USA > Arizona > History of Arizona and New Mexico, 1530-1888, Volume XVII > Part 5
USA > New Mexico > History of Arizona and New Mexico, 1530-1888, Volume XVII > Part 5
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13
PROGRESS IN THE NORTH.
territory, though in Pimería Alta the missions and presidios were extended northward to San Javier del Bac and Tubac, in what was later Arizona. On the west coast, however, in 1769-1800, the Spanish occu- pation was extended to latitude 37°, and exploration to the 60th parallel, while the Franciscans founded a series of nineteen new and flourishing missions in Alta California; and in the extreme east Texas was reoc- cupied in 1716-22 with missions and presidios, the country remaining permanently under Spanish domin- ion, though the establishments were never prosperous.
There is yet another introduction or accompaniment, pertaining appropriately enough to the early history of New Mexico, to which I may call attention here, at the same time suggesting that a perusal of its de- tails as recorded in another volume of this series may yield more of pleasure and profit if undertaken a little later, after the reader shall have made himself famil- iar with the record of the earliest expeditions as pre- sented in the opening chapters of this volume. I allude to the mass of more or less absurd conjectural theories respecting northern geography, which, plen- tifully leavened with falsehood, were dominant among writers and map-makers for two centuries, and which -belonging as much and as little to New Mexico as to any part of my territory-under the title of the Northern Mystery I have chosen to treat in my His- tory of the Northwest Coast.4 The earliest theories respecting the geographic relations of America to Asia were in a sense, as we have seen, reasonable and con- sistent; but after the explorations of 1539-43, this element of consistency for the most part disappeared, as the Spanish government lost much of its interest in the far north, with its faith in the existence of new and wealthy realms to be conquered there. There remained, however, a firm belief in the interoceanic strait, and an ever-present fear that some other nation
#Vol. i., chap. i .- iv., with copies of many old maps.
14
INTRODUCTORY REMARKS AND RÉSUMÉ.
would find and utilize it to the disadvantage of Spain. Meanwhile, there were many explorers legitimately desirous of clearing up all that was mysterious in the north, conquerors bent on emulating in that direction the grand achievements of Cortés and Pizarro, friars eager to undertake as missionaries the spiritual con- quest of new realms for God and their king; and their only difficulty was to gain access to the royal treasury in behalf of their respective schemes. The fear of foreign encroachment was a strong basis of argument, and in their memorials they did not hesitate to sup- plement this basis with anything that might tend to reawaken the old faith in northern wealth and wonders. These interested parties, and the host of theorists who embraced and exaggerated their views, generally succeeded in convincing themselves that their views were for the most part founded in fact. The old theories were brought to light, and variously distorted; the actual discoveries of 1539-43, as the years passed on, became semi-mythical, and were located anywhere to suit the writer's views, Indian villages being magnified without scruple into great cities; each new discovery on the frontier was de- scribed to meet requirements, and located where it would do the most good; and even the aborigines, as soon as they learned what kind of traditions pleased the white men most, did excellent service for the cause. It must be understood that much of all this was honest conjecture respecting a region of which little or nothing was known;5 but theory became
5 A late writer says, somewhat in this connection: 'It is difficult for per- sons in our generation to realize the circumstances under which the various expeditions connected with N. Mex. were made during the 16th, and indeed the 17th, century. We have been so accustomed to the general geog. contour of the Amer. continent from our earliest youth, we know so well the distance from ocean to ocean, and from the gulf to the Artic region, that it seems dif- ficult to remember that the intrepid explorers who penetrated to the north after the fall of the Montezumas had no idea at all of the extent of the main- land, and were never sure as they ascended a mountain but that its summit would bring to view the South Sea to the west, the North Sea, or Atlantic, to the east, or the great Arctic Ocean toward the pole .... The explorer of those days was travelling entirely in the dark. Nothing in more modern times has been similar to, or can again resemble, the uncertainty and romance
15
THE NORTHERN MYSTERY.
rapidly and inextricably mingled with pure fiction ; and there were few of the reported wonders of the north that had not been actually seen by some bold navigator, some ship-wrecked mariner wandering in- land, or some imaginative prospector or Indian-fighter. Not only did the strait exist, but many voyagers had found its entrance on the east or west, and not a few had either sailed through it from ocean to ocean, or reached it from the interior by land. The kingdoms and cities on its banks were described, though with discrepancies, which, indeed, threw no doubt on its existence, but rather suggested that the whole north- ern interior might be a great network of canals, among which the adventurer-would the king but fit out a fleet for him-might choose his route. Only a small portion of the current speculations and falsehoods found their way into print, or have been preserved for our reading; but quite enough to show the spirit of the time. The resulting complication of geographic absurdities, known as the Northern Mystery, has had a strange fascination for me, and its close connection with the early annals of New Mexico, as with those of the other Pacific United States, will doubtless be apparent to all.
