OCR Text |
Show 130 LEADING FACTS OF NEW MEXICAN HISTORY THE wandering to and fro at will, or according to the necessities of life. Nothing in the picture made of these nomads corresponds in the least to the sedentary tribes of New Mexico. There is not even an indication that the Spaniards, while east of the Rio Grande, heard of the Pueblos and their strange, characteristic many-storied dwellings. ‘Cabeza de Vaca has given a list of tribes (Naufragios, cap. xxvi) which contains a great number of names. I have not as yet been able to identify a single one of them. This is not surprising. Texas was not explored by the Spaniards until one hundred and fifty years later, and among roaming Indians it is extremely difficult to recognize the name of a band or horde after such a lapse of time. Besides, we do not know to what extent the appelatives left us by Cabeza de Vaca, surnames— to what extent they were recognized by the tribe, or only applied to it by some neighbor, whether friend or enemy. a hare yi car the course of the Spaniards on the west side of the ee Rio Grande, ooand see whether, perhaps, on that side ~ believe that I have established that the crossing of the stream which now divides the state of Texas from the Mexican States of Chihuahua and Coahuila was effected at the junction of the Rio Conchos with the Rio Grande, or near Presidio del Norte, in Chihuahua. Thence onward their course was westward declining to the south, Presidio del Norte, itself, is more than two degrees south of the New Mexican boundary line; it lies even outside the limits of the territory as they were during the Spanish domination. It is therefore equally impossible that Cabeza de Vaca ever could have trod New, Mexican soil on the west side of the Rio Grande His route led him across the central portions of the State of Chihuauntil then they had not mae they a aepon raced ee, oo a is itself almost decisive is the statement that until Rar a —— 2 Madre they nowhere saw pottery in use or in the hands a = Rio Grande, where they found the most substantial dwellings Cabez ‘Ellos no aleanzan remarks (Naufragios, p. 542): aca ellos y paraé Ha eo 1 0 que ollas, rn os quieren comer hinchen media calabaza grande waitin a ie echas muchas piedras de las que mas facilmente ellos con unas tenasas 4 oman el fuego; y cuando ven que estan ardiendo, tomanlas que eta en la calabaza aquella agua en que y echanlas palo, con as de hervir que ] la hacen que el fuego c las piedras llevan; y cuando ven : que el agua hierve, echan en ella lo wt : de cocer, y en todo este tiempo no han “ah: : hacen sino sacar unas ate wiki edbae: Matsean evs I ras y echar otras ardiendo para que el agua hierva que quieren, y asi lo ecuecen.’ Historia, p. 608. Had the travellers met the New Mexi hasta have mentioned it. exican Pueblos, they would have seen pottery, and undoubtedly 131 EXPLORERS SPANISH The time hua to the Pass of the Mulatos in the Sierra Madre. spent in traversing that arid ccuntry, twenty days, agrees with the distance fairly well, and the short description of the condition of the aborigines whom the Spaniards met on their passage is very well And from there they went to the west, or setting sun, more put. than twenty days more, through people that were famished, though not as much (as those previously spoken of) because they ate powdered herbs and killed a great many hares.’’ *°" ‘“In a straight line the eastern flanks of the Sierra Madre are not It more than two hundred miles from the mouth of the Conchos. is self evident that the route taken was not a perfect air-line, and that consequently they a greater travelled They distance. must have kept on the north side of the Conchos river, else they would have mentioned it. The country has some beautiful valleys, at least now, when such spots have been improved for sites of ranchos, But by far the greater portion haciendas, and a few settlements. of the country which the Spaniards then traversed must have proIt was only duced upon them the impression of an arid waste. when they ascended the foot-hills of the Sierra Madre and penetrated into the deep gorges and valleys of that extensive mountain area, that a fertile land met their eyes and at last they found Indians who cultivated maize, who owned turquoises, although in small quantities and who traded parrot’s feathers for green stones, far in The houses of these Indians were made of palm leaves the north. tressed and plaited, and some of the buildings had earthen walls and a dirt roof. ‘All this is significant, and enables us to identify the region though’ not the exact locality. A species of large green parrot inhabits the pine forests of the Sierra Madre as far north as latiPalms are found in the Sierra Madre and its tude 30 degrees. tributary Stesnian Gnnabuty della. (irmacthe anent ore nate ten FIRST chains. They are especially of the aborigines of Sonora were often ‘‘The interior of the Sierra Madre Indian hamlets and cave dwellings, and Not all of these ruins ante-date beds. fan-palms and the houses made of that material. is strewn with remains of with traces of small gardenthe time of Spanish occupa- The Jovas, a branch and dialect of the Opatas, dwelt tion. scattered clusters in the interior of the chain, almost due west in of 1387 ‘¢'The limits were the Boquillas, 40 leagues (108) miles south of El Paso. In 1836 Pedro Garcia Condé fixes the northern limits of Rivera, Diario, p. 27. Ensayo Estadistico sobre el Chihuahua at latitude 32 degrees 57 minutes. Presidio del Norte is south of that line. Historia, Estado de Chihuahua, p 7. For a description of that part of Chihuahua as it was sixty years after p. 609. Cabeza de Vaca’s passage, compare Juan de Ofiate, Discurso de Las Jornadas, pp. 236-243; also Gaspar Perez de Villagran, Historia de la Nueva Mejico, 1610, fol. 85-115.’’ |