Our Catliolic Heritage in Texas
80
Cabeea de Vaca reaches New Spain. Somewhere in the neighborhood of El Paso, and hardly as far as Socorro, New Mexico, because, it is more than likely that had they gone that far they would have come to some of the less important pueblos or heard of them in g reater detail than they admit, the four survivors of the Narvaez expedition crossed the Rio Grande into Mexico. We are not here concerned with their route across southern Arizona and down by Sonora to Culiacan. Suffice it to say that on May 18, 1536, they finaUy arrived in Culiacan, back once more in the land of the Christians after eight years of incredible hard- ships, sufferings and adventures. The significance of their unparalleled trek from the vicinity of Galveston Island to the Pacific lies in the fact that these four survivors were the first Europeans to traverse the present State of Texas from Galveston Island to Corpus Christi Bay, hence by way of the headwaters of the San Marcos, along the Balcones Escarp- ment, from present New Braunfels to the neighborhood of San Antonio, and from there, approximately along the present highway from that city to Del Rio, Devil's River, Presidio, and on to the vicinity of El Paso. The first geographic description of this vast area, the first information concerning the numerous tribes of Indians that roamed and lived in this immense unexplored territory, the first account of the flora and fauna of two-thirds of our present State are all to be found in Cabeza de Vaca's inimitable relation of this American Odyssey and the report which he and his companions made to the Audiencia of Santo Domingo after their return to Mexico. That they exercised a decided influence upon the organi- zation of the Coronado expedition which will be treated in the following chapter is undeniable. The striking note, however, of the account of this epic march across a continent is the unwavering faith of the leader of the few survivors. As he came into unmistakable signs of Christians, he exclaims, "We gave thanks to God our Lord for having chosen to bring us out of a captivity so melancholy and wretched. The delight we felt let each one conjecture, when he shall remember the length of time we were in that country, the suffering and perils we underwent." He then declares "In the two thousand leagues we journeyed on land, and in boats on water, and in that we traveled unceasingly for ten months after coming out of captivity, we found neither sacrifices nor idolatry." 95
95 Hodge, 112; 120. For a discussion of the possibility of his having gone hr Chihuahua or the Tasatecas. see Wagner, Tl:e Spanish Soutlnvest , pp. 7-9.
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