Chapter XIV: Part 14

_Moral qualities of the_ INDIANS.--In his present condition, the Mexican Indian is grave, melancholy, and taciturn, as long as he is not under the influence of intoxicating liquors. This gravity is particularly remarkable in the children of Indians, who, at the early age of four or five years, display infinitely greater intelligence and development of mind than the children of whites. They delight in throwing an air of mystery over their most trifling remarks. Not a passion manifests itself in their features. At all times sombre, there is something terrific in the change, when he passes all at once from a state of absolute repose to violent and ungovernable agitation. The energy of his character, to which every shade of softness is unknown, habitually degenerates into ferocity. This is especially the case with the inhabitants of Tlascala. In the midst of their degradation, the descendants of these republicans are still distinguished by a certain haughtiness with which they are inspired by the remembrance of their former greatness. The indigenous natives of Mexico, like all other nations who have long groaned under civil and religious despotism, are attached, with an extreme degree of obstinacy, to their habits, their manners, and their opinions.

_Assimilation of their Religious Belief._--The introduction of Christianity among them has scarcely produced any other effect than merely substituting new ceremonies, the symbols of a mild and humane religion,--for the ceremonies of a sanguinary worship. From the earliest periods, semibarbarous {293} nations have received new laws, and new divinities from the hands of their conquerors. The indigenous and vanquished gods give place to foreign deities. Indeed, in a mythology so complicated as that of the Mexicans, it was easy to discover an affinity between the divinities of Atzlan and those of the east. The Holy Spirit, for instance, was identified with the sacred eagle of the Aztecs. The missionaries not only tolerated, they even favored this mixture of ideas, by which the Christian worship became more speedily established. The English collector, Mr. Bullock, readily obtained leave from the clergy and authorities, in 1823, to disinter and take casts from the image of the sanguinary goddess _Teoyamiqui_.[149] During the time it was exposed, he adds, "the court of the University was crowded with people, most of whom expressed the most decided anger and contempt. Not so, however, all the Indians. I attentively marked their countenances; not a smile escaped them, or even a word--all was silence and attention. In reply to a joke of one of the students, an old Indian remarked, 'It is true we have three very good Spanish gods, but we might still have been allowed to keep a few of those of our ancestors.' I was informed that chaplets of flowers had been placed on the figure by natives, who had stolen thither unseen, in the evening, for that purpose; a proof that notwithstanding the extreme diligence of the Spanish clergy for 300 years, there still remains some taint of heathen superstition among the descendants of the original inhabitants." Yet it was, probably, a nobler impulse than superstition that wove the chaplet for the statue of Teoyamiqui; rather that mystery of nature, by which she links the present to the past with veneration, and to the future with anxiety,--that awful reverence with which the rudest nations look back to their origin and ancestors, and which even now, among the most enlightened, still consecrates the relics of Montmorillon and Stonehenge.

_Their talent for Painting and Sculpture._--The Mexicans have preserved a particular taste for painting and for the art of carving on stone and wood. It is truly astonishing to see what {294} they are capable of executing with a bad knife, upon the hardest wood and stone. They exercise themselves in painting the images, and carving the statues of saints; but from a religious principle, they have continued too servilely intimate for 300 years, the models which the Europeans brought with them at the period of the original conquest. In Mexico as well as in Hindoostan, the faithful are not allowed to make the smallest change in their idols; every thing connected with the rites of the Aztecs was subjugated to immutable laws. It is on this very account that the Christian images have preserved in some degree, that stiffness and hardness of feature which characterised the hieroglyphical pictures of the age of Montezuma. They display a great deal of aptitude for the exercise of the arts of imitation, and still greater for those of a purely mechanical nature.

_Want of Imagination._--When an Indian has attained a certain degree of cultivation, he shows great facility of acquiring information, a spirit of accuracy and precision, and a particular tendency to subtilize, or to seize on the minutest differences in objects that are to be compared with each other. He reasons coldly and with method; but he does not evince that activity of imagination, that lively freshness of sentiment, that art of creating and of producing, which characterises the people of Europe, and many tribes of African negroes. The music and dancing of the indigenous natives partake of that want of cheerfulness which is so peculiar to them. Their singing is of a melancholy description. More vivacity, however, is observed in their women than in their men; but they share the evils of that state of subjection to which the sex is condemned among most of those nations where civilization is still imperfect. In the dance women take no part; they are merely present for the sake of offering to the dancers the fermented drinks which they themselves had prepared.

_Their taste for Flowers._--The Mexican Indians have likewise preserved the same taste for flowers that Cortez noticed in his time. We are astonished to discover this taste, which, doubtless, {295} indicates a taste for the beautiful, among a people in whom a sanguinary worship, and the frequency of human sacrifices, appear to have extinguished every feeling connected with sensibility of mind and the softer affections. In the great market of Mexico, the native does not even sell fish, or ananas, or vegetables, or fermented liquor, without his shop being decked out with flowers, which are renewed every succeeding day. The Indian shopkeeper appears seated behind a perfect entrenchment of verdure, and every thing around him wears an air of the most refined elegance.

_Wild Indians._--The Indian hunters, such as the _Mecos_, the _Apaches_, and the _Lipans_, whom the Spaniards comprehend under the denomination of _Indios bravos_, and whose hordes, in their incursions, which are often made during night, infest the frontiers of New Biscay, Sonora, and New Mexico, evince more activity of mind, and more strength of character, than the agricultural Indians. Some tribes have even language, the mechanism of which appears to prove the existence of ancient civilization. They have great difficulty in learning our European idioms, while, at the same time, they express themselves in their own with an extreme degree of facility. These same Indian chiefs, whose gloomy taciturnity astonishes the observer, will hold a discourse of several hours, whenever any strong interest rouses them to break their habitual silence.

