.Maria de Agreda, t/,e Jumano, and tl,e Tejas
201
fifty Jumano Indians, Father Fray Juan de Salas and Father Fray Diego Lopez, with a guard of three soldiers, he set out in quest of the land of the Jumanos. For a hundred leagues, more or less, the Franciscans trav- eled mainly to the east, slightly southeast, across the land of the Vaquero Apaches, who were no other than the Querechos of former expeditions, found repeatedly in the great plains east of the Pecos and along the headwaters of the Canadian and the Red Rivers. Speaking of these Indians, who were met in this region consistently since the time of Coronado by all those who ventured east of the upper Pecos into the great plains, Hodge says: "They consisted, in whole or in part, of the tribes later known as Mescaleros, J icarillas, Faraones, Lipans, and Llaneros-in other words, all the Apaches, who subsisted largely on the buffalo." 12 All these tribes were subsequently in central west and southwest Texas and their presence at this time in the Panhandle is the best proof that Quivira was in this region, as already suggested, and that all the expeditions that set out to the east of New Mexico trod upon the soil of Texas in this area. It was in the middle of summer, almost the same season, when Coronado and his men trekked along the trackless plains. But the missionaries were guided on this occasion by the friendly delegation that had come to seek for them, and consequently did not experience the difficulties of the former expedition. After going approximately three hundred miles east-southeast from old Isleta, the Padres encountered a group of twelve chiefs of the J umanos who had come to meet them, having been advised of their proximity, according to them, by no other than the Woman in Blt1e. A day or two later they were welcomed officially- by a vast multitude of two thousand men, women, and children, who came out of their ranclt.erias in a procession, bearing two crosses before them. "When the said Padres and three soldiers that went with them, had adored them [the crosses], the Padres also took out their two crucifixes, which they wore at the neck; and all came to kiss it [the crucifix] and to venerate it, as if they were very old Christians." 13 The Indians showed the same veneration for a medal of a beautiful Infant Jesus which the missionaries carried with them. The visitors were then led with much joy to a bower made of branches and adorned with flowers for them. 14 !%Hodge, Ayer Memorial of Benavides, 263-264. IS/bid., 60, 86; Benavides, Memorial of 1634, MS. p. 50. 14 This last detail is found in the Memorial of 1 634, heretofore unknown, but recently found by the Rt. Rev. Msgr. Guilday.
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