USA > Arizona > History of Arizona and New Mexico, 1530-1888, Volume XVII > Part 7
USA > New Mexico > History of Arizona and New Mexico, 1530-1888, Volume XVII > Part 7
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BUYA
Ari
-29
Hermosillo
AS.STEPHANO
I. DE CEDROS
23
Guaymas
R. May
R. Tcocomo
25
Culiacan/25
B. Santa Cruz
S. Miguel
Trinidad
CALIFORNIA
GUAYABAL
La Paz
23
23
29
21
21
THE NORTHWEST IN 1539.
L.S.MARGARITA
121ª
S.Abad?
B.Magdalena
28
30
NIZA AND CORONADO IN ARIZONA.
California-half a league from the main, and they told him of 30 other inhabited islands beyond, and of pearls. Then after four days' journey through an un- inhabited tract, he came to a people who had never heard of Christians, who called him Sayota, or 'man from heaven,' and who knew of large settlements in a valley four or five days inland, where cotton was used for clothing, and gold for implements and ornaments. For three days his way led him through the country of this people, till he came to Vacapa, a settlement of good size and plenty of food, 40 leagues from the sea.
At Vacapa Niza remained some nine days, sending messengers to the coast, who brought back tidings of the pearl islands-now 34 in number-and cowhide shields. Here he met natives from the east, known as ' pintados,' who had something to say of the ‘seven cities.' And from here he sent the negro ahead to explore the way, and after four days Estevanico sent back such glowing reports of what he had heard about Cíbola, with its seven great towns and stone buildings and turquoises, that even the credulous fraile hesitated to credit them. About the 6th of April, with two islanders and three 'pintados' added to his company, he left Vacapa, and in three days came to the people who had given the negro his information about Cíbola, and who now gave the good friar his fill of marvels. Pressing on for five days-possibly including the pre- vious three-through a well-settled country, they came to a pleasant and well-watered settlement near the borders of a desert. Between Vacapa and this place without much doubt they had crossed what is now the southern bound of Arizona.5
5 Vacapa, or S. Luis, was a rancheria from 12 to 19 1. southward of Sonoita, or S. Marcelo, visited by Kino and Mange in 1699-1701, and shown on Kino's map. See Hist. North Mex. St., i. 72-5, 271, 495, 499; Mange, Hist. Pimeria, 327; Apost. Afimes, 273-4, 282-5. Mange notes the place as the one passed by Coronado's (Niza's) exped., as described by Herrera. Padre Garcés, Diario y Derrotero, 365, in 1777 says: ' El pueblo de Bacapá que cita se halla hoy en la Papaguería con nombre de Quitolipcapa, en lenqua pima quiere decir; en Bac quiere decir tule, conque en Quitobapc dice tule chiquito.' Evidently there is typographic coufusion here; but Vacapa may have been Quitobac. This name of Vacapa is, of course, an important point in following Niza's route. The
31
MARCOS DE NIZA.
The desert having been crossed in four days, the route lay for five days through a fertile, irrigated val- ley, with many settlements of superior and friendly Indians. This may be reasonably regarded as the Gila valley in the region of the Pima villages. Here the friar understood that the coast turned abruptly westward, which means simply that the natives de- scribed the ocean as much farther off than the gulf coast had been in the south; but he says he went in person and saw that such was the case, which was hardly possible.6 These people knew of Cíbola, wore tur- quoises, and in some cases cotton, and they told of woollen garments woven in Totonteac from the fur of a small animal. In one of the rancherías was met a native of Cíbola, who gave much information about its seven towns, Ahacus being the largest-exaggerated though in a sense tolerably accurate descriptions of the since well-known Pueblo towns. He also told of other towns and provinces.7 Many others confirmed and supplemented the reports all along the way; turquoises and hides and other articles from Cíbola were plenti- ful; and the negro, whose zeal kept him far in advance with his native attendants, sent back the most encour- aging messages. For three days more they travelled in this valley or a similar one; and then, on the 9th
identity is not certain, as these rancherías were sometimes moved long dis- tances. If Niza went so far west he must have turned eastward later, for from that Vacapa he could not have travelled 5 or 8 days northward in a settled country to the borders of a desert. Whipple's location, Pac. R. R. Repts, iii. 104, of V. in the region of Magdalena, as hitherto favored by me, Hist. North Mex. St., i. 72-5, making the pleasant, well-watered settlement near the desert in the Tucson region, would be much more convenient; but the general features are clear enough, and nothing more can be hoped for.
