1540-1542
Account of Pedro de Castañada. Dated Saturday, October 26th, 1596 in Seville. pp. 1-78 (in) The Journey of Francisco Vazquez de Coronado 1540-1542. As Told by Pedro de Castañeda, Francisco Vazquez de Coronado, and others. Translated and Edited by G.P. Winship. San Francisco: The Grabhorn Press, 1933.
[Traveling north and west of Señora searching for the seacoast] … after going about 150 leagues, they came to a province of exceedingly tall and strong men … They eat bread cooked in the ashes, as big as the large two-pound loaves of Castile (Part 1: Chapter 10, p. 18).In a province called Vacapan there was a large quantity of prickly pears, of which the natives make a great deal of preserves. They gave this preserve away freely, and as the men of the army ate much of it, they all fell sick with a headache and fever, so that the natives might have done much harm to the force of they had wished (Part One: Chapter 10, pp. 19-20).
[In the province called Tusayan — 25 leagues from Cibola] The villages are high and the people are warlike…the natives came peacefully, saying … that they wanted … to be friends and [for the Spanish] to accept the presents which they gave … cotton cloth … dressed skins and cornmeal, and pine nuts and corn and birds of the country. Afterward they presented some turquoises, but not many (Part One: Chapter 11, pp. 21-22).In five days [they] reached a village which was on a rock called Acuco [Acoma Pueblo], having a population of about 200 men … on the top they had room to sow and store a large amount of corn, and cisterns to collect snow and water … They made a present of a large number of turkey cocks with very big wattles, much bread, tanned deer skins, pine nuts [piñon], flour [corn meal], and corn (Part One: Chapter 12, p. 24).
[Starting out from Cicuye] After ten days more they came to some settlements of people who lived like Arabs and who are called Querechos [plains Apache] in that region … These folks live in tents made of the tanned skins of the cows [bison]. They travel around near the cows, killing them for food (Part One: Chapter 19, pp. 37-38). [At a native camp in a large ravine was a large settlement of people; the expedition experienced a terrible hail storm] … The hail broke many tents and battered many helmets and wounded many of the horses, and broke all the crockery of the army, and the gourds, which was no small loss, because they do not have any crockery in this region. They [the residents] do not make gourds, nor sow corn, nor eat bread, but instead raw meat — or only half cooked — and fruit (Part One: Chapter 20, p. 40). [Four days later] The country was well inhabited, and they had plenty of kidney beans and prunes like those of Castile, and tall vineyards. These village settlements extended for three days. This was called Cona …. The ravine which the army had not reached was a league wide from one side to the other, with a little bit of a river at the bottom, and there were many groves of mulberry trees near it, and rosebushes with the same sort of fruit that they have in France. They made verjuice from the unripe grapes at this ravine, although there were ripe ones. There were walnuts and the same kind of fowls as in New Spain, and large quantities of prunes like those of Castile (Part One: Chapter 20, pp. 40-41).On its return the army reached the Cicuye river … In general, its banks are covered with a sort of rose bushes, the fruit of which tastes like muscatel grapes … It has the parsley leaf. There were unripe grapes and currants and wild marjoram (Part One: Chapter 21, p. 43).
