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THE SPANISH BORDERLANDS 
 
ROOSEVELT EDITION 
 
 VOLUME 23 
 
 THE CHRONICLES 
 
 OF AMERICA SERIES 
 
 ALLEN JOHNSON 
 
 EDITOR 
 
 GERHARD R. LOMER 
 
 CHARLES W. JEFFERYS 
 
 ASSISTANT EDITORS 
 
JUAN BAUTISTA DE ANZA, FOUNDER OF SAN 
 FRANCISCO, 1776 
 
 By courtesy of John F. Biven 
 
THE 
 SPANISH BORDERLANDS 
 
 A CHRONICLE OF OLD 
 
 FLORIDA AND THE SOUTHWEST 
 
 BY HERBERT E. BOLTON 
 
 LVXET 
 
 NEW HAVEN: YALE UNIVERSITY PRESS 
 
 TORONTO: GLASGOW, BROOK & CO. 
 
 LONDON: HUMPHREY MILFORD 
 
 OXFORD UNIVERSITY PRESS 
 
 1921 
 
 ivioDograph 
 

 Copyright, 1921, by Yale University Press 
 
 M -2 1922 ^ 
 
 AI56ifi21 
 
 ^ 
 
PREFACE 
 
 This book is to tell of Spanish patMnders and 
 pioneers in the regions between Florida and Cali- 
 fornia, now belonging to the United States, over 
 which Spain held sway for centuries. These were 
 the northern outposts of New Spain, maintained 
 chiefly to hold the country against foreign intrud- 
 ers and against the inroads of savage tribes. They 
 were far from the centers of Spanish colonial 
 civilization, in the West Indies, Central America, 
 Mexico, and Peru. 
 
 The rule of Spain has passed; but her colonies 
 have grown into independent nations. From Mex- 
 ico to Chile, throughout half of America, the 
 Spanish language and Spanish institutions are still 
 dominant. Even in the old borderlands north of 
 the Rio Grande, the imprint of Spain's sway is 
 still deep and clear. The names of four States — 
 Florida, Colorado, Nevada, and California — are 
 
viii PREFACE 
 
 Spanish in form. Scores of rivers and mountains 
 and hundreds of towns and cities in the United 
 States still bear the names of saints dear to the 
 Spanish pioneers. Southwestern Indians yet speak 
 Spanish in preference to English. Scores of the 
 towns have Spanish quarters, where the life of the 
 old days still goes on and where the soft Castilian 
 tongue is still spoken. Southwestern English has 
 been enriched by Spanish contact, and hundreds of 
 words of Spanish origin are in current use in speech 
 and print everywhere along the border. 
 
 Throughout these Hispanic regions now in An- 
 glo-American hands, Spanish architecture is still 
 conspicuous. Scattered all the way from Georgia 
 to San Francisco are the ruins of Spanish missions. 
 Others dating from the old regime are yet well pre- 
 served and are in daily use as chapels. From bel- 
 fries in Florida, Texas, New Mexico, Arizona, and 
 California, still sound bells cast in Spain and bear- 
 ing the royal arms. In many of the towns, and 
 here and there in open country, old-time adobes 
 are still to be seen. Moreover, the Spanish ele- 
 ment has furnished the motif for a new type of 
 
PREFACE ix 
 
 architecture in the Southwest that has become 
 one of the most distinctive American possessions. 
 In Cahfornia, Texas, and Arizona, the type is 
 dominated by mission architecture. In New Mex- 
 ico it is strongly modified by the native culture 
 which found expression in pueblo building. 
 
 There are still other marks of Spanish days 
 on the southern border. We see them in social, 
 religious, economic, and even in legal customs. 
 California has her Portola festival, her rodeos, and 
 her Mission Play. Everywhere in the Southwest 
 there are quaint church customs brought from 
 Spain or Mexico by the early pioneers. From 
 the Spaniard the American cowboy inherited his 
 trade, his horse, his outfit, his vocabulary, and his 
 methods. Spain is stamped on the land surveys. 
 From Sacramento to St. Augustine nearly every- 
 body holds his land by a title going back to Mexico 
 or Madrid. Most of the farms along the border are 
 divisions of famous grants which are still known by 
 their original Spanish names. In the realm of law, 
 principles regarding mines, water rights on streams, 
 and the property rights of women — to mention 
 
X PREFACE 
 
 only a few — have been retained from the Spanish 
 regime in the Southwest. Not least has been the 
 Hispanic appeal to the imagination. The Spanish 
 occupation has stamped the literature of the bor- 
 derlands and has furnished theme and color for a 
 myriad of writers, great and small. Nor is this His- 
 panic cult — or culture — losing its hold. On the 
 contrary, it is growing stronger. In short, the 
 Southwest is as Spanish in color and historical 
 background as New England is Puritan, as New 
 York is Dutch, or as New Orleans is French. 
 
 My original manuscript for this book was written 
 on a much larger scale than the Editor desired. 
 In the work of reduction and rewriting, to fit it for 
 the Series, I have had the able assistance of Miss 
 Constance Lindsay Skinner. 
 
 H. E. B. 
 
 University of California, 
 October, 1920. 
 
CONTENTS 
 
 The Explorers 
 
 I. PONCE DE LEON. AYLLON. AND 
 
 NARVAEZ Page 1 
 
 II. CABEZA DE VACA " 26 
 
 III. HERNANDO DE SOTO " 46 
 
 IV. CORONADO. CABRILLO. AND VIZCAINO " 79 
 
 
 The Colonies 
 
 
 V. 
 
 FLORIDA ^ 
 
 * 120 
 
 VI. 
 
 NEW MEXICO 
 
 ' 165 
 
 VII. 
 
 THE JESUITS ON THE PACIFIC SLOPE 
 
 ' 188 
 
 VIII. 
 
 TEXAS 
 
 ' 207 
 
 IX. 
 
 LOUISIANA 
 
 ' 232 
 
 X. 
 
 CALIFORNIA 
 
 " 258 
 
 
 BIBLIOGRAPHICAL NOTE 
 
 * 297 
 
 
 INDEX 
 
 * 305 
 
 2C1 
 
ILLUSTRATIONS 
 
 JUAN BAUTISTA DE ANZA, FOUNDER 
 OF SAN FRANCISCO, 1776 
 
 By courtesy of John F. Biven. Frontispiece 
 
 EXPLORATION AND SETTLEMENT OF 
 NORTHERN NEW SPAIN, 1518-1776 
 Map by W. L. G. Joerg, American Geo- 
 graphical Society. Facing page 16 
 
THE SPANISH BORDERLANDS 
 CHAPTER I 
 
 PONCE DE LEON, AYLLON, AND NARVAEZ 
 
 The sixteenth century dawned auspiciously for 
 Spain. After eight hundred years of warfare with 
 the infidel usurpers of the Peninsula, the last Mos- 
 lem stronghold had fallen; and, through the union 
 of Aragon and Castile, all Spain was united under 
 one crown and lifted to the peak of power in Europe. 
 To the world about her, Spain presented the very 
 image of unity, wealth, and power, adamantine 
 and supreme. 
 
 But the image of serene absolutism is always a 
 portent of calamity. There followed a period of 
 brilliant achievement abroad, while the prosperity 
 of the nation at home steadily declined. Taxation 
 was exorbitant. Industry declined because of the 
 lack of skilled workers, for the expulsion of the 
 
2 THE SPANISH BORDERLANDS 
 
 Moors had robbed Spain of artisans and pastoral 
 laborers. The nobles and gentry were swordsmen, 
 crusaders, and spoilers of the Egyptians — made 
 such by centuries of war with the Moors — and 
 they held all labor and trade in scorn. 
 
 Each year, more of the gold which annually 
 poured into the Emperor's lap must needs be 
 poured out again for products which were no longer 
 grown or manufactured within the realm. Gold 
 was the monarch's need; gold was the dazzling lure 
 which the warrior nobles of Spain followed. There 
 were no longer Egyptians at home to spoil. To the 
 New World must these warrior nobles now look 
 for work for their swords and for wealth without 
 menial toil or the indignities of commerce. Only on 
 that far frontier could they hope to enjoy the per- 
 sonal liberty and something of their old feudal pow- 
 ers, now curtailed by absolutism at home. Irked 
 by restrictions and surveillance as well as by inac- 
 tion or poverty, these sons of the sword sought 
 again on this soil the freedom which was once the 
 Spaniard's birthright. 
 
 Adventure, conquest, piety, wealth, were the 
 ideals of those Spanish explorers, who, pushing 
 northward from the West Indies and from the City 
 of Mexico, first planted the Cross and the banner 
 
PONCE DE LEON, AYLLON, NARVAEZ 3 
 
 of Spain in the swamps of Florida and in the arid 
 plateaus of New Mexico. The conquistadors who 
 threaded the unknown way through the American 
 wilderness were armored knights upon armored 
 horses; proud, stern, hardy, and courageous; men of 
 punctilious honor, loyal to King and Mother Church, 
 humble only before the symbols of their Faith; 
 superstitious — believing in portents and omens 
 no less than in the mysteries of the Church, for the 
 magic of Moorish soothsayers and astrologers had 
 colored the life of their ancestors for generations. 
 
 Part pagan, however, the conquistador was no 
 less a zealous warrior for Church and King. His 
 face was as flint against all heretics. He went forth 
 for the heathen's gold and the heathen's soul. If 
 he succeeded, riches and honor were his. Hard- 
 ship, peril, death, had no terrors for this soldier- 
 knight. If he was pitiless towards others, so was 
 he pitiless toward himself. He saw his mission 
 enveloped with romantic glory. Such men were 
 the conquistadors, who, after the capture of the 
 Aztec capital in the summer of 1521, carried the 
 Spanish banner northward. 
 
 While Cortes was still wrestling with the Aztecs, 
 Spanish expeditions were moving out from the 
 West Indies — Espanola (Hay ti) , Cuba, Porto 
 
4 THE SPANISH BORDERLANDS 
 
 Rico, and Jamaica. These islands are well called 
 the nursery of Spanish culture in the Western 
 Hemisphere. By 1513 there were seventeen towns 
 on Espanola alone, in which the life of Old Spain 
 was reproduced in form, though reflecting the col- 
 ors of savage environment. Mines were worked by 
 enslaved natives; grain was sown and harvested; 
 cotton and sugar-cane were cultivated. The slave 
 trade in negroes and Indians flourished. Friars 
 cared for the souls of the faithful. The harbor 
 winds were winged with Spanish sails, homeward 
 bound with rich cargoes, or set towards the coast 
 of the mysterious continent which should one day 
 disclose to the persistent mariner an open strait 
 leading westward to Cathay. In the midst of the 
 crudities of a frontier, hidalgo and oflScial of Es- 
 panola lived joyously and with touches of Oriental 
 magnificence. Gold! It lay in ghttering heaps 
 upon their dicing-tables. It stung not only their 
 imaginations but their palates — so we learn from 
 the description of a banquet given by one of them, at 
 which, to the music of players brought from Spain, 
 the guests salted their savory meats with gold dust. 
 Is it to be marveled at that men of such hardy diges- 
 tions should have conquered a wilderness bravely 
 and gayly.^ 
 
PONCE DE LEON, AYLLON, NARVAEZ 5 
 
 Among these romantic exiles at Espafiola was 
 Juan Ponce de Leon — John of the Lion's Paunch — 
 who had come to the island with Columbus in 1493, 
 as a member of the first permanent colony. In 
 Ponce's veins flowed the bluest blood of Spain. His 
 family could be traced back to the twelfth century. 
 
 Rumors of gold drew Ponce to Porto Rico (1508) , 
 which island he "pacified," after the very thorough 
 Spanish manner, sharing the honors of valor with 
 the famous dog, Bercerillo. This dog, according to 
 the old historian, Herrera, "made wonderful hav- 
 ock among these people, and knew which of them 
 were in war and which in peace, like a man; for 
 which reason the Indians were more afraid of ten 
 Spaniards with the dog, than of one hundred with- 
 out him, and therefore he had one share and a half of 
 all that was taken allowed him, as was done to one 
 that carried a crossbow, as well in gold as slaves 
 and other things, which his master received. Very 
 extraordinary things were reported of this dog."^ 
 
 Ponce was made Governor of Porto Rico, but 
 was almost immediately removed, as the appoint- 
 ment had been made over the head of Don Diego 
 Columbus, Governor of Espafiola. Thus dispos- 
 sessed of office. Ponce sought fame, and wealth, and 
 
 ^ Lowery, Spanish Settlements, p. 133. 
 
6 THE SPANISH BORDERLANDS 
 
 perpetual youth, perhaps, in exploration. "It is 
 true," writes Herrera, the royal chronicler, "that 
 besides the principal aim of Juan Ponce de Leon in 
 the expedition which he undertook, which was to 
 discover new lands, . . . another was to seek the 
 fountain of Bimini and a certain river of Florida. 
 It was said and believed by the Indians of Cuba 
 and Espanola that by bathing in the river or the 
 fountain, old men became youths." What more 
 was needed to fire the blood of an adventurer like 
 Ponce, who already possessed influence and a for- 
 tune.^ Nothing, as the event proved. By means of 
 his friends he obtained a patent from King Charles 
 (1512), later Emperor Charles V, authorizing him 
 to seek and govern the island of Bimini, which 
 rumor placed to the northwest. 
 
 What Ponce hoped to accomplish in the enter- 
 prise, and also the aims of his brother conquerors, 
 can be gathered from his patent. If Ponce was an 
 explorer and adventurer, he, like the others, hoped 
 also to be a colonizer, a transplanter of Spanish 
 people and of Spanish civilization. Whoever fails 
 to understand this, fails to understand the patriotic 
 aim of the Spanish pioneers in America. The 
 Catholic monarchs were a thrifty pair, and they 
 made the business of conquest pay for itself. The 
 
PONCE DE LEON, AYLLON, NARVAEZ 7 
 
 successes of men like Columbus and Cortes played 
 into their hands. Every expedition was regarded 
 as a good gamble. The expenses of exploration 
 therefore were charged to the adventurer, under 
 promise of great rewards, in titles and profits from 
 the enterprise, if any there might be. Under these 
 circumstances the sovereigns lost little in any case, 
 and they might win untold returns. And so with 
 Ponce. By the terms of his grant he was empow- 
 ered to equip a fleet, at his own expense, people 
 Bimini with Spaniards, exploit its wealth, and, as 
 adelantado, govern it in the name of the sovereign. 
 In keeping with the method already in vogue in the 
 West Indies, the natives were to be distributed 
 among the discoverers and settlers, that they might 
 be protected, christianized, civilized, and, sad to 
 say, exploited. Though the intent of this last pro- 
 vision in the royal patents of the day was benevo- 
 lent, the practical result to the natives was usually 
 disastrous. 
 
 With a fleet of three vessels, on March 3, 1513, 
 Ponce sailed from Porto Rico and anchored a 
 month later on the coast of the northern mainland, 
 near the mouth of the St. John's River. Here he 
 landed, took formal possession of the "island,'* and 
 named it La Florida, because of its verdant beauty 
 
8 THE SPANISH BORDERLANDS 
 
 and because it was discovered in the Easter season. 
 After sailing northward for a day, Ponce turned 
 south again. Twice in landing on the coast he and 
 his men were set upon by the natives. On Sunday, 
 the 8th of May, he doubled Cape Canaveral, called 
 by him the Cape of the Currents; and by the fif- 
 teenth he was coasting along the Florida Keys. 
 The strain of romance in these old explorers is well 
 illustrated by the name which Ponce, seeker of the 
 Fountain of Youth, gave to the Florida Keys. 
 "The Martyrs," he called them, because the high 
 rocks, at a distance, looked "like men who are 
 suffering." 
 
 Ponce sailed up the western shore of the penin- 
 sula, perhaps as far north as Pensacola Bay, be- 
 fore he again turned southward, still unaware that 
 Florida was not an island. Anchored off the south- 
 ern end of Florida, he allowed himself to fall into a 
 snare set for him by natives. These natives told 
 an interesting story. There was nearby, they said, 
 a cacique named Carlos whose land fairly sprouted 
 gold. While Ponce and his officers were drinking 
 in the splendid tale, the Indians were massing 
 canoes for an attack on the Spanish ships. Two 
 battles followed before the painted warriors were 
 driven off and the Spaniards sailed homeward 
 
PONCE DE LEON, AYLLON, NARVAEZ 9 
 
 without either a sight of gold or a taste of the 
 magic spring. But his voyage was not fruitless, 
 for on the way back to Espanola Ponce made a val- 
 uable find. He discovered the Bahama Channel, 
 which later became the route for treasure ships re- 
 turning to Spain from the West Indies. It was to 
 protect this channel that Florida eventually had to 
 be colonized. 
 
 Ponce proceeded at once to Spain, where he 
 "went about like a person of importance, because 
 his qualities merited it." From the King he re- 
 ceived another patent (1514) authorizing him to 
 colonize not only "Bimini," which one of his ships 
 was said to have discovered, but the "Island of 
 Florida" as well. Just now, however, renewed com- 
 plaints came in of terrible devastations wrought 
 upon Spanish colonies by the Caribs of the Lesser 
 Antilles. Ponce was put in command of a fleet 
 to subdue these ferocious savages, and his plans 
 for Florida were delayed seven years. 
 
 Meanwhile other expeditions from the West In- 
 dies found Florida to be part of the mainland. By 
 1519, indeed, the entire coast of the Gulf between 
 Yucatan and Florida had been explored and 
 charted, thus ending the Spanish hope of finding 
 there a strait leading westward to India. Chief 
 
10 THE SPANISH BORDERLANDS 
 
 among these explorers of the Gulf was the good 
 pilot Pineda, agent of the governor of Jamaica. He 
 mapped the coast of Amichel — as the Spaniards 
 called the Texas coast — and was the one to dis- 
 cover the mouth of that large river flowing into the 
 Gulf which he named the Espiritu Santo, but which 
 we know today as the Mississippi. This was 
 twenty-two years before De Soto crossed the Fa- 
 ther of Waters near Memphis. Amichel was a 
 wondrous land, indeed, according to the reports 
 dispatched to Spain by Pineda's master. It had 
 gold in plenty and two distinct native races, giants 
 and pygmies. 
 
 At last Ponce returned to his task. On Febru- 
 ary 10, 1521, at Porto Rico, he wrote to King 
 Charles: "Among my services I discovered at my 
 own cost and charge, the Island of Florida and 
 others in its district . . . and now I return to 
 that Island, if it please God's will, to settle it."^ 
 According to Herrera, the rare old chronicler, it was 
 emulation of the conqueror of Mexico that aroused 
 Ponce to make this venture. For now "the name 
 of Hernando Cortes was on everybody's lips and 
 
 ^ Lowery, Spanish Settlements, p. 158, quoting Shea's transla* 
 tion in Winsor, Narrative and Critical History of America, vol. ii, 
 p. 234. 
 
PONCE DE LEON, AYLLON, NARVAEZ U 
 
 his fame was great." In February, then, Ponce 
 again set sail, with two ships, two hundred 
 men, fifty horses, a number of other domestic 
 animals, and farm implements to cultivate the 
 soil. By the King's command, monks and priests 
 accompanied him for missionary work among 
 the natives. 
 
 Ponce landed on the Florida coast, probably in 
 the neighborhood of Charlotte Harbor, where, on 
 his earlier voyage, the natives had regaled him with 
 fables of the golden realm of Carlos, the cacique, 
 and had attacked his ships. Since then slave-hunt- 
 ing raids along their coast had filled these warlike, 
 freedom-loving Florida natives with an intense ha- 
 tred for Spanish invaders. Hardly had the colo- 
 nists begun to build houses when the Indians set 
 upon them with fury. The valiant Ponce, leading 
 his men in a counter attack, received an Indian ar- 
 row in his body. Some of his followers were killed. 
 This disaster put an end to the enterprise. Ponce 
 and his colonists departed and made port at Cuba, 
 having lost a ship on the way. A few days later 
 Ponce died from his wounds, leaving unsolved the 
 mystery of the Fountain of Youth. Over his grave 
 in Porto Rico, where his body was sent for burial, 
 his epitaph was thus inscribed: 
 
12 THE SPANISH BORDERLANDS 
 
 Here rest the bones of a Lion, 
 Mightier in deeds than in name. * 
 
 So perished the discoverer and first foreign ruler 
 of Florida, as many another standard-bearer of the 
 white race on this soil was to perish, from the 
 dart of the irreconcilable Indian. The conquest 
 of the Aztecs, living in permanent towns, proved 
 comparatively easy for Cortes, with his superior 
 means of waging war; but the subjection of the 
 northern tribes, who had no fixed abodes, who wan- 
 dered over hundreds of miles in hunting and war, 
 was another task. Europeans began the conquest of 
 America by seizing the Indians and selling them into 
 slavery. It is an oft-repeated boast that tyranny 
 has never thrived on American soil, but it is sel- 
 dom remembered that the first battles for freedom 
 in this land were fought by the red natives. 
 
 Meanwhile a new star arose to beckon explorers 
 northward. A new region had been discovered far 
 up the eastern coast by adventurers who were spy- 
 ing about Florida while Ponce was absent at the 
 Carib wars. Chief of these interlopers was Lucas 
 
 »" Mole sub hac fortis Requiescunt ossa Leonis 
 Qui Vicit factis Nomina magna suis." 
 
 Lowery, Spanish Settlements, p. 160. 
 
PONCE DE LEON, AYLLON, NARVAEZ 13 
 
 Vasquez de Ayllon, an oidor, or superior judge, of 
 Espanola, who took into his service one Francisco 
 Gordillo and sent him out to explore. Gordillo met 
 in the Bahamas a slave hunter named Quexos, and 
 the two joined company. Thus it happened that in 
 June, 1521, about the time that Ponce was driven 
 from Florida, these two adventurers landed in a 
 region, called Chicora by the natives, which seems 
 to have been near the Cape Fear River on the 
 Carolina coast. After taking formal possession 
 of the country, they coaxed one hundred and fifty 
 of their red-skinned hosts on board and sailed 
 away to sell them in Santo Domingo. This time a 
 rude shock awaited the slave hunters. When they 
 reached the capital they were ordered by Governor 
 Diego Columbus to set the Indians free and return 
 them to their native land. Don Diego deserves 
 remembrance as a liberator. 
 
 Among the captives, however, there was one 
 whom the Spaniards detained. They baptized him 
 Francisco Chicorana, and Ayllon took him as his 
 personal servant. Francisco was a choice wag. 
 Doubtless because he desired to be taken home, he 
 employed his time and talents in regaling his cap- 
 tors with romances of Chicora. He was taken by 
 Ayllon to Spain, where two famous historians. 
 
14 THE SPANISH BORDERLANDS 
 
 Peter Martyr and Oviedo, got from him at first 
 hand and preserved for us these earhest tales 
 of Carolina. 
 
 According to Francisco the natives of Chicora 
 were white, with brown hair hanging to their heels. 
 In the country there were pearls and other precious 
 stones. There were domesticated deer, which lived 
 in the houses of the natives and generously fur- 
 nished them milk and cheese. The people were gov- 
 erned by a giant king called Datha, whose enor- 
 mous size was not natural but had been produced 
 by softening and stretching his bones in childhood. 
 He told, too, of a race of men with inflexible tails, 
 *'like the tailed Englishmen of Kent," says a 
 Spanish humorist. " This tail was not movable like 
 those of quadrupeds, but formed one mass, as is the 
 case with fish and crocodiles, and was as hard as 
 bone. When these men wished to sit down, they 
 had consequently to have a seat with an open bot- 
 tom; and if there were none, they had to dig a hole 
 more than a cubit deep to hold their tails and allow 
 them to rest." If any one be disposed to doubt 
 these stories let him ponder well what Peter Mar- 
 tyr says : " Each may accept or reject my account 
 as he chooses. Envy is a plague natural to the 
 human race, always seeking to depreciate and to 
 
PONCE DE LEON, AYLLON, NARVAEZ 15 
 
 search for weeds in another's garden. . . . This 
 pest afflicts the foolish, or persons devoid of liter- 
 ary culture, who live useless lives like cumberers 
 of the earth." ^ 
 
 Encouraged by these yarns, in 1523 Ayllon ob- 
 tained from Charles V the desired patent to Chi- 
 cora, the land of the Giant King. As in the case of 
 Bimini, the project was a gamble, and, like Ponce, 
 Ayllon put up the money. Chicora was not the sole 
 objective. Ayllon was to continue his explorations 
 north for eight hundred leagues, or until he found 
 the strait leading westward to Asia, which, if found, 
 must be explored. Of the lands discovered he was 
 to be adelantado, or governor. He was to have for 
 himself in full ownership an estate fifteen leagues 
 square — a round million acres. He was to take 
 with him, at the royal expense, friars to convert 
 the Indians, and, in view of the sad results in the 
 islands, Indians were not to be parceled out or 
 forced to work. Experience was having its effect 
 on the royal policy. 
 
 Three years passed before Ayllon was ready to 
 take possession of his domain, but in the interval 
 further explorations along the coast were made 
 by his pilot Quexos, who brought back glowing 
 
 » De Orbe Novo (ed. by F. A. MacNutt), vol. ii, pp. 258-59. 
 
16 THE SPANISH BORPERLANDS 
 
 reports of gold, silver, and pearls. And at the 
 same time Esteban Gomez, a pilot who had been 
 with Magellan — and had deserted him — came 
 out from Spain, looking for the northern strait, and 
 sailed the American coast between Nova Scotia and 
 Florida. Thus, by the year 1525, Spanish naviga- 
 tors had explored the entire shore line from Cape 
 Breton to Cape Horn. 
 
 At length, in July, 1526, Ayllon sailed from 
 Espanola with six vessels carrying five hundred 
 men and women from the islands, some black 
 slaves, eighty-nine horses, and other equipment 
 for the colony. It was a force larger than that 
 with which Cortes had invaded Mexico. There 
 were also three Dominican friars; for, wrote the 
 King, "Our principal intent in the discovery of 
 new lands is that the inhabitants and natives 
 thereof, who are without the light or knowledge 
 of the faith, may be brought to understand the 
 truths of our Holy Catholic Faith, that they 
 may come to a knowledge thereof and be- 
 come Christians and be saved, and this is the 
 chief motive that you are to bear and hold in 
 this affair."^ 
 
 ^ Lowery, Spanish Settlements, p. 162. From Shea's transla- 
 tion in The Catholic Church in Colonial Days, p. 105. 
 
PONCE DE LEON, AYLLON, NARVAEZ 17 
 
 Ayllon anchored his ships at the mouth of a river, 
 probably the Cape Fear, which, with romantic op- 
 timism, he named the Jordan. In making port he 
 lost one of his ships with its cargo, and this led to 
 the construction on the spot of an open boat with 
 one mast, to be propelled by both oars and sail. 
 Here we have the first shipbuilding of record in the 
 United States. From this place exploring parties 
 went out by sea and others pushed a short way in- 
 land. A misfortune now befell Ayllon. His inter- 
 preter, the romancer, Francisco Chicorana, seized 
 the opportunity so long waited for and deserted to 
 his people. Ayllon was thus unable to talk to the 
 Chicorans and convince them of his friendly intent. 
 This region, however, about a dangerous harbor, 
 looked uninviting, and no more was needed than 
 the news of a pleasanter land, brought by returning 
 explorers, to start Ayllon and his colonists south- 
 ward. Down the coast they all went to the mouth 
 of the Pedee River — the Gualdape, Ayllon called 
 it — and there began the settlement of San Miguel 
 de Gualdape. 
 
 But the settlement came quickly to grief. The 
 blasts of an exceptionally cold winter struck down 
 many of the colonists. Provisions gave out. The 
 settlers were too weakened by exposure and disease 
 
18 THE SPANISH BORDERLANDS 
 
 to catch the fish which abounded in the river. 
 Ayllon himself sank under the hardship and priva- 
 tion; and, on St. Luke's Day, October 18, 1526, he 
 died. Quarrels ensued among the survivors. Muti- 
 neers under an ambitious ofiicer imprisoned the lieu- 
 tenant who succeeded Ayllon in command; and, in 
 turn, negro slaves rose and fired the house of the 
 usurper. Indians, encouraged by the domestic im- 
 broglio, made attacks and killed some of the Span- 
 iards. It was now resolved to abandon the colony 
 and return to Santo Domingo. About a hundred 
 and fifty enfeebled and destitute men and women 
 set sail in midwinter, towing after them the body of 
 their dead commander in the one-masted craft they 
 had built. As they made their slow way home- 
 ward, seven men were frozen to death on board one 
 of the ships. The icy winds and sea, which lashed 
 the small vessels about and took the lives of these 
 emaciated sailors, took also their toll of the dead. 
 The boat bearing Ayllon's body was swept away; 
 and, weighted full with water, it sank, says Oviedo 
 the historian, in "the sepulchre of the ocean-sea 
 where have been and shall be put other captains 
 and governors." 
 
 Florida and Chicora: these were still but names, 
 but names now heightened in romance by the 
 
PONCE DE LEON, AYLLON, NARVAEZ 19 
 
 tragic deaths of Ponce and Ayllon and by new- 
 tales heard in the wilderness. 
 
 The Northern Mystery was still unsolved, and it 
 was not long before another attempt was made to 
 settle Florida. The enterprise was undertaken this 
 time by Panfilo de Narvaez, the same Narvaez who 
 in 1520 had been sent to Vera Cruz to arrest dis- 
 obedient Cortes, and had lost an eye and sufiPered 
 captivity for his pains.' Narvaez was a native of 
 Valladolid, of good blood and gentle breeding. He 
 had taken part in the conquest of Cuba. He is de- 
 scribed as a tall man of proud mien, with a fair com- 
 plexion, a red beard, and — since the encounter 
 with Cortes — one eagle eye. His manner was 
 diplomatic and gracious and his voice resonant, *'as 
 if it came from a cave." ^ He had acquired wealth 
 in the New World (and a reputation for keeping his 
 money) as well as sound fame as a soldier, for he 
 was said to be "brave against Indians and probably 
 would have been against any people, had ever 
 occasion offered for fighting them."'' 
 
 In June, 1527, Narvaez sailed from Spain with 
 six hundred colonists and a number of Franciscan 
 
 ^ See The Spanish Conquerors, in this Series. 
 ' Lowery, Spanish Settlements, p. 174. Both quotations from 
 Bernal Diaz, repeated by Lowery. 
 
20 THE SPANISH BORDERLANDS 
 
 friars. Among his officers was Alvar Nunez Ca- 
 beza de Vaca, of whom more anon. Narvaez's 
 patent gave him the country from the Rio de las 
 Palmas to the Cape of Florida, and thus made him 
 heir to part of the land — as well as to the misfor- 
 tunes — of Ponce de Leon. His misfortunes began 
 in the West Indies. At Santo Domingo a fourth 
 of his colonists deserted; and two ships which he 
 had sent to Trinidad, with Cabeza de Vaca, were 
 wrecked in a hurricane. The fears thus spread 
 amongst his company forced him to remain at an- 
 chor until the passing of winter. The spring of 
 1528 saw his expedition, its personnel now reduced 
 to about four hundred, on the way. Strong winds 
 from the south drove his ships to the Florida coast 
 and on Good Friday he landed at Tampa Bay. 
 There he found a village, from which the natives 
 had fled at sight of his sails. And in one of the 
 deserted houses he saw a faint glint of the hope 
 which kindled the heart of every explorer — a 
 small golden ornament dropped in the flight. 
 
 Before this tenantless village Narvaez unfurled 
 the royal standard and recited a proclamation pre- 
 pared by learned jurists of Spain wherewith to ac- 
 quaint the Indians of the King's lands with their 
 new estate. But the natives ignored its benign 
 
PONCE DE LEON, AYLLON, NARVAEZ 21 
 
 provisions and plain warnings. They returned next 
 day and "made signs and menaces, and appeared 
 to say we must go away from the country." Nar- 
 vaez, however, having come as the servant of the 
 Crown and to fill his own coffers, was in no mind to 
 retreat. Somewhere in that wilderness there must 
 be gold. What was that yellow-gleaming ornament 
 he had found .^^ Indeed, there was a land to the 
 north, named Appalachen, teeming with gold; so 
 the natives said. He decided to send the fleet up 
 the coast, to find a good harbor and there await 
 him. He and his oflBcers with their wives, the 
 friars, and the colonists, would press inland to seek 
 Appalachen. In this decision Narvaez ignored the 
 advice of Vaca, who said that they and their ships 
 would never meet again, and the warnings of one 
 of the women. This woman had foretold in Spain 
 many of the circumstances of the voyage and now 
 declared that horrible disaster would befall the in- 
 land explorers ; for so had a Moorish soothsayer in 
 Castile prognosticated. This sibyl and the other 
 wives insisted on going with the ships. The voyage 
 having begun, they immediately took to them- 
 selves new husbands, knowing, by the Moor's 
 prophecy, that never more should they salute their 
 lawful spouses. 
 
22 THE SPANISH BORDERLANDS 
 
 Narvaez's company, now reft of its women, com- 
 prised three hundred men, including five priests 
 and forty officers and soldiers in armor, mounted 
 upon armored horses. Led by the standard-bearer, 
 this shining host plunged into the Florida wilds. 
 Crossing the Withlacoochee and Suwanee Rivers, 
 they passed from a fairly open country into dense 
 forests. Their food gave out and they nourished 
 themselves and their horses as best they could on 
 the shoots of young palm. Men and horses were 
 exhausted from hunger and fatigue and galled 
 from the heavy armor, when at last on St. John's 
 Day (June 24, 1528), they reached Appalachen, 
 near the present Tallahassee in northern Florida. 
 But golden Appalachen proved to be only a town 
 of forty clay huts, occupied then by women and 
 children; for the men were away on the warpath. 
 The Spaniards took possession of the town and fed 
 on maize for twenty -five days, obliged occasionally 
 to do battle against the returning warriors. Ex- 
 cursions into the surrounding country, attended 
 by skirmishes, convinced Narvaez that there was 
 no great and rich city there which might answer 
 to the false description given him of Appalachen. 
 "Thenceforth were great lakes, dense mountains, 
 immense deserts and solitudes." So Narvaez and 
 
PONCE DE LEON, AYLLON, NARVAEZ 23 
 
 his company turned south again and westward in 
 the hope of finding their ships. After nine days' 
 difficult march they came upon Ante, another de- 
 serted Indian village, where again they found food. 
 They reached the sea at last at Appalachee Bay. 
 
 But there was no sign of the ships. The ships, 
 in fact, had sailed away to Cuba. Yet the sea was 
 their only hope; so they determined to slay their 
 horses for food and to build a fleet of horsehide 
 boats in which to escape to Panuco (Mexico) which 
 was thought to be close by. Little did they dream 
 that it was over a thousand miles away. 
 
 There was only one carpenter in the company. 
 They had, says Vaca, "no tools, nor iron, nor forge, 
 nor tow, nor resin, nor rigging." But necessity is 
 the mother of invention, and Robinson Crusoe 
 could scarcely have done better himself. Bellows 
 were contrived from wooden tubes and deerskin. 
 Nails, saws, and axes were made of the iron from 
 the stirrups, crossbows, and spurs. Palmettos 
 were used in place of tow. From the pitch of the 
 pines a Greek made resin for calking, and the 
 boats were covered with horsehide. Ropes and 
 rigging were made from palmetto fiber and horse- 
 hair, sails from the shirts of the men, and oars from 
 young savins. While the boats were building four 
 
24 THE SPANISH BORDERLANDS 
 
 journeys were made to Aute for maize, and every 
 third day a horse was killed for food. The skins of 
 the horses' legs were removed entire, tanned, and 
 used for water bottles. In the course of this work 
 ten men were slain by Indians, and forty others 
 died from disease and hunger. At last five boats 
 were completed, each twenty-one cubits long. By 
 the 22d of September the last horse was eaten, and 
 on that day two hundred and forty-two men set 
 sail in those ^ve frail craft of horsehide, not one 
 among them knowing how to handle a boat. In 
 memory of the diet of horseflesh they named the 
 harbor where they embarked the Bay of Horses. 
 
 Rowing along the coast, occasionally passing a 
 village of fishermen — "a poor miserable lot," says 
 Vaca — at the end of thirty days they were de- 
 tained at an island by a storm. Next day they had 
 a battle with some Indians near a large inlet, per- 
 haps Pensacoia Bay. Three or four days farther 
 west a Greek and a negro went ashore for food and 
 fresh water and never returned.^ Farther along 
 the coast they came to the mouth of a large river, 
 no doubt the Mississippi. The combined strength 
 of its current and of a storm which now arose was 
 
 ' Eleven years later De Soto found the Greek's dagger in the 
 possession of Indians near Mobile Bay. 
 
PONCE DE LEON, AYLLON, NARVAEZ 25 
 
 so great that the flotilla was driven far out to sea, 
 and the boats became separated and were never 
 again all together. It is known, however, from 
 Vaca's narrative that they again drew in to the 
 shore. Three of them, Vaca's boat and two oth- 
 ers, were wrecked, on the 6th of November, on 
 an island — Galveston Island, or one near it, by 
 Vaca named Malhado, or Misfortune. Another 
 boat, carrying the commissary and the friars, was 
 wrecked on the mainland farther west. 
 
 One of the five boats yet remained afloat, the 
 commander's own. Narvaez bore on westward, 
 hugging the coast. One day he descried on land 
 some of the castaways of the fourth boat which had 
 been wrecked, making their way painfully on foot. 
 He landed some of his own crew to lighten his boat 
 and proceeded by water, while the destitute band 
 with the friars marched slowly along the shore. At 
 evening he hove to, after ferrying the pedestrians 
 across a bay that cut off their route, and landed the 
 rest of his people. Dropping a stone for anchor, 
 Narvaez then prepared to spend the night in his 
 boat with his page, who was dangerously ill. But 
 a wild wind came down with the dark and swept 
 his frail craft out upon the deep. And Narvaez 
 followed Ayllon to "sepulchre in the ocean-sea." 
 
CHAPTER II 
 
 CABEZA DE VACA 
 
 Alvar Nunez Cabeza de Vaca, now a castaway 
 on "Malhado" Island, on the wild coast of Texas, 
 was a noble of old lineage. He had relinquished 
 high official position in Spain to join Narvaez in his 
 adventure. Of the disaster and its remarkable 
 sequel Vaca wrote a circumstantial account which 
 enables us to get his story at first hand. On the 
 island Vaca took command of his comrades in ad- 
 versity. His first need was to learn if the country 
 was inhabited. So he ordered Lope de Oviedo, who 
 had "more strength and was stouter than any of 
 the rest," to climb a tree to spy out the land. Ovi- 
 edo discovered Indians and brought them to where 
 the Spaniards lay shivering and exhausted on the 
 beach, some of them too frail to crawl among the 
 "2 rocks for shelter from the biting winds. The casta- 
 ways must have looked forlorn, indeed; for Vaca, 
 who had a nice literary touch, says that their 
 
CABEZA DE VACA 27 
 
 bodies had "become the perfect figures of death"; 
 and that the Indians "at sight of what had befallen 
 us, and our state of suffering and melancholy desti- 
 tution . . . began to lament so earnestly that they 
 might have been heard at a distance and continued 
 so doing more than half an hour." Even in his 
 weakness and misery, for Vaca was in a worse con- 
 dition than many of his companions, his imagina- 
 tion was caught by the strange scene those savages 
 "wild and untaught" presented as they sat among 
 the white men "howling like brutes over our 
 misfortunes." Vaca besought the Indians to take 
 the Spaniards to their dwellings. Thirty savages 
 loaded themselves with driftwood and immediate- 
 ly set off at a run for their camp some distance 
 away. The other Indians, holding up the emaci- 
 ated white men so that their feet barely touched 
 the ground, followed in short swift marches, paus- 
 ing occasionally to warm the Spaniards at great 
 fires built by the thirty wood carriers at intervals 
 along the trail. In the village they lodged their 
 guests in huts where they had also built fires, fed 
 them with roasted fish and roots, and sang and 
 danced and wept about them until far into the 
 night. In the morning they brought more cooked 
 fish and in all ways showed much hospitality. 
 
28 THE SPANISH BORDERLANDS 
 
 The very next day, much to his deHght, Vaca 
 learned that other white men were on the same 
 island. A messenger being sent out, soon Vaca was 
 joined at the village by some of his former com- 
 panions, Dorantes, Castillo, and their men, who 
 had been wrecked on the island the day before Vaca 
 landed there. Three of the castaways, numbering 
 at this time about eighty, had been drowned in an 
 ineffectual attempt to recover one of the horsehide 
 boats. Terrible as the sea had been to them, they 
 would have dared its storms once more in the des- 
 perate hope of coming at last somewhere into a 
 Spanish harbor. 
 
 As December waned, bitter cold and heavy 
 storms descended on this coast, stopped the fish 
 supply, and prevented the Indians from digging for 
 the edible roots which grew under water. Starva- 
 tion and exposure thinned the ranks of the Span- 
 iards. The survivors, to the horror of the Indians, 
 ate the flesh of their own dead. When spring came, 
 Vaca had with him but fifteen men. 
 
 A new danger now assailed them. Disease at- 
 tacked the Indians and destroyed half their num- 
 ber. In their panic the natives accused the Span- 
 iards of having brought the plague upon them by 
 occult means; and they were only prevented from 
 
CABEZA DE VACA 29 
 
 slaying them by the chief who had taken Vaca in 
 charge. If, argued this worthy, the white men 
 could bring the disease upon the Indians, they 
 could also surely have prevented their own people 
 from dying. And "God our Lord willed that the 
 others should heed this opinion and counsel, and be 
 hindered in their design." So the Indians did not 
 kill the Spaniards. But the notion that their mys- 
 terious refugees possessed supernatural powers was 
 too pleasant to be given up. Now let those powers 
 be used to cure sick Indians and banish the plague. 
 As Vaca puts it, with his occasional sly touch of hu- 
 mor, "they wished to make us physicians, without 
 examination or inquiring for diplomas." In vain 
 he tried to laugh the savages out of their conviction. 
 They replied that when stones and "other matters 
 growing about the fields have virtue" then cer- 
 tainly "extraordinary men" must be more highly 
 endowed. And if those extraordinary men would 
 not heal, neither should they eat. This was cogent 
 reasoning. After hungering for several days Vaca 
 took the first step towards the remarkable career he 
 was to follow later on as a Medicine Man. He had 
 observed the Indian witch-doctors blowing upon 
 their patients and passing their hands over them, 
 frequently with successful results. And, devoutly 
 
30 THE SPANISH BORDERLANDS 
 
 religious as he was, he knew that in his homeland 
 the "prayer of faith" uttered by humble petition- 
 ers before the wayside shrines frequently wrought 
 the recovery of the sick. Therefore, he seems to 
 have reasoned, a blend of Indian and Christian 
 faiths should be efficacious here. He says: 
 
 Our method was to bless the sick, breathing upon them 
 and recite a Pater-noster and an Ave Maria, praying 
 with all earnestness to God our Lord that he would 
 give health and influence them to make us some good 
 return. In His clemency He willed that all those for 
 whom we supplicated should tell the others that they 
 were sound and in health, directly after we made the 
 sign of the blessed cross over them. For this the In- 
 dians treated us kindly; they deprived themselves of 
 food that they might give to us, and presented us with 
 skins and some trifles. 
 
 Scarcity of food continued so that sometimes In- 
 dians and white men went without eating for sev- 
 eral days at a time. Presently an Indian guide, 
 who had been bribed by a marten skin, departed 
 westward along the mainland coast, taking with 
 him all the Spaniards but three, Vaca, Oviedo, and 
 Alaniz, who were too frail for travel. In the sum- 
 mer Vaca went with the Indians to the mainland 
 foraging for food. The life he led was "insupport- 
 able," being practically that of a slave. One of his 
 
CABEZA DE VACA 31 
 
 duties was to dig out the edible roots from below 
 the water and from among the cane. His fingers 
 were so worn from this labor that "did a straw 
 but touch them they would bleed"; and the sharp 
 spikes of broken cane tore his naked flesh. 
 
 For nearly six years Vaca lived a slave among 
 these Indians. He had long intended to escape and 
 to set off westward "in quest of Christians"; for, 
 somewhere towards the sunset, lay Panuco, and, 
 given bodily strength, a brave heart, and faith in 
 God, a man might hope to reach it. But Vaca 
 would not leave his two companions. Then Alaniz 
 died; and Oviedo, however much "stouter" than 
 the other Spaniards in the matter of climbing trees, 
 was not of stout courage. He feared to be left 
 behind and he would not go. Every winter Vaca 
 returned to the island and entreated him to pluck 
 up heart; and every spring Oviedo put him off, but 
 promised that next year he would set out. 
 
 Vaca did not let time pass unimproved. To get 
 rid of root-digging and sore fingers, he decided to 
 enter the domain of commerce. He could begin 
 with good prospects because the Indians of the 
 mainland had already heard flattering reports of 
 his skill as a Medicine Man. And perhaps he ex- 
 pected to fit himself for the journey down the coast 
 
32 THE SPANISH BORDERLANDS 
 
 by acquiring a number of Indian dialects, by be- 
 coming a connoisseur of Indian staples and trin- 
 kets, and by learning from western tribes on their 
 summer buffalo hunts in Texas some details of the 
 country through which he must pass on his pro- 
 jected journey to Panuco. Ordinary perils and 
 hardships had lost their terrors for Vaca. Roving 
 naked and barefooted like the tribesmen, his body 
 had become inured to fatigues and to wind and 
 weather; periods of famine had also prepared this 
 erstwhile son of magnificence and luxury to cope 
 with the barren wilderness when the day of escape 
 he had waited for should come at last. He had 
 learned to make the Indians' weapons and to use 
 them in hunting, though, as he admits, he never 
 developed the Indian's subtlety in trailing. He 
 was so satisfactory as a servant, indeed, that his 
 masters were content to have him do their trading 
 for them ; and they let him come and go at will. Of 
 his career as a merchant in Texas, Vaca gives a 
 lengthy account, interesting because it is the first 
 record of trade in this now great commercial land. 
 
 I set to traflficking, and strove to make my employ- 
 ment profitable in the ways I could best contrive, and 
 by that means I got food and good treatment. The In- 
 dians would beg me to go from one quarter to another 
 
CABEZA DE VACA 33 
 
 for things of which they have need; for in conse- 
 quence of incessant hostihties, they cannot traverse 
 the country, nor make many exchanges. With my 
 merchandise and trade I went into the interior as far 
 as I pleased, and travelled along the coast forty or fifty 
 leagues. The principal wares were cones and other 
 pieces of sea-snail, conchs used for cutting, and fruit 
 like a bean of the highest value among them, which 
 they use as a medicine and employ in their dances and 
 festivities. . . . Such were what I carried into the 
 interior; and in barter I got and brought back skins, 
 ochre with which they rub and color the face, hard 
 canes of which to make arrows, sinews, cement and 
 flint for the heads, and tassels of the hair of deer that 
 by dyeing they make red. This occupation suited me 
 well; for the travel allowed me liberty to go where I 
 wished, I was not obliged to work, and was not a slave. 
 
 Evidently he made an enviable name for himself 
 among the savages as a merchant of their primitive 
 commerce for, wherever he went, he received fair 
 treatment and generous hospitality "out of regard 
 to my commodities" ; and those Indians with whom 
 he had not traded, hearing of him, "sought and 
 desired the acquaintance for my reputation." He 
 traveled far afield in pursuit of his "leading object 
 while journeying in this business," which was to 
 find the best way to go forward. "The hardships 
 that I underwent in this were long to tell, as well of 
 peril and privation as of storms and cold," he 
 
34 THE SPANISH BORDERLANDS 
 
 writes: "Oftentimes they overtook me alone and 
 in the wilderness; but I came forth from them all 
 by the great mercy of God our Lord." 
 
 Three times Vaca saw "cattle" and tasted their 
 meat. And he has contributed to historical narra- 
 tive the first description of the American buffalo: 
 
 I think they are about the size of those in Spain. They 
 have small horns like the cows of Morocco; the hair is 
 very long and flocky like the merinos. Some are 
 tawny, others black. To my judgment the flesh is 
 finer and fatter than that of this country [Spain]. Of 
 the skins of those not full grown the Indians make 
 blankets, and of the larger they make shoes [mocca- 
 sins] and bucklers. They come as far as the sea- 
 coast of Florida, from a northerly direction, ranging 
 through a tract of more than four hundred leagues; 
 and throughout the whole region over which they 
 run, the people who inhabit near, descend and live 
 upon them, distributing a vast many hides into the 
 interior country. 
 
 From these travels Vaca returned each year to 
 the island to see how Oviedo fared and to urge him 
 again to dare the wilderness with him. History 
 gives us few instances of greater loyalty than 
 Vaca's. It was not in him to deal with comrades 
 as Narvaez had dealt with his followers after leav- 
 ing the Bay of Horses, saying that "each should do 
 
CABEZA DE VACA 35 
 
 what lie thought best to save his own Hfe; that he 
 so intended to act." At last Vaca overcame Ovi- 
 edo's timidity and the two men set forth. Perhaps 
 Vaca swam to the mainland with Oviedo on his 
 back, or towed him over on a piece of driftwood; 
 for he says, "I got him off, crossing him over the 
 bay, and over four rivers in the coast, as he could 
 not swim." The two men were naked, armed only 
 with bows and arrows and conch-shell knives, and 
 Vaca carried his trader's pack of shell trinkets. 
 After crossing the fourth river they went to the sea 
 at Matagorda Bay, where they met with a tribe 
 whom Vaca calls the Quevenes. These Indians 
 told him that they had seen men like himself in the 
 custody of another tribe farther down the coast. 
 Vaca knew that the men must be his old compan- 
 ions, who had left the island four years previously; 
 and he resolved at once to seek them and with them 
 to escape. But this new peril in prospect, added 
 to the rough manner of the Quevenes, was too 
 much for the timid soul of Oviedo. And, deaf to 
 all Vaca's imploring, he turned back toward the 
 island — and out of history — leaving the man 
 who had stood by him so faithfully to pursue 
 his dangerous way alone. Who knows but that 
 some giant Karankawa chief, of those who in the 
 
36 THE SPANISH BORDERLANDS 
 
 nineteenth century pestered Austin's colonists in 
 Texas, was a descendant of this Oviedo? 
 
 The Quevenes intended to hold Vaca as a slave; 
 but he slipped away and stole out along the river 
 bank — the Colorado, it seems — where, as he had 
 heard, the Indians who had white men with them 
 were gathering pecans for their winter's food store. 
 Here he found Dorantes and Castillo and a Chris- 
 tianized Moor named Estevanico. These three 
 were all that now remained of the twelve who had 
 left the island; some had been lost in the wilds, 
 others drowned in an attempted escape, and ^ve 
 the Indians had killed "for their diversions." Says 
 the devout Vaca: "We gave many thanks at see- 
 ing ourselves together, and this was a day to us of 
 the greatest pleasure we had enjoyed in life. ... 
 Thus the Almighty had been pleased to preserve 
 me . . . that I might lead them over the bays 
 and rivers that obstructed our progress." 
 
 Dorantes told Vaca the melancholy history of 
 Narvaez's end. He had heard it from a captive in 
 another tribe who was presumably the sole sur- 
 vivor; and he had learned later that this survivor 
 had been slain because a native woman had 
 dreamed he was about to kill her son. Of those 
 three hundred adventurers who had landed with 
 
CABEZA DE VACA 37 
 
 Narvaez on the west coast of Florida, some the sea 
 had swallowed up, others had fallen prey to bitter 
 weather, disease, cannibalism, Indian "diversion," 
 and superstition; and now but three Spaniards and 
 the Moor Estevanico were left alive, and these 
 were naked, destitute, the slaves of a fierce and 
 savage tribe. Vaca, on his appearance among the 
 two tribes at the pecan gathering, had been seized 
 as a slave by the cross-eyed master of Dorantes. 
 This was a contingency he had been prepared to 
 face. It was in the knowledge that the effort to es- 
 cape might mean enslavement, or even death, that 
 Oviedo had turned back — and Vaca gone on. 
 
 Secretly the captives laid plans for their escape, 
 which they would postpone, however, until the 
 summer, when their masters would go westward to 
 gather prickly pears. Then "people would arrive 
 from parts farther on, bringing bows to barter and 
 for exchange, with whom, after making our escape, 
 we should be able to go on their return." 
 
 Summer came. On the prickly pear plains, 
 somewhere west of the Colorado, the captives had 
 made all ready for escape when their plan was 
 balked by an Indian quarrel. One of the factions 
 departed at once, taking Castillo with them. So 
 the Spaniards were again separated; and again 
 
38 THE SPANISH BORDERLANDS 
 
 Vaca postponed his j ourney for another year. Next 
 summer the Indians would return to the prickly 
 pear plains and, if Castillo were still alive, then he 
 should find that his comrades had not abandoned 
 him. That Vaca himself and the two with him 
 might be done away with for Indian "diversion," 
 or by the blasts and want of another winter, was 
 also a probability. But Vaca seems to have 
 brooded little over his own dangers. His actions 
 prove his words that he ever had trust that God 
 would lead him "out from that captivity, and thus 
 I always spoke of it to my companions." 
 
 Another year was passed in slavery, during 
 which time Vaca led a pitifully hard life. Three 
 times he ran away, so badly was he used, but each 
 time he was pursued and taken back. In Septem- 
 ber of the following year — it was now 1534 — a 
 third time the Spaniards met on the prickly pear 
 plains. Escaping at last they fled west to the Ava- 
 vares, whom Vaca had met farther east when a 
 trader. At this village there was a sick native in 
 one of the tents, and his tribesmen demanded that 
 Vaca cure him. He restored the patient to health 
 and was rewarded with a supply of meat and fruit. 
 As the Indians told him that the country to the 
 westward was cold and predicted from certain 
 
CABEZA DE VACA 39 
 
 natural signs a severe winter, he counseled patience 
 once more. 
 
 For eight months the white men continued with 
 the Avavares, and the fame of the new Medicine 
 Man was on every tongue. His companions were 
 also called to the sick bed, since they might be sup- 
 posed to partake of his talents. But it seems that 
 neither Castillo nor Dorantes relished the role of 
 physician. Castillo, indeed, went about his new 
 occupation with shaking knees. He much doubted 
 the approval of high heaven and feared, moreover, 
 that his sins would weigh against his healing efforts. 
 Vaca's sturdy soul knew no misgivings. He did not 
 believe that he was dowered with mystic powers; 
 yet he saw the sick rise up after he had blown upon 
 them in the native fashion and made the sign of the 
 cross over them in Christian manner. This was, 
 to him, proof positive that God willed the preser- 
 vation of himself and his friends and blessed his 
 efforts accordingly. 
 
