds of deer, one of which 
 was as large as an ox," but said nothing of " cows." 
 The fact that the Spaniards constantly wandered 
 toward the " setting sun," and that from Texas, and 
 that they did not cross the great waterless plains of 
 that state, excludes the supposition that they entered 
 New Mexico and that the "permanent dwellings" 
 meant the pueblos of the Rio Grande. Further 
 decisive is the declaration that the inhabitants of 
 those permanent houses obtained green stones (tur- 
 quoise or caleite) in exchange for parrot feathers. 
 There are no species of parrots in New Mexico and 
 Arizona, but the Sierra Madre is the habitat of the 
 large green sittich, the feathers of which I have 
 often seen in the possession of the Pueblo Indians, 
 who had bought them in Sonora. The southern 
 Pirn as and the Opatas of Sonora used parrot feathers 
 as decorations in their dances till the middle of the 
 last century ; and I have surveyed numerous ruins 
 of the clay and stone houses of the Opatas in the 
 Sierra Madre which, now a solemn, silent wilderness, 
 is covered with lofty pine woods in which the loqua- 
 cious green sittich flit in the early morning from 
 limb to hmb. The Indians of whom Cabeza de Vaca 
 speaks bought the turquoises far in the north, and 
 
THE SEVEN CITIES. I35 
 
 they told of many great houses in which the people 
 there lived. These statements may refer to New 
 Mexico and Arizona; for turquoises are found in 
 the neighborhood of Santa Fe, where they are called 
 " cerillos," as well as not far from Zuni, and in south- 
 ern New Mexico, at no great distance from the pres- 
 ent Silver City. 
 
 "With the stories of permanent settlements, of 
 natives clothed in cotton, and of turquoises found in 
 the far north, which Cabeza de Vaca and his com- 
 panions told their countrymen, were associated spec- 
 ulations concerning great metallic riches in the north- 
 ern regions. The wanderers brought no definite 
 statements on this subject, nor could they present 
 visible evidence in the shape of mineral specimens 
 of the existence of the metals ; but the thirst for the 
 precious metals was quite as intense in the sixteenth 
 century as in the nineteenth, and the credulity of the 
 gold-seekers of that time was not less ready than 
 that of the " prospectors " of to-day. It could, how- 
 ever, have hardly been greater. As soon, therefore, 
 as Melchior Diaz heard the marvellous story of the 
 new-comers, he sent an account of it, not to Guzman, 
 but to Mexico, to Don Antonio de Mendoza, who had 
 arrived there in the year 1554 as the first viceroy of 
 New Spain, and had superseded the provisional gov- 
 ernment of the bishop of Santo Domingo. Cabeza 
 de Vaca and his companions were invited to Mexico, 
 were well received there, and with the exception of 
 the negro and Maldonado, who remained in Mexico, 
 were sent to Spain. The subsequent fortunes of 
 Cabeza de Vaca are of no further interest in connec- 
 tion with the purpose of this sketch, and we need 
 
136 CIBOLA. 
 
 only say that his adventurous career did not termi- 
 nate with his wanderings in North America, but that 
 other sufferings as great but of different character 
 awaited him in South America and in Spain, and 
 misfortune pursued him till the end of his Ufe. 
 
 Stories like those which came to Mexico through 
 Cabeza de Vaca could not fail to direct the attention 
 of the government to the northwest. Nuno de Guz- 
 man was succeeded as provisional governor of New 
 Gahcia* by the licentiate Diego Perez de la Torre, 
 and when he died, in 1538, his place was taken by a 
 young noble of Salamanca, Francisco Vasquez Coro- 
 nado, who had married the daughter of the former 
 treasurer, Alonzo de Estrada. As royal visitador he 
 had already travelled over a large part of Mexico, 
 and enjoyed in a high degree the confidence of the 
 viceroy. Young and energetic, disposed, according 
 to the fashion of the time, toward a knight's career, 
 he was a most suitable person to direct the further 
 progress of the exploration of the northwest. 
 
 The stories of Cabeza de Vaca appear stiU to have 
 been received with some distrust. Without wholly 
 rejecting them, people hesitated to follow the first 
 impulse, which would prompt them to send an expe- 
 dition to the north at once. Antonio de Mendoza 
 was a sagacious, quiet, careful statesman, and he pre- 
 ferred to reconnoitre before taking decisive steps. 
 In his reconnoissance he received the assistance of 
 the Church. 
 
 Among the Franciscan monks in Mexico was a 
 
 * This province comprised the undefined northwest of 
 Mexico, while New Biscay included the northeast, on the 
 coast of tlie Mexican gulf. 
 
THE SEVEN CITIES. 137 
 
 Sardinian brother named Marcus, who, having been 
 born in Nice, was known as Pray Marcos de Nizza. 
 As he figures in history under this designation, I 
 shall continue to call him Fray Marcos. His real 
 name and the date of his birth are still unknown. 
 He came to America in the year 1551 in the service of 
 his order and went to Peru, whence he proceeded 
 with Pedro de Alvarado to Gruatemala, and finally 
 to Mexico. He had distinguished himself by his in- 
 telligence, capacity, and devotion, and was respected 
 by the brethren of his order. Fray Antonio de Ciu- 
 dad Eodrigo, father provincial in Mexico, proposed 
 in the interest of the mission to detaU. one or more 
 Franciscan monks on the contemplated reconnois- 
 sance. It is not improbable that Fray Marcos vol- 
 untarily offered himself for the service. His long 
 experience among the natives especially fitted him 
 for the work ; and, whether by his own free will or 
 out of obedience and a sense of duty to his order, he 
 undertook the arduous and dangerous task. 
 
 A few historians, among whom are Torquemada 
 and Arricivita, suppose that a preliminary expedi- 
 tion was sent out in 1538, in which, according to 
 some, Fray Marcos did, according to others did not, 
 take part. We have no official reports of such an 
 expedition, and it is possible that these accounts 
 originated in a mistake. The instructions which Don 
 Antonio de Mendoza sent to Fray Marcos, and the 
 receipt of which he acknowledged from New Galicia 
 on November 25, 1538, do not agree with the sup- 
 position of such a preliminary reconnoissance. In 
 those instructions the monk is advised to insist 
 upon good treatment of the Indians by the Span- 
 10 
 
138 CIEOLA. 
 
 iards of Sinaloa, to protect them against every at- 
 tempt to reduce them to slavery, and to promise 
 them all support and help in the name of the Crown. 
 He was then ordered to proceed into the interior 
 with all possible precautions, carefully to observe 
 land and people, to avoid aU personal danger, and 
 should he find himself on the coast of the " Southern 
 Sea " * he was to bury written reports at the foot of 
 a tree distinguished by its size, and to cut a cross in 
 the bark of the tree, so that in case a ship was sent 
 along the coast, its crew might know how to iden- 
 tify it by that mark. Finally Est6vanico, the negro 
 who had made the perilous journey with Cabeza de 
 Vaca from Florida to the coast of the Pacific Ocean, 
 was assigned to him as leader and attendant ; and 
 in case any of the Indians who had come with those 
 men and their companions to Sinaloa could be of 
 use to him, Francisco Vasquez Coronado, the new 
 governor of Culiacan, was instructed to engage them 
 to accompany Fray Marcos and the negro. The 
 negro was to be subordinate to the monk in every 
 point. 
 
 The zealous Franciscan left San Miguel de Culia- 
 can on Friday, March 7, 1539. Besides Est^vanico 
 and several Indians, a brother of the order, Fray 
 Onorato, accompanied him. Their route was north- 
 ward, toward the present state of Sonora. The In- 
 dians who went with them belonged to the southern 
 branch of the great Pima tribe. They had, as we 
 have already said, followed Cabeza de Vaca, Castillo, 
 
 * Mar del Sur, the Paoifio Ocean, in distinction from Mar 
 del Norte, the Northern Sea, the name by which the Atlantic 
 Ocean was known in the sixteenth century. 
 
THE SEVEN CITIES. I39 
 
 Maldonado, and Dorantes from central and southern 
 Sonora to Sinaloa, and a part of them had remained 
 there and founded a village on the Rio Petatlan. 
 Probably in tliis village, certainly on that river, 
 Pray Onorato became so ill that it was necessary, 
 after three days' delay, to leave him. The party 
 kept as nearly as possible to the coast of the Pacific 
 Ocean, leaving the villages on the Yaqui to their 
 right. A halt was made at Bacapa, and the monk 
 sent the negro forward, with directions to go fifty 
 or sixty leagues (from 135 to 162 miles) north, and 
 send him from time to time news of whatever he 
 saw and heard. The more favorable the reports the 
 larger should be the cross on the piece of white wood 
 which the negro was to send with each despatch of 
 an Indian messenger. 
 
 Bacapa appears on the map that Father Joseph 
 Stocklein, S. J., published in the Neuen WeltUatt in 
 1728, which is based on the journey of the famous 
 Jesuit missionary P. Eusebius Kiihne (Busebio 
 Kino), as St. Ludovicus de Bacapa, and is located 
 in Arizona, west of Tucson — ^Fray Marcos himself 
 gives the distance from the coast as forty leagues, 
 or 108 mUes. He arrived there before Easter of 1539. 
 Bacapa could not therefore have lain so far north 
 as Father Kiihne's map represents it, but must at 
 farthest have been in the northern part of the 
 southern half of Sonora, near the present Matape. 
 In this case it was probably a Pima settlement, as 
 the name denotes.* Four days after the negro de- 
 
 * Particularly the first syllable, Bac, a, corruption of Bat 
 Ki — old house — as it often appears in the names of places 
 in Arizona, e.g., San Xavier del Bac, Tubac, etc. 
 
140 CIBOLA. 
 
 parted the monk received a first message from Mm 
 thi-ough Indians, who brought a cross the height of 
 a man. The Indians told '• such wonderful things 
 of his discoveries," Pray Marcos says, " that I would 
 not believe them unless I saw the things myself. 
 . . . The Indian told me that it was thirty days' 
 journey from the place where Estevanieo was to the 
 first city of the country, which was called Cibola. 
 ... He affirmed and maintained that this first 
 province contained seven very large cities which 
 were all subject to one lord. In them were large 
 houses of stone and mortar, the smallest of which 
 were one story high with a terrace, and there were 
 besides two- and three-storied buildings. The chiefs 
 house was of four stories. There were many dec- 
 orations at the entrance of the principal houses, and 
 turquoises, which were very plentiful in the country. 
 The people of these cities were very well clothed." 
 Notwithstanding these reports. Fray Marcos was in 
 no hurry to go away from Bacapa. He seems not 
 to have placed an absolute trust in the negro, and 
 waited for the return of the Indians who had gone 
 by his command to the coast (of the Grulf of Cali- 
 fornia). They came back bringing with them na- 
 tives of the seashore. These belonged, no doubt, to 
 the Seris, a wild tribe who still live on the islands of 
 the Gulf of California. On the same day men came 
 into Bacapa from the east, Indians whose faces, 
 breasts, and arms were painted. They confirmed 
 the stories that the negro's messengers had brought. 
 Fray Marcos de Nizza hesitated no longer. He 
 started away two days after Easter, following the 
 track of his dark-skinned guide, in search of the 
 " seven cities of Cibola." 
 
THE SEVEN CITIES. 141 
 
 The name of Cibola was thus known away in the 
 interior of Sonora. Whence was it derived ? From 
 what Indian language was it borrowed ? These are 
 questions with which till recently only my emiaent 
 friend F. H. Gushing, and, to a small extent, I my- 
 self have been engaged. How far our investiga- 
 tions are of definite value can hardly be determined 
 as yet, for the languages of Sonora are still very 
 little known. They are reduced, if we exclude the 
 Apache idiom, to three large groups. In the south 
 is the Cahita or Yaqui language, which includes the 
 Mayo; in the west the Seri; and in the centre, 
 north, and east the Pima-Opata, which is divided 
 into two priacipal branches — the Pima and the 
 Joyl-raua or Opata. The Eudeve and Jova appear 
 to be dialects of the Opata. At Bacapa Fray Mar- 
 cos was among the Pirn as ; Estevanieo, a few days' 
 journey north, was either among the Pimas, the 
 Seris, or the Opatas, for those three tribes met in 
 the vicinity of Ures. The word Cibola might there- 
 fore belong to one of the languages or dialects of 
 northern Sonora and the districts north and north- 
 east of it. Its home need not be sought south of 
 there. 
 
 Both the Pima and the Opata languages have 
 names of places which somewhat resemble the word 
 Cibola. East of the little village of Huachinera, 
 at the western foot of the Sierra Madre, the Yaqui 
 River emerges from a dark gorge and turns thence 
 to the northwest, to irrigate the narrow, fertile val- 
 ley of Baserac and Babispe. At the place where the 
 river leaves the gorge, to turn a little later upon its 
 northern course, lie some ruins of former villages of 
 the Opatas, concerning the fate of which definite 
 
142 CffiOLA. 
 
 traditions exist. Not far from the moutli of the 
 gorge is Batesopa; farther west are Baquigopa, 
 then Cobora, and lastly Quitamac. When in April, 
 1884, I passed through this wilderness with my 
 intelligent guide, Spiridion Lucero, to explore the 
 ruins, exposed to constant danger of our lives from 
 the swarms of Apaches around us, we came, after 
 twice fording the Yaqui, to a rock around which 
 led an extremely perilous, dizzy path, fully a hun- 
 dred feet above the raging stream. The Opata In- 
 dians call this critical spot " Ci-vo-na-ro-co," or the 
 rock which one goes around. A distant resemblance 
 can be recognized between this name and Cibola, or, 
 as it was sometimes written in the sixteenth cen- 
 tury, " Cevola " and " Civona " ; and the ruins of Ba- 
 tesopa opposite the dangerous cliff, as well as those 
 of Baquigopa west of it, point to the former exist- 
 ence of villages of considerable extent.* 
 
 The language of the Pimas is divided into several 
 dialects. Besides the southern and northern Pima, 
 there are the Papago and the now extinct Sobaypuri 
 dialects. In the idiom of the northern Pimas, the 
 ruins on the southern bank of the Rio Gila in Ari- 
 zona, generally known as Casa Grande (in distinc- 
 tion from Casas Grandes in Chihuahua), are called 
 "Civano-qi," the house of the Civano. The traditions 
 as I heard them on the spot relate that in the times 
 before the coming of the Spaniards the Pimas lived 
 
 * The large former settlement of the Opatas at Casas 
 Grandes, at the western foot of the Sierra Madre in Chihua- 
 hua, cannot be considered in connection with this discussion, 
 for it was called "Hue-hueri-gi-ta,'' and was already deserted 
 in the sixteenth century. 
 
THE SEVEN CITIES. 143 
 
 on the banks of the middle Gila, between Riverside 
 and Phenix, in Arizona, in permanent houses, which 
 were grouped into small villages. No common bond 
 connected the different villages, except in those 
 cases where small settlements gathered around a 
 larger neighboring one. Such tribe centers existed 
 at Florence, Casa Grande, Zacaton, and Casa Blanca 
 on the Gila, and at Mesa City and Tempe on the 
 lower Rio Salada. The best known of these is the 
 ruin of Casa Grande. 
 
 Thirty days' journey north of Ures carries the 
 pedestrian to the other side of the GUa River. In 
 ten days he can easily reach the present southern 
 boundary of Arizona, and following the course of 
 the little Rio San Pedro, he can in five or six days 
 more be at San Carlos on the GUa. But the old 
 Pima villages around Casa Grande Me a hundred 
 miles in a straight line west of San Carlos, and it 
 would be hard to keep in this straight line, for the 
 mountains south of the GUa as far as Riverside are 
 high, wUd, broken, and poorly watered. The estimate 
 of thirty days' journey might therefore possibly fit 
 Casa Grande. The first description of Cibola which 
 Est6vanico's Indians gave the monk is, however, 
 more important. It does not apply to the stairlike 
 style of biiilding of the pueblos, but to such archi- 
 tecture as I found at Casa Grande, and everywhere 
 in the ruins on the GUa, Salado, and Rio Verde. 
 The principal buUding at Casa Grande, stiU stand- 
 ing, is indeed not of stone, but of coarse adobe ; but 
 three stories are stUl plainly visible, whUe smaller, 
 one-storied houses are scattered around it. The 
 supposition is therefore not to be absolutely rejected. 
 
I.i4 CIBOLA. 
 
 that the accounts concerning Cibola cun-ent in 
 Sinaloa were a recollection of the former Pima settle- 
 ment of Civano-qi, eighty miles northwest of Tucson, 
 on the Gila River, the ruins of which are now knoAvn 
 by the name of Casa Grande — the great house. 
 
 Settlements of similar architectural character ex- 
 isted in Sonora in the sixteenth and seventeenth 
 centuries, and belonged likewise to the Pima, or, as 
 it was sometimes called, the Nevome tribe. The Jes- 
 uit missionary Padre Andres P6rez de Ribas wrote 
 of them in 1645 : " Their houses were better and 
 more sohdly built than those of the other nations, 
 for the walls consisted of large air-dried brick of clay, 
 with flat roofs and balconies. They built some [of 
 these houses] much larger, and with loop-holes, in 
 order to take refuge in them as in a fortress in ease 
 of a hostile attack, and to defend themselves with 
 bows and arrows." The principal building of Casa 
 Grande seems to have been a place of refuge of this 
 kind. 
 
 Whilst it appears probable and even certain that 
 these "permanent houses" of the Pimas in So- 
 nora, and not the great communal structures of the 
 New Mexican pueblos, were what Cabeza de Vaca 
 had seen in his wanderings, it is still doubtful 
 to what extent an indefinite recollection of their 
 former settlement of Civano-qi may have made the 
 southern Pimas the originators of the story of Ci- 
 bola. It is to be remarked, however, that accord- 
 ing to the reports which Est6vanico sent to the 
 priest, Cibola designated a still existing Indian settle- 
 ment, and not a ruin, as Casa Grande undoubtedly 
 was at that time. I have taken much pains to 
 
THE SEVEN CITIES. 145 
 
 determine on the spot which of the numerous set- 
 tlements of the Opatas, Sobaypuris, and Pimas, of 
 which the ruins are stOl visible, may have been in- 
 habited and relatively prosperous in the sixteenth 
 century, and have found that (except the villages of 
 the southern Pimas already mentioned, which are 
 not, however, in question here) not one of these so- 
 caUed pueblos corresponds to what is known to us 
 of Cibola. It therefore seems useless to look for 
 Cibola anywhere south of the Rio Gila or on that 
 stream ; but only north of it, either in the present 
 Arizona or the present New Mexico, can we expect 
 to find such a clue in language and tradition as 
 shall lead with any certainty to a definite locality. 
 
 There is no doubt that the whole extensive re- 
 gion between the course of the Grila in the south, 
 its sources in the east and the present San Carlos 
 in the west, with the northern half of New Mexico 
 and Arizona, was controlled in the sixteenth cen- 
 tury by a single linguistic stock — that of what are 
 called the "Apaches." I say controlled, for the Apa- 
 ches had no fixed abodes then more than they have 
 now, and they roamed through the whole wild chaos 
 of mountains, by their incursions excluding other 
 tribes from the country. Most of their Uttle huts 
 of branches, sometimes plastered with mud, were 
 set up along the streams, but they only stayed in 
 one place so long as no occasion, however frivolous, 
 prompted them to move their camp to some safer 
 or more favorable place. The Apaches therefore 
 furnish nothing to support us in localizing Cibola 
 among them, and I know of no place-name in theii" 
 language that can be connected with it. Farther 
 
146 CIBOLA. 
 
 east, along the course of the Rio Grande in New 
 Mexico, are the pueblos of the Piros; these, too, 
 aside from their distant situation, give no clue. 
 The region, clothed with magnificent fir-trees, be- 
 tween the Gila and the Rio Colorado Chiquito (the 
 Little Colorado) in western Arizona, the noble 
 mountain landscape of the Sierra Blanca, the wild 
 and precipitous rocks of the Escudilla and Sierra 
 del Datil, the stiU sparsely populated hunting- 
 grounds between the Rio Grande and the Rito Que- 
 mado — were uninhabited, and only the Apaches and 
 their northern relatives, the present Navajos, swept 
 through them from time to time on hunting and 
 predatory expeditions. 
 
 An undulating, often bare, highland begins in 
 the northern part of the Escudilla, the average 
 height of which is 6000 feet above the sea. One 
 may wander for days at a time on the mesas, as 
 if in a large garden of low, spreading junipers. 
 At rare intervals a valley cuts through the uniform 
 level, the borders of which sometimes present pict- 
 uresque rocks of inconsiderable height. This re- 
 gion is bounded on the north by the valley of the 
 western Rio Puerco. In the east it passes through 
 the continental watershed of what is called the 
 "Atlantic and Pacific Divide " into the more broken 
 heights of San Estevan de Acoma to the Cerros Mo- 
 hinos, not far from the Rio Grande. In the west it 
 flattens out, without losing in height, into the tree- 
 less district of the Little Colorado. This desert 
 country, visited by the summer's heat and the win- 
 ter's cold, situated in New Mexico and on the borders 
 of Arizona, is penetrated by a small river which rises 
 
THE SEVEN CITIES. 147 
 
 in flie Atlantic and Pacific Divide, flows generally 
 from east to west, and unites in Arizona with the 
 Rio Puereo. This stream flows at first through a 
 narrow and exceedingly fertile valley. About thirty 
 miles from the borders of Arizona it widens into a 
 sandy and treeless but productive intervale. This 
 intervale, which is hardly fifteen miles long and no- 
 where more than twelve miles wide, is watered only 
 by the muddy brook. An isolated table-mountain 
 rises on the southeast side over the edge of the in- 
 tervale to a perpendicular height of 1026 feet above 
 its level. The rocks everywhere hang waU-like over 
 the vaUey, or swell out at the foot over the river ; 
 and only a few dizzy paths lead to the summit. 
 Similar colossal rpcks tower upon the north side, 
 far above the rest of the valley's edge. This plain, 
 with the little sand-burdened river that bears its 
 name, is the plain of Zuni. 
 
 I can never forget my first view of this plain from 
 a distance, nor the entrance into it. I had left the 
 provisional station of Bennett's late in the morning, 
 alone, on foot, without arms, to go thirty miles to 
 Zuni on a strange road through a wholly unin- 
 habited country, which was only occasionally trav- 
 ersed by Navajo Indians. Till four o'clock in the 
 afternoon I passed through the apparently endless 
 plateau, on which the sandy trail was visible only 
 from one juniper bush to another, and seemed to 
 lead around each one. From the few elevations 
 only the next rise could be seen; no mountain 
 ranges enlivened the horizon, for thick clouds 
 covered the sky ; it was in February, and a snow- 
 storm might come on at any moment. About four 
 
148 CIBOLA. 
 
 o'clock in tlie afternoon I reached an ascent on 
 the summit of which rested a little light. In the 
 southeast rose gigantic masses of red sandstone 
 menacingly high above the dark-green wood. These 
 were the mesas of Zuni. The sun broke out of the 
 clouds and its beams in a little while changed the 
 distant colossi into glowing pUlars of fire ; the sky- 
 was then covered again, and instead of the dreaded 
 snow-storm there came on a shower, with distant 
 thunder in the west. Beyond the light pine woods 
 encompassed me; the eatable pinon {Fiims edulis) 
 overshadowed the dwarf forms of the junipers. It 
 began to grow dark, and the frequent thunder-claps 
 were sounding nearer. When I came out of the 
 wood the plain of Zuni lay before me in a sombre 
 half-light ; sand-whirls were driving through it and 
 veiled the lofty mesa; I stood at the foot of the 
 northern table-mountain, which rose sheer a full 
 thousand feet. A flash of lightning ran through 
 the sky and struck the rocks below, and an icy gust 
 brought a shower of hailstones. The lightning 
 flashes were numerously repeated and always struck 
 the same peak — a phenomenon with which the 
 Indians are well acquainted, and which occurs in 
 every thunder-storm. A shower of hail followed 
 without rain, and then it became calm and dark. 
 Distant lightning reminded us of the storm that 
 had passed, but the sky was still clouded and ex- 
 treme darkness covered the plain. I could not see 
 the way. Then the eastern horizon brightened up 
 with the light of the rising moon without the clouds 
 breaking, and I could perceive the outlines of the 
 rock mass in front of me, in the direction of which 
 
THE SEVEN CITIES. 149 
 
 the village of Zuni lay. At last the moon came 
 out, and the stars shone in the zenith. A proces- 
 sion of clouds was floating in front of me, over the 
 top of a dark, low hill. That hill was Zuni, where 
 I afterward spent weeks of instructive research in 
 the house and the company of Mr. Gushing. 
 
 The name of Zuni does not belong to the lan- 
 guage of the tribe that bears it, but to the Queres 
 idiom of the valley of the Rio Grande. The pueblo 
 is named " Halona," and the Zuni Indians call them- 
 selves 'A-shiui."* They call the land they occupy 
 "Shiuano," a name the analogy of which with Ci- 
 bola should not be overlooked.! It is therefore not 
 strange that the general direction in which Est^van- 
 ico went, and in which the monk followed at a reg- 
 ular distance behind him, was north. Unfortunately 
 
 * The application hy the wMtes of foreign names to Indian 
 tribes is very frequent in America. 
 
 + We may remark further that interchanges of 6 and v 
 were common with the early Spanish writers, and that Fray 
 Marcos de Nizza was a Piedmontese, who, writing in the Ital- 
 ian style, wrote Ci for the English Chi; thus the similarity 
 between Shiuano and Chivola becomes greater, and the differ- 
 ence limits itself to such a confusion of sounds and such ex- 
 changes of letters arising from it as are often and strikingly 
 exemplified in the Indian names of places in New Mexico ; 
 for example, in the Tehua language, Ta-ui into Taos; in the 
 Queres, Pa-go or Pa-yo-qo-na into Pecos, Hamisli into Jemez, 
 Qo-tyi-ti into CocMti ; the Tigua word Tufh-la-nay into Tuta- 
 liaco, Saray into Xalay, Na-si-ap into Napeya; the Zuni names 
 Ma-gua into Moqui, Saouqua into Acttco. It is therefore not 
 unreasonable to suppose that the name Cibola, as the Italian 
 monk heard and pronoxmced it, was strikingly similar to the 
 word in the Zuni language that denotes the Zuni country ; 
 therefore this first linguistic clue suggests that the "seven 
 cities of Cibola" may be sought in the region of Zuni. 
 
150 
 
 the single report which Fray Marcos, the only scribe 
 in his party, wi-ote is unsatisfaetorj-, or deficient in 
 geographical data. No conclusions can be drawn 
 from it in respect to the character of the countiy or 
 to the number of rivers, the volume of water in them 
 or their course. Equally indefinite are his statements 
 concerning the inhabitants. The zealous Franciscan 
 seems to have been animated by only one thought — 
 that of finding the seven cities of Cibola. The far- 
 ther he advanced, the more he heard of them, and the 
 more definite were the accounts. Besides the In- 
 dians of Sonora, probably Pimas, by whom he was ac- 
 companied, men of the northern tribes joined him as 
 he proceeded on his journey. It is still, however, pos- 
 sible that he continued entirely within the territory 
 of the Pimas ; for the Indians of Bacapa, who be- 
 long to the southern Pima tribe, served him every- 
 where as interpreters.* • Only short distances sepa- 
 rated them from their tribal relatives, who were 
 known under the name of the P^pagos (Pdpap 
 Ootam), and thent formed the lowest, the most 
 miserable, branch of the great linguistic group. 
 Fray Marcos crossed the southeast corner of the 
 "Papaguerea" and turned toward the northeast, 
 where he successively met the Sobaypuris and, on 
 the Grila, the Ootam (men) or northern Pimas. He 
 was everywhere received in a friendly manner. 
 Estevanico kept sending back the cross signs, as had 
 been agreed upon, and thus fortified the zeal of the 
 enthusiastic monk. The stories of the natives set 
 forth the glories of Cibola in ever more brilliant 
 
 * They are also known in Sonora as N6vom6. 
 
 t As they still did at the beginning of this century. 
 
THE SEVEN CITIES. 151 
 
 colors. Then lie heard names of places suggestive 
 of grandeur : they spoke, for instance, of the " prov- 
 ince" of Totonteac ; of a " city" of Ahacus, which was 
 one of the seven cities ; of a "TSngdom " of Hacus 
 in the vicinity of Cibola, and of another " Mngdom " 
 called Marata. They told of green stones that 
 adorned the doorposts of the houses of Cibola, of 
 houses several stories high, of skins that came from 
 a large animal of the cow-Mnd with curly hair. 
 And the negro sent him back not only crosses for 
 his encouragement, but also verbal accounts that 
 confirmed all that the Indians had given the Fran- 
 ciscan to understand by signs and words. 
 
 The negro also travelled iu company. During 
 his wanderings with Cabeza de Vaca he had ob- 
 tained a clapper or gourd-rattle, hke those which 
 are used by most of the Indian tribes in their re- 
 ligious rites and in working their cures. He carried 
 this with him, and thereby acquired for himself the 
 dignity and fame of a medicine-man. But Est6- 
 vanico seems to have made an unwise use of the 
 advantage which this prestige gave him. Besides 
 requiring from the natives more provisions than 
 he needed, he sought greedily for precious metals 
 and green stones, and abused the superstitious 
 Indians because they had not enough of them to 
 satisfy his avarice. He seems also to have made 
 requisitions upon the highest and most precious 
 possession of the people, their women. Yet he 
 obtained leaders and guides everywhere, and when 
 Fray Marcos had reached the interior of Arizona, 
 the black was far ahead of him with a numerous 
 retiQue. 
 
ir,2 CIBOLA. 
 
 All that can be definitely gathered from the 
 scanty ethnographic information which the monk 
 has left is, that even tribes that spoke the same 
 language were separated from one another by un- 
 inhabited tracts. When he had crossed the Grila 
 there lay before him a wide, depopulated district 
 which he calls a desert (desierto). This word should 
 be understood, however, not in the sense of a dry, 
 barren region, but simply of a country without in- 
 habitants. On the other side of this land, forsaken 
 or neglected by men, far in the north, lay Cibola. 
 The missionary entered upon the passage of that 
 desert region with a numerous company, and it was 
 midsummer when the Indians of his retinue at last 
 assured him that only a few days' journey separated 
 him from the long-sought spot. Then natives met 
 him who flocked around him trembling and dis- 
 tressed, with all the evidences of great trouble. 
 Their scanty clothing was torn, and they appeared 
 to be starved and exhausted by long flight. They 
 were men who had been with Est6vanico, and 
 brought bad news. 
 
 The negro had arrived at Cibola a little while be- 
 fore, and had behaved there in his peculiar reckless 
 manner. So much, and no more, was disclosed in 
 the confused expressions which Fray Marcos ob- 
 tained from his agitated and frightened informants. 
 Some of them had soon perceived that their pres- 
 ence was not welcome to the inhabitants of the 
 place, and had concealed themselves in the vicinity. 
 Others remained with the black. Trustworthy de- 
 tails of what occurred afterward are wanting, for 
 the catastrophe appears to have taken place in the 
 
THE SEVEN CITIES. I53 
 
 interior of the Tillage, or, as the story has it, " the 
 city." The fugitives, who were still in hiding, one 
 day saw a number of persons coming out of the 
 place. They recognized those of their company who 
 had remaiaed behind, as fleeing, and pursued by the 
 people. The negro Estevanico, however, was not 
 among them ; the people of Cibola had killed him, 
 notwithstanding his medicine rattle. The fugitives 
 succeeded in escaping, and eventually in finding 
 the hiding-place of their companions. Then they 
 aU took to flight, for the people were searching 
 the vicinity for them. They now implored the 
 priest not to make any further effort to approach 
 Cibola. Estevanico had been killed, and the inhab- 
 itants were in great excitement. Only rapid flight 
 could deliver them all, for the braves of Cibola were 
 already on their track. 
 
 After nearly reaching his aim, having come al- 
 most to the threshold of the place so long sought 
 with so much toU and anticipation, Fray Marcos de 
 Nizza could now feel the force of the warning. 
 
 Back, thou canst serve thy Mend no more. 
 Then save thine own life. 
 
 The trial was a severe one to Pray Marcos. Yet 
 suddenly and unexpectedly as it had come, he came 
 as quickly to a decision. His object was to recon- 
 noiter; the instructions enjoined him to learn as 
 much as he could, but in doing so to expose him- 
 self as little to danger as possible. He questioned 
 the fugitives searchingly concerning what they had 
 seen in Cibola, and they confirmed aU that he had 
 
 previously heard of it. They told him that the 
 11 
 
154 cmoLA. 
 
 place where Est^vanico was killed was only one of 
 the seven cities of Cibola, and was not the most 
 populous one. The priest concluded from their ac- 
 counts and expressions that even to go to the place 
 would be attended with great risk to life. He 
 would have to give up his missionary work tempo- 
 rarily, for a martyr's death would under such cir- 
 cumstances be fruitless. Yet it seemed possible to 
 him to steal carefully into the vicinity and cast a 
 glance from some favorable point into the region 
 of his hopes and desires, in order to be satisfied 
 by seeing for himself, even if it were only from 
 a distance, of the truth or untruth of the accounts 
 that had been brought to him. By this method he 
 hoped properly to perform his duty to the Spanish 
 authorities, and at the same time, if he succeeded 
 in executing the attempt without harm, to gain 
 some knowledge of the land and be prepared to 
 carry out the work of conversion if he should re- 
 turn at some later time and with better opportunity. 
 Attempts have been made in later times to fasten a 
 charge of cowardice upon Fray Marcos because he 
 did not give himself blindly up to death by taking 
 the risk of going among the excited people of Ci- 
 bola. Catholic missionaries have set examples of he- 
 roic devotion in many other places, and have with 
 their blood fertilized the earth, to the securing in 
 later times of rich spiritual harvests to the Church. 
 The reproach is in this case undeserved and unjust. 
 As the instructions of Don Antonio de Mendoza 
 show, the Franciscan's position was ambiguous, and 
 his purpose was rather to prepare than to complete. 
 Obviously nothing was to be gained by a heroic sacri- 
 
THE SEVEN CITIES. 155 
 
 fice of his life, whUe everything, the whole object 
 of his journey, might have been defeated by it. If 
 this object was to be secured, he must before every- 
 thing else spare his life in order to return to Mexico 
 and make new attempts thence. 
 