[On the province of Petlatlan] There are no trees except the pine, nor are there any fruits except a few tunas [Opuntia tuna or prickly pear], mesquites [Prosopis juliflora], and pitahayas [Cereus thurberii] … 40 leagues from Señora [is] the valley of Suya … They drink wine made of the pitahaya, which is the fruit of a great thistle which opens like the pomegranate. The wine makes them stupid. They make a great quantity of preserves from the tuna; they preserve it in a large amount of its sap without other honey. They make bread of the mesquite, like cheese, which keeps good for a whole year [from the mesquite seeds]. There are native melons in this country so large that a person can carry only one of them. They cut these into slices and dry them in the sun. They are good to eat, and taste like figs, and are better than dried meat; they are very good and sweet, keeping for a whole year when prepared in this way … No fowls of any sort were seen in any of these villages except in this valley of Suya, where fowls like those of Castile were found (Part 2: Chapter 2, pp. 50-51). [On the Province of Chichilticalli] The live by hunting … The rest of the country is wilderness, covered with pine forests. There are great quantities of the pine nuts … There is a sort of oak with sweet acorns, of which they make cakes like sugar plums with dried coriander seeds. It is very sweet, like sugar. Watercress grows in many springs, and there are rosebushes, and penny-royal, and wild marjoram … There are barbels [Gila trout] and paicones [catfish], like those of Spain, in the rivers of this wilderness. Gray lions [mountain lion] and leopards [wildcat] were seen (Part 2: Chapter 3, pp. 51-52).Cibola is seven villages … This country is in a valley between mountains in the form of isolated cliffs. They cultivate the corn, which does not grow very high, in patches. There are three or four large fat ears having each eight hundred grains on every stalk growing upward from the ground, something not seen before in these parts. There are large numbers of bears in this province, and lions, wild-cats, deer, and otter … They collect the pine nuts each year, and store them up in advance (Part 2: Chapter 3, p. 52).
[Province of Tiguex (Zuni) and its neighborhood] Tiguex is a province with twelve villages on the banks of a large, swift river … The women bring up the children and prepare the food. The country is so fertile that they do not have to break up the ground the year round, but only have to sow the seed, which is presently covered by the fall of snow, and the ears come up under the snow. In one year they gather enough for seven. A very large number of cranes and wild geese and crows and starlings live on what is sown, and for all this, when they come to sow for another year, the fields are covered with corn which they have not been able to finish gathering. There are a great many native fowl in these provinces, and cocks with great hanging chins. When dead, these keep for sixty days, and longer in winter, without losing their feathers or opening, and without any bad smell … They keep the separate houses here they prepare the food for eating and where they grind the meal, very clean. This is a separate room or closet, where they have a trough with three stones fixed in stiff clay. Three women go in here, each one having a stone, with which one of them breaks the corn, the next grinds it, and the third grinds it again. They take off their shoes, do up their hair, shake their clothes, and cover their heads before they enter the door … They grind a large quantity at one time, because they make all their bread of meal soaked in warm water, like wafers … There are not fruits good to eat in the country, except the pine nuts (Part 2: Chapter 4, pp. 54-55). [Concerning people of the plains that have cows] The people follow the cows [buffalo], hunting them and tanning the skins to take to the settlements in the winter to sell, since they go there to pass the winter … These people are called Querechos and Teyas … They travel like the Arabs … These people eat raw flesh and drink blood. They do not eat human flesh. They are a kind people and not cruel. They are faithful friends. They are able to make themselves very well understood by means of signs. They dry the flesh [of the buffalo] in the sun, cutting it thin like a leaf, and when dry they grind it like meal to keep it and make a sort of sea soup of it to eat. A handful thrown into a pot swells up so as to increase very much. They season it with fat, which they always try to secure when they kill a cow [buffalo]. They empty a large gut and fill it with blood, and carry this around the neck to drink when they are thirsty. When they open the belly of a cow [buffalo] they squeeze out the chewed grass and drink the juice that remains behind, because they say that this contains the essence of the stomach … The deer [of the plains] are pied with white … The rabbits, which are very numerous, are so foolish that those [the Querechos and Teyas or the Spanish?] on horseback killed them with their lances (Part 2: Chapter 7, pp. 59-60). [Province of Quivira] The country is well settled [and] is very similar to that of Spain in the varieties of vegetation and fruits. There are plums like those of Castile, grapes, nuts, mulberries, oats, pennyroyal, wild marjoram, and large quantities of flax (Part 2: Chapter 8, p. 61).***
Account of D. Antonio de Mendoza, written 1540. pp. 81-85 (in) The Journey of Francisco Vazquez de Coronado 1540-1542. As Told by Pedro de Castañeda, Francisco Vazquez de Coronado, and others. Translated and Edited by G.P. Winship. San Francisco: The Grabhorn Press, 1933.
