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Ottr Catholic Heritage in Texas
14
This season of the year is the flood season of the Rio Grande. When the surface waters of the vast area drained by this river reach its lower stretches, they assume a volume which is truly imposing. If Pineda arrived in this area during the overflow, it is not strange that he should have described it as "a very large river," as the stream spreads over an area of two or three miles at such time of inundation and its swirling muddy current discolors the blue gulf for many leagues out at sea. 34 The numerous Indian villages, however, are incontrovertible evidence that the river visited on the return trip was no other than the Rio Grande. 'When in 1653, Alonso de Leon, Sr., led an exploring expedition from Cade- reyta to the mouth of the Rio de las Palmas, the first land expedition to the Rio Grande recorded, he declared: "There are numerous Indian nations along its banks, who are highly civilized." 35 The full significance of the Pineda expedition lies in the fact, then, that it not only was the first to explore and map the coast line of Texas as heretofore admitted, but it was also the first to penetrate any of the rivers which water the present State. The mouth of the Rio de las Palmas, which was no other than the Rio Grande, as will be further shown in the course of this chapter, was thus first occupied for a period of forty days in the fall of 1519. This area can, therefore, claim the distinction of being the second to be visited by Europeans within the present limits of the United States. It was to its mouth and to the friendly Indians among whom Pineda spent forty days that Garay dispatched a new expedition a few months later. Had it not been for the dominating success of Cortes in Mexico, the efforts of Garay actually to colonize the area in the immediate vicinity of the Rio Grande might have met with better results. But the constantly growing desire to share in the fabulous wealth of the Moctezumas, reports of which spread like wildfire, caused the men whom Garay sent to become dissatisfied and to attempt to colonize Panuco River in preference to the Rio Grande. The explanation is simple, they wished to be as near as possible to the scene of the unprecedented and meteoric achievements of Cortes. Garay sends Camargo to settle Rio Grande. Francisco de Garay was more than pleased with the report which Pineda made to him concerning the land explored, its wealth, and the friendly nature of the Indians. 34 The writer grew up in the vicinity of the mouth of the Rio Grande and he has vivid recollections of its imposing floods. 15 Genaro Garcia, Historia de N11evo Leon, in Documentos lneditos, XXV, 205.
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