The Journal of Negro History, Volume 6, 1921Various
History
The Journal of Negro History, Volume 6, 1921
Various
African Americans -- Periodicals
"After Estevan had left the friars, he thought he could get all the
reputation and honor himself, and that if he should discover these
settlements with such famous high houses, alone, he would be
considered bold and courageous. So he proceeded with the people who
had followed him, and attempted to cross the wilderness which lies
between the country he had passed through and Cibola, ... [He] reached
Cibola loaded with the large quantity of turquoises they [the Indians
along the route] had given him and some beautiful women whom the
Indians who followed him and carried his things were taking with them
and had given him. These had followed him from all the settlements he
had passed, believing that under his protection they could traverse
the whole world without any danger. But as the people in this country
were more intelligent than those who followed Estevan, they lodged him
in a little hut they had outside their village, and the older men and
governors heard his story and took steps to find out the reason he had
come to that country. The account which the Negro gave them of two
white men who were following him, sent by a great lord, who knew about
the things in the sky, and how these were coming to instruct them in
divine matters, made them think that he must be a spy or a guide from
some nations who wished to come and conquer them, because it seemed to
them unreasonable to say that the people were white in the country
from which he came and that he was sent by them, he being black.
Besides these other reasons, they thought it was hard of him to ask
them for turquoises and women, and so they decided to kill him. They
did this, but they did not kill any of those who went with him...."[9]
From this and other contemporary sources, Lowery[10] has constructed a
more complete and lively picture of Estevan's last days. Lowery says
that "he travelled with savage magnificence, gaily dressed with bells
and feathers fastened about his arms and legs. He carried with him a
gourd decorated with bells and two feathers, one white and the other
red. This gourd he sent before him by messengers as a symbol of
authority and to command obedience, as he had seen successfully done
in the western part of Texas, when in company with Cabeza de Vaca....
As soon as they had delivered the gourd to the chief [of the pueblo]
and he had observed the bells he became very angry," and ordered
Estevan and his party to depart at once. But the Negro was persistent.
He and his retinue lodged just outside the walls of the Pueblo of
Hawaikuh. Early the next morning they were attacked by a large band of
warriors from the Pueblo and Estevan was killed while attempting to
make his escape.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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