6 ' Y así fuí en demanda della y ví claramente que en los 35 vuelve al Queste, de que no menos alegría tuve que de la buena nueva de la tierra.' Niza, Descub., 339. Of course the lat. 35° was all wrong. We shall find a similar statement about the westward trend in Coronado's narrative, but more clearly explained by the statement that here the gulf ended. If Niza continued N. w. from the Sonoita region to the Gila, and thence up that river, a visit to the head of the gulf, if possible, must still be regarded as very improbable.
" South-east of Cibola was the kingdom of Marata, with many large towns, though weakened by wars with Cibola; another in the same direction was To- tonteac, the most populous and richest of all; and another, Acus (distinct from Ahacus, which was only a town), in a direction not stated. These refer- ences were clearly to the N. Mex. Pueblo towns toward or on the Rio Grande.
32
NIZA AND CORONADO IN ARIZONA.
of May, they entered the final despoblado; that is, from the region of the modern Phoenix or Florence they entered the mountainous uninhabited tract, their course lying north-eastward, toward Zuñi.
For twelve days Fray Marcos pressed on, following the negro's route, and well supplied with food by the natives accompanying him, until, on the 21st of May, he met one of Estevanico's men returning with the worst of news. On reaching Cíbola, instead of the usual welcome, the negro had received an order not to enter the town, on pain of death, being forced to remain with his company in a house outside, without food, and being deprived of all the presents he had received on the journey. Next day, one of the men, going to a stream for water, looked back, and saw the negro running away from pursuers, who killed some of his companions. Then he made haste to inform the friar. Niza's companions were greatly terrified, but went forward at his solicitation; and one day's jour- ney before reaching Cíbola, two more of Estevanico's men were met, wounded, and stating that the negro had been killed.8 Thus perished black Stephen, the discoverer of Arizona.
There were threats among Niza's followers of hold- ing him responsible for the killing of their friends, and the friar said he was willing to die; but through the agency of gifts and threats the excitement was calmed. He then went forward with two chiefs, and from a hill got a glimpse of Cíbola, on a plain at the foot of a round hill, just as the natives had described it, and apparently more populous than Mexico, though said
: 8 Castañeda, Relation, 12-13, tells us that Stephen had a weakness for rich gifts, including handsome women; that he made a demand on the Cibolans for their wealth and women; that his claim of being the predecessor of white men who were coming to teach them seemed suspicious, on account of his color; and that they put him to death as a spy sent by enemies coming to subjugate them, releasing his 60 companions, though retaining a few boys. Coronado, Hakluyt, iii. 380, says the Cibolans claimed to have killed him because he killed and violated their women, and was reported to be a 'wicked villain.' One of his comrades, a boy from Petatlan, remained at Cibola, and was found by Coronado. News of Estévan's death was also given to Alarcon, on the Colorado,
33
RETURN OF FRAY MARCOS.
