USA > Arizona > History of Arizona and New Mexico, 1530-1888, Volume XVII > Part 8
USA > New Mexico > History of Arizona and New Mexico, 1530-1888, Volume XVII > Part 8
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The march of Coronado's party from Sonora to Cíbola in June and July, and that of the main army under Arellano in November and December, presented nothing of special importance or interest for the chron- iclers, who have given us but few particulars of adven- ture or hardship. For us the chief interest centres upon the route followed, which, in its general features, is by no means so vaguely recorded as has often been supposed, though in the absence of the original diary the narratives are naturally confusing, incomplete, or
'62; Hinton's Handbook, 386-91; Hittell, in Californian, i. 130-6; Poussin, Puis- sance Amér., i. 340-3; Id., Question de l'Orégon, 18-20; Id., The U. S., 234-5; Voyages, Selection of Curious, 46-8; Frejes, Hist. Breve, 191-5; Arizona Hist. (Elliott), 37-42; McKenny's Direct., 307; Zamacois, Hist. Mej., iv. 605, 654-7; Mofras, Explor., i. 95; Bancroft's Hist. U. S., i. 40; Marcy's Thirty Years, 78-9; Kerr's Col. Voy., ii. 110-11; Buelna, Compendio, 10-11; Johnson's Hist. Ariz., 6; Hodges' Ariz., 17.
18 For Diaz' exped. and the annals of S. Gerónimo, see Hist. North Mex. St., i. 87-90.
40
NIZA AND CORONADO IN ARIZONA.
perhaps erroneous as to details, for some of which I refer the reader to the appended note.19
19 Jaramillo, Rel., who was with Coronado's advance, gives most details. The route to Sonora was as follows: Culiacan; 4 days to Rio Petatlan; 3 days to Rio Sinaloa; 5 days to Arroyo de Cedros; 3 days to Rio Yaqui; 3 days to an arroyo where were straw huts; 2 days to the village of Corazones; time not given, distance perhaps 6 or 7 1. (10 1. acc. to Rel. del Suceso, 318), appar- ently on the same stream, to Sonora; and I day crossing the stream to a vil- lage called (doubtfully) Ispa (clearly regarded as in the Sonora valley). From Sonora about 4 days over the desert (or unoccupied country), to the arroyo called Nexpa (probably the Sta Cruz, but possibly the S. Pedro); 2 days down this stream; thence turning to the right at (or to) the foot of a mountain range, which was followed for 2 days, and which was said to be called Chichil- tic-calli, crossing which range they came to a deep stream, with steep banks (Gila or S. Pedro?). How much they turned to the right (perhaps only keep- ing on N. while the stream turned to the left) of the Nexpa, or how near their route was to the mts followed, is not shown; but that they were between the Sta Cruz and S. Pedro seems clear enough. Elsewhere J. says they gave the name Chichilte Calli to the place where they passed, because they had learned from Ind. farther back that they called it so. What precedes is from the French version; the Span. original (which may be imperfectly printed) differs somewhat, as follows: 2 days down the Nexpa, then leaving the stream, 'we went to the right to the foot of the cordillera in a journey of 2 days, where we learned that it was called Chichiltie. There (clearly "Chichiltie Alli " is a misprint for Chichilte Calli) the cordillera being passed, we went to a deep arroyo and cañada, where we found water and grass for the horses;' or else- where, 'which (the cordillera de sierras 300 1. from Mex., correcting an evi- dent error of punctuation) we named Chichitté Calli, etc.' J. says that from this place they turned to the N. E., thus implying that the previous course had been N., which, with the general tenor of all the narratives, is fatal to the theory-slightly favored by Bandelier-that Coronado may have crossed the main sierra to the Chihuahua Casas Grandes, and then turned N. (or N. W.) to Zni. J. does not mention any ruin.
