Forty years had passed away, and in that time the achievements of Fray Marcos and Francisco Vasquez had been wellnigh forgotten, or at least had taken the form of vague and semi-mythic traditions, so mingled with baseless geographic conjectures as to retain but the frailest foundation of historic fact. But in those years Spanish occupation had gradually extended over a broad field northward from Nueva Galicia to the latitude of southern Chihuahua. Here, in the region corresponding to the later Allende and Jimenez, known then by the various names of San Bartolomé, Santa Bárbara, Santa Bárbola, and San Gregorio, rich mines had been discovered, a flourishing settlement had sprung into existence, the Franciscan friars were striving with their accustomed zeal, and a small military force was maintained for the protection of miners, missionaries, and a few settlers from the ever-impending raids of savage tribes of the north and east.

One of the missionary band stationed at this frontier outpost of the San Bartolomé valley was Fray Agustín Rodriguez. In the wanderings to which he was called by duty and by his ardent desire for martyrdom, the good friar came in contact with the Conchos, who lived on the river so called, and from them he heard rumors of a superior people dressed in cotton, whose home was in the north. Padre Agustín chanced to have read Cabeza de Vaca’s narrative, and this gave the new reports additional interest in his eyes, though he appears to have known nothing of Coronado’s entrada. If, while winning his coveted crown of martyrdom, he could also achieve the glory of a new conquista espiritual, so much the better for himself and his order. Therefore, in November 1580, he applied to Viceroy Coruña for a license to undertake the enterprise, apparently visiting Mexico for that purpose. The king had forbidden new entradas except with royal license; yet the viceroy took the liberty of authorizing the organization of a volunteer escort not exceeding twenty men, who might also carry along some articles for barter; the padre provincial gave the required permission; and the friar returned to San Bartolomé to fit out his party.

 

Early Routes to New Mexico.

Two other Franciscans, padres Juan de Santa María and Francisco Lopez, were assigned by the provincial to the new field; eight or nine soldiers of the twenty allowed were induced, in the hope of finding mines, to volunteer their services, one of the number, Francisco Sanchez Chamuscado, being made their leader; and from eight to fifteen Indian servants, besides a mestizo named Juan Bautista, were engaged for the trip. This party, some twenty strong, set out from San Bartolomé on the 6th of June, 1581, and followed the Río Concha, or Conchos, down to its junction with a very large river which they named the Guadalquivir, really the Río Grande, or Bravo del Norte. Up this river they marched for 20 days, or 80 leagues, as they overestimated the distance, to the first group of pueblos, to which province, or rather to the whole region of the pueblos, they gave the name of San Felipe, arriving in August. This first group was in the Socorro region, being the same visited by Coronado’s officers. From this point they continued their journey up the valley, and visited most of the groups on the main river and its branches. I append an outline of their movements, from which it will be apparent that the towns visited cannot be accurately identified from the meagre details of the testimony, the good faith of which, however, there is no reason to question. A pueblo of Puaray was made the centre of operations, and from later records it is reasonably clear that this place was in the Tigua province, or Coronado’s Tiguex. Here the friars remained while the soldiers made all or part of their exploring trips; and here they were finally left with their Indian attendants and the mestizo, by Chamuscado and his men, who set out on their return in December or January. The natives had been everywhere friendly, and no trouble was anticipated; or at least there is no evidence that the missionaries objected to the departure of the escort.

On his return to San Bartolomé, Chamuscado and some of his men started for Mexico to report, particularly on some mining prospects they bad found in the far north; but the leader died on the way. In May 1582 the testimony of two of the men was taken before the viceroy, and this, as supplemented by other evidence a little later, constitutes our best authority on the expedition of Padre Rodriguez. This supplementary investigation was occasioned by rumors that the friars left in the north had been killed; and Barrundo, one of Chamuscado’s men, testified that among the southern Indians who had voluntarily remained at Puaray were three named Andrés, Francisco, and Gerónimo, the latter a servant of the witness. Francisco had made his appearance at San Bartolomé, and had stated that Padre Lopez, the guardian or chief of the friars, had been killed by the natives of Puaray, whereupon the three Indians had taken flight, believing from the tumult they heard that Rodriguez and Santa María were also killed. Andrés was killed on the return, but Gerónimo was found in the Zacatecas mines, and confirmed what Francisco had said, coming to Mexico with the witness, but subsequently disappearing. This may be regarded as practically all that was ever known respecting the circumstances of the friars’ death. It would appear, however, that Santa María was the first to die instead of Lopez, and that he was killed at some distance from Puaray, where the others met their fate.

