USA > New Mexico > Historical sketches of New Mexico : from the earliest records to the American occupation > Part 3
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THE PUEBLO ABORIGINES.
in the period of the Pueblo control, from 1681 to 1696. The decree of the Emperor Charles V., issued from Cigales, March 21, 1551, specially looking to the concen- tration of the peaceful native population into a moder- ate number of towns, took effect of course in New Mexico, as soon as it was under Spanish control. The object, which was spiritual as well as temporal, is set forth in the decree as follows, -
" The effort has been made with much care, and particular attention, to make use of such means as are most suitable for the instruction of the Indians in the Holy Catholic faith and spiritual law, to the end that, forgetting their ancient rites and ceremonies, they might live in fellowship under established rule; and in order that this object might be obtained with the greatest cer- tainty, the members of our council of the Indies, and other religious persons, on different occasions met together, and in the year 1546, by order of the Emperor Charles V., of glorious memory, there convened the prelates of New Spain, who, desiring to render service to God and ourselves, resolved that the Indians should be brought to settle-reduced to pueblos-and that they should not live divided and separated by mountains and hills, depriving themselves of all benefit, spiritual or tem- poral, without aid from our agents, and that assistance which human wants require men mutually to render one another.
"And in order that the propriety of this resolution might be recognized, the kings, judges, presidents, and governors were charged and commanded by different orders of the kings, our predecessors, that with much mildness and moderation they should carry into effect the reduction, settlement, and instruction of the In- dians, acting with so much justice and delicacy that with- out causing any difficulty a motive might be presented to those who could not be brought to settle, in the hope that as soon as they witnessed the good treatment and
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36
THE PUEBLO ABORIGINES.
protection of such as had been reduced to pueblos, they might consent to offer themselves of their own accord; and whereas the above was executed in the larger part of our Indies, therefore we ordain and command that in all the other portions care be taken that it be carried into effect, and the agents should urge it according to, and in the form declared by, the laws of this title."
This decree was intended, at the time, for the prov- inces of New Spain, to the south, but there can be little doubt, from various circumstances, that it was acted on in New Mexico during the seventeenth century, and resulted in the consolidation of numbers of small, ad- jacent pueblos, bringing the people to the central village, in which was the church, and the priest, and the local civil authority. The great reduction in the number of the native villages took place, however, during the brief period of Pueblo government, after the expulsion of the Spaniards in 1681. When Vargas made the reconquest, twelve to fifteen years later, he found ruined and aban- doned pueblos everywhere. Mutual jealousies, and the struggle for food caused by the successive failures of crops, had caused almost constant wars, in which villages had been destroyed by the enemy, or abandoned by their inhabitants in advance of a siege. The result was, that at the time of the final pacification under Spanish au- thority, say in 1696, the number of pueblos differed very little from that existing at present. The official list made by Governor Mendoza in May, 1742, is as follows (exclusive of the Moquis),-
"Taos, Picuries, San Juan, San Ildefonso, Santa Clara, Pojuaque, Nambe, and Tesuque, north of Santa Fé ; Pecos east, and Galisteo south of Santa Fé; Cochiti, Santo Domingo, San Felipe, Santa Ana, Zia, Jemez, Laguna, Acoma, Zuñi, and Isleta south or west of Santa Fé."
In 1796, and again in 1798, the missionaries in charge made reports of the population of the different
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THE PUEBLO ABORIGINES.
pueblos, in which the lists of villages only differ from the above in the dropping of Galisteo and the addition of Sandia and Abiquiu Galisteo had been abandoned in the interval (the remaining inhabitants having re- moved to Santo Domingo, with whose people they had extensively intermarried), and Sandia had been estab- lished under peculiar circumstances, which will be here- after referred to. At Abiquiu 176 Indians are stated to live, but whether at the pueblo on the hill (now de- serted and in ruins), or in connection with the Spanish town, does not appear. 124 Indians are also reported at Belen. The total Pueblo population at the time, ac- cording to these statistics, was 9,453 in 1796, and 9,732 in 1798. In 1805 Governor Alencaster prepared a com- plete census of all the inhabitants of New Mexico (di- vided by races), according to which the Spanish popu- lation was 26,805, and the Pueblos 8,172. The list of pueblos, with their mission names and population, ap- pearing in his report, is as follows :-
San Geronimo de Taos. 508
San Lorenzo de Picuries.
250
San Juan de los Caballeros.
194
Santo Tomas de Abiquiu
134
Santa Clara. 186
175
San Francisco de Nambe.
