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Show 122 LEADING FACTS OF NEW MEXICAN HISTORY THE clusters, occupied the river banks at intervals, as far south as Dota Ana county, New Mexico, and in all probability, much farther. So far as the mention of turquoises1*1 and the locality from which they were obtained is concerned, it does not necessarily follow that the Indians secured all of their supplies of this stone from the Chalchuitl mountain near Los Cerrillos, in Santa Fé county, as there are places in the counties of Otero and Grant, in New Mexico, and other places in Arizona, where this stone could have been obtained, and which places were known to the Indians, at least to those of more modern times. Mr. Bandelier cannot be taken as infallible in this matter. He certainly is in error in his concluSions as to the route taken by Francisco Vasquez Coronado after that explorer left the pueblo of Ci-cu-yé in his march in search of Quivira, and it is possible that he may be in error in stating positively that Cabeza de Vaca was never upon New Mexican soil. The narrative and the other proofs are not conclusive and, in the Judgment of the writer, there is no way of ascertaining whether he was upon New Mexican soil or not. The best evidence, and that was only a sort of tradition, that they crossed the Rio Grande into the state of Chihuahua, is the statement made by the Indians to Espejo in 1582, that many years before some Spaniards had passed through their country. These Indians were the J umanos. In 1541, Francisco Vasquez Coronado also heard from an old Indian about the passing of the Spaniards through the country. The point where Coronado had 181 Prince, L. B., History of New Mezico, p. 92, says: Rio ‘‘Just how far up the Grande Cabeza de Vaca came we shall probably never know: identl not further than central New Mexico, as the thir sla which ik colaamaaal é him, and which certainly came from the great Chalchuitl mountains in the Cerrillos, south of Santa Fé, he mentions as coming from the north. From the highest rb t en point reached, the party seems to have turned abruptl y west " probably as as they had passed by the desert regions on the west of the river; and marched for more than a hundred leagues, continually finding settled domiciles, with plenty of maize and beans. It may be well conjectured that this was along the line of the Puerco and San José, and among the numerous pueblo towns of which we have such full descrip tions a few years later, in the ‘ale of pe age a the route may have been further south.’’? 16 communal house near San Marcial was visi : Spanish soldiers, and Mexican and Indian poder wea strate arise ae peeeonnnset of the soldiers was Chamuscado. ouses, two and three stories high, and there other vegetables to be h they were the Piros. ad at that point. The village consisted of forty-five was plenty ; : of corn and beans and The inhabitants wore cotton garments; FIRST SPANISH EXPLORERS 123 the interview with the Indian was more than seven hundred miles north of the point mentioned by Espejo, and Coronado’s native informant said that he had seen them further south toward New Spain. Inasmuch as Mr. Bandelier is so positive in his declaration as to the route of Cabeza de Vaca, it is no more than right to present his argument and conclusions, as the judgment of so distinguished an authority is entitled to great weight and consideration. He says: ‘<It remains to be investigated which route the adventurous wanderers took, and that investigation will, in turn, determine whether or not it is true, as has hitherto been admitted, that Cabeza de Vaca was the first European, writing of the event, to tread New Mexican soil. I have already stated, as a result of previous studies, that the prevailing notions are incorrect, and that he never set foot on New Mexican territory, as the term is understood to-day. I shall add here, that he never claimed, as little as did his companions, to have seen or visited any of the sedentary tribes whose peculiar culture and condition have become so characteristic of New Mexico. ‘‘There are a few points in the itinerary which are of decisive value in the discussion of it, and are placed beyond all controversy by the statements of the travellers. These are: ‘‘1, That they began their journey in eastern Texas, and near the coast. ‘*2. That during their peregrination, they always remained south of the range where the buffalo was wont to roam. ‘*3. That the mean direction of their course was from east to west. ‘‘4. whose That until they entered the broad mountain chain, through gaps or valleys they emerged upon the slope of the Pacific, they had constantly been travelling among and with roaming savages, and that the first clusters of more permanent settlements were met with by them in that great mountain region, as well as to the west of it, near the shores of the South Sea. ‘5. That the place where they received the first intimation of the proximity of the Spaniards, was situated on the Yaqui river of Sonora, and at no great distance from the coast. ‘‘No. 1 and No. 5 give us the terminal points of the journey. No. 2 limits the belt through which they travelled to a zone in the southern part of the United States of to-day. It also excludes all possibility of their having impinged upon southern New Mexico, and particularly upon the part inhabited by the Pueblo Indians. ‘*To re-establish the itinerary with complete accuracy is quite impossible. It was written, not as a journal, for they had no means of recording anything on their trip, but as recollections sufficiently |