[At Cibola] They eat human flesh, and they keep those whom they capture in war as slaves. There are many fowls in the country, tame [turkeys]. They have much corn and beans and melons [squashes] … They have salt from a marshy lake, which is two days from the province of Cibola … They say the country is good for corn and beans, and that they do not have any fruit trees, nor do they know what such a thing is … The country lacks water … They do not raise cotton … They eat out of flat bowls, like the Mexicans … They raise considerable corn and beans and other similar things. They do not know what sea fish is, nor have they ever heard of it. I have not obtained any information about the cows [buffalo], except that these are found beyond the province of Cibola There is a great abundance of wild goats (pp. 83-84). [NOTE: peaches, watermelon, cantaloupe, grapes and apples were introduced here about the middle of the 17th century by Franciscan missionaries].***
Account by Francisco Vazquez de Coronado, Captain-General, written August 3rd, 1540. pp. 86-99 (in) The Journey of Francisco Vazquez de Coronado 1540-1542. As Told by Pedro de Castañeda, Francisco Vazquez de Coronado, and others. Translated and Edited by G.P. Winship. San Francisco: The Grabhorn Press, 1933.
[Lambs had been sent as provisions for Coronado’s troops] The lambs and [word lost in manuscript] lost their hoofs along the way, and I left the greater part of those which I brought from Culiacan at the river of Lachimi [Yaqui river], because they were unable to travel (p. 87).Between Culiacan and [the Valley of Hearts] I could sustain myself only by means of a large supply of corn bread, because I had to leave all the corn, as it was not yet ripe … [in this place] there was no corn for food … I stayed there four days, during which the Indians came from the sea, who told me that there were seven or eight islands two day’s journey from that seacoast, directly opposite, well populated with people [Seri Indians], but poorly supplied with food (p. 88).
I reached Chichilticale [and] found I was fifteen days’ journey distant from the sea … The Indians of Chichilticale say that when they go to the sea for fish, or for anything else that they need, they go across the country, and that it takes them ten days … I rested for two days at Chichilticale … but there was not chance to rest longer, because the food was giving out. I entered the borders of the wilderness region on Saint John’s eve … The horses were so tired that they were not equal to it, so that in this last desert we lost more horses than before; and some Indian allies and a Spaniard called Spinosa, [and] two negroes, died from eating some herbs because the food had given out…But when we had passed these 30 leagues, we found fresh rivers and grass like that of Castile … many nut and mulberry trees (pp. 89-90).
[Coronado’s description of the Seven Cities of Cebola] They do not raise cotton … There are no kinds of fruit or fruit trees … There are not many birds, probably because of the cold, and because there are no mountains near … There are no trees fit for firewood here … The food which they eat in this country is corn, of which they have a great abundance, and beans and venison, which they probably eat although they say that they do not, because we found many skins of deer and hares and rabbits. They make the best corn cakes I have ever seen anywhere, and this is what everybody ordinarily eats. They have the very best arrangement and machinery for grinding that was ever seen. One of these Indian women here will grind as much as four of the Mexicans. They have very good salt in crystals, which they bring from a lake a day’s journey distant from here … They have many animals — bears, tigers, lions, porcupines, and some sheep as big as a horse, with very large horns and little tails … There are also wild goats, whose heads I have seen, and the paws of the bears and the skins of the wild boars. For game they have deer, leopards, and very large deer [buffalo] … that inhabit some plains eight day’s journey toward the north. They have some of their skins here very well dressed, and they prepare and paint them where they kill the cows [buffalo], according to what they tell me (pp. 94-95). [At Acucu: Acoma] Three days after I captured this city, some of the Indians who lived here came to offer to make peace … They declare that it was foretold among them more than fifty years ago that a people such as we are should come, and the direction they should come from, and that the whole country would be conquered (pp. 96-97).***
Document known as Traslado de las Nuevas. Date uncertain. (pp. 100-105) in The Journey of Francisco Vazquez de Coronado 1540-1542. As Told by Pedro de Castañeda, Francisco Vazquez de Coronado, and others. Translated and Edited by G.P. Winship. San Francisco: The Grabhorn Press, 1933.