 The censure is especially unfair in view of the 
 effort which the priest resolved to make before he 
 began his retreat to Mexico. That the attempt to 
 steal up into the vicinity of Cibola was attended 
 with great difficulties and considerable danger is at- 
 tested by the opposition of the men of his company, 
 otherwise so obedient, when he asked them to assist 
 him. He eventually succeeded in persuading a few 
 to go with him, but the majority held back. The , 
 party went upon the precarious way with extreme 
 caution, and at last reached a hill whence they 
 looked down into a valley in which lay several vil- 
 lages, the houses of which were unusually large, of 
 several stories, and apparently built of clay and 
 stone. The vUlage nearest to them was pointed 
 out as the one in which the negro had been killed. 
 It seemed to be " as large as the City of Mexico," 
 and men could be clearly seen in it who appeared 
 to be dressed in cotton. Rejoicing in these discov- 
 eries, and at now being able to make a report to 
 the viceroy of what he had observed. Fray Marcos 
 started on his return. He first, however, set up a 
 wooden cross on the spot from which he had seen 
 Cibola. It was intended to be an evidence to the 
 natives of his having been there without their 
 knowledge, and at the same time a notice that he 
 would at some time return. 
 
 The retreat during the first few days naturally 
 
156 CffiOLA. 
 
 took the character of a carefully guarded flight. 
 But the fugitives soon felt safe, and with less cau- 
 tion, and accordingly greater speed, they went to- 
 ward the south without meeting any further obsta- 
 cles. The monk arrived at Culiacan on September 
 2, 1539, and shortly afterward sent the viceroy the 
 report to which we are indebted for our knowledge 
 of his journey and for the first authentic account of 
 New Mexico. 
 
 Few documents of Spanish origin concerning 
 America have been exposed to a sharper and more 
 severe criticism than the "Descubrimiento de las siete 
 Ciudades " of Fray Marcos de Nizza. It has been 
 condemned for defectiveness and superficiality, and 
 charges of exaggeration and untruth have been 
 made against it. A one-sided and inadequate in- 
 vestigation has also caused doubt to be cast upon 
 the declaration that he saw Cibola. The fact has 
 not been without effect in the inquiry that no one 
 has ever succeeded in finding among the Indian 
 tribes of New Mexico a tradition, myth, or story, 
 even in a distorted form, containing a reminiscence 
 of the march, presence, or fate of the negro Bstevan- 
 ico or of the Franciscan. Both, the black and the 
 monk, were prominent figures, well fitted to leave 
 deep traces in the memories of the natives. This 
 total disappearance of all recollections of these two 
 personages has also, perhaps unawares, moved other 
 more meritorious inquirers to look for Cibola in the 
 ruins of long extinct pueblos. 
 
 In the year 1880 Frank Hamilton Cushing, com- 
 missioned by the Bureau of Ethnology at Washing- 
 ton, went to the pueblo of Zuhi, in order, for 
 
THE SEVEN CITIES. I57 
 
 the first time in the annals of science, to subject a 
 tiibe of men who stood on a lower plane of civiliza- 
 tion than om-s to a thorough study by completely 
 identifying himself temporarily with their condition. 
 The distinguished young student was even more 
 successful than he had hoped to be in accomplish- 
 ing his difficult and somewhat dangerous task. 
 Through becoming a Zuni by all the forms of then- 
 law he made himself thoroughly acquainted with 
 the past and present of the tribe, and has, by his 
 discovery of the esoteric bond among the Indians 
 for religious purposes, made the most important 
 contribution of recent times to our knowledge of 
 primitive peoples, as well as to the history of 
 polytheism. 
 
 In the course of his laborious researches, which 
 occupied him and his devoted wife and prevented 
 their permanent return to civilization till 1884, 
 Mr. Gushing collected a valuable store of historical 
 legends and folk-stories. Most unselfishly he per- 
 mitted me to draw from his collection, and what- 
 ever these sketches contain of linguistic explana- 
 tions, traditions, customs, and usages from the 
 circle of the Zuni is of his acquisition ; and I more 
 gladly use it because it gives me the opportunity to 
 acknowledge with hearty thanks the eminent merit 
 of their collector. 
 
 There are associated with the whole region of 
 Zuni a mass of tales and household stories of a re- 
 ligious and historical nature and of a more or less 
 contemplative character. Many of these stories, 
 transmitted through the esoteric union with exact 
 fidelity during hundreds of years, reflect the influ- 
 
158 CIBOLA. 
 
 ence which the surroundings have imperceptibly ex- 
 ercised in a powerful degree upon human thought 
 and feeling. The treeless, sandy plains, the low 
 heights of the borders covered with junipers, stand in 
 impressive contrast to the few isolated table-mount- 
 ains which rise perpendicularly here and there like 
 gigantic towers. Many of the tales rest upon histor- 
 ical foundations, and the history is clothed as with 
 the drapery of a wonderful landscape. The high 
 mesa of Zuni, called in the language of the tribe 
 " To-yo-a-la^na," or Thunder-mountain, is four miles 
 at the northern end, six miles at the southern end, 
 from the pueblo ; then it bends around to the east 
 and turns back to the north. The red sandstone 
 rocks rise nearly everywhere perpendicularly from 
 the plain. The summit is a plateau, overgrown with 
 junipers, pinons, and cactus, and with scanty grass. 
 On it are the ruins of six small pueblos. This 
 group of ruins has been christened " Old Zuni," but 
 erroneously, for the aggregated villages were built 
 after 1680 and deserted about 1705, when the tribe 
 of Zuni, which had fled to the rocks before the 
 Navajos and from fear of the Spaniards, returned of 
 its own accord to the valley where its pueblo now 
 stands. But several ruins of old towns lie at the 
 foot of the mesa, concerning which very definite 
 historical traditions still exist. " Ma-tza-ki," once an 
 important place, is in the northwest, and " O'aquima " 
 in the south. The rocks there form a niche which 
 is filled to the height of about one hundred and 
 fifty feet with steep, partly barren heaps of dSbris. 
 Imposing cliffs menacingly overlook these hiUs, but 
 the rock-waU in the background of the niche rises 
 
THE SEVEN CITIES. 159 
 
 less perpendicularly, although inaccessibly smooth, 
 to the plateau of the summit. At the foot of the 
 hni is permanent water, to which extend the scat- 
 tered individual fields of the Zuni Indians. 
 
 On the crests of these hills, imbedded as it were 
 in the niche, stand the iniins of " Heshota O'aquima," 
 a former village of the Zuni. It was a pueblo of 
 moderate importance ia 1599, but was wholly de- 
 serted after the insurrection of 1680, and fell into 
 ruins. The population may be estimated, from the 
 appearance of the ruins, to have been equal to 
 about half that of Zuni, which was 1608 in 1880. 
 Difficult to assail, easily defended against an en- 
 emy who had no artOlery or long-range guns, pro- 
 vided with water and a fertile soil, O'aquima had 
 an exceptionally protected situation. The village 
 could be seen only from the southern, southwest- 
 em, and southeastern sides ; on every other side it 
 was enclosed and hidden by the rocks. 
 
 The Zunis definitely informed Mr. Gushing, after 
 he had become an adept by initiation into the 
 esoteric fraternity of warriors, that a " black Mexi- 
 can'' had once come to O'aquima and had been 
 hospitably i-eceived there. He, however, very soon 
 incurred mortal hatred by his rude behavior to- 
 ward the women and girls of the pueblo, on ac- 
 count of which the men at last killed him. A short 
 time after that the first white Mexicans, as the 
 Indians call all white men whose mother-tongue 
 is Spanish, came to the country and overcame the 
 natives in war. This tale is of indubitable authen- 
 ticity, and of evident significance. It proves what 
 I have only intimated above, that Cibola repre- 
 
160 CIBOLA. 
 
 sented tho present country and tribe of Zufli. It is 
 also of great importance in its bearing upon the 
 truth of the statements of Fray Marcos. The hill 
 from which he, coming from the southwest, looked 
 at Cibola, could have been nowhere but on the south- 
 ern border of the plain of Zuni ; and it is only from 
 that side that the pueblo of O'aqutma can be seen, 
 while it is possible to approach it thence unremarked 
 to within two miles, and to observe everything 
 plainly. There, too, the remains of a wooden cross 
 were visible till a few years ago. It has been sup- 
 posed that this was the cross which the monk 
 erected; considering the dry atmosphere of the 
 region, the supposition, even if it is not probable, 
 is not to be whoUy rejected. 
 
 The charge of exaggeration and distortion which 
 has been made against the "Descubrimiento de las 
 siete Ciudades " is based chiefly upon two points — on 
 the comparison of Cibola or O'aquima with the City 
 of Mexico, and on the statement that the people of 
 Cibola were accustomed to adorn their houses with 
 green stones, or turquoises. 
 
 Besides the fact that every New Mexican pueblo 
 appears larger and more imposing from a distance 
 than it really is on account of the peculiar structure 
 of its houses, we should bear in mind that the 
 priest's comparison was not with the earlier Indian 
 pueblo of Tenochtitlan that was destroyed by Cor- 
 tes, or, still less, with the present City of Mexico, 
 but with the new Spanish town as Fray Marcos 
 knew it in the year 1539. It is very doubtful 
 whether it had a thousand inhabitants then, and 
 the houses they lived in were aU grouped, for 
 
THE SEVEN CITIES. 161 
 
 the sake of security, in the vicinity of the pres- 
 ent Zocalo. The comparison, therefore, instead of 
 beirg exaggerated, seems to have been fitting and 
 correct. As to the decoration of the doorposts 
 with turquoises, Mr. Gushing has found that a cus- 
 tom formerly prevailed, in Zuni at least, of deco- 
 rating the openings in the roof through which the 
 inmates of the house went down into the rooms and 
 chambers with green stones, among which kala- 
 ite, or turquoise, carbonate of copper, or malachite, 
 and phosphate of copper, etc., were occasionally 
 introduced. The monk was therefore correctly in- 
 formed concerning this matter, and repeated truly 
 what had been told him. 
 
 Efforts have been made for a long time in vain 
 to localize the names which Fray Marcos heard of 
 what were styled "kingdoms," "provinces," and 
 "cities" in the vicinity of Cibola. Mr. Gushing has 
 succeeded in explaining the names of "Marata" and 
 " Totonteac." Although they are distorted, they both 
 belong to the language of the Zuni, and denote 
 directions, rather than particular regions. "Aba- 
 cus," on the other hand, is one of the seven cities — 
 Harui-eu or Aguas calientes — situated fifteen miles 
 southwest of Zuni, and deserted since the year 
 1679. " Hacus," finally, which Fray Marcos called 
 a kingdom in distinction from the others, is a tribe 
 independent of Zuni, that of Acoma, the real name 
 of which is A-eo, and which the Zuni, according to 
 Gushing, caU Ha-cu-qua. 
 
 The return of the priest, his remarkable experi- 
 ences, and the stories which he brought from the 
 far north attracted the highest degree of attention 
 
162 CIBOLA. 
 
 from the officers and people of Mexico. Nobody 
 doubted the truth of the statements of Fray Marcos. 
 He had not found gold and silver, but he had discov- 
 ered settled tribes and a fertile country. The notion 
 of great wealth in metals readily associated itself with 
 these two elements, and it was not difficult to obtain 
 help in men and means for the organization of a 
 campaign on a larger scale into those regions. Don 
 Antonio de Mendoza therefore did not hesitate, 
 after the discovery had been made and the way 
 pointed out, to pi'oceed to conquest. For this he 
 found a ready and willing instrument in Francisco 
 Vasquez Coronado. 
 
CHAPTER m. 
 
 FRANCISCO VASQUEZ COEONADO. 
 
 Although still young, Coronado had filled offices 
 of no little importance in Mexico. He was born in 
 Salamanca, Spain, and had married the daughter of 
 Alonzo de Estrada, royal treasurer in Mexico. Nuno 
 de Guzman had persecuted and imprisoned Estrada 
 because he would not connive at the robbery of the 
 royal chest of 9000 pesos. After the inquisitorial 
 judge, Diego Perez de la Torre, who had put Guz- 
 man in prison, died in 1538 at Guadalajara, Cris- 
 tobal de Onate, father of the future conqueror of 
 New Mexico, succeeded him as governor in New 
 Galicia, and Coronado was appointed by a royal de- 
 cree of April 15, 1539, to conduct the usual exam- 
 ination of the administration of the deceased. He 
 exchanged this position of jitez de residencia in the 
 same year for the higher one of governor of the 
 province, with which Oiiate had been only provision- 
 ally invested. When Fray Marcos returned to the 
 City of Mexico Coronado was there. He asked of 
 the viceroy Mendoza the privilege of attempting at 
 his own expense the conquest and colonization of 
 the newly discovered lands in the north. The vice- 
 roy had always regarded and treated Coronado as a 
 favorite and readily accepted his oifer, which would 
 save him all material expenditure, and as readily 
 163 
 
164 CIBOLA. 
 
 agreed to another condition : to the preparation of 
 an expedition by sea from Natividad, in the present 
 state of Guadalajara, to explore the coast toward 
 the north and the interior of the Gulf of Califor- 
 nia,* but principally to keep along the coast in touch 
 with Coronado's land expedition. A comrade of 
 Coronado's, Pedro Casteheda, writes of the object 
 of this cruise : " When the soldiers had all left Mex- 
 ico, the viceroy ordered Don Pedro de Alarcon to 
 sail with two ships from Natividad to the coast of 
 the Southern Sea and proceed to Jalisco, in order 
 to take on board the things which the soldiers 
 could not carry. He was then to sail along the 
 coast, following the march of the army, for it was 
 believed, according to the reports, that it would not 
 be far away, and could easily keep in communica- 
 tion with the ships by means of the rivers. But 
 matters' turned out differently, as we shall see 
 further along, and the effects were lost, at least 
 [Casteiieda grimly adds] to those to whom they be- 
 longed." 
 
 The cost of the fitting out of these two expedi- 
 tions amounted, according to Herrera, to 60,000 duc- 
 ats, a sum at that time equivalent to more than a 
 quai'ter of a million dollars of our currency. Coro- 
 nado was therefore deeply in debt, when he, on Feb- 
 ruary 1, 1540, left ComposteUa, whither the vice- 
 roy had accompanied him, to march with his land 
 "army" toward the north. The force consisted, 
 according to Casteneda, of 300 Spaniards and 800 
 Indians. Mota-PadUla says definitely that Coronado 
 
 * Then called Mar Vermejo, the Red Sea. It was navigated 
 for the first time by Francisco de Ulloa, in 1539. 
 
j?BANCISCO VASQUEZ COEONADO. 165 
 
 had 260 horse and 60 foot, with more than a thou- 
 sand Indians, and that he took with him six swivel- 
 guns, more than a thousand spare horses and other 
 horses carrying freight and ammunition. Accord- 
 ing to Herrera, the train was accompanied by large 
 numbers of live sheep and swine. The Spaniards 
 were divided into eight companies, which were com- 
 manded by the captains Diego de Guzman, Rodrigo 
 Maldonado, and other officers. Lopez de Samaniego 
 was master of the ordnance {maestro de campo) and 
 Pedro de Tobar ensign. Fom- priests of the Fran- 
 ciscan order went along with the battalion: Fray 
 Marcos (who had in the meantime become provin- 
 cial). Fray Juan de PadiUa, Fray Juan de la Cruz, 
 and Fray Luis de Ubeda. Another priest and a lay 
 brother seem to have afterward joined the force. 
 Don Antonio de Mendoza took so much part in 
 the expedition as to choose and appoint the higher 
 ofBeers. Pablo de Melgosa commanded the infan- 
 try and Hernando de Alvarado the small artillery 
 force. Nothing was forgotten that could give the 
 expedition splendor of equipment, the most effect- 
 ive leaders, and the largest provision. Coronado 
 himself enjoyed general confidence, but he left be- 
 hind him, says his morose subaltern Casteneda, 
 " great wealth and a young, noble, and lovely wife." 
 The viceroy, while setting in operation the prep- 
 arations for this miniature massing of forces, had 
 made a farther step toward the exploration of the 
 north. With the caution that attended every im- 
 portant transaction of the Spanish officers, he had 
 already taken measures to test upon the spot the 
 trustworthiness of the representations of Fray Mar- 
 
1G6 CIBOLA. 
 
 COS. Not so much from suspicion as from pru- 
 dence, based on a knowledge of the honest weak- 
 nesses of human nature, Don Antonio de Mendoza 
 had ordered Captain Melchior Diaz to follow from 
 Culiacan the route of the Franciscan toward the 
 north, and approach as near Cibola as possible. 
 Diaz started out with fifteen horsemen on Novem- 
 ber 17, 1539. On the 20th of March, 1540, the 
 viceroy received a letter from him from CuHacan, 
 whither he had returned with his task so far unac- 
 complished that he had not succeeded in getting 
 farther north than " Chichiltic-calli." Beyond that 
 point lay an uninhabited region at the end of which 
 was Cibola. " When one has passed the great des- 
 ert,"* wrote Diaz, "he wiU find seven cities which 
 are about a day's journey from one another. All 
 together are called Civola." Diaz received this in- • 
 formation and a description of the houses of Cibola 
 which was extraordinarily accurate from the Indi- 
 ans between ChichUtio-calli and CuHacan. There 
 was much snow in the former region and the coun- 
 try began to be again mountainous there. He con- 
 sequently returned, convinced that he could not go 
 farther with his small means. 
 
 The name " Chichiltic-caUi " is derived from the 
 Nahuatl language of Central Mexico, and means lit- 
 erally "red house." It therefore probably came 
 from the Indians who went with Pray Marcos on 
 his first journey, among whom were some who 
 spoke the Nahuatl language. The word has now 
 disappeared as the name of a place. The position 
 of CMcMltic-caUi is thus an object of careful search, 
 ' Properly, uninhabited region — "desierto." 
 
FRANCISCO VASQUEZ CORONADO. 167 
 
 the more so because the determination of its loca- 
 tion will afford an important aid in the identifica- 
 tion of Cibola. 
 
 General Simpson and several writers following 
 him have expressed the opinion that the ruins of 
 "Casa Grande/' which the Pimas call Civano-qi, 
 on the southern bank of the Gila River and about 
 eighty-five miles northwest of Tucson in Arizona, 
 represent Chichiltic-caUi. Mr. Lewis H. Morgan has 
 very pertinently objected to this supposition that 
 no single ruin on the Rio Gila corresponds with the 
 description which Coronado's contemporaries have 
 left us of the " red house." At the risk of anticipat- 
 ing the course of historical events, I shall examine 
 this question more closely. 
 
 Casteneda says definitely that Chichiltic-caUi was 
 220 leagues, or about 550 EngUsh mUes, north or 
 northeast of Cuhacan, and 80 leagues, or 216 miles, 
 south or southwest of Cibola. The distance and 
 direction point to southeastern Arizona, near the 
 western line of New Mexico, and not to the region ~ 
 of Casa Grande, which is situated rather west of 
 north from Culiacan. Although the measurements 
 as well as the statements of direction of the itiner- 1^ 
 aries of the sixteenth century cannot be implicitly 
 relied upon, still the fact that the companions of 
 Coronado — Casteneda, Diaz, and Juan JaramUlo — 
 agree in respect to the direction is important. Of 
 stiU more decisive significance are the descriptions 
 of the country, the account of the building at Chi- 
 chUtic-calli, and the itinerary itself. 
 
 Melchior Diaz, who first saw the "red house," 
 does not mention the ruins. Juan JaramUlo, with- 
 
1C8 CIBOLA. 
 
 out speaking of the building, mentions a chain of 
 mountains that was called Chichiltic-caUi. Cas- 
 teiieda, on the other hand, is very circumstantial. 
 He says first, explicitly, that the unpopulated region 
 begins there, and that " the land ceases to be covered 
 with thorny trees and the aspect of the country 
 changes. The Gulf [of CalifomiaJ terminates there, 
 the coast turns, the mountains foUow the same di- 
 rection, and one has to climb over them to get iuto 
 the plains again. . . . The soU of this region is red. 
 . . . The rest of the country is uninhabited, and is 
 covered with forests of fir, the fruits of which tree 
 are found in abundance. . . . There is a kind of 
 oak there, the acorns of which . . . are as sweet as 
 sugar. Watercresses are found in the springs, rose- 
 bushes, piilegium, and marjoram." In the vicinity 
 he saw flocks of wild sheep, very large, with long 
 horns and long hair. Finally, he describes the in- 
 habitants as belonging to the wildest tribe which 
 they had met in that coimtry. They dwelt in iso- 
 lated huts and lived solely by hunting. The ixiin 
 was roofless, extensive, and had been built of red 
 earth. 
 
 A later writer, Matias de la Mota-PadiHa, who was 
 born at Guadalajara in 1688 and died there in 1766, 
 gives a very detailed description of Chielultic-calli. 
 It is not probable that he had access to the manu- 
 script of Casteiieda, for he was never away from 
 Spanish America.* He borrows nothing either in 
 his account of the " red house " from Herrera, who 
 copied JaramiOo. His statements are, then, derived 
 
 * Castefieda's work was not printed till 1838, and then in a 
 Frenoli translation. 
 
f EANCISCO VASQUEZ CORONADO. 169 
 
 from some still unknown source, and are therefore 
 doubly interesting. He says : " They went through 
 a narrow defile {portesuela) which was named Chi- 
 dultic-caUi (which means ' red house/ because there 
 was a house there plastered on the outside with 
 red earth, called almagre). There they found flr- 
 trees with fir-cones full of good meat. On the top 
 of a rock lay skuUs of rams with large horns, and 
 some said they had seen three or four of these 
 sheep, which were very swift-footed." 
 
 Not one of these descriptions corresponds with 
 the Casa Grande of Arizona, and still less do they 
 fit the Casas Grandes in Chihuahua. The latter is 
 even quite out of the question. The former is situ- 
 ated a mile and a half south of the bank of the 
 Gila, in a wide waterless plain of dazzling grayish- 
 white sand and marl. The plain stretches out of 
 sight in the south, but the horizon is bounded in 
 the distant west by the low range of the Maricopa 
 hOs, while in the east the Sierra Tortilla is visible 
 in the distance. On the north bank of the Gila the 
 foot-hills of the Superstition Mountains rise precipi- 
 tously, and back of them that range unfolds itself 
 like a broken wall, overlooked by the Sierra Masa- 
 sar in the northwest, while in the northeast the 
 Sierra Pinal lifts itself up, the only range crowned 
 with fir-trees. All the near mountains are marked 
 by an awful wUdness, frightful steepness, and ter- 
 rible cliflfs and gorges, while the vegetation is 
 sparse and exclusively thorny. There are found 
 the beautiful red-flowered ocotilla (Fouquiera splen- 
 dens), the creosote-plant (Larrea gigantea), and quan- 
 tities of mezcal-agaves. Every plant pricks and the 
 13 
 
170 CIBOLA. 
 
 leaves are gray. A lowly vegetation grows on the 
 wMte sand flats and gravel hills and clings to the 
 bare rocks. Only when showers f aU the ravines are 
 filled in a short time with wild torrents, which over- 
 flow and irrigate the plain ; for while in June, July, 
 and August the clouds discharge daUy upon the 
 mountains, a whole year has often passed at Casa 
 Grande, sometimes eighteen months, without its 
 raining. The thermometer rises every day in sum- 
 mer to above 100° in the shade, and snow-falls are 
 almost unknown. It is a hot, arid region, covered 
 with desert plants, to which the coarser forms of 
 the lower animal life, the disgusting bird-spider 
 (Mygale Jieintzii), the great millipede (Scolopendra 
 hews), the scorpion (Scorpio borens and Telyphonus 
 excuUtor), the rattlesnake (Gaudisono molossus), a,nd 
 the large warty lizard, appropriately called the 
 Gila monster {Helodemm horridum), are eminently 
 adapted. The mountain sheep (Ovis montana) for- 
 merly roamed in the mountains. The region has for 
 many centuries been inhabited exclusively by the 
 Pima Indians, who have always been a more or less 
 settled, agricultural people, like the Pueblos of New 
 Mexico, living in villages composed of round huts, 
 and acquainted with the art of irrigation by canals. 
 
 I have already mentioned that the Pimas claimed 
 to be descendants of the inhabitants and builders of 
 the Casa Grande. Casteneda says that the "red 
 house " was destroyed by the people who lived there 
 at the time of his arrival, and describes them as 
 completely savage. 
 
 The ruin of Casa Grande is composed of a whit- 
 ish-gray calcareous marl, is three stories high, and 
 
FRANCISCO VASQUEZ CORONADO. 171 
 
 has no floor or roof. The roof was probably de- 
 stroyed by fire, kindled by the Apaches. It is not 
 certain but is possible that the building was once 
 covered on the outside with a red plaster, as it still 
 is on the inside, so as to make it look from without 
 like a red house ; and in this possibility consists the 
 only analogy that can be discovered between Casa 
 Grande and Chichiltic-calli. In all other points 
 there is not the slightest resemblance. 
 
 It is useless to look for the " red house " farther 
 west, or between Florence and Fort Yuma. The 
 ruins cease at Gila Bena, and the country beyond 
 is almost a clear desert. East of Florence, between 
 Riverside and San Carlos, the mountains are too 
 wild and ragged. Within New Mexico there is no 
 place affording any ground for identification with it 
 in the latitude corresponding with the head of the 
 Gulf of California. Chichiltic-calli, therefore, was 
 situated iu the southeastern comer of Arizona, and 
 within a quadrangle which is bounded on the east 
 by New Mexico, on the west by the Rio San Pedro, 
 on the south by Sonora, and on the north by the 
 Gila River. As the ruin does not stand upon any 
 stream, it is impossible to fix the exact place ; yet I 
 was disposed at first to look for it in the vicinity 
 of the new Fort Grant, or south of Mount Graham, 
 where the fir woods really begin. The height above 
 the sea of this station, where there are consider- 
 able rains, is 4753 feet, while the mountains rise to 
 10,516 feet, and snow-storms are not only regular 
 every winter, but considerable. If this site should 
 not be found to answer, then the ruins at Eagle 
 Creek, west of Clifton, might be considered. But 
 
172 CIBOLA. 
 
 they lie north of the Rio Gila, and that stream has 
 a considerable breadth and a notable supply of 
 water even in summer. The fact that the moun- 
 tains north of the banks of the Gila for a short 
 day's journey toward Mount Tumbull, Mount 
 Graham, the Sierra Bonita, and the Peloncillo, are 
 stUl bare or covered with thorny plants, as at Casa 
 Grande, is against seeking for Chichiltic-caUi at 
 Fort Grant. There are also more substantial rea- 
 sons, as I shall proceed to show, for not looking for 
 it on Eagle Creek. 
 
 The march of the troops from ComposteUa to 
 Cuhacan was not free from hindrances. The horses 
 were too highly fed for hard work, and the soldiers 
 did not know how to arrange the loads upon them. 
 Much of the baggage was therefore lost, and the 
 provisions began to fail at Chiametla. The Indians 
 were hostile, and Maestro de Campo Samaniego lost 
 his life in a skirmish with them. On Easter Mon- 
 day, 1540, the little army arrived at Culiacan, where 
 it was received with much enthusiasm and military 
 pomp. Hermandarias de Saavedra was appointed 
 to the place of the slara of&cer. 
 
 Discontent had already broken out among the 
 men in Chiametla. Diaz had met them there on 
 his return, and although his reports were kept se- 
 cret, stories of misfortune became current, and the 
 storm broke out against Fray Marcos, who was now 
 accused of having purposely exaggerated. We do 
 not know what the Franciscan had said, but what 
 he wrote is fuRy confirmed by the report of Diaz. 
 The morose Casteneda says that the priest and 
 Coronado especially had told the men stories about 
 
J-EANCISCO VASQUEZ COEONADO. 173 
 
 mountains of gold. We have nothing in writing on 
 the subject except Casteneda's own testimony. It 
 is curious that while he raised such complaints, he 
 at the same time quarrelled with Coronado because 
 he would not stay in New Mexico. 
 
 After Coronado had tarried two weeks in Cuha- 
 can, he started somewhat hurriedly with fifty horse- 
 men to hasten forward to Cibola in advance of the 
 main body. Ten foot-soldiers and the priests went 
 with him. Cristobal de Onate remained as repre- 
 sentative of the Grovernor in Sinaloa, and Tristan 
 de AreRano was given the chief command over the 
 main body, with instructions to foUow on in four- 
 teen days. The departure of Coronado probably 
 took place at the end of April. The campaign was 
 thus divided into three parts: the advance under 
 Coronado, the rear under Arellano, and the expedi- 
 tion by sea under Alarcon. The last contributed 
 so little to the result that I prefer to teU its story 
 briefly at once. 
 
 Hernando Alarcon sailed with the ships "San 
 Pedro " and " Santa Catarina " on May 9th and kept 
 along the coast ; encountered the usual storms, ter- 
 rors, and shoals; added a third ship, the "San 
 Gabriel," to his fleet at "Aguaiaval"; and arrived 
 on August 26th at the mouth of a large river, the 
 current of which was so rapid that the vessels could 
 hardly make way against it. He launched two 
 boats and embarked in them with a few men and 
 light artillery to ascend the stream. The shores 
 were inhabited, and the houses were roimd, made of 
 limbs of trees, and plastered and covered with earth, 
 lik e those of the present Pimas. Several families 
 
174 CIBOLA. 
 
 lived in the same building. Not much reliance is to 
 be placed on the reports of the Indians which he 
 repeats in his Belacion, for great mistakes were im- 
 avoidable in the absence of interpreters. For that 
 reason the statement which would otherwise be 
 valuable, that the Indians showed him a village of 
 stone houses on a height in the distance, is doubt- 
 ful. Alarcon thus went up and down the river 
 twice, and asserts that he saUed 85 leagues, or 230 
 miles, upon it. Finally he heard of Cibola, of the 
 arrival of the Spaniards there, and of the death 
 of the negro. The distance at which he was from 
 Cibola is variously given by him at thirty, forty, 
 and ten days' journey. In despair of meeting Cor- 
 onado, he returned to the Mexican coast at the end 
 of the year 1540, with the purpose of his voyage un- 
 accompUshed. 
 
 Although the main object of this voyage, coopera- 
 tion with Coronado, was not gained, it contributed 
 much to geographical knowledge, for it determined 
 the form of the Grulf of California and elicited the 
 first information concerning the lower course of 
 the largest river on the western coast of America — 
 the Rio Colorado ; for this is the river which Alarcon 
 ascended with his boats. The map in the Ptolommus 
 of Messer Pietro Andreas Mattiolo, of the year 1548, 
 already represented Lower California in its true 
 shape as a peninsula. 
 
 Postponing for the present the story of the ef- 
 forts which were made by the land expedition to 
 establish communication with Alarcon, I return to 
 Coronado, who left Culiacan and marched north- 
 ward with sixty men, five priests, one lay brother, 
 
FRANCISCO VASQUEZ COEONADO. 175 
 
 and a few Indians who were more bold than dis- 
 creet. He first met the Yaqui Indians in the terri- 
 tory of Sonora, and north of that, 12 leagues, or 32 
 miles, from Sonora, he met the southern Pimas in 
 the " Valley of Hearts " ( Valle de los Corazones). On 
 the third day after his departure from Culiacan, a 
 mishap befell the expedition : a priest, Fray Antonio 
 Victoria, broke his thigh and had to be sent back. 
 The Valley of Hearts is south of Batuco, and Cor- 
 onado therefore probably reached the Rio Sonora 
 in the vicinity of Babiacora, or about 160 miles south 
 of the Mexican border of Arizona. Forty leagues, 
 or 108 nules, farther on, he founded a Spanish col- 
 ony in the Valley of Suya, to which he gave the 
 name of San Hier6nymo. As the Valley of Suya 
 lay on the Sonora River, San Hieronymo should be 
 looked for north of Bacuachi. The place was sit- 
 uated on the bank of "a small river." Although 
 there are names of places that likewise end in So- 
 nora west of the Sonora Valley, in the country be- 
 tween Magdalena and Altar, once controlled by the 
 Pimas, there is no doubt that Coronado entered 
 the real Sonora Valley. Casteneda gives names of 
 places that are only to be found there. "Guaga- 
 rispa," called " Ispa " by JaramiUo, is unmistakably 
 " Huc-aritz-pa," the present "Arispe." 
 
 Few valleys have so small a breadth for so 
 great a length as the vaUey of the Sonora River. 
 From Babi4cora to Sinoquipe, a distance of forty- 
 five miles, the fertile intervale widens out at only 
 one place, Ban^michi, to three mUes ; elsewhere it 
 is seldom more than half a nule wide. Large 
 gravel dunes with thorny bushes of mesquite, 
 
176 CIBOLA. 
 
 choya, pitahaya, agovin, and pah-blanco form a 
 base of greater or less breadth on both sides, 
 from which mountains rise abruptly with wild, pic- 
 turesque profile, forming on the eastern side a con- 
 tinuous chain which is crossed by only a few ex- 
 tremely difficult paths. The defile which JaramiUo 
 mentions as leading from the south to the Sonora 
 River can only be that one which enters the vaUey 
 at Babidcora and comes down from Batuco. The 
 Rio Sonora turns thence toward the southwest, and 
 runs through the dark gorge of Ures to the pres- 
 ent city of HermosiUo and the Gulf of California. 
 When the first Jesuit missionaries visited the re- 
 gion in the year 1638, they found its inhabitants 
 numerous and more peaceful and better civilized 
 than the other peoples of the country. These in- 
 habitants are now known by the name of " Opata " ; 
 they call themselves " Joyl-ra-ua," or village people. 
 The name " Opata " belongs to the Pima language ; 
 it arose toward the end of the seventeenth century 
 and is analyzed into " Oop," enemies, and " Ootam," 
 men. The Pimas designate themselves by the latter 
 word. Opata is therefore equivalent to " men hos- 
 tile to the Pima tribe." The languages of the two 
 tribes are very closely related. 
 
 Few tribes in Spanish America have so readily 
 and completely assimilated with the whites as the 
 Opatas of Sonora. I am convinced, after a slow 
 journey of three months through their whole coun- 
 try, that there are hardly two dozen of them who 
 can and wiU speak their own language. The dress 
 of the Opatas is white, customary in all Mexico, 
 with the palm-leaf hat. Their houses are like the 
 
i'EANCISCO VASQUEZ COEONADO. I77 
 
 habitations of the Mexicans. They wear sandals 
 or moccasins indifferently, although the latter are 
 more common on account of the great roughness 
 of the mountains. They are generally ashamed of 
 their mother tongue, desire to be castellano or la- 
 dino, and speak only Spanish with their children. 
 Hardly more than recollections and a few dances 
 that have been converted into church festivals are 
 left of their former customs. Four of these were 
 danced a hundred years ago, but only the "dani- 
 namaca" and the "pascola" are still in use. The 
 " mariachi," a dance which is similar to our round 
 dances, has been abandoned on account of its 
 obscenity, but the " majo dani," the stag dance, stiU 
 exists in the recollections of the people. 
 
 The present organization of the Opatas has been 
 conformed since the reform legislation of 1857 to 
 the North American pattern — that is, one in which 
 the old and the new are partly combined. The 
 original community of goods of the Indians, which 
 the Crown accorded to them in the seventeenth and 
 eighteenth centuries, stiQ subsists. Hence, since the 
 Indians live alongside of the Spanish families, there 
 is a double administration, which is plainly appar- 
 ent at some places in the Sonora Valley. 
 
