Part 15 (1/2)
Report of Turquoise Stones. ”There are seven very large cities in the first province, all under one lord, with large houses of stone and lime; the smallest one story high, with a flat roof above, and others two and three stories high, and the house of the lord four stories high. They are all united under his rule. And on portals of the princ.i.p.al houses there are many designs of turquoise stones, of which he says they have a great abundance and, the people in these cities are very well clothed.
Concerning other provinces farther on, he said that each one of them amounted to much more than these seven cities.”
Marcos got a very clear idea of what actually existed, though he misunderstood the democratic community rule of the people of Cibola, under a chief whom they had elected to the office, for the rule of an overlord.
The houses were built about as he describes, and whitewashed inside and out with gypsum, and though the placing of turquoises in the door jambs is discontinued, the traditions of the people clearly indicate that at one time that was their general practice.
Messenger from the Coast Returns. Had he been a man of great impatience, Marcos would have started off at once to discover the truth or falsity of these reports, but he waited until his messenger who had been sent to the coast returned, with natives of that region. These told him of pearls found in quant.i.ty near their homes. Other Indians, with painted or tattooed faces, chests and arms, living to the east (doubtless the Pimas or Sobaipuris), also visited him, and told him of the seven villages with which they claimed to be familiar.
Marcos Follows Stephen. The friar was now ready to start, and on the second day following Easter (April 6), he left, expecting to find Stephen waiting for him at the village from which his messenger had been sent. Instead, he met a second cross, much larger than the first one, with messengers who gave a fuller and completer account of the seven villages, but agreeing in every particular with what had been told before. All this was confirmed when Friar Marcos reached the first village, so he hastened on, doubtless annoyed somewhat that Stephen had disobeyed his orders, and journeyed beyond the prescribed distance. But it was perhaps well for him that Stephen had done so. Gathering turquoises and women as he proceeded, and followed by an increasing number of natives, the negro pushed on to Cibola.
Before arriving at the princ.i.p.al town, he sent forward a notice of his approach in the shape of a gourd, to which were attached a few strings of rattles and two plumes, one white and the other red. This was unfortunate for Stephen, for undoubtedly it was part of the paraphernalia of a medicine man of a tribe hostile to the Cibolans. Its receipt made the people both angry and suspicious. The chief who received the gourd threw it upon the ground, and told the messengers that ”when their people reached the village, they would find out what sort of men lived there, and that instead of entering the place, they would all be killed.” Stephen paid no attention to this warning, but recklessly entered the village. He was duly received by the chief, but instead of his being acclaimed, and a generous welcome accorded him, he was coldly requested to remain without the walls, and occupy a house that was pointed out to him. This for years has been the habit of the Zuni people of our time, in dealing with strange Mexicans who come to visit them, owing to their religious ceremonies.
Stephen Is Killed. Poor Stephen's confidence doubtless began to leave him the following day, when his turquoises and women were taken from him, and he found himself a prisoner without food or drink. As much afraid now as he had been over-confident before, he endeavored, during the early morning hours, to escape, but was overtaken and killed, together with some of his followers. The others, to the number of sixty, returned to Fray Marcos with the appalling news.
Indian Followers Wish to Desert. But, undaunted and unafraid, the brave friar kept on his way. He was sent to see the villages of Cibola, and make a report on them. He had injured no one, and intended to injure no one.
While he must be circ.u.mspect and not risk his life unnecessarily, he must perform his duty, even though by so doing he put his life in jeopardy.
Another difficulty confronted him. The first reports of Stephen's death were accompanied with the statement that all of his native followers were also slain. As soon as the Indians who were with Fray Marcos heard this, they wished to desert and return home at once; but he opened up some bundles of presents he had with him, and by a free distribution of them prevailed upon his escort to remain. Then he went apart to pray, and while he was gone the ingrate Indians decided to kill him as the source of all their troubles. It took a good deal of argument, more presents, and some threats, to persuade them that to kill him would be the height of folly.
Before they had time to hatch up any more plots, he succeeded in getting two of the chief men to go with him to a hilly place overlooking the city of Cibola, which he describes as a city on a plain, on the slope of a round height. In his report he writes:
Marcos' Description of Cibola. ”It has a very fine appearance for a village, the best that I have seen in these parts. The houses, as the Indians had told me, are all of stone, built in stories, and with flat roofs. Judging by what I could see from the height where I placed myself to observe it, the settlement is larger than the City of Mexico.... It appears to me that this land is the best and largest of all those that have been discovered.”
Marcos Returns with His Report. With ”far more fright than food,” says the candid friar, he hastened back to New Spain, and made his report to Coronado in person at Compostela. Later he wrote it officially to the viceroy, also to the head of his order, and on September 2, in the presence of both Mendoza and Coronado, swore to the truth of what he had written.