143
N. S. de Guadalupe de Pojuaque.
13.
N. S. de los Angeles de Pecos. 656
San Buena Ventura de Cochiti
Santo Domingo 333
289
San Felipe ...
314
San Diego de Jemez.
254
Santa Ana
450
San Agustin del Isleta. 419
N. S. de Belen.
107
San Estevan de Acoma 731
San Josef de La Laguna.
940
N. S. de Guadalupe de Zuni 1470
Both Abiquiu and Belen are reported with large Spanish populations, so that it does not appear whether
256713
San Ildefonso
100
San Diego de Tesuque. 104
N. S. de los Dolores de Sandia
264
N. S. de la Asumpcion de Zia
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THE PUEBLO ABORIGINES.
the Indians were in separate pueblos there or not. This list, it will be observed, agrees perfectly with that of 1796. The report of Lieut. Whipple (Pacific R. R. Sur- veys, 35° parallel) contains the same list, with the addi- tion of Cuyamangue and Chilili. But their insertion was a mistake, as both were destroyed in the Pueblo revolt 160 years before. An old deed in. che archives at Santa Fé refers to "Cuyamangue, a pueblo abandoned and in ruin, since the insurrection in 1696 by the native Tegua Indians of said pueblo." Since Gov. Alencaster's census, no change has taken place, except in the abandon- ment of the Pueblo of Pecos by the removal of its surviv- ing inhabitants to Jemez. We are, therefore, safe in saying that the Pueblo towns exist to-day as they did at the final reconquest in 1696, with the exception of abandonment of Galisteo and Pecos, and possibly of the pueblo near Abiquiu, and the establishment of Sandia ; the great reduction in numbers as previously stated, havingtaken place in the 17th century.
The circumstances of the establishment of the Pueblo of Sandia, which is the only modern one, were as follows : In 1748 Friar Juan Miguel Meuchero, Preacher and Delegate, Commissary General, made a petition to the Governor, in which he stated that for six years he had been engaged in missionary work among the Indians, and had " converted and gained over 350 souls from here to the Puerco River, which I have brought from the Moqui Pueblos; bringing with me the cacique of these Moqui Pueblos for the purpose of establishing their pueblo at the place called Sandia," and thereupon asked for possession of the land at that point "so as to pre- vent any converts from returning to apostasy." There- upon the Governor made the desired grant, and the new pueblo was established in due form by the name of "Our Lady of Sorrows and Saint Anthony of Sandia."
From the beginning the Spanish authorities sought first to conciliate, and afterwards to protect the pueblos
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THE PUEBLO ABORIGINES.
by confirming to them considerable tracts of land around each village. The decree of Philip II., in June, 1587, had special reference to this subject, and the limits were afterwards extended until in most cases the pueblo land constituted a square-measured one league in each direction from the parish church.
In local government the pueblos have always been practically independent; each one elects annually a governor, a war captain, and a fiscal, and in each is a cacique, usually an aged man, who holds his position for 1
life, and is consulted on all matters of special importance. These officials govern the community according to their own rules of justice, and to this time no criminal com- plaint has ever been made by one Pueblo Indian against another in any Territorial court. Industrious, frugal, honest, and hospitable, they still retain the character- istics which were noticeable in the days of Cabeza de Vaca and Coronado, and remain in the midst of surround- ing changes the most interesting existing illustration of the higher aboriginal life of the native American people.
CHAPTER III.
CABEZA DE VACA.
T HE first European to set foot on New Mexican soil, to meet with any of its original inhabitants, and see the " fixed habitations" in which they dwelt, was Alvar Nuñez Cabeza de Vaca, who came not as a con- queror, a missionary, or even an explorer, but by an ac- cident, which led him through this portion of the con- tinent while endeavoring to reach some European settle- ment, after long years of wanderings, sufferings, and virtual imprisonment. He came of noble lineage, and held many high positions, but that which carries his name down on the page of history most securely is his brief connection with New Mexico. Here his name stands at the head of the roll, his narration is the first written word descriptive of the country and its people ; he can claim to be its discoverer, and the father of all Europeans who came after. Among the people of New Mexico his name will always be held in veneration, and every circumstance connected with his famous journey be considered of interest. On this account, and because it so thoroughly illustrates the methods of the early Spanish expeditions and conquests, and the condition of the natives in various sections surrounding New Mexico, as well as within its borders, we give it an ex- tended space.