 The easy and voluntary, even eager, denationaliza- 
 tion of the Opatas cannot be ascribed to the influ- 
 ence of the Jesuits alone, although they exercised 
 an almost theocratic rule over the tribe for one 
 hundred and thirty-eight years. The Pimas were 
 under the same influence for a like period, yet even 
 the Pdpagos of Tucson tenaciously hold to the lan- 
 guage and partly to the religion of their fathers. 
 
178 CIBOLA. 
 
 There was an element of greater docility in the 
 nature of the Opatas, which the fathers of the 
 Society of Jesus encouraged, and vigilantly guarded 
 against aU interference of the officers and colonists. 
 Then the necessity of defence against a common 
 formidable enemy, the Apaches, attached the seden- 
 tary Opatas closely to Spanish civilization and cus- 
 toms for more than two himdred years. The awful 
 desolation which this hereditary enemy inflicted 
 upon the Opatas after the conspiracy formed at 
 Casas Grandes in Chihuahua in 1684 drove them all 
 to the large towns, and compelled them to seek the 
 better protection which the adoption of the Span- 
 ish-Mexican arrangement of houses and manner of 
 living afforded them. Those who did not adapt 
 themselves to this condition and remained outside 
 of the pueblos soon feU victims* in the Sien-a 
 Madre, the sierra of Texas, to the Janos and J6- 
 comes, and afterward to the Apaches, which gradu- 
 ally absorbed these tribes. 
 
 The chroniclers of the campaign which is the 
 object of this study spoke of the Opatas as being 
 "numerous and intelligent." Their habitations in 
 the Sonora Valley were, however, not so large as 
 those of the southern Pitnas, and their villages were 
 less populous. I have surveyed seventeen ruins be- 
 tween Los Fresnos and Babiicora, and have visited 
 many other sites of ruins, but have found no vQlage 
 there that contained a hundred huts. But Bate- 
 sopa, at the foot of the Sierra Huachinera (a branch 
 of the Sierra Madre), may have had two hundred 
 houses. The houses there are also more durably 
 * The earliest documentary data on the subject are of 1655. 
 
FRANCISCO VASQUEZ CORONADO. 179 
 
 built of clay and stone, or their posts rest on square 
 or rectangular foundations of stone, while the walls 
 ao-e made of intertwined reeds and the roofs of palm 
 leaves or yucca blades, for it is cold in the Sonora 
 Valley. A fan pabn is growing in Arispe which 
 has a height of twenty-five feet; and the artisti- 
 cally woven roofing of the leaves of this species, 
 which I have admired in Oaxaca, is an adequate pro- 
 tection against the heavy rains of summer. The 
 little vUlages were always on elevations near the 
 water, and the rainfall flowed away safely to the 
 lower land. I found no settlement fortified, but 
 places of refuge are numerous in the interior of 
 the Sierra Madre. They are very significantly 
 called fort-hills {Gerros de Trincheras). They are 
 natural heights, often very steep, along the brows 
 of which and bending to their sinuosities rude bul- 
 warks of stone have been raised. The hiU could 
 thus be converted in the simplest way into a forti- 
 fication, and where it is conical, as at Terrenate, 
 Ymurez, and Toni-vavi, near Naeori, the walls nat- 
 urally assimie a spiral form. The Indians thus 
 adapted their constructions to the irregularities of 
 the slopes. The people of several villages could 
 take refuge in one of these fortified heights. 
 These primitive fortifications have attracted the 
 attention of travellers in recent years, and have 
 given rise to exaggerated newspaper reports con- 
 cerning a gigantic artificial pyramid in the vicinity 
 of Magdalena. 
 
 Division into many small tribes was the original 
 constitution and social order of the Opatas. The 
 people of Opasura attacked them on the Sonora 
 
180 CIBOLA. 
 
 River at Ban&michi, and the river-side tribes made 
 war upon one another. The Opatas had slings, 
 stone axes, clubs, and arrows without stone heads, 
 but burnt hard and strongly poisoned. Their cloth- 
 ing was of cotton and skins, and their decorations 
 were of colored feathers. 
 
 Our infoi'mation respecting their religious rites is 
 very scanty, but I have succeeded in collecting some 
 of their folk tales, which permit a glimpse into their 
 earUer forms of beUef as well as into their history. 
 They affirm that they came from the north and 
 moved gradually southward. The New Mexican 
 Pueblo Indians recognize the Opatas, as well as the 
 Pimas and the Taquis, as allied to them, although 
 they are of different linguistic affinities. 
 
 Coronado's movements in the valley of the Sonora 
 River appear to have been rapid. He could not 
 possibly have reached Arispe in about a day's jour- 
 ney from Babidcora, as JaramOlo asserts, for the 
 distance is seventy miles ; and though a single horse- 
 man might accompUsh it in case of emergency, a 
 troop composed of horse and foot could not. His 
 relations with the natives seem to have been friendly 
 — Coronado was always very much hked personally 
 by the Indians — and they recognized Fray Marcos 
 and welcomed him. The advance to Sinoquipe in 
 the months of May and June, or before the rainy 
 season begins, is attended with no difficulties. The 
 river is really shrunken to a brook, as JaramiUo 
 describes it, and there are only occasional very low 
 dunes to climb. But the thickets of river poplar, 
 elder, willow, and cane which bordered the course of 
 the Sonora may have presented impediments then. 
 
for tlie paths from village to village wind up and 
 down over the dunes. At Sinoquipe the Spaniards 
 would come upon the series of deep ravines which 
 extend uninterruptedly to Arispe, and thence with 
 slight intermissions to near Bacuachi, and often 
 force the traveller to take to the bed of the river. 
 In the whole distance of one hundred and forty 
 miles between Babidcora and the source of the 
 Sonora the traveller leaves the river bank only 
 once for a short time, while he crosses the narrow 
 stream two hundred and fifty times. It is one of 
 the most charming and at the same time least diffi- 
 cult routes which the North American continent 
 offers to a horseman. A steadily mild climate en- 
 hances the traveller's pleasure. 
 
 The " Cajon," more than twenty miles in length, 
 through which one passes in going from Sinoquipe 
 to Arispe, is rich in the magnificent development of 
 the most diversified rock-forms. When the " Cabe- 
 zon de San Benito," a massive, beU-shaped peak, 
 has sunk behind the ever-increasing heights north 
 of Siaoquipe, and these gather thickly around the 
 river's course, there also disappears in the east the 
 rudely notched mountain of the nueve Minus, and the 
 inviting cove of Tetuachi reposes on the right bank, 
 surrounded by mighty mountains. Narrow tongues 
 of rock jut forward into the peaceful valley, faU 
 perpendicularly to the ground, and imitate artificial 
 masonry in their resemblance to squared stones 
 piled up in regular symmetry. The rocks that 
 overhang them, rising thousands of feet, are clothed 
 with the peculiar vegetation of the country, which 
 lends a tint of green to even the highest crests. 
 
182 CIBOLA. 
 
 Through this grand valley as a door one goes into 
 the Cajon proper. The river is bordered with thick 
 foliage, and gigantic cliffs rise like coulisses, one 
 behind another, away up, in the most varied colors 
 of the quaternary rock, alternating with lava. The 
 pillar-shaped Pitabaya fastens itself in the clefts of 
 the steepest, even vertical cliffs. Rarely wider than 
 half a mUe, yet affording by its numerous bendings 
 a constant change of view, never bare, but unceas- 
 ingly grand and wild, the ravine appears to go 
 along with the traveller, till the solitary palm-tree 
 at the entrance to the half -ruined city of Arispe in- 
 troduces him to a new and entirely different land- 
 scape : a hollow verdant with fields and with pop- 
 lars ; in the east the Sierra Arispe rises bare and 
 forbidding ; the west bank descends steeply to the 
 river's edge, and to it clings a group of adobe 
 dwellings with many ruins of stone buildings and 
 a large, bare church. This is the former capital of 
 Sonora, the population of which has diminished by 
 two thirds in half a centtiry — a melancholy place 
 of decay in the lead region. Here the Rio de Baca- 
 nuchi empties into the Sonora from the north, and 
 the Sonora turns ; between Bacuachi and Arispe it 
 flows from northeast to southwest. I have already 
 observed that Guagarispa most probably stood on 
 the site of the present Arispe. No ruins of it are 
 visible ; they have been built over ; but stone axes, 
 mortars, and grinding stones {metates) are unearthed 
 here and there. A ravine like that between this 
 place and Sinoquipe begins on the Sonora River 
 farther north, and at " Ti-ji-s6-ri-ehi " stand above 
 the river the ruins of an ancient pueblo. The coun- 
 
FEANCISCO VASQUEZ CORONADO. 183 
 
 try becomes more level at " Cliinapa"* and a short 
 distance farther along shapes itself into the sides 
 of the wild Cajon, in the bottom of which one rides 
 beside the foaming Sonora to near Bacnachi. Here 
 the country becomes open, the depression of the 
 chain of the " Manzanal " permits a glimpse in the 
 west of the piUar-shaped Picaeho; on the eastern 
 side the dunes extend like a low table-land ten 
 miles toward the east, where a majestic cordU- 
 lera of picturesque shape and covered with fir-trees 
 stretches from northwest to south. There are a 
 succession of high chains — ^the Sierra de Bacuachi, 
 the Sierra Purica, and, in the farthest southeast, the 
 mountains of Oposura or the Sierra Grande. 
 
 If Coronado steadily followed the course of the 
 Sonora, Suya should be looked for ia the valley 
 of Bacuachi. But if he followed the Bacuachi 
 River, going therefore directly north, he would 
 have approached the Canania, and consequently 
 the sources of the Rio Santa Cruz. The accounts 
 on these points are unusually indefinite, the same 
 writer often contradicting himself several times. I 
 am inclined to the opinion that he followed the Rio 
 Sonora aU the time, and that San Hieronymo should 
 therefore be sought near the ruins of Mututic^chi. 
 Juan Jaramillo says that the Spaniards marched 
 from " Sonora " for four days through an uninhab- 
 ited region, and then came to a brook which he 
 calls ''Nexpa"; followed down this brook for two 
 days to a chain of mountains, along which they con- 
 tinued for two days. This chain of mountains was 
 
 * A former mission, which the Apaches tumed in 1836, 
 and in the place of which stands a miserable hamlet. 
 
184 CIBOLA. 
 
 pointed out to him as " ChichUtic-calli." The itiner- 
 ary of this wi'iter, who marched with Coronado while 
 Casteneda probably followed the main body, de- 
 serves to be reproduced literally. 
 
 " After we had crossed these mountains, we came 
 to a deep brook with steep banks, where we found 
 water and grass for our horses. Leaving this brook, 
 which is the other side of the Nexpa of which I 
 have spoken, we took the direction toward the 
 northeast (as it seemed to me), and came in three 
 days, so far as I can remember, to a river which we 
 named San Juan, because we arrived there on the 
 day of that saint. Leaving this stream, we passed 
 through a very mountainous country, and turning 
 more to the north, we came to another stream which 
 we named de las Balsas, because, it being very high, 
 we had to cross it on rafts. I believe we were 
 two days in going from one river to the other. . . . 
 Hence we went to another brook, which we called 
 de la Barranca (of the ravine). The distance from 
 one to the other may be estimated at two short 
 days' journey. The direction is northeast. We then 
 came to a river, after one day's march, which we 
 called Bio Frio, on account of the coldness of its 
 water. Thence we passed through fir woods, at the 
 end of which we found cool brooks. ... In two 
 days we came to another brook, called Vermejo — 
 always in the same direction, namely, toward the 
 northeast." There they met Indians from Cibola, 
 and two days afterward they reached the last 
 pueblo. Casteneda mentions striking a "river" 
 which "flowed" in a deep ravine three days after 
 they entered the " wildemess " north of Chichiltic- 
 
FRANCISCO VASQUEZ COEONADO. 185 
 
 calli. He says that the " Eio Verniejo," the waters 
 of which were muddy and red, was eight leagues 
 from Cibola. 
 
 I beHeve that we may without mistake regard 
 Cibola as identical with the country of Zuni. In 
 view of the extreme indistinctness that rules in all 
 the statements of the participants in the expedition 
 through Sonora, it is impossible to identify its route 
 following it from the south alone. I think I may 
 properly, taking the reverse course, make Zuni the 
 starting-point of ihe investigation and pick up the 
 threads of the itinerary thence southward. 
 
 Eight leagues, or 22 miles, southwest of Zuni 
 flows the river of the same name, a muddy, red 
 stream. Two days' journey from Zuni toward the 
 southwest brings us to the Rio Colorado Chiquito 
 at San Juan, Arizona. This river is as turbid, 
 muddy, and red as the Zuni. The Rio Vermejo of 
 Jaramillo is therefore the one called the Little Colo- 
 rado. Casteneda, who did not go with Coronado, 
 saw the likewise muddy Rio de Zuni, and con- 
 founded the two. 
 
 As Coronado reached the Rio San Juan on St. 
 John's day, June 24th, the date of his arrival at 
 Cibola may be fixed as about July 12th. He did 
 not go to Ha-ui-cu (Aguas calientes), fifteen miles 
 southwest of Zuni, the village nearest to him, but 
 to " Oarquima," because the negro was killed there. 
 The inhabitants of Oa-quima had been warned by 
 some of their people that the Spaniards had come 
 in sight of the Colorado River. The pueblo stood, 
 as the ruins now show7"on a hUl. It could not turn 
 out more than two hundred men of war, but the 
 13 
 
186 CIBOLA. 
 
 whole male population of all the villages, seven in 
 number, which constituted the tribe of Zuni, had 
 come to its assistance and were awaiting the Span- 
 iards on the little plain separating Oa-quima from 
 the mesa south of it. The peaceful message sent 
 to them by Coronado was answered with threaten- 
 ing gestures. The horsemen then dashed at them, 
 and the Indians speedily fled from the sight of the 
 strange, rushing figures. The capture of the pueblo 
 proved to be a difficult task, for the steep, rugged 
 precipices were exposed to a hail of stones, which 
 rattled down upon the Spaniards. The assaidt was 
 made on foot ; and in it Coronado narrowly escaped 
 death by a stone. The village was, however, captured 
 in an hour, and the whole tribe submitted soon after- 
 ward. The tradition of this event, according to Mr. 
 Cushing, is still living among the Zuni Indians. 
 
 I cannot forbear giving here a final and irrefra- 
 gable proof of the fact that Zuni is reaUy Cibola. 
 The French translation of Casteiieda says that the 
 largest pueblo of Cibola was called " Muzaque." In 
 the original manuscript, which is in the Lenox 
 Library in New York, this word is written several 
 times plainly and clearly " MaQaqui." " Matzaqui " 
 is the ruin of a large village situated three miles 
 east of the present pueblo of Zuni near the foot of 
 the great mesa, and some four or five miles north- 
 northwest of Oa-quima. The Indians say that this 
 village was once the largest of the tribe. The ruins 
 are very much decayed now, but they indicate a con- 
 siderable settlement. The testimony of the original 
 text of Casteneda thus lifts the identity of Cibola 
 with Zuni above all doubt. The possibility that 
 
FEA^CISCO VASQUEZ CORONADO. 187 
 
 Matzaqui was not the village of which Casteneda 
 speaks is quite removed by later documents : Grst, 
 by the definite affirmation by Espejo in the year 
 1583 that Zuni was Cibola, which is confirmed by 
 an act of the year 1601 ; and second, by the enu- 
 meration in the act of submission and pardon of 
 the Zuni Indians of 1591 of Ma^aqui as one of the 
 pueblos of that tribe ; and finally, by the language 
 of Pray Augustin de Betancurt, who wrote in the 
 year 1689 : " Four-and-twenty leagues from Acoma 
 is the pueblo of Alona, with its Church of the Puri- 
 fication of the Virgin, with two hamlets belonging 
 to the diocese, each with its little church, called 
 Mazaquia, at the entrance to the province of Zuni, 
 Moqui, and Caquima, two leagues from Alona." 
 
 The immediate object of the expedition was there- 
 fore attained with little trouble in comparison with 
 the labor with which the preparations had been 
 made. A fifth part of the force had already suc- 
 ceeded in conquering the " seven cities of Cibola/^ 
 yet, if faith is to be given to Casteneda's expres- 
 sions, this result was not at aJl pleasing to those 
 who had won it rather with sweat than with blood. 
 They were bitterly disappointed. As soon as the 
 men saw Cibola, they " broke out in curses against 
 Fray Marcos." The historian afterward adds, " For 
 Ms account was found to be false in every respect." 
 
 I have already said that I believe these accusa- 
 tions cannot be substantiated. The written account 
 of the priest is absolutely true, not at all exagger- 
 ated, and agrees fully with those of Melchior Diaz, 
 Juan Jaramillo, and especially with the representa^ 
 tions of Casteneda himself. But this account was 
 
188 CIBOLA. 
 
 in a very short time repeated on many tongues, and 
 it shared the usual fate of stories transmitted ver- 
 bally in being added to, exaggerated, and colored in 
 the imaginations of those through whom it success- 
 ively passed. The original account, by which all 
 these falsifications might have been corrected, was 
 not given to the public, and the officers, using Coro- 
 nado as their instrument, suffered only the most 
 flattering parts of it to be put forward. What Pray 
 Marcos said of gold was from hearsay, and was so 
 represented by him. It, moreover, did not relate to 
 Cibola, but to a region much farther south. His 
 accounts also agree with those which Alarcon re- 
 ceived concerning Cibola from the Indians on the 
 Colorado Eiver. 
 
 • As is always the case when the passion of the 
 multitude turns against a single man, no regard 
 was paid in this instance to the voice of reason. 
 Fray Marcos was no longer sure of his life in Zuni ; 
 the Spaniards, who had deceived themselves, made 
 him responsible for their mistake, and concern 
 was felt for his safety. Coronado had a report 
 of his success to send to the viceroy. Juan Gallego 
 was commissioned to carry it, and the Franciscan 
 went with him. He was even then Padre Provin- 
 zial of the order in and for Mexico. He died in the 
 capital on March 25, 1558. The sufferings which 
 the cool climate of New Mexico and the innumer- 
 able hardships of his journeys caused him had 
 culminated in paralysis in Cibola, and it is not im- 
 probable that it was this and not fear of violence 
 from those around him that moved him to return 
 to Mexico. 
 
FBANCISCO VASQUEZ CORONADO. 189 
 
 Gallego and the priest on their return met in the 
 Sonora Valley the main body of the army, as it was 
 called, which Coronado had left in Culiacan. It had 
 been started fourteen days after the departure of 
 the commander, but the cavalry " went on foot, with 
 lances on their shoulders, and carrying provisions ; 
 all the horses were loaded." Having arrived in the 
 Sonora district, Arellano, who was in command, sent 
 Rodrigo Maldonado down the river toward the sea, 
 in order if possible to establish communication with 
 the marine expedition. He appears to have reached 
 the mouth of the Eio Sonora, but he found no trace 
 of Alarcon. It was the first time that the places 
 where Hermosillo, the chief city of Sonora, and 
 Guaymas, the principal port of the Gulf of Cali- 
 fornia, stand were visited by white men. The 
 Spaniards consequently came in contact with the 
 stUl savage tribe of the Serfes. Coronado had 
 founded the settlement of San Hier6nymo at Suya, 
 and Melchior Diaz was left with eighty men to hold 
 it. The main body of the command was reduced by 
 this measure to one himdred and seventy Spaniards, 
 so that when it arrived at Cibola in the winter of 
 1540^1 Coronado could not count upon more than 
 two hundred and twenty-five men. He performed 
 all his later acts in New Mexico with this small 
 force. 
 
 Although Melchior Diaz had particular orders to 
 guard the new settlement, he could not remain idle. 
 Attemptiag further explorations of the regions west, 
 he left Diego de Alcaraz * at San Hier6nymo, and 
 
 * The same who in his time had so inhospitaWy received 
 Cabeza de Vaca and his companions. 
 
190 CIBOLA. 
 
 started out with only twenty-six men — Casteiieda 
 says to the southwest, but this is probably a mis- 
 take for northwest; for after wandering 150 
 leagues, or 405 miles, Diaz seems, according to 
 the account, to have reached the great Colorado 
 River of the west, where he found letters from 
 Alarcon buried at the foot of a marked tree, which 
 contained news of his having reached that place and 
 then gone back to New Spain. Diaz followed up 
 the eastern bank of the river for several days' jour- 
 ney; but I have not been able to learn anything 
 concerning the conclusion of his campaign. Dur- 
 ing his absence* the Indians attacked the settle- 
 ment at Suya and destroyed it, depriving Coronado 
 of an important Unk of communication between his 
 isolated position in the north and the Spanish ad- 
 vanced posts in the south. 
 
 The campaign of Diaz was probably begun in the 
 winter of 1540-41, for the main part of Coronado's 
 expedition was still in Sonora in October, 1540. 
 The destruction of Suya (by the Opatas) probably 
 took place about the end of 1542 or in 1543. The 
 chronology of the whole expedition is obscure and 
 extremely confused. Pedro de Sotomayor went 
 with it with the purpose of describing its events, 
 but not a line of his writings is known. Even 
 Herrera, who had all the sources of that kind at his 
 command, appears to have consulted JaramiUo al- 
 most exclusively, with, perhaps, Coronado's letters 
 and the anonymous "Relacioties" which cast hght 
 upon single parts of later events. Possibly these 
 
 * It appears that he did not return to Sonora. 
 
FRANCISCO VASQUEZ COEONADO. 191 
 
 "Beladones" were fragments of Sotomayor's ac- 
 count. 
 
 The history of the discovery and conquest of the 
 " seven cities" closes with the capture of Cibola, and 
 the union of the whole force under Coronado's com- 
 mand. The geographical and ethnographical prob- 
 lem has been solved. Connected with this solution 
 are a number of practical consequences which are 
 of greater importance than the mere satisfaction of 
 the promptings of an adventurous curiosity. Even 
 when this satisfaction is obtained, there lies in it 
 the germ of further inquiry. 
 
 In the situation in which Coronado was placed 
 continued effort was a condition of existence. He 
 saw that his highly strained anticipations were not 
 fulfilled in Zuni-Cibola, and that his campaign to 
 that place had been a material failure. The force 
 which he commanded was still more bitterly dis- 
 appointed, for their expectations had been of a 
 more immediate character. A plundering expedi- 
 tion meant mutiny and destruction. Coronado 
 learned, however, that Ztini (as I shall henceforth 
 call Cibola) was not the only tribe that possessed 
 a superior rank among vUlage Indians, and that 
 farther on in the country, in the west and especially 
 in the east, were similar groups or pueblos. The 
 stories told him awakened hopes that there were 
 perhaps better regions and mountains richer in 
 metals in those directions. His men agreed in his 
 conjecture, and it grew during the cold winter in 
 Zuni to a probability. Soldiers and leader there- 
 fore awaited with impatience the mild weather, 
 when they could go forward into the great un- 
 
192 CIBOLA. 
 
 known region on the edge of wliicli they were. 
 Their eyes were turned predominantly toward the 
 east, and thus the conquest of the " seven cities of 
 Cibola " was the starting-point for the exploration 
 and opening of New Mexico. 
 
CHAPTER IV. 
 
 THE NEW MEXICAN PUEBLOS. 
 
 Residence in a pueblo is not without a charm for 
 single persons in winter. It is, indeed, rather smoky 
 and damp than warm in the many-storied houses, 
 the inner rooms of which, where the sunshine never 
 penetrates, are used only for storerooms. The out- 
 side rooms now possess the luxury of real windows, 
 with panes of mica or gypsum, of which a number 
 are fixed together in a wooden sash. These gypsum 
 windows are of Spanish introduction ; in their primi- 
 tive condition the Pueblo Indians were acquainted 
 only with holes for air and light. The fireplace of 
 adobe or stone warms the long room in which large 
 and small, in sweet innocence, eat and talk and sleep. 
 This fireplace is one of the original possessions of 
 the Indians, which they had before the time of the 
 Spaniards. If it is stormy without, the fire wiU be 
 smoking within, and staying there becomes unen- 
 durable. Yet winter is to me a very pleasant season 
 to be in the pueblos. Everybody is at home then, 
 and conversation is lively; and the men gather at 
 night and often sit till daybreak, smoking their corn- 
 stalk cigarettes and talking of the old times. This 
 is the season when the treasury of their legends and 
 household tales is opened to those who gain the con- 
 fidence of these simple men ; it is also the favorite 
 season for their public dances. A week rarely passes 
 193 
 
194 CIBOLA. 
 
 that the drum is not heard sounding some noon, 
 with the shrill notes of the long reed-pipe, and the 
 rhythmical miaor song of the exclusively male choras. 
 The dancers come marching into the plaza in pairs, 
 a man and a woman, the former always with bare 
 chest and shoulders, and the latter " modestly " half- 
 clothed. All are elaborately painted, often disfigured 
 in the most fearful manner with rainbow-colored 
 stripes on their faces and bodies. They wear, ac- 
 cording to the occasion, rude colored masks, or 
 feather ornaments only, or animals' heads, or colored 
 head-dresses of wood. And thus they dance and sing 
 and drum and play till the sun sets, even though 
 the weather be freezing or stormy. They return 
 dripping with perspiration to the house, and place 
 themselves right before the blazing fire unclothed. 
 Colds, coughs, and catarrhs f oUow, but the next week 
 they go again to the laborious baU, for it is a matter 
 of duty, and, then, the new colds they catch are sup- 
 posed to drive away the old ones — Similia smtilibus 
 curantur. 
 
 I once attended between the 22d of February and 
 the 8th of March four different dances in Zuhi 
 amongst the descendants of those Indians of Cibola 
 whom Coronado visited. Yet the chroniclers of his 
 campaign have not a word to say of these festivals and 
 ceremonies which are so curious to the whites. The 
 silence is easily accounted for. The dances, which 
 are now as many curious survivals of a condition 
 that formerly extended over all America, were then 
 customary among all the Indians of all Mexico, as 
 they now are in the pueblos alone, and were there- 
 fore well known to the Spaniards. The historians 
 
THE NEW MEXICAN PUEBLOS. 195 
 
 were less likely to describe local differences in cos- 
 tume, songs, or dance-figures, because they, or at 
 least Casteneda and Jaramillo, did not write their 
 accounts for a number of years after the occm-rence 
 of the events. It is also probable that the erection 
 of the Spanish quarters in the Valley of Zuni indis- 
 posed its people from performing their dances, the 
 meaning of which is whoUy symbolical, and which 
 have in their eyes the significance of a religious act. 
 The " cachinas " in the pueblos of the Rio Grande are 
 for the most part strictly private ; entrance into these 
 not always decent ceremonies is permitted only to 
 the initiated, and under vows of complete secrecy. 
 I am convinced that, although neither Coronado nor 
 Casteneda and Jaramillo mention the dances, they 
 were stUl zealously performed in the winter of 1540- 
 41 in the seven pueblos of Zuni ; not participated in 
 by the people as a whole, but that the secret fraterni- 
 ties of the priests, the medicine-men, the soldiers and 
 hunters, each fraternity by itself, performed its fes- 
 tive dances and invocations in its smoke- filled estufa, 
 before the altars on which stood the colored images 
 of the sun-father, " Ya-to-kiarT§,tschu " ; the mother, 
 " Yao-na-kia Isita " ; the divine hero-brothers, " Mai- 
 tza-la-ima" and "Ahuiuta"; and the terrible god 
 "Achi-a-ia-topa." 
 
 The picture which this life in the plain of Zuni 
 afforded was a peculiar one. Over the white cov- 
 ering of snow projected the pueblos of Matzaqui, 
 Halona, and Pinana like little hills of clay, with thin 
 clouds of smoke rising from them. Villages were 
 visible at once from the southern edge of the basin, 
 and at the foot of the colossal mesa, which stood 
 
196 CIBOLA. 
 
 up clear red out of the snow-field, could be seen 
 the niche in which Oarquima was concealed. There 
 lived the Spaniards, going about in rusty helmets, 
 battered cuirasses, ragged doublets, and worn-out 
 boots, but with good weapons, amongst the Indians, 
 who wrapped themselves in thick coverings made 
 of rabbit-skiQs. There were heard the neighing of 
 horses, the bleating of sheep, and every morning the 
 sound of the mass beUs and the songs of the church, 
 together with the call of the crier, announcing his 
 day's duties to every one in the village. While in the 
 other pueblos the monotony of life was interrupted 
 only by the dances, Oa-quima was turned into a 
 miniature Babel, for there could be heard there at 
 the same time Spanish, Latin, the Zuhi language, the 
 Mexican Nahuatl, and the sonorous Pima and Yaqui. 
 Conversation could not be very lively, and mistakes 
 were frequent but innocent. In consequence of this, 
 and of the cold, everything went on quietly. 
 
 The information which the Spaniards obtained con- 
 cerning the regions still unknown to them was neces- 
 sarily not very definite, and the names of places were 
 unavoidably incorrectly understood by them, and 
 erroneously recorded. An example is afforded by 
 the word " Marata," than which no other occurs more 
 frequently in the chronicles of Coronado's campaigns. 
 Fray Marcos says of it only, that southeast of Zuiii 
 was a group of pueblos called Marata, which had 
 been brought to the verge of ruin by constant wars 
 with the Zuiii. Mr. Gushing has learned that " Mar 
 ty^ta" in the Zuni language means the south, or 
 rather a region in the south, in the vicinity of the 
 salt lake or " Carrizo." Large, weU-preserved ruins 
 
THE NEW MEXICAN PUEBLOS. 197 
 
 still exist there. Melchior Diaz says of it that in 
 his time the Zufii Indians drew their supply of salt 
 thence, as they do now, but he says nothing of the 
 pueblo. The statement of Fray Marcos, therefore, 
 rests on a mistake so far as it refers to a previous 
 destruction of the vUlage on the Carrizo. The Zuni 
 declare besides that that village belonged to a branch 
 of their tribe. 
 
 A similar instance is found in the name " Totonte- 
 ae," which is likewise mentioned by Pray Marcos, and 
 later by Melchior Diaz. By it a group of pueblos 
 was meant, situated west or northwest of Zuni, the 
 description of which exactly fits the Moqui villages.* 
 Coronado heard of this tribe in the summer of 1540, 
 but under the name of " Tusayan." He immediately 
 sent Pedro de Tobar thither, with about twenty men 
 and one priest. The distance (five days' journey) 
 and the direction (northwest) are correctly given by 
 Jaramillo. A brief conflict took place, probably at 
 the now deserted pueblo of Ahu&-tu, after which the 
 Moquis immediately surrendered. There were seven 
 villages, of which two are now deserted, but fugitives 
 of the Tehua tribe have formed a new settlement, 
 which bears their name. Tobar heard a large river 
 spoken of among the Moquis as situated in the west, 
 the other side of a desert, at whose mouth lived a 
 tribe the men of which were of unusual stature. He 
 considered it his duty to return immediately to Zuni 
 in order to communicate this story to Coronado. 
 Garcia Lopez de Cardenas started with only twelve 
 men to go and search for this river. He was hos- 
 
 * The Zufii call them Mu-qua, whence the -word Moqui is 
 derived. 
 
198 CIBOLA. 
 
 pitaljly raceived by the Moquis, who supplied him 
 with guides and provisions, and after twenty days' 
 journey through a perfectly desolate region, he came 
 to the vicinity of the stream he was seeking. 
 
 I say purposely near and in sight of it, but not on 
 its shore, for "its banks were so high that they 
 seemed to be raised three or four leagues into the 
 air. The country is covered with little stunted fir- 
 trees, is exposed to the north, and is so cold that al- 
 though it was summer we could hardly bear it. The 
 Spaniards followed these mountains for three days 
 in the hope of finding a passage down to the river, 
 which, appearing from above not more than a fathom 
 in width, had, according to the Indians, a breadth 
 of half a league. But it was impossible. Two or 
 three days later they believed they had found a place 
 where the descent seemed easier, and Captain Mel- 
 gosa, Juan Galera, and a soldier . . . determined to 
 make the effort. They went so far that they were lost 
 from sight. Toward four o'clock in the afternoon 
 they returned." They had been obliged to give up 
 the attempt after they had cUmbed down about a 
 third of the depth ; but the river appeared very large 
 to them, and "some rocks, which seemed from above 
 to be hardly the size of a man, really exceeded in 
 height the tower of the Cathedral of Seville." Find- 
 ing that the banks of the river were destitute of 
 water, the Spaniards gave up further efforts in that 
 direction. They returned to Zuni, and neither the 
 Moqui nor the countries farther west of there were 
 visited again by them while Coronado and his men 
 continued in New Mexico. 
 
 In this description of Casteneda's it is easy to 
 
THE NEW MEXICAN PUEBLOS. 199 
 
 recognize the upper course of the great Eio Colorado. 
 The Spaniards also explicitly declare that it was the 
 Eio del Tizon, by which name Melchior Diaz desig- 
 nated the Colorado. 
 
 In the course of less than six months the Spanish 
 reconnoitaing corps had thus three times touched 
 the largest river of western America, had explored 
 its shores with tolerable accuracy for a considerable 
 length of its course, and had also travelled in two 
 directions through parts of Arizona, which have only 
 in a very recent time again attracted attention. 
 Coronado had even followed the New Mexican 
 boundary northward through two thirds of the length 
 of the territory, and the documents relative to his 
 campaign give correct accounts of the Gila River, 
 and excellent descriptions of the Sierra Blanca region 
 and the Little Colorado. Diaz had crossed south- 
 western Aiizona. Alarcon had, besides, explored 
 and correctly described the mouth and the lower 
 course of the Rio Colorado. Lastly, Cardenas had 
 traversed the whole of Arizona from east to west. 
 The accomplishment of such enterprises with small 
 means deserves admiration ; and when we consider 
 that oflcial reports were made of these matters by 
 eye-witnesses — reports the great accuracy of which 
 as regards the country and people only more recent 
 researches have made it possible to demonstrate — 
 we cannot refuse to pay these men, so long decried 
 as " Spanish adventurers," " cruel freebooters," etc., 
 aU honor for their achievements. The Spanish gov- 
 ernment also deserves high praise for the carefulness 
 and far-sightedness with which it permitted such en- 
 terprises, and preserved the written records of them. 
 
2U0 CIBOLA. 
 