Castañeda, p. 40-1 (who was with the main army), tells us simply that Coronado crossed the inhabited country till he came to Chichilticale, 'where the desert begins.' 'He was especially afflicted to see that this Chichilticale, of which so much had been said, was reduced to a house in ruins, and with- out roof, but which, nevertheless, seemed to have been fortified. It was clearly seen that this house, built of red earth, was the work of civilized people come from afar. They left this place and entered the desert.' The last village toward the desert, visited by Niza (p. 12). Beginning of the desert, 200 1. from Culiacan, reached by Diaz and Zaldivar (p. 29). The main army passed a province called Nacapan, where grew tunas, or Ind. figs, and reached Chichilticale, near which they saw a flock of horned sheep, and then entered the desert (p. 53-4). Name of Chichilticale given formerly to the place, because the friars found in that region a house which had long been inhabited by a people from Cibola. Here the country ceases to be covered with arbres épineux, and changes its aspect; here the gulf ends and the coast turns. (This identities the place with Niza's fertile valley, supposed by him to be in 35°.) The mts follow the same direction (that is, they trend west- ward), and must be crossed in order to enter again into the plains (p. 160-1). The mt chain is that of the South Sea (that is, the main sierra and its branches), and from Chichilticale, where the mts begin, to Cíbola is 80 leagues (p. 188). The general course from Culiacan to Cibola is a little E. of N. (p. 181).
Says Coronado, Hakluyt, iii. 375: 'I departed from the Caracones, and always kept by the Sea coast, as neere as I could judge, and in very deed I still found my selfe the farther off; in such sort, that when I arrived at Chi-
41
ROUTE OF CORONADO.
In the map the reader will find the general limits of the route indicated, with no attempt to show de- tails, by the dotted lines on the right, and Niza's route by those on the left. The location of Sonora, in the region of Arizpe, though there are difficulties respecting the exact sites of Corazones, San Gerónimo, and the village of Sonora, may be regarded as unques- tionable. That Coronado's route was via the Santa Cruz, and the site of the later Tucson, or that Chichil- ticale, the place where he changed his course to the north-east, was in the region where the Gila emerges from the mountains, is hardly less certain. Chichil-
chilticale I found myselfe tenne dayes iourney from the Sea; and the father provinciall sayd that it was onely but five leagues distance, and that he had seene the same. Wee all conceived great griefe, and were not a little con- founded when we saw that wee found euery thing contrary to the information which he had given your Lordship,' and more to the same purport. He says that the coast turns west opposite Corazones 10 or 12 1., and he had heard of the ships passing. He remained 2 days at Chichilticale, and on June 21st entered the desert or mts beyond. In the Relacion del Suceso there is no in- formation about the route from Sonora to Cibola; and the same is true of the anon. letter in Pacheco, Doc., xix. 529.
On the route beyond Chichilticale, Jaramillo says: 3 days N. E. (from the cañada reached by crossing the mts) to a river named S. Juan, from the day; 2 days more to N., to river called Balsas, because it had to be crossed on rafts; 2 short days to Arroyo de la Barranca, nearly N. E .; 1 day to Rio Frio; 1 day through a pine wood to an arroyo, where 3 men died of poison; 2 days to the Arroyo Vermejo, N. E .; and 2 days to the first town of Cihola. James A. Reavis, a man well acquainted with this region, where he has a large land claim, iu Coronado's Route, a MS. kindly furnished for my use, identifies the streams as follows: the deep arroyo, perhaps Pinal Creek; S. Juan, south fork of the Rio Salado; Rio de las Balsas, White Mt River; Arroyo de la Barranca, Summit Spring; Rio Frio, Colorado Chiquito; next arroyo, Carrizo; and Rio Vermejo, Zuñi River. Castañeda (p. 41) says that in 15 days they arrived within 8 1. of Cibola, on a river called Vermejo (red), on account of its soily and red waters; and (p. 55) that the main army, 3 days into the desert, on a river in a deep ravine found a large horn that Coronado had seen and left as a guide. One day before reaching Cíbola they had a gale and snow storm. From Chichilticale to Cibola 80 1. (p. 162). Cibola was in a narrow valley between steep mts. The largest town was called Muzaque (p. 163-4). Coronado (Hakluyt, iii. 375) says that after 30 1. they found fresh rivers and grass; also flax, especially on a river called Rio del Lino (prob. Colorado Chi- quito); then they came to the city of Granada; and (p. 377) there were 7 towns within 4 1., all called Cibola, but no one of them so named. Only one was larger than that called by C. Granada, which had some 200 honses within the walls, and perhaps 300 others. Jaramillo says there were 5 towns within 6 I. Castañeda (p. 42) says that Cíbola was the village called Granada. In the Relacion del Suceso, 319-20, the author says that Niza had understood all the 7 towns-which really had from 150 to 300 honses each-to be one city, called Cibola. The route from Culiacau is 240 1. N. to 34° 30' (at Chichilti- cale), and thence N. E. to Cibola in about 36° (really about 35°). Niza had understood the largest town to be called Ahacns, as will be remembered.