 When summer came (1535) the four Spaniards, 
 turning southward, passed on to the Arbadaos. 
 These Indians evidently lived in the great sand 
 belt between the Nueces and the Rio Grande. 
 They were kind, but food was scarce in their desert 
 land, and while with them the Spaniards suffered 
 
40 THE SPANISH BORDERLANDS 
 
 more than ever the pangs of hunger. * * In the course 
 of a whole day we did not eat more than two 
 handfuls of fruit, which was green and contained 
 so much milky juice that our mouths were burnt 
 by it." In their straits they were helped out by 
 the purchase of two dogs, for which Vaca gave 
 the skins which covered his nakedness. He made 
 combs, bows and arrows, nets, and the mats which 
 formed the walls of the savages' temporary dwell- 
 ings, and traded these for whatever increase of food 
 he could get and occasionally for skins. Sometimes 
 he was set to scraping and softening hides, and he 
 says that the days of his ** greatest prosperity" were 
 those when he was given skins to dress, for "I 
 would scrape them a very great deal and eat the 
 scraps, which would sustain me for two or three 
 days." Sometimes a piece of meat was thrown to 
 the fugitives and they ate it raw; for, if they had 
 put it to roast, the first native happening along 
 would have snatched it and devoured it. Vaca re- 
 marks slyly that "it appeared to us not well to 
 expose it to this risk." 
 
 Having consumed the dogs, the Spaniards con- 
 tinued their journey southward, and soon crossed a 
 river which appeared to them to be as wide as the 
 Guadalquivir at Seville. It was the Rio Grande. 
 
CABEZA DE VACA 41 
 
 By this time the Miracle Man's fame had spread 
 from tribe to tribe along his route. And his prog- 
 ress now became a triumphal march, with flocks 
 of feathered Indians — sometimes to the number 
 of four thousand — following in his train. His red- 
 skinned disciples greatly impeded his travel, for 
 they all wished to touch him and his friends or 
 some part of their clothing; and not a man of the 
 thousands of them would eat a morsel of food until 
 one of the Spaniards had blessed it. At the same 
 time they hunted and dug for food along the march, 
 killing hares, deer, opossums, gathering fruit, roots, 
 and nuts. They never presumed to eat until they 
 had fed their physician; nor to rest until they had 
 erected houses for him and his three friends. Their 
 women wove mats and blankets for the white men 
 and made their moccasins. The natives from one 
 village would go as far as the next; there they 
 would proclaim to the astonished inhabitants Va- 
 ca's wondrous works, and, at the same time, plun- 
 der the village of everything worth taking. Vaca 
 was grieved at this wholesale robbery but dared 
 not attempt to check it. " In consolation," he says, 
 "the plunderers told them that we were children of 
 the sun and that we had power to heal the sick and 
 to destroy; and other lies even greater than these. 
 
42 THE SPANISH BORDERLANDS 
 
 which none know how to tell better than they when 
 they find it convenient. They bade them conduct 
 us with great respect, advised that they should be 
 careful to offend us in nothing, give us all they 
 might possess, and endeavor to take us where 
 people were numerous; and that wheresoever they 
 arrive with us, they should rob and pillage the peo- 
 ple of what they have, since this was customary." 
 The coast Indians had been hostile, but these 
 were friendly, so the direct route to Panuco was 
 abandoned. Turning westward now through Coa- 
 huila, and then northward, Vaca recrossed the Rio 
 Grande west of the Pecos, struck it again at the 
 mouth of the Conchos, and followed it to the vicin- 
 ity of El Paso. And over all these leagues of wilder- 
 ness the hordes of Indians continued with him. In 
 one town Vaca performed a surgical operation with 
 a conch-shell knife, cutting a flint arrowhead from 
 a man's shoulder. The patient recovered; and the 
 arrowhead was carried like a saint's relic, through- 
 out the land, that men might marvel. From the 
 region of El Paso, Vaca and his friends pressed 
 westward over the arid plains of Chihuahua and 
 crossed the Sierra Madre Mountains after many 
 days of hard going. "The Indians," says Vaca, 
 "ever accompanied us until they delivered us to 
 
CABEZA DE VACA 4S 
 
 others; and all held full faith in our coming from 
 heaven. . . . Thus we . . . traversed all the 
 country until coming out at the South Sea.'* 
 
 At a town on the Rio Yaqui the Spaniards were 
 presented with over six hundred "hearts of deer," 
 and five arrows tipped with "emeralds" — prob- 
 ably malachite. This Town of the Hearts, as Vaca 
 named it, was in the region of Sahuaripa, Sonora. 
 Descending the Yaqui River, which empties into 
 the Gulf of California, Vaca came upon Spaniards 
 on a slave-hunting foray on the frontier of New 
 Galicia. The surprise occasioned by the apparition 
 there of these four haggard, battered, bearded, 
 skin-clothed, paint-bedaubed Europeans can be 
 better imagined than described. Glad indeed were 
 the poor wanderers to see once again men of their 
 own race, and they "gave many thanks to God 
 our Lord." 
 
 But Vaca's feeling was not one of unmixed joy, 
 for on every side he saw the devastation the Span- 
 iards had wrought among the natives ; half the men 
 and all the women and boys, he says, had been car- 
 ried away as slaves. The six hundred natives who 
 had accompanied Vaca down the Yaqui offered a 
 rich and easy prize to these slave hunters; and 
 Vaca's urgent protests resulted only in deceitful 
 
44 THE SPANISH BORDERLANDS 
 
 promises. He says, "We set about to preserve 
 the liberty of the Indians and thought we had se- 
 cured it, but the contrary appeared; for the Chris- 
 tians had arranged to go and spring upon those 
 we had sent away in peace and confidence. They 
 executed their plans as they had designed.*' 
 
 Vaca and his comrades went on southward, 
 through Culiacan to Compostela, then the princi- 
 pal town of New Galicia. Here they were hospit- 
 ably received by Nufio de Guzman, the Governor, 
 who gave them beds, and some of his own ward- 
 robe to screen their nakedness. But after eight 
 years of Indian life the wanderers found that they 
 could not wear clothes with comfort, "nor could 
 we sleep anywhere else but on the ground." 
 
 Vaca reached the City of Mexico on July 24, 
 1536; thence he went to Santo Domingo, and from 
 there to Spain. In all places his story bore fruit. 
 In Spain he was disappointed in his ambition for 
 the governorship of Florida. One wonders why he 
 should have wanted it! That office had already 
 been taken by Hernando de Soto. Vaca was in- 
 vited to accompany De Soto, but his experience 
 with Narvaez had made him unwilling to take part 
 in an expedition not commanded by himself. After 
 three years of hopes and disappointments, Vaca 
 
CABEZA DE VACA 45 
 
 was made adelantado of Rio de la Plata, in South 
 America. In this venture he expended all his 
 means. In the South American wilds he made 
 marches almost as heroic as his journey from Texas 
 to Sonora. But his humane treatment of the na- 
 tives won for him the hostility of his turbulent com- 
 patriots. He was seized, on trumped-up charges, 
 and sent in chains to Spain. There he lay in prison 
 for six years. He was then condemned by the 
 Council of the Indies, stripped of his honors and 
 titles, and sentenced to exile in Africa. Meanwhile 
 he had become the subject of a learned controversy 
 among clerical pamphleteers as to the propriety of 
 a layman's performing miracles. His end is not 
 known, though he is said to have been living in 
 Spain twenty years later. Of his companions only 
 the black Estevanico played a conspicuous part 
 in later history in America. We shall hear anon 
 how Estevanico became a permanent figure in 
 Indian tradition. 
 
CHAPTER III 
 
 HERNANDO DE SOTO 
 
 Hernando de Soto was about thirty-six years of 
 age when he was appointed adelantado of Florida. 
 He was "a gentleman by all four descents," and 
 had recently been created by the Emperor a knight 
 of the order of Santiago. He had already led a 
 career of adventure not often equaled. He had 
 served under Pedrarias in Nicaragua, and, by his 
 marriage to Pedrarias's daughter. Dona Isabel, had 
 become brother-in-law to Balboa, discoverer of the 
 Pacific. Later, in following the fortunes of Pizarro 
 in Peru, he had "distinguished himself over all the 
 captains and principal personages present, not only 
 at the seizure of Atabalipa [Atahualpa, the Inca], 
 lord of Peru, and in carrying the City of Cuzco, but 
 at all other places wheresoever he went and found 
 resistance." Thus does the Gentleman of Elvas, 
 comrade of Don Hernando and narrator of his ex- 
 ploits, pen his biography in a line. A man of blood 
 
 46 
 
HERNANDO DE SOTO 47 
 
 and iron, wherever he "found resistance" there Her- 
 nando de Soto was roused to action. He brooked 
 neither opposition from foes nor interference from 
 friends; and, for him, no peril, no hardship, could 
 surpass in bitterness the defeat of his will. His 
 nature was to be read plainly in his swarthy, 
 strongly lined face and burning black eyes, and in 
 the proud carriage of his head ; so that, though he 
 was hardly more than of medium stature, men re- 
 marked him and gave him room. He had an agree- 
 able smile at rare moments; he was renowned for 
 courage, and his skill as a horseman was noted 
 among those lovers of horses, the Spanish no- 
 bles. He was able to set up a fine establishment 
 and to lend money to the Emperor Charles V, 
 from whom he was seeking high office. And so the 
 Emperor made him Governor of Cuba and adelan- 
 tado of Florida. Narvaez had pictured in Florida 
 another Mexico. De Soto hoped to find there 
 another Peru. 
 
 The news of De Soto's expedition took his 
 countrymen by storm. When Vaca, fresh from 
 his wanderings, appeared at court and told his 
 great tale, the enthusiasm increased. Rich nobles 
 sold their estates, their houses, vineyards, and 
 olive-fields, their plate and jewels, their towns of 
 
48 THE SPANISH BORDERLANDS 
 
 vassals, to participate in the venture. There as- 
 sembled in Seville so many "persons of noble ex- 
 traction" that a large number of those who had 
 sold all they had were forced to remain behind for 
 want of shipping. De Soto mustered his volunteers 
 for review at the port of Sanlucar. Here he 
 scanned them carefully and picked out his men, 
 who were then counted and enlisted. They num- 
 bered six hundred. And, considering the small size 
 of the ships of that day, they and their suppHes 
 must have been tightly packed in the nine vessels 
 that bore them from Spain. 
 
 On Sunday morning of the day of St. Lazarus, 
 April, 1538, Hernando de Soto in a "new ship 
 fast of sail" led his fleet over the bar of Sanlucar, 
 "with great festivity." From every vessel artillery 
 roared at his command, and trumpets sounded. 
 Favorable winds urged his vessels on; his adored 
 Dona Isabel was beside him, adventure and fame 
 were before him. 
 
 On Pentecost Day the ships were moored in the 
 harbor of Santiago de Cuba. All the horsemen and 
 footmen of the town surged down to the landing; 
 and Don Hernando and Dona Isabel, followed by 
 their train of six hundred, rode into the city, where 
 they were "well lodged, attentively visited, and 
 
HERNANDO DE SOTO 49 
 
 served by all the citizens." From Santiago Don 
 Hernando sent Dona Isabel and the ships to Ha- 
 vana, his port of embarkment for Florida; while 
 with one hundred and fifty horsemen he made a 
 tour of the cities under his authority. Presently 
 he heard that his ships bound for Havana had ex- 
 perienced severe storms, which had swept them out 
 of their course and separated them. But after 
 forty days they had all come safely to Havana. 
 Leaving his cavalcade tq, follow as it might, Don 
 Hernando mounted and made all speed to Havana 
 and Dona Isabel. 
 
 On Sunday, May 18, 1539, De Soto said farewell 
 to his wife and sailed from Havana for Florida, the 
 land still reputed to be "the richest of any which 
 until then had been discovered''; and on the thir- 
 tieth he landed his men near an Indian town on 
 Tampa Bay. Here the Spaniards immediately had 
 a brush with the natives, who let drive at the ar- 
 mored horsemen with their arrows. Two savages 
 were killed; the others fled through wooded and 
 boggy country where the horses could not follow. 
 And, when the Spaniards lay in camp that night 
 they could see flames come out against the black- 
 ness, dwindling in the distance to specks like fire- 
 flies, as the Indians passed their fiery warning 
 
50 THE SPANISH BORDERLANDS 
 
 inland. Two days later they came upon a deserted 
 town of eight huts. De Soto established head- 
 quarters there and sent out several companies of 
 horse and foot to explore. He ordered the woods 
 felled "the distance of a crossbow shot" around the 
 town. He set sentinels about the place and de- 
 tailed horsemen to go the rounds. After having 
 made all secure, he lodged himself in the chief's 
 house. And there, in the dust flooring, under his 
 torch's glare, he found a small scatter of pearls. 
 They were ruined by the fire used in boring them 
 for beads; but to him they were typical of the 
 jewelled chain of fortune which should link him 
 with greatness to his life's end and as long after 
 as men's tongues should wag. So had Narvaez 
 thought when he found the golden ornament. 
 
 When the exploring parties returned they could 
 relate that the Indians of Florida were no mean 
 foes. One party brought back six men wounded — 
 one so badly that he died. But they had captured 
 four women. Another party brought in a man — 
 a white man. This was Juan Ortiz, of noble lin- 
 eage, follower of the fortunes of Narvaez, and for 
 the last eleven years a slave among the savages. 
 He had entered Florida with Narvaez, but instead 
 of following his leader inland, had stuck to the ships 
 
HERNANDO DE SOTO 51 
 
 and had returned to Cuba. Then Narvaez's wife 
 had sent him back to Florida in a pinnace to look 
 for her husband, and there he had been taken 
 captive. An Indian girl, he said — apparently a 
 prototype of Pocahontas — had romantically saved 
 his life, just as he was about to be roasted alive at 
 the command of her father. In passing from tribe 
 to tribe, sometimes in barter, sometimes as a fugi- 
 tive, Ortiz had become conversant with several dia- 
 lects and he could now play the role of interpreter. 
 To De Soto's eager inquiries he answered that he 
 had seen no gold nor jewels, but had heard of a rich 
 country thirty leagues inland. This was enough. 
 De Soto now dispatched his ships to Cuba for more 
 supplies and ordered his company to make ready 
 to march. 
 
 This was the beginning of three years of restless 
 wandering, in the course of which De Soto and his 
 men traversed Florida, Georgia, Carolina, Ten- 
 nessee, Alabama, Mississippi, Arkansas, Oklahoma, 
 Louisiana, and Texas. 
 
 Leaving at the camp a garrison of fifty footmen 
 with thirty horses and food for two years, on Au- 
 gust 1, 1539, De Soto set out. In his train were some 
 five hundred and fifty lancers, crossbowmen, and 
 arquebusiers, about two hundred horses, a number 
 
52 THE SPANISH BORDERLANDS 
 
 of priests and Dominican friars — with the sacred 
 vessels, vestments, and white meal for the Mass; a 
 physician and his medicines; a ship's carpenter, 
 calkers, and a cooper for the boat-building that 
 might be necessary on inland waters — perhaps to 
 construct a ship to bear Don Hernando to China 
 by that fabled waterway Columbus had not found. 
 And there were armorers and smiths, with their 
 forges and tools, for mail shirts must be mended be- 
 times, swords tempered, and the great bulk of iron 
 chains and iron slave-collars kept in good repair. 
 
 They were bound northwestward to the country 
 of Cale. Indians had told them that beyond Gale, 
 "towards the sunset," lay a land of perpetual sum- 
 mer where there was so much gold that, when its 
 people came down to war with the tribes of Cale, 
 "they wore golden hats like casques." 
 
 On towards that land of golden hats went the 
 Spaniards; over low thicketed country full of bogs 
 and swamps, where the horses, weighted by their 
 own armor and their heavily accoutered riders, 
 mired and floundered. They crossed several small 
 rivers on logs, swimming the horses over by a haw- 
 ser. This was not the country, "very rich in 
 maize," which Indians had told them stretched 
 along the way to Cale. Pinched by hunger, the 
 
HERNANDO DE SOTO 53 
 
 Spaniards ate young palm shoots and water cresses 
 "without other thing." And, from the thickets 
 about the bogs and marshes, invisible savages sent 
 a rain of arrows upon them. 
 
 "He came to Cale and found the town aban- 
 doned," tersely writes the Gentleman of Elvas. 
 Cale was a huddle of mud and palmetto huts some- 
 where on the Suwanee River. But there was ripe 
 maize in the Indian fields, enough to supply De 
 Soto's men for three months; three men were killed 
 during the husking. The Indians kept under cover, 
 and no slaves could be taken; so the Spaniards were 
 forced to grind their own corn for bread. Some of 
 them ground it in the log mortars they found in the 
 town and sifted the flour through their mail shirts. 
 The majority, disdaining this menial toil, ate the 
 grains "parched and sodden." 
 
 No golden hats were found in Cale, so De Soto 
 pushed on northwestward to Caliquen. Along his 
 route he set a company of his horsemen and a pack 
 of greyhounds sharply to work catching Indians. 
 For an army in a strange land needed guides; and 
 gentlemen unskilled in bread -making needed slaves. 
 Like Cortes he made a practice of seizing the chief 
 of each town on his march — after an exchange of 
 compliments and fraternal testimonials. Then he 
 
54 THE SPANISH BORDERLANDS 
 
 held him to insure the tribe's peaceful conduct; 
 and forced him to supply food and men and women 
 for the use of the army. 
 
 De Soto's first pitched battle with the Indians 
 resulted from an attempt made by the natives of 
 Caliquen to rescue their chief. Ortiz, who knew 
 their language, informed him of the plot. Four 
 hundred natives stationed themselves outside the 
 camp and sent two of their number to demand their 
 chief's release. De Soto took the chief by the hand 
 and led him out, accompanied by a dozen foot 
 soldiers; and then, having thrown the Indians off 
 guard by this strategy, he ordered the trumpet 
 sounded. Shouting their battle cry of "Santiago" 
 the Spaniards bore down upon the Indians, and, 
 after a brief fierce fight, routed them and killed 
 from thirty to forty, while the rest leaped into two 
 nearby lakes to escape the horsemen's lances. The 
 Spaniards surrounded one of the lakes ; and during 
 the night some, more alert-eyed than others, ob- 
 served the odd phenomenon of water-lilies slowly 
 moving inshore over the moonlit surface of the 
 water. The Indians had put the lilies on their 
 heads and were swimming noiselessly and with 
 barely a ripple towards land. The Spaniards 
 rushed in, to their horses' breasts, and drove them 
 
HERNANDO DE SOTO 55 
 
 back. The next day all but a few were captured 
 and divided among the Spaniards as slaves. The 
 forges were in full blast that day for the riveting of 
 chains and iron collars. 
 
 But, though chained, the natives of Caliquen were 
 not tamed. They rose against their captors, seized 
 their weapons, and, whether lances or swords, 
 handled them as if accustomed to use them all their 
 lives; so says the Gentleman of Elvas, who took 
 part in the melee. "One Indian, in the public 
 yard of the town, with blade in hand, fought like 
 a bull in the arena, until the halberdiers of the 
 Governor, arriving, put an end to him." 
 
 A further march of about thirty miles brought 
 the Spaniards to a town of the Appalachees near 
 Tallahassee, probably the same visited by Narvaez. 
 There they found the October fields of grain, beans, 
 and pumpkins ready to harvest, and decided to go 
 into camp for the winter. From this point De Soto 
 dispatched communications to his ships at Tampa 
 and sent letters, with a present of twenty Indian 
 women captives, to be carried to Dona Isabel in 
 Cuba. The army remained in camp till March. 
 
 Besides the men sent to the ships at Tampa Bay 
 
 — who were to bring back the garrison left there 
 
 — De Soto sent out two exploring parties. One 
 
56 THE SPANISH BORDERLANDS 
 
 of these parties discovered Pensacola Bay. The 
 other came suddenly upon a beautiful bay at no 
 great distance from the camp. Its blue waves, with 
 the amethystine streak characteristic of Southern 
 waters, were vivid under the sun, which smote to 
 ghstening scattered white objects like little heaps 
 of pearl along its shore. This bay was the Bay 
 of Horses, whence Narvaez and his men had set 
 out in their horsehide boats. The glistening white 
 heaps were the bleached bones and skulls of their 
 slain mounts. 
 
 Besought by his men "to leave the land of Flor- 
 ida," lest they all perish like Narvaez, De Soto 
 sternly replied that he would never turn back. In 
 his heart he had already resolved to go on until he 
 should find the golden country he sought; or, fail- 
 ing in that search, to perish rather than return 
 to bear the chagrin of seeing himself outdone by 
 some other conquistador who, by greater perse- 
 verance, might discover "another Mexico" in the 
 great interior. 
 
 So, on March 3, 1540, De Soto broke camp and 
 took his way northeastward, across the present 
 State of Georgia, through the country of the Creeks. 
 Towards the end of April he reached a town called 
 Cufitachiqui. It was on the Savannah River, 
 
HERNANDO DE SOTO 57 
 
 probably somewhere below Augusta; Indian tradi- 
 tion locates it at the modern Silver Bluff. The ca- 
 cica, or chief tainess, richly draped in furs and feath- 
 ers, with loops of pearls depending from her neck, 
 crossed the river in a canoe to greet Don Hernando, 
 accompanied by her men of state and followed by 
 a fleet of canoes laden with gifts for the visiting 
 prince. After speeches of welcome, she took off a 
 large string of pearls and threw it about De Soto's 
 neck. Then she offered more canoes brought to 
 convey him and his men to the other side. Seeing 
 that the pearls rejoiced him, she told him that if he 
 would open the burial mounds he would find many 
 more and that, in some deserted towns nearby, 
 "he might load all his horses with them." So 
 from the graves at Cufitachiqui De Soto took three 
 hundred and fifty pounds of pearls "and figures of 
 babies and birds made of them." He found also a 
 dirk and some rosaries that had once belonged 
 to Ayllon's followers. 
 
 At Cufitachiqui De Soto's men desij^ed to make 
 a settlement. It was a favorable point to begin 
 colonization. It lay but two d^ys' journey from the 
 sea "to which could come all the ships from New 
 Spain"; and it was "a good country, and one fit 
 in which to raise suppHes." But De Soto was 
 
58 THE SPANISH BORDERLANDS 
 
 looking for another treasure such as he had wrested 
 from the Inca in Peru and he *' would not be con- 
 tent with good lands nor pearls," saying that 
 "should a richer country not be found, they could 
 always return to that who would." He then asked 
 the cacica if there were "any great lord farther on" 
 and was blandly told of the rich province of Chiaha, 
 subject to a chief of Coosa. To seek this new goal 
 he resolved to go at once, and "being an inflexible 
 man, and dry of word, who, although he liked to 
 know what the others all thought and had to say, 
 after he once said a thing he did not like to be op- 
 posed, and as he ever acted as he thought best, all 
 bent to his will . . . there were none who would 
 say a thing to him after it became known that he 
 had made up his mind." It was discovered pres- 
 ently that this red-skinned Cleopatra now wished 
 to slip away from her Antony, and without giv- 
 ing him carriers for his supplies, "because of the 
 outrages committed upon the inhabitants." So 
 De Soto put her under guard and carried her away 
 on foot with her female slaves. This treatment, 
 as the Gentleman of Elvas remarks, "was not a 
 proper return" for the hospitality and affectionate 
 welcome he had received. 
 
 Seven days' marching brought the Spaniards 
 
HERNANDO DE SOTO 59 
 
 into the country of the Cherokees; and five days 
 later they reached Xualla, a Cherokee town above 
 the junction of the Tuckaseegee and Oconna-Luf- 
 tee rivers in Swain County, North Carohna. On 
 the way the cacica of Cufitachiqui had escaped; 
 and — more untimely loss — had carried into the 
 thickets with her "a cane box, like a trunk," full of 
 unbored pearls. "And the Governor, not to give 
 offense, permitted it so, thinking that in Guaxulle 
 he would beg them of her when he should give her 
 leave to depart." Still pushing on towards that 
 "richest province," De Soto crossed the Smoky 
 Mountains and went into Tennessee. He tarried 
 at Guaxule, where the chief's house stood on a 
 great mound, surrounded by a terrace on which 
 half a dozen men could walk abreast. Here he 
 was fortunate enough to get three hundred "dogs" 
 — perhaps opossums — as meat for his army. But 
 this hilly country was unprofitable to man and 
 beast. De Soto therefore turned south into Geor- 
 gia, to see that *' greatest prince" of Coosa. There 
 was no lack of food as he pressed on southward; for 
 the natives willingly contributed mulberries, nuts, 
 maize, and wild turkeys. 
 
 De Soto's course took him down the Coosa 
 River to Chiaha, a town of the Creeks. Coosa, 
 
60 THE SPANISH BORDERLANDS 
 
 in Talladega County, Alabama, where men and 
 beasts waxed fat on the abundance of the land, was 
 reached on the 26th of July. Remembrance of 
 Coosa lingered with these Spaniards and lured 
 some of them back in after years. The chief of 
 Coosa, arrayed in a wonderful shawl of marten 
 skins — in mid-July, and in Alabama ! — and pre- 
 ceded by men playing upon small flutes, came out 
 to meet De Soto and invited him to settle in his 
 country. But De Soto was not interested in furs, 
 and he saw no gold in Coosa. So, after having 
 seized a number of slaves and the chief himself, he 
 went on, southward now, through Alabama. Near 
 the Alabama River he was shown another gloomy 
 memento of Spanish adventurers in that land. This 
 was the dagger of Theodoro, the Greek, who had 
 come ashore at the river's mouth to get fresh water 
 for Narvaez's men some eleven years before. 
 
 On the 15th of October, having crossed the Ala- 
 bama, De Soto reached Ma villa, a large town near 
 the present Choctaw Bluff. The name Ma villa is 
 preserved in that of Mobile, city and river. At 
 Mavilla was fought the fiercest combat of the en- 
 tire march. The Indians soon set upon the Span- 
 iards and drove them outside the walls of the town. 
 They seized all the baggage, including provisions. 
 
HERNANDO DE SOTO 61 
 
 some arms, and the three hundred and fifty pounds 
 of pearls, gathered in the slaves, struck off their 
 chains and armed them. De Soto drew up his army 
 and made a fierce assault upon the stockade, while, 
 within one of the houses, some soldiers, a priest, 
 and a friar, who had been trapped there, fought off 
 the Indians at the door with swords and clubs. De 
 Soto ordered the town fired; and, as the flames 
 burst forth from the roofs and the natives at- 
 tempted to flee, he broke through with his soldiery 
 and took possession. Eighteen Spaniards and 
 twelve horses were killed, and one hundred and 
 fifty Spaniards and seventy horses were badly 
 wounded with arrows. The Indians were slaught- 
 ered almost to a man; for, as they attempted 
 to flee, the Spanish horsemen drove them back 
 into the burning t'^wn. There, "losing the hope 
 of escape, they fought valiantly; and the Chris- 
 tians getting among them with cutlasses, they 
 found themselves met on all sides by their strokes, 
 when many, dashing into the flaming houses, were 
 smothered, and, heaped one upon another, burned 
 to death. . . . The struggle lasted so long that 
 many Christians, weary and very thirsty, went to 
 drink at a pond nearby, tinged with the blood of 
 the killed." In the fire were consumed all the 
 
62 THE SPANISH BORDERLANDS 
 
 baggage and supplies, the pearls, and the vessels 
 for the Mass. 
 
 Now De Soto, himself severely wounded, — for 
 always he led his men when he ordered an attack, 
 — heard that at the coast, six days distant, ships 
 from Cuba commanded by his lieutenant, Maldo- 
 nado, rode at anchor waiting for news of him and 
 bearing supplies for the army, as well as letters 
 from Dona Isabel. But he ordered that this in- 
 formation be kept from his men, who were already 
 disillusioned about golden Florida and eager to 
 leave it. The pearls which he had intended to send 
 to Cuba "for show, that their fame might raise the 
 desire of coming to Florida," had been destroyed; 
 and as he feared the effect of sending word of him- 
 self without "either gold or silver, or other thing 
 of value," he determined to send no news of 
 himself until he should have discovered a rich 
 country. So the ships waited their appointed 
 time, and then sailed home again, bearing to Cuba 
 no word of its Governor, and to Dona Isabel 
 only silence. 
 
 At the time of his decision De Soto's force was 
 lessened by one hundred and two men, who had 
 been slain or lost on his long march ; the remainder 
 were in tatters, or naked, under their rusty mail; 
 
HERNANDO DE SOTO 63 
 
 many of his horses, all his supplies and extra cloth- 
 ing, and his slim booty were destroyed; and his men 
 no longer shared what little hope may have re- 
 mained to him of ever reaching that richest prov- 
 ince *' beyond." But if his decision, made for his 
 pride and his honor and against the love of his wife 
 and his own chances of survival, cost him any- 
 thing, no hint of that cost passed his stern lips. 
 For twenty-eight days he rested at Mavilla to 
 allow the wounded, who dressed their wounds with 
 the fat of the slain Indians, to recover; then he 
 took up the search again. 
 
 On the 17th of November De Soto moved north- 
 westward in quest of another Promised Land, a 
 place called Pacaha. He crossed the Black Warrior 
 and the Tombigbee rivers and a month later en- 
 tered a Chickasaw town in the present State of 
 Mississippi, where he went into winter quarters. 
 Before spring he had his troubles with the proud 
 and warlike Chickasaws. Some of the natives, 
 caught in theft, were executed; and another, "his 
 hands having first been cut off," was sent back to 
 the chief as a visible warning. Four Spaniards, 
 who pillaged some Indian houses, almost met with 
 as hard a fate; for De Soto, stern with friend and 
 foe ahke, ordered two of them put to death and the 
 
64 THE SPANISH BORDERLANDS 
 
 other two deprived of their goods. Deaf to all 
 pleas, he would have seen the sentence carried 
 out but for the subtlety of Ortiz, the interpreter, 
 who translated the complaints of the Indians into 
 prayers for pardon. 
 
 When, in March, De Soto was ready to depart, 
 he made his usual demand for male carriers and for 
 women. The Chickasaws considered this an in- 
 sult to be wiped out in blood. They fell upon the 
 Spaniards at dawn; and, *'by the time those in the 
 town were aware, half the houses were in flames." 
 The men, running in confusion from the fire, 
 blinded by the smoke and the glare, not able to find 
 their arms nor to saddle their horses, fell easy prey 
 to the native archers. The horses snapped their 
 halters and stampeded, or were burned to death in 
 their stalls. It would have been a complete victory 
 for the Indians — and the end of the expedition — 
 if the natives had not believed that the thunder of 
 hoofs meant that the cavalry was gathering to fall 
 upon them. They fled, leaving only one dead on 
 the field. He had been killed with a lance by De 
 Soto, who was unhorsed in the act beca.use his 
 saddle girth was loose. Eleven Spaniards and fifty 
 horses perished. The army then quickly moved to 
 another town and turned to at making saddles and 
 
HERNANDO DE SOTO 65 
 
 fences from ash, and grass mats, to protect their 
 naked bodies from the cold. Towards the end of 
 April, De Soto started on, northwestward, and, 
 during the first week in May, 1541, not far from 
 the Chickasaw Bluffs, he stood on the east bank of 
 the Mississippi River. 
 
 On the plains, a crossbow's shot from the steep 
 timbered bank, the army pitched camp. De Soto 
 set his men at once to felling trees and constructing 
 vessels in which to cross the river; for on the west 
 shore to the north, lay the "richest province" of 
 Pacaha, whither he was bound. Presently the 
 cacique of Aquixo, or Arkansas, came over to visit 
 him, with his lesser chiefs and two hundred war- 
 riors. The chiefs sat in the sterns of their canoes 
 under skin awnings; and chiefs and warriors were 
 "painted with ochre, wearing great bunches of 
 white and other plumes of many colors." Some 
 held "feathered shields in their hands, with which 
 they sheltered the oarsmen on either side, the war- 
 riors standing erect from bow to stern, holding 
 bows and arrows .... These were fine-looking 
 men, very large and well-formed; and what with 
 the awnings, the plumes, and the shields, the pen- 
 nons, and the number of people in the fieet, it ap- 
 peared like a famous armada of galleys." The 
 
66 THE SPANISH BORDERLANDS 
 
 canoes also bore gifts of furs, buffalo robes, dried 
 fruits, and fish for the white chief. These the ca- 
 cique sent ashore; but when De Soto and his men 
 came down to the water's edge, making signs to 
 him to land, he hastily ordered his oarsmen to re- 
 treat, evidently in apprehension of the strange men 
 in armor the like of which he had never seen before. 
 De Soto, construing this as hostility, ordered the 
 crossbowmen to fire. Half a dozen Indians fell; 
 but the canoes continued to retire in good order, 
 not an Indian " leaving the oar, even though the one 
 next to him might have fallen." During the month 
 consumed in barge-building, the Indians appeared 
 in midstream several times but came no nearer. 
 Early one June morning the barges were passing to 
 and fro across the Mississippi; and by sunrise all 
 the men and horses were on the west bank. The 
 barges were then taken to pieces and the iron spikes 
 were kept for making other vessels when needed. 
 
 Marching north through Arkansas, from some 
 captives now De Soto heard more of Chisca, beyond 
 Pacaha, where there was much gold. He found the 
 towns along his route deserted. The inhabitants 
 had fled and hidden themselves; but the Span- 
 iards felt their presence in the arrow flights which 
 descended on them from the ravines and thick 
 
HERNANDO DE SOTO 67 
 
 timber, as they paused to find the best crossings 
 over streams and marshes. After crossing Fifteen- 
 Mile Bayou in St. Francis County, Arkansas, they 
 marched all day until sunset over flooded ground. 
 The water was sometimes as high as their waists. 
 At night they reached Casqui, "where they found 
 the Indians off their guard, never having heard of 
 them." They seized all the buffalo robes and furs 
 in the town and many of the men and women. The 
 towns here were thickly set in a very fruitful coun- 
 try; so that, while the footmen were despoiling one 
 town, the horsemen could sweep down upon another. 
 De Soto made friends with the chief of Casqui, who 
 was on bad terms with the chief of Pacaha, and 
 set up a cross in his town. After having "paci- 
 fied" Pacaha, De Soto reconciled its chief to the 
 chief of Casqui and entertained both worthies at 
 dinner. Whereupon the chief of Casqui gave De 
 Soto his daughter to wife; and the chief of Pa- 
 caha, by an equally simple marriage ceremony, 
 gave him two of his sisters, Macanoche and Mo- 
 chila. Of the Pacaha ladies the discriminating Gen- 
 tleman of Elvas says: "They were symmetrical, 
 tall, and full; Macanoche bore a pleasant expres- 
 sion; in her manners and features appeared the 
 lady; the other was robust," 
 
68 THE SPANISH BORDERLANDS 
 
 Again it was the same old story. No gold was 
 found at Pacaha; but, at Caluga "beyond," there 
 was said to be some. So eighty men were sent out 
 to look over Caluga and to discover the best road 
 to Chisca, where there was gold in plenty and a 
 copper foundry! We can only conjecture as to 
 what the Indians were trying to tell De Soto when 
 he visualized, from their signs, a copper foundry. 
 When his party of explorers returned after a week's 
 journey northward across Missouri, they could re- 
 port no gold, but they had heard of the great 
 buffalo-covered prairies beyond. In their wander- 
 ings they had perhaps reached the Osage, or even 
 the Kansas. 
 
 These dispiriting reports determined Don Her- 
 nando not to seek for Chisca and its fabled gold. 
 After a rest of some weeks in Pacaha he moved 
 westward across northern Arkansas to the abun- 
 dant grain fields of Tanico, probably on the Neosho 
 River in Oklahoma. Here he halted for a month 
 to gamer supplies and fatten his horses. From 
 Tanico he turned southeastward. He crossed the 
 Arkansas in the vicinity of Fort Smith on the di- 
 viding line between Oklahoma and Arkansas, and 
 went into winter quarters about thirty miles east of 
 the line at an Indian town named Autiamque on 
 
HERNANDO DE SOTO 69 
 
 the south bank of the Arkansas River. Here the 
 Spaniards spent three months, during one of which 
 snow fell almost continuously. The shackled In- 
 dians built a high palisade about the camp, hauled 
 wood for fires, and trapped rabbits for food. Juan 
 Ortiz, the castaway of Narvaez's expedition, died 
 at Autiamque; and, as he was the only man with 
 a fair knowledge of Indian speech, his loss was a 
 serious blow to De Soto's army. 
 
 Spring came, and in March, 1542, De Soto broke 
 camp and continued down the Arkansas. By this 
 time, of the six hundred who had come with him 
 from Spain "he had not over three hundred effi- 
 cient men, nor more than forty horses. Some of the 
 beasts were lame, and useful only in making out the 
 show of a troop of cavalry; and, for the lack of iron, 
 they had gone a year without shoes." De Soto re- 
 solved now to go to the seacoast, which he imagined 
 to be not far off. There he would build two vessels, 
 one to be sent to New Spain and the other to Cuba, 
 "calculating, out of his property there, to refit and 
 again go back to advance, to discover and to con- 
 quer farther on towards the west." It was three 
 years since he had been heard of by Dona Isabel, 
 nor did he know how she fared. In April he 
 reached Guachoya, at the mouth of the Arkansas, 
 
70 THE SPANISH BORDERLANDS 
 
 and, as usual, lodged his men in the town, from 
 which most of the natives had fled at his approach. 
 To ascertain how near the sea was, he sent several 
 men down the Mississippi, but when they returned 
 after more than a week's absence it was to tell him 
 that only the river's tide, to bayous and swamps, 
 stretched for miles upon miles below. Nor could 
 the Indians they had captured down the river tell 
 them of any other great water. 
 
 No news of the sea — and men and horses dy- 
 ing off; his little company ringed round with hostile 
 tribes, whom he had treated without mercy in the 
 days of his strength; and no succor anywhere; "of 
 that reflection he pined." At the recognition, at 
 last, of defeat the strong spirit of Don Hernando 
 broke and his body weakened under the fever of 
 torment that took hold of him. But still he had 
 nerve. From his straw pallet he dispatched a 
 messenger commanding the chief of Quigaltam 
 across the river to send him carriers and provisions ; 
 for he was the "Child of the Sun," and "whence he 
 came all obeyed him, rendering their tribute." 
 The chief returned answer that the Child of the 
 Sun should be able to dry up the river between 
 them. On that token, he would believe. "If 
 you desire to see me come where I am . . . 
 
HERNANDO DE SOTO 71 
 
 neither for you nor for any man, will I set back 
 one foot." 
 
 Here, at last, by his words, was the "greatest 
 prince" so long sought. De Soto was already low 
 by the time his messenger returned; but, on hear- 
 ing the chief's insolent answer, his haughty spirit 
 blazed up once more and he grieved that there was 
 not bodily force left in him to enable him to cross 
 the river and abate that pride. As an object-lesson 
 not alone to the lofty cacique but also to the In- 
 dians of Guachoya, whose treachery he feared, he 
 sent an expedition to lay waste and slaughter the 
 town of Nilco some distance off. The Spaniards 
 took the inhabitants so entirely by surprise that, 
 when the captain ordered all males slain, not an In- 
 dian was ready to draw his bow in defense. "The 
 cries of the women and children were such as to 
 deafen those who pursued them. About one hun- 
 dred men were slain; many were allowed to get 
 away badly wounded that they might strike terror 
 into those who were absent. Some persons were so 
 cruel and butcher-like that they killed all before 
 them, young and old, not one having resisted little 
 or much." If the Indians of Guachoya had indeed 
 been planning an attack, the object lesson had the 
 desired effect. 
 
72 THE SPANISH BORDERLANDS 
 
 De Soto's hour had struck, and he lay dying 
 in lonehness. His officers and men, gloomy over 
 their own prospects and resentful against the com- 
 mander who had led them to this pass, held aloof — 
 "each one himself having need of sympathy, which 
 was the cause why they neither gave him their 
 companionship nor visited him." On the day be- 
 fore his death he called for them. After giving 
 thanks to God, he confessed his deep obligations to 
 them all "for their great qualities, their love and 
 loyalty to his person"; and he asked their prayers 
 and their forgiveness of any wrongs that he might 
 have dealt them. And, to prevent divisions, he re- 
 quested them to elect his successor, saying "that 
 this would greatly satisfy him, abate somewhat the 
 pains he suffered, and moderate the anxiety of 
 leaving them in a country, they knew not where." 
 One officer responded in behalf of all, "consoling 
 him with remarks on the shortness of the life of 
 this world," and with many other high-sounding 
 cold phrases; and requested the Governor him- 
 self to select their new leader. De Soto chose 
 Luis de Moscoso; and the others willingly swore to 
 obey him. 
 
 On the morrow, the 21st of May, having made his 
 last will and his last confession, "departed this life 
 
HERNANDO DE SOTO 73 
 
 the magnanimous, the virtuous, the intrepid cap- 
 tain, Don Hernando de Soto, Governor of Cuba 
 and adelantado of Florida. He was advanced by 
 fortune, in the way she is wont to lead others, that 
 he might fall the greater depth." 
 
 The death of the Child of the Sun was kept se- 
 cret from the Indians, from fear of an uprising. 
 His body was buried at night just within the walls 
 of the town and the Indians were told that he had 
 ascended to the Sun; but the natives observed that 
 the earth near the wall had been disturbed and 
 were seen talking among themselves. So, as se- 
 cretly as it had been buried, De Soto's body was 
 dug up. A safer grave must be found for it — a 
 grave safer to the living. Packed with sand to 
 weight it down, and the mass wrapped and closely 
 bound in ** shawls," it was taken out in a canoe to 
 midstream, and there under the blackness of the 
 night — with no sound save a whispered order and 
 one deep answering note from the waters — it sank 
 into the river. 
 
 What were these "shawls," fashioned into a 
 winding-sheet for the man who had hungered for 
 riches and died empty of them.^^ Were they the 
 mantles of marten, deer, and beaver skins the 
 Indians wore and which the Spaniards so little 
 
74 THE SPANISH BORDERLANDS 
 
 esteemed? Everywhere about De Soto, on his past 
 marches through that great fur-bearing country, 
 lay the "richest province" he sought; and already, 
 far to the north, the codfishers of France on the 
 Newfoundland Banks were carrying home furs to 
 trade in the markets of St. Malo and Rouen. There 
 is the irony of tragedy in the picture of the intrepid 
 gold-hunter's body consigned to the keeping of the 
 Father of Waters shrouded in furs — which were 
 to constitute the great wealth of this continent for 
 more than two hundred years. On the broad flood 
 of the Mississippi, flowing over De Soto's last rest- 
 ing place, were to pass the canoes and the pirogues 
 of the fur traders, laden with the packs of pel- 
 try which should turn to gold in the French and 
 English markets. 
 
 The adelantado had fallen, but the wanderings 
 of his followers were by no means over. "Some 
 were glad of the death of Don Hernando de Soto, 
 holding it certain that Luis de Moscoso, who was 
 given to leading a gay life, preferred to see himself 
 at ease in a land of Christians, rather than continue 
 the toils of war, discovering and subduing, which 
 the people had come to hate, finding the little rec- 
 ompense that followed." After consultation with 
 
HERNANDO DE SOTO 75 
 
 his officers, Moscoso decided to try to reach Mexico 
 by land. On the 5th of June the Spaniards moved 
 westward, headed for Panuco. They crossed 
 southern Arkansas and reached the Red River near 
 Texarkana, but were prevented for a week by a 
 flood from crossing the river. Their march duph- 
 cated many past events, in battles with Indians, 
 in slave-catching raids, and ambushes. At the 
 Red River they changed their course to the south 
 and entered the Caddo villages of eastern Texas; 
 then, veering southwest again, they came to a large 
 river, probably the middle Brazos. Here, as in 
 Missouri and Oklahoma, they heard of the buffalo 
 plains beyond, but did not reach them. October 
 had come, winter was on the way, and the coun- 
 try promised little succor through the cold and 
 snow. So they turned back on their trail to one 
 of the villages on the Mississippi near the mouth 
 of the Arkansas, where De Soto had died. 
 
 They now resolved to descend the Great River, 
 which must somewhere empty into the sea. In 
 order to do so they must build a fleet of brigantines, 
 capable of weathering the winds and billows of the 
 ocean. And now Moscoso performed a feat in ship- 
 building, parallel to that of Narvaez at the Bay of 
 Horses. At his orders timber was felled; a forge 
 
76 THE SPANISH BORDERLANDS 
 
 was set up, and iron chains converted into spikes. 
 A Portuguese who had learned to saw lumber while 
 a captive in Morocco, and who had brought saws 
 with him, cut the planks and taught other men to 
 help him. A Genoese, the only man "who knew 
 how to construct vessels," built the brigantines 
 with the help of four or five Biscayan carpenters; 
 and two calkers, one a Genoese, the other a Sardin- 
 ian, closed up the cracks with "the oakum, got 
 from a plant like hemp, called enequen." A cooper, 
 who was so ill that he could barely get about, man- 
 aged nevertheless to make for each of the seven 
 ships two half-hogsheads to hold fresh water. Sails 
 were made of woven hemp and skins; ropes and 
 cables from mulberry bark; and anchors from 
 stirrups. In June the brigantines were finished, 
 and the high floods floated them off the building 
 ground into the river; fortunately, for if they had 
 been dragged down the bank "there would have 
 been danger of tearing open the bottoms, thereby 
 entirely wrecking them, the planks being thin, 
 and the spikes made short for the lack of iron." 
 Twenty-two horses were taken aboard; the others, 
 being done for as mounts, were killed and their flesh 
 was served. 
 On July 3, 1543, the three hundred and twenty 
 
HERNANDO DE SOTO 77 
 
 Spaniards and one hundred Indian slaves set sail 
 for their unknown port. The rest of the captives 
 had been released. Savages along their course 
 several times beset the vessels, and ten Spaniards 
 were slain. Seventeen days after their departure 
 from the mouth of the Arkansas they reached the 
 sea. At first they sailed westward, following the 
 shore line, then steered for the open but turned in 
 again to the coast, thinking their frail vessel safer 
 within hail of the shore. They experienced hunger 
 and thirst, doubts and fears, and storms of the sea. 
 Fierce head winds forced them, at one time, to 
 spend fourteen days in a sheltered inlet on the Texas 
 coast. On the day when again it blew fair for 
 them, they "very devoutly formed a procession for 
 the return of thanks," and as they moved along 
 the beach they supplicated the Almighty to take 
 them to a land in which they might better do 
 Him service. 
 
 On September 10, 1543, two months and seven 
 days after launching their brigan tines, they entered 
 the mouth of the Panuco River, which flows into 
 the Gulf one hundred and fifty miles north of Vera 
 Cruz. It waters the Tampico region, today made 
 golden by its output of petroleum. But of oil 
 Moscoso neither knew nor cared. Here Indians 
 
78 THE SPANISH BORDERLANDS 
 
 "in the apparel of Spain" told them in their own 
 tongue that there was a Christian town fifteen 
 leagues inland; "they felt as though life had been 
 newly given them; many, leaping on shore, kissed 
 the ground; and, all on bended knees, with hands 
 raised above them, and their eyes to heaven, re- 
 mained untiring in giving thanks to God." Weather- 
 beaten and toil-worn, they entered the town, each 
 man clad in deerskins "dressed and dyed black" 
 and carrying his pack on his back; and all went 
 directly to the church to return thanks for their 
 preservation and to take part "in the divine offices 
 which for a long season had not been listened to 
 by them." The three hundred and ten men were 
 warmly received by their countrymen and treated 
 to the best the country provided. 
 
 In October, that Maldonado who had waited in 
 vain at Pensacola Bay to deliver to Don Hernando 
 Dona Isiibel's letters and had twice since sought 
 for him along the Florida coast, arrived at Vera 
 Cruz. And he bore back to Cuba the news of Don 
 Hernando's fate. When Dona Isabel learned of 
 her husband's death she withered under the blow 
 and died within a few days. And there was no man 
 now in the Spanish islands who desired to tempt 
 heaven in the barren land of Florida. 
 
CHAPTER IV 
 
 CORONADO, CABRILLO, AND VIZCAINO 
 
 Meanwhile other Spanish explorers were trying 
 to pierce the Northern Mystery by way of the 
 Pacific slope. 
 
 West as well as east, and somewhere in the 
 north, must lie the waters of the Strait of Anian, 
 that direct passage from the Atlantic to China, 
 if indeed the northwestern territory did not actu- 
 ally abut on Asia. So reasoned the Spanish dons. 
 To the northwest, some said, was an island inhab- 
 ited solely by giantesque Amazons. Inland were 
 the Seven Cities, situated on a great height. Their 
 doors were studded with turquoises, as if feathers 
 from the wings of the blue sky had dropped and 
 clung there. Within those jeweled cities were 
 whole streets of goldsmiths, so great was the store 
 of shining metal to be worked. 
 
 Indians were ever great story-tellers, delighting 
 to weave the tales most pleasant to their hearers. 
 
 79' 
 
80 THE SPANISH BORDERLANDS 
 
 It was an Indian slave of Nuno de Guzman 
 who regaled that credulous oflScial of New Spain 
 with fanciful description of the Pueblo towns of 
 New Mexico. The myth led Guzman north, to 
 the ruthless conquest of Sinaloa and the found- 
 ing of Culiacan, still the capital city of that 
 Mexican state. 
 
 Then, in 1535, came Antonio de Mendoza from 
 Old Spain to be the first Viceroy of New Spain. 
 Mendoza had soon set his heart on the acquisition 
 of those Seven Cities. The arrival of Vaca and 
 his companions in the City of Mexico, out of the 
 mysterious north, in July, 1536, added fuel to 
 Mendoza's desires. An expedition must be fitted 
 out immediately, to be led by Vaca's companion 
 Dorantes — since Vaca himself was resolved to go 
 to Spain. This plan came to nothing for the time 
 being, but Vaca left the Moor Estevanico to serve 
 Mendoza. 
 
 Three years passed before Mendoza could pre- 
 pare another expedition. Francisco Vasquez de 
 Coronado was then (1539) made Governor of New 
 Galicia and military head of the force designed 
 to spread the power of Spain northward. To the 
 Franciscan Fray Marcos de Niza was given the spir- 
 itual leadership of the expedition. Fray Marcos 
 
CORONADO, CABRILLO, VIZCAINO 81 
 
 had already seen strenuous service, for he had 
 been with Pizarro in the conquest of Peru. He 
 had also written several works about the country. 
 He had high acquirements in theology, cosmog- 
 raphy, and navigation; and he was a hardy trav- 
 eler, having tramped from Guatemala to Mexico. 
 
 To Culiacan Fray Marcos and Coronado jour- 
 neyed in company. Coronado there halted to es- 
 tablish his authority over the outposts of New 
 Galicia. Fray Marcos, with the Moor Estevanico, 
 some Mexican Indians, and a few other natives 
 who had come with Vaca's little band to Mexico, 
 went on. Estevanico, having wandered through 
 parts of the northern land with Vaca, was relied 
 upon not alone to guide the friars but to insure the 
 friendship of the Indians. 
 
 At Vacapa, somewhere in Sonora, Fray Marcos 
 paused and, "on Passion Sunday after dinner," 
 sent Estevanico ahead to learn what he could. 
 Should Estevanico hear tidings of but a fair 
 country he was to send to the friar a small cross; 
 for great tidings, a cross "two handfuls long"; and, 
 should he discover a country richer than Mexico, 
 he was to send a great cross. Imagine the pleasure- 
 able agitation in the friar's breast, when, four 
 days later, some of the Indians who had gone with 
 
82 THE SPANISH BORDERLANDS 
 
 the Moor came in bearing a cross "as high as a 
 man " and a message urging Fray Marcos to follow 
 at once. Estevanico had found a new people, who 
 had told him of "the greatest thing in the world." 
 He was now at a town but thirty days' journey 
 from the turquoise doors of the Seven Cities which, 
 he had learned, were called Cibola; and beyond 
 Cibola there were other rich provinces, each one of 
 which was "a much greater matter than those 
 seven cities." So, as ever in these tales, the 
 splendor within reach was already dimmed by the 
 splendor beyond ! To Cibola, ' therefore, the friar 
 set out on the second day after Easter. 
 
 He is supposed to have gone directly north up 
 the Sonora valley, though it may have been the 
 Yaqui valley. As he went, from time to time he 
 planted crosses; for "it appeared to me suitable 
 from here on to perform acts of possession." He 
 heard from the Indians on his route more details 
 of Cibola and of the cities beyond. And he was 
 much surprised to learn that the natives of those 
 
 * Cibola is believed to be a Spanish form of the word Shiwina, 
 by which the Zuni called their tribal range. The Spaniards later 
 called the buffalo Cibola. It is customary for writers to state that 
 Guzman and Fray Marcos set out to find the Seven Cities of Cf' 
 bola, but it was not till Estevanico sent back his report that the 
 name Cibola was known to the Spaniards. 
 
CORONADO, CABRILLO, VIZCAINO 83 
 
 cities dressed in habits of gray wool like his own. 
 These were perhaps the blanket garments made of 
 narrow strips of rabbit fur and yucca fiber which 
 are still woven by the Moqui Indians. Through 
 the valley of the San Pedro in Arizona Fray Marcos 
 continued northward; then, finding that the stream 
 led him too far west, he veered to the northeast 
 and reached the Gila, above its confluence with the 
 San Pedro. Here he learned that Estevanico, with 
 three hundred Indians, was crossing the plains to 
 the northeast, where the Apaches now have their 
 reservation. After a rest, on May 9, 1539, Fray 
 Marcos continued his march to Cibola, which lay 
 fifteen days beyond. His way now led upward, 
 through rugged country, to a pass not identified, 
 between the Sierra Mogoyon and Sierra Blanca 
 ranges. Bad news met him on the Apache plains. 
 An Indian of the Moor's escort, returning in flight, 
 told him that Estevanico had been seized and made 
 prisoner by the natives of Cibola. 
 
 We know very little about the end of Estevanico, 
 this African who was one of the earliest explorers of 
 North America and had wandered over a greater 
 part of its wilderness than any man before him or 
 than any man for long after him. The Arab was 
 one of a fearless race, loving freedom no doubt as 
 
84 THE SPANISH BORDERLANDS 
 
 his tribesmen of the Moroccan deserts today love 
 it; and only in the desert could he enjoy it. Lifted 
 again out of the thrall of slavery, which had fast- 
 ened on him after his great journey from Florida, 
 and given command of some three hundred savages 
 to discover the cities of argent traceries and tur- 
 quoise doors, he had made his tour like an Orien- 
 tal chieftain, or like a Moorish prince before the 
 Conquest, with pomp and display and the revels 
 of power. Gifts were brought him and tribute was 
 exacted. His tall, dusky body soon flaunted robes 
 dyed with the colors of the rainbow\ Tufts of 
 brilliant feathers and strings of bells dangled from 
 his arms and legs. He carried a magical gourd, 
 decorated with bells and with one white and one 
 scarlet feather; and sent it ahead of him to awe 
 the natives in each town where he demanded en- 
 trance. A score, perhaps, of Indians formed his 
 personal retinue and bore on their shoulders the 
 provisions, the turquoises, mantles, and feathered 
 ornaments accumulated on the road. Flutes of 
 reeds, shell fifes, and fish-skin drums played his 
 march across the sunlit mesas. And an ever in- 
 creasing harem of gayly bedecked young women 
 swelled the parade of Estevanico, the black Berber 
 chief, on his way to the city set in silver and blue. 
 