 While the reconnoitring operations toward the 
 west were thus discontinued, the eyes of the Spaniards 
 were turned from Zuni more earnestly toward the 
 east. Coronado had given the people of the Zuni 
 tribe to undei-stand that they must spread the news 
 of his coming and of his intention to stay in the 
 coimtry as widely as possible. The command was 
 unnecessary, for reports of that kind spread very 
 rapidly among the Indians without any postal system. 
 A certain kind of peaceful intercourse is constantly 
 going on, even between hostile tribes, and news 
 passes from one tribe to another through numerous 
 channels, though distorted in many ways, to great 
 distances. I cite the accounts of Cibola, which were 
 carried to the middle of Sonora. Thus there existed, 
 and still exists, a close bond among the Village 
 Indians, or Pueblos, especially, which connects the 
 far distant Pecos and Moqui with the Opatas, and 
 the most northern Taos with the most southern Piros. 
 Their scattered position among nomadic tribes made 
 them sensible of the need of a connection, and the 
 equal condition of their civilization confirmed the 
 feeling. Neighboring Pueblos often made war upon 
 one another, and would still do so were it not for the 
 whites, but visits were made between the more re- 
 mote ones for trade and for purposes connected with 
 religion. There are fetishes and incantations which, 
 when they have been discontinued in one pueblo, can 
 only be recovered from some other one, often far 
 distant. 
 
 In these and similar ways had the story of the com- 
 ing of the Spaniards reached Moqui, and their horses 
 had been represented there as man-eating creatures. 
 
THE NEW MEXICAN PUEBLOS. 201 
 
 There came also to Zufii Indians from the extreme 
 east of the Pueblo region, from a village called Cicuy6. 
 This Adllage was situated " seventy leagues toward the 
 east." The arrival of Coronado was already known 
 there. The men brought buffalo robes with them, 
 and invited the Spanish commander to visit their 
 place, presenting him with skins and shields and "hel- 
 mets" of buffalo leather.* "With the reports from 
 Cibola, the Spaniards had also received in the south 
 accounts of the existence of '' wild cows," confirming 
 what Cabeza de Vaca had previously related. The 
 Indians of the shores of the extreme lower Colorado 
 had hkewise told Alarcon of these animals. Now 
 the Spaniards were in contact with people whose 
 home was near the buffalo, and who hunted it.t A 
 very welcome occasion was thus presented to them 
 for making themselves acquainted with these new 
 animal forms, and an excellent opportunity to ad- 
 vance with good leaders farther into the interior. 
 Coronado therefore sent Hernando de Alvarado 
 with twenty men to go with the people of Cicuy6 on 
 their return to their home, and to report to the chief 
 in command in eighty days concerniag what he had 
 seen and done. The main corps remained in the 
 meanwhile at Zuni, whither Alvarado was to return 
 after completing his tour. His campaign took place 
 in August, 1540. 
 
 * These helmets, or, rather, leather caps, are still in use 
 among the Pueblos. They belong to the aboriginal equipment 
 for war. 
 
 t It is doubtful whether the Zufiis at that time took part In 
 the periodical buffalo-hunts which the Pueblo Indians far- 
 ther east still engaged in as late as 1881. 
 U 
 
202 CIBOLA. 
 
 The word "Cicuye " is " Tshi-quit^," the aboriginal 
 name of the Pecos Indians. I wUl here mention 
 that Casteneda says that Pecos is the last village to 
 the east, and that the great plains are only thirty 
 leagues, or eighty miles, distant from it. I have al- 
 ready shown in my earlier work, "A Visit to the 
 Aboriginal Ruins in the Valley of the Rio Pecos," * 
 that Cicuy6 is identical with Pecos. It is not neces- 
 sary to repeat the demonstration here. 
 
 Alvarado and his company reached the first village 
 in five days. It was built on a rock, and was called 
 "Acuco." This is the "Ha-cu-qua" of the Zuiii, 
 the pueblo of Aeoma, so famous for its situation. 
 Casteneda very appropriately describes it as being 
 upon " a perpendicular rock ... so high that a bul- 
 let could hardly reach the top " ; but with less ac- 
 curacy he speaks of a " stairway " of three hundred 
 steps hewn in the rock as being the only way to the 
 highest story. Acoma is indeed situated on a rock, 
 the shape of which resembles that of a spider. The 
 walls of the rock fall perpendicularly down for nearly 
 three hundred feet, while four winding paths lead 
 to the pueblo, none of which has been cut out by 
 human hands. Slight improvements in the shape 
 of implanted posts and notches for the hands and 
 feet have been made in a very few places. At the 
 summit is the pueblo, with its great church of adobe 
 and stone, and the churchyard, the soil of which bas 
 all been brought up on the backs of the inhabitants. 
 Not a foot of other loose ground can be found on the 
 gigantic cliff ; the ten houses stand on the bare rock, 
 
 * Vol. i. of the "Papers of the Arehseological Institute of 
 America," 1883. 
 
THE NEW MEXICAN PUEBLOS. 203 
 
 whence the view down into the yawning depth is 
 awful. The six hundred inhabitants draw their 
 supply of water the year round from the accumular 
 tions of rain and snow in two deep natural cisterns. 
 The cultivated fields are fourteen miles away. 
 
 I hope I may be pardoned if I repeat here a few 
 impressions which were deeply marked upon me dur- 
 ing a long sojourn in Acoma, and in words which I 
 have already published in "A Letter from Acoma" 
 in the German journal Bas Ausland (1884, No. XIII.). 
 These impressions have been renewed on two vis- 
 its to the place, when the same feeUngs were daily 
 awakened. 
 
 " When the visitor stands iipon the rocks which 
 immediately surround the water-pool, he looks down 
 from them into the valley upon the great mesas that 
 surround them, and beyond these upon the massive 
 pj-ramid of Mount Taylor, or the Sierra de San 
 Mateo. ... As evening approaches the shadows lie 
 deep upon the ground, and as they climb up the rock- 
 walls, as clifE after cliff is swallowed up in darkness, 
 his heart is oppressed with the feeling that aU in- 
 tercourse with the outer world is henceforth cut off. 
 This feeling has crept upon me every evening at sun- 
 set ; for escape from Acoma in the night would be 
 impossible to any one who had not lived there a 
 long time. When the last ray of the sun has taken 
 leave of the lofty sierra, one feels absolutely alone, 
 forsaken, helplessly floating in the darkness of night. 
 But this feeling soon passes away ; for a clear, al- 
 though monotonous, singing sounds from the pueblo, 
 fires blaze on the roofs, and when one has retui-ned 
 to the houses laughing voices greet him, and joyous 
 
204 CIBOLA. 
 
 groups are moving around and above him. The 
 oppressive feeling of desertion changes into one of 
 pleasure in being the plain guest of a simple people." 
 
 The population of Acoma has not changed much 
 in three hundred and forty years, for Casteiieda 
 speaks of two hundred braves. The people prepared 
 to defend themselves against the Spaniards, but no 
 battle took place, the fear of the horses inducing a 
 speedy peace. It seems, however, that Alvarado did 
 not stay in Acoma, and he was quite right in not 
 trusting to the peaceful disposition of the people, for 
 once on the rock the same fate might easily have met 
 him that, fifty-eight years later, overtook the Maestro 
 de Gampo Zaldivar and his men at that place. Three 
 days' journey from Acoma brought him to Tiguex, 
 where he met a friendly reception. Tiguex (pro- 
 nounced Tiguesh), according to Casteneda, was a 
 group of twelve smaller pueblos situated on a large 
 river, in a valley about two leagues, or five miles, 
 wide. Prom that place Alvarado sent a messenger 
 to Coronado with the advice to remove his winter 
 quarters there. 
 
 Tiguex has been looked for at various places in 
 New Mexico : on the eastern Rio Puerco, at the site 
 of the present Santa Pe, and at other points. I have 
 marked as the situation of this pueblo group the 
 banks of the Rio Grande near Bernalillo, or rather 
 between Algodones and Albuquerque. The very 
 name points thither, for the Tiguas Indians call 
 themselves Tiguex, and they formerly lived in a chain 
 of larger and smaller pueblos along the Rio Grande. 
 They were divided into two groups: a northern 
 group, of which I know of twelve ruins between 
 
THE NEW MEXICAN PUEBLOS. 205 
 
 the "Mesa del Cangelon" in the north and "Los 
 Corrales" in the south, and of which the present 
 pneblo of Sandia is the only one left ; and a southern 
 branch now concentrated at the large village of 
 Isleta, but which was stiU, about 1630, scattered 
 in several small places. I have no doubt that the 
 Tiguex of Coronado denotes the northern group 
 of the Ti^uas, for it lay north of Acoma and on a 
 large river. This river east of Zuni could only have 
 been the Rio Grande del Norte, for the Puerco is in 
 that latitude in parts of its course filled up with 
 sand, and in other parts reduced to an insignificant, 
 muddy rill. An expression of Casteneda's, like- 
 wise applying to Cicuye-Pecos, is decisive on this 
 point. " Tiguex," he says, " is the middle point," and 
 " from Cibola to Cicuy6, which is the last village, we 
 count seventy leagues." The villages of Tiguex were 
 not, like Zuni and Acoma, built of stone and mortar^ 
 but of adobe ; and that is also the structure of the 
 pueblos the ruins of which I have examined around 
 Bernalillo. I mention stiU another piece of docu- 
 mentary evidence, although it is derived from an ac- 
 count written at a later period. At Tiguex Coronado 
 stormed and destroyed a pueblo — ^the only case of 
 the destruction of a village in New Mexico during his 
 campaign. In the year 1583 the " Tiguas " told An- 
 tonio de Espejo, on his arrival among them, that his 
 countrymen on their first coming had burnt one of 
 theii' towns in the vicinity of the present Bernalillo. 
 This fixes the locality of Tiguex, as I have attempted 
 to show in an earlier publication, beyond aU doubt. 
 Five days' journey brought Alvarado from the 
 Rio Grande to Cicuye, where a friendly reception was 
 
206 CIBOLA. 
 
 also given him. Of this village Casteneda writes : 
 " The village of Cicuye can furnish about five hun- 
 dred men of war. ... It is built on a rock, and the 
 middle is occupied by an open place in which are the 
 estufas. The houses are four stories high, with ter- 
 race roofs, all of the same height, on which one can 
 go around the whole village without stepping into a 
 street. The first two stories have passages resem- 
 bling balconies, on which one can go round the 
 whole village, and where he can be under shelter. 
 The houses have no doors below ; one goes up to the 
 balconies which are within the village by means of a 
 ladder. All the doors open upon the balcony, which 
 serves the ptirpose of a street. The village is sur- 
 rounded on the outside by a low stone wall. There 
 is also a spring there, which could be diverted. . . . 
 Cicuye lies in a narrow valley, in the midst of fir- 
 clad mountains. A small river, in which very fine 
 trout are caught, flows through the valley. Very 
 large otters, bears, and good falcons are found there." 
 It is not necessary to compare this description 
 with that of the Valley of Pecos and the present 
 ruins of the former pueblo. Casteneda describes this 
 pueblo so weU and truly that when, after completing 
 the measurement of the ruins in September, 1880, 1 
 restored the plans and afterward wrote them out, I 
 perceived with astonishment that they exactly re- 
 peated the picture which the Spanish soldier had 
 sketched three hundred years before. He was but 
 little wrong even in his estimate of the population 
 of Peeos-Cicuye. Five hundred waiTiors represent 
 among the Village Indians eighteen hundred in- 
 habitants of all ages and both sexes. In the year 
 
THE NEW MEXICAN PUEBLOS. 207 
 
 1630 Pecos contained "over a thousand soids," in 
 1689 about two thousand. The latter number might 
 easily, according to the plans, have been accom- 
 modated -within the village, for it was the largest 
 pueblo that New Mexico contained in the sixteenth 
 century, or afterward. 
 
 The tribe of Pecos has not yet died out. When 
 the inhabitants ia 1840, reduced by a hundred years' 
 hostilities with the Comanches and by iUness to five 
 families, fled to their tribe-relatives at Jemez, their 
 immediate extinction was considered inevitable. In- 
 stead of that they have increased, and numbered 
 twenty-eight persons in 1885. They live with their 
 kindred, and participate equally with them in the 
 governmental affairs of Jemez. They also speak the 
 same language. 
 
 Alvarado was received by the Pecos with drums 
 and flutes. The native flute might rather be called 
 a clarinet, for it has a mouth of painted gourd-sheU, 
 and is blown from the end and not from the side. 
 Many cotton cloths and turquoises were presented 
 to him. Such a reception indicated that the Pecos 
 Indians were somewhat doubtful concerning the 
 human origin of their guest. He also met here a 
 strange Indian who lived with the Pecos,* and whom 
 the Spaniards called a " Turk" on account of his ap- 
 pearance. He was a native of the Mississippi Val- 
 ley, and belonged to one of the tribes of that region. 
 
 * Castefieda says he was a slave, but that is not correct. 
 He did not belong to the tribe, and had attached himself to a 
 family, but he was not and could not be a slave, according to 
 the custom of the Pueblos. Every Indian has a right to be a 
 permanent guest with them. 
 
208 CIBOLA. 
 
 He informed the Spaniards that gold-bearing and 
 tliickly populated districts lay toward the east. Such 
 information was extremely welcome ; he was taken 
 as a guide for the visit to the buffalo herds of the 
 plains that was to be made in pursuance of Coronado's 
 directions ; but this was not continued long, for Al- 
 varado hastened back, in order to communicate to 
 his commander what he regarded as important news. 
 He returned speedily to Tiguex or Bernalillo, where 
 Garcia Lopez de Cardenas had in the meantime ar- 
 rived, Coronado having despatched him to prepare 
 quarters for the whole army, which was to spend the 
 rest of the winter there. 
 
 " The Turk " {el Turco) was to play so important a 
 part henceforth in the fortunes of Coronado's expedi- 
 tion, that I think it right to give the charge of de- 
 liberate deception which the Spaniards have made 
 against him a closer examination. The charge has 
 perhaps some foundation. The Indian was unques- 
 tionably a native of the plains, and had been carried to 
 Pecos by war or the incidents of hunting expeditions. 
 It was a custom among the Pueblo Indians (and it 
 ceased only a few years ago) to make at least one 
 expedition a year to these plains for the purpose of 
 providing themselves with buffalo meat, and more 
 particularly with buffalo skins, which they used in 
 armor, for shoes, and for many other of their needs. 
 The plains were not constantly inhabited ; even the 
 Apaches, who regularly roamed through a part of 
 them, did not live there, for they are without water, 
 and are a long distance from it, and the buffaloes 
 resort to them only at certain seasons. As the 
 tribes of the southwest made their regular hunts on 
 
THE ISfEW MEXICAN PUEBLOS. 209 
 
 the plains, those of the east likewise resorted to them, 
 from Kansas, Arkansas, and the present Indian Ter- 
 ritory, in similar expeditions, and they met. Trade 
 or war was the result ; often both ; and thus these 
 deserts were the market in which the novelties of 
 either half of the North American continent were 
 exchanged. "The Turk" there fell into the hands 
 of the Pecos Indians, and they did not kiU him. He 
 tried now to make the Spaniards understand whence 
 he had come, and what was the character of the 
 country there, and as his language was not sufficient 
 for the purpose, he was obliged to employ gestures. 
 Conversation in this way was very inconvenient, and 
 mistakes were inevitable. He is said to have told 
 the Spaniards of houses like those of the pueblos, 
 but larger. If he did this, he intentionally falsified, 
 as the result showed. But while the Spaniards were 
 thinking of houses, he may have had something qiute 
 different in his mind, and may have mentioned the 
 pueblos only for comparison. He spoke, they said, 
 of gold. Did he know what gold was ? I am satisfied 
 that he did not know the difference between gold, 
 yeUow mica, bright pjrrites, and copper pyrites, of 
 which there is much in the Mississippi VaUey. That 
 he shoidd prefer his native land, where vegetation 
 was apparently more luxuriant than in New Mexico, 
 and where animal life was consequently more abun- 
 dant, to the more barren southwest was natural, and 
 so it was, too, that he should extol it to the Spaniards, 
 for he had reason to suppose that he might possibly, 
 with the aid of these strangers, be restored to his 
 people. It is also probable that " the Turk " eventu- 
 ally led the Spaniards wofully astray, but this, too, 
 
210 CIBOLA. 
 
 was possibly as much the result of mistakes as of 
 wilful deception on his part ; for it was not possible 
 to reach an adequate mutual understanding under 
 the circumstances. 
 
 Alvarado's return to Tiguex was marked bj' an 
 event that places that officer's character in a most 
 unfavorable hght. To provide quarters for his few 
 men he forced the evacuation of a whole pueblo, and 
 would not permit the inhabitants to take away any- 
 thing but their clothing. The pueblo cannot have 
 been of great size, for those communities were gener- 
 ally not large previous to the advent of the Spaniards. 
 The villages were smaller but more numerous than 
 they have been since ; for the Franciscan monks com- 
 bined them into larger settlements, both for purposes 
 of defence, and in order to attach the Indians more 
 closely to the churches and to the schools connected 
 with them. It may be readily conceived that the 
 forced occupation of this pueblo created an unpleas- 
 ant feeling in the whole region of the present Ber- 
 nalillo. It was the introduction to subsequent diffi- 
 culties and dangerous contentions. 
 
 Coronado had in the meantime gone away from 
 Zuni with a small number of his men, leaving the 
 larger number behind under the command of Arell- 
 ano, who was to follow him after twenty days to the 
 Rio Grande. The route he took led him to that river, 
 about thirty miles south of Bernalillo, in the vicinity 
 of the present Isleta. He recognized that the peo- 
 ple there belonged to the same tribe as those of 
 Tiguex. Their houses were likewise of adobe. Cas- 
 teneda caUs this region " Tutahaco," while Jaramillo 
 applies that name to Acoma. The latter is right to 
 
THE NEW MEXICAN PUEBLOS. 211 
 
 the extent that the name is " Tntahaio," a corruption 
 of the word " Tuthea-u&y," by which the Tiguas call 
 the rocks of Aeoma. As the Spaniards came from 
 there the name of the place was confounded with 
 that of Isleta. The Spaniards asked for the latter, 
 and the Indians gave the name of the other place, a 
 confusion such as I have often encountered among 
 the natives. 
 
 Casteneda mentions eight villages iu the vicinity 
 of Isleta, but adds that they were situated " down 
 the river." The ruins of hardly more than four are 
 to be seen between Albuquerque and Los Lunas, nine 
 miles south of Isleta. The statements of JaramiUo, 
 who gives the Tiguas of the Rio Grande fifteen vil- 
 lages in twenty leagues, or fifty-four miles, are on 
 the other hand correct. It is forty-six miles from Al- 
 godones to Los Lunas, and fifteen or sixteen Tigua 
 villages were inhabited in the year 1627. The four 
 or five villages farther south, which Casteneda counts 
 besides these, were those of the Piros. They began 
 in the vicinity of Tome and Los Lentes, and extended 
 to San Mareial and Fort Craig. Casteneda was ac- 
 quainted only with the most northern of them, for 
 there were fourteen in all. 
 
 Marching up the Rio Grande to Tiguex, Coronado 
 arrived there when the quarrels among his subor- 
 dinates had just broken out. He found that his 
 men had " the Turk " with them, and were rejoicing 
 over the pretended information which he gave them. 
 This Indian's conduct became more suspicious, and 
 he appears to have harbored a resentment against 
 the people of Pecos. He complained that they were 
 keeping a golden arm-band of his. The knave had 
 
212 CIBOLA. 
 
 never had such a thing, or it may have been a copper 
 ring ; but the Spaniards understood it to be gold, 
 and Alvarado went to Pecos to recover it for him. 
 When he was assured there that "the Tui-k" had 
 never worn an ornament of the kind, he seized the 
 cacique and another chief of the place by treacherous 
 means, and carried them prisoners to the Tiguas. 
 The Tiguas were very angry at this act, for, the two 
 tribes not being adjacent, peace prevailed between 
 them and the Pecos. 
 
 Since Cortes had in 1520 made a prisoner of the 
 " war captain " {capitan de la guerra) of the Mexican 
 tribe, whom later historical description transformed 
 into the monarch Montezuma, the Spaniards had 
 tried many times to secure other similar hostages. 
 They had forgotten, or rather had never compre- 
 hended, that the importance of a chief among the In- 
 dians is very relative, and in no way comparable with 
 the significance which the head of the state in a civil- 
 ized commonwealth possesses. The fall of a valiant 
 leader may decide the issue of a battle, but the capture 
 by craft of the same chief in time of peace is of no 
 greater moment than a similar treachery exercised 
 upon a common Indian. Offices are never hereditary 
 among these Indians, but are and were always elect- 
 ive. Only in the case of a leader in the mystic ser- 
 vice, a medicine-man, or shaman, being taken away, or 
 of one of those whose function it is to work for the 
 good of the tribe by mortification or sacrifice, would 
 that tribe be moved to offer a ransom for his recovery. 
 For whUe an administrative officer, even a warrior, 
 can be easily replaced, the importance of the other 
 one lies in his knowledge of the secret arts ; if he is 
 
THE NEW MEXICAN PUEBLOS. 213 
 
 lost, the connecting link with the beings of a higher 
 order is removed, and the pneblo is, according to its 
 own striking expression, "made an orphan." The 
 successor of the medicine-man is elected only in cases 
 when he is taken away by sudden death ; otherwise 
 the candidate is carefully selected and slowly trained 
 by the incumbent, and cannot enter upon the practice 
 of his art till one or more years after the death of 
 his predecessor. At the present time the functionary 
 whose duty it is to suffer on all occasions for the 
 good of the pueblo is called the " cacique," or, by the 
 Zunis, " Chicui M6sona." 
 
 Coronado not only supported the attempt of his 
 officers, but proceeded to still further and more 
 offensive acts of violence. He required the Tiguas 
 to furnish a considerable quantity of cotton goods 
 for his soldiers. They certainly were in great need 
 of covering, for it was bitterly cold, and snow-falls 
 were frequent, but the manner in which the articles 
 were demanded and obtained deserves the severest 
 reprobation. The pueblos on both sides of the river 
 were ravaged and plundered, and outrages were com- 
 mitted against the women. The Tiguas would not 
 endure this long ; the whole tribe rose against the 
 strangers and seized some of their horses. Coronado 
 was obliged to take the field against them, even be- 
 fore his main force could join him. A bloody war 
 arose, that lasted fifteen days, in which the Span- 
 iards lost several officers and a number of men. Two 
 pueblos were captured after a long siege, the taking 
 of the first of which was followed by an atrocious 
 massacre of prisoners. Coronado and his company 
 behaved on this occasion with a cruelty that fixes an 
 
214 CIBOLA. 
 
 indelible staiu on their memory, and which demanded 
 in requital in later days the sacrifice of innocent per- 
 sons. The Tiguas did not submit, but fled to the 
 mountains, and notwithstanding Coronado's efforts 
 to pacify them and recover their confidence, did not 
 return to the Rio Grande so long as the Spaniards 
 remained in the country. 
 
 It is true that this was the only instance during the 
 whole continuance of the expedition in New Mexico 
 in which the Spaniards behaved barbarously and 
 cruelly, but their treatment of the Tiguas is not easier 
 to explain on that account. I can find no ground of 
 excuse for it ; and the behavior of Coronado is in so 
 complete contradiction with his previous and sub- 
 sequent course that I cannot easily understand it, 
 unless it be that necessity drove him to the first 
 summary measures, and the severe cold (the Rio 
 Grande was frozen) and the scarcity of provisions 
 then provoked his soldiers to wild excesses. Yet 
 single events occurred during the war with the Tig- 
 uas that indicated that cruelties were perpetrated in 
 cold blood. First among them was the slaughter of 
 the prisoners who surrendered in the first pueblo. 
 Let it be said in behalf of Coronado that he was not 
 privy to this atrocity, which was ordered by Garcia 
 Lopez de Cardenas, at the time in command in his 
 stead. He was in quarters, and had just received 
 the army which had come from Zuni under Arellano, 
 when the blood-stained conqueror returned. "It 
 was snowing heavily, and the weather was bad for 
 two months," says Casteneda. Intense cold and a 
 few heavy snow-storms occut- every winter on the Rio 
 Grande, but I have never known of continued severe 
 
THE NEW MEXICAN PUEBLOS. 215 
 
 "weather there of so long dm-ation. The first months 
 of the year 1541 were unusually cold in New Mexico, 
 for it is said that one could cross the Rio Grande on 
 the ice during four months. I very much doubt the 
 correctness of the statement as to the length of time. 
 
 Coronado did not hesitate, however, to extend the 
 exploration of the country even while the hostilities 
 against the Tiguas were still in full progress. He 
 was impelled to it, not only by the desire to become 
 acquainted with the region, but also by the fear of a 
 general rising of all the natives, which would have 
 been fatal for him and his company. The Pecos had 
 first to be pacified, and with that object he went to 
 the pueblo and gave up to the people, who met him 
 with demonstrations of a peaceful character, their 
 captured officers. By this measure the former friendly 
 relation was restored. After his return to the Rio 
 Grande, he formed connections with a village caUed 
 " Cia," situated four leagues, or eleven miles, west of 
 the river ; and six Spaniards visited and quieted the 
 Indians of " Quirix," a group of seven pueblos join- 
 ing the Tiguas on the north and partly scattered 
 along the great river. Cia, properly -Tzia, is not 
 more than twenty miles in a straight line from the 
 Rio Grande. StiU nearer, and situated on the same 
 branch (the Rio de Jemez), was the pueblo of Santa 
 Ana {Ti,-ma-ya). The same language is spoken in 
 both, and they are in frequent communication. They 
 belong to the numerous group of the " Queres," with 
 which the Quirix of Coronado are identical. 
 
 It is easy to identify the eight pueblos which Cas- 
 teneda mentions. Following the eastern shore of 
 the Rio Grande, we meet first " OSrtish-tye " (San 
 
216 CffiOLA. 
 
 Felipe, now, and since 1630, on the west side) and 
 "Gui-pu-i" (Santo Domingo, now called "Tihua," 
 and formerly situated a mile northeast). On the 
 western shore Ues, six nules north of Santo Domingo, 
 " 06-tyi-ti " (Cachiti). On the Jemez River, six mUes 
 from San Fehpe, stands " Ta-ma-ya " (Santa Ana), 
 and farther up Tzia, or Cia. The other three vil- 
 lages may be sought for in the vicinity of Cia, where 
 their ruins are stiU standing. 
 
 Cia is now going down into decay, after having 
 been, till 1688, one of the largest Indian villages in 
 New Mexico. Its inhabitants speak a dialect of the 
 Queres tongue, somewhat like that of Acoma. All 
 the pueblos of the Queres formed, and stUl form, hke 
 the other groups, autonomous conununities. The 
 common language does not prevent hostilities be- 
 tween neighboring villages, but should an enemy 
 from without threaten one of them, it has the right 
 to call the others to its aid, and in that case the war- 
 chief of the threatened village, the " TzySrU-yu-qiu," 
 or capitan de la guerra, takes the chief command. 
 The Queres held a passive attitude toward the Span- 
 iards until the insurrection of 1680, in which they 
 were very active. 
 
 I have followed Casteneda's statements exclusively 
 in these last researches. JaramUlo says that Cia, 
 Uraba, and Ciquique were situated on the same 
 river, a stream which flowed into the Rio Grande 
 from the northwest. This river is undoubtedly the 
 Jemez. He goes on to speak of the " Rio Cieuique " as 
 another stream, situated northeast of the former one, 
 and seven days' Journey distant from it. He is, as 
 he concedes, very confused in his narrative, and is 
 
THE NEW MEXICAN PUEBLOS. 217 
 
 tlierefore not to be relied upon on these points. 
 Mota-PadUla calls Cicuye " Coquite." Herrera copies 
 JaramiUo. Only Casteneda is clear and consistent, 
 and his statements agree perfectly with the country 
 and with the relics left by its former inhabitants. 
 
 Coronado, with an energy to which due recognition 
 cannot be refused, notwithstanding the outrages that 
 attended his proceedings at Bernalillo, thus in a short 
 time brought Central New Mexico within the compass 
 of his knowledge, and obtained the first coiTect in- 
 formation of the Village Indians of six linguistic 
 stocks; but his attention was still chiefly directed 
 toward the east, of the great wealth of which " the 
 Tm"k" contiriued to talk to him and the Spaniards. 
 What he had so far seen of New Mexico did not ap- 
 pear suflB.ciently favorable for him to be satisfied to 
 devote himself to its settlement. The Valley of the 
 Rio Grrande is, indeed, not very inviting in winter, 
 especially in so severe a winter as that of 1540-41 
 seems to have been. The clearer the sunshine and 
 the deeper the blue of the arch of the sky, the more 
 dreary in their barrenness are the dunes that border 
 alternately both sides of the river, and the more wel- 
 come is the sight of the black mesas and of the peaks 
 of volcanic stone which in groups and singly inter- 
 rupt the monotonous profile. StiU more gloomy is 
 the waterless plateau which extends from the eastern 
 edge of the river valley to the foot of the Sierra de 
 Sandia, and farther south to the Sierra de Manzano 
 and the Puerto de Ab6 — a gray flat, twenty miles 
 wide and fifty miles long from north to south, with- 
 out brook, spring, or pond. The Sandia Mountain 
 towers over it like a gigantic wall, with awful clefts 
 15 
 
218 CIBOLA. 
 
 and cliffs rising perpendicularly 5000 feet above the 
 river. The chain of the Manzano, less steep but 
 treeless, is still 2000 feet higher. The river valley 
 itself, seldom more than two miles wide, passes in 
 STunmer like a green band among the dunes, which 
 are then tinged with green, but in winter the fields 
 are barren and the trees are leafless, and stand on 
 the heights like white skeletons on a vast, bare waste. 
 
 When it is stormy on the Rio Grande, the dark- 
 blue sky and the dazzling light vanish, the clouds 
 sink low down to the foot of the high mountain range, 
 and it is gloomy, cold, and oppressive. Sand whirls 
 chase one another along the stream, break up and 
 dash whistling upon the gravel hills. Dust and sand 
 add to the darkness of the atmosphere, and one is 
 relieved to see the snow begin to fall thick and then 
 thicker, while the roaring of the wind is liilled to 
 a mournful sigh. When the snow has ceased and 
 the clouds have disappeared from the slopes of the 
 mountain, a thin white sheet covers the ground, 
 which at night glows in the starlight with phosphor- 
 escence. The snow does not stay long, for the sandy 
 ground soon absorbs aU moisture. 
 
 This sandy soil in the Valley of the Rio Grande is 
 fruitful, extraordinarily productive. Wben it can be 
 watered it rewards, and that always bountifully, even 
 the feeble efforts which Indian agriculture puts forth. 
 No doubt the Spaniards were not specially attracted 
 by the view of an agriculture which did not, with 
 more labor and in a more difficult because colder 
 climate, afford them all the products of the tropi- 
 cal climate they had left, and into which they would 
 have to introduce the grains and fruits of the tem- 
 
THE NEW MEXICAN PUEBLOS. 219 
 
 perate zone. Cattle and sheep raising might have 
 appeared more promisiag to them, but a long time 
 would have to pass before they could establish those 
 industries and a safe, accessible market could be built 
 up for their stock. This could certainly not be ex- 
 pected in the first generation, while every one wanted 
 fii'st of all to be rich himself. 
 
 Only productive mining could be profitable in a 
 short time, but the Spaniards, who lacked neither 
 desire for the metals nor practical skill in discover- 
 ing them, did not suffer themselves to be misled by 
 the traces, universally present, of malachite and car- 
 bonate of copper. They indeed recognized the exist- 
 ence of silver ore in the rocks, but shrewdly doubted 
 as to the paying quality of the mineral. The Indians 
 did not possess, nor were they acquainted with, gold, 
 silver, copper, or iron. Green stones, kalaite * and 
 malachite,t colored flints and obsidian, gypsum for 
 whitewashing, iron-ochre for painting pots, faces, and 
 feathers, were their mineral treasures. Coronado 
 soon perceived that New Mexico was a poor coimtrj', 
 which could not be developed in the immediate future, 
 a land fit only for commonplace work and minor 
 industries. The Spaniards had not made the long, 
 dangerous journey from the sunny south for such 
 a purpose as that. To compensate them for their 
 pains they must find more. 
 
 The representations of " the Turk," on the contrary, 
 sounded very differently. He talked of a river two 
 leagues wide containing fish as large as a horse, on 
 
 * Bine turquois is rare. 
 
 t Available only as a pigment on account of the diflSculty of 
 working it. 
 
220 CffiOLA. 
 
 which canoes sailed with forty rowers, their bows richly- 
 adorned with gold. He declared that the vessels in 
 that country were made of silver and gold. With 
 keen craftiness he had watched the Spaniards, and 
 had discovered that they esteemed gold more than 
 copper, and had learned to appreciate the difference 
 between the two metals even in weight. Gold, he in- 
 timated, was abundant at "Arche " or "Ai-ahei," but 
 " Quivira " was the place to which he would take the 
 Spaniards before all others, and where he promised 
 them the precious metal in profusion. 
 
 The Rio Grande Valley was quiet, and Coronado 
 set about beginning the march to Quivira. The 
 whole army followed him, while Pedro de Tobar was 
 in the meantime to come up with reinforcements from 
 Sonora ; for written orders had been left for him 
 with the Indians of Zuni to follow Coronado, guiding 
 himself by the wooden crosses which he would erect 
 from time to time. The Spaniards left Bernalillo 
 May 5th, and entered Pecos on the 9th. The tribe 
 received and entertained them gladly. 
 
 I have in the preceding pages referred to six lin- 
 guistic stocks with which Coronado had so far come 
 in contact in New Mexico. Only five of them have 
 been named to this point, viz., those of Zuni, Tigua, 
 Piro, Pecos or Jemez, and Queres. The sixth is never 
 designated with a name, but is inferred from the 
 scanty account of the route from Bernalillo to Pecos. 
 
 This route is not hard to follow. Coronado could 
 reach Pecos from the Rio Grande only by going up 
 that river to the vicinity of San Felipe, and then 
 turning in toward the pueblo of " Tunque." There 
 Alvarado had probably already come in contact with 
 
THE NEW MEXICAN PUEBLOS. 221 
 
 the Queres. In passing the Canon del Infierno, the 
 Spaniards would have become acquainted with 
 Chilili, Tajique, Manzano, and with the remark- 
 able salt basin beyond, of which they say nothiag, 
 and they would, moreover, be near the buffaloes, 
 without touching Pecos. They also probably went 
 by the " Paso de Tijeras " (the Scissors Pass) to San 
 Pedro, where they found the pueblo of "Pa-qu"; 
 from San Pedro to " Golden " (Real de San Francisco), 
 where the pueblo of "Kaap6" (El Tuerto) stood, 
 already almost deserted ; and then past the pueblo 
 of "Hi-shi" {Pueblo largo), south of Galisteo, to the 
 Pecos Valley. They thereby avoided all the northern 
 vUlages; and Casteneda says, "They count seven 
 other villages between this route and the Snowy 
 Mountains (la Sierra Nevada)." 
 