42
NIZA AND CORONADO IN ARIZONA.
ticale, the 'red house,' a ruin which gave name to the place, has been generally identified with the famous Casa Grande of the Gila, and I find no reason to ques- tion the identity. The ruin in itself would not suffice to fix the route, but it goes far to confirm the general purport of all the evidence. It is not necessary to suppose that Coronado's Chichilticale was the casa grande itself, but rather a place named for that re- markable structure, not far away. Niza had probably received his impressions of the Gila valley from the Pima villages; Diaz had noted rather the adobe ruin; and Coronado may have passed to the right of it, or merely gone with a small party westward to examine it. Nothing short of a minute diary of each day's journey could be expected to give a clearer idea of the course followed. I make no attempt to identify the streams crossed on the march north-eastward from the Gila between Florence and the San Pedro mouth to Cíbola.
The identity of Cíbola and the Pueblo towns of Zuñi is so clearly established by all the evidence, and has been so generally confirmed by such investigators as Simpson, Davis, Prince, Bandelier, and others, that I do not deem it necessary even to fully recapitulate the proofs. No other group of towns will at all meet the requirements of the narratives. The difficulties and objections hardly merit notice. The few who have favored other groups have been led mainly by a desire to justify some exaggerations of the discoverers, by finding ruins to represent a grander Cíbola; and in support of their conclusions have found little more than the presence of ruins in most directions from most groups. The position of Cíbola as the first Pue- blo province found in coming north-east, or left on going south-west; its geographical relations to Moqui in the north-west and Acoma on the east; the definite statement of Castañeda that as far as Cíbola, and a day or two beyond, the streams flowed into the South Sea, but later into the North Sea; the correspondence
43
DISCOVERY OF ARIZONA.
36
85
las, 1550
-36
36-
(Moqui)
4Tusayan
LOT
Alonoce
R.Grunde
1598
S.Jose
Tubar, 1340)
Espejo
Cibolad
35
de
B. Esperunzu
Marquez, 1604
Ama cavas
34
Ba hacechas
33
de Jesus
na Guia
Ozaras
R.del Nombr
Halchedumas
Tlap fi
Erpa
(Tucson)
Tlalliguamayas
Cocapas
(Sonoita) Jacopa
Niza'
hle youte
(Altar)
Diaz, 1540
Sonu
¿pé
(Hermosillo
113
119
111
31
CORONADO AND NIZA IN ARIZONA,
Espejo, 1583
44
NIZA AND CORONADO IN ARIZONA.