of those early expeditions. For the recent explorers of Africa, for example, had a perfect knowledge of the shape of the exterior of the continent, and knew ex- actly what tribes lived on each shore, and what rivers emptied into each ocean. All that was left as a terra incognita was a certain area in the centre, and that of known length and breadth. But the early explorers of America literally knew nothing of the land they entered. It was absolutely virgin soil. They might find impassable mountains or enormous lakes; they might have to traverse almost interminable deserts, or discover rivers whose width would forbid their crossing; they might chance upon gigantic volcanoes, or find themselves on the shore of the ultimate ocean. And as to the inhabitants and products, they were equally ignorant. We are sometimes induced to smile at the marvellous stories related by some of the older explorers, at their still more extravagant expectations, and the credulity with which everything (however exaggerated or unnatural) relating to the new continent was he- lieved. But we must remember that it was a day of real marvels, and that nothing could well be imagined more extraordinary and unexpected than those things which had already been discovered as realities. An entire new world had been opened to the enterprise, the curiosity, the cupidity, and the benevolence of mankind. It is as if to-day a ready mode of access to the moon were discovered, and the first adventurers to the lunar regions had re- turned laden with diamonds, and bearing tidings of riches and wonders far beyond the wildest imagination of former generations.' Prince's Hist. Sketches of New Mexico, 16-18.
16
INTRODUCTORY REMARKS AND RÉSUMÉ.
The wanderings of Cabeza de Vaca, including, as most or all writers on the subject have agreed, the first visit of Europeans to New Mexico, have been recorded somewhat in detail in another volume of this series.6 For that reason, but chiefly because it is my opinion that Cabeza de Vaca never entered New Mexico, I devote in this volume comparatively little space to the subject; and for the latter reason, what I have to say is given in this introductory chapter in- stead of being attached to the record of actual explora- tions in the next. Alvar Nuñez, or Cabeza de Vaca, Andrés Dorantes, Alonso del Castillo Maldonado, and a negro slave called Estevanico were the only known survivors of the expedition of Narvaez to the gulf coast in 1528. After years of captivity among different native tribes, they finally escaped from servitude on the Texas coast, crossed the continent in a journey that lasted nearly a year, and arrived at San Miguel de Culiacan in April 1536. The success of so remark- able a trip resulted from the leader's wonderful good luck in establishing his reputation as a great medicine- man among the natives, who escorted the strangers from tribe to tribe along the way with full faith in their supernatural powers; or perchance the wanderers were, as they believed, under the miraculous protection of their god.
Naturally no journal was kept; but a report was made on arrival in Mexico, and a narrative was written by Álvar Nuñez after he went to Spain in 1537.7 There is no reason to question the good faith of either report or narrative as written from memory; but there is much discrepancy and confusion, not only between the two versions, but between different state- ments in each. Moreover the narrative informs us
6 See Hist. North Mex. States, i. 60-70.
" Relacion que dió Alvar Nuñez, etc., Ist pub. in 1542, with later ed. as Relacion y Comentarios and as Naufragios, also Italian and French translations. The report made in Mex. 1536 is known only by the version in Oviedo, Hist. Ind., iii. 582. Buckingham Smith, in his carefully annotated Cabeza de Vaca's Relation, a translation of the narrative, made use also of the report through Oviedo. For further bibliog. details, see ref. of note 6.