 The Sierra Nevada is that wUd, picturesque moun- 
 tain system south of Santa F§ which parts into the 
 three groups: the "Sierra del Eeal de Dolores," 
 the Sierra de San Francisco, and the Sierra de San 
 Pedro. They lie east of the Sandia Mountain and 
 parallel to it. These grand masses are often covered 
 with snow early in the fall. The Sierra de Santa Fe, 
 which contaius the highest peak in New Mexico, is 
 covered with snow nearly the whole year, and towers 
 majestically over the other side of the basia of Galis- 
 te6. The seven pueblos which Casteneda mentions 
 were " Pant-hSm-ba " (San Cristobal), "Tage-unge" 
 or "G]iste6" (Galisteo), "I-pe-re" (San Lazaro), 
 "Yatze" (San Marcos), "Tzigu-m4" (la Ci^nega), 
 " Cu^-ca" (Arroyo Hondo), and " Cud-po-oge" (Santa 
 Fe). Their inhabitants belonged to the tribe of the 
 " Tanos," which spoke the "Tehua" language, and 
 
222 CIBOLA. 
 
 they thus formed the sixth linguistic and ethnographic 
 district with which Coronado had become acquainted 
 in May, 1541. To them belonged also the pueblos of 
 " San Pedro," of " El Tuerto," the " Pueblo largo " 
 ' (which the Apaches had destroyed iive or six years 
 before), and the villages south of " Tejon " (" Oj^na," 
 "QuipS-na") and "Tuuque." All these are to-day 
 deserted and destroyed. 
 
 Pecos was the headquarters of the Spaniards for a 
 little while. Quivira appears to have been known 
 there, for the people gave them a young Indian whom 
 they called " Xabe," who was a native of Quivira. 
 He said that gold and silver indeed occurred at his 
 home, but not in such quantities as "the Turk" had 
 pretended. Toward the middle of the month of May, 
 1541, Coronado started for Quivira and its supposed 
 wealth of gold. The young Indian, " Xabe," shared 
 with " the Turk " the function of guide. 
 
 Till then the Spaniards had had to endure only the 
 dangers and hindrances offered by mountains. Now 
 they encountered difficulties of another kind such as 
 they had not before met on the American continent. 
 They were to enter upon the boundless plains, the 
 endless uniformity of which, fatiguing to body and 
 mind alike, slowly and surely unnerved and finally 
 crushed them. For, uncertain as was their aim, still 
 more uncertain was the end. While till this time 
 the expedition had borne a character of fascinating 
 boldness, the stamp of useless adventure, of wanton 
 risk, is plainly impressed on the march to Quivira. 
 
CHAPTER V. 
 
 QUIVIRA. 
 
 It is a well-knowii fact that lost travellers invol- 
 untarily walk circuitously, generally toward the 
 right, and so gradually return to the place whence 
 they started. This phenomenon is especially fre- 
 quent in wide, treeless plains, where prominent ob- 
 jects by which the wanderer can direct himself are 
 wanting. It has an extremely dangerous effect 
 upon the mind, and may, if it occurs repeatedly, 
 easily lead to despair and frenzy. What happens 
 to individuals may also occur to a larger number. 
 This was the fate of Coronado and his company 
 when they sought and found Quivira. They re- 
 turned in a wide bend to their starting-point, after 
 they had wandered for months on the desolate 
 plains, "led around in a circle as if by some evil 
 spirit." 
 
 Coronado, having completed aU his preparations 
 at Pecos, left that pueblo in the beginning of May, 
 1541, to go to the prairies. His general direction 
 was northeast. On the fourth day he crossed a river 
 that was so deep that they had to throw a bridge 
 over it. This river was perhaps the Rio de Mora, 
 and not, as I formerly thought, the little Gallinas, 
 which flows by Las Vegas. The latter, an affluent 
 of the Pecos, is too insignificant, while the Mora 
 223 
 
224 CIBOLA. 
 
 is tolerably rapid and deeper. But it was more 
 probably the Canadian River, into which the Mora 
 empties. Of the three accounts of the campaign 
 which lie before me, Jaranullo's is very confused, 
 and that of Pedro de Casteneda, which was written 
 long after the event, must be used with scrutiny 
 and caution, while the third letter of Coronado to 
 Charles V. was composed immediately after the ex- 
 pedition, and thus records fresh, clear recollections. 
 Coronado and Casteneda, besides, agree in the prin- 
 cipal points. Herrera has compiled from all the 
 materials, and has used, among other sources, the 
 anonymous "Belacion de los Sucesos de la Jornada," 
 etc. (1541). He is not less trustworthy as a source 
 of information than Mota-PadiUa. 
 
 The Spaniards soon found themselves in the 
 plains, and were surrounded by herds of the Ameri- 
 can bison or buffalo. The first sight of these ani- 
 mals produced a great terror among the horses. 
 They all ran away at the view of those large, hairy, 
 ill-shaped beasts, which covered the plain by thou- 
 sands, and whose hollow bellowing and glowing eyes 
 still strangely affect those who see them for the first 
 time. The plain aroused feelings of anxiety and 
 gloom among the men by its immense monotony 
 and the absence of any marks by which they could 
 direct themselves. The conviction stands out in 
 the writings of aU the witnesses, that an oppressive 
 feeling of helplessness soon made itself master of 
 them. Casteneda gives an excellent description of 
 the Uanos and their character : " AU that one could 
 see of these plains was entirely uninhabited. On a 
 stretch of two hundred and fifty leagues one could 
 
QUIVIRA. 225 
 
 discern neither the other mountain chains, nor hills, 
 nor a single elevation of more than two or three 
 fathoms. Occasional lagoons were found, as round 
 as plates, which might have been a stone's-throw in 
 diameter, while a few were a little broader. The 
 water of some was fresh, of others salt. The grass 
 grows high around these pools, but everywhere else 
 it is extremely short. Trees stand only in isolated 
 ravines, in the bottoms of which flow little brooks, 
 so that one can see around him nothing but sky and 
 plain, for he is not aware of these ravines till he 
 gets to their edge. Descending them are paths, 
 which the buffaloes have trodden in going to drink." 
 
 The feeling of helplessness which gradually crept 
 upon the hearts of the Spaniards became critical by 
 the growing conviction that their leader, " the Turk," 
 was betraying them and purposely leading them 
 astray. They began to beheve that the inhabitants 
 of the pueblos had induced him to conduct the 
 Spaniards into the plains, in order that they might 
 perish there and the sedentary tribes thus be rid 
 of their troublesome guests. His companion, whom 
 the Pecos Indians had associated with him, who 
 was born at Quivira, and whom the chronicler calls 
 variously " Sopete " and " Ysopete," talked quite dif- 
 ferently from " the Turk." The feeUng thus came 
 upon the Spaniards, at the very beginning of the 
 campaign, that the outcome of their enterprise was 
 at least extremely doubtful. 
 
 The troop came upon the first Indians of the 
 plains about seventeen days after leaving Pecos. 
 Coronado pertinently designates these people as 
 those " who go around the country with the cows." 
 
226 CIBOLA. 
 
 The Prairie Indian, who lives on the bison, also, as 
 it were, lives with him. These aborigines dwelt in 
 tents of buffalo hide ; they had no agriculture ; they 
 dressed in buffalo skins, and kept dogs, which they 
 used as beasts of bui-den. The Spanish writers call 
 them Querechos. There is no doubt that they were 
 Apaches, and of the group which were called Va- 
 queros in the beginning of the sixteenth century, 
 because they were associated exclusively with the 
 " wild cow " (or bison). This tribe used the dog as 
 a pack and draft animal as late as the middle of the 
 last century. The species apparently belongs to the 
 family of the Arctic dog, and probably came down 
 with the Apaches from the north. I do not know 
 whence the name of "Querechos" is derived, unless 
 it is a pueblo name from the Jemez dialect, which 
 was spoken in Pecos. It has some resemblance to 
 " Oi-ra-uash," by which the Queres Indians desig- 
 nated a savage tribe that threatened the pueblos 
 from the plains previous to the arrival of the 
 Spaniards. 
 
 The Querechos, or Apaches, as I shall hereafter 
 caU them, were friendly toward the Spaniards ; but 
 they knew nothing of Quivira and its treasures. 
 The whites then continued to follow their guides, 
 but these soon lost their way ; every landmark dis- 
 appeared, and thirst began to afflict the adventurers, 
 who wandered aimlessly over the plains. Recon- 
 noissances led to no results, for the sky and bisons 
 were all that could be discovered. The Spaniards 
 had accustomed their horses to hunting the wild 
 oxen, and inflicted the same useless slaughter upon 
 them of which American and European hunters and 
 
QUIVIRA. 227 
 
 travellers were guilty, till the animals disappeared 
 from their haunts. At one of the camping places 
 the troop were surprised by a violent storm, with 
 hail, that frightened the horses, wounded many, and 
 broke to pieces everything frangible m the camp. 
 A whirlwind accompanied the haU, and carried away 
 tents, coverings, and some of the horses. The storm 
 fortunately came upon them in the bottom of a 
 ravine; if it had been on the plain the damage 
 would have been much greater. 
 
 Wandering around in this way upon the illimit- 
 able plains, they again came suddenly in contact 
 with Indians. Like the Querechos, this tribe, which 
 was called " Teyas," lived exclusively with and upon 
 the buffalo. They were hostile toward the Apaches 
 of the plain, had been troublesome to the pueblo of 
 Pecos, and appeared frank and friendly toward the 
 Spaniaj-ds. They were of large statm-e and well 
 shaped, and painted their faces and bodies with 
 various figures. I do not venture to express a defi- 
 nite opinion as to what tribe the Teyas belonged to. 
 Some have thought they were the Comanches, but 
 those Indians were not known to the Pueblos till 
 about the year 1700, while the Teyas, as I have re- 
 marked, had had hostile (and also friendly) inter- 
 course with them before the arrival of the Spaniards. 
 They may have been Ufces. They knew of Quivira 
 and the eastern regions, and gave Coronado infor- 
 mation concerning them. But they were ignorant of 
 the stone buildings, of the treasures and wealth, and 
 in general of all that "the Turk" had described. 
 The dwellings in Quivira, they said, were of " straw 
 and skins," and there was very little maize there. 
 
228 CIBOLA. 
 
 These accounts produced great depression, but stiU 
 greater was the irritation against the guide who had 
 drawn them into this country. " The Turk " finally 
 confessed that he had spoken falsely to the whites 
 when he told them of stone houses ; but he adhered 
 to what he had asserted concerning the numerous 
 population and the wealth in metals of Quivira. 
 He was thereupon put in chains, and the company 
 continued its arduous march with guides whom the 
 Teyas supplied. Scarcity of water was the greatest 
 privation they suif ered. Intense thirst afflicted man 
 and beast, and buffalo meat was all they had with 
 which to appease their hunger, for the supplies of 
 maize were exhausted. 
 
 The Teyas advised Coronado to return ; they as- 
 sured him that nearly forty days' march would still 
 be required to reach Quivira, and that the scarcity 
 of water and of vegetable food would destroy his 
 little army on the way. Many soldiers had ah-eady 
 disappeared by going from the camp to himt, when 
 they became lost and miserably perished. Never- 
 theless Coronado determined to satisfy at least him- 
 self personally with the sight of Quivira, but to risk 
 the lives of only a few men on the chance. Against 
 the entreaties and expostulations of his followers, 
 he selected twenty-nine horsemen, put himself at 
 their head, entrusted the command of the main 
 corps to Tristan de Arellano, and went on under the 
 guidance of the Teyas, together with the enchained 
 "Turk" and the other Indian. According to Caste- 
 neda's statements, the point where the Spaniards 
 separated was thirty-seven days' march — of six or 
 seven leagues or between sixteen and nineteen Eng- 
 
QUIVIEA. 229 
 
 lish miles eacli — ^from Pecos. If we suppose, what 
 is, however, doubtful, because of their wandering 
 around, that they marched toward the northeast, 
 they were then near the eastern border of New 
 Mexico, close upon what is now the Indian Territory. 
 A passage in Coronado's report says that in thirty- 
 seven days they only marched on twenty, so that 
 the distance traversed would be about three hundred 
 miles. It, however, appears very plainly that they 
 had turned to the right and marched in a circle, and, 
 instead of northeast, were east or east-southeast of 
 Pecos. 
 
 The date of the separation can be fixed approxi- 
 mately. The Spaniards left Pecos on the 3d of May, 
 and, according to Casteneda, reached the place where 
 the army remained on June 9th. On St. Peter and 
 St. Paul's day — July 10th — according to JaramiUo, 
 the little band of horsemen to which he belonged, 
 and which was under Coronado's personal lead- 
 ing, had been thirty days on the march ; the sep- 
 aration must therefore have taken place on the 
 9th of June — that is, on Ascension Day of 1541, as 
 Mota-PadiUa correctly gives it. The "army," as 
 it was called, was now divided into two parts, and 
 it is therefore necessary to follow the fortunes of 
 each of them separately. Casteneda belonged to the 
 chief corps, and concerned himself, in his account, 
 exclusively with it. Coronado and JaramiUo, on 
 the other hand, speak only of the march to Quivira, 
 in which they took part. 
 
 Arellano and the " army " proper remained fifteen 
 days in the spot where Coronado left them, spend- 
 ing the time in slaughtering the buffaloes that 
 
230 CIBOLA. 
 
 ranged around them. This wasteful butchery was 
 carried to such an extent that more than five hun- 
 dred bulls were slain, with a number of cows. Sev- 
 eral of the soldiers were lost in the hunt, and dis- 
 appeared entirely. At last, on the 24th of June, a 
 retreat was begun, in the course of which several 
 salt lakes and numerous prairie-dogs were seen. 
 More than thirty leagues (eighty-one miles) south of 
 the spot where the bridge had been thrown across 
 the Canadian River the band came to the Pecos, be- 
 low "Anton Chieo"; then followed the course of 
 that river to the great pueblo, arriving in front of 
 it on July 19th. The inhabitants had changed in 
 feeling, and refused them provisions. So the weary 
 company were obliged to go on, and came to a 
 halt at Tiguex, near the present town of Bernalillo, 
 in their former headquarters, at the end of July, 
 1541. The Tiguas had in the interval resumed pos- 
 session of their pueblo, but left it on the approach 
 of the Spaniards and fled to the mountains. It was 
 stm summer, and there was no lack of provisions. 
 Arellano therefore busied himself actively with lay- 
 ing in stores for the winter. 
 
 So far as the main body of the Spanish '' army " 
 was concerned, the march toward Quivlra had ter- 
 minated, having borne only insignificant fruits. 
 Except for the buffalo hunting, which supplied meat 
 and hides in quantities, they had gained nothing in 
 return for their unprecedentd toil and danger be- 
 sides the conviction that they had been betrayed and 
 misled, and that Quivira was in no sense the gold- 
 rich land that it had been described to them to be. 
 This conviction had been impressed upon every one 
 
QUIVIEA. 231 
 
 of them, so that the men were unwilling to see Cor- 
 onado start off on an adventure more hazardous 
 than any they had passed through, and with only a 
 few horsemen. They were truly devoted to then- 
 leader, and were reluctant to part from him; yet, 
 although many took leave of him with a fixed im- 
 pression that they would never see Tiim again, they 
 obeyed his orders; for his enterprise might ulti- 
 mately lead to discoveries that would recompense 
 them for all their sufferings in the past and the 
 present. 
 
 They therefore readily disposed themselves to the 
 commands of Arellano, who, starting from Tiguex, 
 instituted further researches along the course of 
 the Rio Grande. Francisco de Barrionuevo, with 
 two soldiers, followed the stream toward the north. 
 Passing through the country on the west side, he 
 came to the group of the " Hemes." These are the 
 pueblos of which numerous ruins he in the neigh- 
 borhood of the present Jemez. They are divided 
 into two groups, numbering together ten villages, 
 seven of which belong properly to Jemez, and three 
 to the subdivision of Aguas Cahentes (the present 
 "Thermen"). The Jemez Indians entered at once 
 into friendly relations with the Spaniaj-ds, and con- 
 tinued thus tin 1680. Touching upon the Queres 
 on the west, they were wedged in between them and 
 the powerful hostile tribe of the Navajos. These 
 were so troublesome to them that even the two 
 churches which were built for them soon after the 
 year 1600 were temporarily given up and the Je- 
 mez Indians were dispersed. About the year 1622 
 the Franciscan missionaries collected them again, 
 
232 CIBOLA. 
 
 and gradually united them into a single large village. 
 This village, abandoned in 1680, is now merged in 
 the pueblo of Jemez, which contaias in all about 
 four hundred souls. 
 
 Returning from Jemez to the Rio Grande, Barrio- 
 nuevo seems to have followed the right (or western) 
 shore of the river exclusively, for he mentions the 
 pueblo of "Yuque Yunque," ''the inhabitants of 
 which, as well as those of another village situated 
 on the river, fled to the mountains," where they had 
 four other fortified villages. The place was inac- 
 cessible to horses. " Yuque Yunque " is the present 
 deserted " Yuge-uinge " (village of the ravine), called 
 briefly "Yunque." The town of Chajnita on the 
 Denver & Rio Grande Railroad stands on its ruins, 
 and near by was built, in 1598, the first Spanish 
 settlement ia New Mexico, San Gabriel.* On the 
 east bank is the pueblo of San Juan, in a charming 
 situation, and the valley, which borders the course 
 of the Rio Grande, although hardly twelve mUes 
 long, is the most fruitful and the loveliest in New 
 Mexico, that of Taos, perhaps, excepted. The mas- 
 sive chain of the Sierra Madre overlooks it in the 
 east, with peaks that rise to a height of 13,000 feet; 
 in the west a gloomy front of volcanic mesas, inter- 
 sected by awful clefts, projects close upon the river- 
 bank ; and behind them the mountains of Abiquia 
 and the Sierra del Valle crown the landscape. This 
 beautiful region was, and stiU is, occupied by the 
 Tehuas Indians. There yet stand two other of their 
 pueblos, San Ildefonso (" Poo-joge ") and Santa Clara 
 ("Ka-Poo"), on the bank, which have existed since 
 
 * Santa F6 was not founded till ten years later. 
 
QUIVIEA. 233 
 
 1598. If Barrionuevo, as I suppose, went from Co- 
 chiti thi'ougli the great canon whicli the Rio Grande 
 traverses between there and San Ildefonso, or on 
 the east side of the river over the mesa of Tom a and 
 the " Cuervo," as it is called, to Chamita, he would 
 have observed both these pueblos if they existed 
 then. This, however, he seems not to have done, 
 and the four villages situated on the mountain were, 
 therefore, on the west side, " Tzirege " and " Triape," 
 in a wild region dif&cult of access ; and on the east 
 side two pueblos in the neighborhood of " Nambe." 
 The accuracy of the accounts of the Spanish writers 
 often astonishes those who have become acquainted 
 by long residence with the country they describe, 
 and creates a feeling of high respect for them. 
 
 Barrionuevo pressed stiU farther toward the north. 
 Twenty leagues, or fifty-four mUes, beyond Chamita 
 he came to a large pueblo called "Braba," which 
 was built on both sides of a river, and contained 
 very large estuf as. General Simpson has identified 
 this place with the present Taos, and I see no reason 
 for not agreeing with him. The native name for 
 Taos is indeed " Tegat-h§,," and I have never been 
 able to find any name of a place in any of the 
 pueblo languages that corresponds with " Braba " or 
 "Uraba," or "Yuraba." Yet the situation and the 
 whole description point to Taos as the place that is 
 meant. Casteneda says further on that Braba was 
 the last village to the north that was built of stone 
 and mortar, and that is actually the case with Taos. 
 
 Thus the Spaniards had found and specified, be- 
 fore the end of the summer of 1541, all the hnguistic 
 stocks of the pueblos of New Mexico, and had come 
 16 
 
234 CIBOLA. 
 
 in actual contact with all the groups of New Mexican 
 aborigines, except the Jumanos and a few roam- 
 ing hordes in the southwest, which once belonged 
 to the Texan group. It is even possible that the 
 Jumanos might be found among the painted Tejas, 
 who were afterward called by the Spaniards, from 
 their paintiug, Indios ruyados, or striped Indians. 
 Tliis great tribe, which was extinguished in the in- 
 surrection of 1680, then inhabited the regions of 
 eastern and southeastern New Mexico and northern 
 Chihuahua. The Jumanos of New Mexico were in 
 a state of constant feud with the Apaches, and this 
 became the cause of their disappearance. 
 
 September was drawing toward its end, and the 
 commander-in-chief had not yet retui-ned from his 
 hazardous journey to Quivira. The time which he 
 had fixed for his return had passed, and Tristan de 
 Arellano was anxious concerning the fate of the 
 Adelantado. Leaving Barrionuevo in command at 
 Tiguex, he went with forty horsemen to Pecos. 
 The people there were stUl hostile, and he was obliged 
 to bring his small artillery against their pueblo. 
 The great houses resisted the attack, and he could 
 not force an entrance. He was therefore encamped 
 outside of the village in the valley, when the news 
 came to him that the Adelantado was approaching 
 with his company ; and a few days afterward Coro- 
 nado arrived, sound and in good health, but weary, 
 empty-handed, and disappointed. He had found 
 Quivira and explored it well, but discovered no signs 
 there of a permanent settlement, or of gold or silver. 
 
 The Tejas Indians had informed the Spaniards, 
 while the whole army was stiU together, that they 
 
QUIVIEA. 235 
 
 had gone much too far south ; Quivira was away in 
 the north. When, therefore, Coronado started with 
 his twenty-nine men, the Tejas led him directly 
 north, for thirty days, through unlimited, treeless 
 plains, covered with herds of buffaloes and traversed 
 by small streams, till on August 9th they came to a 
 river, which they named, in honor of the saints of 
 the day, "Rio San Pedro y San Pablo." Jaramillo 
 says that they had been able to march over only 
 short distances each day, so that this river can have 
 been no other than the Arkansas, and the spot where 
 they struck it was probably near the Great Bend, for 
 after crossing the river they followed its northern 
 bank for three days toward the northeast, a direction 
 corresponding exactly with the course of the Arkan- 
 sas in that latitude. 
 
 It may be remarked, by the way, that Coronado 
 speaks of this region as situated in the 40th degree 
 of north latitude ; that is, that it was five and a half 
 degrees north of the Gila, according to the deter- 
 minations of that time. The Gila River, however, 
 runs, not in the parallel of 34° 30', but of about 33°, 
 while the Arkansas flows in the 38th degree, or five 
 and a half degrees north of the Gila. Quivira should 
 therefore be sought in the present State of Kansas, 
 and in the central districts, about a hundred miles 
 north of the Arkansas River. 
 
 It would be useless, however, to look for the ruins 
 of a considerable permanent settlement of the natives. 
 There is no such place, and the tribe that lived at 
 Quivira was a roaming Indian horde that subsisted 
 chiefly by hunting the buffalo, and casually followed 
 a rude agriculture. Coronado says: "I had been 
 
236 CIBOLA. 
 
 told that the houses were made of stone and were sev- 
 eral storied ; they are only of straw, and the inhabi- 
 tants are as savage as any that I have seen. They 
 have no clothes, nor cotton to make them out of; 
 they simply tan the hides of the cows which they 
 hunt, and which pasture around their village and in 
 the neighborhood of a large river. They eat their 
 meat raw, like the Querechos and the Tejas, and are 
 enemies to one another and war among one another. 
 All these men look alike. The inhabitants of Qui- 
 vira are the best of hunters, and they plant maize." 
 There were no signs of gold or silver; some ii'on 
 pyrites and a few pieces of copper were all the metal 
 that was found. Jaramillo confirms these state- 
 ments, adds that the huts were round, and clearly 
 describes one of the medicine lodges that are com- 
 mon among the Indians of the prairies. 
 
 Coronado, with his company and "the Turk," 
 arrived at Quivira on August 21st. "The Turk" 
 was brought in chains, a prisoner, while the other 
 Indian was able to prove that he had at least always 
 told the truth. Through him the Spaniards had 
 been weU received at Quivira, and that embittered 
 them all the more against the " the Turk." He con- 
 fessed that the Pueblo Indians had engaged him to 
 draw the Spaniards into the plains, in order that 
 they might perish there. Implicit faith must not, 
 however, be given to this assertion. When the pris- 
 oner could not deliver himself by such confessions 
 and other pretences, he tried to stir up the people of 
 Quivira against the Spaniards. The plan was quickly 
 discovered, and the treacherous guide was hanged 
 the same night. 
 
QUIVIEA. 237 
 
 Coronado stayed twenty-five days with the Indians 
 of Quivira and the vicinity. He found the country 
 fertile. " The soil," he says, " is the best that can 
 be found for all the crops of Spain ; besides being 
 strong and black, it is well watered with brooks, 
 springs, and rivers. I found plums like those in 
 Spain, nuts, very fine grapes, and mulberries." To 
 this description is added the testimony of Jai-amillo, 
 who praises the fertility of the soil, the abundance 
 of water, and the absence of mountains, and gives 
 special prominence to certain productions, such as 
 flax, sumach, and grapes. 
 
 Notwithstanding all these advantages, which Cor- 
 onado sufficiently pointed out, he could not remain 
 in Quivira. Winter, if not immediately at his door, 
 was not very far off, and the Spaniards, surprised 
 by early frosts, and not being acquainted with the 
 delightful autumn of Kansas and the Mississippi 
 Valley, thought that cold weather would foUow at 
 once. They therefore began a retreat, accomplished 
 it without accident in forty days, and arrived ia the 
 Pecos Valley on October 25th (1541). Thence Cor- 
 onado returned with Arellano to Bernalillo, where 
 he wrote on October 31st the report to Charles V., 
 from which part of the facts we have related are 
 taken. 
 
 It is remarkable that when Coronado told his men 
 the full truth about Quivira, and confided to them 
 the discouragiag results of his expedition, they be- 
 came aU the more fixed ia the idea that Quivira was 
 a gold-rich country. They conceived that their 
 commander had not gone far enough into the in- 
 terior because, meeting a dense population, he was 
 
238 CIBOLA. 
 
 not willing to venture among them with his small 
 following. Indians who had been with AreUano 
 confirmed the Spaniards in these opinions, and pro- 
 moted an inclination which was liable to lead on the 
 one side to further expeditions, and on the other side 
 to a breach with their leader. He found himself in 
 a very difficult position. He was at all events con- 
 vinced that another expedition beyond Quivira would 
 not be likely to lead to the discovery of what they 
 were seeking for, while it would be attended with 
 great danger; for the whole army would have to 
 follow him, and he would therefore be cutting him- 
 self entirely off from New Mexico and going out 
 into the unknown without any base of operations. 
 He felt, on the other hand, that such a campaign, if 
 not of gold and silver, might lead to other important 
 discoveries. He was sure that the great river which 
 the Spaniards then called " Rio del Bspiritii Santo," 
 and which was nothing else than the Mississippi, 
 must rise in those unknown regions. To reach this 
 river from the west would be a great achievement, 
 which would cover him and his men with honor, and 
 be of much direct or indirect advantage to them. 
 At the same time, his men were insisting so earnestly 
 upon an attempt in that direction, that Coronado 
 determined to yield to them, and, spending the winter 
 in the valley of the Rio Grande, to leave New Mexico 
 in the spring of 1542 and go eastward once more. 
 Quivira, which had now been proved and acknowl- 
 edged to be poor in metals, was no longer the sole 
 object of the contemplated new expedition ; it was 
 to form the new base of operations, from which the 
 step into the unknown should be made. 
 
QUIVIRA. 239 
 
 I have shown that Quivira was in central Kan- 
 sas, in the region of Great Bend and Newton, and 
 a little north of there. It is also clear that the 
 name appertained to a roving Indian tribe, and not 
 to a geographical district. Hence, when "I say that 
 Coronado's Quivira was there, the identification is 
 good for the year 1541, and not for a later time. 
 The tribe wandered with the bison, and with the 
 tribe the name also went hither and thither. In 
 the place where Coronado found Quivira, he was 
 not more than seven hundred miles from the Mis- 
 sissippi. It is a remarkable fact that in the same 
 year, and at nearly the same time, June 18, 1541, 
 Hernando de Soto reached the Mississippi from the 
 southeast and crossed it to the west. Had Coronado 
 gone directly east or southeast from the point where 
 he and his horsemen separated from the chief corps 
 to go in search of Quivira, instead of in a northerly 
 direction, he might have shaken hands with the dis- 
 coverer of the Mississippi on the western shore of 
 the great river. 
 
 On Coronado's return friendly relations were re- 
 stored with the Indians of Pecos, and even the Tiguas 
 at Bernalillo showed a disposition to inhabit their 
 deserted villages again. Before the end of the 
 year 1541 (not 1542, as Casteneda says), in October, 
 Pedro de Tobar arrived with reinforcements. The 
 letters which he brought from Spain and Mexico 
 caused Garcia Lopez de Cardenas to leave the expe- 
 dition and return home by way of Zuni and Sonora. 
 I mention this fact among others because it shows 
 with what security a solitary Spaniard could then 
 make the long journey, which is not wholly without 
 
240 CffiOLA. 
 
 dangers to-day, with only Indian guides. This 
 security has been ascribed to the respect which the 
 Spanish arms won from the tribes, and to intimida- 
 tion caused by severe treatment. The explanation is 
 not sufficient in the present case. The Pueblo Indian, 
 or the Apache, or the Navajo would not have been 
 afraid of individual Spaniards if he had been gener- 
 ally inclined to hostility. The relation between the 
 Indians and the Spaniards was, on the contrary, a 
 friendly one, to which only the excesses against the 
 Tiguas formed a solitary and therefore a conspicu- 
 ous exception. With all the other tribes (except 
 the httle frictions with the Pecos, which always 
 smoothed themselves away) the Spaniards lived in 
 peace, and the roads from and toward Sonora were 
 more open and secure than they are now. Large 
 tracts were uninhabited, it is true, in which at least a 
 few human abodes may now be seen, and the savage 
 Indians were much more widely dispersed than they 
 are now ; but the present increased population, with 
 increased quiet, also furnishes occasions of greater 
 peril to property and hfe. 
 
 Coronado was beloved by his men. He took the 
 largest share in all their privations, and whenever 
 there was an allotment of provisions and clothing, 
 he was careful to protect the common soldiers against 
 the greed of the officers. Such a division took place 
 in the fall of 1541, but Coronado was not in a con- 
 dition to exercise his accustomed authority. The 
 bonds of discipline had become relaxed, and his own 
 energy had been weakened. Undeceived concern- 
 ing the value of his conquests, he perceived that 
 they opened no future to him, and still less to his 
 
QUrVIEA. 241 
 
 wife, whom he had left in Mexico. He longed to 
 go back to this wife, without whom there was no 
 home for him, and he could not give her a home 
 in New Mexico. It was, therefore, not contrary to 
 his secret wishes, as he remarked, that the soldiers 
 began of themselves to object to the contemplated 
 expedition and to talk of a return to Mexico. Never- 
 theless, he continued making his arrangements, and 
 the winter of 1541^2 was quietly spent in the camp 
 at Bernalillo in busy preparation. They were to 
 start in the spring of 1542, and the time for break- 
 ing camp was approaching, when two events caused 
 a change in their plans. As Coronado was one day 
 tilting with Don Pedro Maldonado, while on the full 
 run the girth of his saddle broke, and he feU upon 
 the side of Maldonado's horse, which, being also at 
 full speed, sprang over him, and inflicted a danger- 
 ous wound upon his head. 
 
 After long suffering he had begun to recover, 
 when Grarcia Lopez de Cardenas unexpectedly re- 
 turned from Sonora, bringing important news. He 
 had gone to the VaUey of Sonora without delay, 
 and confidently hoped to meet the Mttie colony in 
 Suya. Instead of that he found the settiement a 
 pile of smoking ruins, and the natives in full insur- 
 rection. After the death of Melchior Diaz, Diego 
 de Alcaraz had continued in command at Suya. 
 His character, which he had already revealed in 
 Sinaloa, was not such as to qualify him for forming 
 friendly relations with the Indians, while his sub- 
 ordinates were of the most unruly soldiers of the 
 government of New Galicia. Their outrageous eon- 
 duct excited the Indians to resistance. Some of 
 
242 CIBOLA. 
 
 the Spaniards fled to Culiacan ; the rest, with a few 
 exceptions, besides Alcaraz, were murdered in the 
 night, their horses killed, all their cattle slaughtered 
 or cai-ried off, and their houses torn down and burnt. 
 Cardenas, in order to escape the poisoned arrows of 
 the Opatas, hurried back to Zuiii, and thence to the 
 Rio Grande. 
 
 This report provoked a relapse in Coronado's con- 
 dition, which caused aU thoughts of Quivira to be 
 set aside for the time. How long his illness and 
 convalescence lasted cannot be exactly determined. 
 An error in counting the years has crept into Cas- 
 teneda's story, for he places the beginning of the 
 expedition to the plains in 1541 and the return in 
 1542, but afterward corrects himself as to the date 
 
 1542, so as to fix the return to Mexico in the year 
 
 1543. This is cei-tainly an error, unless Coronado's 
 iUness lasted a whole year and the Spaniards spent 
 the winter of 1542-43 in Bernalillo. It appears 
 clearly from the reports, however, that this was not 
 the case, but that Coronado had fully recovered in 
 March, 1542. The relapse which he suJBfered is sus- 
 pected by Casteneda of having been a pretence ; but 
 Jaramillo, who was an officer, and stood in closer 
 relations with him than Casteneda, says nothing of 
 this. His woimded condition increased the weary 
 commander's longing to return, and the insurrection 
 of the Opatas in the rear of the little army made its 
 situation very critical. He therefore proposed to 
 his officers to take advantage of the feeling of the 
 troops, and to have them prepare a petition to him 
 for the evacuation of New Mexico. Signatures were 
 easily procured for this petition, but Coronado had 
 
QUIVIRA. 243 
 
 hardly begun the preparations for a retreat on the 
 strength of it, when several of the signers asked to 
 have their names withdrawn. It was, however, too 
 late, and most of the soldiers adhered to theii- former 
 decision. Casteneda, whose morose nature dwells 
 upon this division, says that Coronado had lost 
 all authority and affection among the ofBlcers, who 
 obeyed him after this, not out of respect, but only 
 because of their oaths. Great discord prevailed in 
 the little army ; some wanted to stay at any cost ; 
 but they all agreed at last, and in the beginning of 
 April, 1542, Tiguex was evacuated and the retreat 
 to Zuni begun. 
 