It seemed to the viceroy and his advisers in Mexico altogether proper and even necessary that something should be done, not only to ascertain the fate of the two friars, and succor them if still alive, but to investigate the truth of Chamuscado’s reports respecting silver mines, and the general desirability of the northern province for Spanish occupation. But long before the red-tape processes in vogue at the capital could be concluded, the expedience completed, the king consulted, and any practical result reached, a new expedition was planned and carried out independently of the national authorities.

The Franciscans of Nueva Vizcaya were naturally much troubled about the fate of Padre Rodriguez and his companion, after the return of their native attendants with reports that one of the three friars had been killed; and Padre Bernardino Beltran was eager to represent his order in a new entrada. Don Antonio Espejo, a rich citizen of Mexico who chanced to be sojourning temporarily at the Santa Bárbara mines, and who had a taste for adventure, was willing to pay the expenses of the expedition, and serve as commander. There was no time to consult the viceroy, but the alcalde mayor of Cuatro Ciénegas took it upon himself to issue the needed license and commission; fourteen soldiers volunteered for the service; a number of native servants were obtained; Espejo fitted out the party with the necessary arms and supplies, including 115 horses and mules; and the start was made from San Bartolomé on the 10th of November, 1582. The route as before was down the Río Conchos to the junction of the Bravo, a distance of 59 leagues, accomplished in fifteen days, as is somewhat vaguely indicated in the narrative. On the way Espejo found silver prospects, and passed through the country of the Conchos, Pazaguates, and Tobosos successively, all being friendly, though the Tobosos—in later years rivalling the Apaches in their savage raids—at first fled, because, as they said, they had formerly been ill treated by a party of Spaniards.

About the junction of the rivers, and extending twelve days’ journey up the Río Grande, were the Jumanas—the name being written also Jumanos and Humanos—or Patarabueyes, who like the Tobosos were hostile at first, attacking the camp at night, killing a few horses, and fleeing to the mountains; but like the rest they finally listened to explanations, gave and took gifts, furnished guides and escorts, and became altogether friendly. These Jumanas in several respects were superior to the southern tribes, and especially in their buildings, many of which were flat-roofed, and probably built of stone or adobes, being doubtless Cabeza de Vaca’s “fixed dwellings of civilization”; for indeed, these natives had a smattering of Christianity, obtained, as they explained, from “three Christians and a negro” who had passed that way in former years.

From the Jumana province, which must have terminated I think some distance below the modern boundary of New Mexico, the Spaniards went on up the river, but nothing definite is recorded of time or distance. Two populous provinces of inferior but friendly natives were traversed, eight days’ journey apart, about which little could be learned for want of an interpreter, not even the names of these nations. In the first the people had some cotton cloth and feather-work, which they were understood to have obtained by bartering buffalo and deer skins with a western people; and they also on being shown samples of silver indicated that plenty of that metal could be found five days westward. In the second province, where the rancherías were near lagoons on both sides of the Río del Norte—so called here probably for the first time—was found a Concho who told of a large lake fifteen days westward, on the borders of which were many towns of houses several stories high. He offered to guide the Spaniards thither, but their duty called them to the north.

Still up the valley of the Río Grande, through forests of mezquite, pine, cottonwood, and other trees, journeyed Espejo’s company for fifteen days, or 80 leagues, without meeting any inhabitants; and then, twelve leagues beyond a ranchería of straw huts, they reached the first group, or province, of the pueblos, where the houses were from two to four stories high, and where ten towns were visited on both banks of the river in two days’ journey, and apparently others were seen in the distance, all containing a population of some 12,000 friendly natives, whose manners and customs are described with tolerable accuracy. This southernmost group must be identified with those visited by Coronado and Rodriguez, beginning apparently in the region of latitude 34°, and certainly between Fray Cristóbal and the mouth of the Puerco.

Half a league beyond the limits of this first district they entered another, that of the Tiguas, or Coronado’s Tiguex, and soon came to the pueblo of Puara—also written Puala, Pualas, and Poala—near the site of the modern Bernalillo, as we have seen, and one of 16 towns constituting the province. It was at Puara, as was now definitely ascertained, that padres Rodriguez and Lopez with their attendants had been killed; and the natives, fearing that vengeance was Espejo’s object, fled to the mountains, and nothing could induce them to return; but fortunately they left in the towns—or possibly the town, for it is not quite clear that any but Puara was abandoned—a plentiful store of food. Not only was information here obtained about the friars, but, writes Espejo, “we found very truthful statements that Francisco Vasquez Coronado was in this province, and that they killed here nine of his soldiers and forty horses, and that for that reason he had destroyed a pueblo of the province; and of this the natives of these pueblos gave us an account”. This clear statement, omitted in the Hakluyt version of the narrative hitherto followed, would have saved Gallatin, Davis, and others from the error of locating Coronado’s Tiguex on the Río Puerco.