_Prerogatives of the_ WHITES.--The greater or less quantity of European blood, and the skin being more or less clear, are at once decisive of the consideration which a man enjoys in society and of the opinion which he entertains of himself. A white who rides barefooted, fancies that he belongs to the nobility of the country. Colour even establishes a certain equality between those who, as every where happens where civilization is either a little advanced, or in a state of retrograde movement, take pleasure in refining on the prerogatives of race and origin.--When an individual of the lower orders enters into a dispute with one of the titled lords of the country, it is no unusual thing {296} to hear him exclaim to the nobleman, "It is possible that you really thought yourself whiter than I am?" Among the Metis and Mulattoes, there are many individuals who, by their colour, their physiognomy, and their intelligence, might be confounded with the Spaniards; but the law keeps them down in a state of degradation and contempt. Possessing an energetic and ardent character, these men of colour live in a state of constant irritation against the whites; and resentment too often hurries them into vengeance. It frequently occurs, too, that families who are suspected of being of mixed blood, claim, at the high court of justice, a declaration that they appertain to the whites. In this way, very dark colored Mulattoes have had the address to get themselves _whitened_, according to the popular expression. When the judgment of the senses is too palpably in opposition to the solicitations of the applicant, he is forced to content himself with somewhat problematical terms; for, in that case, the sentence simply states, that "such and such individuals may _consider themselves as white_."

NEW-MEXICO.--Many French writers, and, among others, the Abbe Raynal, have spoken in pompous terms of what they term the _Empire of New-Mexico_;[150] and they boast of its extent and riches. Under this denomination they appear to comprehend all the countries between California and Louisiana. But the true signification of this term is confined to a narrow province which, it is true, is 175 leagues in length, but not more than thirty or forty in breadth.

_Towns._--This stripe of country, which borders the Rio del Norte, is thinly peopled; the town of _Santa Fe_ containing 4000 inhabitants; _Albuquerque_, 6000; and _Taos_, 9000, comprise almost one-half of the population. The other half consists of poor colonists, whose scattered hamlets are frequently ravaged by the powerful tribes of Indians who surround them, and overrun the province. It is true that the soil is amongst the finest and most fertile of Spanish America.

_Productions._--Wheat, maize, and delicious fruits, especially {297} grapes, grow most abundantly. The environs of _Passo-del-Norte_, produce the most generous wines. The mountains are covered with pine trees, maples, and oaks. Beasts of prey are met with in great numbers. There are also wild sheep, and particularly elks, or at least large deer, fully the size of a mule, with extremely long horns. According to the Dictionary of _Alcedo_,[151] mines of tin have been discovered. There are several hot springs. Rivers with a saline taste, indicate the existence of rich beds of rock-salt.

_Mountains._--The chain of mountains that border the eastern parts of New Mexico, seem to be of a moderate degree of elevation. There is a pass through them, called the _Puerto de don Fernando_, by which the Paducas have penetrated into New Mexico.[152] Beyond this chain extend immense natural meadows, on which buffaloes and wild horses pasture in innumerable herds. The Americans of the United States hunt these animals, and sometimes pursue them to the very gates of Santa Fe. The principal mountains coast Rio del Norte, following its western banks. Some peaks, or _cerros_, are to be distinguished. Further to the north, in the country of _Nabaho_, the map of Don Alzate has traced mountains with flat summits, denominated in Spanish _mesas_, that is, _tables_.

_The Apache Indians._--The _Apache_ Indians originally inhabited the greater part of New Mexico, and are still a warlike and industrious nation. These implacable enemies of the Spaniards infest the whole eastern boundary of this country, from the black mountains to the confines of Cohahuila, keeping the inhabitants of several provinces in an incessant state of alarm.--There has never been any thing but short skirmishes with them, and although their number has been considerably diminished by wars and frequent famine, the Spaniards are obliged constantly to keep up an establishment of 2000 dragoons, for the purpose of escorting their caravans, protecting their villages, and repelling these attacks, which are perpetually renewed. At first the {298} Spaniards endeavoured to reduce to slavery those who, by the fate of war, fell into their hands; but seeing them indefatigably surmount every obstacle that opposed their return to their dear native mountains, their conquerors adopted the expedient of sending their prisoners to the island of Cuba, where, from the change of climate, they speedily perished. No sooner were the Apaches informed of this circumstance than they refused any longer either to give or receive quarter. From that moment none have ever been taken prisoners, except those who are surprised asleep, or disabled during the combat.

_Manner of making war._--The arrows of the Apaches are three feet long, and are made of reed or cane, into which they sink a piece of hard-wood, with a point made of iron, bone, or stone. They shoot this weapon with such force, that at the distance of 300 paces they can pierce a man. When the arrow is attempted to be drawn out of the wound, the wood detaches itself, and the point remains in the body. Their second offensive weapon is a lance, fifteen feet long. When they charge the enemy they hold this lance with both hands above their head, and, at the same time, guide their horse by pressing him with their knees. Many of them are armed with firelocks, which, as well as the ammunition, have been taken in battle from the Spaniards, who never sell them any. The archers and fusileers combat on foot but the lancers are always on horseback. They make use of a buckler for defence. Nothing can equal the impetuosity and address of their horsemen. They are thunderbolts, whose stroke it is impossible to parry or escape.

We must cease to feel astonished at the invincible resistance which the Apaches oppose to the Spaniards, when we reflect on the fate to which they have subjected those other Indians who have allowed themselves to be converted.