to be the smallest of the seven in a province far ex- celled by others beyond. A cross being erected on a heap of stones, formal possession was taken in Men- doza's name, for the king, of all that region, as the new kingdom of San Francisco. Then Fray Marcos hastened homeward, "con harto mas temor que comi- da," at the rate of eight or ten leagues per day. In a valley stretching eastward below Vacapa, he saw far off seven ' poblaciones razonables,' and heard that gold was plentiful there, but deemed it best to postpone a closer examination. At Compostela, perhaps in June or July, he reported to the governor, to whom he had before sent messengers from various points; and in August went with Coronado to Mexico, where, on the 2d of September, he formally certified the accuracy of his report.9
Cortés claimed that Niza's narrative was fiction, his pretended discoveries resting only on reports of the natives and information derived from Cortés himself; but Don Hernan was not in this instance an impartial critic.1º Coronado and his companions, in their expedition of the next year, disappointed in their expectations, applied some plain terms to certain phases of the friar's misrepresentations. Padre Kino seems to have thought that the Gila ruins might have been Niza's seven cities, and Humboldt partially
9 Niza, Descubrimiento de las Siete Ciudades, in Pacheco, Doc., iii. 325-51, including Mendoza's instructions of Nov. '38, and a certificate of P. Ciudad- Rodrigo, the provincial, dated Ang. 26, '39; Ital. transl. in Ramusio, Navig., iii. 356-9; Engl., in Hakluyt's Voy., iii. 366-73; French, in T'ernaux-Compans, Voy., série i. tom. ix. 256-84. For a long list of additional references, see Hist. North Mex. St., i. 74-5. A few others are Peralta, Not. Hist., 143-5, 148-9, 341-3; Mendieta, Hist. Ecles., 398-400; Remesal, Hist. Chyapa, 160-1; Purchas his Pilgrimes, iv. 1560-1; Bandetier's Hist. Introd., 7-9; Prince's Hist. Sk., 96-115; Zamacois, Hist. Mej., iv. 606-9, 652-9; Liceo Mex., ii. 153-6; Burney's Chron. Hist., i. 189-92; Hinton's Handbook, 385-6; Magliano's St Francis, 573-4; Hittell, in Californian, i. 130-5; Poussin, Puissance Amér., i. 340-1; Id., Question de l'Oregon, 18; Id., The U. S., 234; Voyages, Selection, 43; Graham's Discov., 207; Lafond, Voy., i. bk i. 200-1; Cozzens' Marvellous Country, 32; Arizona Hist. (Elliott & Co.), 35-6.
10 Icazbalceta, Col. Doc., ii. xxviii .- ix .; Cortés, Escritos, 299-304; Navarrete, Col. Viages, iv. 209. Cortés says he had tried to enlist the friar's services, imparting with that view what he had learned in the north. He also accused N. of similar treachery in Central and South America.
HIST. ARIZ. AND N. MEX. 3
34
NIZA AND CORONADO IN ARIZONA.
accepts that view.11 And most later writers have had occasion to dwell on his gross exaggerations, sometimes indulging in harsher terms. Yet the fact that Coronado, accompanied by Niza to Cíbola in 1540, with all his criticism does not seem to doubt that the friar actually made the trip as he claimed, is, of course, the best possible evidence against the theory that he visited northern Sonora, and imagined the rest. A close examination shows that nearly all the state- ments most liable to criticism rest solely on the reports of the natives, and only a few, like the visit to the coast, and the actual view of a great city at Cíbola, can be properly regarded as worse than exag- geration. My space does not permit the reproduction of descriptive matter with sufficient fulness to illus- trate the author's inaccuracies. Fray Marcos was an imaginative and credulous man, full of faith in northern wonders, zealous for spiritual conquest in a new field, fearful that the great enterprise might be abandoned; hence the general couleur de rose of his statements; hence perhaps a few close approximations to falsehood; but there is no good reason to doubt that he really crossed Sonora and Arizona to the region of Zuñi.
As to his route, so far as details are concerned, the narrative furnishes no foundation for positive theories, though possibly by a reproduction of all the data with carefully prepared topographic maps, obviously im- practicable here, approximately accurate results might be reached. As far as the Gila valley, Niza's route was possibly farther west, in part at least, than that of Coronado, to be noticed presently ; I have no doubt that it crossed the region between the Pima villages and Florence; and beyond that point the two routes were perhaps nearly identical. I refer the reader also to the map given later in this chapter.
11 Apost. Afanes, 253. 'On est tenté de croire que les ruines des Casas Grandes du Gila .... pourraient avoir donné occasion aux contes débitées par le bon père Marcos de Nizza.' Essai Pol., 310. Heylyn, Cosmoy., 967-8, says, 'so disguised in Lyes and wrapped up in fictions that the light was little more than Darkness.' Coronado 'found the Fryer to be a Fryer; nothing of moment true in all his Relations'
35
ULLOA AND ALARCON.