[On the city of Cibola] We found in it what we needed more than gold and silver, and that was much corn and beans and fowls, better than those of New Spain, and salt, the best and whitest that I have seen in my life (p. 102). [In the region between Culiacan and Cibola] The country is sandy where they live near together and where they plant. They raise corn, but not very much, and beans and melons, and they also live on game — rabbits, hares and deer (p. 102).Cibola is a village of about 200 houses … They raise corn and beans and melons which is all they need to live on, because it is a small tribe … They have some fowls, although not many. They do not know what sort of a thing fish is … The first village is 40 leagues from Cibola, and is called Acuco. This village is on top of a very strong rock; it has about 200 houses, built in the same way as at Cibola … They raise as much corn as they need, and beans and melons. They have some fowls, which they keep so as to make cloaks of their feathers. They raise cotton, although not much (p. 103).
Four day’s journey [from Acuco] … four villages are found … The fourth … is called Cicuic [Pecos pueblo] … it has plenty of corn, beans and melons, and some fowls … four days from this village they came to a country as level as the sea, and in these plains there was such a multitude of cows [buffalo] that they are numberless. These cows are like those of Castile, and somewhat larger, as they have a little hump on the withers, and they are more reddish, approaching black … they have very good, tender meat, and much fat (p. 103).
Having proceeded many days through these plains, they came to a settlement of about 200 inhabited houses [Querechos: Apache of the Texas plains]. The houses were made of the skins of the cows, tanned white, like pavilions or army tents. The maintenance or sustenance of these Indians comes entirely from the cows [buffalo], because they neither sow nor reap corn. With the skins they make their houses, with the skins, they clothe and shoe themselves, of the skins they make rope, and also of the wool; from the sinews they make thread, with which they sew their clothes and also their houses; from the bones they make awls; the dung serves them for wood, because there is nothing else in that country [to burn]; the stomachs serve them for pitchers and vessels for which they drink; they live on the flesh; they sometimes eat it half roasted and warmed over the dung, at other times raw; seizing it with their fingers, they pull it out with one hand and with a flint knife in the other they cut off mouthfuls, and thus swallow it half chewed; they eat the fat raw, without warming it; they drink the blood just as it leaves the cows, and at other times after it has run out, cold and raw; they have no other means of livelihood (pp. 103-104).
***
Document known as Relacion del Suceso. Date uncertain. pp. 106-113 (in) The Journey of Francisco Vazquez de Coronado 1540-1542. As Told by Pedro de Castañeda, Francisco Vazquez de Coronado, and others. Translated and Edited by G.P. Winship. San Francisco: The Grabhorn Press, 1933.
[Cibola] For food they have much corn and beans and melons, and some fowls, like those of Mexico, and they keep these more for their feathers than to eat (p. 107). [At Acuco] They gave us cloaks of cotton, skins of deer and of cows, and turquoises, and fowls and other food which they had, which is the same as in Cibola (p. 109). [At Cicuique] They do not raise cotton nor keep fowls, because it is 15 leagues away from the river to the east, toward the plains where the cows are (p. 110). [At Quivira] People are very brutish, without any decency … they have corn and beans and melons; they do not have cotton nor fowls, nor do they make bread which is cooked, except under the ashes. Francisco Vazquez went 25 leagues through these settlements, to where he obtained an account of what was beyond, and they said that the plains come to an end and that down the river there are people who do not plant, but live wholly by hunting (p. 112).Two kinds of people travel around the plains with the cows [buffalo]; one is called Querechos and the other Teyas; they are very well built, and painted, and are enemies of each other. They have no other settlement or location than comes from traveling around with the cows. They kill all of these they wish, and tan the hides, with which they clothe themselves and make their tents, and they eat the flesh, sometimes even raw, and they also even drink the blood when thirsty…the sun is what they worship most…They exchange some cloaks with the natives of the river for corn (pp. 112-113).