The expedition of Panphilo de Narvaez set sail from San Lucar de Barrameda, on the 17th of June, 1527; its object being the conquest and colonization of the main- land of Florida, Narvaez having been empowered by the Emperor Charles V. to take possession of all the coun- try from the Rio de la Palsmas to the southerly ex-
41
CABEZA DE VACA.
tremity of Florida, and to assume the government thereof. This Rio de las Palmas was on the east coast of Mexico, 100 leagues north of Vera Cruz, so that the country which was to be occupied and governed em- braced all of the present States of the Union bordering on the Gulf of Mexico, besides a part of north-eastern Mexico itself; in which was included New Mexico. The principal officers of the fleet, under the Governor, were Cabeza de Vaca, who was Treasurer of the expedi- tion, and had the title of High Sheriff; Alonzo Enri- quez, Comptroller ; Alonzo de Solis, Royal Distributor and Assessor; and for spiritual duties, five Franciscan Friars, headed by Juan Xuarez, who was also Com- missary.
The manner in which the expedition was under- taken appears from the petition of Narvaez to the king of Spain, and the order made thereupon; all of which are still in the "Archivo de Indias" at Seville. The following extracts from the petition quaintly show the objects and ambition of the leader:
"SACRED CESAREAN CATHOLIC MAJESTY: In-as-much as I, Panfilo de Narvaez, have ever had and still have the intention of serving God and Your Majesty, I desire to go in person with my means to a certain country on the main of the Ocean Sea. I propose chiefly to traffic with the natives of the coast, and to take thither re- ligious men and ecclesiastics, approved of your Royal Council of the Indies, that they may make known and plant the Christian Faith. I shall observe fully what your Council require and ordain to the ends of serving God and Your Highness, and for the good of your sub- jects. I propose to undertake this in person, with my experience in those countries, and when the occasion shall present itself, to the extent of my property, which, to God be the praise, I have to employ in that enter- prise, and am ready to make manifest when that shall become necessary. I ask that the subjugation of the
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CABEZA DE VACA.
countries from the Rio de Palmas to Florida might be given me, where I would explore, conquer, populate, and discover all there is to be found of Florida in those parts, at my cost; and to that end I beg Your High- ness to bestow on me as follows: Your Majesty be pleased to make me Governor and Chief Justice for my term of life, and Captain General, with adequate salary for each. I entreat Your Majesty to confer on me the High Constabulary of said lands I shall people in your Royal name, for me, my heirs, and successors. I entreat Your Majesty to grant me the tenth of all that you may have of royal rents forever. I ask that Your Majesty will make me Adelantado of those territories, for me, my heirs, and successors, That Indians who shall be rebellious after being well admonished and comprehend- ing, may be made slaves, etc."
The order made by the Council was that the king concedes the conquest requested to Narvaez on condition that he take no less than 200 colonists from Spain, founding at least two towns ; and he was made Governor with a salary of 100,000 maravedis, and Captain Gen- eral, with a salary of 50,000, besides being Adelantado. He was furnished with a proclamation to be made "to the inhabitants of the countries and provinces that there are from Rio de Palmas to the Cape of Florida," which is interesting as showing the grounds to the Spanish claim of sovereignty over America. It reads in part as follows : "In behalf of the Catholic Cæsarean Majesty of Don Carlos, King of the Romans and Em- peror ever Augustus, and Doña Juana, his mother, Sovereigns of Leon and Castilla, Defenders of the Church, ever victors, never vanquished, and rulers of barbarous nations, I, Panfilo de Narvaez, his servant, messenger, and captain, notify and cause you to know in the best manner I can, that God our Lord, one and eternal, created the heaven and the earth. All these nations God our Lord gave in charge to one person called Saint
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CABEZA DE VACA.
Peter, that he might be master and superior over man- kind, to be obeyed and be heard of all the human race where-so-ever they might live and be, of whatever law, sect, or belief, giving him the whole world for his king- dom, lordship, and jurisdiction. This Saint Peter was obeyed and taken for King, Lord, and Superior of the Universe by those who lived at that time, and so like- wise have all the rest been held, who to the Pontificate were afterward elected, and thus has it continued until now, and will continue to the end of things. One of the Popes who succeeded him to that seat and dignity, of which I spake as Lord of the world, made a gift of these islands and main of the Ocean Sea to the said Emperor and Queen, and their successors, our Lords in these Kingdoms, with all that is in them, as is contained in certain writings that thereupon took place, which may be seen if you desire."