CORONADO, CABRILLO, VIZCAINO 85 
 
 Perhaps, as has been suggested, the belled and 
 feathered gourd was "bad medicine" to the In- 
 dians of Hawikuh; for, when Estevanico's messen- 
 ger presented it with the announcement that their 
 lord was come to make peace and to cure the sick, 
 the Indians became enraged and ordered the in- 
 terlopers out of their country on pain of death. 
 Estevanico, disdaining fear, went on. Just out- 
 side the walls of Cibola he was seized. The "sun 
 was about a lance high " when the men of Hawikuh 
 suddenly launched their arrows upon his followers. 
 Some of those who, fleeing, looked back, thought 
 they had seen Estevanico fall beneath that thick 
 hail of darts. 
 
 "It is to be believed that a long time ago, when 
 roofs lay over the walls of Kya-ki-me, when smoke 
 hung over the house-tops, and the ladder-rounds 
 were still unbroken in Kya-ki-me, then the Black 
 Mexicans came from their abodes in Everlasting 
 Summerland. . . . Then and thus was killed by 
 our ancients, right where the stone stands down 
 by the arroyo of Kya-ki-me, one of the Black 
 Mexicans, a large man, with chilli lips [lips swollen 
 from chilli peppers]. . . . Then the rest ran away, 
 chased by our grandfathers, and went back toward 
 their country in the Land of Everlasting Summer." 
 
86 THE SPANISH BORDERLANDS 
 
 So, in part, runs the Zuiii legend, today, con- 
 cerning the coming and the death of Estevanico, 
 the Black. ' 
 
 Fray Marcos was not only depressed by the news 
 of Estevanico's capture, but he was in danger. 
 The Indians accompanying him, from various vil- 
 lages along his route, had looked on him as a 
 holy man, invulnerable, under the special pro- 
 tection of the morning and evening star, whose 
 sign he made with his fingers in prayer and erected 
 in wood along his way ; for so did they construe the 
 cross, their own symbol for the mystical glory 
 heralding the dawn and the night. Now they 
 were afraid. The friar, after prayer for guidance, 
 opened his bales and, by means of gifts, entreaties, 
 and threats, persuaded them to go on. Even 
 information that surely pointed to Estevanico's 
 death — brought by more Indians, wounded and 
 bleeding — did not deter him. He would at least 
 have a glimpse of that city, if he might not enter 
 it. So from a plateau, looking north. Fray Marcos 
 saw the pueblo of Hawikuh on a bare hill out- 
 lined against the high timbered flank of the Zuni 
 Mountains. Through the rarefied air, to which 
 
 ' Lowery, Spanish Settlements, pp. 281-82, as transcribed by 
 Frank Gushing, authority on Zuni lore and a Zuiii by adoption. 
 
CORONADO, CABRILLO, VIZCAINO 87 
 
 the monk's eyes were not accustomed, the pueblo 
 appeared much nearer than it was and therefore 
 much larger. He raised a mound of stones, sur- 
 mounted by a Httle cross, "having no implements 
 at hand to make it larger," and took possession of 
 the city he could see — and of all cities beyond 
 which he could not see — and named them the 
 New Kingdom of San Francisco. Then he has- 
 tened after his Indians, who had not waited for him, 
 on the homeward trail. "I returned," he says, 
 "with more fear than victuals." In spite of the 
 changed demeanor of the tribe on his way back, he 
 reached New Galicia in safety. 
 
 In the City of Mexico the descriptions by Fray 
 Marcos of the great city, as he believed he had 
 seen it with his very eyes, caused a tumult. An- 
 other Mexico had at last been found! The dis- 
 covery was proudly proclaimed from every pulpit. 
 It passed from mouth to mouth among the cavalier 
 adventurers, dicing and dueling away their time 
 and impatient for richer hazards and hotter work 
 for their swords. Such a tale loses nothing by oft 
 telling. It may be that the enthusiasm of his au- 
 diences even confused the monk's memory some- 
 what, as he told the story over and over, even to 
 his barber; for he pictured those distant cities as a 
 
88 THE SPANISH BORDERLANDS 
 
 paradise on earth, until nothing was now thought 
 of by any man but how to reach Cibola and be rich 
 forevermore. 
 
 In a few weeks Mendoza had enlisted a company 
 of three hundred to serve under Coronado. The 
 majority were of the gentry. Coronado assembled 
 his men at Compostela, near the Pacific coast in 
 New Galicia, in February, 1540; and thither went 
 the Viceroy the long journey from Mexico to send 
 them off with appropriate pomp. It was the most 
 brilliant review yet held in New Spain. Most of 
 the cavaliers were astride of the best horses from 
 the stock farms, and had equipped them with 
 colored blankets trailing almost to the ground, 
 besides leathern armor and silver-mounted harness. 
 Their own mail was polished like woven silver, 
 and the tips of their lances, held erect, flickered in 
 the sun like sparks of fire. Their helmets were of 
 iron or tough bullhide. In their train marched the 
 foot soldiers armed with crossbow and arquebus, 
 some, too, with swords and shield. The third 
 division of the army was composed of several 
 hundred Indian allies, their naked bodies splashed 
 with black, ocher, and vermilion; and their faces, 
 painted terribly for war, surmounted by the green 
 and yellow and crimson plumage of parrots. At 
 
CORONADO, CABRILLO, VIZCAINO 89 
 
 royal expense the expedition was equipped with 
 pack-mules, cannon, and a thousand horses. For 
 food on the way and to stock the new country there 
 were droves of cattle and sheep, goats, and swine. 
 Leading all this splendor, and dulling it by his 
 own brighter glory, rode Coronado in golden 
 armor. If the gray robe of Fray Marcos showed 
 but dingily amid this military brilliance, yet it 
 drew the awed glances of the spectators no less 
 than the golden scales of Coronado's coat. This 
 shining army, after all, had still to see what the 
 humble monk in the drab gown had already seen 
 — the magical cities of Cibola. 
 
 To cooperate with Coronado by water, the sea- 
 man Alarcon was sent up the coast with three 
 vessels. Alarcon sailed to the head of the Gulf of 
 California and ascended the Colorado River eighty- 
 five leagues, perhaps as far as Yuma. Coronado 
 divided his land forces. Leaving the main body 
 at Culiacan in charge of Arellano, who was later 
 one of the unsuccessful adelantados of Florida, 
 Coronado pushed on ahead with Fray Marcos and 
 his brother monks, eighty horse, twenty -five foot 
 soldiers, some Indians and negroes, and part of 
 the artillery. A month later he passed through 
 Vaca's Town of the Hearts; and, continuing 
 
90 THE SPANISH BORDERLANDS 
 
 north over the divide into the San Pedro valley, 
 he turned eastward and skirted the Santa Catalina 
 mountains to a small Indian settlement in the 
 vicinity of Fort Grant. Here he turned north- 
 ward again, crossed the Gila, and, after fifteen 
 days of hard march, reached the Zuni River. Some 
 twenty miles farther on, Coronado and his men 
 caught their first glimpse of Hawikuh. The dis- 
 appointing sight was like a dash of icewater. Says 
 Castaiieda, the historian of the expedition: "When 
 they saw the first village, which was Cibola, such 
 were the curses that some hurled at Friar Marcos 
 that I pray God may protect him from them. It 
 is a little, crowded village, looking as if it had been 
 crumpled all up together." 
 
 The ruins of Hawikuh, fifteen miles southwest 
 of Zuni, today bear out the description of the 
 disgusted Castaneda. This first of the Seven 
 Cities, however, was not to be taken without 
 a fight. The Zuni warriors hurled stones on 
 the Spaniards. The golden-plated Coronado was 
 felled and would have been killed but for the 
 heroism of one of his officers who "bestrode him 
 like a good knight, shielded him and dragged 
 him to safety." But the Spaniards could not be 
 resisted. They entered the village and found 
 
CORONADO, CABRILLO, VIZCAINO 91 
 
 food there, which was the thing they were most 
 in need of. 
 
 Coronado renamed this hill stronghold Granada 
 — possibly in irony — and sojourned there until 
 recovered from his wounds. A deputation of In- 
 dians came to him to make peace, while the rest 
 of the tribesmen removed to their war towns on 
 Thunder Mountain. Once more fit for the saddle, 
 Coronado set about the pacification of the prov- 
 ince; then sent an expedition to Tusayan, the 
 present Moqui towns in Arizona, and messengers 
 to Mexico with reports to Mendoza. With them 
 went Fray Marcos, "because he did not think it 
 was safe for him to stay in Cibola, seeing that his 
 report had turned out to be entirely false, because 
 the Kingdoms he had told about had not been 
 found, nor the populous cities, nor the wealth of 
 gold, nor the precious stones which he had reported, 
 nor the fine clothes, nor other things that had been 
 proclaimed from the pulpits." Thus did Casta- 
 neda, the historian, twenty years later bitterly 
 enumerate the list of disappointments experienced 
 by himself and others of Coronado's army in the 
 province of the Seven Cities. 
 
 While Coronado was at Hawikuh, or "Gran- 
 ada," detachments of his army were penetrating 
 
92 THE SPANISH BORDERLANDS 
 
 other sections of the new country. Arellano, with 
 the main body left at Culiacan, was marching to 
 Cibola. Melchior Diaz, one of Coronado's ablest 
 scouts, was trying to make junction with Alarcon's 
 ships. Diaz touched the Colorado River some 
 distance above its mouth. He found letters left 
 by Alarcon, and met the giant Yuma Indians — 
 perhaps in the vicinity of the city of Yuma, where 
 the Gila River empties into the Colorado. These 
 Indians were then as now of unusual height and 
 powerfully made, so that one man could lift a log 
 which several Spaniards could not move. They 
 went stark naked and in cold weather carried fire- 
 brands to keep them warm. So Diaz called the 
 Colorado Rio del Tizon, or Firebrand River. Here 
 Diaz died from an accidental lance thrust, and his 
 band returned to Sonora. 
 
 Meanwhile a report from the Moqui country 
 came to Coronado of a great river flowing far 
 down between red mountain walls. This news 
 inspired Coronado to send Lopez de Cardenas — 
 the "good knight" who had saved his life — to 
 have a look at it; and here is the description of 
 Grand Canyon by Cardenas, the first white man 
 to view the great gorge of the Colorado, as set down 
 by Castaneda: 
 
CORONADO, CABRILLO, VIZCAINO 93 
 
 After they had gone twenty days' march they came to 
 the banks of a river, which are so high that from the 
 edge of one bank to the other appeared to be three or 
 four leagues in the air. The country was elevated and 
 full of low twisted pines, very cold, and lying open to- 
 ward the north. . . . They spent three days on this 
 bank looking for a passage down to the river, which 
 looked from above as if the water were six feet across, 
 although the Indians said it was half a league wide. 
 It was impossible to descend, for after these three days 
 Captain Melgosa and one Juan Galeras and another 
 companion, who were the three lightest and most agile 
 men, made an attempt to go down at the least difficult 
 place, and went down until those who were above were 
 unable to keep sight of them. They returned about 
 four o'clock in the afternoon, not having succeeded in 
 reaching the bottom on account of the great difficulties. 
 . . . They said they had been down about a third of 
 the way and that the river seemed very large from the 
 place which they reached. . . . Those who stayed 
 above had estimated that some huge rocks on the sides 
 of the cliffs seemed to be about as tall as a man, but 
 those who went down swore that when they reached 
 these rocks they were bigger than the great tower 
 of Seville.^ 
 
 While Cardenas was looking at the Grand Can- 
 yon, some Indians, led by one whom the Spaniards 
 nicknamed Bigotes (Whiskers) , came to Zuiii from 
 the east. They told of great towns, and brought 
 
 ^ Winship, The Coronado Expedition, p. 489. The Giralda, or 
 famous bell-tower of the Cathedral of Seville, is 275 feet high. 
 
94 THE SPANISH BORDERLANDS 
 
 a picture of a buffalo drawn on a piece of hide. 
 Vaca had told of "humpbacked cows," and here 
 were people who lived on the very borders of the 
 cow country. So Hernando de Alvarado was sent 
 east with twenty men, instructed to return within 
 eighty days, and Fray Juan de Padilla went with 
 him. Some fifty miles east of Zuni Alvarado 
 came on the famous pueblo of Acoma, or People of 
 the White Rock, three hundred and fifty-seven 
 feet in the air. Acoma was so lofty, says Casta- 
 lieda "that it was a very good musket that could 
 throw a ball as high." A broad stairway of about 
 two hundred steps began the ascent, then one 
 hundred narrower steps followed; and "at the top 
 they had to go up about three times as high as a 
 man by means of holes in the rock, in which they 
 put the points of their feet, holding on at the same 
 time by their hands. There was a wall of large 
 and small stones at the top, which they could 
 roll down without showing themselves, so that no 
 army could possibly be strong enough to capture 
 the village. On the top they had room to sow and 
 store a large amount of corn, and cisterns to collect 
 snow and water." The natives came down to the 
 plain and at first offered battle, but presently 
 consented to make peace. 
 
CORONADO, CABRILLO, VIZCAINO 95 
 
 Proceeding eastward, Alvarado went a week's 
 journey beyond to the Tigua villages lying above 
 Albuquerque on both sides of the Rio Grande. 
 Pressing on, he visited the towns of Cicuye, or 
 Pecos (in the valley of the upper Pecos River and 
 at the foot of the Santa Fe mountains) and the 
 Buffalo Plains to the east. The Pecos Indians 
 received him warmly and escorted him into the 
 town "with drums and pipes something like flutes" 
 and gave him presents of cloth and turquoises. 
 
 By the close of autumn Coronado's several 
 detachments reassembled in the village of Tiguex 
 near the site of Bernalillo, above Albuquerque. 
 Here they listened to tales of a new El Dorado 
 from an Indian whom Alvarado had picked up 
 and had dubbed El Turco (the Turk) "because he 
 looked like one." The new El Dorado was called 
 Quivira. El Turco said that in Quivira, which 
 was his own country and far to the east, there was 
 a river two leagues wide, where fish as big as 
 horses sported themselves. Great numbers of huge 
 canoes, with twenty rowers on a side and with high 
 carved golden prows thrusting up among their 
 white sails, floated on its surface like water lilies 
 on a pond. The chief of that country took his 
 afternoon nap under a tall spreading tree decorated 
 
96 THE SPANISH BORDERLANDS 
 
 with an infinitude of little golden bells on which 
 gentle zephyrs played his lullaby. Even the com- 
 mon folk there had their ordinary dishes made of 
 "wrought plate"; and the pitchers and bowls were 
 of soHd gold. El Turco could readily prove his 
 tale if only he could recover his wonderful golden 
 bracelets of which he had been robbed by the 
 natives of Cicuye, the town of Chief Whiskers' 
 countrymen where Alvarado had recently been 
 entertained with such hospitality and good will. 
 
 So Coronado sent Alvarado back to Cicuye to 
 demand the bracelets. The natives of Cicuye 
 bluntly said that El Turco was a liar; whereupon 
 Alvarado put Whiskers and the head chief, a very 
 old man, in chains. Enraged at this treachery, 
 the Indians took up their arrows and drove the 
 Spaniards out, denouncing them as men who had 
 no respect for their word. "This began the want 
 of confidence in the word of the Spaniards when- 
 ever there was talk of peace from this time on," 
 says Castaiieda. Coronado followed up the sei- 
 zure of Whiskers and the old chief of Cicuye by a 
 levy of three hundred manias, or pieces of cloth. 
 The Tiguas, not having the mantas, were stripped 
 of their garments. A Spanish oflScer forcibly pos- 
 sessed himself of an Indian's handsome young wife. 
 
CORONADO, CABRILLO, VIZCAINO 97 
 
 The Indians rose. In the melee the Spaniards 
 were victorious; and presently the natives, from 
 the roofs, were making their symbol of peace — 
 the cross sign of the evening and morning star. 
 The Spaniards made the same sign by crossing 
 their spears. The natives threw down their arms. 
 Contrary to the peace pledge, some two hundred 
 of them were seized and stakes were erected to 
 burn them. Seeing the rest of their number 
 "beginning to roast," a hundred captives made 
 valiant, if futile, efforts to defend themselves. 
 Only one or two escaped to warn their friends 
 that Spaniards speaking peace must never again 
 be trusted. 
 
 Heavy snows and severe cold so hampered 
 the army during the winter that not until early in 
 spring was the surrounding country "pacified." 
 A great many Indians had been slain, but many 
 more had escaped to their mountain retreats. In 
 vain had Coronado sent deputations seeking peace. 
 The invariable answer was that the Spaniards were 
 false men who had desecrated the star symbol, the 
 sign of inviolable peace; the wind of the desert 
 might hearken to their promises, but never the 
 Indians. So when Coronado took up his march 
 he left implacable enemies in his wake. 
 
98 THE SPANISH BORDERLANDS 
 
 But the "great good news of the Turk gave no 
 little joy," and the restless conqueror prepared 
 to set out for Golden Quivira. Among the Indians 
 news traveled fast, and it is easy to imagine 
 the consternation felt by the tribes of the lower 
 Mississippi Valley, in the spring of 1541, to hear 
 of the approach of the two great invading expedi- 
 tions from opposite directions, each of which w^as 
 conquering every tribe and village on the way. De 
 Soto had reached Tampa Bay in 1539, just about 
 the time when Fray Marcos came in view of 
 Cibola. Coronado had left Culiacan when De 
 Soto was on the Savannah River; when Coronado 
 reached the Rio Grande pueblos, De Soto was 
 marching south through Alabama toward Mobile 
 Bay. While Coronado was in winter quarters 
 at Tiguex, on the Rio Grande, in New Mexico, 
 De Soto was in camp at the Chickasaw town 
 in Mississippi; and now Coronado entered the 
 Texas plains shortly before De Soto crossed 
 the Mississippi. 
 
 On April 23, 1541, Coronado set out under the 
 guidance of El Turco; and four days later crossed 
 the Pecos in the vicinity of Puerto de Luna, 
 New Mexico. He continued in an easterl}^ course 
 across the great plains (where the Arab-like 
 
CORONADO, CABRILLO, VIZCAINO 99 
 
 Apaches roved and hailed him fearlessly from the 
 doors of their painted skin tents) and into Texas. 
 Here enormous herds of buffalo provided an abun- 
 dance of meat. Castaneda speaks of seeing the 
 skyline between the legs of bison grazing at a 
 distance. "This country," he says, "is like a 
 bowl, so that when a man sits down, the horizon 
 surrounds him all around at the distance of a 
 musket shot." The plains baffled the hunting 
 parties. They wandered in circles about the heaps 
 of "cows" they had killed until musket shots 
 from the main camp gave them direction ; and some 
 hunters were lost. It seemed as if the vast prairie 
 itself designed the destruction of the strangers 
 who had invaded its solitude, for it wiped out their 
 trails as the sea obliterates the mark of the keel. 
 Castaneda exclaims, wonderingly: "Who could 
 believe that a thousand horses and five hundred of 
 our cows, and more than five thousand rams and 
 ewes, and more than fifteen hundred friendly In- 
 dians and servants, in travelling over these plains, 
 would leave no more trace where they had passed 
 than if nothing had been there — nothing — so 
 that it was necessary to make piles of bones and 
 cow-dung now and then so that the rear-guard 
 could follow the army. The grass never failed to 
 
100 THE SPANISH BORDERLANDS 
 
 become erect after it had been trodden down, and, 
 although it was short, it was as fresh and straight 
 as before." 
 
 June found the army among the Teyas Indians 
 in western Texas. By this time so many of El 
 Turco's tales had been disproved that he traveled 
 in irons. Food and water became scarce. Most 
 important of all, the Teyas guides told Corona- 
 do that Quivira was north, not east. Coronado 
 therefore ordered the main body, under Arellano, 
 back to Tiguex, in New Mexico. He himself, with 
 only thirty horsemen and six footmen, would push 
 north, to follow the new directions. In vain his 
 men besought him not to leave them leaderless. 
 The melancholy induced, even in seasoned plains- 
 men at times, by the broad monotonous stretches 
 of prairie obsessed them. They feared that death 
 would halt them somewhere on their lost march 
 and toss their skeletons among the buffalo bones 
 sprinkling that relentless land which had refused 
 their impress as conquerors. They feared to see 
 their general's gleaming casque disappear once and 
 forever over the northern rim of the sky, leaving 
 no more trace than the wing of a golden eagle pass- 
 ing through the ether. But Coronado stubbornly 
 held on his way — 
 
CORONADO, CABRILLO, VIZCAINO 101 
 
 "Still nursing the unconquerable hope, 
 Still clutching the inviolable shade." 
 
 The army separated near the upper waters of 
 the Brazos. After some thirty days Coronado and 
 his little band crossed the Arkansas into Kansas. 
 They continued in a northeasterly direction and, 
 about a week later, reached the first of the Quivira 
 towns in the vicinity of Great Bend, Kansas, 
 where, then and for centuries after, lived Wich- 
 ita Indians. Here no sparkling sails floated like 
 petals on the clear surface of an immeasurable 
 stream. No lordly chief drowsed to the murmur 
 of innumerable bells. The water pitchers on the 
 shoulders of the women, stooping in the low en- 
 trances of their grass-thatched huts, were not 
 golden. "Neither gold nor silver nor any trace of 
 either was found among these people." El Turco 
 confessed that he had been detailed by the tribes- 
 men of those whom Coronado had incinerated to 
 lead the lying strangers out on the plains "and 
 lose them." Wandering over the sun-baked prai- 
 rie, food and water failing and their horses dy- 
 ing, the Spaniards would become so weak that 
 should any return, the Tiguas could "kill them 
 without any trouble, and thus they could take re- 
 venge for what had been done to them ... as 
 
102 THE SPANISH BORDERLANDS 
 
 for gold he did not know where there was any 
 of it." 
 
 So Coronado had the Turk garroted, and set up 
 a cross with the inscription, "Francisco Vasquez de 
 Coronado, general of an expedition, reached this 
 place." Then he turned back, empty-handed; for 
 even explorers whom he had sent out northward, 
 and who may have reached the Nebraska line, had 
 found no sign of rich peoples nor of precious metals. 
 Meanwhile Arellano had reached Tiguex safely. 
 Arrived there some weeks later, Coronado sent out 
 exploring parties, one of which visited Taos, that 
 interesting town still lying between the Rio Hon- 
 do and the Taos Mountains. Here the Spaniards 
 found a high type of Indian civilization, large well- 
 stocked granaries, and wooden bridges flung across 
 the Taos River to connect the eighteen divisions 
 of the town.^ 
 
 Winter bore hard on Coronado's men, who were 
 on scant rations and almost naked. The officers 
 seized the most and the best of everything for 
 themselves, and dangerous dissensions arose in 
 
 ^ Taos today has about 425 Indian inhabitants; and it is also 
 the home of a small but noted school of American painters, who 
 are bringing the life and character of the Pueblo Indians and the 
 color and atmosphere of the southwestern mesas prominently into 
 American art. 
 
CORONADO, CABRILLO, VIZCAINO 103 
 
 the camp. Towards the end of winter Coronado, 
 riding at the ring on a festival day, fell beneath 
 the hoofs of his companion's horse and was danger- 
 ously injured in the head. His illness and his fail- 
 ures preyed on his mind; and he resolved to seek 
 no farther for wealth, but to return to his wife in 
 Mexico. In April, 1542, he and his disappointed 
 band turned homeward. At that very time, far 
 to the east, Hernando de Soto also was giving up 
 the Golden Quest and turning his face towards 
 Mexico, to die of a broken spirit a month later. 
 Hungry and tattered, and harassed by Indians, 
 Coronado and his army painfully made their way 
 back towards New Galicia. The soldiers were in 
 open revolt; they dropped out by the score and 
 went on pillaging forays at their pleasure. With 
 barely a hundred followers, Coronado presented 
 himself before Mendoza, bringing with him noth- 
 ing more precious than the gold-plated armor in 
 which he had set out two years before. He had 
 enriched neither himself nor his King, so his end 
 is soon told: "he lost his reputation, and shortly 
 thereafter the government of New Galicia." 
 
 Two soldiers had been left in Kansas; their fate 
 is not known. Fray Juan Padilla, Fray Juan 
 de la Cruz, and a lay brother, Luis Descalona, 
 
104 THE SPANISH BORDERLANDS 
 
 remained with six companions in New Mexico. 
 The friars were resolved to bring about the con- 
 version of these Indians, whose settled modes of 
 living seemed to promise a good opportunity. La 
 Cruz, an old man, was well treated at first by the 
 chiefs at Tiguex but was killed eventually. Des- 
 calona went east to the Pecos River and pre- 
 sumably was slain. Fray Juan Padilla, with a 
 Portuguese, two oblates, and some native guides 
 went back to Quivira, that is, to Kansas. He 
 won the love of the Indians of that region ; but, not 
 content with this harvest, he set out for the towns 
 of some of their foes. On the way he was mur- 
 dered, either by natives of the towns he sought or 
 by his own guides from Tiguex. The Portuguese 
 and the two oblates witnessed his martyrdom from 
 a neighboring hill; and in time they made their 
 way across Oklahoma and Texas to Panuco, where 
 they told the story. And, says a Spanish writer of 
 the day, it was then recalled that "great prodigies" 
 were seen at his death, "as it were the earth 
 flooded, globes of fire, comets, and obscurations of 
 the sun." 
 
 Today we may doubt the pious historian's 
 "great prodigies." But we look over that land, 
 where many temple spires rise in security to 
 
CORONADO, CABRILLO, VIZCAINO 105 
 
 proclaim one Christ, however variously sought, 
 and we are moved to honor the zeal and devotion 
 of Fray Juan Padilla and his two brother monks 
 — the first unarmed mission of the Church upon 
 the soil of the United States. 
 
 "Know that on the right hand of the Indies 
 there is an island called California, very close to 
 the side of the Terrestrial Paradise; and it was 
 peopled by black women, without any man among 
 them, for they lived in the fashion of Amazons. 
 They were of strong and hardy bodies, of ardent 
 courage and great force. Their island was the 
 strongest in all the world, with its steep clifiPs and 
 rocky shores. Their arms were all of gold, and 
 so was the harness of the wild beasts which they 
 tamed to ride; for in the whole island there was no 
 metal but gold." So wrote Montalvo, the author 
 of Esplandidn, a romance which, first published in 
 1510, rapidly became the "best seller" of its day, 
 running through at least four editions. This book 
 may have influenced the Emperor Charles V in 
 banning fiction from the Indies, where the imagina- 
 tions of both Spaniards and natives needed no 
 artificial stimulation. At all events, both Span- 
 iards and Indians were forbidden to peruse these 
 
106 THE SPANISH BORDERLANDS 
 
 romances. Probably the Indians obeyed the wise 
 decree. But evidently in the case of the Spaniards 
 the mischief had already been done; and hence the 
 name, California, applied long since to a region 
 which has seen more romance and produced more 
 gold than ever were conceived of in the imagination 
 of the ancient Spanish author. 
 
 The legend of the Amazons was curiously inter- 
 woven with both the discovery and the naming of 
 California. While Guzman and Coronado were 
 moving north by land others were advancing by 
 sea. Cortes, conqueror of Mexico, was urged 
 north especially by rumors of a rich province in- 
 habited only by women, like the island in Mon- 
 talvo's tale. His nephew, Francisco Cortes, was 
 sent from Cohma to follow the clue (1524). The 
 Amazon province was not found, nor yet was belief 
 in it shattered. Nine years later Jimenez, one 
 of Cortes 's explorers, discovered the Peninsula of 
 Lower California, thought it to be an island, and 
 reported it to have pearls. A pearl bearing island, 
 "down the coast toward India," fitted in with 
 Cortes's notions of geography. So he personal- 
 ly led a colony to the *' island," which he named 
 Santa Cruz. 
 
 The dismal failure of the colony was only a 
 
CORONADO, CABRILLO, VIZCAINO 107 
 
 temporary discouragement. Hoping to forestall 
 Viceroy Mendoza, Cortes rushed an exploring ex- 
 pedition north under Francisco de Ulloa (1539). 
 Nearly a year before Alarcon, whom Mendoza 
 sent to aid Coronado, Ulloa reached the head of 
 the Gulf, rounded the peninsula, and returned 
 with the news that it was not after all an island, 
 but tierra firme. Now the name Santa Cruz 
 gave way to "California," the change being 
 a new application of the old belief in the Am- 
 azon island, as recorded in Montalvo's novel. 
 Perhaps Cortes, grim soldier, had a passion for 
 light reading — even as today captains of indus- 
 try refresh themselves with Sherlock Holmes — for 
 the historian Herrera states that it was he who 
 bestowed the name upon the peninsula which he 
 tried in vain to colonize. Possibly the name was 
 bestowed in derision, but just when, or how, or by 
 whom, no one has established with certainty. 
 
 Ulloa's voyage marks the close of Cortes's ef- 
 forts to explore the northern Pacific, but the 
 work was continued by Viceroy Mendoza. Through 
 the death of Alvarado, the dashing conqueror of 
 Guatemala, in the Mixton War (1541), Mendoza 
 inherited a fleet which had been prepared for 
 exploration in the Pacific, and with it he carried 
 
108 THE SPANISH BORDERLANDS 
 
 out Alvarado's plans by dispatching two expedi- 
 tions, one up the CaHfornia coast, the other 
 across the Pacific. 
 
 The expedition "in the West towards China or 
 the Spice Islands" was led by Lopez de Villalobos. 
 Sailing in November, 1542, he took possession of 
 the Philippine Islands and thus attached them 
 to Mexico. Villalobos died in the Moluccas; his 
 enterprise went to pieces; but the voyage made a 
 link between California and the Philippines. 
 
 Mendoza's other sea expedition, which was to 
 explore along the outer coast of the peninsula and 
 northward in search of the Strait of Anian and new 
 provinces, left Mexico on June 27, 1542, under 
 command of Juan Rodriguez Cabrillo. At this 
 date Hernando de Soto's body had been consigned 
 to the Father of Waters and his defeated army 
 led by Moscoso was marching west across Arkansas 
 in search of Panuco, and Coronado with a hundred 
 ragged followers was returning to Compostella 
 after two fruitless years in New Mexico and the 
 Buffalo Plains. 
 
 Of Cabrillo little is known except that he was a 
 Portuguese by birth and a skilled mariner; and he 
 is supposed to have been in the service of Cortes 
 during the conquest of Mexico. With two vessels 
 
CORONADO, CABRILLO, VIZCAINO 109 
 
 smaller than any coasting schooner of today, badly 
 built and scantily outfitted — a crew chiefly com- 
 posed of conscripts and natives, and the sturdy 
 Levantine pilot, Bartolome Ferrelo, or Ferrer, 
 Cabrillo departed on the trail of adventure. Ow- 
 ing to calms and contrary winds and the frequent 
 necessity to heave to and send ashore for fresh 
 water, his progress was slow. By the 10th of 
 August he had passed the most northerly point 
 reached by Ulloa. Eleven days later he landed at 
 the bay of San Quentin and took possession in the 
 name of the King. Here a week was spent in 
 taking in water and repairing sails and in receiving 
 friendly visits from Indians who said that they had 
 seen other Spaniards in the interior — probably 
 some of Alarcon's or Coronado's band. The diar- 
 ist of the expedition says that these Indians were 
 smeared with a "white paste" in such a fashion 
 that "they appeared like men in hose and slashed 
 doublets." On the 28th of September, Cabrillo 
 discovered "a port closed and very good, which 
 they named San Miguel." This was the beautiful 
 Bay of San Diego. On the purpled blue waters of 
 this bay, safely sheltered by the long high stretch 
 of Point Loma, their ships rode at anchor while a 
 terrific storm raged without for three days. 
 
no THE SPANISH BORDERLANDS 
 
 When the gale had subsided Cabrillo continued 
 northward. He discovered the islands of Santa 
 Catalina and San Clemente, and the pleasant 
 Bay of Santa Monica, which he called the Bay of 
 the Smokes, or Bay of the Fires, because of the 
 low curling clouds of blue smoke rising from the 
 Indian villages along its shores. On the 10th of 
 October he went ashore at San Buenaventura, 
 where he visited an Indian settlement which he 
 called the Town of Canoes, in allusion to the ex- 
 cellent craft which the natives possessed. Then, 
 sailing west, he passed through the Santa Barbara 
 Channel and on the eighteenth reached Point 
 Conception, which he named Cabo de Galera be- 
 cause it was shaped like a galley. Here northwest 
 winds drove him into Cuyler's harbor on San 
 Miguel Island. 
 
 Two weeks later a southwester filled Cabrillo's 
 sails and carried his vessels round the cape and 
 along the high rocky coast, where the Santa Lucia 
 Mountain comes down to the sea. Below Point 
 Pinos the vessels were driven northward by a storm 
 and became separated. Having missed the Bay of 
 Monterey, Half Moon Bay, and the Golden Gate, 
 Cabrillo turned back and discovered the harbor 
 where Drake east anchor twenty-five years later. 
 
CORONADO, CABRILLO, VIZCAINO 111 
 
 and which is still known as Drake's Bay. Appar- 
 ently Cabrillo now stood well out to sea, for again 
 he missed the Golden Gate and Monterey Bay. 
 
 He put into San Miguel Island for winter; and 
 there "on the 3d of the month of January, 1543, 
 Juan Rodriguez Cabrillo, captain of the said ships, 
 departed from this life, as the result of a fall which 
 he suffered on said island when they were there 
 before, from which he broke an arm near the 
 shoulder ... at the time of his death he emphati- 
 cally charged them not to leave off exploring as 
 much as possible all that coast." So, in a few 
 words, we are told all we know of the character of 
 Cabrillo, who had battered his way up the Califor- 
 nia coast in the pain of an injury sufficient to bring 
 him to death, and whose last words to his men 
 were to press on. His bones lie under the white 
 sands of San Miguel Island, undiscovered yet — 
 save perhaps by some Portuguese or Levantine 
 fisherman of a later time, driving the supports 
 of his driftwood shack deep down through the 
 shifting sand. 
 
 The command now devolved upon the pilot 
 Ferrelo. Though frequently halted and swept 
 about by heavy storms and suffering from dimin- 
 ished supplies, this fearless mariner, obeying his 
 
112 THE SPANISH BORDERLANDS 
 
 master's behest, held on northward. He sailed 
 to a point near the mouth of Rogue River, Oregon, 
 when he turned back, through "travail" worse 
 than any Cabrillo had experienced. On April 14, 
 1543, he reached the home port of Navidad. 
 
 Interest in California was revived by develop- 
 ments in the Far East. Though Villalobos had 
 taken possession of the Philippines in the year of 
 Ferrelo's voyage, the Spaniards had not occupied 
 the islands. But in 1559 Philip II, tempted by the 
 profits accruing to the Portuguese from their spice 
 trade, ordered Velasco, the Mexican Viceroy, to 
 equip an expedition for discovery among those 
 islands and to search out a route for return voyages 
 to Mexico — for the problem of the return voy- 
 age had hitherto baffled mariners. In 1564, after 
 many delays, Miguel Lopez de Legazpi set sail 
 from Navidad and, in the following year, took 
 possession of the Philippines. Legazpi sent one 
 of his vessels, with his chief navigator. Fray An- 
 dres de Urdaneta, to discover the return route to 
 New Spain. Urdaneta, turning northward, entered 
 the Japan current, which carried him to the coast 
 of northern California whence he descended to 
 Mexico. By a happy combination of chance and 
 
CORONADO, CABRILLO, VIZCAINO 113 
 
 science he had solved the problem of the return 
 route. Thus a regular trade route was established 
 from Manila to Mexico and thence to Spain. The 
 Manila galleons sailed the course marked out 
 by Urdaneta, across the Pacific to a point off 
 Cape Mendocino and down the coast to Acapulco. 
 It was a hard voyage and frequently the vessels 
 reached the American coast much in need of re- 
 pairs and with a loss of half the crew from scurvy. 
 There was therefore need of a port on the northern 
 coast. Also, Spanish interests in the Pacific were 
 threatened by the possibility that English, French, 
 or Dutch freebooters in the Atlantic might dis- 
 cover the Strait of Anian and take control of the 
 direct route to the Spice Islands even as Portugal 
 had formerly monopolized the African route. In 
 fact, Drake, who appeared on the California coast 
 in 1579, having plundered Spanish harbors and a 
 Manila galleon on his northward trip, was believed 
 to have discovered the Strait and to have sailed 
 homeward through it. Six years later, Cavendish 
 looted and burned the Santa Ana, a, Manila gal- 
 leon, off California. Dutch mariners rounded Cape 
 Horn, whose name commemorates one of them, and 
 pushed their operations into the western seas. And 
 Spain's Armada had been destroyed by Drake, the 
 
114 THE SPANISH BORDERLANDS 
 
 man who, it was feared, knew the whereabouts 
 of the Strait of Anian. 
 
 To meet the emergency, Cermefio, commander 
 of one of the PhiHppine galleons, was sent on his 
 return from Manila to seek a port on the Cali- 
 fornia coast, but he was wrecked in Drake's Bay 
 (1595). His cargo of beeswax and fine porcelain 
 still lies at the bottom of the bay, awaiting a 
 modern treasure seeker. 
 
 At the same time Sebastian Vizcaino was com- 
 missioned to colonize Lower California as a defen- 
 sive outpost. Vizcaino was a prosperous merchant 
 in the Manila trade. He had been aboard the Santa 
 Ana when Cavendish attacked her. Because he 
 did not belong to the aristocratic class from which 
 Spain selected her conquerors, even Velasco was 
 opposed to him and chose him chiefly for want 
 of any one else suitable for the work. Vizcaino 
 planted a colony at La Paz in 1597, but the Indians 
 broke it up. He returned, defeated but not dis- 
 heartened, and secured a new contract, after sev- 
 eral years of delay, having at last won over the 
 new Viceroy, the Count of Monterey, who was 
 forced to admit that Vizcaino possessed more 
 ability than he had expected to find in a mere 
 merchant. When Vizcaino had finally made his 
 
CORONADO, CABRILLO, VIZCAINO 115 
 
 way through the maze of red tape to the command 
 of three vessels and a company of soldiers, the 
 Spanish monopoly in the Far East had received 
 a shock; for the British East India Company, 
 formed in 1600, had carried the trade war into 
 the Orient, where — by reason of the recent union 
 with Portugal — Spain had thought herself secure. 
 Thus did the importance of the direct route to the 
 East magnify from year to year. 
 
 On May 5, 1602, Vizcaino sailed from Acapulco. 
 He made detailed explorations along the outer 
 coast and among the islands and was retarded 
 frequently by high winds, so that it was November 
 when he dropped anchor in San Miguel Bay, to 
 which he gave its present name of San Diego. 
 
 On the 16th of December occurred the capital 
 event of the voyage, the discovery of Monterey 
 Bay. At seven in the evening Vizcaino entered 
 the harbor. On the next day he sent an officer 
 ashore "to make a hut where Mass could be said 
 and to see if there was water, and what the country 
 was like. He found that there was fresh water 
 and a great oak near the shore, where he made the 
 hut and arbor to say Mass," writes Father Ascen- 
 sion, who accompanied the expedition. Because 
 of the shortage of men and supplies, Vizcaino 
 
116 THE SPANISH BORDERLANDS 
 
 decided to send a ship back to Mexico from this 
 port asking for more men and provisions. 
 
 Vizcaino proceeded northwards, making careful 
 examination of the coast, yet missing that treasure 
 of waters lying behind the great pillars of Golden 
 Gate, and came to anchor in Drake's Bay, from 
 which he was driven almost immediately by off- 
 shore winds. On January 12, 1603, he reached 
 Cape Mendocino, which his orders cited, in very 
 general terms, as the northern limit of his explo- 
 rations. Off the Cape he encountered so furious a 
 wind, "together with so much rain and fog, as to 
 throw us into great doubt whether to go forward or 
 to turn back, for it was as dark in the daytime as at 
 night." A council was held to decide whether to 
 continue or to return; and the condition of the 
 crew seemed to make retreat imperative. For a 
 week, however, storms from the south prevent- 
 ed the return; and on the seventeenth, at night, 
 Vizcaino's ship was struck "by two seas which 
 made it pitch so much that it was thought the keel 
 was standing on end, and that it was even sinking." 
 The violent motion threw "both sick and well from 
 their beds." Vizcaino was flung with such force 
 upon some boxes that he "broke his ribs with the 
 heavy blow." The diarist concludes that "the 
 
CORONADO, CABRILLO, VIZCAINO 117 
 
 currents and seas" were carrying them "rapidly to 
 the Strait of Anian," for they were in forty-two 
 degrees of latitude, when a light northwest wind 
 enabled them to head southward and "brought us 
 out of this trouble." 
 
 Though the friendly Indians of Monterey sig- 
 naled to them with smoke as they passed, they 
 did not enter the harbor because the state of 
 health aboard was so bad, "and the sick were 
 clamoring, although there was neither assistance 
 nor medicines, nor food to give them except rotten 
 jerked beef, gruel, biscuits, and beans and chick-peas 
 spoiled by weevils." 
 
 Vizcaino and his crew arrived at Mazatlan in 
 February, 1603, "in the greatest affliction and 
 travail ever experienced by Spaniards ; for the sick 
 were crying aloud, while those who were able to 
 walk or to go on all fours were unable to manage 
 the sails." Here Vizcaino himself, regardless of 
 his feeble condition, set off inland on foot to bring 
 relief from the nearest town to his companions. 
 In a month they were able to set sail for Acapulco 
 where they arrived on the 21st of March, and 
 learned that most of the men on the ship which 
 Vizcaino had sent back from Monterey for more 
 men and supplies, had died on the way. Later, 
 
118 THE SPANISH BORDERLANDS 
 
 on reaching the City of Mexico, they found the 
 crew of the third ship, a frigate, which they had 
 beHeved lost in the hurricane off Mendocino. It 
 seems that the frigate had sailed one degree farther 
 north, to a point named in the diary Cape Blanco; 
 and her crew told of a large river which they 
 had seen. 
 
 By placing that "river" several degrees too far 
 north, the mapmakers and historians of that day 
 set going another myth which was to rival the 
 Strait of Anian — the myth of the River of the 
 West. And as the fable of the Strait was to lead 
 to the discovery of Bering Strait, so the myth of 
 the River of the West was to end with the later 
 discovery of the Columbia. 
 
 The Count of Monterey immediately planned 
 to occupy the port bearing his name and naturally 
 selected Vizcaino to lead the enterprise. But, 
 during the inevitable delays between plan and 
 action, a new viceroy succeeded Monterey, and the 
 plan was abandoned for a project to found a port 
 in the mid-Pacific. With this in view, in 1611 
 Vizcaino was sent out to explore some islands 
 called suggestively Rica de Oro and Rica de Plata 
 — Rich in Gold and Rich in Silver. Nothing 
 came of this venture; and so Vizcaino, ruined in 
 
CORONADO, CABRILLO, VIZCAINO 119 
 
 health and fortune, fades out of the pages of 
 historical narrative, though he is known to have 
 lived for some years afterwards. And the history 
 of Alta California remained obscure in the fog for 
 a hundred and sixty years. 
 
CHAPTER V 
 
 FLORIDA 
 
 Explorers first, then colonizers. Now interest in 
 Florida, already aroused by the journey of Vaca, 
 was quickened to a lively heat when, late in 
 1543, Moscoso and the remnants of De Soto's 
 band at last straggled into the City of Mexico. It 
 would appear that hardships and failures could 
 in no wise impair a Spaniard's ability for story- 
 telling; for Moscoso and his tattered comrades 
 were soon spinning for others the golden web 
 of romance in which they themselves had been 
 snared. Glowing pictures they gave of the north 
 country, especially of Coosa (in Alabama), where 
 they had been well fed and where one or two of 
 their number had remained to dally with Creek 
 damsels. The Viceroy Mendoza, ambitious to ex- 
 tend his power into the Northern Mystery, at 
 once offered to finance an expedition if Moscoso 
 would undertake it. But while Moscoso's zeal for 
 
 120 
 
FLORIDA 121 
 
 golden Florida might inspire his imagination to 
 dazzling flights of fancy, it was inadequate to 
 stir his feet one step again in that direction. So 
 Mendoza's project came to nothing. 
 
 It was noticed that the Mexicans valued highly 
 some of the fur apparel brought back by Moscoso's 
 men. And the next year, 1544, two Spanish gen- 
 tlemen sought from the King the right to con- 
 quer Florida, for the purpose of bringing deerskins 
 and furs into Mexico, as well as in the hope of dis- 
 covering pearls, mines, and whatever other marvels 
 had embroidered Moscoso's romance. But the King 
 refused their petition. In his refusal he was influ- 
 enced in part by religious and humane motives. De- 
 spite the presence of priests and friars, the various 
 expeditions to the north thus far had taken no time 
 from treasure hunting to convert natives or to estab- 
 lish missions. The Church was now considering 
 the question of sending out its own expedition to 
 Florida, unhampered by slave-catching soldiers. 
 
 Perhaps this idea of a conquest by the Cross, 
 unaided — and unhampered — by the sword, was 
 born in the mind of Fray Luis Cancer, a devout 
 and learned Dominican. Fray Luis was living in 
 the convent of Santo Domingo in the City of 
 Mexico not long after Vaca and Moscoso arrived 
 
122 THE SPANISH BORDERLANDS 
 
 with their wonder tales. The account of the hun- 
 dreds of savages who had followed Vaca from village 
 to village must have moved the good friar's heart 
 with zeal and pity. And he can have been no less 
 stirred by the tales told by Moscoso's men of the 
 gallant butchery their swords had done — of the 
 clanking chains that made music on the day's 
 march, and the sharp whisper in the night of the 
 flint, as it pressed against an iron collar. Fray 
 Luis desired to see all heathen made free in God's 
 favor. The oppressions his countrymen practiced 
 upon the natives filled him with horror. As a 
 missionary, first in Espanola and then in Porto 
 Rico, he had seen the hopelessness of trying to 
 spread religion in territories which were being 
 swiftly depopulated by ruthless conquerors. He 
 had therefore gone to Guatemala, to the monas- 
 tery of Santiago whose head was the noble Las 
 Casas. At that time one province of Guatemala 
 was known as the "Land of War" because of the 
 ferocity of its natives. Las Casas had influenced 
 the Governor to forbid that territory to Spaniards 
 for five years. Then he had sent Fray Luis, who 
 had meanwhile learned the language of the natives, 
 to the chief to request permission for the monks to 
 come there. With his gentle words. Fray Luis 
 
FLORIDA 123 
 
 took also little gifts, trinkets, mirrors, and beads 
 of bright colors such as would delight the savages. 
 He made so good an impression on the chief that 
 the permission he sought was readily given. And 
 in a few years the Land of War became the Land of 
 the True Peace — Vera Paz — where no Span- 
 iards dwelt save a few Dominican friars and where 
 at morning and evening Indian voices chanted the 
 sacred songs to the accompaniment of the Indian 
 flutes and drums which had formerly quickened to 
 frenzy the warriors setting out to slaughter. And 
 for this spiritual conquest Fray Luis had received 
 the title of Alferez de la Fe, Standard Bearer of 
 the Faith. 
 
 But Fray Luis was not content to eat the fruit 
 of his labors in Vera Paz. The Standard Bearer 
 would push on to another frontier. He went to 
 the City of Mexico (1546) because there he would 
 find the latest reports of newly discovered countries. 
 Here Fray Luis heard the stories which had been 
 told there by Vaca and Moscoso and resolved to 
 bear his standard to Florida. 
 
 He found willing comrades in three monks of 
 his own order, Gregorio de Beteta, Juan Garcia, 
 and Diego de Tolosa. Fray Gregorio and Fray 
 Juan had already made three or four unsuccessful 
 
124 THE SPANISH BORDERLANDS 
 
 attempts to reach Florida by land from Mexico, 
 under a total misapprehension as to distance and 
 direction. His plans consummated under the or- 
 ders of Las Casas, Fray Luis went to Spain to 
 urge the great project with the King. His pe- 
 tition was soon granted. When he returned to 
 Mexico (1548) he had the royal authority to es- 
 tablish a mission at some point in Florida where 
 Spaniards had not yet spilled native blood. In 
 1549 Fray Luis and his three companions sailed 
 from Vera Cruz in an unarmed vessel. At Havana 
 he took on board a converted native girl named 
 Magdalena, who was to act as interpreter and 
 guide. Perhaps it was almost impossible for the 
 pilot to distinguish one inlet irom another, with 
 certainty, on that much indented coast line, where 
 the low shore presents no variation to the eye for 
 miles; for, instead of landing at a new point, the 
 monks first touched Florida soil in the vicinity of 
 Tampa Bay. And the natives about Tampa Bay 
 were hostile with memories of De Soto. 
 
 There were empty huts nearby and a back- 
 ground of forest in which it seemed nothing stirred. 
 Fray Diego went ashore and climbed a tree at 
 some distance from the beach. Immediately a 
 score of Indians emerged from the forest. Fray 
 
FLORIDA 125 
 
 Luis, despite the pilot's warnings, with Magdalena 
 and an oblate named Fuentes, hurried after Diego, 
 through water to their waists. "Our Lord knows 
 what haste I made lest they should slay the monk 
 before hearing what we were about," Fray Luis 
 writes. He paused to fall on his knees and pray for 
 grace and divine help, ere he climbed the bank. 
 Then he took out of his sleeves some of the trinkets 
 he had brought; because, he writes, "deeds are 
 love, and gifts shatter rocks."' After these gifts, 
 the natives were willing that the friars and Magda- 
 lena should kneel among them reciting the litanies ; 
 and, to Fray Luis's joy, they also knelt and ap- 
 peared pleased with the prayers and the rosaries. 
 They seemed so friendly, indeed, that Fray Luis 
 permitted Fray Diego, Fuentes, and Magdalena 
 to remain with them and to go on a day and a half's 
 journey by land to a good harbor of which the 
 Indians had told them. He and Fray Gregorio 
 returned to the ship. 
 
 It took the pilot eight days to find the new har- 
 bor and eight more to enter it. It was on the feast 
 of Corpus Christi that the ship dropped anchor. 
 Fray Luis and Fray Juan landed and said Mass. 
 To their apprehension they saw no signs of Fray 
 
 * Lowery, Spanish Settlements, p. 420. 
 
126 THE SPANISH BORDERLANDS 
 
 Diego and Fuentes, nor of Indians. On the next 
 day as they searched, an Indian came out of the 
 woods carrying, in token of peace, a rod topped 
 with white palm leaves; and he appeared to assure 
 Fray Luis that Fray Diego and his companions 
 were safe and would be brought to him. On the 
 next day as Fray Luis, with Fray Juan and Fray 
 Gregorio, rowed towards the shore the natives 
 waded to meet them bringing fish and skins to 
 trade for trinkets. One savage would take nothing 
 but a little wooden cross which he kissed as he 
 had seen the monks do — much to the delight of 
 Fray Luis. If the pious monk's joy at this incident 
 was dimmed a few moments later, when he waded 
 inshore and discovered Magdalena naked among 
 the tribeswomen, it kindled again at her assurance 
 that Diego and Fuentes were safe in the cacique's 
 house. How little truth was in her words Fray 
 Luis learned when he returned to the ship. There 
 he found a Spaniard, once a soldier of De Soto's 
 army, who had been enslaved by the Indians of 
 this tribe. This man informed him that the In- 
 dians had already slain Fray Diego and the oblate 
 Fuentes; he had held Diego's scalp in his hands. 
 
 To pleas that he forsake his mission and sail 
 away to safer shores. Fray Luis had but one answer. 
 
FLORIDA 127 
 
 Where his comrades in the faith, acting under his 
 orders, had fallen, there would he remain. Though 
 storms prevented him from landing for two days, 
 he refused to accept the assertions of his shipmates 
 — that the storms were sent by God to keep 
 him from a death among savages. And, at last, 
 through the lashing and roaring of sea and wind, 
 he came again to shore. Armed natives painted 
 for war could be seen grouped on the bank above 
 the slope to the beach. "For the love of God wait 
 a little; do not land," Fray Gregorio entreated. 
 But Fray Luis had already leaped into the water. 
 He turned back once, on reaching the beach, but 
 it was to call to Gregorio or Juan to bring to him 
 a small cross he had forgotten. When Gregorio 
 cried, "Father, for mercy's sake, will not your 
 reverence come for it, as there is no one here who 
 will take it to you," Fray Luis went on towards 
 the hill.^ At its foot he knelt in prayer for a few 
 moments, then began the ascent. Midway the 
 Indians closed about him, swinging their clubs. 
 He cried out once, loudly, before their blows struck 
 him down. Those in the boat heard his cry, and 
 saw the savages clubbing and slashing at his body 
 as they thrust it down the hill. Then a shower of 
 
 ^ Lowery, Spanish Settlements, p. 425. 
 
128 THE SPANISH BORDERLANDS 
 
 arrows falling upon their boat made them pull 
 away in haste to the ship. The next day the 
 vessel set sail and, three weeks later, anchored off 
 Vera Cruz. 
 
 Philip II had come to the throne the master of 
 Europe. His father, Charles V, had been not only 
 sovereign ruler of Spain, of the Netherlands, of 
 Naples, of a part of central Italy, of Navarre, and 
 Emperor of Germany by election, but he had hoped 
 to become master of England also and to leave in 
 his heir's hands a world all Spanish and all Catho- 
 Ic. Philip II inherited his father's power and his 
 father's dream. If his natural abilities were less, 
 his obstinacy and his zeal were greater. He had 
 seen the march of Spanish power not unattended 
 by affronting incidents. In 1520 a monk named 
 Luther had defied Philip's father, the Emperor, 
 to his face. The Reformation was spreading. Hu- 
 guenots were powerful in the domestic politics 
 of France; and France was threatening Spain's 
 American possessions. Her fishermen had passed 
 yearly in increasing numbers between the Banks 
 of Newfoundland and their home ports. And a 
 mariner of several cross-sea voyages, one Jacques 
 Cartier, had discovered the St. Lawrence River and 
 
FLORIDA 129 
 
 had set off again in 1540 to people "a country 
 called Canada." 
 
 But these voyages of discovery were not the 
 worst of France's insults to Spain. French pi- 
 rates had formed the habit of darting down on 
 Spanish treasure ships and appropriating their 
 contents. They had also sacked Spanish ports 
 in the islands. Many of these pirates were Hu- 
 guenots, "Lutheran heretics," as the Spaniards 
 called them. Another danger also was beginning 
 to appear on the horizon, though it was as yet but 
 a speck. It hailed from England, whose mariner" 
 were beginning to fare forth into all seas for tra^t 
 and plunder. They were trending towards the 
 opinion of King Francis of France, that God had 
 not created the gold of the New World only for 
 Castilians. A train of Spanish treasure displayed 
 in London had set more than one stout seaman to 
 head-scratching over the inequalities of this world 
 and how best to readjust the balances. There was 
 reason enough, then, for Philip's fear that large por- 
 tions of the New World might readily be snatched 
 from Spain by heretical seamen; and Philip was 
 as fierce in the pursuit of his own power as in his 
 zeal for his religion. 
 
 The slow-moving treasure fleets from Mexico 
 
130 THE SPANISH BORDERLANDS 
 
 and Havana sailed past Florida through the Ba- 
 hama Channel, which Ponce de Leon had dis- 
 covered, and on to the Azores and Spain. The 
 channel was not only the favorite hunting place of 
 pirates — so that the Spanish treasure ships no 
 longer dared go singly but now combined for pro- 
 tection; it was also the home of storms. The fury 
 of its winds had already driven too many vessels 
 laden with gold upon the Florida coast, where as 
 yet there were no ports of succor. Cargoes had 
 thus been wholly lost, and sailors and passengers 
 murdered by the savages. To these dangers was 
 added the fear that the French designed to plant a 
 colony on the Florida coast near the channel, so that 
 they might seize Spanish vessels in case of war, for 
 not one could pass without their seeing it. 
 