17
CABEZA DE VACA.
that they passed through so many peoples that "the memory fails to recall them," and the report disposes of an important part of the journey by the remark that they went forward "many days." There are, however, allusions to two or three large rivers, which, if the record has any significance, can hardly have been other than the Pecos, Rio Grande, and Conchos; and the route-shown on the annexed map without any at- tempt to give details-may be plausibly traced in general terms from the Texan coast near Galveston
N.MEXICO
SONORA
El Paso
R
. Diouog'2
Corazom's
R. Colorado
P.del Norte
E
R. S. Antonio
CHIHUAHUA
Espiritu Santo
Faqui
R. Conchost ...
Rio Grande
SIN
Gulf
S.Migue
CABEZA DE VACA'S ROUTE.
north-westward, following the course of the rivers, then south-west to the region of the Conchos junction, then westward to the upper Sonora and Yaqui valleys in Sonora, and finally south to San Miguel in Sinaloa.8
The belief that Cabeza de Vaca passed through New Mexico and visited the Pueblo towns is not sup- ported by the general purport of the narrative, or of what followed. Not only is it wellnigh certain
8 ' It is not possible to follow, and to trace geographically, the erratic course of Cabeza de Vaca with any degree of certainty. His own tale, however authentic, is so confused that it becomes utterly impossible to establish any details of location.' Bandelier's Hist. Introd., 6. This writer of 1881 seems to imply at least a doubt that N. Mex. was discovered at this time. Prince, however, in '83, Hist. Sk., 80, 91-2, has no doubt of the discovery. HIST. ARIZ. AND N. MIX. 2
Peco
18
INTRODUCTORY REMARKS AND RÉSUMÉ.
that had he seen those wonderful structures, they would have figured largely in his reports in Mexico, but we know that the effective part of his statement was the report, obtained from Indians, of populous towns with large houses and plenty of turquoises and emeralds, situated to the north of his route. There are but two bits of testimony that might seem to con- flict with my conclusion, and both, when examined, seem rather to confirm it. One of the relations of Coronado's later expedition indicated that traces of Cabeza de Vaca's presence were found on the plains far to the north-east of the Santa Fé region; but in another it is explained that they simply met an old Indian, who said he had seen four Spaniards in the direction of New Spain, that is, in the south. Again, according to the narrative, the wanderers, long before they heard of the great houses of the north, came to "fixed dwellings of civilization;" and indeed, it is im- plied that they travelled for long distances in the re- gions of such dwellings; but that these were not the Pueblo structures is clear, not only from the lack of description, but from the fact that the natives built new houses for the accommodation of their guests. I suppose these fixed dwellings were simply rancheria huts of a somewhat more permanent nature than those that had been seen farther east on the plains; and in- deed, the Jumanas were found before the end of the century living in such houses, some of them built of stone. Again, it is to be noted that Espejo in 1582 found among the Jumanas, not far above the Conchos junction, a tradition that the Spaniards had passed that way. Even Davis, who has no doubt that the party visited New Mexico, has to suggest that that country then extended much farther south than now, thus somewhat plausibly proving that if Alvar Nuñez did not come to New Mexico, a convenient lack of boundaries enabled the province to go to Cabeza de Vaca. It seems to me that the most positive asser- tion that can be made in connection with the whole
19
AUTHORITY FOR EARLY ANNALS.
matter, except that the wanderers arrived at San Miguel, is that they did not see the Pueblo towns; yet it can never be quite definitely proved that their route did not cut off a small south-eastern corner of what is now New Mexico. While Cabeza de Vaca is not to be credited with the discovery of the country, he was the first to approach and hear of it; his re- ports were the direct incentive to its discovery and ex- ploration; and thus, after all, his wonderful journey may still be regarded as the beginning of New Mexi- can annals.
BIBLIOGRAPHY OF EARLY NEW MEXICAN HISTORY.
An alphabetic list of works consulted in the preparation of this volume is given as usual at its beginning. By far the most important authorities for the Spanish and Mexican periods are of a documentary nature; but docn- ments and books relating to special events, topics, or epochs of the history will be noticed bibliographically, as my custom is, when their subjects in snccession present themselves for treatment. Besides these, there are, however, some archive collections and general works in manuscript and print covering the whole ground of Spanish and Mexican annals, or a considerable portion of it, which, having no specially appropriate chronologie place, may be most conveniently noticed here. This note may also properly include a mention, not only of general works on the history of Arizona and New Mexico, but of others devoted mainly to other subjects, yet containing scattered information on points treated in this volume, and also of various collections of voyages or documents rich in New Mexican matter, the separate items of which will require more detailed attention elsewhere. Mention of works devoted to the modern history of these conntries as territories of the United States, even if they include a superficial outline of earlier events, will, as a rnle, be reserved for later chapters.