High Office Is Given Him. I have already (in another chapter) told of the effect of Fray Marcos's report. It made a most popular man of him, and soon thereafter, when the position of father provincial of his order was vacant, he was chosen to fill the office,--the highest in the district. Henceforth he was called to fill all the pulpits of the region. He became known as a great preacher, and doubtless interlarded his sermons with many references to his wonderful adventures in search of the famous ”seven cities.” The result was the whole country became excited, and many went on the expedition, the failure of which we are familiar with.
Cortez Discredits Marcos. In the meantime, Cortez was not quiet. It must not be forgotten that he claimed all this northern country by right of discovery, and he protested most vigorously against the sending forth of Coronado's expedition. Just as Coronado was about to start, Cortez returned to Spain, and there presented a memorial to the king (June 25, 1540), setting forth in detail the ill-treatment which he had received from Mendoza. In this, according to Wins.h.i.+p, ”he declared that after the viceroy had ordered him to withdraw his men from their station on the coast of the mainland toward the north, where they were engaged in making ready for extended inland explorations, he had a talk with Fray Marcos. 'And I gave him,' says Cortez, 'an account of this said country, and of its discovery, because I had determined to send him in my s.h.i.+ps to follow up the said northern coast and conquer that country, because he seemed to understand something about matters of navigation. The said friar communicated this to the said viceroy, and he says that, with his permission, he went by land in search of the same coast and country as that which I had discovered, and which it was and is my right to conquer. And since his return, the said friar has published the statement that he came within sight of the said country, which I deny that he has either seen or discovered; but instead, in all that the said friar reports that he has seen, he only repeats the account I had given him regarding the information which I obtained from the Indians of the said country of Santa Cruz, because anything which the said friar says that he discovers is just the same as what these said Indians had told me; and in enlarging upon this and in pretending to report what he neither saw nor learned, the said Friar Marcos does nothing new, because he has done this many other times, and this was his regular habit, as is notorious in the provinces of Peru and Guatemala; and sufficient evidence regarding this will be given to the court whenever it is necessary.'”
Marcos an Exaggerator. Cortez never made any attempt to confirm his statements, and it is well known that he himself was very reckless in his handling of the truth where his own purposes were to be served, or the plans of his enemies defeated. It seems a pretty clear matter that, while the friar told the truth as nearly as possible as to what he actually saw, he did not hesitate to let the more exaggerated statements of the things he had merely heard have as full weight as the people to whom he told them desired. Anyhow, he has suffered a great deal of abuse as an exaggerator, and even worse, though it must never be forgotten that people who fail are always ready to blame every one concerned except themselves. Bandelier warmly defends Fray Marcos, and his knowledge is confessedly great; but Wins.h.i.+p thinks he treats the charge too lightly.
Poor Fray Marcos, afflicted with rheumatism, had a painful time during the remainder of his life, and finally died March 25, 1558, in the house of his order, in the City of Mexico. Religious Zeal of Garces. It is appropriate also that Fray Francisco Garces should find an honored place in these necessarily brief historical notices. Fired with a wonderful zeal for souls, without the urging or backing of any superior save the Spirit of G.o.d, which spoke to his own soul, he marched from San Xavier del Bac, his station in Northern Mexico (now Arizona), across these inhospitable wilds, merely seeking opportunities for the establishment of mission settlements, where the natives could learn of the way of Christ, salvation from sin, and heaven. Five times he left his mission and made entradas (as they are called) into the interior country, anxious to expand his work and his influence. On the third of these, he followed the course of the Gila down to the Colorado River, and descended along its banks, possibly as far as its mouth. His fourth journey was with the intrepid Captain Juan Bautista de Anza, when he set forth in 1774. to discover a road from the missions already established in Northern Mexico, over the then unknown Arizona and Colorado deserts, to the new missions of California. The road was discovered and, in spite of its hards.h.i.+ps, deemed feasible, for in 1775-1776 De Anza went over it again, accompanied by the band he had gathered together for the establishment of a Spanish colony at San Francisco. His chaplain on this occasion was Padre Pedro Font. Fray Garces, a fellow Franciscan, also went along as far as the Colorado River. Here he left the party, journeyed down the Colorado to the Gulf, returned to the Mohaves, then crossed the Colorado Desert to San Gabriel Mission in California, back again to the Mohaves, and finally across the Arizona desert to the province of Tusayan, the land of the Hopis.