 Over a few members of the expedition Coronado 
 had no power. These were the priests, who had 
 come with him to this point ; the Franciscan monks. 
 Fray Juan de Padilla, Fray Juan de la Cruz, and the 
 lay brother. Fray Luis de Ubeda, decided to remain 
 in New Mexico, even without the protection of the 
 army. It was indifferent to them whether there were 
 treasures in the newly discovered regions or not; 
 they thought only of the souls of the natives, and 
 considered themselves pledged to devote their lives 
 to the work of conversion. Coronado could not 
 compel them to return with him, and they equally 
 could not demand a large guard. Only volunteers, 
 therefore, remained with them in Bernalillo. These 
 were a Portuguese, Andres del Campo ; a mestizo ; 
 two Indians named Lucas and Sebastian, who had 
 been adopted by the monks in Michoacan; two 
 Indians from Oaxaca; and a negro. They stayed 
 voluntarily, as we have said, although there could 
 hardly be a doubt as to what their fate would be. 
 
244 CffiOLA. 
 
 Such heroic devotion finds favor even in Casteueda's 
 cynic judgment, for he says of Fray Juan de Padilla 
 that "we must believe that his zeal was true and 
 sincere." 
 
 After the "army" left the Valley of the Rio 
 Grande the three priests apportioned the field of 
 labor which they had chosen. Fray Juan de la Cruz 
 remained among the Tiguas at BernaHllo, where he 
 passed out of view. A story that he was murdered 
 is little questioned in the church, and is very prob- 
 ably true. The other two priests went to Pecos, 
 where Fray Luis de Ubeda settled, and likewise 
 passed out of definite knowledge. The natives were, 
 however, at least in the beginning, friendly in their 
 demeanor toward him. 
 
 Fray Juan de Padilla, in his turn, chose Quivira 
 as his field of work. Accompanied by the others 
 who remained behind, and by guides from Pecos, 
 he reached the tribe during the simimer months 
 of the same year. The wooden cross was still stand- 
 ing which Coronado had erected, with the words 
 cut upon it: "Francisco Vasquez de Coronado, 
 leader of a campaign, came to this place." This 
 cross served him as the central point for missionary 
 work, and the Quiviras received him gladly. Yet, 
 notwithstanding the warnings of the people around 
 him, he wanted to go farther. His first effort to 
 travel toward the east brought him in contact with 
 a hostUe horde^ which Casteneda calls " the Guyas." 
 The priest immediately perceived his danger, and 
 ordered the Portuguese and his other companions 
 to flee and leave him alone. Resistance was impos- 
 sible, and it would be better to save their lives than 
 
QUIVIEA. 245 
 
 sacrifice tliem uselessly. The advice was prudent 
 and worthy of the devotion of the priest. His com- 
 panions therefore left him, with bitter sorrow in 
 their hearts, and saw him kneel to await the coming 
 of the savages. There is no doubt that he was 
 immediately kUled.* It is thus not improbable that 
 the first martyr of the church, in the Spanish attempts 
 to settle in the southwest, fell in Kansas, not more 
 than six hundred nnles west of the Mississippi, and 
 only fifty years after the landing of Columbus. 
 
 The story of this event could hardly reach poster- 
 ity without including an adventure of great hazard 
 and of the most marvellous character. The com- 
 panions of Pray Juan de PadOla fled back to the 
 Quiwas, and it is said that those savages received 
 the not unanticipated news of the death of the priest 
 with sincere mourning and deep grief. Neither the 
 Portuguese nor the Indians who had accompanied 
 him felt themselves longer called upon to continue 
 the missionary work, but were anxious to return 
 to Mexico. Yet they were disposed not to go back 
 by the same route as they had come, but to see new 
 regions. It was in the spirit of the time. Fearless- 
 ness and the constant expectation of finding some- 
 thing new and astonishing were so deeply implanted 
 in those men that it was like a second nature to them 
 to go recklessly forward into the unknown rather 
 
 * The legend stands in the Martyrology under date of the 
 30th of November, hut Gonzaga (" Origen de la religion serd- 
 fica," 1587, Part I., p. 105) is mistakenwhen he says that the 
 event happened in the year 1560. Mota-Padilla depends on 
 the manuscript of Don Pedro de Tohar, who fixes the date at 
 1542, which agrees closely with the statements of the monk's 
 contemporaries — Casteneda's error excepted. 
 
246 CIBOLA. 
 
 than back into the known. Then, perhaps, a return 
 to New Mexico might be more dangerous than an 
 advance in the opposite direction. The Portuguese 
 and the two Indians from Michoacan, who, as 
 adopted children ("donados") of the order of St. 
 Francis, wore the Franciscan dress, directed their 
 course from Kansas toward the east and then to- 
 ward the south. The fact is undoubted that they 
 finally reached P4nuco (in the present State of 
 Tamaulipas in the Mexican republic), after a jour- 
 ney comparable in its adventurous character with 
 that of Cabeza de Vaca and his companions. I have 
 not been able to fix the exact date, for the event, 
 although verified in many ways, seems not to have 
 attracted much attention. The fugitives did not see 
 the Mississippi, but passed on the western side of the 
 river, through the Indian Territory and perhaps a 
 part of Texas, to Tamaulipas, whence the Portuguese 
 went to the City of Mexico, and the two Indians, 
 Liicas and Sebastian, to their home in Michoacan, 
 where Sebastian died a few days after his arrival. 
 The details of this remarkable wandering are unfor- 
 tunately very scanty. It is inferred, from the fact 
 that Gomara mentions it, that it took place before 
 the year 1550. 
 
 The main corps under Coronado had returned to 
 Mexico. While the expedition had suffered in the 
 beginning from the disadvantages occasioned by 
 intense eagerness and haste to reach its object, the 
 retreat afforded a spectacle of sad disappointment, 
 discontent, and consequent insubordination. Be- 
 tween the Rio Grande and Zuni disease broke out 
 among the horses, under which more than thirty 
 
QUIVIKA. 247 
 
 perished. It was, perhaps, the same disease which 
 now prevails occasionally among horses in New 
 Mexico, and is called el mal. The Spaniards rested 
 in Zuid, and some of the Mexican Indians remained 
 there — a fact which should be carefully regarded in 
 the investigation of the myths and usages of the 
 natives. Although the people were friendly, they 
 followed the troop for several days, and tried to 
 compel some of the men to stay. The troop reached 
 Ohichiltic-calli without delay, and were met there by 
 Juan Gallegas, who had come from Mexico with re- 
 inforcements and ammunition. He was very angry 
 at finding the army on the retreat. The fabulous 
 reports which, reinforced by the representations of 
 " the Turk," had reached Mexico had produced a revi- 
 val of speculative excitement respecting New Mexico, 
 and the newly arrived soldiers were greatly dissatis- 
 fied. Some of the officers made use of this feeUng 
 to urge at least that a permanent settlement should 
 be founded, but Corouado's soldiers opposed this, 
 and insisted on continuing the retreat. Coronado 
 himself pleaded illness, and seemed to have lost all 
 his energy. 
 
 The troop therefore moved again, to make their 
 way into Sonora. The Opatas opposed them, annoy- 
 ing the march daily, and killing men and horses 
 with poisoned arrows. No pause occurred in the 
 hostilities till Batueo was reached; thence the de- 
 spondent company proceeded unhindered to Culia- 
 can, and there all the bonds of discipline were broken. 
 Coronado started from Culiacan for Mexico on the 
 4th of July, 1542. When he arrived at the capi- 
 tal he was followed by hardly a hundred soldiers. 
 
248 CIBOLA. 
 
 The rest had scattered to the right and left on the 
 way. 
 
 As the entrance into the capital was gloomy, so 
 was his reception by the viceroy, Don Antonio de 
 Mendoza, a hard blow for Coronado, from which he 
 never recovered. This of&cer, the highest in author- 
 ity in Mexico, declared to his former favorite that 
 he was disappointed and angry that he had given up 
 the north, and in such terms that Coronado with- 
 drew to the present Cuernavaca, where he needed to 
 give himself no more concern about his province of 
 New Galicia, and died there in retirement. In the 
 year 1548 the government was compelled, on account 
 of his entire incapacity for business, to appoint a 
 court of audiencia for the "kingdom of New Gali- 
 cia." Little is known concerning the proceedings 
 that were instituted agaLast him. The once honored, 
 now despised nobleman was deserted in early old 
 age, and died neglected. 
 
 Was the disfavor into which he had fallen, and 
 which cast a gloomy shadow over the whole of his 
 after-life, deserved ? As a leader Coronado was al- 
 ways worthy of distinction ; he never spared him- 
 self, but always had a fatherly care for his subor- 
 dinates ; and if we regard the whole course of the 
 campaign, we must acknowledge that he always 
 acted prudently and yet decisively. Two dark fea- 
 tures are visible ia his intercourse with the natives : 
 the abduction of the chiefs of Pecos, and the cruel- 
 ties against the Tiguas at Bernalillo. In the former 
 case Coronado followed an example which stood 
 prominent at the time in the view of every Spaniard, 
 and of many a champion in the rest of Europe — that 
 
QUIVIKA. 249 
 
 of Hernando Cortes ; and lie afterward repaired his 
 fault. The responsibility for the atrocious cruelties 
 at Tiguex does not fall so much upon him as upon 
 Garcia Lopez de C^denas. A proof that he did not, 
 as a rule, behave badly toward the Indians is afforded 
 by the fact that during the whole course of the ex- 
 pedition, which lasted two years and extended over 
 so wide a territory, and in which so many different 
 tribes were encountered, only four cases of real hos- 
 tilities occurred, and only one of these was of great 
 importance. 
 
 The conception which has been often formed of 
 Coronado as a wicked adventurer is therefore unjust. 
 Equally wrong and unfounded are the accusations 
 which Mendoza formulated against him, and on the 
 ground of which he treated the knight so severely. 
 The following are assigned as the reasons by which 
 the action of the viceroy was determined : first, while 
 Alarcon wrote with the fullest detail in his reports, 
 the letters of Coronado were short, and therefore 
 unsatisfactory ; second, Coronado wrote also directly 
 to the emperor and king (Charles V.), which the vice- 
 roy considered a presumption on his part, and even 
 regarded as bordering on treason ; third, his evacu- 
 ation of New Mexico and return seemed at least a 
 gross violation of duty, for it was ascribed to diso- 
 bedience, incapacity, and cowardice. 
 
 The letters of Coronado (of which lam acquainted 
 only with those written to the emperor) are, indeed, 
 not to be compared with the detailed daybook-like 
 reports of Alarcon. But the latter, being most of 
 the time on shipboard, had leisure and opportunity 
 to prepare even more voluminous reports than he 
 17 
 
250 CIBOLA. 
 
 really made. It is not strange that he expanded his 
 accounts. Coronado, on the other hand, was living 
 tinder conditions which often made writing impossi- 
 ble, as I have many times experienced. No one is 
 disposed to write long letters in the pueblo houses ; 
 moreover, in winter and on the road to Qui\ira the 
 ink may have failed. Don Antonio de Mendoza 
 understood none of these conditions, and did not 
 realize the great difference between the situations of 
 the seaman and of the officer in the heart of the 
 continent. "With all the traits for which he was 
 distinguished, the viceroy was first of all things a 
 European offlcer, who, however ably he could direct 
 from his desk, had no comprehension of American 
 camp-life. Coronado's letters to the emperor and 
 king were, it is true, an imprudence on his part that 
 bordered on insubordination, and (in view of the 
 previous diflculties of Cort6s with Diego Velasquez) 
 might easily have aroused suspicion in the viceroy. 
 
 Respecting the evacuation of New Mexico, I have 
 minutely examined the course of events, in order to 
 make a judgment upon it possible. There was no 
 cowardice. Coronado's woimds, and the result of 
 the expedition to Quivira, with homesickness and 
 a weakened bodily condition, probably contributed 
 much to a discouragement which was based on the 
 conviction that the country was not worth the effort 
 which its control would cost. Coronado accused his 
 predecessor, Fray Marcos, the discoverer of New 
 Mexico, unjustly, as I have already shown, of having 
 published exaggerated accounts of that country. He 
 did not anticipate, he could not anticipate, that his 
 own accounts, which fully agreed, so far as they 
 
QUIVIEA. 251 
 
 concerned the same regions, with those of the monk, 
 might afford occasion, to a superficial review, for 
 the same reproaches against him as he made against 
 the Franciscan, and supply material for distortions 
 and mistakes the practical results of which would 
 be as evil in the nineteenth century as were those of 
 the exaggerated accounts of Cibola in the sixteenth 
 century. 
 
 With the return to Mexico of the little army that 
 Coronado commanded, the name of Cibola lost its 
 fascination. The legend of the Amazons had, in the 
 north, passed into that of the "seven cities," and 
 these are accounted for by the seven pueblos or vil- 
 lages of Zuni. But Quivira continued to exercise 
 an unperceived influence on the imaginations of men. 
 Notwithstanding, or perhaps because, Coronado had 
 told the unadorned truth concerning the situation 
 and conditions of the place, the world presumed that 
 he was mistaken, and insisted on continuing the 
 search for it. And although Juan de Oiiate, in 1599, 
 and Saldivar, in 1618, went out in the direction 
 which Coronado had designated, and found only 
 what he had found, yet was Quivira more persistently 
 sought, and at a greater distance; and it became 
 a phantom, like the Dorado, which hovered with 
 visions of golden treasures before the fancies of the 
 Spaniards, in the northeast and east of New Mexico. 
 It was forgotten that the Quiviras were a wandering 
 horde of Prairie Indians, who lived with the herds 
 of bison, and not a sedentary people ; that the mis- 
 sion of Jumanos, which Fray Francisco Letrado had 
 
252 CIBOLA. 
 
 founded, was visited by Quiviras, and the church 
 there was the religious centre for all these wander- 
 ing tribes after 1636 ; and that the Quiviras were 
 then roaming around for a distance of forty leagues, 
 or one hundred and eight miles, eastward, or in 
 southeastern New Mexico, and that, therefore, they 
 had moved southward. The insurrection of 1680 
 produced such a confusion in the ethnographic con- 
 ditions of New Mexico that Quivira passed out of 
 mind, and when the revolution extended to Chihuar 
 hua and Sonora in 1684, the only thought was of 
 self-preservation. After the re-conquest of New 
 Mexico by Diego de Vargas (1692 to 1694) followed 
 the irruption of the Comanches from the north, 
 greatly disturbing the former ethnographic condi- 
 tions, in the east and down into Texas. The Jumanos 
 had already vanished, and even the name of the 
 Quiviras, if it was a real name, was lost; but not 
 the recoUection of the golden stories which had been 
 associated with them. A golden kingdom had grown 
 in imagination out of the tribe, and to this golden 
 kingdom belonged, as did the city of Manoa to the 
 South American Dorado, a gi-eat capital in New Mex- 
 ico, called la gran Quivira. This treasure-city had 
 lain in ruins since the insurrection of 1680 ; but its 
 treasures were supposed to be buried in the neigh- 
 borhood, for it was said there had once been a 
 wealthy mission there, and the priests had buried 
 and hidden the vessels of the church. Thus the 
 Indian kingdom of Quivira of " the Turk " was met- 
 amorphosed in the course of two centuries into an 
 opulent Indian mission, and its vessels of gold and 
 
QUIVIEA. 253 
 
 silver into a churcli service. But where Qtiivira' 
 should be looked for was forgotten. 
 
 In the middle of the last century a Spanish cap- 
 tain of engineers, Don Bernardo de Mier y Pacheco, 
 went upon a scientific and political mission for the 
 Crown in New Mexico. He explored the ruins of 
 the country, and the numerous pueblos of the Canon 
 de Chaca (in the present home of the Navajos) ex- 
 cited his interest in the highest degree. When he 
 began to concern himself about the situation of Qui- 
 vira, it was supposed that he had plans and docu- 
 mentary evidences to assist him in finding the place. 
 The measurements which he made in the ruins of 
 the Chaca convinced the people that Quivira was 
 there, and this conviction grew and spread rapidly. 
 There was living at that time in Socorro on the Rio 
 Grande an old Indian who was called "Tio Juan 
 Largo." When he heard of the search of the Spanish 
 oflcer, he protested at once against the idea that 
 Quivira could be found in the northwest, and insisted 
 that the ruins of the former mission of the Jumanos 
 and Quiviras were east of Socorro, on the "Mesa 
 Jumana." He was a Jumano Indian — ^perhaps the 
 last who passed for one. Attention was then turned 
 at once to the region east of Socorro. The country 
 beyond the Sierra Oseura, between the Rio Grande 
 and the Pecos, had remained uninhabited after the 
 insurrection of 1680, and the small settlements of 
 Manzano and Abo, in the vicinity of the Great Salt 
 Lake, were not founded till about 1841 and 1869. 
 The Apaches Taraones and the Comanches had, as 
 it were, frightened aU life away from the region. 
 
254 CIBOLA. 
 
 Ruins of pueblos and imposing stone churclies, burnt 
 out, with their enclosures open to the sky and the 
 clouds, remains of the modest prosperity which the 
 pueblo Indians enjoyed under the guidance of the 
 Franciscan monks, before their unfortunate insur- 
 rection, lie scattered on the cliffs. Definite recollec- 
 tions are associated with all these ruins ; the descend- 
 ants of the Indians of Cuaray, ChiUle, and Tajique 
 still live at Isleta in Texas, and the posterity of the 
 inhabitants of Abo at Senecu near El Paso del Norte. 
 The existence of these ruins and a dim outline of 
 their history were never absent from the recollec- 
 tions of the Spaniards. 
 
 Touching the Valley of Abo on the east and the 
 basin of the Salt Lake on the north, rises a broad 
 mesa, the borders of which are covered only on the 
 north side with thin woods. The surface is inclined 
 toward the south, and is treeless, though covered 
 with good grass, but from the northern edge of the 
 mesa south, southeast, and southwest, there is for 
 from thirty to sixty miles not a drop of standing 
 water. While I was there from the 4th to the 10th 
 of January, 1883, melted snow was my only drink. 
 This uninhabited plateau is the "Mesa de los Ju- 
 manos," and on its southeast side stand the ruins of 
 a pueblo which, according to my measurements, con- 
 tained about twelve hundred inhabitants, with two 
 stone churches, one of which is thirty-four feet wide 
 and one hundred and thirty-two feet long, and stands 
 almost undamaged, except in the roof. The walls 
 are six feet thick, and a few hewn beams are still left 
 in the interior. Adjoining these ruins are the waUs 
 of a considerable presbytery. The other church has 
 
QUIVIRA. 255 
 
 been reduced to crumbling walls. No running water 
 is to be found anywhere near, but four large artificial 
 pools afford enough water for drinking purposes. 
 This is the ruin which the old Jumano Indian of 
 Socorro in the last century described as the former 
 mission of Quivira, and which consequently now 
 bears the name of " la gran Quivira." 
 
 The old man was right. In the year 1630 Fray 
 Francesco Letrado undertook the conversion of the 
 Jumanos after an earlier effort had failed. But 
 instead of going directly among the Indians, he 
 established himself in a pueblo of the Piros, and had 
 them build a church for the use both of the people 
 there and of the inhabitants of the surrounding 
 country. This pueblo was called the "Tey-pana" 
 in the Piro language, and was the present Gran 
 Quivira, whale the ruins of the little church are those 
 of the smaller temple. The place was the most 
 eastern mission in New Mexico, and was called la 
 mision de los Jumanos. At the same time with the 
 Jumanos, the Quiviras were visited by the priests ; 
 and a number of members were gradually associated 
 from all these tribes with the people of the village, 
 and thus the building of a new church became nec- 
 essary. This was the newer, larger ruin, and the 
 structure was never quite completed. The Apaches 
 pressed so closely upon the remote and isolated vil- 
 lage that the mission to the Jumanos was abandoned 
 in 1679. A few surviving njembers of the Piros 
 who once dwelt there still live in Jemez, but the 
 Jumanos and Quiviras have died away. 
 
 The history of the mission, too, was lost in the 
 eighteenth century, although it could be clearly 
 
256 CIBOLO. 
 
 learned from the annals of the church and in Spanish 
 books and manuscripts. But instead of studying 
 these, men have peopled the ruins with fanciful 
 figures, and have entered them cautiously and timidly 
 in superstitious treasure-hunting. Numerous exca- 
 vations attest the stay there of persons who have 
 searched for the golden cups, the candlesticks of 
 solid silver, and all that the fables ascribed to the 
 poor missionaries of the sixteenth century. Had the 
 gold-hunters, and, in later times, the water-hunters, 
 considered the history of the Gran Qtiivira, they 
 might have spared themselves trouble, labor, much 
 money, and much suffering. 
 
 What is true on a small scale of Quivira is true \ 
 in far greater measure of New Mexico and its metal- | 
 lie wealth in general. Historical writers have dealt 
 superficially with that country by taking only a few 
 authorities (Espejo, for example), and those without 
 adequate criticism, as the basis of their sketches. 
 Practical life demands of research in the historical 
 field that it make it acquainted with the experiences 
 of the past for the use and advantage of the present. 
 Had those experiences been represented as they are 
 clearly and truthfully laid down in the Spanish doc- 
 uments, much useless expenditure of capital would 
 have been spared in New Mexico alone. It cannot 
 be said that those documents were inaccessible, for 
 the reports of Fray Marcos and of Coronado were 
 printed in Italy and in England in the sixteenth 
 century, and the works of Gomara, Herrera, and 
 Torquemada contained the truth in abstracts. A 
 Spanish officer wrote as early as 1601 that New 
 Mexico was not so bad as it was occasionally drawn, 
 
QUrVIKA. 257 
 
 but was far from being as good as it was usual to 
 represent the country; and Alexander von Hum- 
 boldt explicitly denied {"Histoire politique du royaume 
 de la Nouvelle Uspagne," vol. ii. cap. viii. 3d book, 
 p. 246) the existence there of rich beds of ore. In 
 spite of this he has often been brought forward as 
 authority for the assertion that the richest mines in 
 the world were once opened there and in Arizona. 
 The truth as to the metaUic wealth of the country 
 lies between the two extremes, but considerably 
 nearer the former ; and a critical study of the docu- 
 mentary history of the region should have been 
 enough of itself to convince inquiring mankind of 
 the fact. 
 
THE MASSACRE OF CHOLULA (1519). 
 
 The day on which occurred the massacre of 
 Cholula — a very important event in. the annals of 
 the Spanish conquest of Mexico — has not been de- 
 termined with certainty, but the month is known. 
 It took place about the middle of Otcober, 1519, 
 probably between the 10th and the 15th. The usual 
 account of the tragedy — the conception of it re- 
 garded as historical — represents it as a caustless 
 piece of treachery on the part of the Spaniards, an 
 act of unjustifiable cruelty, an eternal blot on the 
 fame of Hernando Cortes. Prescott gives the fairest 
 and most exact expression to this view in his " Con- 
 quest of Mexico " when he says : " This passage in 
 their history is one of those that have left a dark 
 stain on the memory of the conquerors. Nor can 
 we contemplate, at this day, without a shudder, the 
 condition of this fair and flourishing capital thus 
 invaded in its privacy and delivered over to the ex- 
 cesses of a rude and ruthless soldiery." At the same 
 time Mr. Prescott excuses the proceeding as an act 
 of military necessity, and censures only the excess 
 of the chastisement which Cortfe allowed to be in- 
 flicted upon the Indians of Cholula. 
 
 A long residence in Cholula has enabled- me to 
 become thoroughly acquainted with the scene of the 
 massacre, and to collect and study the native tra- 
 ditions concerning it, and their pictorial represen- 
 258 
 
THE MASSACRE OF CHOLULA (1519). 259 
 
 tations of it. Many documents referring to the 
 slaughter have also come to light since Prescott's 
 work was published. These papers set the transac- 
 tion in a new light, and illustrate how important to 
 the composition of a correct historical account of an 
 event is a previous study of its details and the local 
 conditions. 
 
 Most incorrect and exaggerated ideas prevail con- 
 cerning the condition of Cholula at the begianing of 
 the sixteenth century, even in works admired for 
 their apparent thoroughness ; and of this Prescott is 
 an example and proof. " The Cholulan capital," he 
 says, " was the great commercial emporium of the 
 plateau. . . . Not a rood of land but was imder cul- 
 tivation." From the top of the artificial hill (falsely 
 called a pyramid) the spectator saw " the sacred city 
 of Cholula, with its bright towers and pinnacles 
 sparkling in the sun, reposing amidst gardens and 
 verdant groves, which then thickly studded the cul- 
 tivated environs of the capital." On the summit of 
 what was called the pyramid " stood a sumptuous 
 temple." 
 
 These passages are examples of the conceptions 
 that are current, and specimens, as well, of inaccu- 
 racy and exaggeration. Concerning the pyramid so 
 often mentioned, I appeal to the testimony of the 
 authors whom Prescott is accustomed to cite. They 
 agree that at the time of the arrival of the Spaniards 
 this great artificial hiU had long been in ruins and 
 was overgrown with bushes. The top of the hiU 
 was then convex, and crowned with a " little ancient 
 temple" dedicated to the god Nahui Quidhuifl, or 
 nine rains. There was no trace of a large building, 
 
260 THE MASSACBE OF CHOLULA (1519). 
 
 and the pyramid looked so mucli like a wooded hill 
 that the conquerors regarded it as a natural ele- 
 vation. 
 
 Cholula was not a capital, for it had no cities or 
 villages attached to it, nor any rural popiilation. 
 I have investigated in the archives the development 
 of the present district from the earliest period of 
 Spanish rule, and have shown ("An Ai-chaeological 
 Tour in Mexico ") that all the Indian villages date 
 from the sixteenth, seventeenth, and eighteenth cen- 
 turies; that the few more ancient remains besides 
 Cholula — except the sacrificial hill of Calpan — belong 
 to a far more ancient period, and had been long de- 
 serted and forgotten when Cort6s conquered Mexico ; 
 and that the whole tribe of Cholula dwelt together 
 in six quarters, which were erected on the ground 
 covered by the present city of Cholula and com- 
 mune of San Andr6s Cholula. The environs of 
 these six quarters, which were separated from one 
 another by open places, were cultivated; but the 
 plantations extended no farther out. Three fourths 
 of the present district lay fallow, where now forty 
 villages with twenty thousand souls are supported 
 by the cultivation of the soU. 
 
 The architecture of the natives did not include 
 "sparkling towers." The one-storied, flat houses 
 were whitewashed with plaster, and above them rose 
 the rounded artificial sacrificial hiU, on the narrow 
 level spaces of tha summit of which stood little 
 tower-shaped chapels. The view of this whole com- 
 plex, like that of the Indian pueblos of New Mexico, 
 was very striking and very deceiving as to the real 
 number of people, which appeared nearly J^wice as 
 
THE MASSACRE OF CHOLULA (1519). 261 
 
 large as it actually was. Furthermore, as in the 
 present villages of New Mexico, hardly more than 
 two thirds of the houses are inhabited, and one is 
 led to overestimate the population greatly. 
 
 Cholula was neither a specially sacred city nor an 
 emporium of trade. The people had their gods, like 
 any other of the tribes, and among them Quetzal- 
 cohuatl was held in high reverence. Pilgrims did not 
 flock to his shrine from near and far, as to Eiasiedeln 
 or Mecca, and the lordly neighbors of Tlascala and 
 Huexotzinco, as well as those of Mexico, regarded the 
 idol of Cholula, accordingly as they felt friendly or 
 hostUe toward it, as representing a gallant hero, Or 
 a blasphemous image, or an evil spirit. 
 
 The trade of Cholula did not surpass that which 
 other equally numerous tribes possessed. It was 
 irregular and limited. As the Pueblo Indians used 
 to go a few years ago to the Comanches, in well- 
 guarded caravans, or, tiU 1859, to Sonora, some- 
 times to the loss of their goods and even of their 
 lives, so in aboriginal Mexico they went in armed 
 companies to the neighboring tribes for purposes of 
 trade. Cholula was a good market, for its inhab- 
 itants were producers of cochineal, and as it was 
 nearer the lowlands than the Mexican plateau and 
 Tlascala, it was a place where traders could exchange 
 their own products for tropical fruits and decorative 
 articles. Feathers of richly colored birds were very 
 much in demand. Parrots and Trogon resplendens 
 came through Tehuaean to Cholula. The people of 
 that region, on the other hand, had no salt. There 
 is a considerable difference, however, between this 
 primitive trade and a great inland market. What 
 
262 THE MASSACRE OF CHOLULA (1519). 
 
 is great and important to an Indian people will ap- 
 pear to a European, as soon as the first impression 
 of strangeness has worn off, often veiy insignificant. 
 All the descriptions of the high civilization and the 
 magnitude ascribed to Cholula rest upon the testi- 
 mony of Spanish eye-witnesses, and have been com- 
 posed without due regard to the sort of compari- 
 sons the Spaniards were able at that time to make. 
 When, for example, Cort6s compared Tlascala with 
 Granada and Cempohual with Seville, we should not 
 only consider how large those cities were in the year 
 1519, but should especially recoUect that the com- 
 parisons only related to superficial extent. Every 
 Indian town contains miich more vacant space than 
 any European city of the same area. All these ac- 
 counts are therefore nearly as inexact as the polit- 
 ical " campaign documents " of the present. Without 
 really intending to state what was false, the authors 
 of them involuntai-ily exaggerated in favor of their 
 predilections. Everything was misunderstood at 
 first, or not understood at aU ; the character of the 
 people and their manners and customs were novel 
 and bewUdering. The population of a place was 
 always greatly overestimated, for wherever the Span- 
 iards showed themselves the people ran together, 
 and the same throngs accompanied them all around, 
 so that they met at every step a multitude that gave 
 the appearance of great traffic. 
 
 Cholula had in its original condition not many 
 more than 25,000 inhabitants, who were divided 
 among the six quarters that surrounded, at consid- 
 erable intervals, the chief sacrificial hill. The hiU 
 rose out of the usual walled court and stood where 
 
THE MASSACRE OF CHOLULA (1519). 263 
 
 to-day stand the great Fi-anciscan cloister of San 
 Gabriel and the capilla real. At present not 10,000 
 people dwell in the city and in San Andres, but 
 the whole district contains at least as many Indians 
 as inhabited it before the conquest, except that they 
 live scattered over the land, and not, as formerly, 
 together in an extensive pueblo. 
 
 The tribe of Cholula was tributary to no one ; it 
 belonged to the large number of settled groups 
 which, wholly independent of one another, comprised 
 the native popidation of old Mexico. Among these 
 groups, which were all military democracies with 
 elective ofilcers, never hereditary monarchies or des- 
 potisms, three had joined in a confederation and had 
 become very dangerous to all the others. They 
 were the tribes of the Mexican VaUey: Mexico, 
 Tezcuco, and Tlacopan. Mexico took the lead in 
 warlike affairs: Monte2nima was simply the com- 
 mander-in-chief of the soldiers of the three tribes, 
 and not a crowned head. The allies were the most 
 dangerous enemies of Cholula. Yet when the Span- 
 iards had forced themselves into the present Mexico, 
 Cholula had approached them, or rather the Con- 
 federation had approached the Cholulans, in order 
 to obtain a support against Tlascala and against the 
 powerful strangers who had just concluded an alli- 
 ance with the Tlascalans. 
 
 Not much regard was felt in the neighborhood * for 
 the shrine of the holy Quetzal-cohuatl, but its people 
 were generally looked upon as cowards and knaves, 
 and its idol as a " bad medicine " ; and every appeal 
 was made to Cortes to induce him not to go by way 
 * Tlascala is only twenty-five miles from Cholula. 
 
2C4 THE MASSACRE OF CHOLULA (1519). 
 
 of Cholula to Mexico. In Cholula the people were 
 not pleased with the sojourn of the Spaniards in 
 Tlascala, for that tribe stood in bad repute among 
 them. It was inchned to favor Cholula's neighbors 
 of Huexotzinco, between whom and Cholula bloody 
 feuds prevailed at the time over a question of water- 
 supply. Quarrels of this kind were frequent, for 
 the Huexotzintecans controlled the upper course of 
 the streams with which the Cholulans irrigated their 
 gardens. If a Cholulan looked awry at a Huexot- 
 zintecan, or met him in hunting and reviled him, or 
 a Huexotzintecan came to the market in Cholula and 
 was overreached, the Huexotzintecans cut ofiE the 
 water from their neighbors, and war ensued. The 
 dispute has lasted till the present day, with the 
 difference that the Spaniards have suppressed the 
 murders of former times, and have directed com- 
 plainants to the courts. 
 
 Notwithstanding the strained relations which pre- 
 vailed at that time between Cholula and Tlascala, 
 four inhabitants of ChoMa called upon Cort6s and 
 invited hiTn to visit their tribe. The Tlascalans ad- 
 vised him not to go, and asserted that those men 
 were not deputies, but unimportant personages. But 
 little attention has been given to this episode ; it has 
 even been overlooked. It came about in the follow- 
 ing way : 
 
 The Mexican Confederation regarded the friendly 
 relations between the Spaniai-ds and their hereditary 
 enemies of Tlascala with great concern, and made 
 more earnest efforts to come to a good understanding 
 with Cholula. Through its envoys it stirred up the 
 tribe of Cholula against the strangers, and succeeded 
 
THE MASSACRE OP CHOLULA (1519). 265 
 
 in winning at least three of the quarters to its side. 
 At the same time it was anxious that Cortes, in case 
 he insisted on going on to Mexico, shoidd not pass 
 over the territory of Huexotzinco, for that tribe was 
 decidedly hostile to the Confederation. Mexicans 
 were present with the Spanish troops, both messen- 
 gers and spies. They were ignorant of what was 
 going on at Mexico and Cholula, but urged a march 
 by way of Cholula, in order to withdraw the stran- 
 gers as soon as possible from their alliance with 
 Tlascala. The Spaniards knew nothing of this con- 
 fusion ; the thing of most importance to them seemed 
 to be to secure the submission of one tribe after an- 
 other. They felt sure as to Huexotzinco, and were 
 anxious to have Cholida decide in their favor. Cortes 
 therefore sent Indian commissioners thither. 
 
 What took place in Cholula cannot be learned 
 from Spanish sources; but Indian paintings pre- 
 served at San Juan Cuauhtlantzinco, which were 
 shown me, afford information on the subject. Their 
 evidence is confirmed by the traditions which are 
 still current in and around Cholula. 
 
 The summons of Cortes aroused much consterna- 
 tion in Cholula, where great fear prevailed concern- 
 ing the mysterious visitors, and their presence was 
 not desired at all. But a few, amongst whom were 
 some men of influence, thought it would be better 
 to ally themselves with the Spaniards. Ag^ii^st the 
 voice of the majority, they went secretly to Tlascala 
 and invited Cortes to go to Cholula. Cortes, urged 
 by the Tlascalans, sent these men home, with a per- 
 emptory demand upon the tribe to send him offl- 
 ciaUy a formal invitation, otherwise he would regard 
 18 
 
266 THE MASSACRE OF CHOLULA (1519). 
 
 them as enemies and make war upon them. The 
 Indians conveyed this message to the council which 
 constituted the chief authority of the tribe of Cho- 
 lula. 
 