 So, on Philip's order, Viceroy Velasco bestirred 
 himself to raise a colony, not only for Coosa but 
 for some other point in Florida. The other point 
 selected was Santa Elena, now Port Royal, South 
 Carolina. When all was ready, the company com- 
 prised no less than fifteen hundred persons. Of 
 the twelve captains in the force, six had been 
 with De Soto. In the party there were Coosa 
 women who had followed the Spaniards to Mexico. 
 They were now homeward bound. At the head 
 
FLORIDA 131 
 
 of the colony went Tristan de Luna y Arellano, 
 the same Don Tristan who had been Corona- 
 do's second in command in the Cibola enterprise 
 eighteen years before. The departure of the ex- 
 pedition was celebrated with great pomp. Velasco 
 himself crossed the mountains to Vera Cruz to see 
 it off. 
 
 But this expedition was to be another record of 
 disaster and failure. Arellano brought his fleet 
 to anchor in Pensacola Bay; and thence dispatched 
 three vessels for Santa Elena. Before his supplies 
 were unloaded, a tremendous hurricane swept the 
 Bay and destroyed most of his ships with great 
 loss of life. So violent was the storm that it 
 tossed one vessel, like a nutshell, upon the green 
 shore. Some of the terror-struck soldiers saw the 
 shrieking demons of Hell striding the low, racing, 
 black clouds. The outguards of the storm at- 
 tacked the three ships bound for the Carolina 
 coast and drove them south, so that they returned 
 to Mexico by way of Cuba. 
 
 The survivors at Pensacola Bay were soon in 
 straits for food. So Arellano, leaving a garrison 
 on the coast, sent about a thousand of his colonists 
 — men, women, and children — to Santa Cruz 
 de Nanipacna, forty leagues inland on a large 
 
132 THE SPANISH BORDERLANDS 
 
 river, probably in Monroe County, Alabama. But 
 these colonists in the fruitful land were like the 
 seventeen-year locusts; they ate everything from 
 the Indians' stores of maize and beans to palm- 
 shoots, acorns, and grass seeds — but produced 
 nothing. And soon an exploring band of three 
 hundred was sent on towards famed Coosa in 
 search of more food. They reached it after a 
 hundred days of weary marching over De Soto's 
 old trail. Though the natives had small reason 
 to love De Soto's countrymen, they treated the 
 Spaniards well and fed them bountifully all sum- 
 mer. Twelve men, sent back to Nanipacna with 
 reports, reached that place at last, to find only a 
 deserted camp and a letter saying that the famished 
 colony had returned to Pensacola. When Arel- 
 lano wished to go to Coosa to see for himself if it 
 were suitable for a colony, his people mutinied. 
 The malcontents sent a spurious order to the 
 explorers at Coosa to return; and in November, 
 1560, after more than a year in the interior, the 
 little band joined the main body at Pensacola. 
 
 Two ships, which Arellano had sent home for 
 aid, reached Mexico safely. The Viceroy immedi- 
 ately sent provisions for the colonists and a new 
 leader. Angel de Villafane, to replace Arellano and 
 
FLORIDA 133 
 
 to enjoy those high-sounding but, so far, empty titles 
 bestowed upon the successive Governors of Florida. 
 Villafaiie's orders were to move the colonists to 
 Santa Elena. Pensacola was too far westward for 
 Philip's chief purpose; the most important matter 
 was to establish a colony on the Atlantic sea- 
 board where it could keep a watchful eye on the 
 French, should they venture too far south of Car- 
 tier's river. Fray Gregorio de Beteta, who had 
 been with Fray Luis Cancer of martyr fame, ac- 
 companied Villafane in the hope that the natives 
 of Carolina would prove less recalcitrant than 
 those about Tampa Bay. Villafane provisioned 
 the garrison at Pensacola and then set sail for 
 Santa Elena. At Havana many of his followers 
 deserted him; but, in May, with the residue, he 
 reached the Carolina coast. He explored as far as 
 Cape Hatteras, but found no site which he con- 
 sidered suitable for colonization. So he abandoned 
 the project and returned to Espanola in July, 1561. 
 A ship was soon dispatched to remove the garrison 
 left at Pensacola. 
 
 The failure of the Spaniards thus far to effect a 
 settlement on the coast of the Atlantic mainland of 
 North America is readily explicable. In the is- 
 lands, in Mexico, and South America, the Spaniards 
 
134 THE SPANISH BORDERLANDS 
 
 flourished because of the precious metals and the 
 dociHty of the natives. On the northern main- 
 land they found no mines, and the Indians would 
 not submit to enslavement. They traversed a rich 
 game country and great tracts of fertile soil 
 which, later, the English settler's rifle and plow 
 were to make sustaining and secure to the English 
 race. But the Spaniards, accustomed in America 
 to living off the supplies and labor of submissive 
 natives, were not allured by the prospect of taming 
 tall Creek warriors, or of tilling the soil and hunt- 
 ing game to maintain themselves in the wilderness. 
 They had astounding enterprise and courage for 
 any rainbow trail that promised a pot of gold at the 
 end of it, but little for manual labor. 
 
 When news of Villafane's failure reached Spain, 
 Philip decided against any further attempts to 
 colonize Florida for the time being. He was re- 
 assured, as to France, because the French as yet 
 had not made any firm foothold on American soil. 
 There seemed little to alarm him in the steady 
 increase of their fishing vessels, alongside those of 
 Spain, in Newfoundland waters, or in the small 
 trade in the furs the fishermen were bringing home 
 yearly. He could not foresee that not the pot of 
 gold but the beaver was to lead to the solution of 
 
FLORIDA 135 
 
 the Northern Mystery and to spread colonies from 
 the Atlantic to the Pacific. Moreover, thought 
 the King, where Spaniards had failed, French- 
 men could not succeed. So, in September, 1561, 
 Philip issued his declaration with regard to the 
 northern coast. It is interesting to note that he was 
 largely influenced to this decision by the advice of 
 Pedro Menendez de Aviles, who was very shortly 
 to change both his own mind and Philip's. But no 
 doubt he relied more on the treaty signed in 1559 
 between himself and Henry II of France, under 
 which France surrendered booty from Spanish 
 ships and ports, said — perhaps somewhat extrava- 
 gantly — to equal in value a third of the kingdom; 
 and on his own marriage by proxy in the same 
 year to the French princess Elizabeth, daughter of 
 Catherine de' Medici. 
 
 But Philip's policy of hands off Florida was des- 
 tined to speedy reversal, to meet the exigency of 
 a new intrusion into Spanish domains. A year 
 had not passed when Jean Ribaut of Dieppe led a 
 colony of French Huguenots to Port Royal, South 
 Carolina, the very Santa Elena which Villafaiie, 
 less than a year before, had tried to occupy for 
 Spain. Ribaut's enterprise dismally failed, it is 
 true, but two years later Coligny, Admiral of 
 
136 THE SPANISH BORDERLANDS 
 
 France, a Huguenot, and the uncompromising 
 foe of Spain, sent a second colony under Rene 
 de Laudonniere. And a French settlement was 
 founded, protected by Fort Caroline, on St. John's 
 River, in the land of which Ponce de Leon had 
 taken solemn possession for Spain. 
 
 The enthusiastic reports made by these French 
 pioneers are proof that not alone the Spanish 
 fancy ran astray in the face of tales that were 
 told in the American wilds. Ribaut heard of the 
 Seven Cities of Cibola ; but Laudonniere went him 
 one better, for one of his scouts, while exploring 
 the country round about, actually saw and con- 
 versed with men who had drunk at the Fountain of 
 Youth, and had already comfortably passed their 
 first quarter of a thousand years. 
 
 But Laudonniere's artistic sense did not fit him 
 to lead a colony made up chiefly of ex-soldiers — 
 and including both Huguenots and Catholics, who 
 had so recently been in armed strife on their home 
 soil. Men who tilled the ground had been omitted 
 from the roster; the artisans could not turn farmers 
 on the instant; and the soldiers had no inclination 
 to beat their swords into plowshares so long as 
 Spanish treasure ships sailed the Bahama Chan- 
 nel. Laudonniere offended the Indians nearby by 
 
FLORIDA 137 
 
 trying to make friends with their foes as well and 
 forcing them to set free some captives, and so was 
 presently in straits for food. Some of his men 
 mutinied, seized two barques, and went out on a 
 pirate raid. One of their vessels with thirty-three 
 men aboard was captured by the Spaniards and 
 the men hanged — in return for their seizure of a 
 Spanish ship and the killing of a judge aboard of 
 her. The other barque returned to Fort Caroline 
 and Laudonniere had the ringleaders executed. 
 Only ten days' supply of food was left, when one 
 morning, like gulls rising against the sun, four 
 strange sails fluttered over the horizon. Instead of 
 Spaniards bent on war, the visitor, who sailed his 
 fleet into the river's mouth, proved to be the 
 English sea-dog, John Hawkins. Master Haw- 
 kins had been marketing a cargo of Guinea Coast 
 blacks in the islands where, by a suggestive dis- 
 play of swords and arquebuses, he had forced the 
 Spaniards to meet his prices and to give him 
 a " testimoniall of his good behauior" while in 
 their ports. 
 
 Hawkins fed and wined the French settlers and 
 offered to carry them away safely to French soil. 
 But Laudonniere, not knowing whether France 
 was at peace or war with England, was afraid to 
 
138 THE SPANISH BORDERLANDS 
 
 trust the generous pirate. So far from resent- 
 ing Laudonniere's suspicions, Hawkins, no doubt 
 thinking that, in like circumstances, he would be 
 equally cautious, agreed to sell a vessel at what- 
 ever price the Frenchman should name. And he 
 threw into the bargain provisions and fifty pairs of 
 shoes, so that Laudonniere, in his memoir, descants 
 much upon this "good and charitable man." 
 
 Grave reports of Laudonniere's mismanagement 
 reached Coligny and decided him to send Jean 
 Ribaut again to take command. Ribaut, with his 
 son Jacques and three hundred more colonists, 
 chiefly soldiers, set sail on May 23, 1565. On the 
 eve of departure Ribaut received a letter from 
 Coligny, saying that a certain Don Pedro Menen- 
 dez was leaving Spain for the coast of "New 
 France" — such the French declared to be the 
 name of the coast south of the St. Lawrence. 
 Coligny sternly counseled Ribaut not to suffer 
 Menendez to "encroach" upon him "no more than 
 he would that you should encroach upon him." 
 
 If the settlement at Port Royal had been a 
 disquieting intrusion, Fort Caroline, under the very 
 nose of Havana and on the path of the treas- 
 ure fleets, was an imminent menace to New Spain. 
 Its import was plainly stated in the reports to 
 
FLORIDA 139 
 
 Philip from Mexico. "The sum of all that can be 
 said in the matter, is that they put the Indies in a 
 crucible, for we are compelled to pass in front of 
 their port, and with the greatest ease they can 
 sally out with their armadas to seek us, and easi- 
 ly return home when it suits them." In urging 
 action before Coligny could send Ribaut to relieve 
 the colonists, the same report continued: "seeing 
 that they are Lutherans ... it is not needful to 
 leave a man alive, but to inflict an exemplary 
 punishment, that they may remember it forever."^ 
 While French depredations had been protested by 
 Philip's envoy to France, the matter had not been 
 pushed to a rupture, because Philip desired to 
 enlist the aid of Catherine. Catherine also was 
 forced to temporize. She needed Philip's support 
 to maintain her position of power in France be- 
 tween Catholic Leaguer and Huguenot, but she 
 dared not, for his friendship, go so far as to inter- 
 fere with Coligny 's designs on Florida, lest even the 
 French Catholics turn against her; for they too had 
 caught the Admiral's vision of a France once more 
 great, rich, and glorious. It suited her therefore 
 to make answer that the French ships were bound 
 for a country discovered by France and known as 
 
 ^ Lowery, Florida, p. 105. 
 
140 THE SPANISH BORDERLANDS 
 
 the Terre des Bretons and would in no way molest 
 the territories of Spain! 
 
 Ribaut reached Fort Caroline while Laudonniere 
 and his men were still there. With the arrival of 
 his ships, bringing three hundred more colonists, 
 plans for evacuation were abandoned. 
 
 To expel and castigate the French and to plant 
 his own power solidly in Florida, Philip had at last 
 picked a man who would not fail. Menendez was 
 already a sea-soldier of note and had rendered 
 signal and distinguished services to the Crown. 
 He was a nobleman of the Asturias, where "the 
 earth and sky bear men who are honest, not 
 tricksters, truthful, not babblers, most faithful to 
 the King, generous, friendly, light-hearted, and 
 merry, daring, and warlike." During the recent 
 wars, as a naval officer, he had fought the French; 
 and later, off his home coasts and off the Canaries, 
 he had defeated French pirate ships. 
 
 Menendez's contract was a typical conquistador's 
 agreement. His chance to serve the King was a 
 certainty. His profits were a gamble. The title 
 of adelantado of Florida granted him was made 
 hereditary. His salary of two thousand ducats 
 yearly was to be collected from rents and products 
 
FLORIDA 141 
 
 of the colony. He was given a grant of land 
 twenty-five miles square, with the title of Marquis, 
 and two fisheries — one of pearls — wherever he 
 should select them. He was to have a few ships of 
 his own to trade with some of the islands and was 
 absolved from certain import and export duties, 
 and for five years he was to retain whatever spoils 
 he found aboard the pirate vessels he captured. 
 Apart from a loan from Philip of fifteen thousand 
 ducats, which he bound himself to repay, he was 
 to bear all the expenses of the venture — about 
 $1,800,000. His fleet was to contain, besides the 
 San Pelayo of six hundred tons, six sloops of fifty 
 tons each and four smaller vessels for use in the 
 shallow waters of Florida. His colonists were to 
 number five hundred, of which one hundred must 
 be soldiers, one hundred sailors, and the rest ar- 
 tisans, officials, and farmers; and two hundred of 
 them must be married. He was to take four 
 Jesuit priests and ten or twelve friars. He was to 
 parcel out the land to settlers and to build two 
 towns, each to contain one hundred citizens and to 
 be protected by a fort. He was also to take about 
 five hundred negro slaves, half of whom were to be 
 women. Above all he was to see that none of his 
 colonists were Jews or secret heretics. And he 
 
142 THE SPANISH BORDERLANDS 
 
 was to drive out the French settlers "by what 
 means you see fit." He must also make a detailed 
 report on the Atlantic coast from the Florida Keys 
 to Newfoundland. The previous success of Me- 
 nendez as a chastiser of pirates may be indicated by 
 his possession of nearly two million dollars to spend 
 on this colony. When his entire company was 
 raised, it comprised 2646 persons, "not mendicants 
 and vagabonds . . . but of the best horsemen of 
 Asturias, Galicia, and Vizcaya," "trustworthy 
 persons, for the security of the enterprise." 
 
 Menendez sailed from Cadiz on July 29, 1565. 
 In the islands thirty of his men and three priests 
 deserted; but neither this circumstance nor the 
 non-arrival of half his ships, which were delayed by 
 storms, prevented him from continuing at once for 
 Florida. On the 28th of August he dropped anchor 
 in a harbor about the mouth of a river and gave to 
 it the name of the saint on whose festival he had 
 discovered it — Saint Augustine (San Agustin) . 
 
 Seven days later he went up the coast, looking 
 for the French. In the afternoon he came upon 
 four of Ribaut's ships lying outside the bar at 
 St. John's River. Menendez, ignoring the French 
 fire, which was aimed too high to do any damage, 
 led his vessels in among the foe's. 
 
FLORIDA 143 
 
 "Gentlemen, from where does this fleet come?" 
 he demanded, as we are told, "very courteously." 
 
 "From France," came the answer from Ribaut's 
 flagship. 
 
 "What are you doing here.^" 
 
 "Bringing infantry, artillery, and supplies for a 
 fort which the King of France has in this country, 
 and for others which he is going to make." 
 
 "Are you Catholics or Lutherans .f^" 
 
 "Lutherans, and our general is Jean Ribaut." 
 
 In answer to like questions from the French 
 ship, Menendez made reply: "I am the General; 
 my name is Pedro Menendez de Aviles. This is 
 the armada of the King of Spain, who has sent me 
 to this coast and country to burn and hang the 
 Lutheran French who should be found there, and 
 in the morning I will board your ships; and if I 
 find any Catholics they will be well treated."' 
 
 In the pause which followed this exchange of 
 courtesies — "a stillness such as I have never 
 heard since I came to the world," says the Spanish 
 chaplain — the French cut their cables and, pass- 
 ing through the midst of the Spanish fleet, made 
 off to sea. Menendez gave chase. But the French 
 
 ^ This conversation is quoted by Lowery in Florida, pp. 156- 
 157. 
 
144 THE SPANISH BORDERLANDS 
 
 ships were too swift for him. So at dawn he re- 
 turned to the river's mouth. But, seeing the 
 three other French vessels within the bar and 
 soldiers massed on the bank, he withdrew and 
 sailed back to St. Augustine. Here he began the 
 fortification of a large Indian house, dug a trench 
 about it, and bulwarked it with logs and earth. 
 This converted Indian dwelling was the beginning 
 of the settlement of St. Augustine. The work fin- 
 ished and the last of the colonists and supplies land- 
 ed, Menendez took formal possession. From a dis- 
 tance the French ships watched the landing of the 
 Spanish troops; then made off to St. John's River. 
 On arrival at Fort Caroline Ribaut gathered 
 his vessels together — except his son's, which had 
 not returned — and, taking aboard four hundred 
 soldiers, set out again, to attack St. Augustine. 
 He left only two hundred and forty men at Fort 
 Caroline; and many of them were ill. His plans 
 were made against the advice of Laudonniere, 
 left in command of the fort, w^ho urged the dan- 
 ger of his situation should contrary winds drive 
 Ribaut's ships out to sea and the Spaniards make 
 an attack by land. These forebodings were pro- 
 phetic. A terrible wind arose which blew for days. 
 And Menendez, guided by Indians and a French 
 
FLORIDA 145 
 
 prisoner he had picked up in the islands, marched 
 overland upon Fort Caroline. 
 
 On the 20th of September just before daybreak 
 Menendez reached the fort. Most of the men 
 inside were asleep. The trumpeter on the bastion 
 had barely sounded the alarm before the Spaniards 
 were inside the walls. The French had no time 
 to don clothes or armor. In their shirts or naked 
 they seized their swords and rushed out into the 
 gray light of the court. Within an hour one 
 hundred and thirty-two French had been killed, 
 and half a dozen men and fifty women and children 
 captured. The remaining French, many of them 
 wounded, escaped to the woods; among them was 
 Laudonniere. It was not a fight but a massacre. 
 Even the very sick were dragged out and slain. 
 One woman who escaped had a dagger wound in 
 her breast; though Menendez had given orders to 
 spare the women and children, fearing "that our 
 Lord would punish me, if I acted towards them 
 with cruelty." 
 
 Twenty-six French, including Laudonniere, were 
 rescued by the ships of Jacques Ribaut and ulti- 
 mately reached France. Some twenty more, too 
 badly hurt to travel fast, were discovered by the 
 men sent out by Menendez to beat the brush 
 
146 THE SPANISH BORDERLANDS 
 
 thoroughly for fugitives and run through with 
 swords. One lone man, a belated Cabeza de Vaca, 
 made his way across the country from tribe to 
 tribe and came out at Panuco. After a brief rest 
 at the post, which he rechristened Fort San Mateo, 
 Menendez marched swiftly back to St. Augustine. 
 He learned presently that one hundred and forty 
 men from two French ships wrecked by the storm 
 were nearby. They had lost two hundred of their 
 comrades, drowned, killed, or captured by savages; 
 they themselves were destitute. Menendez made 
 a quick march to the spot. When the castaways 
 pleaded that their lives be spared until the arrival 
 of a French ship to take them home, Menendez 
 answered that he was "waging a war of fire and 
 blood against all who came to settle these parts 
 and plant in them their evil Lutheran sect. . . . 
 For this reason I would not grant them a safe 
 passage, but would sooner follow them by sea and 
 land until I had taken their lives."' 
 
 An offer of five thousand ducats for their lives 
 met with the ambiguous reply that mercy would 
 be shown for its own sake and not for price. So 
 read the Spanish reports of this event. French 
 reports state that Menendez, to induce the one 
 
 ^ Ruidiaz, La Florida, vol. II, p. 89. 
 
FLORIDA 147 
 
 hundred and forty men to surrender themselves, 
 their arms, and ammunition without a blow, gave 
 his oath to spare their lives and to send them to 
 France. However that may be, they surrendered. 
 The chaplain discovered ten Catholics among them 
 and these were set apart. The remaining one hun- 
 dred and thirty were given food and drink and were 
 then told that — as a precaution because of their 
 numbers — they must consent to have their hands 
 bound behind them on the march to St. Augustine. 
 Menendez ordered a meal prepared for the prison- 
 ers, gave his final instructions regarding them to 
 the officers in charge, and went on ahead. A 
 gunshot's distance off, beyond a hummock, he 
 paused long enough to draw a line with his spear 
 in the white sand of the flat. Then he went on. 
 The heavy dusk from the sea was massing swiftly 
 behind the Frenchmen, and the last faint flush 
 of the afterglow was fading from the western 
 sky, when they came up abreast of the spear- 
 line in the sand. There the Spaniards fell upon 
 them, slew, and decapitated them. The stain on 
 the ground where this bloody scene was enacted 
 is ineradicable, and after three and a half cen- 
 turies the place is still known as Las Matanzas 
 (The Massacre) . 
 
148 THE SPANISH BORDERLANDS 
 
 Shortly after Menendez had reached St. Augus- 
 tine, Indians informed him that Jean Ribaut and 
 two hundred men were at Matanzas, having been 
 cut off there, as the other Frenchmen had been, by 
 the inlet, as they were attempting to reach Fort 
 Caroline by land. Menendez set out immediately. 
 Once more were the same ceremonies repeated; 
 and Ribaut and his two hundred men were induced 
 to surrender. When, with their hands bound, they 
 were halted at the spear-line, now more clearly 
 indicated by the heap of corpses along it, they 
 Vv'ere asked: "Are you Catholics or Lutherans, 
 and are there any who wish to confess.^" Seven- 
 teen Catholics were found and set aside. But 
 Ribaut. the staunch Huguenot mariner of Dieppe, 
 had been too long familiar with the menace of 
 death to recant because a dagger was poised over 
 his entrails. He answered for himself and the 
 rest, saying that a score of years of life were a 
 small matter, for "from earth we came and unto 
 earth we return." Then he recited passages from 
 Psalm cxxxii. One of Menendez's captains thrust 
 his dagger into Ribaut's bowels, and Meras, the 
 adelantadds brother-in-law, drove his pike through 
 his breast; then they hacked off his head. 
 
 "I put Jean Ribaut and all the rest of them to the 
 
FLORIDA , 149 
 
 knife," Menendez wrote to Philip, "judging it to 
 be necessary to the service of the Lord Our God, 
 and of Your Majesty. And I think it a very great 
 fortune that this man be dead ... he could do 
 more in one year than another in ten; for he was 
 the most experienced sailor and corsair known, 
 very skillful in this navigation of the Indies and of 
 the Florida Coast." ^ 
 
 Some there were, of course, among his oflScers at 
 St. Augustine, and among the nobility in Spain, 
 who condemned Menendez for his cruelty and for 
 slaying the captives after having given his oath 
 for their safety. But Barrientos, a contemporary 
 historian, holds that he was "very merciful" to 
 them for he could "legally have burnt them alive 
 ... He killed them, I think, rather by divine 
 inspiration." And Philip's comment, scribbled by 
 his pen on the back of Menendez's dispatch, was: 
 "As to those he has killed he has done well, 
 and as to those he has saved, they shall be sent to 
 the galleys."^ And he wrote to Menendez, "We 
 hold that we have been well served." 
 
 The name of Menendez is popularly associated 
 in America almost solely with this inhuman epi- 
 sode. But the expulsion of the French was only an 
 
 * Lowery, Florida, p. 200. ' Lowery, Florida, p. 206. 
 
150 THE SPANISH BORDERLANDS 
 
 incident in a work covering nearly ten years, dur- 
 ing which time Menendez proved himself an able 
 and constructive administrator, as well as a vigor- 
 ous soldier, and laid the foundation of a Spanish 
 colony on the northern mainland which endured. 
 Menendez was a dreamer, as are all men of 
 vision, and he pictured a great future for his 
 Florida — which to him meant the whole of north- 
 eastern America. He would fortify the Peninsula 
 to prevent any foreigner from gaining control of 
 the Bahama Channel, that highway of the precious 
 treasure fleets ; he would ascend the Atlantic coast 
 and occupy Santa Elena, where the French had 
 intruded, and the Bay of Santa Maria (Chesapeake 
 Bay), for, since one of its arms was perhaps the 
 long-sought northern passage, the bay might prove 
 to be the highway to the Moluccas, much en- 
 dangered now by the activities of the French. 
 The other extremity, on the Pacific, it was hoped, 
 might be discovered by Legazpi, who shortly before 
 had started on his way to conquer the Philip- 
 pine Islands. This accomplished, then away with 
 France and her Bacallaos (St. Lawrence) River, 
 which, after all, Cartier and Roberval had found 
 untenable. To approach Mexico, Menendez would 
 occupy Appalachee Bay, and plant a colony at 
 
FLORIDA 151 
 
 Coosa, "at the foot of the mountains which come 
 from the mines of Zacatecas and San Martin," 
 where Francisco de Ibarra was at this very moment 
 engaged in carving out the Kingdom of New Bis- 
 cay. Finally, Menendez had great hopes of eco- 
 nomic prosperity, for silkworms, vineyards, mines, 
 pearls, sugar plantations, wheat and rice fields, 
 herds of cattle, salines, ship timber, and pitch 
 would make Florida not only self-supporting but 
 richer "than New Spain or even Peru." 
 
 Vast and unified in vision were these contempo- 
 raneous projects of Philip and his men, embrac- 
 ing the two oceans and reaching from Spain to the 
 Philippine Islands. The tasks of Menendez in 
 La Florida, Ibarra in New Biscay, and Legaspi 
 in the Philippines were all but parts of one great 
 whole, and Florida, said Menendez, with a twen- 
 tieth-century contempt for distance and a Spanish 
 disregard of time, "is but a suburb of Spain, for 
 it does not take more than forty days' sailing to 
 come here, and usually as many more to return." 
 
 Within two years Menendez had established a 
 line of posts between Tampa Bay and Santa Elena 
 (Port Royal) and had made an attempt to colon- 
 ize Virginia. But this work had not been done 
 without setbacks. Disease and the adventurer's 
 
152 THE SPANISH BORDERLANDS 
 
 dislike of manual labor — the same enemies that 
 so nearly wrecked the English settlement at James- 
 town several decades later — played their part in 
 hampering the growth of the Florida settlements. 
 When the colonies might perhaps have been in a 
 degree self-supporting, it was still necessary to 
 import all their supplies. Over a hundred colonists 
 died at St. Augustine and San Mateo (Fort Caro- 
 line); the attitude of others was fairly expressed 
 in the statement of some deserters, that they had 
 not come there to plow and plant but to find 
 riches and, since no riches were to be found, they 
 would no longer live in Florida "like beasts." 
 From the principal settlements over three hundred 
 men absconded; one hundred and thirty belonging 
 to St. Augustine seized a supply ship and made off 
 in it. But Menendez's forces were strengthened 
 by over a thousand colonists from Spain. The 
 foothold in Florida had been won. 
 
 Meanwhile Menendez had turned to inland 
 exploration. While at Santa Elena in 1566, he 
 sent Juan Pardo with twenty -five men "to dis- 
 cover and conquer the interior country from 
 there to Mexico." Menendez aimed to join 
 hands with the advance guard of pioneers in 
 New Biscay. Going northward through Orista, 
 
FLORIDA 153 
 
 at forty leagues Pardo apparently struck the 
 Cambahee River. Turning west he visited Cufi- 
 tachiqui, where De Soto had dallied with the 
 "queen" a quarter century before. A few days 
 later he was at Juala, on a stream near the foot 
 of the Alleghanies. The mountain being covered 
 with snow, he could not proceed, so he built a 
 stockade, called Fort San Juan, and left there a 
 garrison under Sergeant Boyano. Going east to 
 Guatare (Wateree) , he left there a priest and four 
 soldiers, and returned by a direct route to Santa 
 Elena. He had thus extended the work of De 
 Soto by exploring a large part of South Carolina 
 and adding considerably to the knowledge of 
 North Carolina. 
 
 Conversion of the natives was an essential part 
 of Menendez's scheme to pacify and hold the coun- 
 try. He had, as yet, no missionaries; so he de- 
 tailed some of his soldiers to the work, and, in 
 1566, by much urging, he induced Philip to equip 
 and send three Jesuits to Florida. The three were 
 Father Martinez, Father Rogel, and Brother Villa- 
 real. Their mission began in disaster. Father 
 Martinez was killed by Indians and the other two 
 withdrew temporarily to the West Indies. On their 
 return, Menendez established Father Rogel with a 
 
154 THE SPANISH BORDERLANDS 
 
 garrison of fifty soldiers at San Antonio, on Charlotte 
 Bay, in the territory of the cacique Carlos, and 
 Brother Villareal, also with a garrison, at Tegesta 
 on the Miami River mouth at Biscayne Bay. 
 
 Menendez had now established three permanent 
 settlements on the Atlantic coast — St. Augustine 
 and San Mateo in Florida and Santa Elena in South 
 Carolina; and he had garrisoned forts at Guale 
 in northern Georgia, at Tampa and Charlotte Bays 
 on the west coast of the peninsula, and at Biscayne 
 Bay and the St. Lucie River on the east coast. 
 From these points Spaniards would now command 
 the routes of the treasure fleets from the West 
 Indies and from Vera Cruz. He had also pro- 
 jected a settlement at Chesapeake Bay, which was 
 not fated to endure. 
 
 In May, 1567, after twenty months of continu- 
 ous activity, Menendez went to Spain. There he 
 was acclaimed as a hero. Philip made him Captain- 
 General of the West, with command of a large fleet 
 to secure the route to the West Indies, appointed 
 him Governor of Cuba, and created him Knight 
 Commander of the Holy Cross of Zarza, of the 
 order of Santiago. It was said that Menendez was 
 greatly disappointed that his reward consisted of 
 so many sonorous words and of so little substance. 
 
FLORIDA 155 
 
 Menendez had reached his zenith. The story 
 of his later successes is varied with disasters. 
 
 In France, among all parties, the news of the 
 massacre of Ribaut's colony had kindled fury 
 against the Spaniards. Even to Catherine, in 
 that hour of humiliation, the slaughtered men 
 in Florida were not Huguenots but French. She 
 rejected Philip's insinuating suggestions to make 
 Coligny the scapegoat, avowed her own responsi- 
 bility, and protested bitterly the effrontery and 
 cruelty of Philip's agent in murdering her subjects. 
 But her position in divided France was such that 
 Philip had the whip hand, and he couched his 
 answers in terms to make her feel it. She dared 
 not go beyond high words, lest he publish her as an 
 enemy of her own Church and, by some sudden 
 stroke at her or her invalid son, hasten the end 
 at which all his intrigues in her kingdom aimed, 
 namely, the complete subservience of France to 
 the Spanish Crown. 
 
 Catherine could not avenge the wrong; but 
 Dominique de Gourgues could. Gourgues was 
 an ex-soldier and a citizen of good family; his 
 parents were Catholics and he is not known to 
 have been a Protestant. He had been captured 
 in war by the Spaniards and had been forced 
 
156 THE SPANISH BORDERLANDS 
 
 to serve as a galley slave. Now to his own 
 grievance was added that of his nation; and he 
 chose to avenge both. It is possible that he did 
 not have the aid of the Queen and Coligny in 
 raising his expedition — ostensibly to engage in 
 the slave trade — but quite probable that he did. 
 He timed his stroke to fall during the absence of 
 Menendez in Spain. With one hundred and eighty 
 men he went out in August, 1567, and spent the 
 winter trading in the West Indies. Early next year 
 he proceeded to Florida, landed quietly near St. 
 John's River and made an alliance with Chief 
 Saturiba, who was hostile to the Spaniards but an 
 old friend of the French. Saturiba received him 
 with demonstrations of joy, called his secondary 
 chiefs to a war council, and presented Gourgues 
 with a French lad whom his tribe had succored 
 and concealed from the Spaniards since the time 
 of Ribaut. 
 
 His force augmented by Saturiba's warriors, 
 Gourgues marched stealthily upon San Mateo. 
 The Spaniards in the outpost blockhouses had 
 just dined "and were still picking their teeth" 
 when Gourgues's cry rang out: 
 
 "Yonder are the thieves who have stolen this 
 land from our King. Yonder are the murderers 
 
FLORIDA 157 
 
 who have massacred our French. On! On! Let 
 us avenge our King! Let us show that we are 
 Frenchmen!" 
 
 The garrison in the first blockhouse, sixty in 
 all, were killed or captured. The men in the 
 second blockhouse met the same fate; and the 
 French pushed on towards San Mateo fort itself, 
 their fury having been increased by the sight of 
 French cannon on the blockhouses — reminders of 
 Fort Caroline. The Spaniards at San Mateo 
 had received warning. A number had made off 
 towards St. Augustine; the remaining garrison 
 opened artillery fire upon the French. The trees 
 screened the Indian allies; and the Spaniards, in 
 making a sortie, were caught between the two 
 forces. "As many as possible were taken ahve, 
 by Captain Gourgues's order, to do to them what 
 they had done to the French," says the report. 
 The completion of Gourgues's revenge is thus 
 related: *' They are swung from the branches of the 
 same trees on which they had hung the French, 
 and in place of the inscription which Pedro Menen- 
 dez had put up containing these words in Spanish, 
 / do this not as to Frenchmen hut as to Luther- 
 ans, Captain Gourgues causes to be inscribed with 
 a hot iron on a pine tablet: / do this not as to 
 
158 THE SPANISH BORDERLANDS 
 
 Spaniards nor as to Marranos [secret Jews] hut as 
 to traitors, robbers, and murderers.''^ 
 
 Gourgues now turned homeward. On the way 
 he captured three Spanish treasure ships, threw 
 their crews overboard, and took their contents of 
 gold, pearls, merchandise, and arms. With a 
 hideous vindictiveness on land and water had he 
 repaid Spaniards for the massacre of his country- 
 men on Florida soil and for his own degradation 
 as a slave in their galleys on the sea. And he, 
 too, like Menendez, stepping red-handed upon his 
 native shores, was acclaimed as a hero. 
 
 Troubles now came fast upon the Spaniards in 
 Florida. Indians rose and massacred the soldiers 
 at Tampa Bay. The garrison at San Antonio was 
 compelled by hunger and the hostility of the na- 
 tives to withdraw to St. Augustine. In rapid suc- 
 cession, the interior posts established by Pardo 
 and Boyano were destroyed by the Indians, or 
 abandoned to save provisions. By 1570 Indian 
 rancor and shortage of food had forced numbers of 
 the colonists to leave the country. 
 
 ^ Lowery, Florida, p. 333. There seems to be no proof that 
 Menendez had hanged Frenchmen at Fort Caroline with this 
 inscription over them; but the report that he had done so was 
 believed in France. Spanish accounts do not mention it. 
 
FLORIDA 159 
 
 The missionaries succeeded little better than 
 the soldiers; though Menendez had sent out four- 
 teen more Jesuits from Spain, in 1568, under 
 Father Juan Bautista de Segura. Father Rogel, 
 driven from San Antonio and then from Santa 
 Elena, returned to Havana. Father Sedeno and 
 some five companions went to Guale (Georgia) 
 where they labored for a year with some success. 
 Brother Domingo translated the catechism into the 
 native Guale tongue and Brother Baez compiled a 
 grammar, the first written in the United States . Fa- 
 ther Rogel went to Santa Elena, where he founded 
 a mission at Orista, some five leagues from the set- 
 tlement of San Felipe. He succeeded well for sever- 
 al months, but finally the Indians became hostile 
 and, when the commander levied a tribute of provi- 
 sions to feed the hungry settlers, they rebelled, and 
 Father Rogel was forced to withdraw to Havana 
 (1570) . About the same time and for like reasons 
 the missionaries abandoned Guale. 
 
 Though he had failed on the peninsula and on 
 the coasts of Georgia and South Carolina, Father 
 Segura did not give up, but transferred his efforts 
 to Chesapeake Bay, where, with six other Jesu- 
 its, he founded a mission at Axacan, perhaps on 
 the Rappahannock. But within a few months the 
 
160 THE SPANISH BORDERLANDS 
 
 fickle Indians turned against them and slew Se- 
 gura and his entire band (1571). On his return 
 from Spain Menendez went to Chesapeake Bay 
 and avenged the death of the missionaries by 
 hanging eight Indians to the yardarms of his ship. 
 The Jesuits, after the martyrdom of Segura, 
 abandoned the field of Florida for Mexico. But, 
 in 1573, nine Franciscans began work in this un- 
 promising territory. Others came in 1577 and, 
 in 1593, twelve more arrived under Father Juan de 
 Silva. From their monastery at St. Augustine 
 they set forth and founded missions along the 
 northern coasts. Fray Pedro Chozas made wide 
 explorations inland; and Father Pareja began his 
 famous work on the Indian languages. By 1615 
 more than twenty mission stations were erected in 
 the region today comprised in Florida, Georgia, and 
 South Carolina. The story of these Franciscan mis- 
 sions, though it is little known, is one of self-sacri- 
 fice, religious zeal, and heroism, scarcely excelled by 
 that of the Jesuits in Canada or the Franciscans in 
 California. It is recorded in the mute but eloquent 
 ruins scattered here and there along the Atlantic coast. 
 
 In 1572 Menendez left America. He was first 
 of all a seaman; and he was called home to assist 
 
FLORIDA 161 
 
 Philip in the preparation of the great Armada 
 which the King was slowly getting ready. But 
 Menendez did not live to command the Armada, 
 for he died in 1574. His body was carried to the 
 Church of St. Nicholas in Aviles and placed in a 
 niche on the Gospel side of the altar. His tomb is 
 marked with this inscription: "Here lies interred 
 the very illustrious cavalier Pedro Men^ de Aviles, 
 native of this town, Adelantado of the Provinces of 
 Florida, Commander of the Holy Cross of La 
 Carca of the Order of Santiago and C? Gen^^ of the 
 Ocean Sea and of the Catholic Armada which the 
 Lord Philip II. assembled against England in the 
 year 1574, at Santander, where he died on the 
 17th of September of the said year being fifty -five 
 years of age."' 
 
 At the time when Menendez returned to Spain, 
 Philip's intrigues in France reached their logical 
 culmination — in the Massacre of St. Bartholomew 
 and the end of Coligny. France, again in the ago- 
 nies of civil strife, was no longer a menace. The 
 new shadow on his horizon was England — England 
 with her growing navy and her Protestant faith: 
 and her Queen, who was as expert a politician as 
 
 ^ Lowery, Florida, p. 384. 
 
162 THE SPANISH BORDERLANDS 
 
 any man sent by Spain to her court, and more 
 subtle then Philip himself. "This woman is pos- 
 sessed by a hundred thousand devils," the Spanish 
 envoy wrote to his King. During the years while 
 England, after the upheavals of Mary's reign, was 
 becoming stable and waxing strong, Elizabeth's 
 dexterity kept Philip halting from any one of the 
 deadly blows he might have struck at her. By 
 her brilliant wit and her mendacity she kept him 
 pondering when he should have been acting. She 
 worked upon his religious zeal and his vanity by 
 letting herself be surprised by his envoy with a 
 crucifix in her hands, or blushing with a pretty 
 confusion over Philip's portraits; and by these and 
 other methods she kept him from bringing his in- 
 trigues among her Catholic subjects to a head, 
 lessened his support of Mary Stuart, and caused 
 him to put off his designs for her own assassination. 
 But this play could not go on forever. The pira- 
 cies of the English sea-dogs, the honoring by Eliza- 
 beth of Francis Drake on his return from loot- 
 ing Spanish ships and "taking possession" of the 
 North Pacific coast as New Albion, the attempts 
 of Raleigh and White to plant colonies in Vir- 
 ginia and Guiana, and later the sacking of Santo 
 Domingo and Cartagena and the destruction of 
 
FLORIDA 163 
 
 St. Augustine by Drake, and, finally, the persecu- 
 tion of the Jesuits in England, at last spurred Philip 
 to combat. By the Pope, who had issued a Bull of 
 Deposition against Elizabeth,, he had long been 
 urged to conquer renegade England; and Mary 
 Stuart had bequeathed to him her "rights" as 
 sovereign of that kingdom. And Philip had seen 
 that his distant colonies could not be defended 
 unless he were sole King of the Ocean Sea. 
 
 So the destiny of North America was decided 
 on the North Sea, in July, 1588, in the defeat of 
 the Spanish Armada by Sir Francis Drake. The 
 mastery of the ocean passed from Spain to England. 
 The waterways were open now for English colo- 
 nists to seek those northern shores which Spain 
 had failed to occupy. In time the sparse settle- 
 ments in the Spanish province of Florida came to 
 be hemmed in on the north by the English colo- 
 nies in Georgia and South Carolina and Alabama, 
 and stopped on the west by the French colony 
 of Louisiana. 
 
 Jamestown, 1607; Charleston, 1670; Savannah, 
 1733 : thus the English advanced relentlessly. And 
 in 1763, following the Seven Years' War, in which 
 Spain fought on the side of France, the Enghsh 
 expelled Spain from Florida entirely. Spain's 
 
164 THE SPANISH BORDERLANDS 
 
 recovery of her foothold there during the Ameri- 
 can Revolution, and her struggle afterwards to hold 
 back the oncoming tide of the now independent 
 Anglo-Americans, profited her nothing in the end; 
 for in 1819, two hundred and twelve years after 
 Jamestown, all that remained to Spain of her old 
 province of Florida passed to the United States. 
 
CHAPTER VI 
 
 NEW MEXICO 
 
 Old Castaneda, who wrote a belated chronicle of 
 Coronado's expedition, gave Coronado a black eye 
 and at the same time encouraged new flights of 
 fancy. He made it appear that for some man of 
 destiny the north held prizes. From the resem- 
 blance of the Pueblo to the Aztec dwellings the 
 region came to be called New Mexico. It was, 
 after all, the "otro Mexico," which so many had 
 sought. For nearly four decades after Coronado's 
 day the Pueblo Indians were not revisited; but, 
 during the interval the frontier of settlement in the 
 central plateau of Mexico pushed northward, and 
 the post of Santa Barbara was set up at the head of 
 the Conchos River, which led to the Rio Grande. 
 This opened a new highway to New Mexico. 
 Coronado's roundabout trail by way of the Pacific 
 slope, made dangerous by hostile Indians using 
 poisoned arrows, was now no longer necessary. In 
 
 165 
 
166 THE SPANISH BORDERLANDS 
 
 the course of slave-catching and prospecting raids 
 down the Conchos, frontiersmen crossed the trail of 
 Cabeza de Vaca and from the Indians heard new 
 reports of the Pueblo country. Some one at Santa 
 Barbara had a copy of Vaca's Narrative, and 
 the marvelous tale of adventure was read again 
 with keen attention. To the friars, newly heralded 
 Cibola appeared a virgin field in which to save 
 souls; to the soldiers and miners, a new world of 
 adventure and treasure. 
 
 New Mexico was again the scene of explora- 
 tion. But, by the ordinance of 1573, military 
 expeditions among the Indians were forbidden, 
 and as a consequence any new enterprise must 
 go in missionary guise. An expedition was or- 
 ganized at Santa Barbara in 1581, led by Fray 
 Agustin Rodriguez, with whom went Fray Fran- 
 cisco Lopez, Fray Juan de Santa Maria, nine- 
 teen Indian servants, and nine soldier-traders. 
 The soldiers were led by Francisco Chamuscado, 
 **the Singed." They were equipped with ninety 
 horses, coats of mail for horse and rider, and six 
 hundred cattle, besides sheep, goats, and hogs. 
 For barter with the natives they carried merchan- 
 dise. While the primary purpose of the stock 
 was to provide food on the way, the friars were 
 
NEW MEXICO 167 
 
 prepared to remain in New Mexico if conditions 
 were propitious. 
 
 Leaving Santa Barbara on the 5th of June, the 
 party descended the Conchos River to its mouth 
 and proceeded up the Rio Grande. They were fol- 
 lowed by a retinue of Indians who regarded them 
 as children of the sun — so the chronicler thought. 
 They passed through thePiros towns and continued 
 to the Tiguas above Isleta, and on to the Tanos on 
 Santa Fe River. Here Father Santa Maria set out 
 alone to carry reports to Mexico, against the wishes 
 of his companions, whose fears were justified, for he 
 was killed three days later by Indians east of Isleta. 
 The two friars and their party continued to Taos, 
 near the Colorado line, and crossed to the Buffalo 
 Plains, east of the Pecos River. Returning west- 
 ward, they were obliged to fight a band of hostile 
 natives in the Galisteo valley. Then they crossed 
 the Rio Grande and visited the Indian towns of 
 Acoma and Zuni. On the way some of the men, 
 boylike, or with an historical sense, carved their 
 names on El Morro Cliff, now called Inscription 
 Rock, where they are still visible. At Zuni they 
 found three Mexicans who had come with Coro- 
 nado, and after forty years had nearly forgotten 
 their native tongue. Back eastward came the 
 
168 THE SPANISH BORDERLANDS 
 
 expedition. Rodriguez and Lopez decided to found 
 a mission at Puaray, a Tigua town on the Rio 
 Grande above iVlbuquerque, and there, with a few 
 servants, the two friars made their abode. The 
 soldiers returned to Santa Barbara. Chamuscado, 
 the leader, became ill on the way and was carried 
 on a litter of hides strung between two horses. 
 Before reaching his destination he died. 
 
 Three months later two servants from the mis- 
 sion fled to Mexico and reported that Lopez had 
 been killed by the Indians. A rescue expedition 
 was hastened, for Fray Agustin might still be 
 alive. But the expedition was too late. On reach- 
 ing Ptfaray it was learned that Fray Agustin also 
 had been slain. 
 
 The soldier-traders of this rescue party were led 
 by Antonio de Espejo, a merchant of Mexico, and 
 Espejo had other business in New Mexico. From 
 the Rio Grande he explored northwest to Jemez 
 and went to Acoma and Zuni. Here he left Father 
 Beltran, the Franciscan who accompanied him, and 
 went on in search of a lake of gold he had heard 
 of. Arrived at the Moqui towns, in Arizona, he 
 obtained four thousand cotton blankets and saw 
 the snake dance performed by the Hopi Indians, 
 who still raise cotton and still pe orm the famous 
 
NEW MEXICO 169 
 
 dance, usually as a prayer for rain. Espejo now 
 pushed westward and reached the region of Pres- 
 cott, where he discovered rich veins, later to be 
 known as mines of fabulous wealth. Then, re- 
 tracing his steps to the Rio Grande, he returned 
 by way of the Pecos River to Santa Barbara, 
 whither Father Beltran had preceded him. Espe- 
 jo' s report of the mines, of course, set the frontier 
 on fire. 
 
 The rumor that Drake, after raiding Spanish 
 ships on the Pacific (1579), had found the Strait of 
 Anian, and had sailed home through it, impelled 
 the Spaniards to extend their power northward to 
 the shores of that Strait. So Philip ordered the 
 Viceroy of Mexico to make a contract with some 
 one for the conquest and settlement of New Mexico. 
 Several applicants came forward, including Espejo, 
 who proposed at his own expense to colonize New 
 Mexico with four hundred soldier-settlers and to 
 build a port where the Strait of Anian entered the 
 North Sea ! So great was the excitement in Mex- 
 ico that some adventurers did not wait for oflScial 
 sanction, but set out on their own authority, know- 
 ing that nothing succeeds like success. No result 
 came of these unauthorized ventures, and, what 
 with red tape and jealousies and disputes, it was 
 
170 THE SPANISH BORDERLANDS 
 
 some years before a contract was concluded with 
 any one. The King had his Armada on his mind 
 and, for the time, was pinning all his hopes upon 
 that. But, in 1588, his Armada was beaten and 
 almost wholly destroyed. His command of the sea 
 was gone. And he turned again to his subjects 
 in Mexico for help to make his power in the New 
 World secure. At last, in 1595, just when Vizcaino 
 was commissioned to colonize and hold California, 
 the contract for the conquest and settlement of 
 New Mexico was awarded to Juan de Ofiate of 
 Zacatecas. The two expeditions, indeed, were 
 regarded as parts of the same enterprise. 
 
 Oiiate was the scion of a family distinguished for 
 generations through service to the Crown in Spain 
 and in Mexico; and he had married Isabel Tolosa 
 Cortes Montezuma, a descendant of both Cortes 
 and Montezuma II. He was granted extensive 
 privileges in New Mexico, much like those con- 
 ferred upon Menendez in Florida thirty years 
 before. His colonists were promised the rank of 
 hidalgo — for themselves and their heirs. The 
 expedition was prepared in feudal style. Men of 
 means were made captains. They did homage and 
 swore fealty to Onate, sounded fife and drum, 
 set up standards, and raised companies at their 
 
NEW MEXICO 171 
 
 own expense. Rich men staked their fortunes on 
 the gamble. 
 
 Zacatecas was made the central rendezvous for 
 the colony, which was recruited from far and near. 
 Jealousies and underminings interfered so much 
 in the preliminary stages that it was 1598 before 
 Onate left Santa Barbara, the last important out- 
 post on the frontier. In his train went one hun- 
 dred and thirty soldier-settlers, most of them 
 taking their families, a band of Franciscans under 
 Father Martinez, a large retinue of negro and 
 Indian slaves, seven thousand head of stock, and 
 eighty-three wagons and carts for transporting the 
 women and children and the baggage. 
 
 The baggage must have been ample indeed if all 
 the officers were as well supplied as Captain Luis de 
 Velasco with wardrobe and appurtenances suitable 
 to a cavalier in the wilderness. Don Luis had one 
 suit of "blue Italian velvet trimmed with wide gold 
 passementerie, consisting of doublet, breeches, and 
 green silk stockings with blue garters and points of 
 gold lace," a suit of rose satin, one of straw-colored 
 satin, another of purple Castilian cloth, another of 
 chestnut colored cloth, a sixth and daintier one, 
 of Chinese flowered silk. He had two doublets of 
 Castilian dressed kid and one of royal lion skin 
 
172 THE SPANISH BORDERLANDS 
 
 gold-trimmed; two linen shirts, fourteen pairs of 
 Rouen linen breeches, forty pairs of boots, shoes, 
 and gaiters, three hats, one black, trimmed around 
 the crown with a silver cord and black, purple, 
 and white feathers, another gray with yellow and 
 purple feathers, the third of purple taffeta trimmed 
 with blue, purple, and yellow feathers and a band 
 of gold and silver passementerie. He took four 
 saddles "of blue flowered Spanish cloth bound with 
 Cordovan leather," three suits of armor, and three 
 suits of horse armor, a silver-handled lance with 
 gold and purple tassels, a sword and gilded dagger 
 with belts stitched in purple and yellow silk, a 
 broadsword, two shields, and — as a protection 
 against weather and sneezes — a raincoat and six 
 linen handkerchiefs. A bedstead and two mat- 
 tresses with coverlet, sheets, pillows, and pillow- 
 cases and a canvas mattress-bag bound with leather 
 completed his outfit — not forgetting servants, 
 thirty horses and mules, and a silken banner. 
 
 Instead of continuing down the Conchos, Onate 
 opened a new trail direct to the Rio Grande. 
 Early in April (1598) he reached the Medanos, 
 the great sand dunes south of El Paso. On the 
 twenty-sixth he camped on the river just below 
 El Paso. Here on the thirtieth he took formal 
 
NEW MEXICO 173 
 
 possession "of all the Kingdoms and provinces of 
 New Mexico, on the Rio del Norte, in the name of 
 our Lord King Philip." The day was given up 
 to a celebration beginning with artillery salutes, 
 Mass, and a sermon, and concluding with the 
 presentation of a comedy written by Captain Far- 
 fan. On the 4th of May Onate crossed the Rio 
 Grande at El Paso. Then with sixty men he went 
 ahead in person "to pacify the land." Two 
 months later, at the present Santo Domingo, a 
 pueblo west of Santa Fe, he received the sub- 
 mission of the chiefs of seven provinces. Con- 
 tinuing north a short distance, on July 11, 1598, he 
 established headquarters at the pueblo of Caypa, 
 then renamed and ever since known as San Juan. 
 With the aid of fifteen hundred natives he began 
 the construction of an irrigation ditch. His colo- 
 nists came up with him early in August; and, on the 
 8th of September, they celebrated the completion 
 of the first church erected in New Mexico. On the 
 next day chiefs from all the explored territory 
 assembled to do honor to their Spanish super-chief 
 and to receive their rods of office as lieutenants of 
 King Philip. A tone of solemnity was given the 
 scene by holding the ceremony in the kiva, or 
 sacred council chamber, of the pueblo. There, on 
 
174 THE SPANISH BORDERLANDS 
 
 bended knee, the chiefs swore allegiance to God 
 and the King of Spain, and sealed the oath by 
 kissing the hands of Oiiate and Father Martinez. 
 
 The ceremony over, Onate gave his mind to 
 plans for exploration. He wished to explore the 
 Buffalo Plains, discover the Strait of Anian, open 
 a land route to the Pacific, and take a look at the 
 country northeastward beyond Quivira. 
 
 Sixty men went to the plains to procure meat 
 and tallow and to capture buffalo to domesticate. 
 After a few tilts the plan to tame the ugly beasts 
 was given up, but more than two thousand pounds 
 of tallow were obtained. Oiiate went to Moqui, 
 and from there Marcos Farfan led a party to the 
 gold-fields of Arizona which Espejo had discovered, 
 and staked out claims. On their way to join 
 Oiiate, Juan de Zaldivar and fourteen companions 
 were slain at Acoma, by the rebellious People of 
 the White Rock. To punish the offenders Oiiate 
 sent out an expedition which captured Acoma 
 after two days of terrific fighting on its stone 
 stairs, laid the pueblo waste by fire, and exter- 
 minated most of its inhabitants. Shortly after- 
 ward Onate led eighty men down the Canadian 
 River, crossed Oklahoma, and entered Quivira at 
 Wichita, Kansas; but he was forced to retreat by 
 
NEW MEXICO 175 
 
 Indian hostility. Another golden dream had a 
 prosaic awakening. 
 