Naturally, archive records are here as elsewhere to be regarded as the fonndation of history; but in this case these records must be sought from a variety of sources, of which the archives proper-that is, the documents pre- served in government keeping at Santa Fé, and cited by me as Archiro de Sta Fe, MS .-- are not the most fruitful or important. The earliest records, those preceding 1680, were almost entirely destroyed in the revolt of that and the following years. The bulky accumulations of 160 later years, never adequately cared for in Spanish and Mexican times, were most shamefully neglected under U. S. rule. Hundreds of documents were lost or destroyed from time to time, until about 1870, during the rule of Governor Pile, when the remaining archives were removed from the palacio and sold for wrapping- paper, only about one fourth being recovered. See N. Mex. newspapers of 1870, extracts from which were published in pamphlet form as N. Mex., Destruction of Spanish and Mexican Archives in New Mexico, by United States Officials, n. p. (1870), 8vo, 4 p. After several years more of neglect and ruin, the fragments were at last gathered up, properly cared for, and roughly classified in 135 pasteboard boxes, by Judge Samnel Ellison, who has been their keeper as territorial librarian since ISSI, and who has kindly afforded me every facility for consulting the treasures in his care. Thus it will be seen that the Arch. Sta Fé, though immensely valuable in the aggregate, and containing many important documents, is very imperfect, fragmentary, and utterly inadequate to the forming of a complete record of the country's annals in any phase. It is vastly inferior to the Archivo de California, so ex-
20
INTRODUCTORY REMARKS AND RESUME.
tensively cited in another work of this series; and it should also be noted that the scale on which this volume is written by no means calls for or per- mits so detailed a reproduction of the archive record as is given in my work on California. In the papers at Sta Fé, the fragmentary mission books and other documents preserved at some of the old pueblos, and the private ar- chives of New Mexican families, there is still ample field for the research of historical societies or individuals who may delve for data on local and personal minutiæ of the old times. Many documents of the Arch. Sta Fé are given separate titles in my list, and are noticed under their proper dates in these pages. It should also be noted that a few documents of the archives hefore their destruction were consulted by different writers, who have thus preserved matter not without value.
Fortunately, a formal search of the Sta Fé archives for historical purposes was made in the 18th century, while the records were still comparatively in- tact. This search, made in part by Padre Escalante in 1778, and completed by him or some other Franciscan in the following years, covered the period from 1681 to 1717; the result, very much more complete than any that could he reached by an examination of the original records in their present condi- tion -- though I have found many of the fragments by which to test parts of the work-was sent to Mexico and Spain, and it is still extant, though I be- lieve I am the first in modern times to consult it. It is cited by me under two titles: Ist, Escalante, Carta del P. Fr. Silvestre Velez de Escalante, Escrita en 2 de Abril de 1778 años (Sta Fé), fol., p. 113-26. The author had, it seems, been requested by his superior, P. Juan A. Morfi, to search the N. Mex. ar- chives. This letter contains an epitome of such information as he has found from 1680 to 1692, all papers of earlier date than 1680 having been lost in the revolts of '80 or '97. He hopes to complete the search in a month or two; therefore he was probably the author of the following: 2d, Archivo de Nuevo Mexico, fol., p. 127-208, which is a continuation of the preceding, covering the period of 1692-1717. It contains many copies or extracts of original papers, some of which still exist with the paging as here given. At the be- ginning it is divided into cuadernos, and later into paragraphs corresponding to the administrations of successive governors. Its value as an historical authority of course requires no explanation. These invaluable records are found in MS., in the Archivo General de Mexico, tomo ii .- iii., the Andrade- Maximilian copies of which are in my Library; and they were also printed, 1856, in the Doc. Hist. Mex., 3d series, pt iv. p. 113-208, which is the form in which I cite the Escalante, Carta, and the Arch. N. Mex., though I have introduced some corrections from the MSS.
There are several other valuable collections of archive material, each con- taining important papers not found in any other, and all constituting for some periods a very perfect record. Vol. xxv. of the Arch. Gen. Mex., MS., is en- titled Documentos para la Historia de Nuevo Mexico, of which a copy in my Library filling 1,756 pages is cited in this volume as N. Mex. Doc., MS. These documents are official reports of friars and secular authorities covering a large part of the 18th century, but also including some very important papers of the 17th. The original copies seem to have been made both at Sta Fé and in Mexico, and very few of the records have been consulted by any earlier writer. M. Alphonse Pinart has a Coleccion de Documentos sobre Nuevo Mex- ico, composed of a large number of unbound original MSS., collected by him- self from various sources and kindly furnished for my use. It is particularly rich in official communications between the rulers of N. Mex. and the su- perior authorities in Chihuahua and Mexico; and it has enabled me to fill many a gap in the country's annals. Still another collection of original and not previously used matter in my Library is the Nuevo Mexico, Cedulas, MS., 60 fol., which contains 18th-century copies of some 35 royal orders, of various dates from 1631 to 1762, selected for their importance in connection with New Mexican events. I think this collection was also made by or for Padre Morfi. It is preceded by Bonilla (Antonio), Apuntes sobre Nuevo Mexico, 1776, MS., 31 fol., a valuable outline of provincial annals to date; and is followed by col- lections of Cédulas on Baja Cal., and other provinces.