***
Letter from Francisco Vazquez de Coronado to the King of Spain, dated October 20th, 1541. pp. 114-118 (in) The Journey of Francisco Vazquez de Coronado 1540-1542. As Told by Pedro de Castañeda, Francisco Vazquez de Coronado, and others. Translated and Edited by G.P. Winship. San Francisco: The Grabhorn Press, 1933.
[Discovery of the Province of Tiguex] After nine days’ march I reached some plains, so vast that I did not find their limit anywhere that I went … I found such a quantity of cows [buffalo] in these, of the kind that I wrote Your Majesty about, which they have in this country, that it is impossible to number them … And after seventeen day’s march I came to a settlement of Indians who are called Querechos, who travel around with these cows, who do not plant, and who eat the raw flesh and drink the blood of the cows they kill (pp. 114-115).And while we were lost in these plains, some horsemen who went off to hunt cows fell in with some Indians who also were out hunting… [and they are] another sort of people who are called Teyas; they have their bodies and faces all painted … they eat the raw flesh just like the Querechos, and live and travel round with the cows in the same way as these (p. 115).
The province of Quivira is 950 leagues from Mexico … The country itself is the best I have ever seen for producing all the products of Spain, for besides the land itself being very fat and black and being very well watered by the rivulets and springs and rivers, I found prunes like those of Spain and nuts and very good sweet grapes and mulberries (p. 117).
***
Account by Juan Jaramillo who accompanied Francisco Vazquez de Coronado. Date uncertain. pp. 119-128 (in) The Journey of Francisco Vazquez de Coronado 1540-1542. As Told by Pedro de Castañeda, Francisco Vazquez de Coronado, and others. Translated and Edited by G.P. Winship. San Francisco: The Grabhorn Press, 1933.
Leaving the valley of Culiacan, he [Coronado] crossed a river called Pateatlan, which was about four days distant. We found these Indians peaceful, and they gave us some few things to eat (p. 119).
[After crossing the river called Yaquemi, i.e. Yaqui River] We proceeded along a dry stream, and after three days more of marching … we reached another stream where there were some settled Indians who had straw huts and storehouses of corn and beans and melons. Leaving here, we went to the stream and village which is called Corazones [Hearts], the name which was given it by Dorantes and Cabeza de Vaca and Castillo and the negro Estebanillo, because they gave them a present of the hearts of animals and birds to eat (pp. 119-120).About two days were spent in this village of the Hearts … They have corn and beans and melons for food, which I believe never fail them. They dress in deer skins … There [is] a poison here, the effect of which is, according to what was seen of it, the worst that could possibly be found; and from what we learned about it, it is the sap of a small tree like the mastick tree, or lentisk, and it grows in gravelly and sterile land. We went on from here, passing through a sort of gateway, to another valley very near this stream, which opens off from this same stream, which is called Señora. It is also irrigated, and the Indians are like the others, and have the same sort of settlements and food (p. 120).
[NOTE: again the identification of the mastic tree (Pistashia lentiskis) is an error; this is an Old World, Mediterranean region tree].From here we went through deserted country for about four days to another river, which we heard called Nexpa [Rio San Pedro], where some poor Indians came out to see the general, with presents of little value, with some stalks of roasted maguey [or agave] and pitahayas [fruit of saguaro cactus] (p. 121).
