OCR Text |
Show THE FIRST SPANISH EXPLORERS 129 The Indians themselves whom Seg ce se eee = idiaieeeemenmemmmieinensaduial have told a different story. ea tree which is almost specifically New Mexican; but the shell of these ‘Pifofes’ was soft and edible also. This proves that the tree must have been a cedar, the fruit of which is also used by the Pueblo Indians and other tribes of New Mexico. This tree or shrub occurs in Northern Texas. The travellers strongly insist upon the almost total absence of maize or Indian corn as long as they remained to the east of the Rio Grande. On the banks of that stream they were finally told that to find corn in any abundance, it was necessary for them to go westward, and also to the north a long distance. ‘‘What the Indians planted were beans and calabashes, and even these grew only in small quantities, as the soil was very poor. Had they ever come in contact with the New Mexican Pueblos, they would the east- Fn emma, ager” pn ne geal een hacenlos pellas, y ansi los comen; y si estan secos, los muelen con cascaras de manera que las comen con lo demas; las pifias de ellas son muy chiquitos, é los arboles llenos en aquellas serranias en cantidad.’ This does not at all agree with the New Mexican pifion. I am unable as yet to find out whether there is a species of pifion in Texas. At all events, if there is, it appears to be different from the northern kind. ‘¢Tn the vicinity, or on the banks of the Rio Grande, perhaps, there was a little corn, but there were no plantations of it. Naufragios, p. 542: ‘Preguntamosles como no sembraban maiz; respondierronnos que lo hacian por no perder lo que sembrasen, porque dos afios atras les habian faltado las aguas y habia sido el tiempo tan seco, que 4 todos les habian perdido los maices los topos, y que no usurian tornar 4 sembrar sin que primero hubiese llovido mucho; ‘ tambien nosotros quesimos saber de donde habian traido aquél maiz, y ellos nos dijeron que de donde el sol se ponia, y que lo habia por toda aquella tierra; mas que lo mas cerca de alli era por aquel camino.’ 186 ‘The only place where they found dwellings slightly more substantial was on the Rio Grande. Historia, p. 608: ‘Los cuales lo llevaron 4 un rio donde hallaron gente 6 casas 4 assiento; 4 algunos fesoles é calabacas que comian, aunque mui poco.’ Naufragios, p. 542. It is not surprising that on the Rio Grande there should have lived Indians in more permanent abodes. It was in this vicinity that, forty-six years later, Espejo met the Jumanos Indians, of whom he says (Relacion del Viage, Doc. de Indias, vol. xv, p. 168): ‘En que parecia habia mucha gente y con pueblos formados, grandes en que vimos cinco pueblos con mas de diez mil indios y casas de azutea, bajas, y con buena traza de pueblos.’ These Jumanos recollected the passage of Cabeza de Vaca and his companions through their country: ‘Respondieron que de tres Christianos, y un negro que auian passado por alli, y detennidose algunos dias en su tierra, ete.’ It is very significant also, that they mention houses of mud for the first time in the Sierra Madre. Historia, p. 609: ‘& tenian casas estos indios algunas pequefias de tierra.’ Naufragios, p. 543. ‘‘Entre estas casas habia algunas de ellas que era de tierra.’’ Had these not been the first ones which the Spanards saw on the whole journey, they would scarcely have made such special mention of them. It is also stated in Historia, p. 610: ‘& tambien les ee malig aways met and cured, and who voluntarily accompanied them as escort from band to band, or from camp to camp, are plainly described as being the merest savages. Nowhere is there any mention of houses of mud or stone.'** Only lodges made of boughs or leaves, the rudest huts, are spoken of. These Indians led an erratic life, |