_The Intendency of Mexico._--The intendency of _Mexico_, the principal province of the Empire of Montezuma, formerly extended from one sea to the other; but the district of _Panuco_, {299} having been separated from it, it no longer reaches the gulf of Mexico. The eastern part, situated on the plateau, contains several valleys of a round figure; in the centre of which there are lakes at present dried up, but waters appear formerly to have filled these basins. Dry and deprived of its wood, this plateau is at once subject to an habitual aridity, and to sudden inundations, occasioned by heavy rains and the melting of the snow. Generally speaking, the temperature is not so hot as it is in Spain; in fact, it enjoys a perpetual spring. The mountains with which it is surrounded still abound in cedars and other lofty trees, in gums, drugs, salts, metallic productions, marble and precious stones. The flat country is covered the whole year through with delicate and exquisite fruits, lint, hemp, cotton, tobacco, aniseed, sugar, and cochineal, with which they support an extensive commerce.

_Natural Curiosities._--Besides the numerous volcanoes of which we have already spoken, some natural curiosities are met with. One of the most remarkable is the _Ponte-Dios_, or the bridge of God, a rock, under which the water has hollowed itself a canal, situated about one hundred miles to the southeast of Mexico, near the village of Molcaxac, on the deep river Aquetoyac. Along this natural bridge, the traveller may continue his journey as if he were on a high road. Several cataracts present a romantic appearance. The great cavern of Dante, traversed by a river; the porphyritic organ-pipes of Actopan; and many other singular objects excite the astonishment of the traveller in this mountainous region, where he is obliged to cross foaming rivers upon bridges formed of the fruit of the _Crescentia pinnata_, tied together with ropes of Agava.

_City of Mexico._--On the very ridge of the great Mexican plateau, a chain of porphyritic mountains encloses an oval valley, the general level of which is elevated 6700 feet above the surface of the ocean. Five lakes fill the middle of this valley. To the north of the united lakes of Xochimilco, and Chalco, on the eastern side of the lake Tezcuco, once stood the ancient {300} city of _Mexico_, to which the traveller arrived by causeways constructed on the shallow bottom of the lake. The new city, although placed on the same spot, is situated on firm ground, and at a considerable distance from the lakes, the waters of which have retired, and the town is still intersected by numerous canals, and the public edifices are erected on piles. The draining of the lakes is further continued, by means of a canal which has been opened for that purpose, through the mountains of Sincoq, in order to protect the town from inundations. In many places however, the ground is still soft, and some buildings, amongst others the cathedral, have sunk six feet. The streets are wide and straight, but badly paved. The houses present a magnificent appearance, being built of porphyry and amygdaloid. Several palaces and private mansions have a majestic effect, and its churches glitter with metallic riches. The cathedral surpasses, in this respect, all the churches in the world; the ballustrade which surrounds the great altar being composed of massive silver. A lamp of the same metal, is of so vast a size that three men go into it when it has to be cleaned; and it is enriched with lions' heads, and other ornaments, of pure gold. The statues of the Virgin and the saints are either made of solid silver, or richly gilded, and ornamented with precious stones. Palaces, mansions of great families, beautiful fountains, and extensive squares, adorn the interior of this city. To the north, near the suburbs, is the principal public promenade, or _Alameda_. Round this walk flows a rivulet, forming a fine square, in the middle of which there is a basin with a fountain. Eight alleys of trees terminate here, in the figure of a star. But in consequence of an unfortunate proximity, immediately in front of alameda, the eye discovers the _Quemadero_, a place where Jews and other victims of the terrible Inquisition, were burned alive.

FINIS

FOOTNOTES:

[1] Timothy Flint (1780-1840) was a native of Reading, Massachusetts. Graduated from Harvard College (1800), he became a Congregational minister, and in 1815 went as a missionary to the Far West. Until 1822 his headquarters were at St. Charles, Missouri; in that year he descended the Mississippi in a flatboat and settled in Louisiana, conducting a seminary on Lake Pontchartrain. Ill health compelled him to return to the North (1825), and thereafter he gave his attention to literature. For three years he edited the _Western Review_ at Cincinnati; but later, removing to New York (1833), conducted the _Knickerbocker Magazine_. In addition to publishing a number of romances and biographies of Western life, he was the author of two well-known books on the West: _Recollections of the Last Ten Years Passed in the Valley of the Mississippi_ (1826), and _Condensed History and Geography of the Western States_ (1828).--ED.

[2] Josiah Stoddard Johnston was born in Salisbury, Connecticut (1784), but when a small boy removed with his parents to Washington, Kentucky. He was graduated from Transylvania University (1805), and soon after began the practice of law in Alexandria, a frontier village of Louisiana. Gaining reputation as a lawyer, he served as district judge from 1812-21, was elected to the 17th congress, and in 1823 became a member of the federal senate, where he supported a protective tariff and the other measures advocated by Henry Clay. In 1833, Johnston was killed in the explosion of the steamboat "Lyon," on Red River.--ED.

[3] James Riley (born in Connecticut, 1777, died at sea, 1840) was a sea captain, who experienced some romantic adventures. In 1815 he sailed from Hartford on the brig "Commerce," was shipwrecked on the coast of Africa, and for eighteen months held as a slave by the Arabs until ransomed by the British consul at Mogadove. In 1817, Anthony Bleecker published from Riley's journals _An Authentic Narrative of the Loss of the American Brig Commerce, on the Western Coast of Africa, in the Month of August, 1815 ... with a Description of Tombuctoo_. The book had a wide circulation both in England and America, but until other survivors of the vessel returned and confirmed the account, was popularly supposed to be fictitious. In 1821 Riley settled in Van Wert County, Ohio, founding the town of Willshire, and in 1823 was elected to the legislature. He resumed a seafaring life (1831), and an account of his later voyages and adventures was published by his son (Columbus, 1851).--ED.