[Continuing their journey] From here we went to another river, which we called the Cold River [el rio Frio], on account of its water being so, in one day’s journey, and from here we went by a pine mountain, where we found, almost at the top of it, a cool spring and streamlet, which was another day’s march. In the neighborhood of this stream a Spaniard, who was called Espinosa, died, besides two other persons, on account of poisonous plants which they ate, owing to the great need in which they were (p. 121). [At Cibola] They have food enough for themselves, of corn and beans and melons…looking toward the northeast and a little less, on the left hand, there is a province called Tucayan, about five days off, which has seven flat-roof villages, with a food supply as good or better than [Cibola] (p. 121). [At Tutahaco — a mistake for Acoma] They have corn and beans and melons, skins, and some long robes of feathers which they braid … They raise and have a very little cotton (p. 122). [Discussing general aspects of the country beyond the desert area towards the plains] This country presents a very fine appearance…We found a variety of Castilian prunes which are not all red, but some of them black and green; the tree and fruit is certainly like that of Castile, with a very excellent flavor. Among the cows [buffalo] we found flax … the cattle do not eat it … there are grapes along some streams, of a fair flavor, not to be improved upon (p. 126).***
Account by Hernando de Alvarado and Friar Juan de Padilla of a journey beginning August 29th, 1540. Date uncertain. pp. 129-130 (in) The Journey of Francisco Vazquez de Coronado 1540-1542. As Told by Pedro de Castañeda, Francisco Vazquez de Coronado, and others. Translated and Edited by G.P. Winship. San Francisco: The Grabhorn Press, 1933.
[From Sia pueblo] we went to a river, which we named Our Lady Nuestra Señora because we reached it the evening before her day in the month of September … This river of Our Lady [the Tiguex or Tigua] flows through a very wide open plain sowed with corn plants; there are several groves, and there are twelve villages [Zuni]. The houses are of earth, two stories high; the people have a good appearance … they have a large food supply of corn, beans, melons, and fowl in great plenty; they clothe themselves with cotton and the skins of cows and dresses of the feathers of the fowls … In the places where crosses were raised [by the Christians], we saw them worship these. They made offerings to these [crosses] of their powder [ground corn meal] and feathers. They showed so much zeal that some climbed up on the others to grasp the arms of the cross, to place feathers and flowers there; and others bringing ladders, while some held them, went up to tie strings, so as to fasten the flowers and the feathers (pp. 129-130).***
Account by Fray Marcos de Niza, dated January 6th, 1540. pp. 63-86 (in) Narratives of the Coronado Expedition 1540-1542. Edited by G.P. Hammond and A. Rey. Albuquerque: University of New Mexico Press, 1940.
[en route to Cibola] Before reaching the despoblado [uninhabited or deserted area] I came to a pueblo, in green irrigated land, where many people came to meet me, both men and women … They brought me much game, consisting of deer, rabbits, and quail, and maize, and piñol [mistake for piñon nuts?], all in great abundance (p. 70).***
Account by Hernando de Alarcón. Dated c. 1540. Relation of the Navigation and Discovery Undertaken by Captain Hernando de Alarcón by Order of His Excellency, Don Antonio de Mendoza, Viceroy of New Spain, Given at Colima, a Harbor of New Spain. pp. 124-155 (in) Narratives of the Coronado Expedition 1540-1542. Edited by G.P. Hammond and A. Rey. Albuquerque: University of New Mexico Press, 1940.
[On Friday, August 27th, 1540] I saw some Indians who were going to some huts near the water … I began to make signs of peace to them … I came to them … Wishing to learn what kind of food they had, I made signs indicating that I wanted to eat. They brought me some ears of maize and some mesquite bread … others entered the water with ears of maize to give them to me in the boat (pp. 126-129). [We traveled two leagues further] … The natives made signs and shouted to me that I should go thither, pointing with their hands and motioning that there was food there … Realizing that I was not seeking war, they began to give me some shells and beads, and some brought me well-tanned skins, others maize and a cake of the same, poorly ground … I showed them some wheat, beans, and other seeds to see if they had any, but they indicated that they were not acquainted with them. They marveled at everything (pp. 129-131)I asked him to tell me what they did with the men they killed in battle. He said that they carved out the hearts of some and ate them, others they burned (p. 135).
Next morning their chieftain, called Naguachato, came and asked me to come ashore as they wanted to give me provisions … Forthwith there came an old man with maize cakes and some small gourds (p. 136).
The main disease which afflicts and kills these people is vomiting blood through the mouth. They have their medicine men who heal them with words and by blowing on the sick … These people, in addition to maize, have some gourds and some grain like millet. They possess grindstones, and pots in which they cook the gourds and fine fish which are found in the river (p. 139).
