Our Cat/1olic Heritage in T ezas
he arrived four days later to wait for the rest of his men. 63 Here seven hundred horses and mules, six mule carts, and two oxcarts to convey four pieces of artillery were made ready. When the expedition finally left a few days later there were seventy men, besides the governor, Captain Vicente de Zaldivar, and two Franciscan missionaries, · Father Fray Francisco de Velasco and Fray Pedro de Vergara, a lay brother. 64 Leaving Galisteo, they crossed the mountains that divide the Galisteo valley from that of the Pecos with some difficulty, on account of the carts, and continuing first south and then east for five days, they came to a river they called San Buenaventura, which was the Pecos. The next day the expedition reached another stream which they called Bagres, which was no doubt the Gallinas River, as pointed out by Bolton. "After the horses had rested," says the narrator, "we continued our journey, always going east, and in three days arrived at another river which we named Magdalena.'' 65 This was no other than the Canadian. Following this stream as closely as possible for several days, they encountered some Indians of the Apache nation. It is to be noted that this is the first specific reference to the plains Indians as Apaches. From this point on they were in the great plains, which they called Cibola or Buffalo, because of the presence of numerous herds throughout the remainder of their journey. "Learning from the guide ... that all the country was now level ," declares the chronicler, "we began to travel with greater rapidity and with pleasure occasioned by the coming of the maesa de campo [Zaldivar] with the rest of the men who remained behind." 66 Encouraged by the character of the land and the arrival of the reenforcements, the 63 The principal source for this expedition is the "Relacion Verdadera de los sucesos de la entrada que hizo el governador D. Juan de Oiiate en los poblaciones de Nueva Megico hacia el Norte," a manuscript in the Lowery Collection, made available for the first time by Bolton in op. cit., 250-265. Other sources are found in Pacheco y Cardenas, Documentos Ineditos, XVI, 52-60; 198-199 ; 224-227; and Zarate Salmeron, "Jomada de D. Juan de Oiiate a la gran Ciudad de Quivira," in Documentos para la Historia de Mexico, 3 ra. serie, 26-30. Martinez's map of the route, first published by Bolton in op. cit., from the original in Sevilla is of inesti- mable value. In the remainder of the account all these sources will be used. Although the original account says north, the general direction was east. ""Breve Relacion" (Doc. lned., XVI, 54) says eighty men, while the "Memorial" (Ibid., 198) says one hundred. The variance is in part accounted for by the fact that a group of soldiers joined Oiiate in August while out in the plains. 6SBolton, op. cit., 252. ""Ibid., 253. Evidently Zaldivar stayed at Galisteo for a few days to bring the late arrivals at the rendezvous as previously indicated. See note 64.
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