of one of its towns on a rock to the ruins of Old Zuñi, and of the rest to the still existing town and ruins in the vicinity; and the agreement from the time of Es- pejo of all the early Spanish authorities who wrote intelligently on the subject-appear to me conclusive.20
Thus about the 10th of July-I give only approxi- mate dates, without pointing out minor discrepancies in the different narratives-Coronado and his men came in sight of the famous Cibola. The town first approached, and named by the Spaniards Granada, stood on a rocky mesa corresponding to the ruins of Old Zuňi; the one seen by Niza, if he saw any, was in the valley, like the pueblo still standing but per- haps built later; while the others are still represented by heaps of ruins.21 The people of Granada, not appreciating the benefits to be gained by submission to the Spaniards' king and Christians' God, came out in warlike array to annihilate the little band of invad- ers, their arrows killing a horse and piercing a friar's gown; but with the battle-cry of 'Santiago' the sol-
20 A résumé of reasons for the identity is given in my Native Races, iv. 673-4. Bandelier, Hist. Introd., 12-16, gives an excellent analysis of the evi- dence. Espejo, Relacion, 117-20, 180, found at Zuñi some Mex. Ind. whom Coronado left at Cibola, and therefore his testimony to the identity should be in itself conclusive. True, there are two copies of E.'s Relacion, one of which gives the name Amé or Ami instead of Zuñi, thus suggesting the sus- picion that the latter name in the other, and Hakluyt's version from it, may possibly have been an interpolation; but I think it more likely that Amé is a misprint; at any rate, the proof is more than sufficient without this. Sal- meron, Relaciones, 7-9, writing in 1628, speaks of Cibola as the capital of the Zuñi province. Davis, Span. Conq., 120, found in a MS. of 1688 a reference to Zuñi as the buffalo province, which he regards as conclusive.
About the origin of the word Cibola there seems to be no certainty. It is the Spanish name in modern dictionaries of the American bison, or buffalo (feminine of cibolo), and was, I suppose, of American origin. I learn from Gatschet, through Bandelier, Hist. Introd., 9, that Sihuloda in the Isleta dia- lect means 'buffalo.' We may suppose either that the Spaniards, finding a strange animal during their trip to the much talked of seven cities of Cibola, formed a needed name from that of the towns; or that the towns had previ- ously received the native name of the buffalo. I think it not unlikely, how- ever, that the name was never applied to the towns till after the Spaniards came; but that the latter, far in the s. w., hearing the name-that of the buffalo or buffalo country-often used by the natives, took it for granted that it belongel to the cities or province, the Ind. gradually adopting the usage. But all is mere conjecture, so far as I am concerned. In a note to a doc. in Pacheco, Doc., iv. 299, Cíhola is said to be the name of a province or its capital in Peru, noted for its hides.
21 See descrip. of these and other ruins in Nat. Races, iv. 641-74.
45
TAKING OF CÍBOLA.
diers charged, and drove them within the walls, kill- ing several. The town was taken by assault, after a struggle in which the general was knocked down by stones thrown from the roofs, and had his foot pierced by an arrow.22 Submitting, the natives forthwith abandoned their town. A few days later the other villages sent in their formal submission, with some gifts; but on being urged to become Christians and Spanish subjects, they fled to the hills. Some of them came back as the weeks passed by; and relations be- tween the two races during the conqueror's stay were friendly, though marked by caution on the part of the natives.
And now that Coronado was at last master of the famous 'seven cities,' both he and his companions were grievously disappointed. They had found, indeed, an agricultural people, living in stone and adobe houses of several stories, dressed to some extent in cotton, skilled in the preparation of buffalo hides, and various other petty arts, and even having a few turquoises. Yet the kingdom of rich cities had dwindled to a small province of small and poor villages, and the conquest seemed a small achievement for so grand and costly an expedition. Doubtless, however, the Pueblo towns as they were found would have excited much admiration but for the contrast between the reality and the brilliant magnificence of the invaders' expecta- tions. On making inquiries respecting Niza's three grand kingdoms outside of Cíbola, they learned that of Marata the natives had no knowledge whatever; that Totonteac was said to be a hot lake, with four or five houses and other ruined ones on its shores; and that Acus, a name that had no existence 'with an aspira- tion nor without,' was probably Acuco, a small town and not a province. Right heartily was the padre provincial cursed by the army for his gross exaggera- tions, to which a much harsher term was freely applied.