 The Indian sources which I have consulted rep- 
 resent the effect of this threatening message as a 
 double one. The first effect was against the mes- 
 sengers, who were bound and imprisoned as traitors, 
 then put into a temazcalU (or sweat-bath), for the 
 purpose of smothering them with vapors of red pep- 
 per. This treatment was not successful, and the 
 intended victims escaped. As much fear as anger 
 prevailed against the Spaniards, and it was decided 
 not to meet them with hostilities, but to respond to 
 the demand of Cortes and send to Tlascala a formal 
 invitation to him. When the strangers were once 
 within the walls of Cholula then they could be dis- 
 posed of. The Mexican envoys stirred the fire of 
 excitement. 
 
 A large deputation from Cholula went to the 
 Spanish headquarters, bearing gifts and messages 
 of peace and hospitality, and attended the ceremo- 
 nies which Cortes instituted to make them vassals to 
 the Spanish Crown. Although the true meaning of 
 this transaction was not apparent to the Indians, 
 yet, as nothing was asked of them, they thought that 
 if it did no good it would do them no harm, and 
 conducted themselves as they were desired to do. 
 The Spaniards considered that the Cholulans had 
 voluntarily pledged themselves by the act to be sub- 
 jects of the Spanish Crown. They did not know 
 that a hundred formal oaths taken by the chiefs 
 could bind the tribe only when they had been com- 
 
THE MASSACRE OF CHOLULA (1519). 267 
 
 missioned for that pxirpose by the tribe itself and 
 armed with power to enter into the engagement in 
 its name. The embassy from Cholnla was delegated 
 only to amuse the Spaniards, and as a decoy. 
 
 The Tlascalans, while they, too, had no clear com- 
 prehension of this " submission to the Crown," recog- 
 nized that the purposes of the Cholulans could not 
 be sincere. They inferred this from their own 
 usages. Certain religious ceremonies were essen- 
 tial to the obligation of a pledge, and when these 
 were not observed, the engagement was without 
 binding effect. Although discord now existed be- 
 tween the two tribes, they knew or could under- 
 stand what was going on. The Tlascalans knew 
 that the oracle at Cholnla had said, " Let the stran- 
 gers only come . . . ; " and they cautioned the 
 Spaniards against treachery. Cortes, in order not 
 to show weakness, and in order also to secure a 
 new base against emergencies, decided, neverthe- 
 less, to continue his march through Cholnla. He 
 had less than five hundred men and his small 
 guns. His new allies of Tlascala furnished him a 
 few thousand men.* On the first day he came to 
 the place where the Uttle village of Xoxtla now 
 stands, nine or ten miles north of the pueblo, and, 
 according to the often very untrustworthy Ber- 
 nal Diaz, one league, or 2n) miles from the Indian 
 plantations. These plantations were those of Coro- 
 nanco, seven miles from Cholula, where the Indians 
 had a few houses and fields — not a real village, but 
 
 * Five or six thousand according to his two letters, 2000 
 according to Bernal Diaz del Castillo, and 40,000 according to 
 Andres del T&pia. 
 
268 THE MASSACRE OF CHOLULA (1519). 
 
 temporary lodgings. A considerable delegation came 
 to the Spaniards on the next morning in order to 
 welcome them outside of the place. As usual, it 
 included the chief ofScers — the two highest chiefs,* 
 and the medicine-men, or priests, in ample robes, 
 black, red and black, and all red. They carried 
 incense-vessels in their hands, and perfumed the 
 strangers. These attentions were interpreted by the 
 Spaniards as signs of honor, submission, and even 
 reverence; they were not aware that the Mexican 
 Indians perfumed prisoners of war whom they ex- 
 pected afterwai'd to sacrifice. 
 
 It could not surprise them much that the Cholu- 
 lans demanded that as the TlascaJans were enemies 
 they should not encamp within the circuit of the 
 dwellings. The condition was reasonable, and Cort6s 
 agreed to it. The Indian allies remained near the 
 present village of Santa Maria Coronanco, while the 
 Spaniards went farther on, in the midst of a mul- 
 titude that grew constantly more numerous. All 
 Cholida came out to see the white men, their dress 
 and weapons, and especially their wonderful horses. 
 This multitude was not satisfied with seeing the 
 strangers pass by ; but the Indians followed them, 
 as children run after a circus procession. Bernal 
 Diaz says characteristically of the scene, " So great 
 was the crowd that came to see us, that the streets 
 and roofs were fiUed with them." The six quar- 
 ters all turned out at once upon the hue of march 
 of the Spaniards, so that the same public was 
 around them everywhere. There were, in fact, as 
 Andres de Tipia says, more than twelve thousand 
 
 * Called by Gabriel de Eojas, Aquiach and Tlalquiaeh. 
 
THE MASSACRE OF CHOLULA (1519). 269 
 
 men and women of all ages, and they gave the im- 
 pression of a population probably approaching a 
 hundred thousand. Hence the "twenty thousand 
 households" {veintemil casus) of Cortes. The word 
 casa applied to an Indian settlement would not sig- 
 nify a single house, but a household. 
 
 Any one who has witnessed a dance of the seden- 
 tary Indians, with the throngs of spectators on the 
 flat roofs, may form a conception of the diversified 
 scene which this entrance of the Spaniards into Cho- 
 lula afforded. I have seen in these dances women in 
 their ancient dress, with the hair done up in the 
 style of a turban, the short uipil, or sleeveless waist- 
 coat, made of cotton cloth and embroidered with 
 red, black, and white figures, through which the 
 head and neck projected, and beneath it a long skirt, 
 girt around the body ; the men, excepting the ofB.- 
 cers, bareheaded, in white robes, and also in em- 
 broidered jackets; on the heads of the principal 
 officers, the half -mitre, adorned with colored feath- 
 ers, colored stones, and shells ; the priests in black ; 
 aU the faces painted in festive style, that is, hideously 
 striped, those of the common people with cochineal 
 on the cheeks and forehead, and those of the higher 
 chiefs with green, blue, and yellow, and the faces of 
 the priests black, with white rings round the eyes 
 and mouth. Added to these features were the noise 
 of large and small drums, the squeaking of pipes, the 
 roaring, thumping sound of the " Tozacatl," and the 
 clattering of many rattles. The Spaniards marched 
 slowly along in the midst of this uproar, while the 
 horses walked under their armored riders, not proud- 
 ly and defiantly, but gently and rarely shying ; for 
 
270 THE MASSACRE OF OHOLULA (1519). 
 
 these horses had till now been engaged in hard and 
 dangerous service, and much worse awaited them. 
 
 Of such character, according to the accounts of 
 Indian writers of the sixteenth century, were the 
 reception processions of the natives of Mexico. If 
 we add to this picture the little company of Span- 
 iards with their uniforms, their horses, and their 
 small artillery, we can imagine the entrance of 
 Cortes into Cholula as a festival far less formal and 
 ceremonious than most of the historians have rep- 
 resented it, but still extraordinar}', gorgeous, and 
 strange enough. I have found the first impression 
 in aU the Indian dances well-nigh overpowering, but 
 the eye gradually becomes accustomed to regard the 
 spectacle with indifference. 
 
 The Spaniards, dazzled by the sight, wavering 
 between heed to the warning of the Tlascalans and 
 a favorable interpretation of the bearing of the peo- 
 ple of Cholula, could not help regarding with wonder 
 and suspicion whatever might reveal the real feeling 
 of the people. They observed that the road was in- 
 terrupted by ditches and depressions, and that sling- 
 stones were piled up on the flat roofs. The first 
 sign seemed very suspicious and appeared to con- 
 firm certain statements of the Tlascalans. The de- 
 pressions indicated pitfalls, or at least devices to stop 
 their horses. The ditches, on the other hand, were 
 not trenches, but simply the channels of the smaller 
 irrigation rills such as run through the roads every- 
 where in the southwest. The Spaniards now saw 
 them for the first time, and were naturally suspicious 
 of them. To them, as to the Indians, whatever was 
 new was doubtful. The piles of gravel on the roofs 
 
THE MASSACRE OF CHOLULA (1519). 271 
 
 were at all events a warlike provision, but it is still 
 questionable whether they were intended particularly 
 for the Spaniards. Most of the Indian villages were 
 open, and were defended directly from the houses, 
 or, in case of extremity, from the sacrificial hUls; 
 and piles of sUng-stones were always kept conven- 
 ient and ready for this event. Cholula lay in a plain, 
 with the heights of Tzapotecas three miles away. 
 It had no walls, and an assailing enemy must of 
 necessity be repelled from the roofs of the houses. 
 The Spaniards not properly understanding the con- 
 ditions, these hostile precautions seemed to them to 
 be directly opposed to what had appeared a formal 
 voluntary submission of the Cholulans. Cortes was 
 moved by them to suspect treachery. 
 
 While thus many of the external signs were mis- 
 takenly interpreted by him, he was right in the main. 
 The Indian paintings at Cuauhtlantzinco confirm the 
 native story that the people of Cholula had prepared 
 a trap for him ; but not, as Bemal Diaz declares, 
 with the aid of a corps of troops from Mexico. The 
 Mexicans could not furnish such aid, for they had 
 not the means; their own tiibe numbered hardly 
 40,000 souls, and their allies hardly 60,000. Had 
 they indeed ventured to appear in the neighborhood 
 with 20,000 men, Cholula would not have permitted 
 them to concentrate such a force on its territory ; 
 especially as they were its hereditary enemies. It 
 was, besides, impossible to conceal even 10,000 men 
 in that region so that, even though not visible to 
 the Spaniards, they could escape the peering eyes of 
 the Tlascalans who were encamped without. The 
 tale of the auxiliaries from Mexico is a fable, like 
 
272 THE MASSACRE OF CHOLULA (1519). 
 
 many other of the stories in the history of the Con- 
 quest of Mexico. The origin of the story, which the 
 Spaniards really believed, is of great, of momentous 
 significance. 
 
 The Spaniards were quartered in a large house 
 surrounding a courtyard, which they supposed to be 
 a public building. According to tradition, Cortes 
 was lodged in the present southwestern quarter of 
 the city, which is now called " Santa Maria Tecpan" 
 — the " Tecpan " being the communal house where 
 strange visitors were received. In the middle of the 
 quarter there still stands, in the Galle de Herreros, an 
 ancient portal, with the inscription, in the Nahuatl 
 language and Latin letters, " Here stood the Tecpan, 
 where now is the house of Antonio de la Cruz." The 
 Spaniards were therefore really residing in a gov- 
 ernment building, but at the same time in private 
 dwellings, for each quarter formed a connected com- 
 plex, which had been temporarily vacated to give 
 accommodation to the strangers. The people gath- 
 ered in a crowd outside, and this gave the start to the 
 story that a hostile force was lurking around Cholula. 
 
 In assigning a dwelling of this character to the 
 Spaniards, the Cholulans enclosed them as if in a for- 
 tress, for the thick walls were proof against every at- 
 tempt to break through them with native implements. 
 The entrance indeed had no doors, but guards with 
 guns and cannon were so planted that they covered 
 the larger openings, and showed the Indians, or 
 rather might have shown them, that an assault would 
 be dangerous. The people of Cholula did not know 
 what sort of guests they had invited, or what means 
 they possessed for opposing any treachery. 
 
THE MASSACEE OF CHOLULA (1519). 273 
 
 The behavior of the Cholulans was in direct con- 
 tradiction to the popular view that they regarded, 
 the white men as gods. One does not entice gods 
 into traps, and does not try, as was done after the 
 coming of the Spaniards, to enfeeble them gradually 
 by depriving them of food. Both devices were tried 
 against Cortes and his companions. 
 
 The intercourse of the Spaniards with the natives 
 was very limited. In the first place, neither could 
 understand the other ; and in the second place, Cort6s 
 restrained his men so far as he could from going 
 outside of the quarter. Only the young Indian 
 woman Marina, who had been given to the Spaniards 
 at Tabasco, on account of her precious ability to 
 speak both Maya and Nahuatl — who has been the 
 theme of much descriptive writing and verse, and 
 whose career as interpreter and mistress has been 
 invested with a poetical nimbus not appropriate to 
 it — went in and out, diligently using her eyes. A 
 broad' affection, which extended from the common 
 soldiers to the commander-in-chief, attached the 
 woman to the Spanish flag. It was said also in 
 Cholula that the wives of those whom Cortes first 
 visited in Tlascala, and who were threatened with 
 death by strangulation, had talked in secret about 
 their tribal kinsmen. Cortes was soon convinced 
 that the people were removing their women and chil- 
 dren, not only from the quarter assigned to him, but 
 everywhere. Every one who is acquainted with Indi- 
 ans knows what that proceeding means. It is the 
 incontestable evidence of hostile intentions, and only 
 individuals can in such case, perhaps, escape. Had 
 the Spaniards withdrawn upon the discovery of this 
 
274 THE MASSACRE OF CKOLULA (1519). 
 
 fact, they would have been attacked in the streets, 
 ,and might easily have been exposed to a slaughter 
 far more disastrous to them than that which they 
 afterwards suffered in the famous noche innta. 
 They were secure where they were against an open 
 attack. All Cholula could not have carried the 
 quarter by storm in the face of the Spanish mus- 
 kets and artillery. But the adoption by the Cholu- 
 lans of the formidable instrumentality of gradual 
 starvation compelled action. Cort6s determined 
 upon a measure which would have been wholly un- 
 justifiable in time of peace. The Spaniards, how- 
 ever, knew that treachery, not peace, was in the air, 
 and the Indians confessed it. The situation was 
 such that only stratagem could deUver them from 
 the snares that had been set for them. 
 
 Search was first made for the Mexican deputies 
 who had been with the Spaniards, but they had gone 
 away and had only left their attendants. The chief 
 oflBLcers of Cholula were no longer to be seen in the 
 Spanish headquarters, and Cortes had two priests 
 called and questioned in his presence. Presents, 
 cross-questionings, and threats were employed to ex- 
 tort a confession that the destruction of the Span- 
 iards was contemplated. Cortes immediately sent 
 word through these priests to the chiefs of the tribe 
 to come to him, and they came. The Spanish com- 
 mander reproached them courteously for their re- 
 serve, asked them why they had estranged themselves 
 from him in such a way, and intimating to them 
 that he would stai-t for Mexico on the following 
 day, asked for a number of their soldiers to escort 
 him, and for porters. His request was very readily 
 
THE MASSACRE OF CHOLULA (1519). 275 
 
 granted, even with professions of lively pleasure. 
 But wMle Cortes was thus treating with them, mes- 
 sengers arrived from his Indian allies with urgent 
 communications. Both Tlascalans and Indians from 
 Cempohual, of whom a few hundred accompanied 
 the Spaniards, brought reports that threatening pro- 
 ceedings were going on outside of the Spanish quar- 
 ter. The people were collecting more stones on the 
 roofs, and were barring and building up the passages. 
 Pits had been discovered in the streets, or rather in 
 the vacant spaces between the quarters, lightly cov- 
 ered with hmbs of trees and earth. It was certain 
 that aU non-combatants had been sent away. Every- 
 thing pointed to an impending outbreak of hostilities. 
 The Spaniards, not being acquainted with the In- 
 dian custom of making no assault at night except 
 under the most favorable circumstances, or in case 
 of necessity, expected to be attacked immediately 
 after dark. The number of men in the previously 
 deserted space around the Spanish quarter was visi- 
 bly increasing, and among them were some armed. 
 As night came on, Cortes assembled his men" for 
 anxious consultation. Some proposed to evacuate 
 Cholula and retn-e to Huexotzinco ; but the major- 
 ity, perceiving that it was too late for that, favored 
 attacking the Cholulans on the next morning, before 
 they could strike a blow. 
 
 While these measures were being determined upon, 
 two Indians of the place, an old woman and her son, 
 came secretly to the Marina whom we have men- 
 tioned. She was regarded, by virtue of her origin 
 and her language, as belonging to the Nahuatls, and 
 as she was, besides, a good-looking girl, and made 
 
276 THE MASSACRE OF CHOLULA (1510). 
 
 considerable display of the presents which she had 
 at'(juired from the Spaniards, she was regarded 
 among her countrymen as desirable for marriage. 
 The woman came to the girl in order to warn her 
 and save her, and at the same time to secure her for 
 one of her sons. Marina obtained from her a rela- 
 tion, to the ipinutest detail, of the whole plan of the 
 conspiracy, how the Spaniards were to be attacked 
 in the ravines and roads on their march to Mexico, 
 and other particulars. Her story fully confirmed 
 the statements of the priests. Marina detained the 
 woman under the pretext that she wished to prepare 
 to go away, and ran to Cortes to tell him all. The 
 poor wife-hunter was consequently brought before 
 the commander, closely questioned, and confined for 
 the night with her son, while the Spanish soldiers 
 prepared to march. 
 
 When morning broke, all was ready for departure, 
 and armed Cholulans gathered around the lately 
 deserted quarter, ostensibly to accompany the Span- 
 iards, but really in order to attack them at the 
 first opportunity. Both sides were aUke ready, and 
 the only question was, which should be first. The 
 Spaniards had the advantage of knowing the designs 
 of their pei"fidious hosts, while the latter had no sus- 
 picion that the whites were aware of their treachery. 
 As soon as the Spanish guards permitted it, the 
 court of the quarter was filled with Indians. They 
 exhibited all the signs of satisfaction, in the false 
 fancy that their success was assured. Cortes was 
 already on his horse, with Marina by his side, the 
 cavalry were mounted, and the infantry held their 
 guns ready to fire. Orders had been sent to the 
 
THE MASSACRE OF CHOLULA (1519). 277 
 
 Tlascalans during the night to hasten up on the first 
 alarm. When the chiefs of Choluia had gathered 
 around Cortes, he plainly told them through the 
 mouth of the Indian interpreter that he had pene- 
 trated their designs. He said to them, without 
 passion, that he knew all, and that, as they were 
 bound to the Spanish Crown, having voluntarily 
 made their submission to it, they should therefore 
 be punished, according to Spanish law, as traitors 
 and rebels. Before the Indians could recover from 
 their astonishment, he gave the signal for attack, 
 and the fight began with the firing of muskets into 
 the throng. It lasted about five hours. 
 
 There was no slaughter of unarmed women and 
 children. The non-combatants had been sent out of 
 the way long before by the Cholulans to a place of 
 security, with the exception of those in the remote 
 quarters, who did not participate in the contest and 
 were not harmed by the Spaniards. It was a house 
 and street fight between armed whites who had an- 
 ticipated likewise armed Indians, and had therefore 
 secured to themselves the advantage of the assault. 
 Many Indians were killed in the court — a relatively 
 large number, it is said, perhaps more than a hun- 
 dred men. This part of the afEair occurred where 
 the present CaUe de Chalingo passes into the Calle 
 Real, and the place is still called the " Ezcoloc," or 
 the place of the flowing and crossing of meandering 
 streams of blood. According to tradition, Cortes 
 had his headquarters in the same system of houses. 
 The action could not last long in the court, for 
 the Cholulans, after the first volleys, rushed out of 
 the trap into the open space, which they could easily 
 
278 THE MASSACRE OF CHOLULA (1519). 
 
 do, as no doors prevented their exit. But they could 
 not be allowed to go unpunished even outside, for 
 the Spaniards were exposed to the danger of a siege 
 by starvation. They also rushed out, and their en- 
 emies, driven by their guns, fled to the " Cerro de la 
 Cruz," a sacrificial mound still partly standing, about 
 1100 feet east of the spot where the fight began. 
 Here, according to the pictures at Cuauhtlantzinco, 
 the principal engagement took place, in the storm- 
 ing of the artificial height. After this, all was over. 
 The Cholulans who were involved in the conspiracy 
 and were surprised belonged to three of the six 
 principal quarters, while the three other quarters 
 had been neutral and now interceded for peace. 
 Cortes contented himself with this short chastise- 
 ment, and did not permit his people to scatter — 
 prudently, for that might have been very disastrous. 
 In the afternoon he drew his troops back into the 
 quarter, and the negotiations were begun which es- 
 tabhshed peace and a good understanding. 
 
 In the meantime, when the fight was already on 
 the wane, the Tlascalans rushed up in thick masses. 
 They eagerly overran the empty houses in order to 
 plunder them. It is self-evident that none of the 
 inhabitants who fell into their hands were spared. 
 But there were not many, for the unarmed had 
 long ago betaken themselves to places of security; 
 the soldiers were busy with the Spaniards, and the 
 heroes of Tlascala did not venture against non-par- 
 ticipants and their closed houses. Like genuine 
 Indians, they contented themselves with robbery and 
 the destruction of property : there was no extensive 
 conflagration; the "smoking ruins" of Prescott 
 
THE MASSACRE OF CHOLULA (1519). 279 
 
 could not exist where roof -beams loaded with earth 
 aaid plaster were the only combustibles. Such a 
 laying waste of Cholula as is represented by some 
 authors would require pulling it down, and that 
 could not be accomplished in so short a time as five 
 hours. Yet five hours after the first shot was fired, 
 Cortes stopped the proceedings of his companions. 
 Many of them undoubtedly continued to steal pri- 
 vately; and on the next day reenforcements came 
 from Tlascala for the purpose of recompensing them- 
 selves from the ChoMans and their property, but 
 they were prevented from doing this by the strict 
 orders of the Spanish commander. Andres de Tdpia 
 speaks of a two days' destruction, but Cortes, in 
 a letter which he wrote a year after the affair, af- 
 firmed that the place was again full of women and 
 children on the next day.* 
 
 Cortes stated that about three thousand of the 
 enemy were killed. In 1529 Nuno de Guzman ac- 
 cused In'm of having caused four thousand Indians 
 to be slain in a large court ia Cholula. The wit- 
 nesses whom Cortes brought forward swore that a 
 "few" Indians were indeed punished there with 
 death. Las Casas, whose statements cannot be 
 trusted on account of his strong passion, speaks of 
 six thousand dead. The local conditions speak more 
 definitely, and, above aU, the duration of the battle. 
 It is hardly conceivable that even if the conflict 
 lasted five hours, five hundred Spaniards could have 
 killed so large a number of Indians in that time. 
 
 * Tdpia's account is of much later date, and Bernal Diaz 
 composed his history nearly fifty years after the massacre of 
 Cholula. 
 
280 THE MASSACRE OF CHOLULA (1519). 
 
 The first volleys may have been mui'derous, but after 
 them the affair became a skirmish, with single brief 
 and bloody combats at close quarters. The Tlasca- 
 lans had no time to kill many. 
 
 I am very doubtful, especially when I recollect 
 that the battle was fought on a space not an English 
 quarter of a mile in length, whether more than five 
 hnndred men fell. Certainly nothing like what is 
 called a " decline " of Cholula was caused by the mas- 
 sacre. The Indian population of the district is stiU as 
 large as it was then, notwithstanding fatal epidemics 
 have prevailed. The only difference between the past 
 and present conditions of population i.s that the tribe 
 has now dispersed into the country, while in the year 
 1519 it dwelt together in a group of complexes. 
 
 But even if only one Indian was killed without 
 just cause, it would be a serious crime. Yet from a 
 military point of view the conduct of Cort6s is en- 
 tirely justified. He was obliged to proceed in that 
 way, to surprise the Indians, if he would not himself 
 be surprised and destroyed. The reproach brought 
 against him is not based upon the Cholula incident, 
 but Ues against the conquest in general, against 
 every aggression of the kind, and against our own 
 conduct toward the Indians. 
 
 Only the pretexts have changed with the times, 
 while the means have become, through the advance 
 of knowledge, surer and more destructive, ^he 
 Spaniards took and held the land, and saved its in- 
 habitants : in the United States we have destroyed 
 the people to get their land. The Spaniards sub- 
 dued the aborigines openly : we approach them in 
 the disguise of neighbors, pursue them and vex them, 
 
THE MASSACRE OP CHOLULA (1519). 281 
 
 often for years at a time, till the desired offence is 
 committed which, affords us a pretext for removing 
 them or exterminating them. The history of Ari- 
 zona since the United States forcibly incorporated 
 that ten-itory into its domain furnishes miich worse 
 and more blameworthy transactions than the " blood- 
 bath " of Cholula. If we can excuse these and other 
 wrongs, and can justify our whole systematic rob- 
 bery and destruction of the Indians under the pre- 
 tence of progress, then we cannot be judges against 
 the Conquest. The Spaniards planted the European 
 civilization of their time in the place of the rude 
 semi-civilization that existed, and adapted the natives 
 to it : we plant our present civilization without tak- 
 ing a thought for the continued existence of the 
 Indians. 
 
 19 
 
THE AGE OF THE CITY OF SANTA FE. 
 
 The belief has been fixed in the public mind for 
 a considerable time that Santa F6, the capital of 
 New Mexico, is also its oldest Spanish settlement, 
 and even the oldest city in the United States. It 
 is obvious that the latter opinion is incorrect, for 
 St. Augustine in Florida dates from 1560. After 
 Coronado's retreat from New Mexico in 1542 no 
 Spaniard entered the territory tUl 1580, consequently 
 no city was founded there by them ; and it is well 
 known that Coronado left no settlers there. Santa 
 Fe is therefore, in any event, younger than St. Au- 
 gustine, for it was built after 1580. 
 
 Concurrently with the belief that Santa F6 is the 
 oldest city in New Mexico prevailed the legend that 
 it occupied the site of a populous Indian settlement, 
 of a native seat of government for aU the pueblos 
 of the Province. This fable is wholly destitute of 
 documentary proof, and is not supported by any 
 traditional or archaeological evidence. The present 
 city covers the ruins of an Indian village, and the 
 earthworks of old Fort Marcy have partly obliter- 
 ated the remains of another, older one. The older 
 village contained hardly five hundred inhabitants ; 
 the more modern one, of which one house besides 
 San Miguel's Church is still standing, numbered 
 seven hundred souls in the year 1630. The plateau 
 of Santa Fe contains besides these two ruins only 
 282 
 
THE AGE OP THE CITY OP SANTA PE. 283 
 
 four sites of remains of Indian dwelling-pla«es or 
 pueblos. Five miles south are two, one smaller and 
 one larger, on the banks of the usually dry "Arroyo 
 Hondo." The small village contained not quite two 
 hundred, the larger one — which is called " Cua-Kaa " 
 by the Tanos, to whom it belongs — ^less than eight 
 hundred souls. Both were deserted before the mid- 
 dle of the sixteenth century. Twelve miles south- 
 west lie the ruins of " Tzigu-ma," near the place 
 called "Cienega." This village also, which was 
 abandoned after 1680, never numbered one thou- 
 sand inhabitants. Lastly, there is San Marcos, or 
 " Yaa-tze," eighteen miles south-southwest of Santa 
 r6, near the so-called " Cerrillos." In the year 1680 it 
 contained six hundred Indians, and the extent of the 
 ruins leads me to the conclusion that this number 
 was not at any time doubled. The plain of Santa 
 Fe, which includes an area of hardly one hundred 
 square miles, thus never held more than three thou- , 
 sand settled inhabitants before the advent of the 
 Spaniards, and these were distributed among not 
 more than four villages inhabited at one time. 
 None of these villages could compare in population 
 with Pecos, Hauicu, Pilab6 (or Socorro), Teypan^ (or 
 Quivira), etc., or with the Zuni of to-day. 
 
 Those villages were inhabited in the sixteenth 
 century and from a long time before by the Indians 
 called " Tanos." The Tanos were Tehuas ; they con- 
 stituted the southern half of that great linguistic 
 stock ; and their territory extended from Pojuaque 
 ("P'ho-zuang-ge"), seventeen miles north of Santa 
 Fe, to San Pedro ("Cua-Kaa"), forty miles south- 
 west. Their traditions are fully confirmed by the 
 
284 THE AGE OF THE CITY OF SANTA Ffi. 
 
 archffiological remains; but these traditions make 
 not the slightest mention of a "center of popula- 
 tion," or of a New Mexican "Indian capital," at 
 Santa Fe. 
 
 The pueblo on the ruins of which Santa Fe stands 
 is called " CuarPho-o-ge," or " Cua-Pooge " (mussel- 
 pearl-place-on-the-water). That the place, and even 
 the district, played no prominent part in the six- 
 teenth century, appears from the fact that no Span- 
 ish document specially mentions it till after the 
 founding of the capital. 
 
 The plateau is dry and barren. The little Rio de 
 Santa F6 sinks into the sand not far from the pres- 
 ent capital, and issues from it again at the " Cienega," 
 or the entrance to what is called the " Bocas." The 
 Arroyo Hondo is entirely dry ; the vOlage of Cua- 
 Kaa, as well as San Marcos, get their water from a 
 spring situated near them. The scarcity of water, 
 which is stiU very much felt, would make any aggre- 
 gation of native settlers around Santa Fe absolutely 
 impossible. 
 
 The historians of Coronado hardly mention the 
 region. Probably Cua-Pooge was one of the seven 
 villages which Casteneda mentions as lying near 
 the snowy mountains.* The accounts of the eight 
 Spanish soldiers who went in the year 1580 with the 
 unfortunate Franciscan monks Fray Augustin Rod- 
 riguez, Fray Juan Lopez, and Fray Juan de Santa 
 Maria to Bernalillo on the Rio Grande, prove that 
 neither the escort nor the missionaries set foot upon 
 the Santa Fe plateau. 
 
 In the year 1583 Antonio de Espejo, going east 
 
 * See the chapter on Cibola. 
 
THE AGE OP THE CITY OF SANTA Ft. 285 
 
 from the Queres villages on the Eio Grande, ar- 
 rived at the Tanos and Galisteo. He called them 
 " Ubates " — a corruption of the word " Puya-tye," by 
 which the Queres now designate the Tanos. He 
 there touched upon the southern part of the plain 
 of Santa Fe. He mentions five Tanos pueblos, and 
 estimates their population at 20,000 souls. Espejo 
 was a careful and intelligent observer, except that 
 his estimates of population are always exaggerated 
 at least four times. The exaggerations arise from 
 the fact that whenever the Spaniards visited a vil- 
 lage not only the people of that village, but those 
 also of the neighboring pueblos, were present to 
 greet their strange animals, and this multitude fol- 
 lowed them as long as they continued in the terri- 
 toiy of the tribe. This was a result more of curi- 
 osity than of fear. Moreover, an Indian village, in 
 consequence of the peculiar structm-e of its build- 
 ings, always appears at least twice as large as it 
 really is. 
 
 The founding of Santa Fe has been ascribed to 
 Espejo. The error is the result of inaccurate, ex- 
 tremely superficial historical inquiry. The mere 
 reading of Espejo's account would satisfy any one 
 that he marched all through New Mexico and north- 
 em Arizona with only fourteen soldiers; that his 
 expedition was a mere reconnoissance and no scheme 
 of colonization ; and that he arrived again, with all 
 his men, in Santa Barbara in southern Chihuahua 
 on the 20th of September, 1583. The story of the 
 founding of Santa F6 by Espejo in the year 1583, 
 aside from the one which fixed the origin of the cap- 
 ital in 1550— which suggested the spurious " Tertio 
 
286 THE AGE OF THE CITY OF SANTA FK. 
 
 milleiiiiial jubilee" of 1883 — furnishes a most em- 
 phatic proof of the want of thought and of scientific 
 care with which the history of Spanish colonization 
 is stiU written. After his return Espejo made a 
 proposition to the Crown concerning the settlement 
 of New Mexico (April 23, 1584), but he died in 1585, 
 before the government had examined his plan. 
 
 The first Spanish settlement ia New Mexico was 
 founded in the year 1598 by Juan de Onate. It was 
 not, however, where Santa Fe now stands, but thirty 
 miles north of that place, on the tongue of land 
 formed by the junction of the Rio Grande with the 
 Rio Chama, opposite the present Indian village of 
 San Juan de los CabaHeros. It was therefore very 
 near the station Chamita, on the Denver & Rio 
 Grande Railroad. Onate marched from San Marcos 
 to San Ildef onso on the Rio Grande, barely touching 
 the southwest corner of the Santa Fe plateaus, and 
 paid no attention whatever to the little village of 
 Cua-Pooge. The well- watered, highly fertile valley 
 near San Juan, on the contrary, attracted him at 
 once, and he began the building, opposite that pueblo, 
 of a chapel and a Spanish headquarters, which he 
 called " San Francisco de los Espanoles," on the 23d 
 of August, 1598. The chapel was consecrated on 
 the 8th of September of the same year. This first 
 colony was called San Gabriel in 1599, and that has 
 continued till now to be the name given to the place 
 by the Mexicans, although every trace of the build- 
 ings disappeared long ago. Ruins were still visible 
 about 1694. 
 
 San Gabriel remained the only settlement of Eu- 
 ropeans in New Mexico tiU 1608. In that year the 
 
THE AGE OF THE CITY OP SANTA Ffi. 287 
 
 Crown fixed the governmental regulations of the 
 new possession and assigned a regular salary of 
 2000 ducats a year to the governor, and he immedi- 
 ately departed for Santa Fe. More exact statements 
 concerning the date of this settlement are not ac- 
 cessible, although they probably exist in the Span- 
 ish archives; but it is certain that Santa Fe was 
 not founded tiR after the year 1607. Twenty years 
 afterward two hundred and fifty Spaniards dwelt 
 there, including soldiers ; and when the Indians rose 
 and drove out the whites ia 1680, the whole district 
 contained not more than one thousand Europeans, 
 about half of whom lived in Santa Fe. 
 
 AU the other towns in New Mexico, the Indian 
 villages excepted, are of much later origin than 
 Santa Fe. Albuquerque, for example, dates from 
 1701, Las Vegas from 1835, Bernalillo from 1701, 
 Socorro — ^the old pueblo was destroyed in 1681 — 
 from 1817. The oldest Indian missions in Ai-izona 
 — " Tubac," " Tumaeacori," etc. — date from the close 
 of the seventeenth century. Tucson was stiU ia 
 1772 a small village of the Pimas. Santa Fe is 
 therefore the oldest existing city in the two Terri- 
 tories, and the second oldest European town ia the 
 United States that is stiU inhabited. 
 
 The first church in Santa F6 was begun in 1622 
 and completed in 1627. It stood on the site of the 
 present cathedral, and the remains of the walls of 
 the old " Parroquia," or parish church; probably be- 
 longed to that oldest temple. Of San Miguel, the 
 walls are of the middle of the seventeenth century. 
 The roof and towers were built after 1694. The old 
 house by the side of it is of the same age. The oldest 
 
288 THE AGE OF THE CITY OF SANTA Vt. 
 
 churches in New Mexico still standing and in use are 
 those in the Indian collages San Ildefonso and Santa 
 Clara ; the oldest abandoned houses of worship are 
 those of Pecos, San Diego de Jemez, and perhaps 
 Ab6 and Cuaray. All these buildings were erected 
 in the beginning of the seventeenth century. 
 