Having thus demonstrated the rightful power of the sovereign, the proclamation calls on them "to recognize the Church as Mistress and Superior of the Universe, and the High Pontiff, called Papa, in its name; the Queen and King our masters, in their place as Lords Superiors, and Sovereigns of these Islands and the main, by virtue of said gift. If you shall do so, you will do well 'in what you are held and obliged; and their Majesties, and I, in their Royal name, will receive you with love and charity. If you do not this, and of malice you be dilatory, I protest to you that with the help of Our Lord I will enter with force, making war upon you from all directions and in every manner that I may be able, when I will subject you to obedience to the Church and the yoke of their Majesties; and I will take the persons of yourselves, your wives, and your children, to make slaves, sell and dispose of you as their Majesties shall think fit; and I will take your goods, doing you all the injury that I may be able."
As the peculiar interest which the student of New
44
CABEZA DE VACA.
Mexican history feels in this expedition arises from the narrative of Cabeza de Vaca of the long journey of him- self and the other three survivors of the party across the continent, in the course of which they traversed New Mexico, and were thus the first Europeans who ever visited our territory, we give some particulars of his personal history, before proceeding with the account of the expedition itself. Alvar Nunez Cabeza de Vaca came from one of the oldest and most renowned of Spanish families, whose lineage a chronological history traces back to the 12th century. His grandfather was the Conqueror of the Canary Islands, and from him came his proper patronymic of Vera ; but for reasons unknown he preferred the name of his mother's house, "Cabeza de Vaca," or "Cow's Head." Various accounts are given of the origin of this rather undignified appellation, of which we reproduce the .one narrated by M. Ternaux, in the preface to his French translation of Cabeza de Vaca's Commentaries : " In the month of July, 1212, the Christian army, commanded by the kings of Castile, Aragon, and Navarre, advanced against the Moors ; and arriving at Castro-Ferrel, found all the passes occupied by the enemy. The Christians were about to return on their steps, when a burger named Martin Alhaja pre- sented himself to the King of Navarre, and offered to indicate a route by which the army could pass without obstacles. The king sent him with Don Diego Lopez de Naro and Don Garcia Romen; in order that they might recognize the pass, Alhajo placed at the entrance the skeleton of the head of a cow (Cabeza de Vaca.) The twelfth of the same month the Christians gained the battle of Navas de Tolosa, which assured forever their supremacy over the Moors. The king recompensed Alhaja by ennobling him and his descendants, and to commemorate the event by which he had merited the 1 honor, changed his name to Cabeza de Vaca."
Our cavalier having been appointed Treasurer of
45
CABEZA DE VACA.
the new colony to be established, received a lengthy document of instruction, signed by the king and dated at Valladolid, February 15, 1527, which commences, " What you, Alvar Nuñez Cabeza de Vaca, will perform in the office you fill. as our Treasurer of Rio de las Palmas and the lands which Panfilo de Narvaez goes to people, on whom we have conferred the government thereof, is as follows"- and proceeds with great par- ticularity to charge him with the collection of the various percentages, rents, duties, and fines belonging to the royal treasury, and as to the manner of safely transmitting the " gold, guaniñes (impure gold valued by the nations of the Antillas partly for its odor), pearls, and other things," to the officials at Seville.
Thus furnished with documents sufficient for the gov- ernment of an Empire, Narvaez and'his companions started with five vessels and about six hundred men, and sailed first to Santo Domingo for the purpose of laying in stores and procuring horses, but their forty-five days stay at that island produced rather more loss than gain, as no less than140 men deserted the expedition to try their fortunes on the luxuriant shores. Here also an addi- tional ship was purchased and added to the fleet. They proceeded thence to Cuba, where a tremendous hurricane destroyed two of the vessels, with all the men and material on board. Cabeza de Vaca had command of one of them, and only escaped through his good fortune in being on shore at the time. He tells us that "nothing so terrible as this storm had ever been seen in these parts before;" and it must have been of tremendous force, as the only small boat that was ever found belonging to the lost vessels, was discovered in the branches of a tree at quite a distance from the shore. So tempestuous was the season that Narvaez determined to proceed no fur- ther until spring, and so the four remaining vessels wintered at Xagua, under the charge of Cabeza de Vaca. On the 22d of February, 1528, the fleet again set sail,
40
CABEZA DE VACA.
having been augmented by the addition of a brigantine from Trinidad; but again misfortune followed it, as the vessels became grounded on the shoals called Canarreo and were detained there fifteen days ; and were overtaken by a great and dangerous storm at Guaniguanico, and another at Cape Corrientes. They then attempted to reach Havana, but violent winds drove them northerly, and on Tuesday, April 12, they came in sight of land on the west coast of Florida; and the next day, which was Holy Thursday, they anchored near the shore in a bay, at the head of which they saw some Indian habita- . tions.