 Meanwhile disaster had befallen the colony, 
 which by this time had moved its headquarters 
 across the Rio Grande to San Gabriel, near Chama 
 River. A dry season had made food scarce and, 
 when Onate returned, he confiscated the supplies 
 in the pueblos, leaving the Indians destitute. The 
 friars, whose first thought was for their missions, 
 were now in conflict with Onate. One of them 
 wrote of him: "In all the expeditions he has butch- 
 ered many Indians, human blood has been shed, 
 and he has committed thefts, sackings, and other 
 atrocities. I pray that God may grant him the 
 grace to do penance for all his deeds." Hunger 
 drove most of the settlers and all the friars but 
 one back to Santa Barbara. Among those who 
 withdrew, ruined in fortune, was Captain Luis de 
 Velasco, the erstwhile Beau Brummel of the satin 
 coats. Oiiate sent soldiers after his faint-hearted 
 colonists to arrest and bring them back. Some of 
 them returned, and Father Escobar came north as 
 the new superior of the missionaries, bringing six 
 new friars. 
 
 Finally, in 1604, Onate carried out his intention 
 of reaching the South Sea. It was his last throw of 
 
176 THE SPANISH BORDERLANDS 
 
 the dice. By this time he and his friends were 
 ruined in fortune, and his reputation was under a 
 cloud as a result of charges made by his rivals and 
 enemies. New Mexico was already a white ele- 
 phant on the royal hands. Onate must make a hit 
 somewhere, and Vizcaino had just focused atten- 
 tion on California. Westward, therefore, Onate 
 again turned. With thirty men he followed the 
 footsteps of Espejo and Farfan and went on to the 
 Colorado, down the Colorado to the Gulf of Cali- 
 fornia; explored the shore of the Gulf, found no 
 pearl fisheries, and returned to San Gabriel con- 
 vinced that California was an island. On the way 
 he had heard from an Indian wag of a land to the 
 north where people slept under water and wore 
 golden bracelets; of a race of unipeds; of giant 
 Amazons on a silver island to the west; of a tribe 
 with long ears trailing on the ground, and of an- 
 other nation which lived on smells. And, as Father 
 Escobar indited of these matters, since God had 
 created greater wonders and "since they have been 
 affirmed by so many and diflPerent tribes . . . they 
 cannot lack foundation." 
 
 New Mexico was an expense. It had not led to 
 discovery of the Strait of Anian ; the distant mines 
 ot Arizona could not be worked without Indian 
 
NEW MEXICO 177 
 
 labor, which could only be procured by keeping a 
 large and costly military force in the country. The 
 new Viceroy of Mexico reported on the province 
 unfavorably to the King and urged that all ef- 
 forts now be concentrated on California. The colo- 
 nists were as disheartened as the Viceroy. They 
 threatened to leave if ample supplies did not arrive 
 within the year. At the same time, in August, 
 1607, Onate asked for his release, unless sufficient 
 aid was to be sent to him. This may have been 
 a bluff. If so, it was called. His request was 
 granted and early in 1609 Pedro de Peralta arrived 
 in San Gabriel as the new Governor with instruc- 
 tions to find a better site and move the capital and 
 colony thither. Thus Peralta founded the town of 
 Santa Fe. Onate returned to Mexico, where the 
 charges against him were pending for more than a 
 decade. The rewards for his services were poverty, 
 enemies, and disappointment. Nevertheless, he 
 had founded a permanent outpost for Spain and a 
 colony which after three centuries gives character 
 to one of our commonwealths. 
 
 Hopes of finding rich minerals in New Mexico 
 having failed, the province remained chiefly a 
 missionary field, with its principal secular settle- 
 ment at Santa Fe. But as a missionary province 
 
178 THE SPANISH BORDERLANDS 
 
 it flourished. According to Father Benavides, by 
 1630 there were fifty friars at work. Their twenty- 
 five missions included ninety pueblos and sixty 
 thousand converts. At each mission there were a 
 school and workshops, where the neophytes were 
 taught reading, writing, singing, instrumental music, 
 and the manual arts. 
 
 The account which Father Benavides gives of 
 the Queres missions is typical of all. ** Passing 
 forward another four leagues," he says, "the Queres 
 nation commences with its first pueblo, that of San 
 Felipe, and extends more than ten leagues in seven 
 pueblos. There must be in them four thousand 
 souls, all baptized. There are three monasteries 
 with very costly and beautiful churches, aside from 
 those which each pueblo has. These Indians are 
 very dexterous in reading, writing, and playing on 
 all kinds of instruments and are skilled in all the 
 crafts, thanks to the great industry of the friars 
 who converted them." 
 
 For eighty years Spaniards and Indians dwelt 
 at peace with each other. But while the Indians 
 accepted the religion of the friars, they also pre- 
 served their own — as they have preserved it to 
 this day — and, under demands that they give it 
 up, coupled with penances and punishments, they 
 
NEW MEXICO 179 
 
 became sullen. Then, too, they were driven to 
 labor for their conquerors. The secret bitterness 
 flamed up in the Pueblo Revolt of 1680, led by 
 Pope, a Tewa medicine man, who had suffered 
 chains and flogging. At this time the Spanish 
 population numbered nearly three thousand set- 
 tlers, living chiefly in the upper Rio Grande valley 
 between Isleta and Taos. Besides the towns of 
 Santa Fe and Santa Cruz de la Canada, a settle- 
 ment had also been formed on the river at El Paso, 
 now the Mexican town of Juarez. In addition 
 to the labor enforced on them, the Indians paid 
 tribute yearly in cloth and maize for the benefit of 
 the alien settlers. They were more than willing 
 to listen to Pope when he talked of casting out the 
 heavy-handed strangers. Pope — whipped out of 
 San Juan for witchcraft — made his headquarters 
 in Taos, whither he called the northern chiefs. 
 The depth of his hatred for the Spaniards may be 
 gauged by the fact that, having reason to suspect 
 the fidelity of his son-in-law, Bua, governor of the 
 San Juan pueblo, he slew him with his own hand. 
 Isleta and the Piros pueblos to the south did not 
 join in the conspiracy, but their lack was more than 
 compensated by an alliance with the fierce Apaches. 
 So masterly was Pope's generalship that the blow 
 
180 THE SPANISH BORDERLANDS 
 
 fell simultaneously on all the settlements. Men, 
 women, children, and friars — over four hundred 
 all told — were slaughtered indiscriminately; the 
 churches, houses, and property destroyed. About 
 twenty-five hundred Spaniards escaped to the 
 settlement at El Paso. 
 
 For eighteen years the Indians held New Mexi- 
 co. There was not a resident Spaniard north of 
 the El Paso district. In 1692 Governor Diego de 
 Vargas led an expedition for the reduction of the 
 province. The reclamation and fortification of 
 that territory, and the spread of Spanish rule 
 beyond it, had again become vital. Vargas re- 
 conquered New Mexico with comparatively little 
 bloodshed; for most of the pueblos, taken by sur- 
 prise, submitted without a blow. But when Var- 
 gas returned in 1693 with a colony of eight hun- 
 dred settlers, the northern towns made a stiff 
 resistance. It was not until the end of 1694 that 
 they were conquered. Taos, where the old con- 
 spiracy had had its roots, was sacked and burned. 
 The Indian warriors, taken prisoners in the battles, 
 were executed; hundreds of women and children 
 were made slaves. Once more in the following 
 year did the Indians rise to repel the invader, but 
 their strength was broken. A series of bloody 
 
NEW MEXICO 181 
 
 campaigns by Vargas and his successor, Cubero, 
 crushed at last their heroic spirit. The recon- 
 quest was complete, and Spanish rule was made 
 secure exactly a century after it had first been 
 established by Onate. 
 
 For another century and a quarter New Mexico 
 continued under Spain; then it became a part of 
 independent Mexico. It was a typical Spanish 
 outpost, isolated and sluggish, quite unlike the 
 lively mining and political centers of New Spain 
 farther south. At Santa Fe a long succession of 
 military governors ruled over the province and 
 engaged sometimes in unsavory quarrels with the 
 missionary superiors. 
 
 The Indian pueblos were missions under the 
 spiritual control of the padres, and mimic munici- 
 palities with their own officers under the political 
 and economic control of alcaldes, appointed by 
 the Governor. In the larger pueblos Spanish and 
 in the smaller half-caste alcaldes were usually 
 appointed. The alcaldes appointed agents and 
 seldom visited their Indian charges. The offices 
 were means, not alone of controlling, but more par- 
 ticularly of exploiting the natives. Each pueblo 
 was required to carry provisions to the alcalde's 
 
182 THE SPANISH BORDERLANDS 
 
 home — a sheep a week, butter, beans, tortil- 
 las, and other provisions. The natives also ren- 
 dered personal service on the alcalde's hacienda 
 or in his household. They planted, tilled, and 
 harvested his crops, sometimes going long dis- 
 tances and carrying their tools. When the wool or 
 the cotton was gathered it was parceled out to 
 the Indians to manufacture into fabrics — for the 
 alcalde's benefit. Women were required for house- 
 hold service, with resulting scandals. Indians 
 often bought, at high prices, freedom for their 
 women from this household service. The alcaldes 
 and the Governor monopolized most of the trade 
 with their pueblos. Weekly labor for the Gover- 
 nor was so distributed that Indians from Rio 
 Arriba went to Santa Fe to work between Resur- 
 rection Day and All Saint's Day; those from Rio 
 Abajo going during the rest of the year. Every 
 week lave women were sent to grind corn and 
 do other work at the Governor's palace, while a 
 certain number of men worked on his haciendas. 
 For a picture of New Mexico in 1744 we are 
 indebted to Father Menchero, procurator of the 
 missions. The province included not only the set- 
 tlements of the upper Rio Grande but the El 
 Paso district as well, on both sides of the river. 
 
NEW MEXICO 183 
 
 At that time there were seven hundred and sev- 
 enty-one households, or about ten thousand per- 
 sons, for famihes were surprisingly large. Two- 
 thirds of these people lived in the four principal 
 cities of Santa Fe, Santa Cruz, Albuquerque, and 
 El Paso. Of these El Paso was the largest. The 
 remainder lived on haciendas and ranchos — 
 rural villages they were, ranging from five to 
 forty-six families each. The Franciscans still ad- 
 ministered twenty-five missions, each contain- 
 ing from thirty to one hundred families. Nine- 
 teen of these missions were in the upper district, 
 between Isleta and Taos, Pecos and Zuiii. Six 
 were strung along the Rio Grande below El Paso 
 within a distance of twenty leagues. AU these were 
 then on the right bank of the stream, but sub- 
 sequent changes in the river bed have left some 
 of them in Texas. Population increased slowly 
 but steadily to the end of Spanish rule, when 
 the province, not counting the El Paso district, 
 had thirty thousand settlers. 
 
 The Spaniards, so-called, were by no means all 
 full-blood Castilians. In every frontier Spanish 
 colony the soldiery was to a large extent made 
 up of castes — mestizos, coyotes, and mulattoes 
 — and New Mexico was no exception to the 
 
184 THE SPANISH BORDERLANDS 
 
 rule. As time went on, the Indian admixture in- 
 creased. The laws of the Indies provided that 
 Spaniards and castes should not settle in the In- 
 dian towns and missions, on the theory that the as- 
 sociation was bad for the Indian. Nevertheless, 
 before the end of the eighteenth century many 
 Spaniards, and especially the castes, settled in the 
 Indian pueblos, where they gained possession of the 
 Indian lands, and by getting the Indians in their 
 debt, kept them in practical peonage. Similarly, 
 the castes often got control of the pueblo gov- 
 ernment. The Indians were required by law to 
 nominate their own *' governors," but in many 
 cases the coyotes and mulattoes managed to secure 
 the election. 
 
 Of all the elements in the population none was 
 more unhappy than the genizaros, or Janissaries. 
 These were Indians of various tribes of the plains, 
 ransomed or captured in childhood, employed as 
 servants, and Christianized. They were employed 
 especially as scouts and as auxiliaries in cam- 
 paigns, hence their name. They were an extra- 
 neous element in society, and they tended to seg- 
 regate themselves from both Spaniards and Pueb- 
 los. Frequently they ran away. For these out- 
 casts the missionaries in 1740 founded a mission 
 
NEW MEXICO 185 
 
 settlement at Thome on the Rio Grande, just be- 
 low Isleta; others were founded later at Belen 
 and Sabinal. 
 
 The river valleys of New Mexico were highly 
 productive. Irrigation was commonly practiced. 
 In the upper districts maize, wheat, cotton, garden 
 truck, cattle, sheep, goats, horses, mules, and 
 fowls were raised on a considerable scale. Sheep 
 raising flourished especially in the north, and 
 cattle abounded at Taos and Soledad. The In- 
 dians manufactured fabrics of cotton, wool, buf- 
 falo, deer, and rabbit hides. At Albuquerque 
 woolen and cotton fabrics were woven by the 
 Spaniards. At El Paso a fine acequia watered 
 large fields of wheat and maize and vineyards 
 which produced "fine wine in no way inferior to 
 that of Spain." Some of the haciendas were large 
 and productive. That of Captain Rubin de Celis, 
 ten leagues below El Paso, had on it twenty Span- 
 ish families. The Treval hacienda, at Laguna, 
 customarily planted two hundred fanegas (400 
 bushels) of wheat and three hundred fanegas of 
 maize, all by means of tributary Indian labor. 
 
 At Taos annual fairs were held. Wild Indians 
 brought captive children and buffalo and deer 
 skins, to exchange for horses, mules, knives, 
 
186 THE SPANISH BORDERLANDS 
 
 hatchets, and trinkets. The Moqui pueblos had 
 a large commerce in cattle and fabrics with the 
 surrounding tribes, particularly with the Yumas 
 and Mojaves of the Colorado River. The Span- 
 iards conducted Indian trade at long distances, 
 making frequent or even annual expeditions to the 
 Jumanos of central Texas, to the Pawnees and the 
 Arapahoes beyond the Arkansas, and to the vari- 
 ous tribes of the Utah Basin, as far as Lake Utah. 
 The monopohstic system of Spain restricted external 
 trade to narrow channels. The great commercial 
 event of the year was the departure of the annual 
 caravan of cattle, carts, and pack mules, bound for 
 Chihuahua, whither exports were sent and whence 
 manufactured articles were obtained. 
 
 In the eighteenth century the French of Louisi- 
 ana began to smuggle into New Mexico much 
 needed merchandise. After Louisiana passed into 
 the hands of Spain, communication was opened 
 with St. Louis, and trade with the Plains Indians 
 increased. Early in the nineteenth century Ameri- 
 can traders and adventurers attempted to enter 
 the country, but usually fell into Spanish prisons. 
 In 1806 Zebulon Pike, the American explorer, was 
 captured by Spaniards and taken to Santa Fe. To 
 his American eye Santa Fe's one-story houses of 
 
NEW MEXICO 187 
 
 thick adobe walls looked from a distance "like a 
 fleet of flat-boats which are seen in the spring and 
 fall seasons descending the Ohio. . . . The public 
 square is in the center of the town, on the north 
 side of which is situated the palace or government 
 house, with the quarters for the guards, etc. The 
 other side of the square is occupied by the clergy 
 and public oflScers. ... The streets are very nar- 
 row, say, in general, twenty-five feet. The supposed 
 population is 4500." 
 
 When Mexico threw off the Spanish yoke in 
 1821, New Mexico became a province of Mexico, 
 with a northern boundary at the forty-second 
 parallel, including Colorado, Utah, Nevada, and 
 most of Arizona. The exclusive policy of Spain 
 was now relaxed, and American trappers and 
 traders found free access. American pioneers like 
 Kit Carson and Charles Bent adopted the country 
 and married its daughters; and traders opened the 
 great caravan trade from St. Louis to Santa Fe, 
 thence to Chihuahua and to Los Angeles. When 
 New Mexico passed into American hands the pop- 
 ulation had reached sixty thousand — a figure 
 about equal to the total French population in North 
 America at the end of the French regime. 
 
CHAPTER VII 
 
 THE JESUITS ON THE PACIFIC SLOPE 
 
 On the Pacific slope the frontiers of effective settle* 
 ment marched northward by slow degrees into 
 Arizona and Lower California. This advance was 
 led throughout the seventeenth century by Span- 
 ish Jesuits, contemporaries of the better known 
 Black Robes in Canada. Laboring in a much 
 more propitious field, they were able to achieve 
 more permanent results than their less numerous 
 and less fortunate French brothers in the Cana- 
 dian wilderness. The Jesuits on the Pacific slope 
 made important contributions to civilization. A 
 large part of the population in this area today 
 has sprung from ancestors, on one side or the 
 other, who got their first touch of European cul- 
 ture in the Jesuit missions and most of the towns 
 and cities of today have grown up on the sites of 
 early missions. 
 
 Missions were an integral part of Spain's scheme 
 
 188 
 
JESUITS ON THE PACIFIC SLOPE 189 
 
 of conquest. Experience on the frontiers of Mexi- 
 co, repeated in Florida, proved that the methods 
 of such conquerors and pacificators as Guzman and 
 De Soto had worked ill on the whole. A mass of 
 legislation and royal instructions issued in the 
 seventeenth century indicates that the authorities 
 desired to approximate to that ideal of conquest 
 through love for which Fray Luis Cancer had, long 
 ago, laid down his life on the sands of Florida. 
 
 The Indians had a definite place in the Spanish 
 scheme. Apart from the fact that Indian wars 
 were costly, Spain wished to have the natives 
 preserved and rendered docile and contented wards 
 of the government. She needed their toil, because 
 of the dearth of Spanish laborers. Furthermore 
 she lacked white settlers. She planned, there- 
 fore, to gather the Indians into permanent villages, 
 to civilize them, and to use them as a bulwark 
 against other European powers who might seek to 
 plant colonies on her territory. Not to the con- 
 quistador could she look for fulfillment of this 
 design. For, though his contract bade him be 
 tender, it offered him no means of enriching himself 
 except through the fortuitous discovery of precious 
 metals or pearls — or by plundering and exploit- 
 ing the natives. Spain turned to the missionaries 
 
190 THE SPANISH BORDERLANDS 
 
 because the Indians were "well disposed to receive 
 the friars" — as Mendoza had written to the King 
 in describing Guzman's devastations in Sinaloa — 
 "while they flee from us as stags fly in the forest."^ 
 
 In the early days of conquest in the West Indies 
 and Mexico the control of the Indians had been 
 largely in the hands of trustees, called encomen- 
 deros. They were secular persons, for the most 
 part, entrusted {encomendar means to entrust) 
 with the conversion, protection, and civilization 
 of the natives, in return for the right to exploit 
 them. In theory the scheme was benevolent. But 
 human nature is weak, and the tendency of the 
 trustee was to give his attention chiefly to exploi- 
 tation and to neglect his obligations. As a result 
 the encomienda became a black spot in the Span- 
 ish colonial system. Efforts were made to abolish 
 the evil, and by slow degrees some progress was 
 achieved. Then, too, as the frontiers expanded, 
 the institution tended to die a natural death. 
 Civilized Aztecs were worth the trouble of conquer- 
 ing; wild Apaches and warlike Creeks hardly, for 
 the cost of subduing them was disproportionate to 
 the returns from their labor. 
 
 On the new frontiers, therefore, the care and 
 
 » Lowery, Spanish Settlements, vol. i, p. 400. 
 
JESUITS ON THE PACIFIC SLOPE 191 
 
 control of the Indians was given over largely to the 
 missionaries, aided by soldiers. The missionaries 
 were expected to convert, civilize, and control the 
 Indians, without the old abuses of exploitation. 
 So it was that in the seventeenth and eighteenth 
 centuries missions became almost universal on 
 the frontiers. They operated simultaneously in 
 the still unsubdued areas of northern Mexico, and 
 in South Carolina, Georgia, Florida, Texas, New 
 Mexico, Arizona, and Lower California. 
 
 It was in 1591 that the Jesuits, having after vain 
 labors abandoned the Atlantic coast, first entered 
 Sinaloa to heal the wounds made by the conquer- 
 ors, and to gather together, convert, and civilize 
 the remains of the native population. As they 
 went slowly northward, tribe by tribe, valley by 
 valley, they founded missions beside the streams, 
 attracted the natives to them by gifts and the 
 display of religious pictures and images, bap- 
 tized them, and gradually influenced them to col- 
 lect in villages about the missions, to submit to 
 the disciphne of the padre in charge, to cultivate 
 the soil, and to learn a few simple arts and crafts. 
 By the middle of the seventeenth century they had 
 reached the upper Sonora valley. Meanwhile set- 
 tlers had crept in behind the missionaries to engage 
 
192 THE SPANISH BORDERLANDS 
 
 in mining, grazing, and agriculture. These little 
 outposts on the Pacific coast mainland became a 
 base for later developments in adjacent California. 
 The man who led the way into Arizona and Lower 
 California was one of the heroic figures of Ameri- 
 can history — Eusebio Francisco Kino. This hardy 
 Jesuit was born near Trent in 1645, of Italian par- 
 entage, and was educated in Austria. He distin- 
 guished himself as a student at Freiburg and Ingol- 
 stadt and, in consequence, was offered a professor- 
 ship in mathematics at the royal university of Ba- 
 varia. He rejected the offer and vowed himself to 
 the missionary service, as a follower of Saint Fran- 
 cis Xavier, to whose intercession he attributed his 
 recovery from a serious illness. He had hoped to 
 go to the Far East, literally to follow in the foot- 
 steps of his patron, but there came a call for 
 missionaries in New Spain and hither he came 
 instead. Arriving in 1681, he proceeded two years 
 later, as rector of missions, with an expedition 
 designed to colonize the peninsula of California. 
 The natives, though among the lowest in intelli- 
 gence and morality of any tribes in America, were 
 unwarlike and tractable on the whole. But a 
 prolonged drought on the mainland, the base for 
 supplies, caused the abandonment of the enterprise. 
 
JESUITS ON THE PACIFIC SLOPE 193 
 
 Destiny reserved for Kino a more promising 
 field. Missions had already been established over 
 all of southern and eastern Sonora. But beyond, 
 to the west and north, lay the virgin territory of 
 Pimeria Alta, home of the upper Pimas, a region 
 which comprised what is now northern Sonora and 
 southern Arizona. At that day it was all included 
 in the district of Sonora, to which it belonged until 
 1853, when the northern portion was cut off by the 
 Gadsden Purchase. 
 
 Father Kino arrived in Pimeria Alta in March, 
 1687, the very month when La Salle met his death 
 in the wilds of central Texas, and began a term 
 of service that was to last for twenty-four years. 
 The frontier mission station when he arrived was 
 at Cucurpe, in the valley of the river now called 
 San Miguel. Cucurpe still exists, a quiet little 
 Mexican pueblo, sleeping under the shadow of 
 the mountains, and inhabited by descendants of 
 Indians who were there in Kino's time. 
 
 Some fifteen miles above Cucurpe, on the San 
 Miguel River, Kino founded the mission of Neus- 
 tra Senora de los Dolores — Our Lady of Sor- 
 rows. The site chosen was one of peculiar fitness 
 and beauty. Nearby the little San Miguel breaks 
 through a narrow canyon, whose walls rise several 
 
 13 
 
194 THE SPANISH BORDERLANDS 
 
 hundred feet in height. Above and below the 
 gorge the river valley broadens out into rich vegas, 
 or irrigable bottom lands, half a mile or more in 
 width and several miles in length. On the east 
 the valley is walled in by Sierra de Santa Teresa, 
 on the west by the Sierra del Torreon. Closing 
 the lower valley and hiding Cucurpe stands Cerro 
 Prieto; and cutting off the observer's view to- 
 ward the north rises the grand and rugged Sierra 
 Azul. At the canyon where the river breaks 
 through, the western mesa juts out and forms a 
 cliff approachable only from the east. On this 
 promontory, protected on three sides from attack, 
 and affording a magnificent view, was placed the 
 mission of Dolores. Here still stand its ruins, in 
 full view of the valley above and below, of the 
 mountain walls on the east and west, the north and 
 south, and within the sound of the rushing cataract 
 of the San Miguel as it courses through the gorge. 
 This meager ruin on the cliff, consisting now of 
 a mere fragment of an adobe wall and saddening 
 piles of debris, is the most venerable of all the many 
 mission remains in Arizona and northern Sonora, 
 for Our Lady of Sorrows was mother of them all, 
 and for nearly a quarter of a century was the home 
 of the remarkable missionary who built them. 
 
JESUITS ON THE PACIFIC SLOPE 195 
 
 From his station at Dolores, Kino and his com- 
 panions, Jesuits and soldiers, pushed the frontier of 
 missionary work and exploration across Arizona 
 to the Gila and Colorado rivers. Most faithful 
 amongst his associates, and his companion on many 
 a long journey over the deserts, was Lieutenant 
 Juan Mange, who, like Kino, has left us excellent 
 accounts of these pioneer days. 
 
 Kino began his exploration into what is now Ari- 
 zona in 1691. He was accompanied on his first 
 journey by Father Salvatierra, who had come from 
 the south as a visitor. They went north as far as 
 Tumacacori, a Pima village on the Santa Cruz 
 River, now the site of a venerable mission ruin. In 
 the following year Kino reached San Xavier del Bac 
 and entered the valley of the San Pedro, north of 
 Douglas. At Bac he spoke to the natives the 
 word of God, "and on a map of the world showed 
 them the lands, the rivers, and the seas over which 
 we fathers had come from afar to bring them the 
 saving knowledge of the holy faith"; so giving 
 them a lesson in geography, as well as a bit of Gos- 
 pel truth. Two years later Kino descended the 
 Santa Cruz River to the Casa Grande, the famous 
 ruin on the Gila River, of which in his writings he 
 gives us the first description. "The casa grande,'' 
 
196 THE SPANISH BORDERLANDS 
 
 he observes, "is a four-story building, as large as a 
 castle, and equal to the largest church in these 
 lands of Sonora. It is said that the ancestors of 
 Montezuma deserted and depopulated it, and, be- 
 set by the neighboring Apaches, left for the East, 
 or Casas Grandes, ' and that from there they turned 
 toward the south and southwest, finally founding 
 the great city of Mexico." Mange adds a note 
 of description. He mentions the thick walls of 
 "strong cement and clay ... so smooth on the 
 inside that they resemble planed boards, and so 
 polished that they shine like Puebla pottery." 
 
 Despite his success amongst the Pimas, Father 
 Kino had never lost interest in the Indians of Lower 
 California, and in 1695 he and Salvatierra, still 
 working in unison, went to Mexico to urge a new 
 attempt to found missions there. Two years later 
 the two had the distinction — always cherished by 
 Kino — of being personally named by the King to 
 head the work. But the settlers in Sonora clam- 
 ored to have Kino remain in Pimeria Alta, where 
 he was needed to help keep the Indians quiet, and 
 Father Picolo went with Salvatierra instead. But 
 on Kino's continued support the success of the 
 work largely depended. 
 
 ^ In Chihuahua. 
 
JESUITS ON THE PACIFIC SLOPE 197 
 
 The difficulty of sending supplies across the Gulf 
 to Salvatierra's new missions quickened Kino's in- 
 terest in northwestern exploration, and brought 
 about a revolution in his geographical notions. He 
 had come to America with the belief that California 
 was a peninsula, but, under the influence of cur- 
 rent teachings, he had accepted the theory that it 
 was an island. During his journey to the Gila in 
 1699, however, the Indians had made him a pres- 
 ent of some blue shells, such as he had seen on the 
 western coast of California and nowhere else. He 
 now reasoned that, as the Indians could not have 
 crossed the Gulf, California must be, after all, a 
 peninsula, and that it might be possible to find a 
 land route over which to send provisions and stock 
 to Salvatierra's struggling establishments. To 
 test this theory was the principal object of Kino's 
 later explorations. By 1702 he had explored the 
 Colorado from the mouth of the Gila to the Gulf 
 and had proved, to his own satisfaction at least, 
 that Lower California was not an island but a 
 peninsula. The map which he made of his ex- 
 plorations, published in 1705, was not improved 
 upon for more than a century. 
 
 As Kino explored and questioned natives about 
 blue shells and hidden trails over the arid deserts 
 
198 THE SPANISH BORDERLANDS 
 
 and the stark peaks, he baptized and taught in 
 little huts which the wondering Indians built to 
 serve as chapels. Kino's diaries reveal not only a 
 consuming zeal for his faith, but a deep love and 
 paternal care for his red-skinned flock. He was not 
 satisfied with itinerant preaching, which left the 
 Indians to revert to their pagan ways between 
 his visits ; but he gathered them into missions as the 
 law required. By 1696 Kino had begun to prepare 
 for resident missions in Arizona by founding stock 
 ranches in the Santa Cruz and San Pedro valleys, 
 and four years later had begun the building of San 
 Xavier del Bac, near the present Tucson, which is 
 in use to this day. On April 28, 1700, he wrote in 
 his diary: " . . .we began the foundations of a 
 very large and capacious church and house of San 
 Xavier del Bac, all the many people working with 
 much pleasure and zeal, some in digging for the 
 foundations, others in hauling many and very good 
 stones of tezontle, ^ from a little hill which was about 
 a quarter of a league away. For the mortar for 
 these foundations it was not necessary to haul 
 water, because by means of the irrigation ditches 
 we very easily conducted the water where we 
 wished. And that house, with its great court and 
 
 * A porous stone much used by Mexicans for building. 
 
JESUITS ON THE PACIFIC SLOPE 199 
 
 garden nearby, will be able to have throughout the 
 year all the water it may need, running to any 
 place or work-room one may please, and one of the 
 greatest and best fields in all Nueva Biscaya."' 
 
 The "many people" were three thousand Indians 
 who had gathered to meet him and to beseech him 
 to remain with them. Kino was willing, for he re- 
 garded San Xavier as the strategic point in his 
 plans for advance. He asked permission to move 
 his headquarters thither, but he was needed else- 
 where, and in his stead Father Gonzalvo was sent. 
 In the same year Mission San Gabriel was built at 
 Guebavi and Father San Martin was installed 
 there. For the support of his missions and the In- 
 dians who gathered about them Kino started large 
 stock and grain farms; and once at least he sent 
 as many as seven hundred head of cattle to his 
 brethren on the Peninsula of California. 
 
 As an explorer Kino ranks among the greatest 
 of the Southwest. From Mission Dolores, during 
 the twenty-four years of his ministry, he made over 
 fifty journeys, which varied in length from a hun- 
 dred to a thousand miles. He crossed repeatedly 
 in various directions all the country between the 
 Magdalena and the Gila rivers and between the 
 
 ^ Bolton, Kino's Historical Memoir, vol. ii, pp. 235-36. 
 
200 THE SPANISH BORDERLANDS 
 
 San Pedro and the Colorado. One of his trails lay 
 over the waterless DeviFs Highway, where scores 
 of adventurers have since lost their lives. Some- 
 times his only companions were a few Indian ser- 
 vants. But he usually traveled with plenty of 
 horses and mules from his ranches, sometimes as 
 many as a hundred and thirty head. His physical 
 hardihood was great, and there are many stories of 
 his hard riding. More than once, like a general. 
 Kino mustered his Pima children and sent them 
 out to war against the unsociable Apaches. And, 
 when the Spanish authorities disputed the number 
 of Apache scalps they were requested to pay for, 
 it was Kino who galloped off to count the scalps 
 and see to it that his children were not stinted 
 of their bonus. For himself, he cherished hard- 
 ship. He ate sparingly, drank no wine, and went 
 meagerly clothed. 
 
 Kino's last days were to him a time of stagna- 
 tion and disappointment. The Spanish monarchy 
 was at its lowest ebb, and funds for the support of 
 the missions were not to be had unless they served 
 some important political purpose. Texas, not Ari- 
 zona, was the danger point now, and funds had to 
 be used there. Kino died in 1711 at Magdalena, 
 one of the missions which he had founded, across 
 
JESUITS ON THE PACIFIC SLOPE 201 
 
 the mountains from Dolores. He was not yet 
 seventy. Father Velarde, a companion, has thus 
 described his last moments: "He died as he had 
 lived, with extreme humility and poverty. . . . 
 His deathbed, as his bed had always been, con- 
 sisted of two calfskins for a mattress, two blankets 
 such as the Indians use for covers, and a pack- 
 saddle for a pillow. . . . No one ever saw in him 
 any vice whatsoever, for the discovery of lands and 
 the conversion of souls had purified him. . . . 
 He was merciful to others but cruel to himself." 
 
 For two decades now the Arizona frontier slum- 
 bered. Then, Apache depredations in Sonora, a 
 military inspection, and a visit by the Bishop of 
 Durango shook it to renewed life. A missionary 
 revival followed. In 1732 a new band of Jesuits, 
 mainly Germans — Keler, Sedelmayr, Steiger, 
 Grashof er, Paver — took up the work which the 
 great founder had laid down with his life. San 
 Xavier and others of the abandoned missions were 
 reoccupied. Interest in the border was enhanced 
 by a mining "rush" in 1736. Immense nuggets of 
 free silver were found at Arizonac, in the upper Al- 
 tar valley, just over the present Sonora line. It is 
 from this place that the State of Arizona gets its 
 name. For a time the region fairly hummed with 
 
202 THE SPANISH BORDERLANDS 
 
 life, but after five years the mines played out and 
 there was another dozing spell. A Pima uprising in 
 1751 caused another awakening. To hold the dis- 
 trict a presidio was built at Tubac in 1752. Here 
 the military frontier halted for twenty-four years, 
 and then it advanced to Tucson. 
 
 Meanwhile Salvatierra and his companions — 
 for others had joined him from time to time — were 
 succeeding across the Gulf of California. Having 
 slender royal aid, the missionaries had to depend 
 at first on private alms. In a short time prominent 
 individuals had contributed $47,000, which con- 
 stituted the nucleus of the famous Pious Fund of 
 California. Missionary beginnings were made at 
 Loreto, halfway up the inner coast of the Penin- 
 sula. Soon a palisaded fort and church were con- 
 structed there, and within a year Salvatierra had 
 four launches plying back and forth, to and from 
 the mainland. Gradually the work extended to the 
 surrounding country, new missions were founded 
 in the neighborhood, and explorations were made 
 across the Peninsula to the Pacific. Salvatierra 
 was much interested in Kino's efforts to establish a 
 land route between Arizona and Lower California, 
 and joined him, in 1701, on one of his expeditions. 
 
JESUITS ON THE PACIFIC SLOPE 203 
 
 In a report written in February, 1702, Father 
 Picolo, in fervid and poetic language tells of the 
 landing of himself and Salvatierra and depicts their 
 mission as it appeared to them in their spirit of ex- 
 altation and sacrifice. They had taken, he wrote, 
 ''as the guiding star of our voyage that star of the 
 sea, the most devoted image of the Lady of Loreto, 
 which led us without mishap to the desired port." 
 And on landing they had set up the image "as de- 
 cently as the country and our poverty would per- 
 mit" and had placed the ** undertaking in her 
 hands" that she, like a "beneficent sun," might 
 banish the pagan night blinding the Indians with 
 the shadows of death. Satan had not watched the 
 coming of the padres unmoved at the prospect 
 of losing "his ancient and peaceful possession" of 
 heathen souls. 
 
 As he blinded their understandings, they could not 
 comprehend the words of the light which, with re- 
 splendent rays, spoke the language of heaven for their 
 welfare, while we, upon hearing a language which we 
 had not known, could not in ours, which they had not 
 heard, make known to them the high purpose, for them 
 so advantageous, which had taken us to their lands. 
 And although we had gone to their shores solely to 
 seek the precious pearls of their souls, to nurture them 
 with the heavenly dew of the Divine Word, and to give 
 
204 THE SPANISH BORDERLANDS 
 
 them their luster in Christ, showing them the celestial 
 shell Mary, who conceived for their good, with the 
 gentle dew of heaven, the perfect pearl of first luster, 
 Christ, they thought we came like others who at other 
 times, sometimes not without injury to their people, 
 had landed on their shores in search of the many and 
 rich pearls which were produced in the countless fisher- 
 ies of their coast. With this opinion quickened at 
 the instigation of the Devil, . . . they attacked our 
 little guard . . . with such fury and so thick a 
 shower of arrows and stones that if the Lady had not 
 constituted an army to resist it . . . our purpose 
 would have been frustrated. With this glorious tri- 
 umph their pride was humbled. . . . Some of them 
 came to our camp .... Then through easy inter- 
 course with them we devoted all our efforts to learning 
 their language.^ 
 
 Salvatierra followed the same plan which Kino 
 and his associates employed in establishing their 
 work. He sent a padre, or went himself, to visit a 
 tribe, to make gifts and to talk of religion, until the 
 Indians were won over and were willing to have a 
 mission erected in their village. Each new mis- 
 sion was placed within easy communication of one 
 already established from which supplies could be 
 drawn until the new mission was able to sup- 
 port itself. Some fifteen missions were ultimately 
 established in Salvatierra's domain by separate 
 
 » Bolton, Kino' a Historical Memoir, vol. ii, pp. 47-49. 
 
JESUITS ON THE PACIFIC SLOPE 205 
 
 endowment made through the charity and zeal of 
 some rich Cathohc who sought by this means his 
 own grace and the benefit of the heathen. Two 
 were endowed with ten thousand pesos each by a 
 "priest commissioner of the court of the Holy Of- 
 fice of the Inquisition," another by certain mem- 
 bers of a Jesuit college in Mexico; but the greater 
 part of the Pious Fund was contributed by non- 
 clericals. Patiently Salvatierra and his assistants 
 went on their chosen task, erecting missions, gather- 
 ing the Indians in pueblos under trustworthy na- 
 tive alcaldes, teaching them agriculture, stock 
 raising, saddlery, and shoemaking, improving on 
 the native fashion of weaving, and — for the beau- 
 tifying of the church services and for their own in- 
 nocent entertainment — instructing them in music 
 and singing. 
 
 In the midst of his work Salvatierra was called 
 to Mexico to serve as provincial of New Spain, but 
 at the expiration of his term he returned and con- 
 tinued his work till 1717. For twenty years the 
 history of Lower California had been little more 
 than his own biography. After Salvatierra's death 
 more liberal aid was provided, and new missions 
 were established both in the south and the north. 
 Before their expulsion the Jesuits had founded 
 
206 THE SPANISH BORDERLANDS 
 
 missions and opened trails throughout almost the 
 entire length of the peninsula. 
 
 The lives of such men as Kino and Salvatierra — 
 and of some of their associates who met martyrdom 
 at the hands of their flocks — are the undimming 
 gold of one side of the shield. It was for what he 
 professed to see on the reverse side of that shield 
 that Carlos III, in 1767, banished the Jesuits from 
 his dominions. For a year or two the Franciscans 
 occupied the former Jesuit field; but, when a new 
 advance north was made, the Peninsula was as- 
 signed to the Dominicans and Alta California to 
 the Franciscans. 
 
 The work of the Jesuits in Lower California had 
 opened the way for the colonization of Alta Cali- 
 fornia. The preparations for settlement were made 
 at Loreto and other mission towns, from which the 
 land expeditions started; and the ships from Mex- 
 ico were overhauled and stocked in seaports on the 
 Peninsula. Thus the first stages of the northward 
 journey of the founders of California were made 
 through a province where peaceable natives and a 
 chain of missions and mission farms reduced the 
 hazards of the march. 
 
CHAPTER Vin 
 
 TEXAS 
 
 In the sixteenth century Spain, as we have seen, 
 had thrust up into the North the two outposts of 
 Florida and New Mexico. In time foreign intru- 
 sion made it necessary to occupy the intervening 
 region called Texas, which embraced a goodly slice 
 of what is now Louisiana. While Spain was busy 
 farther south, other nations were encroaching on 
 her northern claims . By 1 670 England had planted 
 strong centers of colonization all the way from 
 Jamaica to New England, and had erected trading 
 posts on Hudson Bay. French traders from Can- 
 ada, meanwhile, had been pushing up the St. Law- 
 rence to the Great Lakes and branching north 
 and south through the wilderness. At the same 
 time French and English buccaneers from the 
 West Indies were marauding the Florida settle- 
 ments and the coast towns of Mexico. English, 
 French, and Spanish territorial claims and frontier 
 
 207 
 
e08 THE SPANISH BORDERLANDS 
 
 settlements clashed. The lines of competition, im* 
 perial and commercial, were drawing tighter with 
 every passing year. 
 
 On the Atlantic coast the Anglo-Spanish fron- 
 tiers clashed with resounding echo from the very 
 moment of the founding of Charleston (1670), just 
 across from the Spanish outpost Santa Elena, on 
 Port Royal Sound. If Plymouth Rock and Hudson 
 Bay were too remote to have a direct influence on 
 Spanish claims, nevertheless their indirect influence 
 — through the acceleration they gave to French 
 activities — was to be potent. France's opportu- 
 nity, indeed, seemed golden. And it was in theWest. 
 In Europe France was rapidly taking the position 
 of supremacy which had been Spain's; and New 
 France promised to become not only a valuable 
 source of revenue through the fur trade — if the 
 wide beaver lands "beyond" could be secured — 
 but also the point of control over the Strait of An- 
 ian for which French explorers as well as Spanish 
 sought. The French had heard also of a great river 
 flowing through the continent; they hoped to dis- 
 cover that river and thus control the best trade 
 route to China. When Joliet and Marquette de- 
 scended the Mississippi to the Arkansas in 1673 and 
 returned to publish their news in Quebec, some of 
 
TEXAS 209 
 
 their hearers at least beHeved that the river had 
 been found. 
 
 Chief of these was Robert CaveHer de la Salle, 
 a recent arrival in Canada. La Salle hurried to 
 France and laid before the King a plan to extend the 
 fur trade to the Illinois country and explore the 
 Mississippi, which rose in Asia, to its mouth. Four 
 years later, having erected posts in Illinois, La Salle 
 landed at the mouth of the Mississippi and claimed 
 the territory along its course for France. The dis- 
 covery that the river emptied into the Mexican 
 Gulf put a new idea into La Salle's fertile brain. 
 He made another journey to France and proposed 
 to plant a colony at the mouth of the Mississippi, 
 and thus to secure the river highway for France and 
 establish a vantage point for the control of the Gulf 
 and for descent upon the Spanish mines of northern 
 Mexico. In the summer of 1684 he sailed from 
 France with his colony; and toward the end of the 
 year he landed on the Texas coast at Matagorda 
 Bay. It was because of faulty maps, perhaps, that 
 he had missed the mouth of the Mississippi. One 
 of his four ships had been captured by Spaniards 
 en route and another was wrecked on entering the 
 bay. Beaujeu, the naval commander, who had 
 quarreled with La Salle from the first, turned his 
 
 14 
 
210 THE SPANISH BORDERLANDS 
 
 vessel about and returned to France, carrying away 
 some of the soldiers and a large quantity of much 
 needed supplies. Tonty, La Salle's lieutenant in 
 the Illinois country, who was to meet him at the 
 mouth of the Mississippi with men and provisions, 
 found no trace of him there and, after vain waiting, 
 returned to the Illinois post. 
 
 Indian attacks and an epidemic worked havoc 
 among the settlers, and La Salle moved his colony 
 to a better site on the Garcitas River near the head 
 of Lavaca Bay. ^ He set out from this point in 
 search of the Mississippi, which he believed to be 
 near, expecting to meet with Tonty. While he 
 was exploring the eastern waters of Matagorda 
 Bay, the last of his ships was wrecked. La Salle 
 then started overla ^ d, northeastward. He reached 
 the Nasoni towns north of the present Nacogdoches 
 in northeastern Texas, some eighty miles from the 
 Red River. Illness, and the desertion of some of 
 his men, forced him to retrace his steps. He found 
 his colony, a mere handful now, facing starva- 
 tion. Though worn with hardships and fatigue. La 
 Salle resolved on the effort to bring help from the 
 
 ^ Not on the Lavaca River as stated by Parkman and Winsor. 
 The author in 1914 determined that the site of the colony was 
 five miles above the mouth of the Garcitas River on the ranch of 
 Mr. Claude Keeran, in Victoria County, Texas. 
 
TEXAS 211 
 
 Elinois posts. This would seem a hopeless under- 
 taking; for he had not found the Mississippi, by 
 which he had previously descended from the Illinois 
 country, and he had no idea of the distances he 
 must travel across an unknown wilderness. He 
 set out nevertheless with a few companions, includ- 
 ing his brother, the Abbe Jean Cavelier, and his 
 nephew Moranget. He crossed the Colorado near 
 the present Columbus and, keeping on northward, 
 forded the Brazos just above Navasota. Here he 
 was treacherously slain by some of his men,^ who 
 had already killed Moranget. 
 
 The survivors of La Salle's party continued 
 northeastward. Some deserted in the Indian towns. 
 The others, including La Salle's brother, crossed 
 the Red River near Texarkana and the intervening 
 country to the mouth of the Arkansas, ascended 
 to Tonty's post on the Illinois, and returned to 
 Canada. They did not inform Tonty of La Salle's 
 death, nor of the perilous condition of the little col- 
 ony on the Gulf. Except for two or three men and 
 some children, who were taken by the Indians — 
 nine persons in all — the whole colony perished. 
 
 ^ Historians have supposed that this dastardly act was com- 
 mitted near the Trinity or the Neches, but evidence now avail- 
 able makes it clear that the spot was between the Brazos and 
 Navasota rivers and near the present city of Navasota. 
 
212 THE SPANISH BORDERLANDS 
 
 When the mishaps attending La Salle's venture are 
 reviewed — including a former attempt to poison 
 him, the capture of one of his ships by the Span- 
 iards, the desertion of Beaujeu, his assassination 
 and the suppression of the news of it from the faith- 
 ful Tonty who might have succored the colony — 
 it is difficult not to suspect that his efforts were 
 beset with subtle treachery from the beginning. 
 
 If the news of La Salle's expedition caused a sen- 
 sation in Spain, it roused the greatest alarm along 
 the whole northern Spanish frontier in the New 
 World, from Chihuahua to Cuba. The West In- 
 dies were no longer solely Spanish. The progress 
 of the century had brought English, French, and 
 Dutch to the lesser islands neglected by Spain. 
 English settlers now occupied the Bermudas and 
 several other islands. English arms had taken 
 Jamaica and, in the peace concluded in 1670, Spain 
 had recognized England's right to it and to the 
 others she had colonized. The French West India 
 Company had founded colonies on Guadeloupe, 
 Martinique, and in the Windward Islands. The 
 Dutch had trading stations on St. Eustatius, To- 
 bago, and Curagao; and English, French, and 
 Dutch held posts in Guiana. Raids from these 
 bases on Spanish ports and treasure fleets were all 
 
TEXAS 213 
 
 too frequent and too costly, even if no recent buc- 
 caneer had rivaled the exploit of Piet Heyn of the 
 Dutch West India Company who, in 1628, had 
 chased the Vera Cruz fleet into Matanzas River, 
 Cuba, and captured its cargo worth $15,000,000. 
 
 That sons of a France growing swiftly in power 
 had pushed south from Canada through the hinter- 
 land and planted themselves on the Gulf where 
 they could cooperate with the lively pirates of the 
 French Indies was news to stir Mexico, Florida, 
 and the Spanish West Indies to a ferment. The 
 Spanish authorities hastily sent out expeditions 
 east and west by sea and land to discover and de- 
 molish La Salle's colony. Mariners from Vera Cruz 
 returned to that harbor to report two wrecked 
 French ships in Matagorda Bay and no sign of 
 a colony. It was concluded that La Salle's ex- 
 pedition had been destroyed and that the French 
 menace was over, for the time being at least. 
 
 The outposts in New Leon and Coahuila, just 
 south of the Rio Grande, had been no less roused 
 than the harbor towns of Havana and Vera Cruz. 
 To the Spanish frontiersmen, dreaming even yet 
 of a rich kingdom "beyond," the thought of a 
 French colony expanding to bar their way was in- 
 tolerable. Their spirit was embodied in the figure 
 
214 THE SPANISH BORDERLANDS 
 
 of Alonso de Leon. A frontiersman by birth and 
 training, famed for a score of daring exploits as a 
 border fighter, Alonso de Leon was well fitted for 
 the task to which the needs of the time summoned 
 him. Under orders from Mexico, in 1686, Leon set 
 off from Monterey on the first of his expeditions in 
 search of La Salle's colony, following the south 
 bank of Rio Grande to the Gulf of Mexico. Next 
 year he reconnoitered the north bank. But not 
 till his third expedition did he come in direct touch 
 with the French peril. He was now governor of 
 Coahuila, at Monclova. This time he encountered 
 a tribe of Indians north of the Rio Grande who 
 were being ruled with all a chief's pomp by a 
 Frenchman called by the Spaniards Jarri. It ap- 
 pears that Jarri was not one of La Salle's settlers, 
 but an independent adventurer who had wan- 
 dered thus early into southwestern Texas from the 
 Illinois country or from Canada. He was prompt- 
 ly stripped of his feathers, of course, and sent to 
 Mexico to be questioned by the Viceroy. 
 
 The oflicials were now thoroughly frightened. A 
 new expedition was immediately sent out under 
 Leon, who took with him Father Damian Mas- 
 sanet, a Franciscan friar, the Frenchman Jarri, one 
 hundred soldiers, and seven hundred mules and 
 
TEXAS 215 
 
 horses. Leon could at least promise the Indians 
 a show of Spanish pomp and power. In March, 
 1689, Leon crossed the Rio Grande and, bearing 
 eastward, crossed the Nueces, Frio, San Antonio, 
 and Guadalupe rivers. Late in April he came upon 
 the site of La Salle's settlement. There stood five 
 huts about a small wooden fort built of ship plank- 
 ing, with the date "1684" carved over the door. 
 The ground was scattered with weapons, casks, 
 broken furniture, and corpses. Among some In- 
 dians a few leagues away Leon found two of the 
 colonists, one of whom had had a hand in La Salle's 
 murder. He learned also that Tonty had erected 
 a fort on a river inland, the Arkansas, or perhaps 
 the Illinois. On the Colorado River Leon and Mas- 
 sanet had a conference with the chief of the Nabe- 
 dache tribe, who had come from the Neches River 
 to meet them. The chief promised to welcome 
 missionaries at his village. 
 
 Leon returned to make a report in which pie- 
 ty and business sense are eloquently combined. 
 "Certainly it is a pity," he admonished, "that 
 people so rational, who plant crops and know that 
 there is a God, should have no one to teach them 
 the Gospel, especially when the province of Texas 
 is so large and fertile and has so fine a climate," 
 
216 THE SPANISH BORDERLANDS 
 
 A large and fertile country already menaced by 
 the French did indeed call for missions. Leon was 
 dispatched a fifth time with one hundred and ten 
 soldiers to escort Massanet and his chosen helpers 
 to the Nabedache towns of the Asinai (Texas) In- 
 dians, near the Neches River in eastern Texas. 
 On the way they paused long enough for Father 
 Massanet to set fire to La Salle's fort. As the 
 Spaniards were approaching their objective from 
 the Southwest, Tonty on a second journey to seek 
 La Salle — in Illinois he had heard sinister reports 
 through the Indians — reached the Red River and 
 sent an Indian courier to the Nabedache chief to 
 request permission to make a settlement in his 
 town. On being told of Leon's proximity Tonty 
 retreated. The fleur-de-lis receded before the ban- 
 ner of Castile. The Spanish flag was raised at the 
 Nabedache village in May, 1690, before the eyes of 
 the wondering natives, formal possession was taken 
 and the mission of San Francisco was founded. 
 The expedition now turned homeward, leaving 
 three Franciscan friars and three soldiers to bold 
 Spain's first outpost in Texas. 
 
 Another expedition, after Alonso de Leon's 
 death in 1691, set out from Monclova under Do- 
 mingo Teran, a former governor of Sinaloa and 
 
TEXAS 217 
 
 Sonora, accompanied by Massanet to found more 
 missions, on the Red River as well as the Neches. 
 Teran returned without having accomplished any- 
 thing, largely because of violent quarrels with Mas- 
 sanet, who opposed the planting of presidios be- 
 side the missions. Massanet remained with two 
 friars and nine soldiers — the peppery padre pro- 
 testing against the presence even of the nine. He 
 soon learned that soldiers were sometimes needed. 
 The Indians, roused by their leaders, turned 
 against the missionaries and ordered them to de- 
 part. There was no force to resist the command. 
 On October 25, 1693, Massanet applied the torch 
 to the first Spanish mission in Texas, even as he had 
 earlier fired La Salle's French fort, and fled. Four 
 soldiers deserted to the Indians. One of them, 
 Jose Urrutia, after leading a career as a great In- 
 dian chief, returned to civilization, and became 
 commander at San Antonio, where his descendants 
 still live and are prominent. The other five, with 
 the three friars, after three months of weary and 
 hungry marching, during forty days of which they 
 were lost, at last entered Coahuila. 
 
 For the time being Texas was now abandoned 
 by both contestants. But the French traders were 
 only looking for a better opportunity and a more 
 
218 THE SPANISH BORDERLANDS 
 
 advantageous spot to continue the conflict, which, 
 on their side, was directed against England 
 as well as Spain. They had learned that Eng- 
 lish fur traders from South Carolina had already 
 penetrated to the Creeks and to other tribes east 
 of the Mississippi and they feared that England 
 would seize the mouth of the river. The Spaniards 
 also were disturbed by the English. They had 
 been driven, in 1686, out of Port Royal and north- 
 ern Georgia. Now they were alarmed by English 
 fur-trading expeditions into Alabama and by the 
 discovery that the Indians of Mobile Bay had 
 moved north to trade with the English of Carolina. 
 Thus, while France prepared to carry out La 
 Salle's plan to colonize the Gulf coast, Spain with 
 jealous eye watched the movements of both Eng- 
 land and France. It was a three-cornered struggle. 
 In 1697 the King of France, Louis XIV, com- 
 missioned Pierre Le Moyne d'Iberville, fighting 
 trader, hero of the fur raids on Hudson Bay, and 
 the most dashing military figure in New France, to 
 found, on the Mexican Gulf, a colony to be named 
 Louisiana. To forestall the French an expedition 
 was immediately dispatched from Vera Cruz to 
 Pensacola Bay, where in November, 1698, the post 
 of San Carlos was erected and garrisoned. The 
 
TEXAS 219 
 
 move was none too soon. In January (1699) 
 Iberville's fleet stood off the harbor and demanded 
 admittance. The commander of San Carlos re- 
 fused courteously but firmly. Iberville rewarded 
 him for his compliments with others from the same 
 mint, withdrew, sailed westward, and built a fort 
 at Biloxi. 
 
 But there were to be no battles, at present, 
 between Spaniards and French for Louisiana. The 
 fate of that territory was settled in Europe. The 
 Spanish King, Charles II, died. He left no son; 
 and, forced by the danger that a dismembering war 
 for the succession would follow on his death, he 
 bequeathed the crown to his grandnephew, the 
 Dulce of Anjou, grandson of Louis XIV and 
 French in blood, sympathies, and education. The 
 new King, Philip V, barkened readily enough to his 
 French grandfather's suggestion that, in order to 
 protect Spain's Gulf possessions from England, 
 France must be allowed to colonize Louisiana. 
 The Spanish War Council objected, and Philip 
 let the matter drop, but the French settlement 
 was quietly moved from Biloxi to Mobile Bay, 
 nearer to the Spanish border. When in 1702 
 the War Council heard of it and protested, they 
 were rebuked by Philip. Thus Spain, dominated 
 
mo THE SPANISH BORDERLANDS 
 
 by a Bourbon King, was forced to permit the 
 occupation of Louisiana by France. 
 