Preliminary reports of Niza's progress, sent south by the friar and reaching Mexico before July 1539- possibly including an outline of what he said of his discoveries after his return to San Miguel or Compos- tela-moved Cortés to renewed effort, lest perchance the great northern prize should elude his grasp; for he claimed the exclusive right of conquest in that direction, and had strenuously but vainly opposed Mendoza's act in preparing for an expedition ; though he denied that the friar's pretended discoveries had any foundation in truth. He had a fleet ready, and he made haste to despatch three vessels, under the command of Francisco de Ulloa, from Acapulco in July. As this expedition did not reach the territory now under consideration, its results being confined to a survey of the gulf and peninsula coasts, and espe- cially as the voyage has been fully recorded in another volume,12 I do not deem it necessary to say more on the subject here. The viceroy also entered into a contract with Pedro de Alvarado, with a view to north- ern exploration, but the Mixton war and Alvarado's death prevented any practical results. After protest- ing and struggling against the new expeditions of 1540, Cortés went to Spain, and appears no more in northern annals. 1216710
Another expedition by sea, fitted out by Mendoza to cooperate with that of Coronado on the land, was that of Hernando de Alarcon. This also has been described elsewhere,13 and as an exploration of the gulf requires no further notice in this connection ; but in August and September Alarcon made two trips in boats up the Colorado River, which he namned the Buena Guia. He possibly passed the mouth of the Gila, though he mentions no such branch; and it may be regarded as probable that he at least passed the Arizona line. This party also heard reports of Cíbola, and of Niza's adventures; and near the mouth of the
12 See Hist. North Mex. St., i. 77-82; and on the Alvarado contract, p. 96. 13 Id., i. 90-5.
36
NIZA AND CORONADO IN ARIZONA.
Colorado they left letters, found a little later by a branch of Coronado's expedition under Melchor Diaz.
Governor Coronado, as we have seen, came to Mexico with Niza, to consult the viceroy and make final arrangements for the conquest of Cíbola and its seven cities. The conditions were most favorable; Mendoza was an enthusiastic supporter of the scheme; the friar's tales were eagerly listened to, and often repeated with the usual distortions; an air of secrecy and mystery on the part of Coronado served still further to excite the popular interest; and never since the time of Nuño de Guzman had the response to a call for volunteers been so satisfactory. There was a fever of exploring zeal, and it seemed as if the whole population of Mexico might be easily induced to migrate northward.14 Niza was made provincial of his order, and the Franciscans became zealous in the cause. A force of 300 Spaniards and 800 Indian allies was easily enlisted. Many of the former were gentlemen of good family and high rank, some of them bound to serve Coronado, who was made captain-gen- eral of the expedition, only by their promises as gentlemen. The names of those bearing by actual rank or courtesy the title of captain are given in the appended note.15 In February 1540, the army was at
14 Says Suarez de Peralta, in his Noticias, 143, 148-9: 'Fué de manera la grita, que no se trataba ya de otra cosa ... Era tanta la cudiçia que á todos puso la nueva de las Siete Ciudades que no solo el virrey y marqués levantaron los pies para yr á ella, sino á toda la tierra, y tanto, que por favor se nego- ciaba el yr los soldados, y sacar liçeuçia; y era de manera que se vendian, y no pensaba el que la tenia, sino que ya era título por lo menos, porque lo en- careçia el frayle que habia venido de allá, de suerte, que dezia ser la mejor cosa que habia en el mundo .. . Segun el lo pintaba, debia ser el parayso ter- renal ... En todo esto dijo verdad.'
1ª Pedro de Tobar, standard bearer; Lope de Samaniego, maestro de campo (killed at Chametla); Tristan de Arellano, Pedro de Quevara, Garci- Lopez de Cárdenas, Juan de Zaldívar, Francisco de Obando, Alonso Manrique de Lara, Gomez Suarez de Sigueroa, Juan de Sotomayor, Juan de Jaramillo, Rodrigo Maldonado, Diego Lopez, Diego Gutierrez; Pablo Melgosa de Búrgos, com. of the infantry; Hernando de Alvarado, com. of the artillery; Francisco de Barrio-nuevo, Melchor Diaz, Juan Gallegos, Lope de Urrea, Luis Ramirez de Vargas, Francisco Garbolan; - Ribero, factor; Viliega. Castañeda gives some information respecting the family and rank of several of these officers.
37
CORONADO'S EXPEDITION.
Compostela, whither went Viceroy Mendoza to deliver a parting address of encouragement; and in April the general with an advance party set out from San Miguel de Culiacan.