22 According to the Rel. del Suceso, the Spaniards were repulsed in the assault, and had to withdraw to a short distance and use their fire-arms.
46
NIZA AND CORONADO IN ARIZONA.
What Fray Marcos had to say in his own defence does not appear; but Cíbola was soon made too hot for the good friar, who was sent back to Sonora, and thence farther south, to appear no more in northern annals.23 He probably departed with captains Diaz and Gallego, who in August were despatched with orders for the main army under Arellano, who was to join the general, leaving Diaz in command at Sonora, while Gallego should go on to Mexico, carrying Coro- nado's report of August 3d, as already cited.
Coronado remained at Zuñi from July to Novem- ber. Notwithstanding his disappointment, he had no thought of returning without making additional ex- plorations; and, indeed, there were reports of more distant provinces, where fame and wealth might yet be successfully sought. The most brilliant indica- tions pointed to the east, whither we shall follow the invaders in the next chapter; but information was also obtained about a province of Tusayan, with seven towns, situated some 25 leagues toward the north- west, doubtless the Moqui villages.24 Before August 3d Captain Tobar, with a small force including seven- teen horsemen and Fray Juan Padilla, was sent to explore. Marching for five days through an unin- habited country, this party entered the province by stealth, and approached one of the towns at night. In the morning the surprised inhabitants came out, and after listening to what the strangers had to say, they drew on the ground a line which must not be passed. Then Fray Juan, who had been a soldier in his youth, lost his patience, and said to the captain, "Indeed, I know not for what we have come here." The Spaniards made a charge; and the natives after
23 Castañeda, Rel., 48.
24 The name is also written Tucayan, Tuzan, Tusan, Tucano, and in Cas- tañeda's chapter-heading Tutaliaco. Castañeda in one place (p. 165) gives the distance as 20 1. In the Rel. del Suceso the distance is given as 35 1. westward; Jaramillo says it was 5 days. The real distance to Moqui in a straight line is over 40 1. Whipple, Pac. R. R. Rept, iii. 108-12, thinks Tusayan was not Moqui, but perhaps identical with the Rio Verde ruins; which, however, are still farther from Zuñi.
47
AT THE MOQUI TOWNS.
losing many lives were defeated, and sued for peace, bringing gifts of food, cotton stuffs, leather. and a few turquoises. They, too, admitted the invaders to their towns, similar to those of Cíbola but somewhat larger, and became for the time submissive vassals of the king of Spain. They had their tales to tell of marvellous things beyond, and mentioned a great river, several days' journey down the course of which lived a nation of very tall men. Thereupon Don Pedro returned and reported to the general.
Then Captain Cárdenas, who had succeeded Sa- maniego as maestro de campo, was sent, with twelve men, to seek the great river and the tall men. Being kindly received by the people of Tusayan, who fur- nished guides, Cárdenas marched for twenty days, or fifty leagues as one narrative has it, westward over a desert country, and at last reached the river. But so high were its banks, that though deemed as large as the river that flows past Seville in Spain, and said by the Indians to be over half a league wide, it looked like a mere rivulet flowing three or four leagues below; and so precipitous that in five or six days' journey the Spaniards could find no place where they could get to the water. At the most favorable spot, three men spent a day in the attempt, but only succeeded in descend- ing about one third of the distance. Being advised by the guides that it would be impossible to penetrate farther for want of water, Cárdenas returned to Cíbola. This was the first visit of Europeans to the great cañon of the Colorado, a region but rarely penetrated even in modern times. It was clearly understood by the chroniclers of the expedition that this river, flow- ing from the north-east to south-south-west, was the Rio del Tizon, discovered by Melchor Diaz near its mouth. No further explorations were attempted in this direction, and the Moqui towns were not revis- ited by Europeans for more than forty years.25
25 Pedro de Sotomayor was the chronicler of this branch expedition, accord- ing to Castañeda; and the three men who tried to reach the botto.n of the great
48
NIZA AND CORONADO IN ARIZONA.