 Iberville's brother, the Sieur de Bienville, a 
 brilliant and vigorous commander, was appointed 
 in 1701 Governor of Louisiana. Bienville con- 
 centrated his energies on alliances with the tribes 
 east and west of the Mississippi to prevent them 
 from trafficking with the English and to divert the 
 southern fur trade to the French posts. Bienville 
 was succeeded in 1713 by Cadillac, founder of 
 Detroit, who served for three years, but Bienville 
 continued to be the life of the colony. By 1716 
 the Mississippi, Mobile, and Red rivers had been 
 explored by Bienville's men, sometimes led by 
 himself. And French traders from Canada and 
 the Illinois had explored the Missouri for several 
 hundred miles and had built posts southward from 
 the Illinois to the lower Ohio. In 1718 Bienville 
 founded New Orleans. France's hold was thus 
 fastened upon Louisiana, and Spain's colonies 
 round the Gulf were split in two. 
 
 During the sixteen years of Bienville's activity, 
 disturbing rumors had reached the Spanish bor- 
 der. To New Mexico came reports of French- 
 men trading with the Pawnees and of French voy- 
 ageurs on the rivers to the northeast. Though 
 
TEXAS 221 
 
 in various Spanish expeditions from Santa Fe 
 against Comanches and Apaches no French were 
 seen, yet the fear of their approach increased. 
 Similar rumors were heard on the Rio Grande 
 border. One not slow to take advantage of this 
 general alarm was Father Hidalgo, a Franciscan 
 who had been with Massanet at his mission in 
 Texas. The intervening years had been spent by 
 Hidalgo chiefly in founding and conducting mis- 
 sions in Coahuila, a work which had led the way for 
 the secular powers and thus pushed the frontier 
 of mining and ranching to the south bank of the 
 Rio Grande. With heart burning for the welfare 
 of his former ungrateful charges, he had made 
 many earnest appeals to be allowed to return to 
 Texas, but the superiors of his Order would not 
 sanction his plea. ' Hidalgo, with genuine politi- 
 cal shrewdness, then resolved to turn the French 
 menace to good account. If he could prove that 
 Spain's territory of Texas was in imminent danger, 
 he knew that missions would be founded without 
 delay. So he wrote a letter in 1711 to the French 
 
 ' A myth has found currency in recent years to the effect that, 
 despite this opposition, Hidalgo returned to Texas, dwelt for a 
 time among the Asinais and there wrote his appeal to the French 
 priests. But his writings preserved in the College of Queretaro in 
 Mexico and examined by the author disprove the story. 
 
222 THE SPANISH BORDERLANDS 
 
 priests of Louisiana, begging them to "pacify the 
 tribes hostile to the Asinai nation, who were 
 nearer to their settlements, thereby to give the 
 greatest honor and glory to God." Just why paci- 
 fication of the Louisiana tribes bordering on the 
 Texas Indians would honor Heaven more than 
 missionary labors in other parts of Louisiana he 
 did not make clear, but it is plain enough that the 
 first result of the pacification would be the estab- 
 lishment of French posts near or among the Asinai. 
 This might or might not honor Heaven, but it 
 would undoubtedly interest Spain. 
 
 Father Hidalgo sent an Indian servant with the 
 letter to the Asinai country, where it was con- 
 fided to a Louisiana Indian who happened to be 
 there. Getting no reply, a year later he sent out 
 another letter, addressed to the Governor of Loui- 
 siana. Neither missive appears to have reached its 
 address; but in May, 1713, the first letter — after 
 having been handed about among Indians for two 
 years — came into Governor Cadillac's possession. 
 It interested Cadillac very much, for he had re- 
 cently been instructed by Antoine Crozat, to whom 
 Louis XIV had granted a monopoly of all the Loui- 
 siana commerce, to attempt to open trade with 
 Mexico despite the rigorous Spanish commercial 
 
TEXAS 223 
 
 regulations. Cadillac had already tried by way of 
 Vera Cruz and failed. Better luck might follow an 
 attempt to open an overland route to the Rio 
 Grande border, where Spanish smugglers could be 
 trusted to do the rest, for the stupid commercial 
 systems of European governments at the time 
 made habitual smugglers of all frontier dwellers in 
 America. At any rate Hidalgo's letter inspired the 
 Governor to make the effort, just as Hidalgo had 
 probably surmised it would. 
 
 Cadillac chose his cleverest agent. He sent 
 Louis Juchereau de St. Denis, explorer, fur trader, 
 and commander at Biloxi, with instructions to visit 
 Hidalgo, who, so Cadillac inferred from the letter, 
 was among the Asinai, and to build a post on the 
 Red River within easy access of their territory. St. 
 Denis established the post of Natchitoches, put in 
 the winter trading, and by spring was seeking Hi- 
 dalgo in Texas. There he learned that the friar was 
 on the Coahuila border, so on June 1, 1714, with 
 three French companions and twenty -five Indians 
 he set out on foot for the Rio Grande. Strangely 
 enough, two of his companions were the Talon 
 brothers, survivors of the ill-fated La Salle expedi- 
 tion who had been ransomed from the Indians by 
 Le6n and Teran. On the 18th of July St. Denis 
 
224 THE SPANISH BORDERLANDS 
 
 reached Hidalgo's mission of San Juan, forty miles 
 below Eagle Pass. Hidalgo had gone to Queretaro, 
 but the other missionaries and Captain Ramon at 
 the post received St. Denis hospitably, and Ramon 
 wrote to Hidalgo that, in view of the French dan- 
 ger, "it looks to me as though God would be 
 pleased that your Reverence would succeed in your 
 desires." This letter reveals Father Hidalgo's fi- 
 nesse. While Ramon entertained St. Denis and dis- 
 patched messengers to the authorities in Mexico 
 City asking what he should do with him, St. Denis 
 improved his time by winning the heart of Ramon's 
 granddaughter, Manuela Sanchez, who later went 
 with him to Natchitoches and there reigned lor 
 years as the Grand Dame of the post, becoming 
 godmother, as the baptismal records show, of most 
 of the children of the place. 
 
 A new French menace had arisen. The Viceroy 
 of Mexico hastily decided to found new missions in 
 Texas and to protect them this time by strong gar- 
 risons. St. Denis, having by his marriage and his 
 cleverness ingratiated himself with the Spaniards, 
 was engaged at ^ve hundred dollars to guide the 
 Texas expedition, which was commanded by Cap- 
 tain Domingo Ramon, his wife's cousin. It looks 
 more like a family affair than an international 
 
TEXAS 225 
 
 row. Meanwhile Hidalgo had given the Viceroy 
 a satisfactory explanation of his random mis- 
 sives and had received permission to go to Texas 
 with the expedition. The colony crossed the Rio 
 Grande in April, 1716. It consisted of sixty-five 
 persons, including soldiers, nine friars, and six 
 women, a thousand head of cattle, sheep, and 
 goats, and the equipment for missions, farms, 
 and garrison. At the head of the missionaries 
 went two of Spain's most distinguished men in 
 America, Father Espinosa, the well-known his- 
 torian, and Father Margil, whose great services 
 in the American wilds will probably result in his 
 canonization by the Papal Court. The Asinais 
 welcomed the Spaniards and helped them to erect 
 four missions and a garrison near the Neches and 
 Angelina rivers. Shortly afterward a mission was 
 built at Los Adaes (now Robeline) Louisiana, with- 
 in fifteen miles of St. Denis's post of Natchitoches. 
 The success of the French traders with the 
 powerful tribes, the coming of John Law's colonists 
 to Louisiana, and the need of a halfway base, in- 
 spired the Spanish authorities to send out another 
 colony, to occupy a site at the beautiful San Pedro 
 Springs, on the San Antonio River, which lay on 
 the direct route between the Neches River and the 
 
 IS 
 
226 THE SPANISH BORDERLANDS 
 
 settlement at San Juan, near Eagle Pass. Early in 
 1718 the new colony, numbering some sixty whites, 
 with friars and Indian neophytes, founded San An- 
 tonio a few months before New Orleans was born. 
 And Father Olivares began the San Antonio, or 
 Alamo, Mission, which was later to become famous 
 as the shrine of Texas liberty. 
 
 Spain had at last occupied eastern Texas, but her 
 hold was not long undisturbed. In the following 
 year France and Spain went to war over Euro- 
 pean questions, and the conflict was echoed in the 
 American wilderness, all the way from Pensacola 
 to Platte River. Pensacola was captured by the 
 French, recaptured by the Spaniards, and taken 
 again by Bienville. The French at Natchitoches 
 descended upon Texas and the garrison retreated 
 to San Antonio without striking a blow. A plan 
 for conquering Coahuila and New Mexico was 
 drawn up on paper in Louisiana, perhaps by St. 
 Denis. Eight hundred Frenchmen and a large 
 body of Indian allies were to march overland from 
 Natchitoches, while a flotilla sailed along the Texas 
 coast and ascended the Rio Grande. It was La 
 Salle's old plan in a new guise. St. Denis was made 
 "commander of the River of Canes" (the Colo- 
 rado), and two expeditions were sent in 1720 and 
 
TEXAS 227 
 
 1721 to take possession of Matagorda Bay. Both 
 of them failed. 
 
 In New Mexico the Governor had heard, before 
 the war broke out, that the French were settHng on 
 Platte River and, on his recommendation, the Vice- 
 roy ordered that alliances be made with the tribes 
 to the northeast, a colony planted at El Cuarte- 
 lejo in Colorado, and a presidio established on the 
 North Platte — that is, at some point in the pres- 
 ent Nebraska or Wyoming. In August, 1720, an 
 expedition from New Mexico penetrated to the 
 North Platte but, not finding any signs of a French 
 colony, turned back. On the South Platte, in Colo- 
 rado, it was almost totally annihilated by Indians 
 armed with French weapons. Apparently tribes 
 from as far north as Wisconsin took part in this 
 fray, a fact which indicates the scope and power of 
 the early French trader's influence. The end of the 
 war in Europe caused the Viceroy to abandon his 
 plans for colonizing to the north of New Mexico. 
 The treaty of peace restored Pensacola to Spain. 
 
 Meanwhile affairs had moved apace on the Texas 
 border. The Marquis of Aguayo, then Governor 
 of Coahuila, undertook the reconquest, mainly at 
 his own expense. Before the end of 1720 he had 
 raised eight companies of cavalry, comprising over 
 
228 THE SPANISH BORDERLANDS 
 
 five hundred men and five thousand horses. It was 
 the largest military expedition to enter the north- 
 ern interior since the days of De Soto. Leaving 
 Monclova in November, Aguayo strengthened San 
 Antonio, and sent a garrison to occupy Matagorda 
 Bay. Peace had now been declared, and at the 
 Neches River Aguayo was met by St. Denis, who, 
 swimming his horse across the stream for a parley, 
 informed Aguayo that the war was over and agreed 
 to permit an unrestricted occupation of the aban- 
 doned posts. Proceeding east, Aguayo reestab- 
 lished the six abandoned missions and the presidio 
 of Dolores, and added a presidio at Los Adaes, fac- 
 ing Natchitoches. The expedition had been a suc- 
 cess, but the poor horses paid a terrible price for 
 the bloodless victory. The return journey to San 
 Antonio, through a storm of sleet, was so severe 
 that of his five thousand beasts only fifty were left 
 alive when he arrived in January, 1722. 
 
 Aguayo had fixed the hold of Spain on Texas. It 
 was he who clinched the nails driven by Leon, Mas- 
 sanet, Hidalgo, and Ramon. There were now in 
 Texas ten missions, four presidios, and four centers 
 of settlement — Los Adaes, Nacogdoches, San An- 
 tonio, and La Bahia (Matagorda Bay). A gover- 
 nor was appointed and the capital of the province 
 
TEXAS 229 
 
 fixed at Los Adaes, now Robeline, Louisiana. Orig- 
 inally the name Texas had applied only to the 
 country east of the Trinity River, but now the 
 western boundary was fixed at the Medina River. 
 It was to be moved half a century later to the 
 Nueces. After much petty quarreling with the 
 French of Louisiana, the little Arroyo Hondo was 
 made the eastern boundary, and thus for a century 
 old Texas included a large strip of the present 
 State of Louisiana. ^ 
 
 For twenty years after the Aguayo expedition, 
 the Frenchman St. Denis, or *'Big Legs," as the na- 
 tives fondly called him, ruled the border tribes with 
 paternal sway from his post at Natchitoches on the 
 Red River. The relations of French and Spaniards 
 on this border were generally amicable. Inter- 
 marriages and a mutual love of gayety made friend- 
 ship a pleasanter and more natural condition for 
 the Latin neighbors than strife. Indeed, when in 
 June, 1744, the long career of the redoubtable St. 
 Denis came to a close, prominent among those as- 
 sembled at Natchitoches to assist in the funeral 
 honors were Governor Boneo and Father Vallejo, 
 
 ^ In 1819, long after French rivalry had passed, the Sabine 
 River was made the boundary. It is an error to suppose that it 
 was originally the boundary between New France and New Spain. 
 
230 THE SPANISH BORDERLANDS 
 
 from Los Adaes, across the international boundary 
 line. And yet, when, a few days later, Boneo re- 
 ported the event to his Viceroy in Mexico, he did so 
 in terms which meant, "St. Denis is dead, thank 
 God; now we can breathe more easily." 
 
 Spain's hold upon Texas was secure against 
 France, but many a battle was yet to be fought for 
 the territory with the ferocious Apaches and Co- 
 manches, and the incursions of French traders into 
 the Spanish settlements continued to be a source of 
 friction. The jealous trade policy of Spain only in- 
 creased the eagerness of these traders to enter New 
 Mexico, where the Pueblo Indians and the colo- 
 nists alike were promising customers, if Span- 
 ish officers could be bribed or outwitted. For a 
 long time the way from Louisiana was blocked by 
 Apaches and Comanches, who were at war with 
 the Louisiana tribes, and the river highways were 
 unsafe. Canadians, however, conspicuous among 
 them being La Verendrye and his sons, descended 
 from the north through the Mandan towns on the 
 Missouri, reaching the borders of Colorado, and 
 two brothers named Mallet succeeded in pierc- 
 ing the Indian barrier, entered New Mexico, and 
 returned safely to Louisiana. The town of Gra- 
 cia Real below Albuquerque where they lodged 
 
TEXAS 231 
 
 was given the nickname of "Canada.'* Later on 
 French traders in numbers invaded New Mexico, 
 some of whom were seized and sent to Mexico or to 
 Spain and thrown into prison. Spanish troops were 
 sent to guard the approaches to Chihuahua below 
 El Paso; fears were felt for even distant Califor- 
 nia; and to keep the New Orleans traders from the 
 Texas coast tribes, a presidio and a mission were 
 established on the Louisiana border at the mouth of 
 the Trinity River, near Galveston Bay. 
 
 But the scene soon shifted. The Seven Years' 
 War removed France from the American conti- 
 nent, left Louisiana in the hands of Spain, and 
 brought Spain and England face to face along the 
 Mississippi. 
 
CHAPTER IX 
 
 LOUISIANA 
 
 The year 1759 was a fateful one in North America, 
 for it recorded the fall of Qudbec, France's princi- 
 pal stronghold in the Western Hemisphere, and the 
 accession of Carlos III, the ablest king since Philip 
 II, to the Spanish throne. The second of these 
 events tended to offset the results of the first. The 
 continued English successes and French disasters 
 of 1760 alarmed Carlos, and in 1761 he renewed the 
 Family Compact and entered the war as the ally of 
 France. In response to the challenge, in August, 
 1762, an English force captured Havana. Two 
 months later another took Manila. The treaty of 
 peace which closed the Seven Years' War restored 
 the Philippines and Cuba to Spain, but gave Flor- 
 ida to England. By a secret treaty, signed before 
 the conclusion of the war, France had transferred 
 Louisiana to Spain to save it from England. 
 During its brief term under British rule and free 
 
 232 
 
LOUISIANA 233 
 
 trade Havana prospered as never before; and Car- 
 los was not slow to profit by the hint. Carlos in- 
 deed saw that to preserve his overseas domain and 
 to restore Spain to her former eminence drastic re- 
 forms were necessary. From the last days of Philip 
 n, Spain's power in Europe had declined, though 
 her colonies had expanded in extent and population. 
 The policy of absolutism was bearing fruit; and 
 the harvest was ruin. While vast expenditures 
 of men and money were being made in the con- 
 quest of new lands, the nation at home was be- 
 ing mangled under the weight of abnormal taxa- 
 tion. Industry could not survive and, therefore, a 
 sturdy normal growth was impossible. The gal- 
 leons brought gold, but it was spent in other than 
 Spanish markets. The colonies produced far below 
 their capacity because of the jealous restrictions 
 imposed on them, and were further hampered by 
 grafting ofiicials. These were some of the external 
 evidences of a blight that went deeper. Spain had 
 kept the minds of her people dark in a day when 
 other nations, accepting the challenge of new forces, 
 were working out the principles of constitutional 
 government and of individual liberty. In clinging 
 to a selfish and fictitious ideal and in forcibly mold- 
 ing her people to it, she deprived them of the power 
 
234 THE SPANISH BORDERLANDS 
 
 of initiative and of systematic labor — the power 
 which is derived from hope and joy — and so 
 rendered them incapable of intellectual supremacy 
 in an age differentiated from its predecessors by 
 greater freedom and spiritual enlightenment. 
 
 To make amends for the stupidity of his prede- 
 cessors, Carlos put forth brave efforts. He lowered 
 taxation and instituted measures for the equaliza- 
 tion of government. He revived and fostered 
 Spanish industries and built up the navy. In less 
 than a decade after Carlos's accession, Spain's 
 colonial trade tripled and the revenue from the In- 
 dies increased from five million to twelve million 
 crowns. While he installed economic reforms at 
 home and in the colonies, he reorganized the fron- 
 tier defenses of New Spain, and under the press of 
 danger from England and Russia he extended 
 Spain's northern outposts into Louisiana and Cali- 
 fornia. Not since the days of Cortes had Spain 
 taken so long a forward step in expansion. If, 
 with all his energy and foresight, Carlos failed to 
 accomplish his larger aims, it was because he came 
 too late. Spain's great opportunity had passed, 
 and no stroke of magic could free her people from 
 the lethargy into which they had fallen. 
 
 Spain acquired French Louisiana by necessity. 
 
LOUISIANA 235 
 
 not by design. On October 9, 1762, Louis XV of- 
 fered the region to Carlos, who at first rejected the 
 gift. But he soon changed his mind, for the value 
 of Louisiana as a buffer against England could not 
 be overlooked. Carlos deferred actual occupation 
 as long as possible; but when he saw England's 
 outposts advanced to the Mississippi, her settlers 
 pushing over the Alleghanies, and her "long hun- 
 ters" actually crossing the Mississippi, he realized 
 that it was time to act. 
 
 The ceded territory embraced New Orleans and 
 the western watershed of the Mississippi River. 
 Its total population, exclusive of Indians, was es- 
 timated at from eight to twelve thousand persons 
 of whom over half were negro slaves. The princi- 
 pal settlements lay along the Mississippi, the lower 
 Red, and the lower Missouri. The bulk of the 
 population lay between New Orleans and Pointe 
 Coupee; other important settlements in the lower 
 district were Balize, Attakapa, Opelousas, Avoyelle, 
 and Natchitoches. Farther up were the Arkansas 
 Post, St. Charles, and Ste. Genevieve. To the 
 west, on the principal streams, there were slender 
 trading stations such as the Cadodacho Post, on 
 Red River, and Fort Cavagnolle, near where Kan- 
 sas City now stands. Still farther in the interior, 
 
236 THE SPANISH BORDERLANDS 
 
 beyond the pale of civilization, roamed renegade 
 Frenchmen and half breeds, who, under the name 
 of hunters, had become veritable outlaws. The 
 principal occupations of the province were agricul- 
 ture and the fur trade. For horses, mules, and 
 cattle, dependence was placed on commerce with 
 the Indians and Spaniards of the west. Most of the 
 stock purchased from the Indians was stolen from 
 the Spaniards, and most of the direct trade with 
 Spaniards was contraband. 
 
 The inhabitants of Louisiana at this day com- 
 bined Spartan simplicity with a touch of courtly 
 grandeur. An inventory made in 1769 of the bed- 
 room furniture of Madame Villere, wife of^a leading 
 citizen of New Orleans, is typical. It lists a cypress 
 bedstead, with a mattress of corn husks, and one of 
 feathers on top; a corn husk bolster; a cotton 
 counterpane of home manufacture; six cypress 
 chairs, with straw seats; seven candlesticks with 
 green wax candles. The house, says Gayarre, 
 "must have looked very much like one of those 
 modest and unpainted little wooden structures 
 which are, to this day [1851] to be seen in many 
 parts of the banks of the river Mississippi, and in 
 the Attakapas and Opelousas parishes. They are 
 tenements of the small planters who own only a 
 
LOUISIANA 237 
 
 few slaves, and they retain the appellation of Mai- 
 sons d'AcadiensJ' But inside these humble dwell- 
 ings one sometimes encountered manners that sug- 
 gested the ease and grace of the salons of Europe. 
 News of the cession to Spain of the French pos- 
 sessions caused consternation and protest among 
 the settlers. From the Illinois country some of the 
 inhabitants, in their desire to escape English rule, 
 crossed the Mississippi and settled at St. Louis, 
 where La Clede had recently established a trading 
 post. Those of lower Louisiana were quite as 
 anxious to escape Spanish rule. And they made 
 known their wishes right noisily. An assembly 
 at New Orleans made up of delegates from all 
 the lower parishes drew up a memorial to Louis 
 XV and sent it to France; but, in spite of the aid of 
 the aged Bienville, the prayer was in vain. Still 
 the colonists hoped on, for no Spanish official 
 had arrived. 
 
 Hopes were dashed when, on March 5, 1766, 
 Juan Antonio de Ulloa arrived at New Orleans as 
 first Spanish Governor. Ulloa, a man of nearly 
 fifty, was already a well-known scientist and naval 
 officer. As a youth of nineteen, then a naval lieu- 
 tenant, he had been sent to Peru with a brilliant 
 scientific expedition. In the course of his labors 
 
238 THE SPANISH BORDERLANDS 
 
 there he was twice called to Lima to defend the 
 province against the English under Admiral Anson. 
 On the way to Europe around the Horn thirteen 
 years later, his vessel, after capture by the English, 
 escaped and sailed to Canada, where Ulloa was 
 captured again. Taken to England, Ulloa was 
 there made a member of the Royal Society of Lon- 
 don. On his return to Spain he had published his 
 now famous reports of the scientific expedition. 
 
 Ulloa arrived at New Orleans in a storm which 
 was prophetic of the trouble that lay before him. 
 His instructions provided that as little change as 
 possible should be made in the administration of 
 the colony. It was to be kept distinct from the 
 other Spanish colonies, independent of the Council 
 of the Indies, and dependent directly on the King. 
 He was accompanied by a full corps of officers for 
 the new colony, but had only ninety soldiers, for 
 Louis XV had promised Carlos that the French 
 provincial soldiery, under Aubry, should remain in 
 the province as long as they were needed. This 
 was a fatal mistake. Carlos should have cleaned 
 house and given Ulloa a fair chance, with men 
 whom he could command. 
 
 Ulloa was coldly received in New Orleans and was 
 soon up to his ears in trouble with the turbulent 
 
LOUISIANA 239 
 
 and dissatisfied habitants. The fault was not 
 one-sided. Ulloa was haughty and was bored by 
 the simple people he had been sent to rule. He 
 snubbed the Superior Council, a body which had 
 thoroughly enjoyed a little authority. The French 
 soldiers refused to enter the Spanish service. In 
 vain both Ulloa and Aubry urged. Thereupon 
 Ulloa gave up the idea of taking formal possession 
 and ruled through Aubry, who continued to be 
 nominal head of Louisiana. Ulloa commanded and 
 Aubry executed. Ulloa held the purse, Aubry the 
 sword. At the old posts the French flag continued 
 to wave before the breeze. At the same time, Ulloa 
 sent his ninety men to erect new posts, at Balize, 
 at the Iberville River, opposite Natchez, and in 
 Missouri. Over these new posts the Spanish flag 
 was hoisted. It was an anomalous situation. 
 
 Ulloa made a census of the province and an ex- 
 tended tour of the settlements. At Natchitoches 
 he spent some time, inquiring into communication 
 with Texas and Mexico. Among numerous be- 
 nevolent deeds Ulloa's succor of the needy Acadian 
 exiles in Louisiana was not the least. But even this 
 caused dissatisfaction. 
 
 With their patriotism the French citizens mixed 
 solicitude for pocketbook. When Ulloa arrived 
 
240 THE SPANISH BORDERLANDS 
 
 Louisiana was flooded with paper money which had 
 depreciated to a fourth of its face value. Ulloa 
 generously agreed to redeem it at three-fourths its 
 face value, but nothing less than one hundred per 
 cent would quiet complaint. Orders soon came 
 from Spain which interfered with the ancient me- 
 thods of French and English importers. The mer- 
 chants appealed to the Council and the orders were 
 suspended. Ulloa gave new offense by exiling him- 
 self to live for seven months "in a miserable shed" 
 at Balize. The discovery that the fifty-year-old 
 scholar had been waiting there for his expected 
 bride, the Peruvian Marchioness of Abrado, molli- 
 fied no one, and, when they moved to New Orleans, 
 the Governor's wife and her train of Peruvian girls 
 shared the Governor's unpopularity. 
 
 The intolerable situation came to a head in the 
 autumn of 1768. For some time a conspiracy, 
 headed by several Frenchmen, had been brewing. 
 There is some ground for thinking that the leaders 
 of the uprising had been inspired by the hope that, 
 by getting control of the government, they could 
 evade their debts and otherwise improve their for- 
 tunes. Secret meetings were held at the house of an 
 adventuress in the suburbs of New Orleans, while 
 emissaries worked among the outlying settlements. 
 
LOUISIANA 241 
 
 On the 27th of October the guns at the gates of 
 the city were spiked and the planters and settlers 
 entered the city as an armed mob. A council 
 called by the insurgents decreed that the Span- 
 iards should leave within three days. Aubry re- 
 mained faithful to Ulloa and placed him in safety 
 on a frigate in the river. But the mob cut the 
 cables, and Ulloa, the Marchioness, and her Pe- 
 ruvian girls sailed to Havana. The interior posts 
 held by the Spanish soldiery were now abandoned. 
 "Thus was the revolution accomplished," says 
 Gayarre. "A population, which hardly numbered 
 eighteen hundred men able to carry arms, and 
 which had in its bosom several thousands of black 
 slaves, whom it was necessary to intimidate into 
 subjection, had rebelled against the will of France, 
 had flung the gauntlet at the Spanish monarchy, 
 and was hoarding a powerful nation." 
 
 From Havana Ulloa reported the rebellion to the 
 Marquis of Grimaldi. This oflScial remonstrated 
 with France for not having punished the insolent 
 delegates to the French court. "The loss of great 
 interests is looked upon in Spain with indifference 
 but it is not so with regard to insults and contumel- 
 ies," he said. A Council of State was held, wherein 
 the question was raised as to whether Louisiana 
 
 l6 
 
242 THE SPANISH BORDERLANDS 
 
 should be retained or given back to France. But 
 on this point there was no hesitation. Out of six 
 opinions rendered, all but one were emphatically 
 for retention. The general view was well stated by 
 the Count of Aranda. "The more or less fertility 
 and extent of Louisiana is not the principal ques- 
 tion to be examined. But we ought to judge of the 
 importance of that acquisition, from the fact that 
 it extends over Mexican territories to the bank of 
 the Mississippi, a well-known barrier and a distant 
 one from the population of New Mexico, and that it 
 furnishes us, through that river, with an indelible 
 line of demarcation between our provinces and 
 those of the English, which have been widened by 
 their acquisition of our domain in Florida." This 
 was the kernel of the matter. Just as when Carlos 
 III had accepted the gift, Louisiana was needed as a 
 barrier to the advancing English, who were already 
 crossing the Alleghanies and had their outposts on 
 the Mississippi River. 
 
 But there was also the matter of Spain's pride, 
 which could not be overlooked. The Duke of Alva 
 gave an opinion that *' bears the stamp of the 
 hereditary temper of that haughty and inflexible 
 house." The King, he said, should send to Louis- 
 iana a man with forces necessary to subject the 
 
LOUISIANA 243 
 
 people and stamp out disorders. The government 
 should be so centralized as to leave the people no 
 chance for a repetition of such audacity. "But 
 finally, what to my judgment, appears to be of 
 more importance than all the rest is, that it be seen 
 throughout the world, and particularly in America, 
 that the king knows how, and is able, to repress any 
 attempt whatever, derogatory to the respect due to 
 the royal majesty." Louisiana must be made an 
 example to the rest of Spanish America ! 
 
 The man chosen for this grim task was Alejan- 
 dro O'Reilly. Like many of Spain's prominent men 
 in the eighteenth century, he was an Irishman 
 by birth. When a youth he had gone to Spain and 
 served in the Hibernian Regiment. In the War of 
 the Austrian Succession he had received a wound 
 from which he limped the rest of his days. After 
 serving in the armies of Austria and France he 
 again served Spain in the wars with Portugal. 
 Having risen to the rank of Brigadier General, he 
 was employed to drill the Spanish army in Austrian 
 tactics. In 1763, at the age of twenty-seven, with 
 the rank of Major General, he was sent to Havana 
 to reestablish the fortifications which the English 
 had ruined. Returning to Spain he became Inspec- 
 tor General of the King's Infantry and was made a 
 
244 THE SPANISH BORDERLANDS 
 
 count. In 1765, by his presence of mind, he saved 
 the Hfe of King Carlos during an insurrection. 
 
 When the news came of Ulloa's ejection, O'Reilly 
 had been ordered to Havana and Mexico to re- 
 view the troops, but his mission was now changed. 
 His new orders required him to equip an expedi- 
 tion in Havana, go to Louisiana, take posses- 
 sion, arrest and try the leaders of the uprising, 
 expel all dangerous subjects, and reorganize the 
 province. In case of resistance he was authorized 
 to use force. "But as the king, whose character is 
 well known, is always inclined to be mild and clem- 
 ent, he has ordered O'Reilly to be informed that 
 his will is that a lenient course be pursued in the 
 colony, and that expulsion from it be the only pun- 
 ishment inflicted on those who have deserved a 
 more severe one." 
 
 While the fate of Louisiana was being discussed 
 in Spain, in New Orleans the people gradually de- 
 serted their erstwhile noisy spokesmen and turned 
 to Aubry for protection. The leaders awaited de- 
 velopments in nervous suspense. On July 24, 1769, 
 the place was thrown into commotion by word 
 that O'Reilly had arrived at Balize with a formid- 
 able force. One of the leaders of the rebellion 
 stuck a white cockade in his hat, appeared in 
 
LOUISIANA 245 
 
 the public square, and urged the people to re- 
 sist. But it was all in vain. The rebellion had 
 faded out. Aubry urged submission. A messenger 
 came from O'Reilly, and some of the leading con- 
 spirators hastened down the river, tumbling over 
 each other to be first to explain themselves and 
 promise loyalty. 
 
 O'Reilly's gentle demeanor allayed their fears. 
 The Frenchmen were dined and went back "full of 
 admiration for his talents, and with good hopes 
 that their past faults shall be forgotten." On the 
 17th of August the Spanish fleet, full twenty-four 
 sails, appeared before New Orleans. Next day 
 O'Reilly limped ashore, followed by his entire force, 
 twenty-six hundred in number, and took formal 
 possession with impressive ceremony. The people 
 were both overawed and edified by the spectacle. 
 Five times the cry Viva el Rey! went up from the 
 Spanish throats, and five times it was echoed by 
 the French soldiery and the populace. All the 
 bells pealed forth, and Aubry handed to O'Reilly 
 the keys of the city. The fleur-de-lis came down 
 and the banner of Spain floated to the breeze. 
 O'Reilly then repaired to the cathedral, where the 
 solemn ceremony was ended with a Te Deum. 
 
 The day after the ceremony of taking possession. 
 
246 THE SPANISH BORDERLANDS 
 
 O'Reilly gave a dinner, with great pomp, to Aubry, 
 French and Spanish officials, and other important 
 personages. Meanwhile he was taking testimony 
 in secret. Of Aubry he requested and obtained 
 a full report of all the seditious occurrences in the 
 colony. Aubry 's eager compliance with this re- 
 quest is one of the acts which has lessened his 
 fame in the old French colony. 
 
 With the evidence now in hand, O'Reilly's mind 
 was made up. Under various pretexts twelve 
 leaders were called to his house, arrested, their 
 swords taken away, and their property seques- 
 trated. While this scene was being enacted the 
 house was surrounded with grenadiers. All twelve 
 prisoners were lodged in separate places of confine- 
 ment, some in vessels on the river, some in well 
 guarded houses. One of the twelve, Villere, had 
 formerly prepared to flee the province and had then 
 changed his mind. Being imprisoned in a frigate, 
 he died — some say of frenzy, others of a bullet 
 fired by his jailers. To the twelve originally ar- 
 rested Foucault and Brand were later added on 
 the charge of printing the Memorial of the Planters, 
 one of the seditious publications which had ap- 
 peared. Foucault refused to answer to the Spanish 
 authorities, and, at his own request, was sent back 
 
LOUISIANA 247 
 
 to France to be tried. On his arrival there he 
 was thrown into the Bastile. Brand was released. 
 
 The arrests and Villere's death caused renewed 
 consternation, and numerous colonists planned to 
 flee to the English in Florida. Everybody trem- 
 bled for his safety. But O'Reilly reassured the 
 populace by a proclamation declaring that only 
 the leaders should be punished. The oath of alle- 
 giance was administered to the inhabitants of New 
 Orleans and vicinity. People living in the interior 
 were given opportunities later for this ceremony. 
 Every one who so desired was given the option of 
 returning to France. Most of the inhabitants took 
 the oath and remained. 
 
 Now followed the trial of the arrested men, an 
 event which left a profound impression in the col- 
 ony. The prosecuting attorney, Don Felix del 
 Rey, was a learned practitioner before the courts 
 of Santo Domingo and Mexico, and later Viceroy 
 of Mexico. The prisoners rested their defense on 
 the ground that Spain had never taken possession 
 of Louisiana, hence that Ulloa could not require 
 their obedience. Del Rey concluded, in a lengthy 
 argument, that the accused were guilty of rebellion. 
 On the 24th of October the court rendered the ver- 
 dict, and O'Reilly, as president, pronounced the 
 
248 THE SPANISH BORDERLANDS 
 
 sentence. O'Reilly condemned Lafreniere, Noyan, 
 Caresse, Marquis, and Joseph Milhet "to the or- 
 dinary pain of the gallows." The memory of Vil- 
 lere, who had died in prison, he condemned "to be 
 held and reputed forever infamous." Petit was 
 condemned to perpetual imprisonment, Doucet to 
 ten years, Boisblanc, Jean Milhet, and Poupet to six 
 years each. The property of each was confiscated, 
 all those imprisoned were to be banished on release, 
 and all seditious publications were to be burned by 
 the hangman. 
 
 The friends of the condemned appealed and 
 pleaded in vain, for O'Reilly was firm. The exe- 
 cution was set for the next day. But no hangman 
 could be found. The official executioner of the col- 
 ony was a negro, and it was conceded that a white 
 man would be more suitable for the task under the 
 circumstances. But in spite of rewards offered none 
 could be found, and the firing squad was sub- 
 stituted for the hangman. The execution took 
 place in the public square at three in the afternoon, 
 the 25th of October. Next day the seditious Me- 
 morial of the Planters was publicly burned. Petit 
 and his companions were taken to Havana and im- 
 prisoned in Morro Castle. It is pleasant to record 
 that soon afterward all were pardoned by Carlos. 
 
LOUISIANA 249 
 
 Aubry sailed for France, but never reached there, 
 for he sank with his ship in the Garonne River — 
 an act of retribution, some thought. 
 
 The Spanish commander has ever since been 
 known in Louisiana as "Bloody O'Reilly." 
 
 Now for a third of a century Louisiana remained 
 under Spanish rule. By 1770 the Spanish flag had 
 been raised at all the interior posts, Ste. Genevieve, 
 below St. Louis, being the last to haul down the 
 fleur-de-lis. Having accomplished his coup d'etat, 
 O'Reilly was conciliatory and appointed numerous 
 old French officers to important positions. Span- 
 ish law and administration were installed, though 
 the French Black Code was retained. New Or- 
 leans was given a cabildo, whose old building is still 
 one of the attractions of the "French" quarter. 
 Indeed more than one so-called French relic of the 
 old city is Spanish. 
 
 Having put things in order, O'Reilly left Luis de 
 Unzaga in charge as Governor. He in turn was 
 followed in 1776 by dashing young Bernardo de 
 Galvez. Unzaga had winked at the English 
 smugglers who monopolized the trade of the low- 
 er Mississippi and who were pushing west among 
 the tribes of the Gulf Coast. But Galvez began 
 his administration by swooping down upon the 
 
250 THE SPANISH BORDERLANDS 
 
 English smugglers, eleven of whose vessels he 
 seized. Nevertheless they continued their trade, if 
 less openly than before. They worked among the 
 coast tribes, reached Texas overland, ascended the 
 Arkansas and Missouri rivers, and worked among 
 the tribes of Iowa and Minnesota. Trade in Paw- 
 nee and Spanish horses extended even to Virginia; 
 Governor Patrick Henry being among the pur- 
 chasers of thoroughbred Spanish stock. 
 
 In the attempt to keep the English out of Louis* 
 iana, Spanish defense was concentrated on the line 
 of the Mississippi. On the other hand, since Louis- 
 iana belonged to Spain, the defenses and the mis- 
 sions of the old Texas-Louisiana border were with- 
 drawn. The few settlers who lived on the border 
 in the Los Adaes district, some ^ve hundred in 
 number, were evicted and taken to San Antonio 
 (1773). The expulsion of these simple folk from 
 their settlement, already over half a century old, 
 was one of the pathetic incidents of the American 
 border, and reminds one of the expulsion of the 
 Acadians from Nova Scotia a few years before. 
 Some of the settlers, refusing to be evicted, fled to 
 the woods or to the surrounding tribes. Some of 
 them, after remaining at San Antonio a year, and 
 living at a settlement on the Trinity River ^ve 
 
LOUISIANA 251 
 
 years, in 1779 took advantage of a flood and Co- 
 manche raids, followed their doughty Creole leader, 
 Gil Ybarbo, to Nacogdoches, and from there scat- 
 tered eastward to their former homes. Today, 
 round about Robeline in Louisiana, and San Au- 
 gustine in Texas, their descendants still live the 
 simple life of their ancestors. 
 
 Louisiana was Spain's first experience in North 
 America in a colony previously occupied by Eu- 
 ropeans, and in it many departures were made 
 from her traditional system. This was especially 
 true of her Indian policy. Instead of relying 
 for control upon the time honored mission and 
 presidio, Spain utilized the French traders al- 
 ready among the tribes. But, with Spain's char- 
 acteristic paternalism, the service was reorganized 
 and much improved. A regular corps of licensed 
 traders was installed; vagabonds, outlaws, and un- 
 licensed traders were driven from the tribes, pres- 
 ents were distributed annually, and medals of 
 merit were given to the friendly chiefs. In the 
 Spanish days fur traders arose. Frenchmen for the 
 most part, whose names are immortal in the West. 
 At New Orleans there were Piseros and St. Maxent; 
 at Natchitoches, Le Blanc, La Mathe, and Borme; 
 at Nacogdoches, Gil Ybarbo; and at St. Louis, the 
 
252 THE SPANISH BORDERLANDS 
 
 Chouteaus, the Robidoux, Lisa, and Clamorgan. 
 St. Louis, the Arkansas Post, and Natchitoches be- 
 came centers for distributing presents and holding 
 councils with tribes living on both sides of the 
 Mississippi River. 
 
 Of all the tribes none were more important than 
 those of the Red River valley, in the present States 
 of Louisiana, Texas, Arkansas, and Oklahoma. 
 They had been friendly to the French and hostile 
 to Spain, and it was necessary to win them to Span- 
 ish allegiance. This important task was assigned 
 to Athanase de Mezieres, an old French officer 
 in the military service. In recognition of his 
 ability as an Indian agent, O'Reilly had put him 
 in charge of the district of Natchitoches. For 
 ten years he labored loyally at his task. By elo- 
 quence, presents, and bluff, he induced most of 
 the hostile tribes to make treaties. He toured 
 their villages as far as the upper Brazos River, 
 and thence marched south three hundred miles to 
 San Antonio over an unknown trail. Six years 
 later he was called to Texas to prepare the new 
 allies for a great campaign of extermination against 
 the Apaches, hated foes of both the Spaniards and 
 Eastern tribes. 
 
 For several years after 1776 the vital question in 
 
LOUISIANA 253 
 
 Louisiana was the outcome of the American Revo- 
 lution. After long hesitation, in April, 1779, Spain 
 at last joined the revolting colonies. Her primary- 
 aim was not popular liberty, but conquest at the 
 expense of England, for she hoped to obtain Gibral- 
 tar, Minorca, the Floridas, British Honduras, and 
 perhaps the country between the Alleghanies and 
 the Mississippi. With lightning speed Galvez, the 
 youthful Governor of Louisiana, captured the Eng- 
 lish posts on the lower Mississippi. Two years later 
 Mobile and Pensacola were at his feet. Meanwhile 
 an English expedition from Canada against St. 
 Louis by way of Wisconsin had failed (1780) and in 
 retaliation a force from St. Louis had run up the 
 Spanish flag at St. Joseph, Michigan. Spain had 
 frustrated the British attempt to gain control of 
 the Mississippi, had enabled George Rogers Clark 
 to hold his conquests in the Illinois, and had re- 
 covered Florida. Her Anglo-American frontier now 
 stretched all the way from St. Mary's River on 
 the Atlantic coast to the head of the Mississippi. 
 
 Spain's rule in Louisiana added to her already 
 long and illustrious list of trailmakers. Communi- 
 cation for defense and trade had to be opened be- 
 tween Louisiana and the old outposts of New Spain 
 and, at the same time, between San Antonio and 
 
254 THE SPANISH BORDERLANDS 
 
 Santa Fe, which had been cut off from each other 
 by the intervening Apaches and Comanches. The 
 principal agent in this work was Pedro Vial. Vial 
 was sent in 1786 from San Antonio to find a direct 
 route to Santa Fe. In spite of a fall from his horse, 
 with one companion he made his way to Red River; 
 thence westward through the Comanche country to 
 Santa Fe. He had found the Comanches friendly, 
 but his route was roundabout. Jose Mares found 
 a more direct trail to San Antonio (1787) while 
 Vial explored from Santa Fe, down the Red and 
 Sabine rivers, to Natchitoches, returning thence 
 to San Antonio and to Santa Fe by a still more 
 direct route than that of Mares. On the journey 
 he had traveled farther than from Chicago to San 
 Francisco. This tireless pathfinder next explored 
 from Santa Fe to St. Louis (1792) returning by 
 a route approximating that of the later Santa Fe 
 Trail. He had preceded Pike by fifteen years. 
 He was not a great diarist, but he was a good 
 frontiersman. 
 
 What Mezieres and Vial had done in lower Lou- 
 isiana, Clamorgan and his associates now did in 
 upper Louisiana. Americans from the Ohio Valley 
 and Scotch traders from Canada were invading the 
 country in growing numbers. Making their way 
 
LOUISIANA Q55 
 
 by the Des Moines, the St. Peters, and the Assini- 
 boine rivers, they traded and even built posts 
 among the Omahas, Ariliaras, and Mandans. At 
 the same time Russians and British were threaten- 
 ing the Oregon coast. To ward off these dangers, 
 in 1793 the "Company of Explorers of the Mis- 
 souri" was chartered at St. Louis. A prize of 
 $2000 was offered to the first person who should 
 reach the Pacific by way of the Missouri. Now 
 there was a spurt of energy, and by 1797 Trudeau, 
 Lecuyer, Mackay, and Evans, in the service of 
 Glamorgan's Company, had carried the Spanish 
 flag above the Mandan villages in North Dakota. 
 But the ambitious schemes of the Company were 
 not realized. The Government failed to pay Gla- 
 morgan the promised annual subsidy of $10,000 and 
 rival traders opp>osed the Company's monopoly. 
 The St. Louis trade, however, continued to de- 
 velop, and Lewis and Clark in 1804 found traces of 
 Spaniards far up Cheyenne River. 
 
 American traders invaded upper Louisiana and 
 the backwoodsmen pressed upon the lower Mis- 
 sissippi frontier. To hold them back, Spain in- 
 trigued and employed Indian agents, like Alex- 
 ander McGillivray of West Florida. Spain denied 
 to the backwoodsmen the right to navigate the 
 
Q56 THE SPANISH BORDERLANDS 
 
 Mississippi, but they protested, intrigued, made 
 reprisals, and appealed to the Government, till 
 in 1795 their point was gained through diplo- 
 macy. Still they kept pressing on across the Mis- 
 sissippi. To check their advance, Spain imported 
 Canary Islanders and invited British Loyalists to 
 settle. Finally she tried counter-colonies formed 
 of the Americans themselves. Thus in 1790 Col- 
 onel George Morgan crossed over and founded New 
 Madrid. Before the end of the century scores of 
 other Americans, among them Moses Austin and 
 Daniel Boone, had been given liberal Spanish 
 grants in the vain hope that they would hold back 
 their brethren. By the opening of the new century 
 the population of Louisiana had reached fifty thou- 
 sand, as against some ten thousand at the end of 
 the French regime, and a large part of the increase 
 was due to American immigration. 
 
 Napoleon needed Louisiana for his own purposes, 
 and in 1800 he took it. Three years later with as 
 little ceremony he sold it to the United States. 
 Spain now fell back again on her old Texas and 
 New Mexico frontier, where the struggle with the 
 Anglo-Americans was renewed. They pushed on 
 across Louisiana into Texas. Horse drovers and 
 traders, like Philip Nolan, operated in Texas from 
 
LOUISIANA 257 
 
 the time of the American Revolution. Early in the 
 nineteenth century adventurers like Aaron Burr 
 and James Wilkinson laid plans for filibustering 
 raids. During the Mexican War of Independence 
 Americans led expeditions into Texas to aid in the 
 struggle for liberty, while others crowded over the 
 borders and settled on the bottom lands along the 
 Red and Sabine rivers. When Mexico won inde- 
 pendence from Spain in 1821, Austin and a host of 
 others obtained princely grants of rich Texas soil. 
 Fifteen years later the American settlers revolted 
 and set up a republic, which, after nine proud years 
 of independence was annexed to the United States. 
 War with Mexico followed, and in 1848 New Mex- 
 ico, Arizona, Colorado, Utah, Nevada, and Cali- 
 fornia went the way of Texas. Five years after- 
 wards, the Gadsden Purchase added to the United 
 States another slice of the old Spanish domain. 
 From Jamestown (1607) to the Gadsden Purchase 
 (1853) is a continuous story of the pressure of 
 Anglo-Americans upon Hispanic borderlands not 
 effectively occupied. On the south the American 
 tide stopped at the Rio Grande, finding there a 
 bulwark of substantial settlement. 
 
 17 
 
CHAPTER X 
 
 CALIFORNIA 
 
 The English had made the occupation of Louisi- 
 ana imperative. Carlos lifted his eyes to the West, 
 and there he saw another menace. Russian fur 
 hunters had overrun Siberia to the Pacific by the 
 beginning of the eighteenth century. Catherine of 
 Russia, continuing the age-old quest for the Strait 
 of Anian, in 1725 had sent Vitus Bering, the Dane, 
 to seek a northern passage from the Pacific into 
 the Atlantic. On his first voyage (1725-1730) he 
 discovered Bering Strait, leading, not into the At- 
 lantic, but into the Arctic Ocean, where Siberia and 
 Alaska all but touch hands. By the close of the 
 Seven Years' War Russian fur-trading posts had 
 been established on Bering, Kadiak, and Unalaska 
 Islands, and Russian vessels were cruising Pacific 
 waters southward toward Oregon . Moreover , there 
 was the perilous prospect of an English incursion 
 overland from Canada or from the Ohio Valley. 
 
 258 
 
CALIFORNIA 259 
 
 California had been in danger before, and little 
 had been done. The Russian menace might have 
 ended with correspondence had there not been on 
 the frontier a man of action clothed with ample 
 powers. This man was Jose de Galvez, the visitor- 
 general who had carried out for Carlos reforms in 
 New Spain. Galvez not only realized that a crisis 
 had arrived but, true to form, he acted; and, while 
 settling affairs in Lower California, he organized a 
 defensive expedition to Alta California. The plan 
 was typical of Spain's method of holding and as- 
 similating new frontiers. Soldiers and missionaries 
 were to go forth, side by side, and plant military 
 colonies and missions at San Diego and Monterey, 
 then the most celebrated harbors on the coast, for 
 the Bay of San Francisco was still unknown. 
 
 To carry out the work Galvez had good material 
 ready at hand. The general command was entrusted 
 to Don Caspar de Portolai, the newly appointed 
 Governor of Lower California. Since the expulsion 
 of the Jesuits, the work of converting and civilizing 
 the natives there had devolved upon a band of Fran- 
 ciscan friars, sons of the missionary college of San 
 Fernando, at Mexico City. The president of these 
 "Fernandinos" in Lower California, Fray Juni- 
 pero Serra, was chosen to guide the banner of the 
 
260 THE SPANISH BORDERLANDS 
 
 Faith into the new territory, and he would take 
 with him five other friars chosen from his missions. 
 The expedition, which was under way early in 1769, 
 consisted of two passenger vessels and a supply 
 ship and two overland parties. 
 
 Owing to errors in latitude made by the earlier 
 explorers, the vessels sailed too far north in their 
 search for San Diego Bay. The San Antonio 
 reached port after fifty -four days at sea. The San 
 Carlos was one hundred and ten days on the way, 
 and when she entered the harbor her crew were too 
 ill from scurvy and lack of fresh water to lower the 
 boats. A fortnight was spent chiefly in caring for 
 the sick and burying the dead. The supply ship, 
 the San JosS, was never heard of again after her 
 departure from port in Lower California. 
 
 The land expeditions were much more fortunate, 
 though the way was difficult and long. Provisions 
 for the journey, horses, mules, and cattle were as- 
 sembled at Velicata, a post eighteen leagues beyond 
 Santa Maria, the northernmost of the old missions. 
 
 The first of the overland parties set out from 
 Velicata on March 24, 1769. It was led by Captain 
 Rivera, commander of the company of Loreto. He 
 had twenty-five leather jacket soldiers (soldados de 
 cuera), three muleteers, and some forty Indians 
 
CALIFORNIA 261 
 
 from the old missions, equipped with pick, shovel, 
 ax, and crowbar, to open the roads through the 
 mountains and across gullies. Along went Father 
 Juan Crespi, principal historian of the expedition. 
 Rivera's men were declared to be "the best horse- 
 men in the world, and among those soldiers who 
 best earn their bread from the august monarch 
 whom they serve." The cuera, which gave them 
 their name, was a leather jacket, like a coat with- 
 out sleeves, reaching to the knees, and made of six 
 or seven plies of white buckskin, proof against the 
 Indians' arrows except at very close range. For 
 additional armor they had shields and chaps. The 
 shields, carried on the left arm, were made of two 
 plies of bull's hide, and would turn either arrow or 
 spear. The leather chaps or aprons, fastened to the 
 pommel of the saddle, protected legs and thighs 
 from brush and cactus spines. 
 
 For the first eight days the trail was that fol- 
 lowed by the Jesuit Father Linck, three years be- 
 fore. Thereafter, a distance of three hundred miles, 
 the route was now explored by white men for the 
 first time. Frequently water had to be carried in 
 barrels and skin bags (botas), for the Peninsula is 
 dry. More than once the animals had to camp for 
 the night without water. Sometimes there was no 
 
262 THE SPANISH BORDERLANDS 
 
 fuel for a camp fire. Several nights were made terri- 
 ble by the roaring of a lion. Much of the way was 
 over rugged mountains. The wild Indians did 
 no harm, but they were occasionally threatening. 
 Frequently it rained, and the men spent uncomfort- 
 able nights in water-soaked clothing. At last the 
 dijQBcult journey came to an end. On the 13th of 
 May, scouts from a height saw the masts of the two 
 vessels anchored in San Diego Bay. Next day 
 their joy was mixed with sadness; the welcome sa- 
 lutes and the fond embraces were offset by the sad 
 news of the horrible inroads made by scurvy into 
 the ranks of the sea party. 
 
 On the 15th of May, the day after Rivera and 
 Crespi reached San Diego, Portola and Serra set 
 out from Velicata. The season was better, the 
 trail had been broken, and the journey was quicker 
 than Rivera's. On the last day of June, after a 
 march of six weeks, the wayfarers reached San 
 Diego. Serra said Mass, the Te Deum was sung, 
 and artillery roared salute from the new outpost of 
 Church and State. The first band of Spanish 
 pioneers on the soil of Alta California, when all 
 were assembled, comprised one hundred and twen- 
 ty-six souls; ninety-three of the original number 
 had perished on the San Carlos or after landing; 
 
CALIFORNIA 263 
 
 of the Indians, some had deserted on the way, re- 
 luctant to leave home. On Sunday, the 16th of 
 July, Serra preached to a group of natives made 
 happy by little trinkets from his stock, and dedi- 
 cated the mission of San Diego de Alcala. Nearby 
 the presidio of San Diego was founded. 
 
 The port of Monterey was still to be protected. 
 Portola therefore sent the San Antonio back to 
 Mexico for men and supplies; then, leaving the San 
 Carlos at anchor for want of a crew, he continued 
 up the coast by land to complete his task, without 
 the aid of the vessels. The march began on the 
 14th of July, two days before Serra formally 
 founded his mission of San Diego. Ahead rode 
 Portola, Fages, Costanso, the friars, six Catalan 
 volunteers, and the Indian sappers. Next followed 
 the pack train in four divisions, each of twenty- 
 five loaded mules, with muleteers and a soldier 
 guard. In the rear came Captain Rivera, the rest 
 of the soldiers, and friendly Indians driving the 
 herd of spare mules and horses. 
 
 Portola and his band rode northward along the 
 coast by a route practically that now followed by 
 the railroads. Most of the way pasture and water 
 were plentiful and the Indians numerous and 
 friendly. At Los Angeles River a sharp earthquake 
 
264 THE SPANISH BORDERLANDS 
 
 shock was felt. '* It lasted about half as long as an 
 Ave Maria, and about ten minutes later it was re- 
 peated, though not so violently." The coast was 
 followed without great difficulty past San Luis 
 Obispo to a point near the southern line of Mon- 
 terey County. Here the way was blocked by 
 rugged Santa Lucia Mountain, whose steep cliffs 
 overhang the sea. A halt of several days was 
 necessary for Rivera and the scouts to find a way 
 through the mountains. The march was continued 
 then to the north and northeast for about forty-five 
 miles across Nacimiento and San Antonio rivers, 
 and down Arroyo Seco to Salinas River, which was 
 reached near Soledad. It was one of the hardest 
 stretches of country encountered by the early ex- 
 plorers of the West. Crespi wrote, "The moun- 
 tains . . . are inaccessible not only for men but 
 also for goats and deer." Arroyos flowing down the 
 gorges had to be crossed innumerable times. From 
 a high peak near San Antonio River nothing but 
 mountains could be seen in any direction. "It was 
 a sad spectacle for us, poor wayfarers, tired and 
 worn out by the fatigues of the long journey." 
 Some of the soldiers by now were disabled by 
 scurvy. "All this tended to oppress our hearts; 
 but, remembering the object to which these toils 
 
CALIFORNIA 265 
 
 were directed, and that it was for the greater glory 
 of God through the conversion of souls, and for the 
 service of the king, whose dominions were being en- 
 larged by this expedition, all were animated to 
 work cheerfully." 
 