JEAN L'AKCHEYEQUE. 
 
 The Indian village — or, as it is usually called in 
 New Mexico, the pueblo — of Santa Clara lies thirty 
 miles north of the city of Santa Fe, on the Texas, 
 Santa Fe & Northern Railroad. It is inhabited 
 by about four hundred agricultural Indians of the 
 Tehua tribe, whose one- and two-storied houses form 
 two irregular quadrangles, surrounding two open 
 places, called plazas. A large church of adobe, now 
 in decay, stands at the northeastern end of the vil- 
 lage. It dates from the middle of the last centiuy 
 (1760). The priests' houses have fallen to ruins, the 
 interior of the temple is strikingly bare and bald, 
 and the few paintings are either unrecognizable on 
 account of the dirt and the advanced decay of the 
 canvas, or they are specimens of the unskilful works 
 of the domestic art industry so often met with in 
 New Mexico. The best kept of the appurtenances 
 are two wooden side-altars, marked with the date of 
 1782. The bell bears the year-mark of 1710. Every- 
 thing savors of neglect ; only a few dwellings are 
 outwardly new, but within the habitations are com- 
 paratively clean ; while the population, through fre- 
 quent mixture with wandering Indians — ^the Utes, 
 Apaches, and Navajos — are taller and more slenderly 
 built, i£ not stronger, than the ordinary pueblo In- 
 dians of New Mexico. 
 
 Santa Clara is situated on a sandy pronainence 
 289 
 
290 JEAN L'AKCHfiVfiQUE. 
 
 which overlooks the course of the Rio Grande del 
 Norte from a height of about fifty feet. The village 
 is not more than five hundred paces in a straight 
 line from the river-bank. The view from the dune 
 on which it stands is therefore not without attrac- 
 tions, but the immediate vicinity is bare and treeless. 
 Fields, green in summer, desolate in winter, lie 
 around it, while in the west the side of a barren tal)le- 
 land rises to shut off every view in that direction. 
 Only the highest peaks of the mountains of Abiquin 
 look down furtively, as it were, upon the barren 
 hillside of rubbish and gravel. 
 
 A broad view is spread out toward the east. The 
 course of the Rio Grande' is visible from north to 
 south for a length of ten English miles. A dark 
 mesa, the Mesa de la Canoa, shuts off the northern 
 horizon, while the river is lost sight of in the south 
 at the foot of a grand isolated rock of dark lava — 
 the Mesa de San Ildefonso. A narrow but fertile 
 valley forms the eastern shore, on the other side of 
 which stretches the chain of the high mountains — 
 the wild Sierra de la Truchas, the massive flat dome 
 of the Sierra de Nambe, and the Pico de la Laguna. 
 The range descends in terraces to the south, where 
 the city of Santa Fe Ues hidden at its foot. All these 
 peaks exceed twelve thousand, the Truohas thirteen 
 thousand, feet in height, and they are often crowned 
 by snow-fields in summer. 
 
 If one stands, in the evening, when the sun is set- 
 ting and the shadows are already cast over the val- 
 leys, on the swell above the church of Santa Clara, 
 he will see the snow-peaks glowing for a little while 
 in fiery red. The crags of the Truchas blaze Uke 
 
JEAN L'AECHfivSQUE. 291 
 
 flowing ore. An Alpine lustre is displayed, less soft 
 in colors than that of the central mountains of 
 Europe, but much more intense and longer lasting. 
 The mountains stand out ghostly pale as soon as the 
 last glow is extinguished, and a white shroud ap- 
 pears to rest upon the landscape. 
 
 In this homely Indian village has lain concealed 
 for many years a treasure of historical knowledge, 
 an archive rich for America, so poor in archives, of 
 the history of New Mexico. The Indians preserve 
 and guard the treasure with superstitious care. It 
 was entrusted to them years ago ; and although their 
 care for it has been hmited to a superstitious guard- 
 ianship and a cautious preservation, and no cata- 
 logue exists and no thought is taken of the greedy 
 mice, the papers are still tolerably well preserved, 
 and might safely lie there for yet many a year, sus- 
 piciously watched by men to whom the text is still 
 a puzzle — for to them reading is a mystery, and the 
 art of writing seems a kind of magic. 
 
 The collection is the remains of the archives of 
 the Franciscan order in New Mexico, the "Gustodia 
 de la cmiversion de San Pablo de la Nueva-Mexico," 
 which have lain here for more than thirty years, or 
 since the time when the old military chapel (called 
 Casfrumza) of Santa F6 was condemned as unsafe. 
 Such of the documents and church-books stored 
 there as were not immediately needed were secm-ely 
 deposited in Santa Clara; for a priest then lived 
 in the pueblo, and Santa Clara formed a parish by 
 itself. "When the parish was discontinued and the 
 seat of the pastorate was removed to Santa Cruz, 
 the archives were left. No one having any use for 
 
292 JEAN L'AECHfivEQUE. 
 
 them, they remained in an old cupboard of the 
 ruined convent till an Indian, who could neither read 
 nor write, but had a clear head and respect for the 
 old and venerable, proposed to commit the care of 
 the papers to private hands. It took long and sol- 
 emn meetings for consultation before the Prindpales 
 of the pueblo would agree to such an innovation. 
 They would keep the documents, indeed, as some- 
 thing having an incomprehensible sanctity, but to 
 remove them from the ruins, where they were given 
 up to mold and decay, seemed at first a doubtful 
 step. Those above, the "Shiuana," might be dis- 
 pleased at it. The spiritual powers were finally 
 consulted, and their decision was in favor of the 
 innovation. The Franciscan archives were thus 
 carried into the dark back-room of an Indian house, 
 where a blind man was their first guardian ; but they 
 are now in charge of an intelligent, tolerably clear- 
 seeing citizen of the village. 
 
 I tried in 1886 to obtain access to these old manu- 
 scripts, but was at once refused. It is of no use to 
 importune an Indian. If he denies a request he is 
 fixed in it, and one must wait. I waited two years, 
 provided myself with a most urgent letter of intro- 
 duction from the archbishop and an order from the 
 priest of Santa Cruz, and went again. At last the 
 prohibition was withdrawn, and after three pro- 
 tracted ■visits to Santa Clara, the last of which lasted 
 twenty days, I was able to say that I had exhausted 
 all the material and had accurate and complete 
 copies of all the documents which had any impor- 
 tant bearing on the history of New Mexico. It was 
 no easy work, for the hand-writing was often nearly 
 
JEAN L'AECHfiVfiQUE. 293 
 
 illegible, and the ink had faded and the paper grown 
 yellow, and become almost rotten. 
 
 The contents of the archives of Santa Clara may 
 be divided into three classes. The first class con- 
 sists of documents not strictly ecclesiastical, among 
 which I found much that was valuable ; the second, 
 of the special church books, including registers of 
 baptism, marriage, and death, many of the last of 
 which begin with the date of 1694. Many valuable 
 facts were also found in these. The papers called 
 Diligendas Matrimoniales, or Informaciones, ofilcial 
 inquiries to determine the civil standing of the con- 
 tracting parties, which preceded every marriage, 
 were the most numerous. Many of these are very 
 long ; some of them are of the seventeenth century, 
 and they unfold an extremely instructive picture of 
 the customs of those times. There are hardly any 
 documents left in New Mexico of the period before 
 the great insurrection of 1680, and I have the few 
 that have been saved. But I found in Santa Clara 
 a large number of details concerning the years pre- 
 ceding the insurrection, although contained in man- 
 uscripts that were composed one or two years after 
 the troubles broke out. There have come to light 
 little " court histories " of the governor of the time, 
 scenes from the private life of long-vanished fam- 
 ilies which were then playing an important part 
 in the troubled world called the Spanish Colony of 
 New Mexico; notices of many an event which is 
 never mentioned in the printed annals, and which 
 was still of great importance. The real Ufe of the 
 people has taken «shape out of these obscure writings 
 of the monks, and many a striking revelation has 
 
294 JfiAN L'ARCHfiVfeQUE. 
 
 been obtained from them. One of the discoveries 
 made in them has given occasion to the present 
 paper. 
 
 Among the Diligencias or Informaciones was one 
 the superscription of which read, "Information of 
 Pedro Meusnier — a Frenchman — 1699." It was 
 strange to meet with a Frenchman in New Mexico 
 in 1699 ; and on reading the document it appeared 
 that Pedro or Pierre Meusnier, or Meunier, at the 
 time a soldier in the garrison at Santa F6, bom in 
 Paris, had come to America in the year 1684 with the 
 flotUla commanded by Monsieur de la Sala. Meunier 
 brought forward two witnesses, one of whom was 
 named Santiago Grolee, the other Juan de Ai-cheue- 
 que. Both were French, and both declared that 
 they had come across the sea with Meunier in the 
 flotilla which the same "Monsieur de la Sala" com- 
 manded ; and Grolee said that he was born at La 
 Rochelle. 
 
 " Monsieur de la Sala " could have been nobody 
 else than the famous brave discoverer of the mouths 
 of the Mississippi — Robert Cavelier, Sieur de La 
 Salle. The date agrees with this supposition, for La 
 SaUe crossed the Atlantic Ocean for the last time 
 in 1684, to found a French colony on the coast 
 of Texas. There came also with the expedition 
 Jacques Grollet, a sailor, and a certain Jean I'Arch^- 
 v^que. It was the latter who, on March 18, 1687, led 
 the unfortunate commander into the trap which his 
 confederates Duhaut and Liotot had set, and in 
 which La Salle was killed. Grollet was in the plot, 
 but took no part in the murder. • The supposition 
 seems at least well founded that Juan de Archeue- 
 
JEAN L'ARCHfiVfcQUE. 295 
 
 que was the traitor L'Arch^vfeque, and Santiago 
 Grolee was his accessory in a lesser degree, the sailor 
 Grrollet. I wrote at once to Mr. Francis Parkman, 
 the historian of Canada, and received the answer 
 that my supposition seemed to him perfectly weU 
 founded, although all that is known concerning the 
 fate of the two men after La Salle's death is that 
 they -were found among the Indians in 1689 by 
 Alonzo de Leon, commanding a Spanish expedition 
 to Texas, and were taken to New Mexico. They 
 were sent from Mexico to Spain, where they were 
 supposed to have ended their lives in the galleys. 
 
 The last supposition was soon shown to be erro- 
 neous. The Jesuit father Andres Cavo, author of the 
 work "Los tres sighs de Mexico," says : * "After a 
 number of days the messengers [whom Leon had 
 sent to the Indians] came back with two Frenchmen, 
 whose names were Jacob Grollet and Juan I'Archi- 
 veque. . . . After Monelova returned, the governor 
 [LeonJ sent the two Frenchmen to the viceroy, and 
 they legitimated themselves before him. The Conde 
 de Galve, convinced that the affair was of particular 
 importance, sent them both to the court of Charles 
 II. under the care of Captain Don Andres Perez.t 
 ... In this year [1691] Don Andres Perez came 
 back from Madrid with both of the Frenchmen." 
 This is now also confirmed by the deposition of San- 
 tiago Grolee himself, which I found in Santa Clara 
 in the investigation (Informacion) concerning his 
 own person. It is of the year 1699, and he said in 
 it : " We remained lost in that country five years 
 among the wild infidel Indians, and after we had at 
 * Page 230, t Page 236. 
 
296 JEAN L'ARCHfiVfeQUE. 
 
 last escaped from their power we went to Spain by 
 the order of the Viceroy Conde de Galve, in order to 
 give an account of our persons and of that coun- 
 try." He said nothing of La Salle's death and of his 
 own participation in the murder. 
 
 Satisfied that in the persons of Archeueque and 
 Grolee I had found the notorious L'Arch4vfeque and 
 the sailor GroUet, two of the accomplices in the kill- 
 ing of La Salle, I made further investigation iu the 
 case. Members of a family named Archibeque stiQ 
 live in different parts of New Mexico ; and as this 
 one wrote his name that way in the later papers, I 
 thought that these Archibeques might be descendants 
 of the ill-famed Frenchman. In Santa Clara, and with 
 the help of the general surveyor's archives at Santa 
 Fe, I succeeded in restoring a tolerably complete pic- 
 ture of the life of Jean I'Archev^que. I shall now 
 limit myself to this picture, and avoid the tedious 
 details of documentary research. With the excep- 
 tion of the participation in the death of La SaUe and 
 the voyage to Spain, the facts are new and the re- 
 sults of local investigations. 
 
 Jean I'Archevfeque was bom in Bayonne, in south- 
 ern France, in the year 1671. His parents were 
 Claude I'Archevfeque and Marie d'Armagnac. Both 
 died in 1719. When thirteen years old, in 1684, he 
 went with Robert Cavelier de La Salle to the coast 
 of Texas and shared the fortunes of that unfortu- 
 nate expedition. He entered the service of the noto- 
 rious Duhaut, who, equally with the surgeon Liotot, 
 was chief of the conspiracy to which La Salle fell a 
 victim. His relation to Djihaut and his youth, he 
 being only sixteen years old in 1687, explain, or at 
 
JEAN L'AKCHfiVfiQUE. 297 
 
 least partly excuse, the criminal part whicli he per^ 
 formed on the morning of the 18th of March. It 
 was he who stood on the river-bank and when La 
 Salle came over and inquired for his nephew, who 
 was already murdered, answered the commander in 
 insolent tones, and led him towards the ambush, 
 where Duhaut and Liotot were hidden in the high 
 grass. Mr. Parkman has described the scene from 
 the best sources and with his accustomed vividness ; 
 and I therefore refer to his work, " La SaUe and the 
 Discovery of the Great West," for the details of the 
 affair. This historian also gives a very intelHgible 
 account of L'Archeveque's behavior immediately 
 after the murder. Whether repentance or a sudden 
 coming back to his senses after the act or uncer- 
 tainty concerning the real intentions of his associ- 
 ates determined him to it, L'Archevfeque seems to 
 have afterward gradually separated himself from the 
 murderers. He thus escaped the vengeance which 
 the freebooter Hiens inflicted on Duhaut and Liotot. 
 The adherents of the murdered man also seem to 
 have considered him less guilty. But he did not 
 join the little company which set out on its exten- 
 sive wanderings northward under the lead of Jou- 
 tel. With GroUet and some others, among whom 
 was Meunier, he stayed among the Indians of Texas 
 tin 1689, when Alonzo de Leon ransomed him. 
 Fray Isidro Espinosa gives the details of this ran- 
 soming in his " Grdnica serdfica y apostoUca '" (first 
 part) ; but he does not mention L'Arch6vfeque, al- 
 though he names Pedro Muni (or Meunier). 
 
 I have not been able to determine the date when 
 
 the three Frenchmen went from Mexico to New 
 
 20 
 
298 JEAN L'AECHfiVfiQUE. 
 
 Mexico. It was probably with Don Diego de Var- 
 gas, the reconqueror of the province. L'Arch6v^que 
 and Meunier were soldiers, while GroUet came as a 
 settler. AH three were in Santa Fe as eai'ly as 1696. 
 In the next year L'Archevfeque was married to An- 
 tonia Gutierrez, who was born at Tezonco, near the 
 City of Mexico, and was the widow of a certain 
 Tomas de Yta, who had been murdered three years 
 previously near Zacatecas. In the year 1701 he 
 bought a land estate in Santa Fe, but still continued 
 a soldier, and in that capacity visited in the next 
 year the distant Indian villages of Acoma, Laguna, 
 and Zufii. His wife died in the first year of the 
 eighteenth century, and he continued a widower till 
 1719, when he married as his second wife the daugh- 
 ter of the Alcalde Mayor Ignacio de Roybal. The 
 second marriage was solemnized ia the church of 
 the pueblo of San Ildefonso, and the governor of 
 New Mexico at the time, General Don Antonio Val- 
 verde Cosio, was one of the witnesses. L'Arch6- 
 vfeque, or, as he now began to call himself, Captain 
 Juan de Archibeque, stood in high credit. He had 
 left the military service with honor, and had become 
 a successful trader, or peddler. His trading jour- 
 neys extended to Sonora, and he occasionally visited 
 the City of Mexico on business. His notes* were 
 cuiTcnt everywhere, and were even accepted and en- 
 dorsed by men connected with the government. He 
 was a man in easy circumstances — for New Mexico, 
 a wealthy man. His son by his first marriage, 
 
 * I saw the head of one of them, which was for 800 pesos 
 — a large sum for the conditions in New Mexico at that time. 
 
JEAN L'ARCHfiVfiQUE. 299 
 
 Miguel de Archibeque, assisted him faithfully in his 
 business affairs, and a natural son, Augustiu de Ar- 
 chibeque, likewise helped, by his labor and his watch- 
 ful care of his interests, in the accumulation of his 
 wesilth. Everything went on according to his desire. 
 
 Jean I'Archevfeque celebrated his second marriage 
 on the 16th of August, 1719, with a daughter of one 
 of the first families of New Mexico. A year after- 
 ward, on the same day of the same month, Jean 
 I'Archev^que was a bleeding corpse. 
 
 The " Captain " and former soldier, Juan de Archi- 
 beque, enjoyed with the Spanish military officers no 
 less a degree of confidence than was reposed in him 
 as a merchant by the same officers and the people in 
 general. He was consulted concerning aU impor- 
 tant enterprises ; and the minutes are in my hand of 
 several war coxmcils in which his views were in- 
 fluential. When, therefore, in the spring of 1720, 
 Grovernor Don Antonio Valverde Cosio was contem- 
 plating the preparation of an expedition by order of 
 the viceroy to the far northeast, in order to establish 
 commercial relations with the Prairie Indians of 
 Kansas, as weU as to make a military reconnoissanee 
 in a direction in which an approach of the French 
 was apprehended, L'Arehev^que gave his opinion 
 that the expedition should be dispatched at once. 
 Among the reasons which in his view should com- 
 mend it to the Spaniards, he emphasized the ap- 
 proach of "his countrymen, the French." The 
 campaign was organized; Don Pedro de VUlazur 
 was given the command of the fifty armed men who 
 formed the corps, and Jean I'Archevfeque, or Archi- 
 
300 JEAN L'AECHfiVfiQUE. 
 
 beque, went along as one of his staff. The march 
 led through the great plains to the banks of the Ar- 
 kansas River, which the force reached about August 
 14th. There they confronted a large camp or vil- 
 lage of the Pananas (Pawnees). When the Pananas 
 returned an obscure and therefore suspicious answer 
 to a peaceful message of the Spanish commander, 
 Villazur went back with his men and crossed the 
 Arkansas, in order to have the river between himself 
 and his presumed enemies. During the night be- 
 tween the 15th and 16th of August, the Spanish 
 guards and the Indians of the company heard a 
 splashing in the river, as if men were swimming 
 across; and the guards were captured. A dog 
 barked, but no attention was paid to that sign. At 
 daybreak, when the horses had been collected and 
 the command was about to mount, an attack was 
 made upon them from the high grass. The horses 
 took fright at the first shots, which were fired from a 
 very short distance, and were aimed mainly at the 
 tent of the commander. Some of the soldiers suc- 
 ceeded in catching the fugitive animals, but only for 
 their own deliverance. The effect of the enemy's fire 
 was so quick and murderous that nothing else than 
 flight was thought of. Five or six of the fifty armed 
 men escaped. Among the dead were the commander, 
 Don Pedro de Villazur, and Jean l'Arch6v^que. It 
 is probable his own countrymen, the French, of 
 whom there were several with the Pananas, shot him. 
 His personal servant, although himseK bleeding 
 from six wounds, stayed with him till he ceased to 
 breathe, and then saved himself " by a miracle," as 
 he declares, with one of the horses of the deceased. 
 
JEAN L'AECHfiVSQUE. 301 
 
 The betrayer of La Salle had faJlen,-on the anniver- 
 sary of his second mai-riage, at the hands of his own 
 countrymen or their aUies. 
 
 L'Archev^que left a property of 6118 pesos, a 
 considerable sum for the time. Besides his sons — 
 his legitimate son Miguel and his natural son Au- 
 gustin — ^he left a daughter, Marie, by his first mar- 
 riage. His widow three years afterward married 
 Bernardino Sena. From the two sons are derived 
 the present families of Archibeqiie in New Mexico. 
 
 It is hardly possible to determine how far L'Ar- 
 ch^v^que was knowingly accessory to the murder of 
 La SaUe. His youth lends favor to the supposition 
 that he may have acted ignorantly or thoughtlessly 
 when he led the great discoverer into the ambush. 
 But his whole character, as it was afterward un- 
 folded, indicates an early maturity of mind, a con- 
 siderable capacity, and great resolution, as well as 
 unusual sagacity. His hand-writing, which I have 
 often read, shows that he had been taught in school ; 
 and he could have received his instruction only in 
 France. The manner of his death is very suggest- 
 ive of a later requital for his earlier offence. 
 
 Of Meunier I could learn nothing further ; and of 
 Grollet only that he settled at Bernalillo, on the Rio 
 Grande, there married Elena Galuegos in the year 
 1699, and was still living six years later. 
 
 The three persons on whose fate a light has been 
 so curiously thrown by the archives of Santa Clara 
 were the first French settlers on New Mexican terri- 
 tory. Driven there in consequence of a murder, one 
 of them at least, L'Arch^vfeque, played a notable 
 part in the history of the country. His descendants 
 
302 JEAN L'AECIlfiVfiQUE. 
 
 know little or nothing of the deeds and adventui-es 
 of their ancestor, and are quiet, modest people ; who 
 yet seldom fail to insist that they are of French ori- 
 gin. The church in which Arch6vfeque was married 
 a second time, a year before his tragical death, can- 
 not be seen from the barren dune on which Santa 
 Clara stands. The high mesa of San Ildefonso hides 
 the pueblo, although it can be barely five miles from 
 Santa Clara. That isolated lava cliff also, with the 
 perpendicular precipices around its summit, bears a 
 memory of the betrayer of La Salle. As a Spanish 
 soldier he made several unsuccessful attempts to take 
 the Black Mesa, as it was called, by storm. 
 
 From Santa Clara the view is very^ beautiful ; but 
 a taint of blood adheres to the rocks and to the val- 
 ley which thence the eye looks down upon. Else- 
 where throughout New Mexico, in places of ancient 
 habitation, it is the same : for the history of this 
 region is darkened by a sombre melancholy, the in- 
 evitable outcome of its blood-stained past. 
 
T 
 
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 PHILADELPHIA, 1707. 
 
 FROM THE PREFACE. 
 The present work is meant, in the first instance, for the young— not alone 
 for boys and girls, but for young men and women who have yet to make 
 themselves familiar with the more important features of their country's 
 history. By a book for the young is meant one in which the author studies to 
 make his statements clear and explicit, in which curious and picturesque de- 
 tails are inserted, and in which the writer does not neglect such anecdotes as 
 lend the charm of a human and personal interest to the broader facts of the 
 nation's story. That history is often tiresome to the young is not so much 
 the fault of history as of a false method of writing by which one contrives 
 to relate events without sympathy or imagination, without narrative connec- 
 tion or animation. The attempt to master vague and general records of 
 kiln-dried facts is certain to beget in the ordinary reader a repulsion from 
 the study of history— one of the very most important of all studies for its 
 widening influence on general culture. 
 
 "Fills a decided gap which has existed for 
 the past twenty years m American historical 
 literature. The work is admirably planned 
 and executed, and will at once take its place as 
 a standard record of the life, growth, and de- 
 velopment of the nation. It is profusely and 
 beautifully illustrated." — Boston Transcript. 
 
 " The book in its new dress makes a much 
 finer appearance than 
 before, and will be wel- 
 comed by older readers 
 as gladly as its predeces- 
 sor was greeted by girls 
 
 and boys. The lavish use the publishers have made of colored 
 plates, woodcuts, and photographic reproductions, gives an un- 
 wonted piquancy to the printed page, catching the eye as surely 
 as the text engages the mind." — Nezo York Critic. 
 
 "The author writes history as a story. It can 'never be 
 less than that. The book will enlist the interest of young 
 people, enlighten their understanding, and by the glow of its 
 statements fix the great events of the country firmly in tho 
 
 fiENERAL PUTNAM. «»ind."-5rt« Francisco Bulletin, 
 
 INDIAN'S TRAP. 
 
 New York: D. APPLETON & CO., i, 3, & 5 Bond Street. 
 
D. APPLETON & CO.'S PUBLICATIONS. 
 
 IS TOR Y OF THE PEOPLE 
 
 OF THE UNITED STA TES, from 
 the Revolution to the Civil War. By 
 John Bach McMaster. To be com- 
 pleted in five volumes. Vols. I, II, 
 and III now ready. 8vo, cloth, gilt 
 top, $2.50 each. 
 
 In the course of this narrative much is written 
 of wars, conspiracies, and rebellions; of Presi- 
 dents, of Congresses, of embsissies, of treaties, 
 of the ambition of political leaders, and of thej 
 rise of great parties in the nation. Yet the his-T 
 tory of the people is the chief theme. At evftiy 
 stage of the splendid progress which separates the 
 America of Washington and Adams from the 
 JOHN BACH MCMASTER. America in which we live, it has been the au- 
 thor's purpose to describe the dress, the occupa- 
 tions, the amusements, the hterary canons of the times ; to note the changes 
 of manners and morals ; to trace the growth of that humane spirit which 
 abolished punishment for debt, and reformed the discipline of prisons and 
 of jails ; to recount the manifold improvements which, in a thousand ways, 
 have multiplied the conveniences of life and ministered to the happiness of 
 our race ; to describe the rise and prd|jess of that long series of mechanical 
 inventions and discoveries which is now the admiration of the world, and our 
 just pride and boast ; to tell how, under the benign influence of liberty and 
 peace, there sprang up, in the course of a single century, a prosperity unpar- 
 alleled in the annals of human affairs. 
 
 "The pledge given by Mr. McMaster, that *the history of the people shall be the 
 chief theme,' is puoctiiiously and satisfactorily fulfilled. He carries out his promise in 
 a complete, vivid, and delightful way. We should add that the literary execution of 
 the work is worthy of the indefatigable industry and unceasing vigilance with which 
 the stores of historical material have been accumulated, weighed, and sifted. The 
 cardinal qualities of style, lucidity, animation, and energy, are everywhere present. 
 Seldom indeed has a book in which matter of substantial value has been so happily 
 united to attractiiieness of form been offered b> an American author to his fellow- 
 citizens." — TVifTu York Sun. 
 
 "To recount the marvelous progress of the American people, to describe their life, 
 their literature, their occupations, their amusements is Mr. SicMaster's object. His 
 theme is an important one, and we congratulate him on his success. It has rarely been 
 our province to notice a book with so many excellences and so few defects."— iVi?a/ York 
 Herald. 
 
 " Mr. McMaster at once shows his grasp of the various themes and his special 
 capacity as a histoiian of the people. His aim is high, but he hits the mark." — 
 AVw York youmal of Commerce. 
 
 **. . . The author's pages abound, too, with illustrationsof the best kind of histori- 
 cal work, that of unearthing hidden sources of information and employing them, not 
 after the modern style of historical writing, in a mere report, but with the true artistic 
 method, in a well-digested narrative. ... If Mr. McMaster finishes his work in the 
 spirit and with the thoroughness and skill with which it has begun, it will take its place 
 among the classics of American literature."— C-Srzj/M/* Union. 
 
 New York: D. APPLETON & CO., i, 3, & 5 Bond Street 
 
D. APPLbTON & CO.'S PUBLICATIONS. 
 
 A BOOK FOR THE QUADRI-CENTENNIAL YEAR. 
 
 CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS. 
 
 ^HE STORY OF COLUMBUS. 
 By Elizabeth Eggleston Seelyf,, ed- 
 ited by Dr. Edward Eggleston. With lOO 
 Illustrations by AUcgra Eggleston. i2mo. 
 Cloth, $1.75. 
 
 This book is the result of most extensive 
 investigations, which have been carefully veri- 
 fied by the eminent historian and novelibt, Dr. 
 Eggleston. It is not too much to say that the 
 whole world has been drawn upon for ma- 
 terial by the author and the artist. The fmits 
 of these investigations are presented in a popular, readable, always entertain- 
 ing form. While the book contains all the results of 
 modem inquiry offered in the bulkiest biographies, 
 the story is here condensed and the material selected 
 with a view to an always interesting narrative. To 
 a considerable extent the plan of both text and illus- 
 trations is like that of Eggleston's " Household His- 
 tory of the United States." It is hardly necessary to 
 say more regarding the fitness of this volume for a 
 place in every American private, pubUc, and school 
 
 library. ^- *' A brief, popular, interesiing, and yet 
 
 '^'''^ critical volume, just such as we should wish 
 tu place in the hands of a young reader. 
 The authors of this volume have done their 
 best to keep it on a high plane of accuracy 
 and conscientious work without losing sight 
 of their readers." — New Yorklndependert 
 " In some respects altogether the best 
 book that the Columbus year has brought 
 out " — Rochester Post- Express. 
 
 "A simple story tolrj 
 in a natural fashion, and 
 will be found far more 
 interesting than maity 
 of the more ambitious 
 works on a similar theme." — New York yournal 0/ Commerce. 
 
 " This is no ordinary work. It is pre-eminently a work of the 
 present time and of the future as well." — Boston Traveller. 
 
 " Mrs. Seeiye's book is pleasing in its general effect, and re- 
 veals the results of painstakmg and conscientious study." — New 
 York Tribune. 
 
 *' A very just account is given of Columbus, his failings being 
 neither concealed nor magnified, but his real greatness being made 
 plain." — New York Examiner. 
 
 " The illustrations are particularly well chosen and neatly 
 executed, and they add to the general excellence of the volume. image found at 
 
 — New York Times. santo domingo* 
 
 New York : D. APPLETON & CO., i, 3, & 5 Bond St. 
 
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 No former traveler has made so comprehensive and thorough a tour of 
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 N AND OUT OF CENTRAL AMERICA; and 
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 IIINA : Travels and Investigations in the " Middle 
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 With a Glance at Japan. By James Harrison Wilson, late 
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 yj BR A HAM LINCOLN: The True Story of a Great 
 -*^ LIFE, By William H. Herndon and Jesse W. Weik. 
 With numerous Illustrations. New and revised edition, with 
 an introduction by Horace White. In two volumes, izmo. 
 Cloth, $3.00. 
 This is probably the most intimate life of Lincoln ever written. The 
 book, by Linqoln's law-partner, William H. Hemdon, and his friend Jesse 
 W. Weik, shows us Lincoln the man. It is a true picture of his surround- 
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 history, with Lincoln often in the background, nor is it an effort to apotheo- 
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 writers knew Lincoln intimately. Their book is the result of unreserved 
 £issociation. There is no attempt to portray the man as other than he really 
 was,, and on this account their frank testimony must be accepted, and their 
 biography must take permanent rank as the best and most illuminating study 
 of Lincoln's character and personality. Their story, simply told, relieved 
 by characteristic anecdotes, and vivid with local color, will be found a fasci- 
 nating work. 
 
 '* Truly, they who wish to know Lincoln as he really was must read the biography 
 of him written by his friend and law-partner, W. H. Hemdon. This book was im- 
 peratively needed to brush aside the rank growth of myth and legend which was 
 threatening to hide the real lineaments of Lincoln from the eyes of posterity. On one 
 
 Eretext or another, but usually upon the plea that he was the central figure of a great 
 istorical picture, most of his self-appointed biographers have, by suppressing a part 
 of the truth and magnifying or embellishing the rest, prodncid portraits which those of 
 Lincoln's contemporaries who knew him best are scarcely able to recognize. There is, 
 on the other hand, no doubt about the faithfulness of Mr. Herndon's delineation. The 
 marks of unflinching veracity are patent in every line." — Neiv York Sun. 
 
 "Among the books which ought most emphaucally to have been written must be 
 classed 'Herndon's IJncoln.'" — Chicago Inter-Ocean. 
 
 *' The author has his own notion of what a biography should be, and it is simple 
 enough. The story should tell all, plainly and even bluntly. Mr. Hemdon ii. naturally 
 a very direct writer, and he has been industrious in gathering material. Whether an 
 incident happened before or behind the scenes, is all the same to him. He gives it 
 without artifice or apology. He describes the life of his friend Lincoln just as he saw 
 it." — Cincinnati Commercial Gazette. 
 
 " A remarkable piece of literary achievement— remarkable alike for its fidelity to 
 facts, its fullness of details, its constructive skill, and its literary charm."— AVa/ J orA 
 Times. 
 
 " It will always remain the authentic life of Abraham Lincoln." — Chicago Herald. 
 
 "The book is a valuable depository of anecdotes, innumerable and characteristic 
 It has every claim to the proud boast of being the ' true story of a great life.' " — Phila- 
 delphia Ledger. 
 
 "Will be accepted as the best biography yet written of the great PresidenL" — 
 Chicago Inter-Ocean. 
 
 " Mr. White claims that, as a portraiture of the man Lincoln, Mr. Herndon's work 
 *will never be surpassed.* Certainly it has never been equaled yet, and this new edi- 
 tion is all that could be desired." — New York Observer. 
 
 " The three portraits of Lincoln are the best that exist ; and not the least charac- 
 teristic of these, the Lincoln of the Douglas debates, has never before been engraved. 
 . . . Herndon's narrative gives, as nothing else is likely to give, the material from 
 which we may form a true picture of the man from infancy to maturity." — Th£ Nation, 
 
 New York: D. APPLETON & CO., i, 3, & 5 Bond Street. 
 
D. APPLETON & CO.'S PUBLICATIONS. 
 
 APPLETONS' CYCLOPEDIA OF AMERICAN 
 ■*^ BIOGRAPHY, Complete in six volumes, royal 8vo, contain 
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 birthplaces, residences, statues, etc. 
 
 Appletons* Cyclopaedia of American Biography, edited by Gen- 
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 history, in law and politics, in divinity, in literature and art, in science and 
 in invention. Its plan embraces all the countries of North and South 
 America, and includes distinguished persons bom abroad, but related to 
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 a complete compendium of American history in every branch of human 
 achievement. An exhaustive topical and analytical Index enables the reader 
 to follow the history of any subject with great readiness. 
 
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 spirit of the book are certainly very tsxc, and show a mind bent on a discriminate, just, 
 and proper treatment of its subject"— ^rc^w ike Hon. George Bancroft. 
 
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 or literature, the Cyclopaedia will be indispensable." — From the Hon. James Russell 
 Lowell. 
 
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 WiNTHROP. 
 
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 and the schools, and is so cheap as to come within the reach of all classes of readers 
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 one is encouraged to believe the soil from which they sprang, the air they breathed, and 
 the sky over their heads, to be the best this world affords, and one says, ' Thank God, 
 1 also am an American ! ' We have many books of biography, but I have seen none 
 so ample, so clear-cut, and breathing so strongly the best spirit of oiir native land. No 
 young man or woman can fail to find among these ample pages some model worthy of 
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