cañon were Capt. Melgosa, Juan Galeras, and an unnamed soldier. On the way back, at a cascade, they found crystals of salt. A westward course from Moqui would have led to the Colorado at the junction of the Colorado Chiquito, where the main river turns abruptly to N. of w. As no crossing of the branch is mentioned, and as the course of the river is given as N. E. to s. s. w., it would be much more convenient to suppose that Cárdenas went N. W. to the river, and followed it southward, but not much importance can be at- tached to this matter. Gomara, Hist. Ind., 272, and some other writers, speak of Cárdenas' trip as having extended to the sea, perhaps confounding it with that of Diaz to the gulf. This may partially account for the subse- quent curious transfer of Coronado's discoveries from the N. E. interior to the N. W. coast on many early maps.
CHAPTER III. CORONADO IN NEW MEXICO. 1540-1542.
AT CIBOLA, OR ZUNI -- ALVARADO'S TOUR IN THE EAST-TALES OF THE TURK-BUFFALO PLAINS-ACUCO, TIGUEX, AND CICUYE-MAP-ARRIVAL OF ARELLANO AND THE ARMY-IN WINTER QUARTERS-SPANISH OUT- RAGES-A WINTER OF SNOW AND WARFARE - EXPEDITION TO THE NORTH-EAST-CORONADO IN QUIVIRA - WIGWAM VILLAGES AND NO GOLD-BACK AT TIGUEX-THE RIO GRANDE VALLEY-PUEBLO NAMES -SECOND WINTER IN NEW MEXICO-PLANS FOR A NEW CONQUEST --- ORDERS TO RETURN-DISSENSIONS-FRAY JUAN DE PADILLA-MARCH TO SONORA-A DEMORALIZED ARMY-REMARKS ON RESULTS-NORTH- ERN MYSTERY AND EARLY MAPS-IBARRA'S ENTRADAS, 1563-5-THE NAME OF NEW MEXICO.
THE discovery of New Mexico dates from the 7th to the 10th of July, 1540, when General Francisco Vasquez de Coronado arrived from the south-west at the province of Cíbola, or the Zuñi towns, as related in the last chapter. On the 14th the general visited a peñol four leagues distant, where the natives were said to be fortifying their position, and returned the same day.1 During the absence of Cárdenas on his trip to the Moqui towns and Rio Colorado, there came to Cíbola a party of natives from the eastern province of Cicuye, with gifts of various leathern articles and offers of tribal friendship and alliance. Their chief and spokesman was Bigotes, so named by the Span- iards for his long mustaches, and he had much to say of the 'cows,' that is, the buffaloes, of his country.
1 Coronado, Traslado de las Nuevas, 532. Nothing is said of results or of the direction. The fortified peñol suggests the well-known Inscription Rock east of Zuñi, though the distance as given is too small.
HIST. ARIZ, AND N. MEX. 4
(49 )
50
CORONADO IN NEW MEXICO.
Accordingly, Captain Alvarado was ordered with twenty men to accompany the natives on their return, and to report within eighty days respecting their coun- try and its wonderful animals.
In a journey of five days2 Alvarado came to a town named Acuco, supposed to be Niza's Acus, built like Granada of Cíbola on a rock, and accessible only by a narrow stairway, terminating in mere holes for the hands and feet. The inhabitants were hostile at first, but on threats of battle made peace and furnished food. Three days more brought the party, in a dis- tance of twenty leagues toward the east, according to one of the narratives, to the province of Tiguex, with its twelve towns in a broad valley, on a large river flowing from north to south, said to be well settled for fifty leagues or more, and to have villages for fif- teen or twenty leagues from the river on either side. This province became the centre of subsequent opera- tions; and indeed, Alvarado at this time recognized its advantages, sending back a recommendation to the general to come on and establish here his winter quar- ters. Then he went on with Bigotes for five days to Cicuye, on the border of the plains. The natives in respect of friendliness fulfilled the promises that had been made by their ambassadors, and, besides their specialty of hides, their gifts included some cloth and
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