193
Exploration of tlee Big Bend and Pecos Country
From the main stream of \,Volf Creek, Oiiate and his companions went in an almost clue north direction for seven leagues to a fairly large river. This was, therefore, approximately twenty miles from the first and must have been Beaver Creek or the main stream of the North Canadian. The other large river, four leagues beyond, can be nothing but a trib- utary of the former. It was here that Humana and his men seem to have been murdered. Upon questioning their Indian allies, the Spaniards were informed that "in this region they had murdered the Spaniards, sur- rounding them with fire and burning them all. and that they [the other Indians] had with them one who had escaped, injured by the fire." This was perhaps the mulatto woman previously mentioned. 71 Fearing treachery, the Spaniards decided to capture the chief of these Indians. They accordingly seized Catarax, one of the principal chiefs in the camp. With their hostage they crossed the river, and going a half league beyond, they arrived in a settlement, "containing more than twelve hundred houses, all established along the bank of another good-sized river which flowed into the large one." Contrary to the general belief, this could not have been the Arkansas, in view of the distance traveled from the time they left Wolf Creek, and as shown by the map already cited. In describing this large settlement , the narrative proceeds: "They were all round, built of forked poles and bound with rods, and on the outside covered to the ground with dry grass. Within, on the sides they had frameworks or platforms which served them with beds on which they slept. Most of them were large enough to hold eight or ten per- sons ... We found the pueblo entirely deserted but not lacking maize, of which there was much and of good quality." The Escanjaques, who were their enemies, wished to sack the village but the Spaniards forbade it. The Spaniards inquired diligently what was ahead, and as usual the Indians regaled them with stories of populous kingdoms beyond, where gold existed. But the natives warned the Spaniards that these peoples were warlike. "This spurred us to go on," says the narrator. Three leagues beyond the deserted village, however, a council was held. "Seeing that the horses and mules were tired out and exhausted ... and that the chief purpose of our journey had been achieved," they concluded it was best to return and make a full report of what they had seen "so that His Majesty's orders might be carried out." This, we are assured, "was a hard blow to the governor's courage and bravery, and although he was very sorry to curtail his journey, upon
71See page I 86.
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