[4] This station, five miles northeast of Lexington, had been established in 1779 by four Bryan (later, Bryant) brothers from North Carolina, one of whom married a sister of Daniel Boone. It contained about forty cabins in 1782 when, August 16, it was attacked by a force of Canadians and Indians under the leadership of Simon Girty. Failing to draw the men out of the stockade, as had been planned, the Indians besieged the station until the following day, when they withdrew. For a full account, see Ranck, "Story of Bryant's Station," Filson Club _Publications_, xii.--ED.

[5] For a brief sketch of Colonel Benjamin Logan, see A. Michaux's _Travels_, volume iii of our series, p. 40, note 34.--ED.

[6] An account of the battle of the Blue Licks may be found in Cuming's _Tour_, in our volume iv, pp. 176, 177.--ED.

[7] This expedition, to avenge the battle of the Blue Licks and the attack on Bryant's Station, rendezvoused at the mouth of the Licking. A force of a thousand mounted riflemen under George Rogers Clark marched thence against the Shawnee towns in the neighborhood of the present Chillicothe. These were completely destroyed, the expedition meeting with no resistance.--ED.

[8] A footnote cannot do justice to the services of General George Rogers Clark in Western history. Born in Albemarle County, Virginia (1752), he became a surveyor on the upper Ohio. Serving in Dunmore's campaign in 1774, the following year he settled in Kentucky. Returning to Virginia to urge upon the legislature the conquest of the Illinois territory, he was made a lieutenant-colonel and authorized to raise troops for the undertaking. June 24, 1778, he set out from the Falls of the Ohio, upon his memorable campaign, capturing Kaskaskia July 4, and Vincennes the following February. See Thwaites, _How George Rogers Clark won the Northwest, etc._ (Chicago, 1903). The attack upon the Shawnee towns in 1782 was his last important work; an expedition up the Wabash against Detroit, was undertaken in 1786; but part of the troops mutinied, and Clark was forced to turn back before reaching his destination. He died at his sister's home, "Locust Grove," near Louisville, in February, 1818.--ED.

[9] The war with the Sauk and Foxes was part of the general War of 1812-15. These Indians had in 1804 signed a treaty at St. Louis, by which they surrendered all their lands in Illinois and Wisconsin. But the cession was repudiated by the Rock River band of the united tribes, who eagerly joined with the British in the hope of saving their hunting grounds. The noted warrior Black Hawk accepted a commission in the British army.--ED.

[10] For the early history of St. Charles, see Bradbury's _Travels_, volume v of our series, p. 39, note 9.--ED.

[11] Cap-au-Gris is situated on the Mississippi a few miles above the mouth of Cuivre River. In 1812 Fort Howard was erected near that point, for the protection of the Missouri frontier; its name was in honor of the governor, Benjamin Howard. Fort Howard was a shipping port of some importance until the advent of the railroads into that region, but it now exists only in name. The event here related was an attack upon Fort Howard by Black Hawk and his band, immediately after the siege of Fort Meigs (July, 1813).--ED.

[12] Fort Bellefontaine was established (1805) by General James Wilkinson, governor of Louisiana, on the site of an old Spanish fort named Charles the Prince. It was on the Missouri River, four miles above its junction with the Mississippi, and was occupied by United States troops until the construction of Jefferson Barracks in 1827. For further details, see Thwaites, _Original Journals of the Lewis and Clark Expedition_, v, p. 392, note 2.--ED.

[13] Thomas McNair was a son of Robert, a blacksmith living at Troy, about eighteen miles west of Cap-au-Gris; and a nephew of Alexander McNair, governor of Missouri (1820-24). The family had emigrated to St. Louis from Dauphin County, Pennsylvania, about 1800.--ED.

[14] As Pattie obtained his discharge in 1813, he must have yielded his command to Lieutenant John McNair, brother of Thomas, who was stationed at Cap-au-Gris during the latter part of the war. See Goodspeed, _History of Lincoln County, Missouri_ (Chicago, 1888), p. 224.

The Sauk and Foxes signed a treaty of peace in May, 1816, wherein they acknowledged the cession of 1804; but the consequent removal across the Mississippi was one of the causes of the Black Hawk War (1832).--ED.

[15] Gasconade River rises in southern Missouri, and flowing northeast empties into the Missouri about a hundred miles above the latter's junction with the Mississippi.--ED.

[16] Newport, now Dundee, is a small town on the Missouri, at the mouth of Buffalo Creek, some sixty miles above St. Louis.--ED.

[17] This was an important place during the fur-trading era. It was more commonly known as Bellevue, and was situated about nine miles above the mouth of the Platte. The first post was established about 1810, and soon passed into the control of the Missouri Fur Company, under Joshua Pilcher--hence the name of Pilcher's Post. For a sketch of Pilcher, see James's _Long's Expedition_, in our volume xiv, p. 269, note 193.--ED.

[18] Chariton was about two hundred and twenty miles up the Missouri, at the mouth of Chariton River. In 1818 the sale of government land began in that region, and the town sprang up with extraordinary rapidity. Many lots in St. Louis were exchanged for lots in Chariton, but the site of the latter is now a farm.--ED.

[19] This was Cabanne's Post, nine or ten miles (by land) above Omaha. It was established about 1822 for the American Fur Company, by J. P. Cabanne. He remained in charge until 1833, and soon thereafter the company moved its trading station to Bellevue.--ED.

