Leading facts of New Mexican history, volume 1

Page 208

276 LEADING FACTS OF NEW MEXICAN HISTORY EARLY abled to give true reports on their return. In this he was supported by the friar, as well as by the soldiers. It was determined that the command should remain at Tiguex while some of these places were explored by the commander, and setting out with only two men, he traveled eastward for two days, finally arriving in a province which contained eleven towns; these contained upwards of forty thousand inhabitants, according to Espejo. The province was that of Maguas,?8? or Magrinas, and was particularly fertile, all of the necessaries of life being produced in abundance. There were a great many cattle, with the hides of which, and with cotton, they made their clothing, the style of dress being very much like that of their nearest neighbors. There were indications of rich mines, and they found some considerable quantity of metal in the houses. The inhabitants worshiped idols. The Spaniards were given a friendly welcome and provisions were furnished. Returning to the camp at Puara, Espejo gave an account of what had been seen to those who had remained behind at that place. Espejo was undoubtedly in error in his estimates of the population of these provinces.?*® a Ss rangers so long as they are new and interesting visitors. Suspicion. Wherever Espejo stopped, he found not merely the Also inhabi- EXPLORATIONS 277 Having returned to the Rio Grande, after a short rest, Espejo determined upon an exploration of the country up that river to the province of the Queres, and, after some preparation, departed, taking with him his entire command. This province had five pueblos, and, as Espejo states, 15,000 inhabitants. The Spaniards were given a friendly reception, and, from observations taken, Espejo states that they were in latitude 37 degrees 30 minutes, which is undoubtedly an error by at least two degrees. From this point, tants of that particular pueblo, but nearly the whole tribe, congregated, and having once begun to form his estimates, he applied the same criterions to every place. His figures are, therefore, to be absolutely rejected, without invalidating thereby the exactitude of other parts of his valuable report. ‘‘T am not in possession of official data emanating from Ofiate directly, and establishing the population of the pueblos about the year 1600, but the investigations into his administration, made at the instigation of the viceroy Condé de Monterey, contain some information at least on the ideas then prevalent on the subject. The factor, Don Francisco de Valverde, examined five witnesses on the subject, Memorial sobre el Descubrimiento del Nuevo Mexico y sus Cacontecimientos, 1595 to 1602 (Doc. de Indias, vol. xvi, p. 210). ‘Se eolige que realmente para labranza y crianza hay tierras y poastos apropositos Fe no es aquella tan esteril como la gente que se vino pintaba, ni tan prospero como otros 6 hacen y 6 represento al gobernador en las relaciones del afio de noventa y nueve, 287 Bancroft, H. H., ibid, note, p. 85. In Espejo Exped., 156, the province of Magrias is said to adjoin that of the Tiguas on the northeast. Thus it would seem to have been in the Galisteo region though I know of no ruins to indicate so large a province, and some other difficulties will appear in connection with later wanderings. Davis and Prince, misled probably by the word cibola (esta provincia confina con las vacas que llaman de Civola) or buffalo represent this expedition as having been led to the west. 288 Bandelier, A. F., Final Report, part i, note, p. 121: “"It we Ban we the number of souls attributed to them by him (Espejo), we arrive at about a quarter of a million. Wherever we go into details, however and compare his estimates for certain well known villages with the possibilities and the true conditions, or with other statements of older sources about them, it becomes clear how this otherwise acute observer was misled in his estimate ‘of the numbers of the people. Thus, for instance, Acoma (Relacion del Viage, p. 179) is reckoned at ‘mas de seis mil animas,’ whereas, Castafieda (Cibola P. 69) says that it can place on foot about 200 warriors, and on the rock of ‘Acoma there 1s furthermore, not room for much over 1,000 people. The Pecos or the Tanos, as he calls them, are eredited with 40,000 (p. 185), but the pueblo of Tshi-quit-e, or the old Pecos village, Shows that over 2,000 souls could never have lived in it. > Castafieda, (p. 176) asserts that the people of Cicuyé might place ae warriors all told. Such evidences of very gross exaggeratio n could a . ah Espejo has consistently exaggerated, but not intentionally . : Sa a the appearance of the pueblos, most of which he saw at yore ay : a. : rst place, and then still more by the custom of the Indians aka haz 7 place where strangers arrive, in great numbers, and remaining SPANISH que algo mejor informado con mas moderacion escribe de esto, y con la misma hablan los suyospaqui por donde se dexa de entender, que debe de ser cosa corta lo de alli coliegese tambien que hay razonable numero de indios.’ ‘‘In 1630 Benavides gives an approximate enumeration of the Pueblos, and he figures their numbers at about 70,000. Acoma appears in that list with We know what to think of such an estimate; it 1s (Memorial, p. 32.) 2,000. twice as much as the rock will hold conveniently. There are other equally glaring inaccuracies. On page 26, the Tehuas are credited with eight villages whereas they had only seven. On page 33, the Zufii pueblos are set down as ‘eleven or twelve,’ whereas there were only half that number. The population of Taos, given at 2,000, is also vastly exaggerated. In short, the Memorial Its purpose was to induce the is, in many respects, a ‘campaign document.’ King to favor the Missions, to create a better impression of the missionaries than the Spanish government had at that time, after their constant quarrels with the governors of New Mexico, and to obtain the establishment of a bishopric at Santa Fé. The latter fact is very plainly established in the Real Cedula the of May 19, 1631, Ms. in which the King, among other matters touching proposed establishment of an episcopal see, says: ‘Fray Franco de Sosa, Comisario de Corte y Secreto General del Orden de San Francisco se me ha hecho relacion . . . y estan oy convertidos mas de quientos mil Indios y de ellos bautizados mas de ochenta mil.’ This is said of New Mexico. ‘‘The earliest actual census of the Pueblos, which I know of, dates back to 1660. Vetancurt (Cronica, p. 314): ‘Pues el afio de 1660 se hizo een general, en que se hallaron mas de veinte cuatro mil personas, chicas y oon= idios y espafioles.? There were then about 1,000 Spaniards in all of Mexico, so that the number of Pueblo Indians was a little over 23,000. This twenty corresponds very well with the statements of Castafieda, one hundred and years previously.’’