275
Founding of El Paso and Establishment. of 111issions
Julimes who were caught in Parral and charged with inciting the natives to revolt. The incident naturally filled the Julime nation and their neighbors with rage. Nevertheless, it should be said in all justice that those who accepted Christianity remained loyal to the last. It is a remark- able fact that the mission Indians of La Junta, when their nation joined the revolt, escorted Fathers Acevedo and Zavaleta safely to Parral. They did more. Not only did they put the missionaries out of the danger zone without doing them any harm, but they carried the sacred vessels and all the ornaments of their churches to Parral also for safe-keeping. 51 Descri,ption of El Paso and the settlements in its vicinity. The descriptions of the early arrangement of the Spanish and Indian settle- ments in the El Paso region are confusing. The first careful description of the entire area and one that has not been given before is that found in the diary of Brigadier General Don Pedro de Rivera, the tireless Visitador, who inspected the entire line of presidios along the northern frontier of New Spain in 1725-1727. On his way to New Mexico, on May 6, 1726, he arrived at Ojo Caliente, which he called the first town within the jurisdiction of New Mexico. This was located thirty-two leagues from El Paso to the south . At the time Rivera visited the place it consisted of four ranchos, where wheat and corn were cultivated to some extent. "Here," he says, "there appeared before me, having heard of my presence, seven Indians of the Zuma nation who came in the afternoon. They have their settlement in a place they call Carrizal. Among those who came, there was a chief of high authority. They declared to me in such terms as they were able to use, that they wanted to give obedience to the king, having been in revolt. As some of them spoke and under- stood Spanish, I urged them to observe the peace and live tranquilly. I tried to d issuade them from the error in which they continued, and induced them to be congregated in towns where they could live en polttica. I gave them bread, meat, and tobacco and they went away apparentl y happy." From Ojo Caliente, Rivera traveled eight leagues the next clay, May 7, and stopped at an abandoned site called Los Patos, near which there was a fresh water lake. Resuming his journey, he covered eight more leagues on May 8, and camped at Laguna de 1:,. Candelaria, from where he started the next day and crossed the worst sand hills he had ever seen,
S~Hughes, np. cit., 358.
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