[20] Silvester Pratte was born in St. Louis (1799), the son of Bernard Pratte, a partner in the American Fur Company. He did not return from this expedition, but died in New Mexico; see _post_.--ED.

[21] For the early history of Council Bluffs, see Brackenridge's _Journal_, volume vi of our series, p. 78, note 28.--ED.

[22] For Elkhorn River, see James's _Long's Expedition_, in our volume xiv, p. 240, note 182.--ED.

[23] For the Pawnee Indians, consult Brackenridge's _Journal_, in our volume vi, p. 61, note 17.--ED.

[24] This is not the stream now known as the Little Platte, for which see James's _Long's Expedition_, in our volume xiv, p. 174, note 141. Possibly it was Maple Creek, a stream which rises in the southern part of Stanton County, Nebraska, and flowing westward through Dodge County joins the Elkhorn nearly opposite the town of Fontenelle. At the time of Major Long's expedition (1820), all the Pawnee villages were situated within a few miles of each other, on the Loup fork of the Platte (see volume xv of our series, pp. 144-149), while Pattie finds a Republican Pawnee village within a day's march of the Elkhorn. Probably this was but a temporary village, as Colonel Henry Dodge (1835) and later travellers describe the location on the main Platte (see _Senate Doc._, 24 Cong., 1 sess., 209). Pattie is also the only person who mentions more than one Republican Pawnee village. It seems likely that he erroneously classed as Republican the other Pawnee villages, excepting that of the Loups (which he mentions separately)--namely, the Grand and the Tapage villages.--ED.

[25] The definiteness with which Pattie gives his dates, lends to his account an appearance of accuracy, which an examination of the narrative does not sustain. By his own enumeration of days after leaving Council Bluffs, this should be August 8. There is no indication that Pattie kept a journal, or that he wrote any account of his travels before reaching California.--ED.

[26] For the Pawnee Loups see Bradbury's _Travels_, volume v of our series, p. 78, note 44. An account of the visit of the Pawnee chiefs to Washington may be found in Faux's _Journal_, volume xii of our series, pp. 48-52.--ED.

[27] This is the golden eagle (_Aquila chrysaëtos_). The tail-feathers are about a foot long, and were especially prized by the Indians for decorative purposes.--ED.

[28] This animal is not, correctly speaking, an antelope, but constitutes a separate family. The scientific name, _Antilocapra americana_, was assigned to it (1818) by the naturalist Ord, upon data furnished by Lewis and Clark.--ED.

[29] For the Cheyenne Indians, see Bradbury's _Travels_, volume v of our series, p. 140, note 88.--ED.

[30] Pattie is altogether too far north and west to meet the Osage River. The distance from the Platte makes it fairly certain that he was on the Republican fork of the Kansas. This stream rises in Colorado, and flows eastward across the arid plains of southern Nebraska as far as longitude 98°; it there enters the state of Kansas, and following a southeasterly course unites with the Smoky Hill River at Junction City, to form the Kansas. Its name arose from the fact that the village of the Republican Pawnee was located upon it until about 1815, when these tribesmen joined the Pawnee upon the Platte.--ED.

[31] For a brief description of the Arikara Indians, see Bradbury's _Travels_, volume v of our series, p. 127, note 83.--ED.

[32] Pattie's geography is confused by his apparent ignorance of the Kansas and its branches. Hyde Park is probably a tributary of the Republican--possibly Beaver Creek, which rises in western Kansas and flowing northeasterly discharges into the Republican in Harlan County, Nebraska.--ED.

[33] The journals of Lewis and Clark contain a good description of the prairie dog (_Cynomys_ or _arctomys ludovicianus_). See Thwaites, _Original Journals of the Lewis and Clark Expedition_, index.--ED.

[34] A short account of the Crow Indians may be found in Bradbury's _Travels_, in our volume v, p. 226, note 121.--ED.

[35] Pattie is still among the tributaries of the Kansas. This must be the dividing ridge between the sources of the Republican and Smoky Hill rivers.--ED.

[36] This is the grizzly bear (_Ursus horribilis_), described satisfactorily for the first time by Lewis and Clark, who also called it the white bear.--ED.

[37] Smoky Hill River, the main southern fork of the Kansas, takes its rise in Colorado, and receiving numerous tributaries in its eastward course of nearly four hundred miles, unites with the Republican, to form the Kansas, about one hundred and twenty miles from the mouth of the latter.--ED.

[38] In Cheyenne County, Colorado.--ED.

[39] For the Comanche Indians, see James's _Long's Expedition_, in our volume xvi, p. 233, note 109.--ED.

[40] Ietans (Iotans) is another name for the Comanche, the latter being originally the Spanish appellation. See James's _Long's Expedition_, in our volume xiv, p. 223, note 179.--ED.

[41] The Navaho Indians are closely related to the Apache, both belonging to the Athabascan family. At this time they numbered nearly ten thousand people, their territory being west of the Rio del Norte, between the San Juan River and latitude 35°. Their manner of life was more settled than that of the Comanche and Apache; and the blankets they manufacture have gained a wide notoriety. They are now located, to the number of about one thousand five hundred, on the Navaho reservation in northwest New Mexico.--ED.

[42] Manifestly a slip, since the subsequent dates show that it was the fifth of October.--ED.

[43] For the Cimarron River, see Nuttall's _Journal_, volume xiii of our series, p. 263, note 203.--ED.