The main object of the entrada had now been accomplished, and the return was talked of; but it seemed to the leader that as there were reports of other friendly provinces farther on, especially in the east and not far off, the opportunity was good to do his Majesty good service at comparatively slight cost by additional exploration; and this view, being discussed in council at Puara, was approved by Padre Beltran and the rest. Accordingly, with two companions, the captain went in two days eastward to a province of the Maguas, or Magrias, on the borders of the buffalo plains, where he found eleven pueblos of some 40,000 inhabitants, and where, as he learned, Padre Santa María had been killed. It was a country of pine woods, without running streams, and with good indications of metals in the mountains on the way. Thence he returned to Puara on the Río del Norte.

 

ESPEJO IN NEW MEXICO

 

The next move, and of the whole company, was one day's journey of about six leagues up the river to the province of the Quires, or Coronado’s Quirix, with its five pueblos, and 15,000 people, where the strangers were given a most friendly reception, and where observations showed a latitude of 37° 30', at least two degrees too far north. Then they went two days, or some 14 leagues, to a province of the Punames—also written Pumames and Cunames—with five towns, the capital being Sia, or Siay, of eight plazas, and houses plastered and painted, This pueblo was on a small tributary of the Río Grande flowing from the north; but clearly the distance is much exaggerated if it is to be in any way identified with the Cia of modern times. The next province, six leagues to the north-west, and doubtless up the branch river, was that of the Emexes—Emeges or Amejes—clearly that of Jemes, with seven pueblos and some 30,000 souls, one of the towns, a large one in the mountains, not being visited. From Jemes Espejo gives his course as to the west for 15 leagues—really over 20 leagues south-west—to Acoma, on a peñol 50 yards high, accessible only by steps cut in the solid rook. Its population was estimated at over 6,000. The next stage of the journey was four days, or 24 leagues, westward to Zuñi, or Cíbola, with its six pueblos, and over 20,000 people.

At Zuñi the Spaniards found, not only crosses standing near the towns, but three christian Indians still living, who had come with Coronado 40 years before. These were Andrés, Gaspar, and Anton, natives of Culiacan, Mexico, and Guadalajara, respectively; and they told of the explorations in the west made by Coronado’s captains, Don Pedro de Tobar being named. What was still more interesting, they asserted that 60 days’ journey in the west, far beyond where Coronado’s men had been forced to turn back for want of water, there was a great lake with many settlements on its banks, where the people had gold in abundance, wearing that metal in the form of bracelets and earrings. This fabulous lake, as we have seen, was destined to play an important rôle in annals of the Northern Mystery. Here at Zuñi, Padre Beltran and four or five of the soldiers announced their desire to return to Nueva Vizcaya, believing it useless to search for gold and silver where Coronado had failed to find them, and also that their force was too small for a further advance. These men were accordingly left at Zuñi with permission to return; but the leader resolved to visit another province reported to be not far distant.

With nine soldiers, the three Mexican Indians, and 150 friendly Cíbolans, Espejo marched westward from Zuñi, and in a journey of four days, or 28 leagues, reached the province of Mohoce, or Mohace, with five large pueblos and over 50,000 inhabitants. One of the towns was Aguato, or Zaguato. There can be little doubt that the Mohoce province was identical with the Moqui towns. The people, though they sent messengers to warn the strangers not to approach on pain of death, were easily convinced of the visitor’s friendly intentions, and gave them a most enthusiastic welcome, loading them with cotton mantas and food, besides delighting their ears with confirmation of the tales respecting wealth in the far west. The horses inspired more fear than the men, and Espejo humored the terror of the natives by admitting the animals’ ferocity, thus inducing the chief to build a kind of stone fort to hold the monsters—a fort which, in case of trouble, might be useful to the small Span­ish force. Hakluyt notes this as “a witty policy to be used by the English in like cases”. Here they remained six days, visiting all the pueblos, and becoming so firmly convinced of the natives’ friendship that the leader left in the province five of his men to return to Zuñi with the luggage.