On Good Friday the Governor landed with a number of men, but found the houses all deserted, the inhabit- ants having fled in their canoes at night. Their houses were called "buhios," and had double-shedded roofs, which were their distinguishing feature among Indian dwellings. One of these buildings, probably used for tri- bal purposes, was so large as to accommodate 300 persons. On Saturday the Governor raised the Spanish ensign and formally took possession of the country for his im- perial master. He proclaimed his authority to act as Governor, and was acknowledged as such; and then the other officers presented their commissions for his in- spection. These formalities being concluded, the whole force was disembarked, as well as their horses; but the latter had been reduced to forty-two in number during the passage, and were in wretched condition.
On Easter day some of the natives appeared, and made signs for the Spaniards to leave the country ; but there being no interpreter present, they could only be imperfectly understood. The next day a party of forty men, under the Governor, Enriquez, Solis, and Cabeza de Vaca, commenced to explore the main-land toward the north, where they found a large bay stretching far inland, and soon afterward captured four Indians. (This bay was undoubtedly the Tampa Bay of our geographies.)
47
CABEZA DE VACA.
As the language was wholly unintelligible, recourse was had to signs; and various things were shown to the na- tives, to see if they were acquainted with them beforc. Led by these Indians, the Spaniards went to their town at the head of the bay, where they found corn, linen and woolen cloth. and bunches. of feathers, and what was the special object of all their expeditions-gold. On being asked whence these things came, the Indians pointed to the north, where they said was a great country called Apalache, which abounded not only in gold but in the other articles which the Spaniards de- sired. Ten or twelve leagues further on, the expedi- tion found another town, where a large amount of corn was cultivated; and soon after returned to the place where their ships and comrades were, and communi- cated the results of the trip.
The next day the Governor held a consultation with the principal officers, and some others in whom he had- confidence, as to the best course to be pursued. He de- sired to march into the interior in order to explore the country, and have the ships sail along the coast until they found a harbor, which the pilot insisted existed not very far to the north-west; but he wanted to hear the opinion of the others. Cabeza de Vaca strenuously opposed any separation from the vessels until the latter should be safely moored in a secure harbor, and he called attention to the fact that the pilots were far from agree- ing as to the situation of the wished-for haven. He showed the danger of starting off to explore a country of which they had no knowledge or information, and where they could not communicate at all with the natives for want of an interpreter ; especially in their present condition of scarcity of food. In short, he opposed the plan with many arguments, and recom- mended that they should re-embark in the vessels and explore the coast until they found some satisfactory locality, especially as the country where they now were
48
CABEZA DE VACA.
was the poorest and least valuable of any that had been found in the new world. The Commissioner, Xuarez, gave exactly contrary advice. He favored following along the line of the coast by an expedition on land, while the ships kept within easy distance by sailing along that same shore. He based his argument on two principal grounds : Firstly, that the looked-for bay could more easily be found from the land than from the sea, as it was represented to extend a considerable dis- tance back into the country ; and secondly, that it would be tempting Providence again to take to the water after the many misfortunes which had befallen the fleet ever since it first left Spain. The feeling with regard to the course to be pursued evidently ran high, for when the Governor concluded to continue the expedition by land, Cabeza de Vaca made a formal demand that the ships should not be left until they were in a safe harbor, and asked a certificate from the notary that he made such a demand ; and the Governor, on his part, asked of the notary a certificate that he moved on with his colony in quest of a better country and port, for the reason that the place in which they were would neither support a population nor afford a haven for their ships. What the notarial official did in this dilemma does not apppear from the chronicle, but the Governor went on with his prep- arations for advancing, and then, in presence of the officers, offered Cabeza de Vaca-as he was opposed to the land expedition-to give him the command of the fleet. This Vaca refused ; and when repeatedly urged by the Governor to accept the position, and finally asked why he so persistently declined, he answered, as he himself relates, that "I rejected the responsibility, as I felt cer- tain that he would never more find the ships, nor the ships him; and I preferred to subject myself to the danger which he and the others were exposed to, and to undergo what they might suffer, rather than take charge of the ships and give occasion for any to say that I re-
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