165
Exploration of tire Big Bend and Pecos Country
little party and reverently kissed the crucifix which Fray Agustin held out to them as a sign of peace. 19 Gallegos has left us an accurate description of these Indians. "These naked people," he says, "wear only cattlehides and deerskins, with which they cover themselves. They sustain themselves on the meat of the cattle which they come to eat at this season. During the rainy season they go in search of prickly pears and dates. They have dogs which carry loads of two or three arrobas [about seventy-five pounds] . They provide them with leather and pack saddles, poitrels and cruppers. They tie them to one another like a pack train. They put maguey ropes on them for halters. They travel three or four leagues per day. They are medium sized dogs." 20 The Spaniards spent a day among the Querechos and learned from them that the buffaloes were about two days' journey down the river. They declared that they were as numerous as the blades of grass on the prairies. When asked to furnish guides, they excused themselves an assured the visitors that they did not need anyone to show them the wa: Next morning the dauntless explorers set out, crossed the Pecos, an following an easterly direction, proceeded for two days across the bound- less plains, but no cattle were in sight. "We wandered on bewildered," says Gallegos. Afraid to go farther and fearful of becoming lost in the vast and trackless area, it was decided to return to the ranclrerza of the Querechos and secure a guide by force if need be. Since the expedition was now on the northwestern limits of Texas it will be well to give the account of their march in full. "Then in the morning," says the narrator, "we started with the guide and marched laboriously for three days, because we lacked water during this time until we reached a place where we found some small pools . .. where the Indians were accustomed to drink. We opened them by means of hoes, for they did not contain enough water for one of our animals. God was pleased that as these pools were opened, so much water flowed from them that it was sufficient to satisfy ten thousand horses. We named these water pools Ojos Zarcos. Traces of the cattle were found here. A beast was killed . It was the first that had been seen on the trip ... The next day we stopped at the said pools in order to refresh our horses, which were tired out from the previous day. \Ve had gone
19 Hammond, Obrego11's History, 303-305.
: 0 Hammond, "Gallegos' Relation," in op. cit., II, 336.
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