With four of his soldiers and some Moqui guides, Espejo set out to find rich mines reported in the west; and after a journey of 45 leagues over a mountainous country he found the mines, and with his own hands obtained rich samples of silver ore. On the streams he found large quantities of wild grapes, walnut-trees, flax, magueyes, and Indian figs. Several settlements of mountain tribes were visited, where the people raised maize and were uniformly friendly. These natives also told of a great river beyond the mountains—clearly the Colorado; and drew liberally on their imagination for the additional information that the river was eight leagues wide, with great towns on its banks, in comparison with which towns all the other provinces were nothing. The river flowed into the north sea, and the natives used canoes to cross it. From the mines the explorers returned by a more direct route of 60 leagues to Zuñi. It will be remembered that Coronado had reached the Colorado by a westerly or north-westwardly course from Moqui; and it is probable that Espejo’s route was rather to the south-west, as he only heard of the great river beyond the mountains. Taking his distances of 45 leagues from Moqui and 60 leagues from Zuñi, we might locate his mine in the region of Bill Williams Mountain 40 or 50 miles north of Prescott. The record hardly justifies any more definite location.

Back at Zuñi Espejo found not only the five men he had left at Moqui, but Padre Beltrán and his companions, who had not yet started on their return, but soon did so, by the same route, perhaps, that they bad come, or more likely crossing directly from Acoma south-eastward to the Río Grande, and thence down the river. The commander with his eight remaining companions, with a view of making further explorations up the Rio del Norte, marched in ten days, or about 60 leagues, to the Quires province, and thence eastward in two days, or 12 leagues, to the province of the Ubates, or Hubates, with some 20,000 people in five pueblos. From this province, having spent two days in visiting some mines, they went in one day to the province of Tamos with its three large pueblos and 40,000 inhabitants. One of these pueblos was Cicuique, that is, Pecos, situated half a league from the Río de las Vacas. I think it most likely that Espejo on quitting the Quires went up the river as he had intended—north-east instead of east, as his relation has it—and that the Ubates were the Tehua pueblos north of Santa Fé. The name Tamos, or Tanos, as applied to pueblos in the Galisteo region, was well known in later years; and Pecos is clearly indicated by Espejo as one of the three towns, though we are left in doubt as to the other two, as we were before respecting the province of Maguas between this group and the Tiguas.

The Tanos, unlike the other nations visited, were not friendly to the Spaniards, refusing admission to their towns and furnishing no food. It was therefore deemed unwise to remain longer in the country with so small a company, some of the soldiers being also ill. It was now July 1583. A Pecos Indian was employed to show a shorter route for departure than that by which they had entered the country. In half a league they reached the Río de las Vacas, or Cow River, later known as the Pecos; and down this river, seeing many buffaloes in the first part of the journey, they travelled 120 leagues, eastward as the narrative has it—but Espejo’s directions are often inaccurate—until they found three natives of the Jumana nation, who directed them across to the Rio Concho in 12 days, or some 40 leagues. Thence Espejo went to San Bartolomé, where he arrived on the 20th of September, and where he dated his report at the end of October. Padre Beltrán and his party had arrived long before, and had gone to Durango. A map accompanied Espejo’s report, but is not known to be extant.

Thus Espejo, a private citizen, accompanied by only a friar and fourteen soldiers, peacefully wandering from province to province, had accomplished substantially as great results as had Coronado with his grand army, his winter’s warfare on the Río Grande, and his barbarous oppression of the unoffending natives. Espejo visited 74 pueblos, the population of which, exclusive of the Tiguas, he estimated at 253,000 souls, doubtless a gross exaggeration. It is evident also that he overrated, from motives that will presently appear, the general resources and advantages of the country as a field for Spanish enterprise. Yet there is no reason to question the truthfulness of his narrative, nor is there much difficulty in satisfactorily tracing his route or identifying most of the pueblo groups visited. The expeditions of Rodriguez and Espejo must be regarded as most remarkable ones, modestly and accurately recorded, and in their practical results vastly more important than the earlier efforts which gave such fame to Niza and Coronado.

At the end of the last chapter I have shown how the name Nuevo Mexico—in the early times as often Nueva Mexico, in the feminine—had been in a sense invented and held in readiness for future grand discoveries. The application of the name to the country that was to bear it permanently has been attributed by good authorities, early and modern, both to Rodriguez and to Espejo, though the former really called it San Felipe and the latter Nueva Andalucía. The truth would seem to be, that the name was applied in Mexico, under circumstances not fully recorded, after Chamuscado’s return, and during Espejo’s absence. Its first occurrence, as far as I know, is in Río de Losa’s essay written about this time. San Felipe de Nuevo Mexico appears occasionally in early documents. It was obviously natural that such a name should have suggested itself as appropriate for any newly discovered province whose people and buildings resembled in a general way—that is, in comparison with the wild tribes and their huts—those of the valley of Mexico.