[These Indians described the province of Cibola] It had very tall stone houses, three and four stories high, with windows on all side s… They [the people there] were dressed in blankets and cattle skins … They wore many blue stones which were dug from some hard rock…When [the lords of Cibola] ate, many of their people watched them at the table to honor them and see them eat. He said that they ate with napkins and that they had baths (p. 141).I proceeded on my voyage … after a day’s sail, I came to an abandoned village … [the people suddenly emerged and they] presented me with some rabbits and yucca … These people had cotton, but they took little interest in cultivating it because there were no persons among them who knew how to weave and make clothes (p. 142).
On Saturday morning I met a large body of men sitting under a huge arbor, and some outside. Seeing that they did not get up, I went on my way. When they saw this, an old man rose and said to me: “Sir, why don’t you accept food from us when you have accepted it from the others?” I replied that I only accepted what was offered to me; and went only to the people who called me. Without any further question, they brought me abundant provisions, saying that since we did not enter their homes, and we remained on the river night and day, and that I was a child of the sun, they would all accept me as their lord (p. 143).
On the following day, which was Sunday, it was not yet daylight when the usual shouting began. It came from three or four nations [groups of people] who spent the night by the river waiting for me. They took maize and other grains in their mouths and sprinkled me with them, saying that that was the way they offered sacrifice to the sun. Then they gave me provisions, and among other things, many beans (p. 144).
I asked … if the people of Cíbola had enemies, and he said yes … He told me that up the river I would find people who did not have wars with their neighbors or any one else. He said that they had three or four varieties of trees that produced excellent eating fruit. He said that at a certain lake there lived an old woman whom they served and rendered many offerings. She stayed in a hut there and never ate … He said she was named Guatuzaca (p. 145).
He described for me a very large animal resembling a cow, but more than a span larger, and with broad feet, and forelegs as thick as a man’s thigh, the head seven spans long, and the forehead three spans across, eyes as large as fists, horns the length of a man’s shin, with sharp points [horns] a span long (p. 146).
[Returning to my ships] I ordered one of them loaded with goods, trading articles, wheat, and other grains, and also Spanish hens and cocks, and started up the river …. On Wednesday I came to the first houses of the Indians … I gave them some of the seed I carried and told them how they should plant it … Continuing on my way I arrived at Quicama … I gave [the chief] some trinkets and seeds that I carried, and also some Spanish chickens, which he accepted with the utmost pleasure (pp. 150-152).***
Letter of Don Antonio de Mendoza [Viceroy of New Spain] to the King of Spain, Dated April 17th, 1540. pp. 156-161 (in) Narratives of the Coronado Expedition 1540-1542. Edited by G.P. Hammond and A. Rey. Albuquerque: University of New Mexico Press, 1940.
[What I have learned regarding Cibola] The houses are three and four stories high … They eat human flesh and keep as slaves those whom they take prisoners in war. There are many native tame chickens. They have plenty of maize, beans, and melons … They obtain salt from a lake which is two days’ travel from the province of Cibola … They say that the land is good for maize and beans, that they lack fruit trees and have no knowledge of them … The province lacks sufficient water … They do not gather cotton … They eat from little flat bowls, as in Mexico. They gather much maize, beans and other seeds such as sage [y otras simillas como chia]. They are not familiar with sea fish, nor have they heard of them. As to the cattle, there is no other information except that they are fond beyond the province of Cibola. There are numerous wild goats (pp. 158-159).***
Letter from Coronado to Mendoza. Dated August 3rd, 1540. Report Given by Francisco Vásquez de Coronado, Captain General of the Force That Was Sent in the Name of His Majesty to the Newly Discovered Country, of What Happened on the Expedition After April 22 of the Present Year, 1540, When He Started From Culiacan, and of What He Found in the Country Through Which He Passed. pp. 162-178 (in) Narratives of the Coronado Expedition 1540-1542. Edited by G.P. Hammond and A. Rey. Albuquerque: University of New Mexico Press, 1940.