Before leaving the north for Mexico, Coronado had despatched Diaz and Zaldívar, with fifteen men, to verify as far as possible Niza's reports. This party started in November 1539, and perhaps reached the Gila valley, but on account of the excessive cold decided not to attempt a crossing of the country beyond. From the natives they obtained information about Cíbola and the other provinces, similar to that given by the friar, but considerably less attractive and highly colored; and they also learned that the Cíbolans had requested the south-western tribes not to permit the Christians to pass, but to kill them. This report was brought south by Zaldívar and three men, who met Coronado at Chametla; and while the news was kept secret, it was generally understood to be bad, and Fray Marcos had to exert his eloquence to the utmost to prevent discouragement.16
I append a note on the bibliography of Coronado's expedition.17 As I have said, the general left San
16 Mendoza's letter to the king, of April 17, 1540, with quotations from Diaz' report. Pacheco, Doc., ii. 356-62; Castañeda, Rel., 29-30.
17 The most complete narrative is that of Pedro Castañeda de Nágera, known to the world only through the French translation, Castañeda, Relation du Voyage de Cibola, in Ternaux-Compans, Voy., série i. tom. ix. 246 p., with an appendix of various doc. pertaining to the subject. The author accom- panied the expedition in a capacity not stated; wrote about 20 years after the occurrence of the events described, and acc. to M. Ternaux was a resi- dent of Culiacan. He was a man of ability and education, being a most entertaining chronicler, and apparently a faithful historian. There is a de- gree of inaccuracy in dates, but otherwise the record is remarkably clear and satisfactory. Fernandez Duro, in his Noticias de Algunas Expediciones, 125, represents the Spanish original as pub. in Pacheco, Doc., ix. or xiv. 373; but this is an error. If it is pub. in sowie other vol. or p. of that col., I have not found it. A copy of the Span. original is said to have existed in the Lenox collection in '54, when an effort was made to have it printed by the Smithsonian Inst.
There are two other accounts written by officers connected with the expe- dition. The first is the Relacion del Suceso de la Jornada que Fran. Vasquez de Coronado hizo en el Descubrimiento de Cíbola, in Florida, Col. Doc., i. 147-54; also in Pacheco, Doc., xiv. 318-29, from an original at Simancas. The writ- er's name is unknown. The second is the Relacion que dio el Capitan Juan Jaramillo, in Florida, Col. Doc., i. 154-63; Pacheco, Doc., xix. 304-18; and
38
NIZA AND CORONADO IN ARIZONA.
Miguel about the middle of April, taking with him 50 horsemen, a few foot-soldiers, a body of native allies,
transl. in Ternaux, i. ix. 364-82. These narratives, though less extensive than that of Castañeda, are hardly less important in several respects, both authors having accompanied Coronado throughout the march to Quivira. A letter of Coronado to the viceroy, dated Aug. 3, 1540, and describing the events of the campaign down to date, is found translated in Ramusio, Navig., iii. 359-63; and Hakluyt's Voy., iii. 373-9. His letter of April 20, '41, to the emperor is not, so far as I know, extant; but a later letter, of Oct. 20, '41, de- scribing the exped. to Quivira, is found in Pacheco, Doc., iii. 362-9; repeated in xiii. 261-8; and in Ternaux, i. ix. 355-63. In Pachero, Doc., xix. 529-32, is the Traslado de las Nuevas, a letter or report from Cibola, date.l July 20, '40, giving an account of the march and of the taking of Cibola, the writer's name not appearing.
Among the early standard writers, Mota Padilla, Conq. N. Gal., iii. 14, 158-69, seems to be the only one giving details not apparently not drawn from the originals named above; but his additions are for the most part of slight importance and of unknown origin. Other references to authorities of this class are as follows: Torquemada, Monarq. Ind., i. 609-10; iii. 358-9, 610-12; Herrera, Hist. Gen., dec. vi. lib. ix. cap. 11-12; Oviedo, Hist. Gen., iii. 168; iv. 19; Gomara, Hist. Ind., 272-4; Mendieta, Hist. Ecles., 400; Beaumont, Cron. Mich., iv. 213-34, 378-86; Benzoni, Hist. Mondo Nuovo, 107; Bernal Diaz, Hist. Conq. Mex., 235; Las Casas, Hist. Apol., nos. 32-7, 127-9; Ribas, Trium- phos, 26-7; Venegas, Not. Cal., i. 167-9; Clavigero, Stor. Cal., 153; Alegre, Hist. Com.p. J., i. 237-8; Salmeron, Relaciones, 7-9; Cavo, Tres Siglos, i. 127-9; Lorenzano, in Cortés, Hist. Mex., 325; Galvano's Discov., 226-7; Noticias de Exped., MS., 241-2; Sinaloa, Mem. Hist., MS., 10-12.
