Historical Introduction to Studies Among the Sedentary Indians of New Mexico; Report on the Ruins o | Page 2

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 He sent parties into Sonora; but, after his recall, slow colonization superseded military forays on a large scale, at least for a few years.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 hardships, 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 Nu?ez 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 associates finally met with their own countrymen about Culiacan.[13]
They reported that, when their shiftings 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 "Piméria 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.
It is not our purpose here to describe the events of this conquest, or rather series of conquests, beginning with the expedition of Francisco Vasquez Coronado in 1540, and ending in the final occupation of New Mexico by Juan de O?ate in 1598. For the history of these enterprises, we refer the reader to the attractive and trustworthy work of Mr. W. W. H.