The Coronado Expedition, 1540-1542.: Excerpted from the Fourteenth Annual Report of the Bureau of Ethnology to the Secretary of the Smithsonian Institution, 1892-1893, Part 1.Winship, George Parker
History
The Coronado Expedition, 1540-1542.: Excerpted from the Fourteenth Annual Report of the Bureau of Ethnology to the Secretary of the Smithsonian Institution, 1892-1893, Part 1.
Winship, George Parker
Coronado, Francisco Vásquez de, 1510-1554; Southwest, New -- Description and travel
The first of these four
places about which they know is called, they say, Tucano. They could
not tell me much about the others. I do not believe that they tell
me the truth, because they think that I shall soon have to depart
from them and return home. But they will quickly find that they are
deceived in this. I sent Don Pedro de Tobar there, with his company
and some other horsemen, to see it. I would not have dispatched this
packet to Your Lordship until I had learned what he found there,
if I thought that I should have any news from him within twelve or
fifteen days. However, as he will remain away at least thirty, and,
considering that this information is of little importance and that
the cold and the rains are approaching, it seemed to me that I ought
to do as Your Lordship commanded me in your instructions, which is,
that as soon as I arrived here, I should advise you thereof, and
this I do, by sending you the plain narrative of what I have seen,
which is bad enough, as you may perceive. I have determined to send
throughout all the surrounding regions, in order to find out whether
there is anything, and to suffer every extremity before I give up
this enterprise, and to serve His Majesty, if I can find any way in
which to do it, and not to lack in diligence until Your Lordship
directs me as to what I ought to do. We have great need of pasture,
and you should know, also, that among all those who are here there
is not one pound of raisins, nor sugar, nor oil, nor wine, except
barely half a quart, which is saved to say mass, since everything is
consumed, and part was lost on the way. Now, you can provide us with
what appears best; but if you are thinking of sending us cattle, you
should know that it will be necessary for them to spend at least a
year on the road, because they can not come in any other way, nor
any quicker. I would have liked to send to Your Lordship, with this
dispatch, many samples of the things which they have in this country,
but the trip is so long and rough that it is difficult for me to do
so. However, I send you twelve small mantles, such as the people of
this country ordinarily wear, and a garment which seems to me to be
very well made. I kept it because it seemed to me to be of very good
workmanship, and because I do not think that anyone has ever seen in
these Indies any work done with a needle, unless it were done since
the Spaniards settled here. And I also send two cloths painted with
the animals which they have in this country, although, as I said, the
painting is very poorly done, because the artist did not spend more
than one day in painting it. I have seen other paintings on the walls
of these houses which have much better proportion and are done much
better.
[Illustration: LXX. Ruins of Spanish Church Above Jemez]
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