Part 1 (1/2)

Historical Introduction to Studies Among the Sedentary Indians of New Mexico.

by Adolphus Bandelier.

I.

HISTORICAL INTRODUCTION.

Part I.

The earliest knowledge of the existence of the sedentary Indians in New Mexico and Arizona reached Europe by way of Mexico proper; but it is very doubtful whether or not the aborigines of Mexico had any _positive_ information to impart about countries lying north of the present State of Queretaro. The tribes to the north were, in the language of the valley-confederates, ”Chichimecas,”--a word yet undefined, but apparently synonymous, in the conceptions of the ”Nahuatl”-speaking natives, with fierce savagery, and ultimately adopted by them as a warlike t.i.tle.

Indistinct notions, indeed, of an original residence, during some very remote period of time, at the distant north, have been found among nearly all the tribes of Mexico which speak the Nahuatl language. These notions even a.s.sume the form of tradition in the tale of the _Seven Caves_,[1] whence the Mexicans and the Tezcucans, as well as the Tlaxcaltecans, are said to have emigrated to Mexico.[2] Perhaps the earliest mention of this tradition may be found in the writings of Fray Toribio de Paredes, surnamed Motolinia. It dates back to 1540 A.D.[3]

But it is not to be overlooked that ten years previously, in 1530, the story of the _Seven Cities_, which was the form in which the first report concerning New Mexico and its sedentary Indians came to the Spaniards, had already been told to Nuno Beltran de Guzman in Sinaloa.[4] The parallelism between the two stories is striking, although we are not authorized to infer that the so-called seven _cities_ gave rise to what appeared as an aboriginal myth of as many _caves_.[5]

The tale of the Seven Caves, as the original home of the Mexicans and their kindred, prevailed to such an extent that, as early as 1562, in a collection of picture-sheets executed in aboriginal style, the so-called ”Codex Vatica.n.u.s,” ”Chicomoztoc,”

and the migrations thence, were graphically represented.

All the important Indian writers of Mexico between 1560 and 1600, such as Duraro, Camargo, Tezozomoc, and Ixtlilxochitl, refer to it as an ancient legend, and they locate the site of the story, furthermore, very distinctly in New Mexico.

Even the ”Popol-Vuh,” in its earliest account of the Quiche tribe of Guatemala, mentions ”Tulan-Zuiva, the seven caves or seven ravines.”[6]

While it is impossible as yet to determine whether or not this legend exercised any direct influence on the extension of Spanish power into Northern Mexico, another myth, well known to eastern continents from a remote period, became directly instrumental in the discovery of New Mexico. This is the tale of the _Amazons_.

About 1524 A.D., Cortes was informed by one of his officers (then on an expedition about Michhuacan) that towards the north there existed a region called Ciguatan (”Cihuatlan”--place of women), near to which was an island inhabited by warlike females exclusively.[7] The usual exaggerations about metallic wealth were added to this report; and when, in 1529, Nuno de Guzman governed Mexico he set out northwards, first to conquer the sedentary Indians of Michhuacan, and then to search for the gold and jewels of the Amazons.[8]

It was while on this foray that he heard of the Seven Cities in connection with Ciguatan. This latter place was reached; and, while the fancies concerning it were speedily dispelled by reality, those concerning the Seven Cities flitted further north.[9] Guzman overran, laid waste, and finally colonized Sinaloa. He sent parties into Sonora; but, after his recall, slow colonization superseded military forays on a large scale, at least for a few years.

During this time, Pamfilo de Narvaez had undertaken the colonization of Florida.[10] His scheme failed, and cost him his life. Of the few survivors of his expedition, four only remained in the American continent, wandering to and fro among the tribes of the south-west. After nine years of untold hards.h.i.+ps, these four men finally reached Sonora, having traversed the continent, from the Gulf of Mexico to the coast of the Pacific. The name of the leader and subsequent chronicler of their adventures was Alvar Nunez Cabeza de Vaca.[11]

It is not possible to follow and to trace, geographically, the erratic course of Cabeza de Vaca with any degree of certainty.

His own tale, however authentic, is so confused[12] that it becomes utterly impossible to establish any details of location.

We only know that, in the year A.D. 1536, he and his a.s.sociates finally met with their own countrymen about Culiacan.[13]

They reported that, when their s.h.i.+ftings had cast them far to the west of the sinister coast of what was then called ”Florida,”

settlements of Indians were reached which presented a high degree of culture.[14] These settlements they described as having a character of permanence, but we look in vain for any accurate description of the buildings, or of the material of which they were composed.[15] For such a report of important settlements in the north, the mind of the Spanish conquerors in Mexico was, as we have already intimated, well prepared.

During their stay among the nondescript tribes of South-western North America, Cabeza de Vaca and his companions had tried to scatter the seeds of Christianity,--at least, they claimed to have done so. The monks of the order of St.

Francis then represented the ”working church” in Mexico.

One of their number, Fray Marcos de Nizza, who had joined Pedro de Alvarado upon his return from his adventurous tour to Quito in Ecuador, and who was well versed in Indian lore,[16]

at once entered upon a voyage of discovery, determining to go much farther north than any previous expedition from the colonies in Sinaloa. He took as his companion the negro Estevanico, who had been with Cabeza de Vaca on his marvellous journey.

Leaving San Miguel de Culiacan on the 7th of March, 1539,[17] and traversing Petatlan, Father Marcos reached Vacapa.[18]

If we compare his statements about this place with those contained in the diary of Mateo Mange,[19] who went there with Father Kino in 1701, we are tempted to locate it in Southern Arizona, somewhat west from Tucson, in the ”Pimeria alta,”[20] at a place now inhabited by the Pima Indians, whose language is also called ”Cora” and ”Nevome.”[21] Vacapa was then ”a reasonable settlement” of Indians. Thence he travelled in a northerly direction, probably parallel to the coast at some distance from it. It is impossible to trace his route with any degree of certainty: we cannot even determine whether he crossed the Gila at all; since he does not mention any considerable river in his report, and fails to give even the direction in which he travelled, beyond stating at the outset that he went northward. Still we may suppose, from other testimony on the subject, that he went beyond the Rio Gila,[22] and finally he came in sight of a great Indian pueblo, ”more considerable than Mexico,”--the houses of stone and several stories high. The negro Estevanico had been killed at this pueblo previous to the arrival of Fray Marcos, so the latter only gazed at it from a safe distance, and then hastily retired to Culiacan. While the date of his departure is known, we are in the dark concerning the date of his return, except that it occurred some time previous to the 2d of September, 1539.[23]

To this great pueblo, ”more considerable than Mexico,”

Fray Marcos was induced to give the name of Cibola.[24] The comparison with Mexico shows a lively imagination; still, we must reflect that in 1539 Mexico was not a large town,[25] and the startling appearance of the many-storied pueblo-houses should also be taken into account.[26]

With the report about Cibola came the news that the said pueblo was only one of seven, and the ”Seven Cities of Cibola”

became the next object of Spanish conquest.