Among modern writers who have added to their version of the narrative useful comments on the route, etc., the first place should be given to Gen. J. H. Simpson, Coronado's March, in Smithsonian Rept, '69, p. 308-40, who has discussed the question of route, localities, etc., in a manner that left little or nothing to be desired. Davis, Span. Conq. of N. Mex., 141-233, has given a condensed translation of Castañeda, with notes and remarks from his own knowledge of the country. The results of Bandelier's, Hist. Introd., 9-29, investigations on the identity of the pueblo groups visited by Coronado have been most satisfactory, this writer having access to documents and books not known to the others. In the same connection may be named the following works: Prince's Hist. Sk., 116-48; Gallatin, in Amer. Ethinol. Soc., Trans., ii .; Squier, in Amer. Review, Nov. '48; Whipple, in Pac. R. R. Repts, iii. 108-12; Morgan, in N. Am. Rev., April '69; Mollhausen, Reisen, ii. 211-12, 403; Emory's Notes, 139, 134; Abert's Rept, 30th Cong. Ist Sess., Ex. Doc. 41; Ires' Col. Riv., 19-20; Davis' El Gringo, 61-70; Schoolcraft's Arch., iv. 23-39; vi. 67-71; Miller's Centen. Sk., 13.
See also the following general references: Payno, in Soc. Mex. Geog., 2d ep., ii. 138-40; Escudero, Not. Son., 9, 27-9; Gottfriedt, N. Welt, 560-1; Laet, Novus Orbis, 299-305; Magin, Hist. Univ. Ind., 91-2; Burney's Chron. Hist., i. 216-17; Gil, in Soc. Mex. Geog., viii. 481-2; Montanus, N. Weerchl, 209-15; Purchas lus Pilgrimes, v. 853; Gallatin, in Amer. Ethnog. Soc., i. 201; Id., in Nouv. An. Toy., cxxxi. 247-74; Ruxton, in Id., cxxvi. 44; De Courcy's Cath. C'h., 14; Mayer's Mex. Aztec, i. 145; Domenech's Deserts, i. 174-9, 182; Green- how's Or. and Cal., 60-1; Ind. Aff. Rept, '63, p. 388; Murray's Hist. Trav., ii. 73-9; Brackenbridge's Mex. Letters, SI; Id., Early Discov., 7-15; Dobb's Acct Hul. Bay, 162; Fedix, l'Oregon, 68-9; Lardner's Hist. Mar. Discov., ii. 98-9; Cronise's Nat. Wealth, 31; Browne's L. Cal., 16-17; Gleeson's Hist. Cath. Ch., i. 66-8; Tuthill's Hist. Cal., 10-11; Frignet, La Cal., 7; Marchand, Voy., i. viii .; Barber's Hist. West. St., 547; Farnham's Life in Cal., 125-6; Larenau- dière, Mex. Guat., 145; Taylor, in Cal. Farmer, Feb. 21, Mar. 14, Aug. 25,
39
SONORA TO CÍBOLA.
and all the friars, including Marcos de Niza. His route was across the Yaqui to Corazones and the Sonora valley, thence continuing his way northward. At the end of April the main army under Arellano also left San Miguel for Sonora, where the Spaniards founded a settlement at San Gerónimo and remained till October, then joining the general in the far north, except a garrison left at the new town. With the fortunes of this Sonora settlement of San Gerónimo, abandoned after a change of site before the return of Coronado, we are not directly concerned here. It should be stated, however, that Melchor Diaz, sent back from Cíbola to command the garrison of 80 men, made, in 1540, an expedition to the gulf shore, and thence up the Colorado, which he crossed to make explorations southward on the western bank. He did not, apparently, reach the Gila, but he may pos- sibly have passed the Arizona line. He gave the name Rio del Tizon, from the fire-brands with which the natives warmed themselves, to the Colorado, which Alarcon had called Buena Guia; and in this enterprise he lost his life.18
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