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Our Catlzolic H e,-itage in Texas
without water for over forty hours, and if we had lacked it another day, we should have perished. "We asked the guide whom we took along, where the other cattle were, of which he said there were many. He answered that we would see them the next day, that they were at a water hole and that there were many of them. So on the following day, which was the ninth day of October of the said year, we reached some lagoons of very brackish water. Here we found many pools of briny water along a valley that extends from these lagoons toward the place where the sun rises. We named this valley Los Llanos de San Francisco and Aguas Zarcos." 21 They were now at the headwaters of the southernmost branch of the Canadian River in the Panhandle of Texas. Next day they encountered large herds of buffalo along the river in droves of five hundred and over, and they were deeply impressed with the size and appearance of these animals. "They are humpbacked and woolly; the horns short and black, the head large. The bulls have beards resembling he-goats .. . They are so large," says the narrator, "that when they stand in the middle of a plain they resemble ships at sea or carts on land ... Their meat is delicious." With the greatest of ease, thanks to their arquebuses, the Spaniards killed forty, never missing a shot. This exceptional marksmanship seems to have made a deep impres- sion upon their unwilling Querecho guide, who on his return told his astonished companions about it.u Return to t/1e pueblos. The guide told the Spaniards before leaving that down the river ( the Canadian) there were many more buffaloes. The advisability of exploring the country beyond was discussed, but because of their small number, it was thought best to return. Thus after spending ten days on the upper Canadian in the Panhandle, the little party started back for the pueblos of New Mexico on October 19, 1 58 I. They had sent the guide and some of the Indian servants that accom- panied them in advance with the meat of the buffalo they had killed. The Querechos on the Pecos welcomed them on their return and did not seem to resent the drafting of one of their number by force to act as a guide. The Spaniards gave some of the meat to the chiefs of the Querechos, who now offered to accompany them to better hunting grounds 2 •Hammond, "Gallegos' Relation," in op. cit., 336-337. Cf. Obregon' s Hislor,y, translated and edited by the same author, 305-306. 22 / bid., 206-307.
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