 Six days down Salinas River took the expedition 
 to the shore of Monterey Bay. But Vizcaino had 
 told of a "fine harbor." None was found, and Por- 
 tola, mystified, concluded that some mistake had 
 been made, and that the harbor must be farther 
 north. He therefore continued up the coast. As 
 the men pressed on through the spacious forests, 
 they saw, rank upon rank, the sheer, ruddy trunks 
 of giant timber, and they called this new tree the 
 palo Colorado. This is the first historical mention of 
 the famous California redwood. At Half Moon Bay 
 they saw the Farallones, Point Reyes, and Drake's 
 Bay; which last they recognized at once, for it 
 was better known than any other point on the 
 north coast. Plainly, they had passed Monterey 
 and were a long distance out of their course. So 
 they pitched camp at Point Pedro, to rest and to 
 debate what should be done. And, their food being 
 nearly exhausted, some hunters struck into the 
 mountains northeast of the camp to look for game. 
 The chase, or perhaps only the hope of it, led them 
 
^Q6 THE SPANISH BORDERLANDS 
 
 upward until presently they came out on a clear 
 height and beheld a great quiet harbor, almost land- 
 locked, so near together stood the two titanic 
 pillars of its one gate, open to the sunset ocean. 
 These hunters were the first white men to catch a 
 glimpse of San Francisco Bay. 
 
 On the 4th of November, Portola's party de- 
 scended to the bay and explored it to its head. 
 Then, retracing their route along the coast, they 
 again reached Point Pinos and Monterey Bay. 
 They planted two crosses, one on Carmel River 
 and the other on the bay shore, and continued on 
 to San Diego. 
 
 There affairs had gone badly. Fifty persons had 
 died and the rest were homesick. During Portola's 
 absence they had had a serious brush with the na- 
 tives, who had pillaged their huts and stripped the 
 invalids of their garments. Provisions were scarce, 
 and there was even talk of abandoning the enter- 
 prise. But Rivera was dispatched to Loreto for 
 stock and supplies, and the pioneers held on as if 
 they knew the full meaning of their fortitude. In 
 the crisis Serra's faith was superb. "What I have 
 desired least is provisions," he wrote. "Our needs 
 are many, it is true; but if we have health, a tor- 
 tilla, and some vegetables, what more do we want.^ 
 
CALIFORNIA 267 
 
 ... If I see that along with the food hope van- 
 ishes I shall remain along with Father Juan Crespi 
 and hold out to the last breath." 
 
 But relief was at hand. To the eyes of the friars, 
 who had kept an unceasing vigil of prayer for nine 
 days, and to the discouraged Portola, the white 
 sails of the San Antonio cleaving the clear blue 
 twilight must have seemed as the wings of some 
 heavenly visitant, more beautiful than ever ship 
 before had spread to the beneficent wind. Alta 
 California had been saved from the danger of 
 abandonment. Another expedition to Monterey 
 was successful and the presidio and mission of San 
 Carlos were founded there (1770), near the spot 
 where one hundred and sixty-eight years before 
 Father Ascension had said Mass under a spreading 
 oak tree. 
 
 The Russian menace had been met. Spain's 
 frontier had been advanced eight hundred miles. 
 That the event was of more than local import was 
 generally felt, and the news of it, hurried to Mexico 
 by special courier and dispatch boat, was cele- 
 brated at the capital. "His Excellency [the Vice- 
 roy] wanted the whole population forthwith to 
 share in the happiness which the information gave 
 him, and therefore he ordered a general ringing ef 
 
268 THE SPANISH BORDERLANDS 
 
 the bells of the cathedral and all the other churches^ 
 in order that all might realize the importance of the 
 Port of Monterey to the Crown of our monarch, 
 and also to give thanks for the happy success of the 
 expeditions; for by their means the dominion of our 
 king had been extended over more than three hun- 
 dred leagues of good land." More than this, the 
 Viceroy ordered a solemn Mass of thanksgiving 
 sung in the cathedral, and attended in person with 
 his whole viceregal court. 
 
 Two problems of major importance now engaged 
 the authorities — the opening of a land route from 
 Sonora and the occupation of San Francisco Bay. 
 Thus far supplies had been sent chiefly by ship 
 from San Bias to Loreto on the peninsula, thence 
 northward by pack train over seven hundred and 
 fifty miles of largely arid country to San Diego and 
 five hundred and fifty miles farther to Monterey. 
 California needed colonists, and the supply ships 
 were too small to transport them in any number. 
 The soldiers in California, left without their fami- 
 lies, chose their companions from among the na- 
 tive women and thus grievously hampered the 
 work of the friars. Furthermore, a land route 
 would reduce the cost of the new settlements to the 
 
CALIFORNIA 269 
 
 government by opening a way for the transport of 
 stock and crops raised abundantly in Sonora. 
 
 The man for the task was found in Juan Bautista 
 de Anza, commander of Tubac, an Arizona fort, 
 and a frontiersman by birth and training. Anza 
 set out from his post at Tubac with a company of 
 thirty-four men, including two friars, thirty-five 
 mules laden with provisions, sixty-five cattle, and 
 one hundred and forty horses — the horses being 
 poor animals, as the best of the stock had just been 
 run off by the Apaches. He turned southwest, 
 crossed the divide, and descended the Altar River 
 through the Pima missions to Caborca, the last 
 Spanish settlement between Sonora and Father 
 Serra's San Gabriel Mission, six hundred miles dis- 
 tant. From Caborca his way led through the Pa- 
 pago country to the Gila at the Colorado Junction, 
 over the waterless Devil's Highway, where men 
 and beasts suffered torture from thirst. At the 
 junction he made friends with Palma, chief of the 
 Yumas, and presented him with a bright sash and 
 a necklace of coins struck with the King's image, 
 which latter so delighted the naked giant that "he 
 neither had eyes enough to look at it, nor words 
 with which to express his gratitude." The Yumas 
 assisted Anza in crossing the Colorado River and 
 
270 THE SPANISH BORDERLANDS 
 
 guided him down its farther bank to Santa Olaya 
 Lake, on the edge of the great sand dunes of the 
 Colorado Desert. 
 
 His guides from here forward were Father Fran- 
 cisco Garces, who three years before had crossed 
 the Colorado Desert, and Sebastian, an Indian who 
 had fled east across the Sierras from Mission San 
 Gabriel to Sonora. But the guides lost their way 
 and for about a fortnight Anza wandered help- 
 lessly among the dunes till at last he encountered 
 mountains of sand which the jaded animals would 
 not even attempt to pass. When he turned back 
 towards Santa Olaya Lake his difficulties were not 
 over; for the blowing sand had wiped out all trails. 
 But at last he reached it and there went into camp 
 for two weeks, to rest and restore the men and the 
 pack animals. The camp was thronged daily with 
 the Yumas and their allies. The friars, Fathers 
 Diaz and Garces, endeavored to convert th^ sav- 
 ages; and the soldiers, who had a fiddler among 
 them, held nightly dances with the Indian girls, 
 there on the rim of the desert, defying its menace 
 with their jollity. 
 
 Anza left a part of his equipment and some of his 
 men with the Yumas and went on with the others, 
 who had sworn to persevere with him to the end, 
 
CALIFORNIA 271 
 
 even if they should have to make the coast on foot. 
 He went south westward, down the Colorado, seek- 
 ing a way round the southern line of the desert. 
 He found water and pasturage north of the Cocopa 
 Mountains, from which point he veered generally 
 northwestward to a pass in the Sierra Nevada 
 Mountains. 
 
 This trail of the first white man to cross the 
 Sierras is historic. Anza entered the great range 
 by way of San Felipe Creek. "The canyon is 
 formed by several very high, rocky mountains, or it 
 would be better to say, by great heaps of rocks and 
 stones of all sizes, which look as though they had 
 been gathered and piled there, like the sweepings of 
 the world." Continuing up Coyote Canyon, past 
 starved Indians living in the cliflPs and caves "like 
 rabbit warrens," three days after leaving the desert 
 he emerged through a rocky pass into Cahuilla 
 Valley.^ The desert now gave way to mountain 
 verdure. "At this very place," says Anza, " there 
 is a pass which I named Royal Pass of San Carlos. 
 From it are seen some most beautiful valleys, very 
 
 ^ Not Hemet Valley as is generally held. In August, 1920, the 
 author and Mr. W. G. Paden, by a personal reconnaissance on the 
 ground, demonstrated this error. The rocky pass, called San 
 Carlos, today opens into the corral of Rancho de la Puerta, 
 owned by Mr. Fred Clark. 
 
272 THE SPANISH BORDERLANDS 
 
 green and flower strewn; snowy mountains with 
 live oaks and other trees native to cold lands. The 
 waters, too, are divided, some running on this side 
 to the Gulf, and others to the Philippine Ocean." 
 Anza crossed the plateau, a distance of some fifteen 
 miles, and, little hindered by falling snow on the 
 mountains, which turned to mist in the valley, de- 
 scended Bautista Canyon and camped on San 
 Jacinto River. A few days later, as the Southern 
 California sunset blazed upon the peaks, Anza 
 knocked at the gates of San Gabriel Mission, near 
 the future Los Angeles. His march had covered 
 some seven hundred miles. He went on to Mon- 
 terey and returned from there to Tubac over the 
 trail which he had opened, through the Royal Pass 
 of San Carlos. 
 
 The Golden Gate could now be protected. Hav- 
 ing first been to Mexico City to confer with Viceroy 
 Bucarely, on October 23, 1775, Anza led out from 
 the rendezvous at Tubac the first colony destined 
 for San Francisco. It comprised soldiers, friars, 
 and thirty families — in all two hundred and forty 
 persons. The type of Spanish colonist to be had is 
 amply revealed in Anza's recommendations to the 
 authorities. Their pay must be given them in ad- 
 vance, because most of them were "submerged in 
 
CALIFORNIA 273 
 
 poverty," and it must be given to them in the form 
 of clothing and outfit because, if paid in money, 
 they would immediately gamble it all away. The 
 list of essentials included — besides arms, horses, 
 mules, cattle, and rations — shirts, underwear, 
 jackets, breeches, hose, buckskin boots and but- 
 toned shoes, capes, hats, and handkerchiefs for the 
 men, also ribbons for their hats and their hair; for 
 the women, chemises, petticoats, jackets, shoes, 
 stockings, hats, rebozos and ribbons; and the items 
 of children's needs also concluded with ribbons. 
 Spurs, bridle and bit, saddle and saddle-cushion, 
 and a leathern jacket (cuera) of seven thicknesses, 
 were a few more of each man's requirements. And 
 the dole of each family seems to have included all 
 inventions known at the time from frying pans 
 to blank books! Two hundred head of cattle 
 were taken to stock California. In the party were 
 three friars. Font, Garces, and Eixarch. Garces, 
 who had accompanied Anza to San Gabriel on his 
 first journey, and Eixarch, were to remain with the 
 Yuma Indians at the mouth of the Gila. Font 
 went as diarist and astronomer. The Gila was 
 reached on the 28th of November without other 
 grave mishap than the death of a woman in child- 
 birth. Six days were spent at Yuma, the junction 
 
 l8 
 
274 THE SPANISH BORDERLANDS 
 
 of the Gila and the Colorado, because of illness 
 among the women, and because of the necessity of 
 installing Garces and Eixarch among their chosen 
 flock. Anza ordered a cabin erected for the fri- 
 ars and their servants and stocked it with provi- 
 sions for four months. Chief Palma aided with 
 all the weight of his great authority. Such was the 
 beginning of white settlement at Yuma. 
 
 On the 4th of December Anza resumed his jour- 
 ney. Some of his horses had died from the cold, 
 and there were eleven sick persons in the party. 
 At Santa Olaya Lake he divided his expedition into 
 three relays, to march on different days, in order to 
 save the scant water holes in the desert country 
 ahead. In his conferences with Palma, whom he 
 had now rendered ecstatic by the gift of a Spanish 
 military costume, Anza must have learned more 
 about the way over the sand dunes ; for, leading the 
 first detachment in person, he struck out straight 
 ahead across the desert. In three days he reached 
 the cool wells of Santa Rosa, and, two days later, 
 camped at San Sebastian, near the pass into the 
 mountains. Here he awaited the remainder of his 
 party. When the other detachments came up, the 
 colonists were ill from cold and thirst, and the two 
 hundred cattle had been without water for four 
 
CALIFORNIA 275 
 
 days. The horses were badly worn. Just before 
 leaving Tubac the Apaches had stolen fifteen hun- 
 dred head, and most of the emigrants had come 
 without change of mounts, in some cases with 
 two or three children on a single horse. Hence- 
 forth some went on foot. But human nature is 
 buoyant. And the reunion at San Sebastian was 
 celebrated with a noisy dance. A bold widow 
 sang a naughty song; her paramour punished her; 
 Anza reprimanded the man, and Father Font 
 reproved Anza. 
 
 Anza's cavalcade turned northwestward now 
 and crossed the Sierras by way of the path he had 
 discovered on his former journey. The snow-cov- 
 ered mountains extended a chilly reception to the 
 colonists, who came from semi-tropical Sonora and 
 Sinaloa. The women wept, but Anza dried their 
 tears. In the deep canyon on Christmas eve, a 
 child was born, the third extra colonist to enter the 
 ranks of the expedition since the departure from 
 Tubac. On the way up the mountain slope over 
 ninety head of cattle died from cold and exhaus- 
 tion. Just at San Carlos Pass a severe earthquake 
 shock was experienced by the weary band. The 
 intrepid Anza — Tomiar, or Big Chief, the Cahuil- 
 las called him — had intended to break trail from 
 
276 THE SPANISH BORDERLANDS 
 
 the pass to Monterey without touching at San Ga- 
 briel, but the condition of his party and the stock 
 made this plan impracticable. Where Riverside 
 now stands he crossed the Santa Ana River on the 
 bridge built by himself two years before and led his 
 colonists into the precincts of San Gabriel on Jan- 
 uary 4, 1776. Two months later he had brought 
 them to Monterey. 
 
 Anza explored the shores of San Francisco Bay 
 and selected sites for a presidio and a mission and 
 then returned to Sonora. The march of over a 
 thousand miles, which he had led, was one of the 
 longest overland migrations of a colony in North 
 American history before the settlement of Oregon. 
 
 It is worthy of note that even while Don Juan 
 Anza reconnoitered San Francisco Bay for a site 
 whereon to erect the outward signs of absolute 
 monarchy, the Liberty Bell at Philadelphia three 
 thousand miles away proclaimed the signing of 
 the Declaration of Independence; and that within 
 seventy-five years San Francisco was to become 
 the western gateway of the new American nation. 
 
 The presidio of San Francisco was founded in 
 September and the mission in October, 1776. Next 
 year one of Anza's lieutenants founded San Jose, 
 some miles to the south, close to the mission of 
 
CALIFORNIA 277 
 
 Santa Clara. Four years later a second body of 
 colonists came over Portola's route and founded 
 the pueblo of Los Angeles. The year 1782 saw 
 the founding of Santa Barbara. Thus Spain had 
 made good her hold on California at four strategic 
 points, San Diego, Santa Barbara, Monterey, and 
 San Francisco, having meanwhile pushed explora- 
 tion by sea up the present Oregon and British Co- 
 lumbia coasts with an eye always to Russian and 
 English activities. Spain was much disturbed to 
 find that England, who should have been fully 
 occupied with the Revolutionary War in America 
 and the defense of her frontiers from the English 
 Channel to India against the combined power of 
 France and Spain, had yet found time to send an 
 explorer. Captain Cook, into North Pacific waters.^ 
 
 Of names illustrious in the pioneer mission field 
 of America none is more renowned than Junipero 
 Serra. If, as in the case of Serra, we are disposed 
 to think that the biographies of some of the pioneer 
 padres, written by members of their own Order, 
 may be too colored with hero worship to be strict- 
 ly historical, let us remember at the same time 
 that only men capable of arousing exalted affection 
 
 ' See Adventurers of Oregon in this Series. 
 
278 THE SPANISH BORDERLANDS 
 
 and admiration could tempt their memorialists in- 
 to this extravagance. In his character, it is plain, 
 Serra was gentle, loving, and selfless. Like Kino, 
 he had distinguished himself in the Old World and 
 had turned his back upon honors to enter the la- 
 borious and perilous life of a missionary to savages. 
 It was a life that promised little but hardship, dis- 
 appointment, danger, to be cut short, perhaps, by 
 a death of agony at the hands of those he sought to 
 save. Whatever might be the worldly policies of 
 governors and ecclesiastics pertaining to the re- 
 sults of his labors, the true missionary himself was 
 moved by two separate motives — a passion for 
 his Faith and a yearning towards those whom he 
 deemed eternally lost without it. His humanity as 
 well as his zeal found exercise in a fatherly interest 
 in the children of the wilderness and in efforts to 
 teach them innocent games and pleasures in the 
 place of some of their native amusements which 
 were less moral. To learn their various languages 
 — and Indian languages are among the most diffi- 
 cult to master — to coax them into habits of indus- 
 try, to make them love labor and strict virtue as 
 well as the Catechism — required infinite patience 
 and kindness no less than a heart staunch against 
 all fear. 
 
CALIFORNIA 279 
 
 Such a blend of zeal and humanity was seen 
 in Junipero Serra. Withal, he was an organizer 
 and executive. All in all, indeed, Serra was the 
 outstanding Spanish pioneer of California. Dur- 
 ing the fifteen years of his labors there, he super- 
 vised the founding of nine permanent missions 
 of the twenty-one which the Franciscans built in 
 the Golden State before secularization undid the 
 work of their Order. ^ San Diego was the first, but 
 the more famous was San Carlos at Carmel, where 
 Serra lived until his death in 1784. The present 
 San Carlos, which has been preserved and is still 
 regularly used for services, was begun on the 
 same site in 1793. The little congregation which 
 gathers there now answers no longer to the descrip- 
 tions left us by visitors of long ago — such as those 
 of the Frenchman La Perouse, who saw the original 
 building, the English discoverer, George Vancouver, 
 and, later, the Boston seaman and writer, Rich- 
 ard Henry Dana. Then, along the five-mile road 
 
 ^San Diego, 1769; San Carlos, 1770; San Gabriel, 1771; San 
 Antonio de Padua, 1771; San Luis Obispo, 1772; San Juan Capi- 
 strano, 1776; San Francisco de Assisi, 1776; Santa Clara, 1777; 
 San Buenaventura, 1782; Santa Barbara, 1786; La Purisima 
 Concepcion, 1787; Santa Cruz, 1791; Soledad, 1791; San Juan 
 Bautista, 1797; San Fernando, 1797; San Miguel, 1797; San Jose, 
 1797; San Luis Rey, 1798; Santa Inez, 1804; San Rafael. 1817; 
 San Francisco Solano, 1823. 
 
280 THE SPANISH BORDERLANDS 
 
 leading from Monterey, the capital, to Carmel, 
 passed the magnificent Governor and his uniformed 
 escort, caballeros in slashed and gilt-laced panta- 
 loons and brilliant serapes, staid senoras shrouded 
 in black lace mantillas yet keeping an eye on their 
 daughters, whose glances, decorous but eager, roved 
 over the rim of the cart as some hero with jingling 
 spurs curvetted past, peasants under their huge 
 sombreros, gray-gowned friars in sandals, Indian 
 muleteers and vaqueros, and Indian laborers in their 
 coarse dull cotton smocks. Scarlet, gold, and blue 
 livened the black and white and tawny brown in 
 the costuming of this frequent procession, which 
 made its way along the shore of a sea sapphire and 
 amethyst and spread with the hammered gold of 
 the kelpfields, on through the green slopes, on 
 among the giant columns of the Carmel pines, to 
 San Carlos, on the hill above the river, with red- 
 tiled roof and belfry and thick bluish stone walls. 
 In Serra's day there was only a small adobe church 
 beside the orchards of olives and fruit trees which 
 he planted. Half a stone's throw from the church 
 Serra dwelt in a cell furnished with a chair and a 
 table, a bed of boards, and the blanket which cov- 
 ered him when he slept. Nearby rose a high cross 
 and, at dawn and often through the day and night. 
 
CALIFORNIA 281 
 
 he knelt at its foot in prayer. It was, says Father 
 Palou, Serra's pupil, friend, and biographer, *'his 
 companionship and all his delight." Under the 
 shadow of the cross in his cell, attended by his dis- 
 ciple Palou, Serra died. From near and far, the In- 
 dians who venerated him came to strew his plain 
 coffin with flowers. And they wept bitterly that 
 their Padre, now silent in death, would never again 
 greet them with his habitual tender admonition, 
 *'amar a Dios^' — to love God. 
 
 Aided by other devoted Franciscans, Serra had 
 accomplished much according to the plan which he 
 held to be essential to the welfare of the Indians. 
 Along the fertile coast valleys from San Diego to 
 San Francisco stretched a chain of missions, some 
 seated so that the limits of one mission's lands 
 touched upon the borders of the next. Grain fields, 
 vineyards, olive groves, and orchards flourished, 
 cared for by native labor under Indian overseers. 
 Indian herdsmen tended the great flocks of sheep 
 and the droves of cattle and horses. Each mission 
 with its lands and its Indians formed a type of pa- 
 triarchal state under the padre's rule backed by the 
 soldiery. Under the new regime, which curbed 
 every native instinct and changed the whole fash- 
 ion of their lives the Indians decreased. But, while 
 
282 THE SPANISH BORDERLANDS 
 
 it is easy to pick flaws in the mission system of deal- 
 ing with the Indians, it is not so easy to point to 
 any other system which has done better. The 
 problem of civilizing a wild people has baffled 
 others than the padres. 
 
 In the policy of the Government regarding the 
 missions and in the plans of the friars, the Indian 
 was the central idea. Both looked to his conver- 
 sion and civilization. The Government intend- 
 ed, after a reasonable period, to take over the 
 missions, turn them into pueblos under civil juris- 
 diction, each church to become a curacy of the 
 diocese, and to allot land to the Indians, who were 
 to be no longer neophytes under patriarchal domi- 
 nance, but citizens living independent lives under 
 the rule of the state. The mission lands did not 
 belong to the friars, whose vows of poverty pre- 
 cluded their holding property. The usufruct was 
 theirs to manage;, as stewards and administrators 
 salaried by the Crown but having themselves no 
 titles to the occupied territory. The friars were 
 not in sympathy with the governmental desire pre- 
 maturely to secularize the missions and thus to ex- 
 pel the missionaries, or to confine the activities of 
 those who might remain to purely spiritual af- 
 fairs. It is conceivable that they did not wish to 
 
CALIFORNIA 283 
 
 resign their temporal powers; and it is certain that 
 they did not beheve that the Indians would be 
 benefited by the change. With all their energy, 
 therefore, the friars resisted secularization. 
 
 A decree passed by the Spanish Cortes in 1813, 
 but not published in California until January, 1820, 
 ordered the friars immediately to ** cease from the 
 government and administration of the property" 
 of the Indians; but a vigorous controversy halted 
 its execution. After the revolt from Spain, the 
 Mexican Government enacted laws of the same 
 tenor, looking, as some say, to the emancipation of 
 the Indians and to their participation in the life of 
 the state as citizens, or, as others put it, to the con- 
 fiscation of the mission lands. The immediate re- 
 sult was confusion, waste, and destruction. The 
 Indians did not comprehend the new measures, said 
 to be designed for their progress. They accepted the 
 views of the friars that a great evil was being com- 
 mitted by the new republican Government. To 
 oppose that Government some at least of the mis- 
 sion Indians had been armed and drilled under the 
 direction of their padres, whose sympathies were 
 strongly royalist. Not understanding that the 
 lands and herds which they had tended were now 
 legally to become their own, and believing only 
 
284 THE SPANISH BORDERLANDS 
 
 that they and their padres were to be robbed of 
 them, they plunged into a furious destruction of 
 live stock and other property. Helpless to cope 
 with the situation, the new Government ordered a 
 temporary restoration of the old system. But the 
 trouble did not abate. Dishonest officials, eager 
 only to possess themselves of the valuable lands 
 destined for the Indians, added to the complexity 
 of the problem. Settlers intruded into the mission 
 valleys and took up holdings. Natives helped 
 themselves to stock and ran off to distant rancher- 
 ias. By 1843, five of the missions at least had been 
 entirely deserted. In 1845 a proclamation pro- 
 vided for the rental or sale of the missions. The 
 abandoned buildings were to be sold at auction. 
 The surplus property of others was to be sold and 
 the buildings rented. This order had not been 
 fully carried out when the flag of the United States 
 was raised at Monterey on July 7, 1846. Under 
 American regulations, the mission buildings with 
 an adequate amount of land were restored to the 
 Church. The surplus land reverted to the Govern- 
 ment. So, in the end, the Indians possessed noth- 
 ing. Retreating before the inrush of white settlers, 
 they went back to their wild life, far less able to 
 cope with its conditions after some fifty years of 
 
CALIFORNIA 285 
 
 civilization and strict religious discipline. A few of 
 the friars remained till they died to care for the 
 spiritual welfare of their scattered and diminished 
 flocks. The majority departed for other mission 
 fields or returned to their monasteries in Mexico 
 and Europe. 
 
 The missions, some of them intact, others in va- 
 rious stages of decay, or of restoration through the 
 activities of the Landmarks Club of California, 
 remain as monuments, not alone to the friars who 
 designed them, but also to the Indians who built 
 them. The natives, instructed by their padres, 
 made those adobe bricks and quarried those great 
 stone blocks and piled them into the high walls 
 several feet in thickness, into the tall pillars, the 
 rounded arches, the belfry towers and the solid 
 courtyards of buildings covering, in some instances, 
 enormous sites. San Luis Rey, the largest of 
 the missions, built of adobe, had a corridor of 
 thirty-two broad arches opening upon its patio, 
 which was about eighty yards square. Nearly 
 three thousand Indians peopled the adjacent vil- 
 lage, tilled the mission's lands and herded its stock; 
 and, in the evenings, a native band of forty pieces 
 played for the delectation of their tribesmen and 
 their padres. The Indians built roads and bridges 
 
286 THE SPANISH BORDERLANDS 
 
 under the tutelage of the friars, some of whom had 
 been architects and engineers, prior to taking vows 
 Indians baked the dusky red tiles for the roofs. 
 They carved the altar pieces and pulpits, the door- 
 posts and hntels; they made the moldings and em- 
 ployed their primitive native art in the brilliantly 
 colored frescoes which still adorn some of the inte- 
 rior walls. They hewed and smoothed the great 
 beams for the ceilings and grooved them into place; 
 and they wrought the stone bowls for font and 
 fountain and set them on their adobe pedestals. 
 Patient teaching and faithful labor wrought for 
 beauty and God. 
 
 The architecture combined something of the 
 Moresque, the Roman, and the Old Spanish, and 
 was perhaps influenced by the Aztec, certainly was 
 influenced by the needs and inspirations and the 
 climatic conditions of a virgin country and by the 
 materials at hand for building. The result was an 
 original style, massively beautiful and harmonious 
 with the landscape. Santa Barbara is a famous ex- 
 ample. It never suffered ruin ; it is, in fact, the only 
 mission in California which, from its earliest days, 
 has never been untenanted by Franciscans. 
 
 Some of the ruined missions suffered their first 
 blows, not from secularization, but from the severe 
 
CALIFORNIA 287 
 
 seismic shocks of 1812 — el ano de los temblor es. 
 Chief of these was the vast cruciform building of 
 San Juan Capistrano, which succeeded the small 
 mission built by Serra. Before its ruins, in point of 
 beauty, even the unblemished pile of Santa Bar- 
 bara must give way. The great cross, shattered 
 now, with its church, monastery, convent, and 
 workshops and its wings of corridors outlined, was 
 erected of gray stone and was hardly less than a 
 decade in building. On a mountain several leagues 
 away the great timbers for the beams were hewn. 
 The stone came from a quarry six miles distant. 
 The huge blocks were transported by the mission 
 Indians, numbering roughly a thousand, in crude 
 bullock-carts; the smaller blocks men, women, and 
 even children carried on their heads. Back and 
 forth in the daylight hours, year after year, the In- 
 dians of Capistrano trod the long way to bring the 
 stone that should build an imperishable shrine. 
 Imperishable, in one sense, it is; but its structure, 
 completed in 1806, stood unmarred for only six 
 years. One of the uninjured rooms of the convent 
 was converted into a chapel. Services are held 
 there and the parish priest lives at the mission. 
 
 About San Juan Capistrano, even today, lingers 
 the fragrance of the past. In the little seaside 
 
288 THE SPANISH BORDERLANDS 
 
 village, Spanish, with Mexican accent, Basque, and 
 Portuguese are more commonly heard than English. 
 In fact, English is seldom heard. The sombrero 
 frequently, and even an occasional dingy and 
 frayed serape, may be seen in the groups of swarthy 
 skinned men lounging and smoking in the sun. 
 Not far from the railway — which connects San 
 Diego with Los Angeles by a swifter route than the 
 old trail of the padres — in the mouth of the valley, 
 the majestic ruin stands. Gone is the high bell- 
 tower, once visible, so it is said, from ten miles 
 away. The roofs have crumbled in places, and the 
 gray walls and the thick square columns of the 
 arches are fissured from the temblor which de- 
 stroyed the lofty church and crushed out the lives 
 of several hundred worshipers. Grasses and 
 weeds push their way through the broken floorings 
 and riot with the blazing California poppy in the 
 patios. Busy little birds, swift of wing and inces- 
 sant in song, pop in and out of a village of nests in 
 the deserted corridors. Lazy doves, bronze and 
 blue and snow-white, float up from the street along 
 the sparkling bay to sun and plume themselves on 
 the ruined arches. And the lizard, though unat- 
 tended by the lion, keeps the court. But the 
 dark vulture, wheeling above San Juan, wings 
 
CALIFORNIA 289 
 
 slowly on; for the stillness here is too old to be 
 of the dead. It is the placidity of beauty, which 
 is immortal. 
 
 In their pagan days the Indians of Capistrano 
 honored the moon. Padre Boscana has preserved 
 in his writings the refrain of the song sung at the 
 feast and dance with which they greeted her: "As 
 the moon dies and comes to life again, so we, hav- 
 ing to die, shall live again." Night is still the feast 
 of beauty at Capistrano. It is a feast kept now in 
 silence — with the stately dance of a tribe of shad- 
 ows moving through the arches to the slow rhythm 
 of the rising moon. So does a vanished people 
 "live again" in the supreme loveliness of their 
 wrecked handiwork. 
 
 Colonization in California proceeded steadily, 
 if slowly. California was far away and equally 
 good lands could be had in Mexico. Spaniards 
 lacked some of the incentives which stirred Eng- 
 lishmen to emigrate to the shores of the Atlantic. 
 They attained to little greater degree of personal 
 freedom and little larger share in their own govern- 
 ment in a frontier presidio than in the City of Mex- 
 ico or in Seville. Distance, of course, often made 
 them independent for a time. But the heel of 
 
290 THE SPANISH BORDERLANDS 
 
 absolutism was on their necks wherever they went, 
 and those who came lacked incentives to energetic 
 industry. The land was too fertile; too much was 
 done for them. Colonists were paid a salary for a 
 term of years, given lands, stock, tools, in fact 
 every necessary but the normal stimulus to labor. 
 In California, where the climate compelled no 
 measures of protection and the soil produced 
 abundantly without urging, the spirit of dolce far 
 niente possessed the settlers. Even the later com- 
 ing of well-to-do families, who boasted the purest 
 blood of Spain, made little change in the life of 
 happy, sunny ease. Sheep and cattle increased, 
 roamed the green valleys and found their own 
 sustenance, with little effort on the part of their 
 owners. Olive trees, introduced by the padres, 
 flourished; and grain yielded from fifty to a hun- 
 dredfold from a single sowing. Why work.? Why 
 be "progressive".'^ The implements used in cul- 
 tivation were of the most primitive design. As 
 late as '49 the Californians were ploughing, and 
 happily, with an iron point attached to a crooked 
 branch. The labor of field and range was done by 
 Indians for a share of the produce. The lord of the 
 hacienda was chiefly engaged in riding, in gam- 
 bling, dancing, in visiting or receiving his friends, or 
 
CALIFORNIA 291 
 
 attending bull and cock fights. There was indeed 
 little else for him to do. The Government did not 
 solicit his cooperation. He might, and often did, 
 stir up a little revolution. If he had a mind to 
 trade, he must pay a tithe on all transactions; and 
 there were no markets for his stock, so that fre- 
 quently he must slaughter great numbers of sheep, 
 cattle, and horses to reduce his herds. He was not 
 always devout, but he obeyed perfunctorily the 
 laws relative to religious observances and left the 
 rest to the virtue and piety of his women. Intel- 
 lectually, his life was perforce sterile; for California 
 was isolated; books there were none, and education 
 was not greatly encouraged. Reversing the pro- 
 verbial admonition, he seldom did today what he 
 could put off till tomorrow: mafiana was time 
 enough for a task; now was for pleasure. And no 
 pleasure was keener than bestriding a fine horse. 
 His days were lived in the saddle; and his feats of 
 horsemanship provoked the envy and admiration 
 of early American and European travelers who 
 have recorded them. To the end of Mexican days 
 the Californians sustained the reputation brought 
 by Rivera's men at the birth of the province — 
 "the best horsemen in the world." 
 
 Though changing fashions in the outside world 
 
292 THE SPANISH BORDERLANDS 
 
 affected the dress of the upper class, the Cahfor- 
 nians, generally, clung to their own style of garb. 
 The caballero who rode forth to take part in one of 
 the numerous fiestas at Monterey or San Jose was 
 attired in a jacket trimmed with scarlet, a brightly 
 colored silk sash, velvet pantaloons slashed below 
 the knee and laced with gilt, embroidered shoes, a 
 sombrero sporting a band of embroidery or ribbon 
 under which his head was tightly bound with a 
 black silk handkerchief. A serape was draped 
 about his shoulders; his long hair was braided in a 
 queue and tied with ribbons. Ribbons and jingling 
 bits of metal on bridle-reins and stirrups added to 
 the pride of his high-mettled horse. The sloe-eyed 
 maid who challenged him to dance by breaking on 
 his head a cascaron — an eggshell filled with gold 
 and silver paper, or scented water — would be ar- 
 rayed in white muslin smock and petticoat flounced 
 with scarlet — her arms bare and her trim ankles 
 visible — scarlet sash, shoes of velvet or of blue 
 satin; and a gay rebozo or cotton scarf, in the man- 
 agement of which she would display an infinite 
 number of enticing and graceful gestures. When 
 the day's sports were over, the thin sweet twanging 
 of guitars would call caballero and senorita to the 
 dance, until, by ones and twos and whispering, 
 
CALIFORNIA 293 
 
 laughing groups, the merrymakers flitted home 
 Hke shadows across the plaza which lay white as 
 pearl in the drenching light of the southern moon. 
 
 The houses of the well-to-do in country or in 
 town were built about a court. The rooms opened 
 on a corridor which ran round the court, where 
 usually brilliant flowers grew and a fountain sent 
 up its rainbow sparkle. The poorer ranch houses 
 were of the plainest design and ill-furnished. The 
 people lived out of doors and gave little thought to 
 the interior of their dwellings. They built their 
 large rambling one-story houses of adobe with red 
 tile roofs, sometimes coating the outside walls with 
 whitewash and the inner with plaster. The poorer 
 houses had no floors but the hard earth and no 
 furniture except a chair or two with rawhide seats, 
 a bed of the same material, and a wooden bench 
 which was fixed along the wall. The hacienda was 
 • overrun with Indian servants, frequently hired 
 from the missions, who did whatever work the 
 benign sun and soil had left for human hands 
 to do. 
 
 But if the Calif ornian was idle and, as the padres 
 sometimes complained, not over-virtuous, he was 
 kindly and hospitable to a fault. His house and 
 all he possessed were free to friend and stranger for 
 
294 THE SPANISH BORDERLANDS 
 
 a day or a year. No guest could wear out a Cali- 
 fornian's welcome. If the guest were a poor man, 
 on the day of his departure he would find a little 
 heap of silver coins in his room from which he was 
 thus silently bidden to ease a need his host had too 
 much delicacy to mention. Horses would be pro- 
 vided for his journey to the next hacienda, where 
 he would meet with the same treatment. 
 
 It was the opinion of travelers of that time that 
 the Californians were superior to other Spanish 
 colonists in America, including the Mexicans. And 
 the superiority was variously ascribed to the greater 
 degree of independence, social at least if not politi- 
 cal, which they had attained through their far re- 
 moval from Mexico and their lack of intercourse 
 with the other colonies; and to the fact that, after 
 the first settlements were made, the great majority 
 of new colonists were of good Castilian blood; and 
 to the influence of California itself. However that 
 may be, the life of the Californians presented 
 phases not always seen in Spanish colonies. The 
 beauties and graces of the Spanish character flow- 
 ered there; and the harsher traits were modified. 
 ' Perhaps the Californian bull fight may be cited 
 as typical of this mellower spirit, for it lacked 
 the sanguinary features which characterized the 
 
CALIFORNIA 295 
 
 national sport in Mexico and Spain. The quarry 
 retired from the arena not much the worse for 
 a chase which had served chiefly to exhibit the 
 dexterity and horsemanship of the toreador. 
 
 After the inrush of Americans, who, paradoxi- 
 cally enough, stumbled upon the gold which Span- 
 iards had vainly sought, this leisurely life inevi- 
 tably passed away. California of our time com- 
 memorates the day when a people possessed by the 
 energy of labor came to the Golden Gate. But it 
 still bears, indehbly stamped upon it, the imprint 
 of Spain. 
 
BIBLIOGRAPHICAL NOTE 
 
 No single work covers the entire field of this book. 
 Numerous topics are well treated in Justin Winsor, 
 Narrative and Critical History of America, volumes ii 
 and III (1889), whose bibliographies are even better 
 than its essays. Broad in scope and scientific in spirit 
 are John Gilmary Shea's History of the Catholic Mis- 
 sions Among the Indian Tribes of the United States, 
 1529-1864- (1855), and The Catholic Church in Colonial 
 Days, 1521-1763 (1886). Original documents cover- 
 ing a wide range of subjects for the sixteenth and 
 seventeenth centuries are contained in Pacheco and 
 Cardenas {et al.), Coleccion de Documentos ineditos, 
 Relativos al Descubrimiento, Conquista, y Colonizacion 
 de las Posesiones Espaholes, 42 vols. (1864-1884), and 
 Coleccion de Documentos Ineditos de Ultramar, segunda 
 serie, 13 vols. (1885-1900). 
 
 A number of works, though not general, deal with 
 considerable portions of the field. For the Atlantic sea- 
 board there is Peter J. Hamilton, The Colonization of 
 the South (1904). In Spanish there is Don Gabriel de 
 Cardenas Z. Canos (anagram for Don Andres Gonzalez 
 Barcia), Ensayo Cronologico para la Historia General de 
 la Florida (1723), which, though annalistic, is broader 
 in scope than any subsequent treatment of Florida. It 
 covers the Atlantic and Gulf areas from 1512 to 1722. 
 
 297 
 
298 BIBLIOGRAPHICAL NOTE 
 
 The Southwest is best covered by the various vol- 
 umes of Hubert Howe Bancroft's Works, The parts 
 relating to the Spaniards, which were written mainly 
 by Henry Oak, are an unsurpassed mine of information. 
 A popular introduction to Spanish activities in the 
 Southwest, vigorous and entertaining in style, is 
 Charles F. Lummis, Spanish Pioneers (1893). The 
 same region is covered with emphasis on coloniz- 
 ing methods in Frank W. Blackmar, Spanish Institu- 
 tions of the Southwest (1891). An excellent eighteenth 
 century work in Spanish is Juan Domingo de Arri- 
 civita, ChrSnica Serdfica y Apostolica del Colegio Pro- 
 paganda Fide de la Santa Cruz de Queretaro (1792). 
 It was written by an official chronicler who had been 
 a missionary in Texas. A general documentary collec- 
 tion is Herbert E. Bolton, Spanish Exploration in the 
 Southwest, 164^-1706 (1916). 
 
 Eably Exploration. Aside from these few general 
 and regional works, most of the materials are special, 
 and can be listed according to the chapters of this book. 
 Early sixteenth century explorations are admirably 
 treated in Woodbury Lowery, Spanish Settlements 
 Within the Present Limits of the United States , 1513- 
 1661 (1901). Popular accounts of the exploration of 
 Florida are Graham, Hernando de Soto (1903), Grace 
 King, De Soto and his Men in the Land of Florida (1898), 
 and, though old, Theodore Irving, The Conquest of 
 Florida by Hernando de Soto (1835). The standard 
 treatise on Coronado is George Parker Winship, The 
 Coronado Expedition, 15Ji-0-1542 (Fourteenth Annual 
 Report of the Bureau of Ethnology, 1896). Contempo- 
 rary narratives are contained in Hodge and Lewis, 
 
BIBLIOGRAPHICAL NOTE 299 
 
 Spanish Explorers in the Southern United States {Orig- 
 inal Narratives of Early American History, 1907); Ad. 
 F. and Fanny Bandelier, The Journey of Cabeza de 
 Vaca {Trail Makers Series, 1905); Pedro Castaneda 
 and others, The Journey of Coronado {Trail Makers 
 Series, 1904), edited by George Parker Winship. Ed- 
 ward Gaylord Bourne, Narrative of the Career of Her- 
 nando de Soto {Trail Makers Series, 1904) ; Buckingham 
 Smith, Coleccion de Varios Documentos para la Historia 
 de la Florida (1857). Garcilaso de la Vega, La Florida 
 delYnca{W05). 
 
 Early Florida. Menendez de Aviles is the theme 
 of Woodbury Lowery's second volume, Spanish Settle- 
 ments Within the Present Limits of the United States, 
 1562-157 Jf, (1905). A graphic and scholarly account 
 of the expulsion of the French by Menendez is given by 
 Francis Parkman in his Pioneers of France in the New 
 World (1865). Documentary collections are E. Ruidiaz 
 y Caravia, La Florida, su Conquista y ColonizaciSn por 
 Pedro Menendez de Aviles (1893), and Genaro Garcia, 
 Dos Antiguas Relaciones de la Florida (1902). 
 
 New Mexico. Spanish New Mexico can be studied 
 in Hubert Howe Bancroft, Arizona and Neio Mexico 
 (1888), and Ralph Emerson Twitchell, Leading Facts 
 of New Mexican History, vol . i ( 1 9 1 1 ) . Antiquated but 
 useful is W. W. H. Davis, Spanish Conquest in New 
 Mexico (1869). Mission antiquities are treated in L. 
 Bradford Prince's beautifully illustrated Spanish Mis- 
 sion Churches of New Mexico (1915) . The authority on 
 the Pueblo Revolt is Charles W. Hackett, who has 
 published several scholarly papers on the subject. 
 
300 BIBLIOGRAPHICAL NOTE 
 
 based on manuscript materials, in the Southwestern 
 Historical Quarterly and Old Santa Fe. An excellent 
 regional study is Anne E. Hughes, Beginning of Span- 
 ish Settlement in the El Paso District (1914) . A contem- 
 porary account of Oiiate's work by an eyewitness is 
 Gaspar de Villagra, Historia de la Nueva Mexico (1610), 
 which is written in verse. A rare picture of New Mex- 
 ico in 1630 is Alonso de Benavides, Memorial^ trans- 
 lated by Mrs. Edward E. Ayer and annotated by Fred- 
 erick Webb Hodge and Charles F. Lummis (1916). 
 Documents are contained in Ralph Emerson Twitchell, 
 The Spanish Archives of New Mexico, 2 vols. (1914), 
 and Herbert E. Bolton, Spanish Exploration in the 
 Southwest, 1542-1706 (1916), where extensive recently 
 discovered material is presented. 
 
 PiMERiA Alta and Baja CALIFORNIA. The work of 
 the Jesuits in Pimeria Alta and Baja California is 
 treated in Hubert Howe Bancroft's North Mexican 
 States, 2 vols. (1883-89), his Arizona and New Mexico 
 (1888), Fr. Zephyrin Engelhardt, The Missions and 
 Missionaries of California, vol. i (1908), and Theo- 
 dore H. Hittell, History of California, vol. i (1885). 
 An interesting popular book, of slight historical merit, 
 however, is Arthur North, The Mother of California 
 (1908). Excellent eighteenth century accounts are 
 Jose Ortega, Apostolicos Afanes de la Compania de 
 Jesus (1754); Miguel Venegas, Noticia de la Cali- 
 fornia, 3 vols. (1757); and Francisco Xavier Alegre, 
 Historia de la Compania de Jesus, 3 vols. (1841). 
 The foundational source for Kino's work is his own 
 Historical Memoir of Pimeria Alta (1919) edited by 
 Herbert E. Bolton. 
 
BIBLIOGRAPHICAL NOTE 301 
 
 Texas. The only general sketch of Spanish Texas is 
 contained in Garrison's Texas, A Contest of Civiliza- 
 tions (1903). More detailed, for the ground covered, 
 are R. C. Clark, The Beginnings of Texas (1907), Wil- 
 liam Edward Dunn, Spanish and French Rivalry in the 
 Gulf Region of the United States, 1678-1702 (1917); 
 and Herbert E. Bolton, Texas in the Middle Eigh- 
 teenth Century (1915) . Of the four named only the last 
 two are based on adequate materials. Documents 
 and monographs by Austin, Bolton, Buckley, Clark, 
 Cox, Dunn, Marshall, McCaleb, and others are in the 
 Texas State Historical Association Quarterly and the 
 Southwestern Historical Quarterly. The story of the 
 French border is told by Francis Parkman in his La 
 Salle and the Discovery of the Great West (1910), and his 
 Half Century of Conflict (1892), and Pierre Heinrich, 
 La Louisiane sous la Campaignie des Indes (1905). 
 Contemporary narratives are Alonso de Leon, His- 
 toria de Nuevo Leon (edited by Genaro Garcia, in Docu- 
 mentos Ineditos, xxv, 1909), and Fr. Isidro Felix de 
 Espiiiosa, Chronica Apostolica y Serdphica de Todos los 
 Colegios de Propagande Fide (1746). Espinosa was 
 long a missionary on the Rio Grande and in Eastern 
 Texas. Documents are contained in Bolton's Spanish 
 Exploration in the Southwest, and in Esteban L. Por- 
 tillo, Apuntes para la Historia Antigua de Coahuila y 
 Texas (1886). 
 
 Alta California. Histories of Alta California are 
 numerous. The best general repositories of facts are 
 the works of Bancroft, Hittell, and Engelhardt. Ele- 
 mentary sketches are Rockwell D. Hunt, California 
 the Golden (1911) and H. K. Norton, The Story of 
 
302 BIBLIOGRAPHICAL NOTE 
 
 California (1913). The results of recent scholarship 
 are presented in Irving B. Richman, California under 
 Spain and Mexico (1911), for which the archive mate- 
 rials were gathered mainly by Bolton; Charles Edward 
 Chapman, The Founding of Spanish California (1916); 
 and Herbert Ingram Priestley, JosS de Gdlvez (1916). 
 Zoeth Eldredge, The Beginnings of San Francisco 
 (1912), gives an excellent account of the Anza expedi- 
 tions. Francisco Palou's Noticias de la Nueva California 
 (1874), and his Junipero Serra (1787, English transla- 
 tion, edited by G. W. James, 1913), are excellent con- 
 temporary accounts. Documents are in Elliott Coues, 
 On the Trail of a Spanish Pioneer ^ 2 vols. (1900), and 
 in various volumes of the Academy of Pacific Coast 
 History Publications. 
 
 Louisiana. The sketches of Louisiana under Spain 
 have been thus far mainly written with attention fixed 
 on New Orleans. Useful accounts are in Albert Phelps, 
 Louisiana (1905), Charles Gayarre, History of Louisi- 
 ana (1903), vol. Ill, Reuben Gold Thwaites, France in 
 America (1905), pp. 281-295; F. A. Ogg, The Opening 
 of the Mississippi (1904), pp. 294-459; Barbe-Marbois, 
 History of Louisiana (English translation, 1830) ; W. R. 
 Shepherd, The Cession of Louisiana to Spain {Political 
 Science Quarterly^ xix), 439-458; Herbert E. Bolton, 
 Athanase de Mezieres and the Louisiana Texas Frontier, 
 1768-1780, 2 vols. (1914), vol. i, Introduction. Peter 
 J. Hamilton, The Colonization of the South (vol. iii of 
 G. C. Lee's History of North America, 1904); Colonial 
 Mobile (1910) by the same author; Louis Houck, His- 
 tory of Missouri, 3 vols. (1908); Thomas M. Marshall, 
 History of the Western Boundary of the Louisiana 
 
BIBLIOGRAPHICAL NOTE 303 
 
 Purchase, 1803-18^1 (1914). Documentary collections 
 are Louis Houck, The Spanish RSgime in Missouri, 2 
 vols. (1909) ; James Alexander Robertson, Louisiana 
 under the Rule of Spain, France, and the United States, 
 2 vols. (1911); and Bolton's Athanase de MSzieres, 
 just cited. 
 
 The Anglo-Spanish Border. The materials for the 
 Anglo-Spanish border are still scattered and are to be 
 found chiefly in the separate histories of the West In- 
 dies, South Carolina, Georgia, and Florida, and of the 
 intercolonial wars. Especially useful are the works of 
 Shea and Barcia, already cited, and Sir William 
 Laird Clowes (and others) The Royal Navy, 7 vols. 
 (1897-1903). 
 
