Colonial Expeditions to the Interior of California Central Valley, 1800-1820Cook, Sherburne Friend
History
Colonial Expeditions to the Interior of California Central Valley, 1800-1820
Cook, Sherburne Friend
California -- Discovery and exploration; California -- History -- To 1846 -- Sources; Central Valley (Calif.)
Since we did not try to hide ourselves, the train of horses stirred up a
great dust visible for several leagues. As soon as I arrived at Telamni,
they observed us from Lihuahilami the Great. At that place there had
been a big riot the day previously, as a result of which some eight men
had been killed, among them the grandson of Quipagueces. For this reason
they were very much worried for fear the father would come to avenge the
murders. The chief sent me a message to inform me of this occurrence and
I answered that he should not be concerned for I did not come to do harm
to anyone nor [would I] permit anyone else to hurt them. I wanted only
to see them and offer them the services of the mission. This chief had
me summoned to request that I place the camp close to his village, which
would contain about three hundred married men. The next day I went into
it and everyone received us with pleasure. I talked to them of religious
matters and they said to me that [illegible][16] they were made
Christians, but that it had to be there. Three of them who wanted to
go with me presented themselves and they started out very happy. When
we reached the village of Quihuama, the chief, who already knew I was
coming, had hidden the people in the brush. While I was dismounting, he
had caused them to drop their clothing and flee to the thickets. In
consequence I was not able to speak to anyone.
I was now about six leagues from Telamé and was hemmed in by a big
river, which afforded no transit anywhere. It runs along the northern
side of the valley and forms a lake and swamps where the plain obstructs
its flow. I decided to turn back, for to persist in going on to Telamé
would mean a long detour. So I went back, accomplishing the operation
without any event worth mentioning, as far as the village of our friends
at Thuohuala, called, in the language of San Miguel, Hubal. There we
found that the village had moved. Since on my first visit I had departed
on such good terms with these people, I was the more astonished at their
fickleness. I decided to send some Indians to let them know I was there
and that I would like to see them all together. They received these poor
fellows with arrows and, if the latter had not carried with them their
leather shields to defend themselves, not a one would have got back to
the camp (they were below Hubal at a village called Pusas). They quickly
sent word to me at the camp. The corporal and six men went out but found
no one there. My Indians did not use weapons against anyone and made no
more resistance than to seize arrows and take bows out of the hands of
those who were offending. They took three prisoners, two women and a
man, who, according to the story, were all yelling "Kill the Playanos!"
[Playanos, people from the coast.] The next day the village was burned
and everything in it destroyed because the people in it had taken up
arms against those who had treated them well. One Indian was slightly
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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