[44] San Fernandez de Taos was one of two small Spanish towns in the fertile valley of Taos, about seventy-five miles northeast of Santa Fé. This valley formed the Mexican boundary for those who came up Arkansas River, and crossed to New Mexico from the north. The first Spaniard to settle in Taos valley, so far as records show, came about the middle of the eighteenth century; for his story, see Gregg's _Commerce of the Prairies_, in our volume xx. Fernandez de Taos is at present the seat for Taos County, with a population of fifteen hundred. See _Report of the Governor of New Mexico to the Secretary of the Interior_ (Washington, 1903), p. 287.

The Indian pueblo of Taos, discovered in 1541 by Barrionuevo, one of Coronado's lieutenants, lies about three miles northwest of San Fernandez, and has had a varied history. A Franciscan mission was established here before 1617, when was built the church which suffered bombardment from the American army in 1847. The great Pueblo revolt of 1680 was largely fomented at Taos; and again, in 1837, a half-breed from Taos, José Gonzales, was the leader of a revolt against the Mexican government. There is still a community of Indians at this pueblo, where in 1847 the final stand was made against Price's army.--ED.

[45] The Rio del Norte rises in the San Juan mountains, in southwestern Colorado. Closely hemmed in by mountains, it flows almost directly south as far as El Paso, where it reaches the plains and thence forms the western boundary of Texas. From El Paso it is called the Rio Grande, or Rio Bravo.--ED.

[46] Pattie could not have passed the town of Albuquerque, as that is seventy-five miles south of Santa Fé. He probably means Abiquiu, a town on the Chama, a western affluent of the Rio del Norte, and on the well-known trail leading from Santa Fé to Los Angeles, California. Pike passed down the valley of the Rio del Norte (1807), and his descriptions of places and of Mexico are as a whole valuable. See Coues, _Expeditions of Zebulon M. Pike_ (New York, 1895), ii.--ED.

[47] This was the mission of St. Thomas de Abiquiu.--ED.

[48] Santa Fé is one of the oldest towns within the present limits of the United States. The site was first visited by Coronado in 1541; but the founding of the town was the work of Oñate, who established the colony of New Mexico in 1598. The date of the founding of Santa Fé is uncertain, owing to the destruction of the records by the revolt of 1680; but it was sometime between 1605 and 1609. By 1630, Santa Fé had one thousand inhabitants; its first church was built on the site of the present cathedral, in 1622-27; the ancient governmental palace, still existing, dates from the seventeenth century. In 1680 the Spaniards were expelled, but twelve years later returned under Diego de Vargas. From that time to the present, Santa Fé has been continuously inhabited. In the eighteenth century, French traders found their way thither, and by the early nineteenth the American trade began. In 1822, the Mexican standard was raised over the town, and in 1846 General Stephen W. Kearny secured its surrender to the United States. Santa Fé has always been the capital of the territory. It has now (1905) a population of about eight thousand. At the time of Pattie's visit the governor of New Mexico, the first under republican rule, was Bartolome Baca.--ED.

[49] The Rio Pecus is the largest branch of the Rio Grande. Rising in the Santa Fé mountains immediately east of Santa Fé, and following a south-southeast course for about eight hundred miles, it enters the Rio Grande in latitude 29° 41'. The name is derived from an old pueblo, situated on one of the mountain tributaries about twenty-five miles southeast of Santa Fé. In 1540 this was the largest Indian village in New Mexico, containing a population of about two thousand souls; but the United States troops in 1846 found it desolate and in ruins. A small modern village has grown up near the ancient site.--ED.

[50] This small town, presumably to the east of Santa Fé, cannot be the well-known San Juan, on the Rio del Norte opposite the mouth of the Chama River and about thirty miles north of Santa Fé. This latter San Juan was made the capital of New Mexico by Oñate in 1598-99, and so remained until the founding of Santa Fé.--ED.

[51] "The Gila was known to the whites before the Mississippi was discovered; it was long better known than the Rio Grande and down to the present century was far better known than the Rio Colorado."--(Coues, _Expeditions of Zebulon M. Pike_, ii, p. 374.) The first name, Rio del Nombre de Jesus, was given to it by Oñate in 1604; the present name dates from 1697. The stream heads in the mountains of western New Mexico, and traversing Arizona empties into the Colorado at Fort Yuma (32° 43' north latitude). See _post_, notes 54, 63.--ED.

[52] This name, meaning succor, was given by Oñate to the Indian pueblo of Teipana, about eighty miles south of Albuquerque, because of the supplies of maize furnished by the inhabitants on his expedition up the Rio del Norte (1598-99). The old pueblo was destroyed in 1681, and the modern town founded in 1817. It is now the seat of Socorro County, and contains over 1,500 inhabitants. The home of the Spanish ex-governor and his daughter must have been in the neighborhood of the present city of Albuquerque, the largest town in New Mexico. Pattie's course quite closely followed the line of the Santa Fé railroad.--ED.

[53] The mines were the well-known "Santa Rita de Cobre," in the western angle of the Sierra de Mogoyon, near the headwaters of the Gila and about one hundred miles west of the Rio del Norte. Mexicans began to work them in 1804. They proved very profitable (see _post_, p. 350), although the difficulty of obtaining supplies was great, owing to the plundering Apache. In 1838 these Indians entirely cut off the supply trains, and the mines were abandoned. They were for a time (1851) the headquarters of the boundary commission for the United States and Mexico. See Bartlett, _Personal Narrative of Explorations_ (New York, 1854), i, pp. 226-239. Mining was resumed in 1873; the property is now operated by the Santa Rita Company, and is among the best equipped mines in the territory.--ED.

[54] The present name of this stream, one of the initial forks of the Gila. The confluence is in Arizona, a few miles over the New Mexican border.--ED.