21
ORIGINAL RECORDS.
The 32 volumes of MSS. which make up the Archivo General of Mexico, or which rather form an introduction or beginning for the hundreds of volumes of records preserved there-collected from all parts of the country by order of Carlos IV., dated Feb. 21, 1790, are rich in matter on our present subject. In tom. ii .- iii., printed in Doc. Hist. Mex., 3d series, pt iv., p. 1-225-besides the Escalante, Carta, and the Arch. N. Mex., already noted, are found three other important documents as follows: (Ist) Salmeron, Relaciones de todas las cosas que en el Nuevo- Mexico se han visto y Sabido, asi por mar como por tierra, desde el año de 1538 hasta el de 1626, por el Padre Gerónimo de Zurute Salmeron, predicador de la orden de los menores de la provincia del Santo Evangelio. Diri- gidas á N. Rmo P. Fr. Francisco de Apodaca, padre de la provincia de C'antabria y comisario general de todas las de esta Nueva-España (printed in 1856), fol., p. 1-55. For more about the author, see chap. viii. of this vol. The work was approved by Fr. Francisco Velasco of the Franciscan convent in Mexico on Aug. 18, 1629. It is a very interesting and complete résumé-the best extant, when taken in connection with the following work-of the earliest northern explorations, being by no means confined to N. Mex .; yet the writer is so fully imbued with the spirit of his time, and so eager to promote new entradas, that he considerably exaggerates reports of gold, silver, great cities, and other northern wonders, and somewhat to the neglect unfortunately of events of his own time on which he might have thrown much light. (2d) Niel, Apuntami- entos que á las memorias del P. Fr. Gerónimo de Zárate hizo el P. Juan Amando Niel de la Compañía de Jesus, no tan solo estando práctico del terreno que se cita, si no es que llevaba en la mano las memorias para cotejar las con él, p. 56-112. The author was a missionary in Sin., Son., and Chih. from 1697 to 1710, and was evidently well acquainted with all that had been accomplished in the north, though it does not appear that he ever visited N. Mex. His work is more valuable in a sense than that of Salmeron, since it includes literally or in sub- stance all the latter's statements, corrects many of his errors, and makes con- siderable additions from the author's more extended knowledge. Niel wrote a century later than Salmeron, but knowledge of northern geography had in the mean time made but little progress. I have used both works extensively in my study of the Northern Mystery in another work of this series. (3d) Paredes, Utiles y curiosas noticias del Nuevo-Mexico; Cibola, y otras naciones con- finantes; La antigua tradicion de Copala, cuna no solo de los Indios Mexicanos, sino generalmente de todas las naciones indianas que en diversos tiempos salieron á poblar los vastos países de este Nuevo-Mundo, p. 211-25. This title, cited by me in earlier volumes as Paredes, Noticias, was probably intended to include other documents besides this, the special title of which is Copia de un informe hecho á Su Magestad sobre las tierras del Nuevo Mexico (por el P. Fr. Alonso de Paredes). But the author's name, though written and printed Paredes, and so used by me as above stated in earlier volumes, was really Posadas; and the report has been recently republished from a MS. of the Acad. de Hist. as Posadas (Fr. Alonso), Informe á S. M. sobre las tierras de Nuevo Mejico, Quivira y Teguayo, in Fernandez Duro, Don Diego de Peña loza, 53-67. Therefore, I cor- rect the error (not mine), and cite it in this vol. as Posadas, Informe. The writer was custodio of N. Mex. in 1660-4, and a missionary there for 10 years before. This report was written about 1686, in reply to a royal order of 1678. It refers more to the regions north and east than to N. Mex. proper, but is immensely important on a few points of N. Mex. history, as will be noted later. It is most unfortunate that Posadas, like Salmeron, did not write more fully of his own observations.
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