189
Exploration of the Big Bend and Pecos Country
that calves be captured, but they became so enraged that out of the many which were being brought, some dragged by ropes and others upon the horses, not one got a league toward the camp, for all died within about an hour." 61 J usephe, the Indian guide, had led Zaldivar and his men along the route followed by Humana. In this very region of buffalo were found some camps and sleeping places made by Bonilla and Humana, as they plodded their way across the plains in search of the fabled riches of Quivira soon to be visited again by Onate. That they were on the plains is evident from the description of the country. "These cattle," says Onate, "have their haunts on some very level mesas, which extend over many leagues ... The mesas have neither mountain, nor tree, nor shrub, and when on them, [the men] were guided solely by the sun. To the north, in their highest part flows a medium-sized river, which appears to be a marvel, for at that point it is higher than at its source, and seems to flow rather up than down . At the base of these mesas, in some places where there are glens or valleys, there are many cedars, [the well known cedar brakes] and an infinite number of springs which issue from these very mesas , and a half league from them there are large cotton groves." 62 The description of the great plains of \.Vest Texas rather than of any portion of Kansas or Oklahoma could not be more clear nor more vivid than this. It is impossible to claim that either Zaldivar or Onate were ever beyond the confines of the great plains of Llano Estacado in Texas after such a description. Having found the cattle and traveled approximately two hundred miles to the east, perhaps slightly north, of the old pueblo of Pecos, Zaldivar and his men, after killing more buffaloes, decided to return to San Juan Bautista. They had reached the headwaters of the Canadian and probably visited the vicinity of present Boden about twenty-five miles northwest of Amarillo. Oiiate's visit to Quivira. Persistent reports of wealth and numerous native settlements beyond the great plains visited by Zaldivar and his companions finally induced Onate to undertake an expedition to Quivira in 1601. Having gathered sufficient supplies, arms, and ammunition, the governor set out from San Gabriel, on the west bank of the Rio Grande, below the mouth of the Chama Rh·er, for Galisteo, on June 23, where
61 /bid., 228. 61 /bid., 230.
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