[55] The Rocky Mountain sheep (_Ovis montana_) was well described by Lewis and Clark.--ED.

[56] There are at least three varieties of mesquit-tree (_prosopis_) in New Mexico and Arizona. It is related to the acacia and locust; and the fruit, consisting of ten or twelve beans in a sweet, pulpy pod, is gathered by the Indians, pounded in a mortar, and made into bread. A prolific tree will yield ten bushels of beans in the hull. The Comanche also concoct an intoxicating drink from this bean.--ED.

[57] The maguey is the American aloe (_Agave americana_). The Mexicans and Indians cut off the leaves near the root, leaving a head the size of a large cabbage. The heads are placed in the ground, overlaid with earth, and for a day a fire is kept burning on top of them; they are then eaten, tasting something like a beet. The roasted heads are also placed in a bag made of hides, and allowed to ferment, producing the liquor known as "mescal."--ED.

[58] For the method of making a "cache," see Thwaites, _Original Journals of the Lewis and Clark Expedition_, index.--ED.

[59] This is apparently the giant cactus (_Cereus giganteus_). The height to which it grows varies with the nature of the soil, the average being from twenty to thirty feet.--ED.

[60] The Apache were long the scourge of New Mexico, Arizona, and northern Mexico. Living by plunder alone, they systematically robbed and killed Spaniards, Mexicans, and Americans. They belong to the Athabascan family, and comprise many tribes and sub-tribes. At present they number about six thousand souls, and are located on five different reservations.--ED.

[61] The Red is here used as one of the rather infrequent names for the Colorado.--ED.

[62] The Mexican province of Sonora had then nearly the same boundaries as now, save for a northern strip--the Gadsden Purchase--which was transferred to Arizona in 1803. Along its northern frontier stretched a line of five forts, to protect the ranches and villages from Apache raids. The tribe of Indians which behaved so treacherously towards the French companions of Pattie were the Papago (Papawar), who still inhabit this region, being herdsmen in southern Arizona and northern Sonora. See Bandelier, "Final Report of Investigations among the Indians of the Southwestern United States," American Archæological Institute Papers, American Series, iii, pp. 250-252.--ED.

[63] This river is still called the Black, but more frequently the Salt. It is a considerable fork of the Gila, uniting with it a short distance below Phoenix, Arizona. The left branch of the Salt is the Verde, the principal river of central Arizona. Pattie's geography is correct in describing the source of these two great streams.--ED.

[64] The habitat of the Hopi Indians (the more commonly-used Moki is an opprobrious nickname), has been the same for two hundred years--a plateau in northeastern Arizona, about fifty miles from the Little Colorado River. They are of Shoshonean stock, but became separated from their kindred and established themselves in six pueblos, forming the Tusayan confederacy. A seventh village was later added, composed of Tañoan Indians from the Rio Grande. These pueblos were visited by Don Pedro de Tobar, a lieutenant of Coronado, in 1540. In 1599 they gave their formal allegiance to Juan de Oñate, who six years later again visited their country. They appear to have taken part in the rebellion of 1680, being reconquered in 1692-94. A delegation visited Santa Fé in 1700, and Garces is known to have travelled to their villages in 1776. With the rise of the Apache the Hopi were necessarily cut off from contact with the New Mexicans, which accounts for their surprise at the appearance of Pattie's comrades. For their present habits and customs, consult Bandelier, "Final Report," _op. cit._, iii, iv; also Bourke, _Snake Dance of the Moquis of Arizona_ (New York, 1884).--ED.

[65] The Indians whom Pattie meets in this region--the Mohave, on the Colorado, at the mouth of the Mohave River; the Yuma, or Cuchans, at the mouth of the Gila; the Cocopa near the mouth of the Colorado; and the Coco-Maricopa, or Maricopa, along the southern bank of the Gila--are the principal members of the Yuman family, the three latter being originally united in a confederacy. They were generally hostile to Americans, and Forts Yuma and Mohave were erected to keep them in subjection. Early travellers frequently commented upon their physical beauty, but contact with the whites rapidly pauperized and debauched them. At present some fifteen hundred Mohave are located at the Colorado River and San Carlos reservations, in Arizona; the Yuma, to the number of about a thousand, are at the Mission Agency of California, and at San Carlos; and about three hundred Maricopa are living on the Pima reservation, in Arizona.--ED.

[66] This is now known as Bill Williams's Fork. It is composed of two main branches, the Santa Maria and the Big Sandy, and drains west-central Arizona, uniting with the Colorado at the present Aubrey City. The villages just passed were probably those of the Coconino (properly Havasupai), a distinct Indian family, although speaking a Yuman dialect. See Bandelier, _op. cit._, iv, pp. 381-833.--ED.

[67] Pattie reaches at this point the fort of Black Cañon, and traverses the southern bank of the cañons of the Colorado for their entire length, a distance which he accurately estimates at three hundred miles. Apparently the beauty and wonder of the great chasm did not appeal to the weary traveller. The cañons of the Colorado were first visited by Garcia Lopez de Cardenas, of Coronado's party, in 1540. Again, in 1583, Antonio de Espejo reports his visit thither. It was two centuries before another white traveller is recorded as seeing the Grand Cañon of the Colorado; and Pattie is apparently the first known American to traverse its banks. In 1857 Lieutenant Ives ascended in a steamer as far as Black Cañon, and then proceeded overland to Grand Cañon; twelve years later Major J. W. Powell descended the entire gorge in boats; see Dellenbaugh, _Romance of the Colorado River_ (New York, 1902). The cañons are now much frequented by tourists. See for example, Monroe, "Grand Cañon of the Colorado," in _Atlantic Monthly_, 1900.--ED.