On the 26th of May, I reached the valley of Corazones and rested there for several days. From Culiacán to this place I availed myself of nothing but a large supply of corn bread, because I had to leave all the maize, since it was not ripe. In this valley of Corazones we found extensive planted fields and more people than anywhere in the country which we had left behind … By the favor of our Lord, some little maize was obtained by this trading, which relieved the friendly Indians and some Spaniards (p. 164).
The Indians of Chichilticale say that when they go to the sea for fish, or for anything else that they need, they go across the country, and that it takes them ten days (p. 165).
I rested for two days at Chichilticale, and there was good reason for staying longer, considering how tired the horses were; but there was no chance to rest further, because the food was giving out…The horses were so exhausted that they could not stand it, so that in this last desert we lost more horses than before; and several Indian allies and a Spaniard named Espinosa, besides two negroes, who died from eating some herbs because they were out of food (p. 166).
When we had traversed these thirty leagues, we found cool rivers, and grass like that of Castile…we also found many nut and mulberry trees, but the leaves of the nut trees are different from those of Spain. There was a considerable amount of flax near the banks of one river, which was called Rio del Lino on this account [Colorado Chiquito river?] (p. 166).
[Report on the Seven Cities of Cibola] We found fowl, but only a few, although there are some. The Indians tell me that they do not eat them in any of the seven villages, but that they keep them merely for the sake of procuring the feathers. I do not believe this, because they are very good and larger than those of Mexico … There are no fruits or fruit trees. There are not many birds, probably because of the cold and because there are no mountains near … The food which they eat in this country consists of maize, of which they have great abundance, beans and game, which they must eat although they say that they do not, because we found many skins of deer, hares, and rabbits. They make the best tortillas that I have ever seen anywhere and this is what everybody ordinarily eats. They have the very best arrangement and method for grinding that was ever seen. One of these Indian women here will grind as much as four of the Mexicans do. They have very good salt in crystals, which they bring from a lake a day’s journey distant from here … Your Lordship may thus see how extensive this country is. There are many animals, bears, tigers, lions, porcupines, and some sheep as big as horses, with very large horns and little tails…There are wild goats, whose heads I have also seen, and the paws of the bears and the skins of the wild boars. For game they have deer, leopards, and very large roebucks (pp. 171-173) [At Acoma] So far as I can find out, these Indians worship the water, because they say that it makes the maize grow and sustains their life (p. 175).***
Document possibly written by Don García López de Cárdenasa called Translado de las Nuevas (or) Transcript of the Information and News They Furnished Concerning the Finding of a City, Which They Named Cíbola, Located in the New Land. Date uncertain. pp. 179-181 (in) Narratives of the Coronado Expedition 1540-1542. Edited by G.P. Hammond and A. Rey. Albuquerque: University of New Mexico Press, 1940.
There [inside] we found something we prized more than gold or silver, namely, much maize, beans, and chickens larger than those here of New Spain, and salt better and whiter than I have ever seen in my whole life (p. 181).
***
Account of the Discovery of Tiguex by Hernando de Alvarado and Fray Juan de Padilla. Date uncertain. Account of What Hernando de Alvarado and Fray Juan de Padilla Discovered While in Search of the South Sea. pp. 182-184 (in) Narratives of the Coronado Expedition 1540-1542. Edited by G.P. Hammond and A. Rey. Albuquerque: University of New Mexico Press, 1940.
[At Tiguex province in the vicinity of modern Albuquerque] There are twelve pueblos. The houses are of mud, two stories high. The people seem good, more given to farming than to war. They have provisions of maize, beans, melons, and chickens in great abundance. They dress in cotton, cattle skins, and coats made with the feathers from the chickens … They are in this province seven other pueblos, uninhabited and in ruins, belonging to the Indians who daub their eyes … They say that they border on the cattle [buffalo] and that they have maize and straw houses (p. 183).