313
Early Exploration of Big Bend Country, I683-I73I
It was not until December 29 that Mendoza overtook them, after he crossed the Rio Grande near the ranchenas of the J ulimes. 2 The entire diary of this expedition is available in English. 3 It is one of the most interesting documents of its kind because few diaries give more vivid or minute details as to the topography of the country, the flora, the fauna, the various tribes encountered, their customs and habits, and the distances traveled each day. But unfortunately, the direction of each day's march is omitted in most of the entries, with only a stray reference here and there. This has given rise to considerable confusion as to the place where the expedition crossed the Rio Grande into Texas, what was the course followed from this point until the goal was reached, and what was the route taken on the return march to the Rio Grande. The only explanation for the failure to give the general direction in which the expedition traveled day by day may lie in the fact that the country they traversed is so filled with hills and mountains that there are but few courses that can be followed even today, other than those of the water- sheds. It is the opinion of the writer that the course pursued differs greatly from that surmised by those who have attempted to locate it up to the present. The conclusions and deductions offered in the present chapter are based on a personal investigation of the route, in which more than a thousand miles were traveled and many streams and mountains visited and explored. It is time to return, then, to Mendoza and his men at San Lorenzo, from where they set out on December 15, 1683, and marched five leagues, or approximately fifteen miles, to San Bartolome. Here they camped in the old adobe ruins of the former home of the Maestre de Campo, Thome Dominguez de Mendoza. The following day they took up the march and traveled seven leagues, or approximately twenty-one miles, to the first Tancher,a of the Zuma nation, on the west or south bank of the river. The Zumas were a numerous tribe of Indians who had a number of Tanclienas along the river and who were soon to be congregated in the new missions established in the vidnity of the Junta de los Rios. They ,.Diario y derrotero ... Juan Dominguez de Mendoza ... A. G. N., PrOflincias lnterna.r, Vol. 37, Pt. 2. Entry for December 29, 1683. 3 Bolton, Exploration of tlte Spanish Southwest, 311-343. The copy used in this case was that found in Vol. 37 of Provincias lnternas but for some reason the translator and editor did not include the certijicaciones appended to the diary after the entry for May 2 S, I 684, which are followed by the itinerary to El Paso on the return march and are a part of the diary.
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