I I 1 ' I
' I J I it I I I I i I I I j I I'
T lte N ar~1aez Expedition, I 526-1536
79
the Indians, Castillo returned at the end of three da.ys to the spot where he had left us, and brought five or six of the people," says Cabeza de Vaca. He had found the village on a river that ran through ridges, evidently the Rio Grande near present Presidio, where the Jumanos had a town with huts more nearly resembling houses than any the Spaniards had seen up to this time. "I-le told us that he had found fixed dwellings of civilization, that the inhabitants lived on beans and pumpkins, and that he had seen maize. Of all things upon earth this caused us the greatest pleasure, and we gave endless thanks to our Lord for this news." 92 They lost no time in going to the pueblo where they were met a short distance away by Estevanico and all the Jumanos who had come with him to greet the Spaniards. With unfeigned joy the Indians welcomed them and next day guided them to another village up the Rio Grande. They now seem to have continued along the river up to and perhaps beyond present El Paso. They found many Indians of a much higher type than any of those encountered before. "They have the finest persons of any people we saw, of the greatest activity and strength, who best understood us and intelligently answered our inquiries. '\Ve called them the cow nation, because most of the cattle are ki11ed and slaughtered in their neighborhood, and along up that river for over fifty leagues they destroy great numbers," says Cabeza de Vaca. 93 As usual the Spaniards inquired about the country ahead. The Indians replied it would be better to go up the river to the north, because to the west they would find neither people nor food for seventeen clays. The Christians were puzzled and undecided. "Doubting what it would be best to do, and which way we should choose .. . we remained two days with these Indians, who gave us beans and pumpkins for subsistence ... vVe did not wish to follow the path leading to where the cattle are, because it is towards the north, and for us very circuitous, since we ever held it certain that going toward the sunset we must find what we desired. Thus we took our way, and traversed all the country until coming out at the South Sea," says Cabeza de Vaca. 94 9 2 Bandelier, I 50. 93There is a question as to whether this statement is not an interpolation of an enterprising publisher of 1 542. By that time the first reports of the Coronado expe- dition had reached Spain. Wagner, Tlte Spa11ish Soulliwesl, 9; Cf. Hodge, 101-103. 94Hodge, 104-105.
Powered by FlippingBook