Havasupais Guide Garces to the Hopi Towns. It was on June 4, 1776--memorable year in American annals--that Garces started under the guidance of some Wallapais for the Hopi towns. They had given him fair details of the country he would have to travel over. Pa.s.sing by their own home in Diamond Creek (one of the earliest approaches to the Grand Canyon), he decided to visit the Havasupais, whom he calls Yabesuas. Those familiar with Spanish spelling and p.r.o.nunciation will readily recognize that they are almost one and the same. The Wallapais took the priest down their own trail into Havasu or Cataract Canyon,--a trail which made his head swim, and where his mule had to be left behind, to be brought to him later by another route. He also describes the ladder down which he climbed just before reaching the place where the innumerable springs flow out of the solid rock and form Havasu Creek. It was the same ladder descended eighty years later by Egloffstein, Lieutenant Ives's artist, who was so heavy that he took down ladder and all with him. Here Garces stayed five days, being hospitably treated by the natives, who brought him melons, squash, corn, beans, etc., and who had thriving trees of peaches and apricots.
The Grand Canyon Is Reached. Leaving the kindhearted Havasupais, he returned to the plateau above, and soon saw for the first time the deep gorge of the Colorado River itself,--the Grand Canyon. He describes with surprising accuracy of detail the break in the Kaibabs, where the Marble and Little Colorado Canyons unite and form the Grand Canyon, and then, a little later, he gives a true description of the Little Colorado Canyon.
From his account, he doubtless went down by the old Hopi Salt Trail into the gorge of the Little Colorado, and thus on to Oraibi, which he reached July 2, 1776.
Wishes to Baptize the Indians. About this time those interesting, exciting and most important of all discussions were raging in the Continental Congress on the eastern side of the continent, which, two days later, were to result in the signing of the Declaration of Independence. Jefferson had undoubtedly written it at this time, but Garces knew not the name of the great patriot and his compeers. He was bent on a different mission. He wished to declare to the Hopis how they might have freedom,--freedom from sin and the fear of h.e.l.l. For, as Elliott Coues (the scholarly translator of Garces's diary, published a few years ago by F. P. Harper of New York) expresses it: ”It made him sick at heart to see so many natives going to h.e.l.l for lack of the three drops of water he would sprinkle over them if only they would let him do it.”
Garces Reaches Oraibi. His arrival at Oraibi caused great excitement, though a priest had been at work there as early as 1650. There were four priests laboring among the Hopis in 1680, when the great native uprising throughout New Mexico and Arizona occurred, and all of them, with many others (laymen and soldiers as well) were slain at that time. Then, too, the remembrance had not died away of the total destruction of the town of Awatobi (one of the Hopi towns of that day) in the year 1700, because the people of that place were hospitable and tolerant of the ”long gowns.” The medicine men and leaders of all the adjacent towns gathered together, and led a force which fell upon Awatobi in the dead of the night. Every male in it was slain, and only some of the women and girls were saved and taken to the other towns. The place was fired, and remained a neglected ruin, until the scholars.h.i.+p and labors of recent ethnologists dug up both the town and its tragic history.
Indians Are Hostile. Poor Garces! The hostility of the Oraibis was apparent. They refused to allow him to enter a house, and he was compelled to camp outside, in a corner formed by a jutting wall, while his guide sheltered his mule in a sheep corral. He built his little camp fire, cooked his frugal meal, and slept there during the night, doubtless committing himself and the people who refused to receive him to the protecting mercies of G.o.d. The next day the chiefs of the town came to him, clothed in their ceremonial costumes and feathery head-dresses, and bade him leave the place. He held up his crucifix as an index of his mission, and endeavored to tell them that he came solely to do them good. But they would have none of him, and on the following day, the memorable Fourth of July, they expelled him peaceably but forcibly from their town. He returned to the Colorado River again on July 25, and soon to San Xavier, his mission, a failure.
Establishes Missions among the Yumas. Now he threw his whole heart into the two missions which the authorities had decided to place among the Yumas.
Captain Palma, a Yuma chief, who had been very friendly, had urged it repeatedly, and now the desires of both were to be fulfilled. In 1779, Garces went to prepare the way, and the following year the establishment took place. The missions were eight miles apart; one was named La Purisima Concepcion; the other, San Pedro y San Pablo de Bicuner. Garces and Barraneche took charge of the upper mission, and Diaz and Moreno of the lower.
Garces Is Killed. The missions were a failure from the start. The few Spanish soldiers sent to guard the padres were obliged to utilize some of the best lands which were tilled for their own benefit. The appropriations from the treasury were too small to permit of anything but the rudest and simplest of structures, and Palma and his friends soon became disgusted with the whole affair. On July 17 the Indians, many of whom had been hostile from the first, arose and ma.s.sacred both colonies of white men, as well as a small force of soldiers under former Governor Rivera, of California, who was encamped temporarily on the western side of the river.
At first, Garces' life was spared, but before the day was over he and his co-laborer were beaten to death, and his unselfish mission on earth ended.
In my book ”In and Out of the Old Missions of California”, I give this interesting and tragic history in fuller detail. This, then, is the man whose name is given to the railway building at Needles, in order that his heroic labors for the Indians of the Colorado River region may not be forgotten.