Documentary History of the Rio Grande Pueblos of New Mexico; I. Bibliographic Introduction | Page 7

becomes somewhat reduced through closer scrutiny
and by taking into consideration the circumstances under which each
official document was framed. Oñate already enjoyed the advantage of

interpreters in at least one New Mexican Indian tongue, but the
meetings or councils during which the "acts of obedience" were written
were not always at places where his interpreters understood the
language of the people they were among. These scribes faithfully
recorded the names of pueblos as they heard them, and sometimes
several names, each in a different language for the same village, hence
the number of pueblos recorded is considerably larger than it actually
was. Again the inevitable misunderstanding of Indian pronunciation by
the Spaniards caused them to write the same word in different forms
according as the sounds were uttered and caught by the ear. An
accurate copy of these documents of Oñate's time made by one versed
in Pueblo nomenclature and somewhat acquainted with Pueblo
languages would be highly desirable. Oñate is not given to fulness in
ethnological details. His journal is a dry record of what happened
during his march and occupancy of the country. Customs are only
incidentally and briefly alluded to.
One of Oñate's officers, however, Captain Gaspar Perez de Villagra, or
Villagran, published in 1610 a Historia de la Nueva Mexico in verse.
As an eye-witness of the events he describes, Villagran has the merits
and defects of all such authors, and the fact that he wrote in rhyme
called poetry does not enhance the historical merit of his book.
Nevertheless we find in it many data regarding the Pueblos not
elsewhere recorded, and study of the book is very necessary. We must
allow for the temptation to indulge in so-called poetical license,
although Villagran employs less of it than most Spanish chroniclers of
the period that wrote in verse. The use of such form and style of writing
was regarded in Spain as an accomplishment at the time, and not many
attempted it, which is just as well. Some of the details and descriptions
of actions and events by Villagran have been impeached as improbable;
but even if such were the case, they would not detract from the merits
of his book as an attempt at an honest and sincere narration and a
reasonably faithful description.
The minor documents connected with Oñate's enterprise and
subsequent administration of the New Mexican colony, so far as known,
are of comparatively small importance to the history of the Rio Grande

Pueblos. During the first years of the seventeenth century the attention
of Oñate was directed chiefly toward explorations in western Arizona
and the Gulf of California. While he was absent on his memorable
journey, quarrels arose in New Mexico between the temporal and
ecclesiastical authorities, which disturbed the colony for many years
and form the main theme of the documentary material still accessible.
Even the manuscripts relating to these troubles contain, here and there,
references to the ethnological condition of the Pueblos. Charges and
counter-charges of abuses committed by church and state could not fail
to involve, incidentally, the points touching upon the Indians, and the
documentary material of that period, still in manuscript but accessible
through the copies made by me and now in the Peabody Museum of
Harvard University, should not be neglected by serious investigators.
To enter into details regarding the tenor of these documents would be
beyond the scope of this Introduction, but I would call attention in a
general way to the value and importance of church records, which
consist chiefly of registers of baptisms, marriages, and deaths. These
for the greater part were kept with considerable scrupulosity, although
there are periods during which the same degree of care was not
exercised. They are valuable ethnologically by reason of the data which
they afford with respect to intermarriages between members of distant
tribes, through the numerous Indian personal names that they contain,
and on account of the many records of events which the priests deemed
it desirable to preserve. Examples will be given in the text of the
Documentary History to follow.
The Libros de Fabrica, in which are recorded items bearing on the
economic side of church administration, are usually less important; still
they contain data that should not be neglected, for very often minor
points deserve as much attention as salient ones. Unfortunately the
church records of the period prior to 1680 have well-nigh disappeared
from New Mexico, but some still exist at El Paso del Norte (Juarez),
Chihuahua, that date back to the middle of the seventeenth century. The
absence of these records may be somewhat overcome by another class
of ecclesiastical documents, much more numerous and more laborious
to consult. In fact I am the only one who thus far has attempted to
penetrate the mass of material which they contain,