INDEX 
 
 Abrado, Marchioness, bride of 
 
 , Ulloa, 240 
 
 Acoma, Alvarado reaches, 94; 
 
 Castafieda's description of, 
 94; Espejo goes to, 168; 
 Onate captures, 174 
 Aguayo, Marquis de, Texas 
 
 expedition, 227 
 Alabama, De Soto in, 51, 59- 
 
 60 
 Alamo (San Antonio), mission 
 
 started, 226 
 Alaniz, companion of Vaca, 30; 
 
 death, 31 
 Alarcon cooperates with Coro- 
 
 nado, 89, 107 
 Albuquerque, 183; textiles 
 
 manufactured at, 185 
 Alva, Duke of, on Spanish 
 
 subjection of Louisiana, 
 
 242-43 
 Alvarado, Hernando de, mem- 
 ber of Coronado's expedi- 
 tion, 94-95, 96 
 Alvarado, Pedro de, conqueror 
 
 of Guatemala, death (1541), 
 
 107 
 Amazons, legend of California, 
 
 105, 106 
 Amichel, Spanish name for 
 
 Texas coast, 10 
 Anian, Strait of, quest of 
 
 fabled, 108, 117, 174, 208; 
 
 Drake and, 113, 114, 169; 
 
 leads to discovery of Bering 
 
 Strait, 118, 258 
 Anza, Juan Bautista, Califor- 
 nia expedition, 269-72; first 
 
 to cross Sierras, 271; leads 
 colony to San Francisco, 
 272-76 
 
 Apache Indians, Estevanico 
 crosses present reservation 
 of, 83; and Coronado, 99; 
 part in Pueblo Revolt (1680), 
 179; Spanish policy regard- 
 ing, 190; Kino and, 200; 
 depredations in Sonora, 201; 
 block trade with New Mex- 
 ico, 230; Mezieres's cam- 
 paign of extermination, 252; 
 steal horses of Anza's colo- 
 nists, 275 
 
 Appalachee Bay, Narvaez 
 reaches, 23 
 
 Appalachen, Indian town in 
 northern Florida, 21, 22 
 
 Aquixo (Arkansas) cacique 
 visits De Soto, 65-66 
 
 Aranda, Count of, on Spanish 
 acquisition of Louisiana, 242 
 
 Arbadaos Indians, Vaca 
 among, 39-40 
 
 Arellano, Tristan de Luna y, 
 with Coronado's expedition, 
 89, 92, 100, 102; Florida 
 expedition, 131-32; replaced 
 as leader by Villafaiie, 132 
 
 Arikara Indians, fur traders 
 among, 255 
 
 Arizona, settlement, 188; mis- 
 sions in, 191; Kino's mission- 
 ary enterprise, 192, 193-96, 
 198-201; Jesuit missionary 
 revival (1732), 201; silver 
 discovered, 201-02; origin 
 
 305 
 
306 
 
 INDEX 
 
 Arizona — Continued 
 
 of name, 201; added to 
 
 United States, 257 
 Arkansas, De Soto traverses, 
 
 51, 65; Moscoso crosses, 
 
 75 
 Ascension, Father, accompan- 
 ies Vizcaino's expedition, 
 
 115, 267 
 Asinai (Texas) Indians, Massa- 
 
 net goes to, 216; welcome 
 
 Spaniards, 225 
 Aubry, commands French 
 
 army at New Orleans, 238, 
 
 239, 244; and Ulloa, 241; 
 
 and O'Reilly, 245, 246; sails 
 
 for France, 249; drowned, 
 
 249 
 Austin, Moses, Spanish grants 
 
 to, 256, 257 
 Avavares Indians, Vaca among 
 
 the, 'o8-S9 
 Aviles, Pedro Men^ndez de, see 
 
 Menendez 
 Axacan, mission founded at, 
 
 159 
 Ayllon, Lucas Vasquez de, 
 
 expedition into Florida, 12- 
 
 13; obtains patent to Chi- 
 
 cora, 15; settlement, 16-18; 
 
 death (1526), 18 
 Aztecs, conquest by Cortes, 12; 
 
 worth trouble of conquering, 
 
 190 
 
 Bacallaos River (St. Lawrence), 
 150; see also St. Lawrence 
 River 
 
 Baez, Brother, Jesuit, compiles 
 first grammar in United 
 States, 159 
 
 Bahama Channel, Ponce de 
 Leon discovers, 9 
 
 Balboa, Vasco Nuiiez de, De 
 Soto brother-in law to, 46 
 
 Barrientos, historian of Me- 
 nendez, quoted, 149 
 
 Beaujeu, naval commander 
 with La Salle, 209-10 
 
 Bel^n, mission settlement at, 
 185 
 
 Beltran, Father, Franciscan, 
 accompanies Espejo, 168 
 
 Benavides, Father, account of 
 Queres mission, 178 
 
 Bent, Charles, American pio- 
 neer, 187 
 
 Bercerillo, dog belonging to j 
 Ponce de Leon, 5 i 
 
 Bering, Vitus, expedition, 258 ; 
 
 Beteta, Gregorio de, Domini- 
 can monk, accompanies 
 Fray Luis Cancer, 123, 125, 
 126, 127; with Villafafle, 133 
 
 Bienville, J. B. le Moyne, 
 Sieur de, brother of Iber- 
 ville, Governor of Louisiana, 
 220; founds New Orleans, 
 220; captures Pensacola, 
 226; protests transfer of 
 Louisiana to Spain, 237 
 
 Biloxi, French fort built at, 219 
 
 Biraini, Island of. Ponce de 
 Leon seeks, 6 
 
 Biscayne Bay, Spanish fort on, 
 154 
 
 Boisblanc, leader jn Louisiana 
 revolt, 248 
 
 Bolton, H. E., ed.. Kino's 
 Historical Memoir, quoted, 
 198-99, 203-04 
 
 Boneo, Governor, and St. 
 Denis, 229, 230 
 
 Boone, Daniel, 256 
 
 Borme, fur trader, 251 
 
 Boscana, Padre, preserves In- 
 dian song, 289 
 
 Boyano, Sergeant, with Me- 
 nendez, 153, 158 
 
 Brand, arrested after Louisi- 
 ana revolt, 246; released, 
 247 
 
 British East India Company, 
 115 
 
 Bua, Governor of San Juan 
 pueblo. Pope slays, 179 
 
 Bucarely, Viceroy, Anza and, 
 272 
 
INDEX 
 
 307 
 
 Burr, Aaron, plans filibustering 
 raid, 257 
 
 Cabeza de Vaca, Alvar Nunez, 
 see Vaca 
 
 Cabrillo, Juan Rodriguez, com- 
 mands sea expedition of 
 Mendoza, 108-11; death 
 (154S), 111 
 
 Cadillac, Governor of Louisi- 
 ana, 220 
 
 Cale, De Soto at, 52, 53 
 
 California, Montalvo's legend 
 of island of, 105; Cortes 
 names, 107; Cabrillo's ex- 
 pedition to, 108-12; Urda- 
 neta reaches, 112-13; Drake 
 on coast of, 113; Cermeflo 
 seeks port on coast of, 114; 
 Vizcaino's expedition, 114- 
 119; Viceroy urges eflForts be 
 concentrated on, 177; Fran- 
 ciscans in, 206; missions, 
 206, 279-87; added to 
 United States, 257; settle- 
 ment, 258 et seq.\ Portola's 
 expedition, 259-68; Anza's 
 expedition, 269-72; colony 
 led by Anza to San Francisco, 
 272-76; other settlements, 
 277; Serra's work in, 277- 
 279, 281; Government policy 
 regarding missions, 282-84; 
 secularization of missions, 
 283-84; colonization, 289; 
 primitive life in, 290-95; 
 bibliography, 301-02 
 
 California, Gulf of, Ofiate 
 explores, 176 
 
 California, Lower, discovered, 
 106; Vizcaino commissioned 
 to colonize, 114; Jesuits in, 
 188, 191, 196, 197, 202-05, 
 206; Kino's missionary en- 
 terprise, 192, 196; Salvatierra 
 in, 196, 197, 202-05; Kino's 
 theory of geography of, 197; 
 Dominicans in, 206; bibliog- 
 raphy, SCO 
 
 Caliquen, De Soto at, 53, 54- 
 55 
 
 Canada settled by French, 
 129 
 
 Canaveral, Cape, Ponce de 
 Leon at, 8 
 
 Cancer, Luis, Dominican friar, 
 Florida expedition, 121-28, 
 189 
 
 Canoes, Town of, Cabrillo at, 
 110 
 
 Cape Fear River, Ayllon calls 
 Jordan, 17 
 
 Cdrdenas, Lopez de, views 
 Grand Canyon, 92, 93 
 
 Caresse, leader in Louisiana 
 revolt, 248 
 
 Carlos, cacique in Florida, 8, 
 11 
 
 Carlos III of Spain, accession, 
 232; reforms, 233, 234 
 
 Carolina, De Soto in, 51; see 
 also North Carolina, South 
 Carolina 
 
 Caroline, Fort, French settle- 
 ment, 136, 137; menace to 
 New Spain, 138; Ribaut at, 
 140, 144; Menendez mas- 
 sacres French at, 145; re- 
 christened Fort San Mateo, 
 146; French reprisal at, 
 157-58 
 
 Carson, Kit, 187 
 
 Cartagena, sacked by English, 
 162 
 
 Cartier, Jacques, discovers St. 
 Lawrence River, 128, 150 
 
 Castafieda, historian of Coro- 
 nado's expedition, 90, 165; 
 describes Grand Canyon, 
 92-93; on Acoma, 94; de- 
 scription of Texas country, 
 99-100 
 
 Castillo, Vaca and, 28. 36, 38, 
 39 
 
 Catherine de' Medici, Philip II 
 marries daughter of, 135; 
 Philip and, 139; and mas- 
 sacre of Ribaut 's colony, 155 
 
308 
 
 INDEX 
 
 Catholics, with Laudonniere's 
 colony, 136; in France, 139; 
 see also names of orders 
 
 Cavelier, Abbe Jean, brother of 
 La Salle, 211 
 
 Cavendish, burns the Santa 
 Ana, 113 
 
 Celis, Rubin de, hacienda of, 
 185 
 
 Cermeno, commander of 
 Philippine galleon, 114 
 
 Chamuscado, Francisco, leads 
 soldiers in New Mexico ex- 
 pedition, 166; death, 168 
 
 Charles II of Spain, death, 
 219 
 
 Charles V and Ponce de Leon, 
 6, 10; Ayllon obtains patent 
 from, 15; De Soto and, 47; 
 bans fiction from Indies, 
 105; master of Europe, 128 
 
 Charleston founded (1670), 
 163, 208 
 
 Charlotte Bay, Spanish fort 
 on, 154 
 
 Charlotte Harbor, Ponce de 
 Leon lands near, 11 
 
 Cherokee Indians, De Soto 
 among, 59 
 
 Chesapeake Bay, Menendez 
 projects settlement on, 154; 
 Father vSegura founds mis- 
 sion, 159; see also Santa 
 Maria, Bay of 
 
 Chickasaw Indians, De Soto 
 among, 63-64 
 
 Chicora, 18; Gordillo lands in, 
 13; mythical tales of, 14- 
 15; Ayllon obtains patent to, 
 15; colony taken to, 16-17 
 
 Chicorana, Francisco, Indian 
 taken captive by Gordilla, 
 13; tells myths of Chicora, 
 14-15; deserts Ayllon, 17 
 
 Chouteaus, fur traders, 252 
 
 Chozas, Pedro, Franciscan, 
 160 
 
 Cibola, Estevanico learns of 
 the Seven Cities, 82; Fray 
 
 Marcos seeks, 82-83; origin 
 of name, 82 (note); Estevan- 
 ico seized at, 83, 85; Fray 
 Marcos tells of, 87-88; Cor- 
 onado seeks, 89, 90; Ribaut 
 learns of, 136; further search 
 for, 166; see also Seven Cities 
 
 Glamorgan, fur trader, 252, 254 
 
 Clark, G. R., 253 
 
 Coahuila, French menace, 213; 
 Leon Governor of, 214; 
 French plan to conquer, 226 
 
 Coligny, Admiral of France, 
 sends out colony under Lau- 
 donniere, 135-36; and mas- 
 sacre of colony, 155; and 
 Gourgues' expedition, 156 
 
 Colorado added to United 
 States, 257 
 
 Colorado River, Kino explores, 
 197 
 
 Columbia River, myth of 
 River of the West leads to 
 discovery of, 118 
 
 Columbus, Diego, Governor of 
 Espanola, 5; sets Indians 
 free, 13 
 
 Comanche Indians, block trade 
 with New Mexico, 230; Vial 
 in country of, 254 
 
 "Company of Explorers of the 
 Missouri," 255 
 
 Cook, Captain James, 277 
 
 Coosa, De Soto at, 59-60; 
 Arellano wishes to go to, 
 132; Menendez at, 150- 
 151 
 
 Coronado, Francisco Vasques 
 de, heads expedition, 80; 
 at Culiacan, 81; expedition, 
 88-103, 106, 108, 165; treach- 
 ery towards Indians, 97 
 
 Cortes, Francisco, nephew of 
 Hernando, 106 
 
 Cortes, Hernando, conquest of 
 Aztecs, 3, 12; Ponce emu- 
 lates, 10-11; and Narvaez, 
 19; and Amazon legend, 
 106, 107 
 
INDEX 
 
 309 
 
 Costanso, companion of Por- 
 
 tola, 263 
 Creek Indians, Spanish policy 
 
 regarding, 190; English fur 
 
 traders among, 218 
 Crespi, Father Juan, historian 
 
 of Rivera's expedition, 261, 
 
 262; quoted, 264-65 
 Crozat, Antoine, has monopoly 
 
 of Louisiana commerce, 222 
 Cuba, Spanish expedition 
 
 from, 3-4; Ponce de Leon at, 
 
 11; De Soto made Governor 
 
 of, 47 
 Cubero succeeds Vargas in 
 
 New Mexico, 181 
 Cucurpe, mission station, 193 
 Cufitachiqui, De Soto at, 57; 
 
 De Soto enslaves cacica of, 
 
 58, 59 
 Culiacan, founding, 80; Coro- 
 
 nado at, 81 
 
 Dana, R. H., cited, 279 
 
 De Soto, Hernando, see Soto 
 
 Del Rey, Felix, prosecuting 
 attorney in Louisiana trial, 
 247 
 
 Descalona, Luis, lay brother in 
 New Mexico, 103-04 
 
 Diaz, Father, with Anza, 270 
 
 Diaz, Melchior, scout with 
 Coronado, 92 
 
 Diego, Fray, see Tolosa, Diego 
 de 
 
 Dolores, Mission, 199; see also 
 Neustra Senora de los 
 Dolores 
 
 Domingo, Brother, Jesuit, 
 translates catechism into 
 Guale, 159 
 
 Dominicans, accompany Ayl- 
 lon's expedition, 16; accom- 
 pany De Soto, 52; in Vera 
 Paz, 123; in Lower Califor- 
 nia, 206 
 
 Dorantes, Vaca and, 28, 36; 
 selected as leader of expedi- 
 tion, 80 
 
 Doucet, leader in Louisiana 
 revolt, 248 
 
 Drake, Sir Francis, menace to 
 Spain, 113-14; takes posses- 
 sion of New Albion, 162; 
 defeats Spanish Armada, 113, 
 163; and Strait of Anian, 
 113, 114, 169 
 
 Drake's Bay, Cabrillo dis- 
 covers, 110-11; Cermeno 
 wrecked in, 114; Vizcaino 
 in, 116 
 
 Dutch, trading stations in 
 West Indies, 212 
 
 Eixarch, friar with California 
 colony, 273; remains with 
 Yuma Indians, 273, 274 
 
 El Morro Cliff, names carved 
 on, 167 
 
 El Paso, Vaca at, 42; Spanish 
 settlement, now Juarez, 179; 
 largest city of New Mexico 
 (1744), 183; acequia at, 
 185 
 
 El Turco, Indian with Coro- 
 nado, 95-96, 98, 100, 101; 
 killed, 102 
 
 Elizabeth, Queen of England, 
 161-62 
 
 England, rivalry with Spain, 
 129, 161-64, 218; coloniza- 
 tion, 163, 207; threatens 
 Oregon coast, 255; sends 
 Cook to North Pacific, 277 
 
 Escobar, Father, joins Onate, 
 175 
 
 Espanola (Hayti), Spanish ex- 
 pedition from, 3-4; Ayllon 
 sails from, 16 
 
 Espejo, Antonio de, leads res- 
 cue party, 168-69; Oiaate 
 follows, 176 
 
 Espinosa, Father, with Texas 
 colony, 225 
 
 Espiritu Santo, Spanish name 
 for Mississippi River, 10 
 
 Estevanico, 45; with Narvaez's 
 expedition, 36, 37; and Vaca, 
 
310 
 
 INDEX 
 
 Estevanico — Continued 
 
 36; serves Mendoza, 80; 
 accompanies Coronado's ex- 
 pedition, 81, 83; taken pris- 
 oner, 83, 85; and Indians, 
 84-85; death, 85-86 
 
 Evans, explorer with Glamor- 
 gan's Company, 255 
 
 Fages, with Portola's Cali- 
 fornia expedition, 263 
 
 Farfan, Captain, 176; comedy- 
 produced by Onate's men, 
 173 
 
 Ferrelo, Bartolom6, pilot with 
 Cabrillo, 109, 111 
 
 Ferrer, Bartolome, see Ferrelo 
 
 Florida, 18; Spanish explorers 
 in, 3; Ponce de Le6n's first 
 expedition, 7-9; explored 
 and charted, 9; Ponce de 
 Leon's second expedition, 
 11-12; Narvdez attempts to 
 settle, 19-25, 47; De Soto's 
 expedition, 47-56; coloni- 
 zation, 120 et seq.'y missions 
 in, 160, 191; ceded to United 
 States, 164; England receives, 
 232; returned to Spain, 253; 
 bibliography, 298-99 
 
 Florida Keys, Ponce names 
 "The Martyrs," 8 
 
 Font, with Anza's colony, 
 273 
 
 Foucault, arrested by Spanish 
 in Louisiana, 246-47 
 
 Fountain of Youth, Ponce de 
 Leon seeks, 6, 8; Laudonni- 
 ^re and, 136 
 
 France, threatens Spain's 
 American possessions, 128- 
 129, 207, 213; pirates from, 
 129; gaining a foothold in 
 America, 134-35; Philip's 
 attitude toward, 134-35; 
 settlement at Fort Caroline, 
 136-40; Men6ndez and 
 French colony, 142-50, 155; 
 Gourgues* expedition, 155- 
 
 158; supremacy in Europe, 
 208; La Salle's expedition, 
 209-12; colonization plan, 
 218; war with Spain, 226; 
 cedes Louisiana to Spain, 
 232 
 
 Franciscans, in Florida, 160; 
 with Oftate, 171; missions 
 in New Mexico, 183; in Alta 
 California, 206; in Lower 
 California, 259; see also 
 California, missions 
 
 French in America, See 
 France 
 
 French West Indian Company, 
 212 
 
 Fuentes, oblate with Fray 
 Luis Cancer, 125 
 
 Fur trade. King of Spain denies 
 rights, 121; French and, 208, 
 209, 251; English and, 218; 
 notable traders, 251-52; 
 Russian, 258 
 
 Gadsden Purchase, 257 
 
 Galeras, Juan, with Coronado, 
 93 
 
 Galvez, Bernardo de. Governor 
 of Louisiana, 249-50; cap- 
 tures English posts, 253 
 
 Galvez, Jos6 de, organizes 
 California expedition, 259 
 
 Garces, Father, Franciscan, 
 Anza's guide, 270; accom- 
 panies California colonists, 
 273; remains at Yuma, 273, 
 274 
 
 Garcia, Juan, Dominican monk 
 with Fray Luis Cancer, 
 123 
 
 Gayarr^, Charles, quoted, 236- 
 237, 241 
 
 Georgia, De Soto in, 51, 56- 
 58, 59; Jesuit missionaries 
 in, 159; missions in, 160, 191 
 
 Gomez, Esteban, Spanish navi- 
 gator, 16 
 
 Gonzalvo, Father, sent to San 
 Xavier. 199 
 
INDEX 
 
 311 
 
 Gordillo, Francisco, Spanish 
 
 explorer, 13 
 Gourgues, Dominique de, 
 
 Florida expedition, 155-58 
 Grand Canyon, Castafieda's 
 
 description of, 92-93 
 Grashofer, Jesuit missionary, 
 
 201 
 Gregorio, Fray, see Beteta 
 Guale (Georgia), Spanish fort 
 
 at, 154; missionaries at, 159 
 Guatemala, Fray Luis Cancer 
 
 in, 122 
 Guzman, Nuiio de, official of 
 
 New Spain, and Vaca, 44; 
 
 expedition of conquest, 80, 
 
 106; treatment of Indians, 
 
 189, 190 
 
 Havana, French menace in, 
 213; captured by English, 
 232; prosperity under Eng- 
 lish, 232-33 
 
 Hawikuh, of the Seven Cities, 
 Estevanico at, 85; Fray 
 Marcos discovers, 86-87; 
 Coronado at, 90, 91; re- 
 named Granada, 91 
 
 Hawkins, John, English pi- 
 rate, 137-38 
 
 Hearts, Town of the, Vaca 
 names, 43; Coronado at, 
 89 
 
 Henry, Patrick, purchases 
 Spanish stock, 250 
 
 Herrera, quoted, 5, 6, 10-11; 
 cited, 107 
 
 Heyn, Piet, buccaneer, 213 
 
 Hidalgo, Father, Franciscan, 
 and Texas, 221, 228; letters 
 to French, 221-23; St. Denis 
 and, 223-24; accompanies 
 expedition to Texas, 225 
 
 Hopi Indians, Espejo visits, 
 168 
 
 Horn, Cape, Dutch mariners 
 round, 113 
 
 Horses, Bay of, Narvaez's expe- 
 dition in, 24, 34 
 
 Huguenots, in France, 128, 
 139; pirates, 129; Ribaut's 
 colony at Port Royal, 135; 
 in Laudonniere's colony, 
 136 
 
 Ibarra, Francisco de, and 
 Kingdom of New Biscay, 
 151 
 
 Iberville, Pierre le Moyne d*, 
 founds Louisiana colony, 
 218; at San Carlos, 219; 
 builds fort at Biloxi, 219 
 
 Indians, and Ponce de Leon, 
 8, 11; sold as slaves, 12; 
 freed by Diego Columbus, 
 13; and Narvaez, 20-21; 
 Vaca and, 26-27, 28-33, 35, 
 36, 37, 38-44; De Soto and, 
 49, 50, 53-55, 57-58, 60-61, 
 64, 65-66, 71, 73; as story- 
 tellers, 79-80; and Este- 
 vanico, 84-85; Coronado's 
 treachery, 96-97; in Taos, 
 102; Cabrillo and, 109; Fray 
 Luis Cancer and, 125, 126, 
 127; Villafaiie and, 134; 
 Laudonniere and, 136-37; 
 massacre at Tampa Bay, 158; 
 Oflate and, 173-74, 174-75; 
 government and life in New 
 Mexico, 181-87; trade with, 
 185-86; place in Spanish 
 scheme of conquest, 189-91; 
 French traders' influence on, 
 227; efforts to win to Span- 
 ish allegiance, 252; see also 
 Missions, names of tribes 
 
 Inscription Rock, 167 
 
 Isabel, Dona, daughter of 
 Pedrarias, wife of De Soto, 
 46, 48, 49, 69; death, 78 
 
 Jamaica, Spanish expedition 
 
 from, 4 
 Jamestown settled (1607), 163 
 Janissaries, 184 
 Jarri, French adventurer, 214 
 Jesuits, Men6ndez sends out. 
 
312 
 
 INDEX 
 
 Jesuits — Continued 
 
 159; abandon Florida, 160; 
 persecution in England, 163; 
 on Pacific slope, 188 et seq. 
 
 Jimenez discovers Lower Cali- 
 fornia, 106 
 
 Joliet, Louis, descends Mis- 
 sissippi, 208 
 
 Juan, Fray, see Garcia 
 
 Juarez, Spanish settlement, 179 
 
 Kansas, Coronado in, 101; 
 
 soldiers left in, 103 
 Keler, Jesuit missionary, 201 
 Kino, Eusebio Francisco, Jes- 
 uit missionary, 192 et seq., 
 206; explores Arizona, 195- 
 196; as trailmaker, 199-200; 
 death (1711), 200 
 
 La Bahia (Matagorda Bay), 
 228; see also Matagorda Bay 
 
 La Clede establishes trading 
 post at St. Louis, 237 
 
 La Cruz, Juan de, Franciscan 
 missionary in New Mexico, 
 103-04 
 
 Lafreniere, leader in Louisiana 
 revolt, 248 
 
 La Mathe, fur trader, 251 
 
 La Paz, Vizcaino plants colony 
 at (1597), 114 
 
 La Perouse, cited, 279 
 
 La Salle, Robert Cavelier de, 
 attempt at colonization, 
 209-12; Leon searches for 
 colony of, 214; colony as 
 found by Leon, 215 
 
 Laudonniere, Rene de. Fort 
 Caroline colony under, 136- 
 140; rescued from Menendez, 
 145 
 
 La Verendrye, Canadian 
 trader, 230 
 
 Las Casas, head of monastery 
 of Santiago, 122 
 
 Las Matanzas (The Massacre), 
 scene of Menendez's brutal- 
 ity, 147 
 
 Law, John, leads colonists to 
 Louisiana, 225 
 
 Le Blanc, fur trader, 251 
 
 Lecuyer, explorer with Cla- 
 morgan's Company, 255 
 
 Legazpi, Miguel Lopez de, 
 takes possession of Philip- 
 pine Islands (1565), 112, 
 150, 151 
 
 Leon, Alonso de, expeditions 
 against French, 214-16, 
 228 
 
 Lewis and Clark expedition, 
 255 
 
 Linck, Father, Jesuit explorer, 
 261 
 
 Lisa, fur trader, 252 
 
 Lopez, Fray Francisco, with 
 missionary expedition in 
 New Mexico, 166 
 
 Los Adaes (Robeline), mission 
 built, 225; settlement in 
 Texas, 228; presidio added, 
 228; settlers expelled (1773), 
 250 
 
 Los Angeles founded, 277 
 
 Louis XIV of France com- 
 missions Iberville to colon- 
 ize, 218 
 
 Louisiana, 232 et seq.; De Soto 
 traverses, 51; trade with 
 New Mexico, 186; part of 
 Texas, 207; plans for found- 
 ing French colony, 218; 
 Spain acquires, 234-35; 
 settlements (1762), 235; 
 trade with English, 249-50; 
 Indian policy in, 251; popu- 
 lation (1800), ^ 256; pur- 
 chased by United States, 
 256; bibliography, 302-03 
 
 Lower V, Woodbury, Florida, 
 quoted, 143, 149. 157-58; 
 Spanish Settlements, quoted, 
 5, 10, 12, 16, 125, 190; 
 cited, 127 
 j Luis, Fray, see Cancer 
 ' Luna y Arellano, Tristan de, 
 i see Arellano 
 
INDEX 
 
 313 
 
 Luther, Martin, defies Charles 
 V, 128 
 
 Macanoche, sister of chief of 
 Pacaha, 67 
 
 McGillivray, Alexander, In- 
 dian agent, 255 
 
 Mackay, explorer with Gla- 
 morgan's Company, 255 
 
 MacNutt, F. A., ed., De Orhe 
 Novo, quoted, 14-15 
 
 Magdalena, interpreter for 
 Fray Luis Cancer, 124 
 
 Maldonado, lieutenant of De 
 Soto, 62, 78 
 
 "Malhado" Island (Galveston 
 Island), Vaca castaway on, 
 25, 26 
 
 Mallet brothers, Canadian 
 traders, 230 
 
 Mandan Indians, trading posts 
 among, 255 
 
 Mange, Lieutenant Juan, with 
 Kino's expeditions, 195 
 
 Manila, trade route to Spain 
 from, 113; captured by Eng- 
 lish, 232; see also Philippine 
 Islands 
 
 Marcos, Fray, see Niza 
 
 Mares, Jose, finds direct trail 
 from San Antonio to Santa 
 Fe, 254 
 
 Margil, Father, heads mission- 
 ary expedition to Texas, 
 225 
 
 Marquette, Jacques, Jesuit, 
 descends Mississippi, 208 
 
 Marquis, leader in Louisiana 
 revolt, 248 
 
 Martinez, Father, Franciscan 
 leader with Oriate, 171 
 
 Martinez, Father, Jesuit, 
 Florida mission, 153 
 
 Martyr, Peter, tales of Caro- 
 lina, 14 
 
 "Martyrs, The," Ponce de 
 Leon's name for Florida 
 Keys, 8 
 
 Massanet, Damian, Franciscan 
 
 friar with Leon's expedition, 
 214-17, 228 
 
 Matagorda Bay, La Salle lands 
 on, 209; French expeditions 
 to, 227 
 
 Mavilla (Mobile), De Soto at, 
 60; see also Mobile 
 
 Melgosa, Captain, with Coro- 
 nado's expedition, 93 
 
 Memorial of the Planters, 246, 
 248 
 
 Menchero, Father, description 
 of New Mexico (1744), 182 
 
 Mendocino, Cape, Vizcaino 
 reaches, 116 
 
 Mendoza, Antonio de, first 
 Viceroy of New Spain, 80; 
 and Coronado, 80, 88, 103, 
 107; Florida project, 120-21; 
 quoted, 190 
 
 Menendez de Aviles, Pedro, 
 advises Philip II, 135; 
 French learn of expedition, 
 138; expedition against 
 French in Florida, 140-49; 
 further explorations and 
 settlements, 150-55; honors 
 conferred by King, 154; 
 leaves America (1572), 160; 
 death (1574), 161 
 
 Meras, with Menendez 's ex- 
 pedition, 148 
 
 Mexican War, 257 
 
 Mexico, City of. Fray Luis 
 Cancer goes to, 123 
 
 Mexico, missions in, 191; trade 
 with French, 222-23 
 
 Mezieres, Athanase de, Indian 
 agent, 252, 254 
 
 Milhet, Jean, leader in Louisi- 
 ana revolt, 248 
 
 Milhet, Joseph, leader in 
 Louisiana revolt, 248 
 
 Missions, work of Franciscans 
 in Florida, Georgia, and 
 South Carolina, 160; de- 
 scription of Queres mission, 
 178; in New Mexico, 183: 
 for Janissaries, 184-85; in 
 
314 
 
 INDEX 
 
 Missions — Continued 
 
 Spanish scheme of conquest, 
 188-91; in Lower California, 
 203-06; Kino's work in 
 Arizona, 192-202; for Texas, 
 215-17; Hidalgo's efforts for, 
 221-25; in California, 279- 
 287; secularization of, 282- 
 285; architecture, 286 
 
 Mississippi, De Soto in, 51, 
 63-64 
 
 Mississippi River, Peneda 
 names Espiritu Santo, 10; 
 De Soto reaches, 65; De 
 Soto's burial, 73-74; Joliet 
 and Marquette on, 208; 
 navigation closed, 255-56 
 
 Mixton War, 107 
 
 Mobile, De Soto at, 60; G^lvez 
 conquers, 253 
 
 Mobile Bay, French settlement 
 moved to, 219 
 
 Mochila, sister of chief of Pa- 
 caha, 67 
 
 Mojave Indians, trade, 186 
 
 Montalvo, Esplandidn, 107; 
 quoted, 105 
 
 Monterev, Count of. Viceroy, 
 114 
 
 Monterey Bay, Vizcaino dis- 
 covers, 115 
 
 Montezuma, Isabel Tolosa 
 Cortes, wife of Oflate, 170 
 
 Moqui Indians, garments, 83; 
 trade, 186 
 
 Moranget, nephew and com- 
 panion of La Salle, 211 
 
 Morgan, Colonel George, 
 founds New Madrid (1790), 
 256 
 
 Moscoso, Luis de, chosen suc- 
 cessor to De Soto, 72; as 
 leader, 74-78, 108; reaches 
 City of Mexico, 120 
 
 Nacogdoches, settlement in 
 
 Texas, 228 
 Napoleon and Louisiana, 256 
 Narvdez, P4nfilo de, fame as 
 
 soldier, 19; leads colonists 
 to Florida, 19-25; death, 25 
 
 Neustra Senora de los Dolores 
 mission, 193-94 
 
 Nevada added to United 
 States, 257 
 
 New Albion, Drake takes 
 possession of, 162 
 
 New Biscay, Ibarra in, 151, 
 152 
 
 New Galicia, Vaca in, 43, 44; 
 Coronado in, 81 
 
 New Leon, French menace in, 
 213 
 
 New Madrid founded, 256 
 
 New Mexico, Spanish explorers 
 in, 3, 165 et seq.\ origin of 
 name, 165; a burden to Spain 
 176, 177; as missionary 
 field, 177-78; Indians con- 
 quer, 179-80; Spanish re- 
 conquer, 180-81; becomes 
 province of Mexico (1821), 
 181, 187; government, 181; 
 trade with, 185-86, 187; 
 population, 187; missions in, 
 191; French plan conquest 
 of, 226; colonizing expedi- 
 tion from, 227; French trad- 
 ers in, 231; added to United 
 States, 257; bibliography, 
 299-300 
 
 New Orleans, founded, 220; 
 ceded to Spain, 235; as- 
 sembly sends memorial to 
 France, 237 
 
 New Spain, communication 
 with Louisiana opened, 253 
 
 Niza, Marcos de, Franciscan 
 with Coronado's expedition, 
 80-83, 86-87, 89, 90, 91 
 
 Nolan, Philip, in Texas, 256 
 
 North Carolina, Pardo's ex- 
 pedition, 153; see also 
 Carolina 
 
 North Dakota, Spanish flag 
 carried to, 255 
 
 Noyan, leader in Louisiana 
 revolt, 248 
 
INDEX 
 
 315 
 
 Oklahoma, De Soto in, 51, 68 
 Olivares, Father, begins San 
 
 Antonio mission, 226 
 Omaha Indians, trading posts 
 
 among, 255 
 Onate, Juan de, expedition to 
 
 New Mexico, 170-77 
 Ordinance of 1573, 166 
 Oregon, Russian menace in, 
 
 258 
 O'Reilly, Alejandro, sent by 
 
 Spain to Louisiana, 243; life, 
 
 243-44; action in Louisiana, 
 
 244-49; "Bloody O'Reilly," 
 
 249 
 Orista mission founded, 159 
 Ortiz, Juan, with Narvdez, 
 
 50; found by De Soto, 50-51; 
 
 interpreter for De Soto, 64; 
 
 death, 69 
 Our Lady of Sorrows, mission 
 
 founded by Kino, 194-95 
 Oviedo, historian, 14; quoted, 
 
 18 
 Oviedo, Lope de, castaway 
 
 with Vaca, 26, 30, 31, 34- 
 
 35 
 
 Pacaha, De Soto seeks for, 63; 
 
 De Soto at, 67 
 Paden, W. G., reconnaissance 
 
 of Anza's route, 271 
 
 (note) 
 Padilla, Fray Juan de, with 
 
 Coronado's expedition, 94; 
 
 remains in New Mexico, 
 
 103-04 
 Palma, Yuma chief, 269, 274 
 Palou, Father, and Serra, 281 
 Pardo, Juan, with Menendez's 
 
 expedition, 152-53, 158 
 Pareja, Father, Franciscan, 
 
 work on Indian languages, 
 
 160 
 Paver, Jesuit missionary, 201 
 Pecos Indians and Alvarado, 
 
 95 
 Pedrarias, De Soto marries 
 
 daughter of, 46 
 
 Peneda, Gulf explorer, 10 
 
 Pensacola, Villafafle at, 133; 
 conflict over, 226; restored 
 to Spain, 227; Gdlvez cap- 
 tures, 253 
 
 Peralta, Pedro de, succeeds 
 Ofiate, 177 ^ 
 
 Petit, leader in Louisiana re- 
 volt, 248 
 
 Philip II of Spain, equips 
 expedition to Far East, 112; 
 personal characteristics, 128; 
 and colonization of Florida, 
 134; declaration, 135; mar- 
 riage, 135; and Menendez, 
 154, 155; intrigue in France, 
 161; and Queen Elizabeth, 
 162-63; and conquest of 
 New Mexico, 169 
 
 Philip V of Spain, and French, 
 219 
 
 Philippine Islands, Villalobos 
 takes possession of, 108, 112; 
 Legazpi takes possession of, 
 112, 150, 151; restored to 
 Spain, 232; see also Manila 
 
 Picolo, Father, Jesuit with 
 Salvatierra in Lower Cali- 
 fornia, 196, 203; quoted, 
 203-04 
 
 Pike, Zebulon, captured by 
 Spaniards, 186 
 
 Pima Indians, Kino among, 
 195, 196; uprising (1751), 
 202 
 
 Pimeria Alta, location, 193; 
 Kino in, 193; bibliography, 
 300 
 
 Pious Fund of California, 202, 
 205 
 
 Pirates, 129 
 
 Piseros, fur trader, 251 
 
 Pizarro, De Soto with, 46 
 
 Point Conception, Cabrillo 
 reaches, 110 
 
 Ponce de Leon, Juan, in Porto 
 Rico, 5, 7; explorations in 
 Florida, 5-12; goes to Spain, 
 9; letter to Charles V, 10; 
 
Sio 
 
 INDEX 
 
 Ponce de Leon — Continued 
 death, 12-13; discovers Ba- 
 hama Channel, 130 
 
 Pope, Tewa medicine man, in- 
 cites Pueblo Revolt (1680), 
 179 
 
 Port Royal (S. C.) (Santa 
 Elena), Spanish colony, 130; 
 Ribaut's French colony, 135, 
 138; see also Santa Elena 
 
 Porto Rico, Spanish expedition 
 from, 3-4; Ponce de Leon in, 
 5, 7; grave of Ponce de Leon 
 in, 11-12 
 
 Portola, Gaspar de. Governor 
 of Lower California, 259; ex- 
 pedition to Alta California, 
 259-67 
 
 Portugal, union with Spain, 
 115 
 
 Poupet, leader in Louisiana 
 revolt, 248 
 
 Puaray, missionaries slain at, 
 168 
 
 Pueblo Indians, present day 
 artists and, 102 (note); un- 
 disturbed after Coronado, 
 165; missionary efforts 
 among, 177-79; Revolt 
 (1680), 179; traders and, 
 230 
 
 Puerto de Luna (New Mexico), 
 Coronado at, 98 
 
 Quebec, fall of, 232 
 Queres missions, 178 
 Quevene Indians, Vaca meets, 
 
 35-36 
 Quexos, slave hunter with 
 
 Gordillo, 13; pilot for Ayl- 
 
 lon, 15 
 Quivira, Coronado seeks, 95, 
 
 98, 100; Coronado reaches, 
 
 101; Onate at, 174 
 
 Raleigh, Sir Walter, attempt at 
 
 colonization, 162 
 Ramon, Captain Domingo, 
 
 and St. Denis, 224; com- 
 
 mands Texas expedition, 224. 
 228 
 Reformation, the, 128 
 Revolutionary War, 253 
 Ribaut, Jacques, son of Jean, 
 
 138; rescues French, 145 
 Ribaut, Jean, leads Huguenot 
 colony to Port Royal, 135; 
 replaces Laudonniere at Fort 
 Caroline, 138, 140; and 
 Menendez, 142-43, 144, 155; 
 killed, 148 
 Rio Grande, Vaca reaches, 40 
 Rivera, Captain, commands 
 California expedition, 260- 
 266 
 Roberval, French explorer, 150 
 Robidoux, fur traders, 252 
 Rodriguez, Fray Agustin, leads 
 expedition to New Mexico, 
 266 
 Rogel, Father, Jesuit in Flor- 
 ida, 153; founds mission at 
 Orista, 159; returns to Ha- 
 vana, 159 
 Ruidiaz, La Florida, quoted, 
 
 146 
 Russians, threaten Oregon 
 coast, 255; Bering's expedi- 
 tion, 258; establish trading 
 posts, 258 
 
 Sabinal, mission settlement at, 
 185 
 
 Sabine River, boundary of 
 Texas, 229 (note) 
 
 St. Augustine, settlement, 144. 
 154; French plan attack of, 
 144; mortality among colo- 
 nists, 152; San Antonio garri- 
 son withdraws to, 158; de- 
 struction by Drake, 162-63 
 
 St. Augustine River, Menen- 
 dez discovers, 142 
 
 St. Denis, Louis Juchereau de, 
 French explorer, 223; and 
 Hidalgo, 223-24; marriage, 
 224; Texas expedition, 224- 
 225; plans for conquering 
 
INDEX 
 
 317 
 
 St. Denis — Continued 
 
 Spanish lands, 226; "com- 
 mander of the River of 
 Canes," 226; meets Aguayo, 
 228 
 
 St. John's River (Florida), 
 Ponce de Leon at, 7; French 
 settlement, 136; Menendez 
 at, 144; Gourgues lands 
 near, 156 
 
 St. Joseph (Michigan), Spanish 
 flag at, 253 
 
 St. Lawrence River, discovered, 
 128 
 
 St. Louis, settled, 237; English 
 expedition against (1780), 
 253; Vial explores to, 254 
 
 St. Lucie River, Spanish fort 
 on, 154 
 
 St. Maxent, fur trader, 251 
 
 Salvatierra, Father, Jesuit, 
 206; accompanies Kino, 195, 
 196; work in Lower Califor- 
 nia, 196-97, 202-05; called 
 to Mexico, 205 
 
 San Antonio (Florida), Father 
 Rogel at, 154; garrison with- 
 draws from, 158 
 
 San Antonio (Texas), mission 
 founded, 226; Aguayo 
 strengthens, 228; communi- 
 cation opened with Santa 
 Fe, 253-54 
 
 San Antonio (ship), 260, 263, 267 
 
 San Buenaventura, Cabrillo 
 lands at, 110 
 
 San Carlos, post erected on 
 Pensacola Bay (1698), 218; 
 Iberville at, 219 
 
 San Carlos (California), mis- 
 sion founded (1770), 267; 
 Serra at 279 
 
 -San Carlos {ship), 260, 262, 263 
 
 San Clemente Island, Cabrillo 
 discovers, 110 
 
 San Diego, Bay of, Cabrillo 
 discovers, 109 
 
 San Diego, Vizcaino names, 
 115 
 
 San Diego de Alcala, mission, 
 263, 279 
 
 San Francisco, mission founded 
 in Texas, 216 
 
 San Francisco (California), col- 
 ony, 273; founded (1776), 
 276 
 
 San Francisco, New Kingdom 
 of, 87 
 
 San Francisco Bay, discovered, 
 266; occupation of, 268 
 
 San Gabriel mission, 199 
 
 San Jose (California) founded, 
 276 
 
 San Jose (ship), 260 
 
 San Juan (New Mexico), 
 Onate at, 173 
 
 San Juan, Fort, Boyano at, 
 153 
 
 San Juan Capistrano mission, 
 287-89 
 
 San Luis Rey mission, 285 
 
 San Martin, Father, at Mission 
 San Gabriel, 199 
 
 San Mateo, Fort, Fort Caro- 
 line, rechristened, 146; death 
 of colonists at, 152; Me- 
 nendez establishes perma- 
 nent settlement at, 154; 
 French reprisal at, 156-57 
 
 San Miguel Bay, Vizcaino 
 gives name of San Diego, 115 
 
 San Miguel de Gualdape, 
 settlement, 17 
 
 San Miguel Island, Cabrillo 
 lands on, 110, 111 
 
 San Pelayo, Menendez's ship, 
 141 
 
 San Quentin, Cabrillo takes 
 possession of, 109 
 
 San Xavier del Bac Kino 
 builds mission, 198, 199 
 
 Sanchez, Manuela, St. Denis 
 marries, 224 
 
 Sanlucar, De Soto sails from, 
 48 
 
 Santa Ana, Manila galleon 
 burned by Cavendish, 113, 
 114 
 
318 
 
 INDEX 
 
 Santa Barbara (California), 
 founded (1786), 279 (note); 
 Franciscans at, 286 
 
 Santa Barbara (Mexico), post 
 established, 165 
 
 Santa Catalina Island, Cabrillo 
 discovers, 110 
 
 Santa Cruz, Cortes names 
 Lower California, 106 
 
 Santa Cruz de la Caflada (New 
 Mexico), 179, 183 
 
 Santa Cruz de Nanipacna 
 (Alabama), Arellano sends 
 colonists to, 131-32 
 
 Santa Elena (Port Royal), 
 Arellano attempts coloni- 
 zation, 130-32; Villafafie at- 
 tempts settlement, 133; 
 Menendez at, 150, 151, 154; 
 see also Port Royal 
 
 Santa F6, 183; founded, 177; 
 Spanish settlement, 179; 
 military governors at, 181; 
 Pike's impression of, 186-87; 
 communication with San 
 Antonio opened, 253-54 
 
 Santa Fe Trail, Vial's route 
 approximates, 254 
 
 Santa Maria, Bay of (Chesa- 
 peake Bay), Menendez plans 
 to fortify, 150; see also 
 Chesapeake Bay 
 
 Santa Maria, Fray Juan de, 
 with expedition to New 
 Mexico, 166; killed, 167 
 
 Santa Monica, Bay of, Cabrillo 
 discovers, 110 
 
 Santo Domingo, Indian slaves 
 taken to, 13; Ayllon returns 
 to, 18; Vaca goes to, 44; 
 sacking of, 162 
 
 Saturiba, Indian chief in 
 Florida, 156 
 
 Savannah settled (1733), 163 
 
 Sebastian, Indian guide, 270 
 
 Sedelmayr, Jesuit missionary, 
 201 
 
 Sedefto, Father, Jesuit mission- 
 ary in Georgia, 159 
 
 Segura, Juan Bautista de, 
 Jesuit missionary, 159 
 
 Serra, Junipero, Franciscan 
 friar, expedition to Cali- 
 fornia, 259; appreciation of, 
 277-81 _ 
 
 Seven Cities, stories influence 
 Spanish explorers, 79; called 
 Cibola, 82; see also Cibola 
 
 Seven Years' War, 163, 231 
 
 Silva, Juan de, Franciscan in 
 Florida, 160 
 
 Sinaloa, Guzmdn's conquest of, 
 80; Jesuits in, 191 
 
 Skinner, C. L., Adventurers of 
 Oregon, cited, 277 (note) 
 
 Slave trade, among the Spani- 
 ards, 4; Indians seized, 12, 
 43 
 
 Soto, Hernando de, crosses 
 Mississippi River, 10; finds 
 Greek's dagger, 24 (note); 
 Governor of Florida, 44; and 
 Vaca, 44; expedition, 46 et 
 seq., 98, 103, 153; death, 73; 
 methods work ill, 189 
 
 South Carolina, explored by 
 Pardo, 153; missionary effort 
 in, 159; missions in, 160, 191; 
 see also Carolina 
 
 Spain, in 16th century, 1-2; 
 explorers seek New World, 
 2-4; reasons for failure to 
 settle Atlantic mainland, 
 133-34; defeat of Armada, 
 163; and France, 226; trade, 
 230; and Americans, 255- 
 256 
 
 Steiger, Jesuit missionary, 
 201 
 
 Talon brothers, accompany St. 
 Denis, 223 
 
 Tampa Bay, Narvaez lands at, 
 20; De Soto at, 49; Domini- 
 can monks reach, 124; Me- 
 nendez establishes posts, 151, 
 154; Indian massacre at, 
 158 
 
INDEX 
 
 319 
 
 Taos, Coronado sends explor- 
 ing party to, 102; annual fair 
 at, 185 
 
 Tegesta, Brother Villareal at, 
 154 
 
 Tennessee, De Soto in, 51, 59 
 
 Teran, Domingo, expedition to 
 Texas, 216-17 
 
 Texas, De Soto's expedition in, 
 51, 75-77; missions in, 191; 
 explorations in, 207 et seq.\ 
 French descend upon, 226; 
 settlements (1722), 228; 
 boundary, 223; annexed to 
 United States, 257; bibli- 
 ography, 301 
 
 Teyas Indians, Coronado 
 among, 100 
 
 Theodoro, Greek with Nar- 
 vaez's expedition, 60 
 
 Thome, mission settlement at, 
 185 
 
 Tolosa, Diego de, Dominican 
 monk, accompanies Fray 
 Luis Cancer, 123 
 
 Tonty, La Salle's lieutenant, 
 210, 211, 215, 216 
 
 Treaties, Philip II's treaty 
 with France (1559), 135 
 
 Trudeau, explorer with Gla- 
 morgan's Company, 255 
 
 Turco, El, see El Turco 
 
 Tusayan, Coronado sends ex- 
 pedition to, 91 
 
 Ulloa, Francisco de, Cortes 
 sends expedition under, 107 
 
 Ulloa, Juan Antonio de, first 
 Spanish Governor of Louisi- 
 ana, 237-41 
 
 United States, buys Louisiana, 
 256; later additions to, 257 
 
 Unzaga, Luis de. Governor of 
 Louisiana, 249 
 
 Urdaneta, Andres de, Legazpi 
 sends from Philippines, 112- 
 113^ 
 
 Urrutia, Jose, deserts to In- 
 dians, 217 
 
 Utah added to United States, 
 257 
 
 Vaca, Alvar Nufiez Cabeza de, 
 with Narvaez, 20, 21, 25; 
 quoted, 23, 24, 26-27, 30, 
 32-33, 34; castaway on 
 "Malhado" Island, 25, 26 
 et seq.; as Medicine Man, 29- 
 30, 31, 39, 41-42; becomes a 
 trader, 31-33; journey to 
 Mexico, 35-44, 120; gues to 
 Spain, 44, 80; later life, 45; 
 Narrative, 166 
 
 Vallejo, Father, attends St. 
 Denis's funeral, 229 
 
 Vancouver, George, cited, 279 
 
 Vargas, Diego de, expedition 
 against New Mexico, 180 
 
 Velarde, Father, describes 
 death of Kino, 201 
 
 Velasco, Captain Luis de, com- 
 panion of Ofiate, 175; ward- 
 robe of, 171-72 
 
 Velasco, Mexican Viceroy, 
 equips expedition for Far 
 East, 112; and Vizcaino, 114; 
 sends out Florida colony, 
 130, 131 
 
 Vera Cruz, French menace, 213 
 
 Vial, Pedro, explorations, 254 
 
 Villafafie, Angel de, replaces 
 Arellano as leader, 132-33, 
 134 
 
 Villalobos, Lopez de, expedi- 
 tion to the Philippines, 108, 
 112 
 
 Villareal, Brother, Jesuit in 
 Florida, 153 
 
 Viller6, leader in Louisiana 
 revolt, 246 
 
 Villere, Madame, inventory of 
 furniture of, 236 
 
 Virginia, Spanish attempt to 
 colonize, 151 
 
 Vizcaino, Sebastian, colonizes 
 Lower California, 114; ex- 
 plorations in California, 115- 
 119, 170. 176, 265 
 
320 
 
 INDEX 
 
 West, River of the, legend of, 
 118 
 
 White, plants colony in 
 Guiana, 162 
 
 White Rock, People of the, at 
 Acoma, 174 
 
 Wichita Indians, Coronado 
 reaches, 101 
 
 Wilkinson, James, plans fili- 
 bustering raid, 257 
 
 Winship, G. P., The Coronado 
 Expedition, quoted, 93 
 
 Ybarbo, Gil, fur trader, 251 
 Yucatan, exploration of, 9 
 Yuma Indians, Diaz meets, 92; 
 trade, 186; Anza among, 
 270; members of California 
 colony remain with, 273-74 
 
 Zaldivar, Juan de, slain at 
 
 Acoma, 174 
 Zuni, Espejo goes to, 168 
 Zuni Indians, hostility to 
 
 Spaniards, 90 
 
AN OUTLINE OF THE PLAN OF 
 THE CHRONICLES OF AMERICA 
 
 The fifty titles of the Series fall into eight topical sequences or groups, 
 each with a dominant theme of its own — 
 
 I. li'he Morning of America 
 time: 1492-1763 
 
 THE theme of the first sequence is the struggle of nations for the 
 possession of the New World. The mariners of four European king- 
 doms — Spain, Portugal, France, and England — are intent upon the 
 discoveiy of a new route to Asia. They come upon the American continent 
 which blocks the way. Spain plants colonies in the south, lured by gold. 
 France, in pursuit of the fur trade, plants colonies in the north. Englishmen, 
 in search of homes and of a wider freedom, occupy the Atlantic seaboard. 
 These Englishmen come in time to need the land into which the French 
 have penetrated by way of the St. Lawrence and the Great Lakes, and a 
 mighty struggle between the two nations takes place in the wilderness, 
 ending in the expulsion of the French. This sequence comprises ten volumes; 
 
 1. THE RED man's CONTINENT, by Ellsworth Hunt'tngton 
 
 2. THE SPANISH CONQUERORS, by Irvitjg Berdine Richman 
 
 3. ELIZABETHAN SEA-DOGS, by William Wood 
 
 4. CRUSADERS OF NEW FRANCE, by William Bennett Munro 
 
 5. PIONEERS OF THE OLD SOUTH, by Mary Johnston 
 
 6. THE FATHERS OF NEW ENGLAND, by Charles M. Andrews 
 
 7 DUTCH AND ENGLISH ON THE HUDSON, by Maud Wilder Goodwin 
 8. THE QUAKER COLONIES, by Sydney G. Fisher 
 9o COLONIAL FOLKWAYS, by Churks M. Andrews 
 XO. THE CONQUEST OF NEW FRANCE, by Gcorge M. Wrong 
 
II. The Winning of Independence 
 time: 1763-1815 
 
 The French peril has passed, and the great territory between the Alle- 
 ghanies and the Mississippi is now open to the Englishmen on the seaboard, 
 with no enemy to contest their right of way except the Indian. But the 
 question arises whether these Englishmen in the New World shall submit 
 to political dictation from the King and Parliament of England. To decide 
 this question the War of the Revolution is fought; the Union is born: 
 and the second war with England follows. Seven volumes: 
 
 11. THE EVE OF THE REVOLUTION, by Carl BeckcT 
 
 12. WASHINGTON AND HIS COMRADES IN ARMS, by GeOTge M. JVrong 
 
 13. THE FATHERS OF THE CONSTITUTION, by Mux Farratid 
 
 14. WASHINGTON AND HIS COLLEAGUES, by Henry 'Jones Ford 
 
 15. JEFFERSON AND HIS COLLEAGUES, by Alien Johnson 
 
 16. JOHN MARSHALL AND THE CONSTITUTION, by Edward S. Corwitl 
 
 17. THE FIGHT FOR A FREE SEA, by Ralph D. Paine 
 
 III. The Vision of the West 
 
 time: 1750-1890 
 
 The theme of the third sequence is the American frontier — the conquest 
 of the continent from the Alleghanies to the Pacific Ocean. The story covers 
 nearly a century and a half, from the first crossing of the Alleghanies by 
 the backwoodsmen of Pennsylvania, Virginia, and the Carolinas (about 
 1750) to the heyday of the cowboy on the Great Plains in the latter part 
 of the nineteenth century. This is the marvelous tale of the greatest migra- 
 tions in history, told in nine volumes as follows: 
 
 18. PIONEERS OF THE OLD SOUTHWEST, by ConstancB Lindsay Skinner 
 
 19. THE OLD NORTHWEST, by Frederic Austin Ogg 
 
 20. THE REIGN OF ANDREW JACKSON, by Frederic Austin Ogg 
 
 21. THE PATHS OF INLAND COMMERCE, by ArchcT B. Hulbcrt 
 
 22. ADVENTURERS OF OREGON, by Constonce Lindsay Skinner 
 
 23. THE SPANISH BORDERLANDS, by Herbert E. Bolton 
 
 24. TEXAS AND THE MEXICAN WAR, by Nathaniel fV, Stephenson 
 
 25. THE FORTY-NINERS, by Stewart Edward White 
 
 26. THE PASSING OF THE FRONTIER, by EmtTSOn HoUgh 
 
IV. The Storm of Secession 
 time: 1830-1876 
 
 The curtain rises on the gathering storm of secession. The theme of the 
 fourth sequence is the preservation of the Union, which carries with it the 
 extermination of slavery. Six volumes as follows: 
 
 27. THE COTTON KINGDOM, by William E. Dodd 
 
 28. THE ANTI-SLAVERY CRUSADE, by JcSSC Macy 
 
 29. ABRAHAM LINCOLN AND THE UNION, by Nathaniel W. Stephenson 
 
 30. THE DAY OF THE CONFEDERACY, by Nathaniel W Stephenson 
 
 31. CAPTAINS OF THE CIVIL WAR, by fVHUam Wood 
 
 32. THE SEQUEL OF APPOMATTOX, by Walter Lynwood Fleming 
 
 V. The Intellectual Life 
 
 Two volumes follow on the higher national life, telling of the nation's great 
 teachers and interpreters: 
 
 22- THE AMERICAN SPIRIT IN EDUCATION, by Edwirt E. SloSSOn 
 
 34. THE AMERICAN SPIRIT IN LITERATURE, by BHsS Perry 
 
 VI , The Epic of Commerce and Industry 
 
 The sixth sequence is devoted to the romance of industry and business, 
 and the dominant theme is the transformation caused by the inflow of 
 immigrants and the development and utilization of mechanics on a great 
 scale. The long age of muscular power has passed, and the era of mechanical 
 power has brought with it a new kind of civilization. Eight volumes: 
 
 35. OUR FOREIGNERS, by Samuel P. Orth 
 
 2(>. THE OLD MERCHANT MARINE, by Ralph D. Patm 
 
 37. THE AGE OF INVENTION, by HolJand Thompson 
 
 38. THE RAILROAD BUILDERS, by Johtt Moody 
 
 39. THE AGE OF BIG BUSINESS, by Burton J. Hendrick 
 
 40. THE ARMIES OF LABOR, by Samuel p. Orth 
 
 41. THE MASTERS OF CAPITAL, by John Moody 
 
 42. THE NEW SOUTH, by Holland Thompson 
 
VI I . Tl( ^ -E^^ of World Power 
 
 I 
 
 The seventh sequence carr.^»es on the story of government and diplomacy 
 and political expansion fror^" the Reconstruction (1876) to the present day, 'i 
 in six volumes: .j. 
 
 43. THE BOSS AND THE jc^ACHiNE, by Samud P. Orth \ 
 
 44. THE CLEVELAND ERA^ . h Henry Jones Ford | 
 
 45. THE AGRARIAN CRUSA-^ DE, by Solon J. Buck 
 
 46. THE PATH OF EMPiRE/i^y Carl Russell Fish \ 
 
 47. THEODORE ROOSEVELT ^AND HIS TIMES, by Harold Howlund I 
 
 48. wooDROw WILSON AND^ THE WORLD WAR, by Charks ScymouT ! 
 
 s 
 
 VIII.' Our Neighbors 
 
 \ 
 Now to round out the story ol the continent, the Hispanic peoples on 
 the south and the Canadians on c\he north are taken up where they were 
 dropped further back in the Series, .and these peoples are foUowed down 
 to the present day: 
 
 49. THE CANADIAN DOMINION, by Oscur P- Skelton 
 
 50. THE HISPANIC NATIONS OF THE NEV/ WORLD, ^jy William R. Shepherd 
 
 The Chronicles oj America is thus a great synthesis, giving a new projec- 
 tion and a new interpretation of American History. These narratives are 
 works of real scholarship, for every one is written after an ep',H,iaustive 
 examination of the sources. Many of them contain new factsy. ^o^e of them 
 ^such as those by Howland, Seymour, and Hough — .^ ^^^ founded on inti- 
 mate personal knowledge. But the originality of the S> ^^-^^ X\^, not chiefly 
 in new facts, but rather in new ideas and new combin? ^.j^j^s of q\^ facts. 
 
 The General Editor of the Series is Dr. Allen Johr ^^^^^ Chairman of the 
 Department of History of Yale University, and the gj^^j^e work has been 
 planned, prepared, and published under the <^o '^^\ ^f the Council's 
 
 Committee on Publications of Yale University. ' 
 
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