[68] For the Shoshoni Indians, see Bradbury's _Travels_, our volume v, p. 227, note 123. The river up which they trapped for two days was probably the Little Colorado, which comes in from the southeast. Pattie's "north" is a misprint for "south."--ED.

[69] This was San Juan River, which heads in northwest New Mexico; entering southeastern Utah, it passes around the base of Mount Navaho, and unites with the Colorado in Kane County. It formed the northern boundary of the Navaho territory; see _ante_, note 41.--ED.

[70] As they held possession of the mountains of Colorado, these were probably Paiutes. The numerous tribes of Ute are of Shoshonean stock; they extended along the Colorado River from California to its sources, and occupied nearly all of the present states of Utah and Nevada.--ED.

[71] Pattie is not sufficiently definite for us to determine whether or not he crossed the divide by the now famous South Pass, which was already known to Rocky Mountain trappers. According to Coues (_Henry-Thompson Journals_, ii, p. 884), Stuart, Crooks, and four other Astorians discovered it on an overland journey from Astoria in 1812. The fur-trader Andrew Henry passed through it in 1823, but it was first made known to the world at large by John C. Frémont (1842), and is in consequence most often associated with his name.--ED.

[72] For further information concerning Long's Peak, see James's _Long's Expedition_, volume xv of our series, p. 271, note 126.--ED.

[73] The Bighorn is one of the three largest tributaries of the Yellowstone. It rises in the Shoshone and Wind River Mountains, in Wyoming, and following a northerly course enters the Yellowstone at about 46° 15' north latitude. At its mouth, Manuel Lisa established the first trading post on the Yellowstone (1807). One of its branches has become famous as the scene of the Custer massacre.--ED.

[74] For the Yellowstone River, see Bradbury's _Travels_, volume v of our series, p. 100, note 68.--ED.

[75] A brief account of the Flathead Indians may be found in Franchère's _Narrative_, in our volume vi, p. 340, note 145. For the method of compressing the children's heads, consult illustration in Thwaites,_ Original Journals of the Lewis and Clark Expedition_, iv.--ED.

[76] On the return journey of the Lewis and Clark expedition, Clark passed from the Bitterroot fork of Clark's branch of the Columbia, across the continental divide, through Gibbon's Pass, thence by way of Bozeman Pass and Jefferson and Gallatin rivers to the Yellowstone, reaching the latter near the present site of Livingston, Montana, about forty-five miles north of Yellowstone Park. See Thwaites, _Original Journals of the Lewis and Clark Expedition_, v, p. 262.

There is at this point some strange mistake or hiatus in Pattie's journal. Clark's Fork of the Columbia takes its rise in the Bitterroot Mountains, and does not flow within a thousand miles of Long's Peak; nor would the time allowed--less than three weeks--have admitted of so extensive a journey. The trappers must have become confused among the northern rivers, and returned on their steps up the North Fork of the Platte.--ED.

[77] For the Blackfeet Indians, see Bradbury's _Travels_, volume v of our series, p. 225, note 120.--ED.

[78] The province of Biscay was, properly speaking, Nueva Vizcaya. Originally extensive, and including Sonora, it by this time comprised only the present states of Chihuahua and Durango. Hanas is doubtless Janos (named for an Indian tribe), one of the fortified towns of Chihuahua, situated on the Casas Grandes River.--ED.

[79] The mountains crossed were the Sierra Madre. Bavispe (Barbisca) was a presidio in the northeastern part of Sonora; it is situated on the river of the same name, one of the main forks of the Yaqui, the largest Sonoran river, which follows a southwest course and falls into the Gulf of California below Port-Guaymas. The village was destroyed by an earthquake in May, 1887.--ED.

[80] The Yaquis Indians, living along the Yaqui River, have been difficult to keep in subjection; they revolted in 1740, and again in 1825. At present constituting the laboring class of Sonora, although living apart from whites, in their own villages, they are much employed in the gold mines, in which Sonora abounds, being one of the richest mining districts in the world. The mine described by Pattie was evidently near the present village of Tepache, northeast of the centre of the state, which is still strewn with abandoned shafts.--ED.

[81] Sonora has had several capitals, and it is uncertain to which Pattie here refers. The present executive town is Hermosillo, on the Sonora River. Its earlier rival was Ures, some miles up the same river.--ED.

[82] Pattie sees here the Gulf of California, whose principal port is still Guaymas, with a population of about five thousand five hundred.--ED.

[83] The Mexican revolt against Spain began with the rising of Hidalgo in 1810, and was carried on with varying success until apparently quelled in 1817. But the Spanish revolution of 1820 was the signal for a new and successful outbreak, and Mexico became independent the following year.--ED.

[84] These were probably the mines of Cosihuiriachi, located in the Sierra de Metates, about ninety miles west of the capital of Chihuahua. Accidentally discovered at the end of the eighteenth century, they became highly profitable, the number of persons living there in Spanish times being estimated at ten thousand. As in the case of the copper mines, the plundering of the Apache caused a decline, and by 1850 most of them had been abandoned. For further details, see Wislizenus, "A Tour to Northern Mexico" (_Senate Misc._, 30 Cong., 1 sess., 26, pp. 51-53).--ED.

[85] Chihuahua, the capital of the state of that name, is attractively situated in a valley of the Sierra Madre Mountains, about a hundred miles west of the Rio Grande River. It was settled about 1691, the population being considerably greater in Spanish than in Mexican times. The most noteworthy building is the cathedral, perhaps the richest and most beautiful in Mexico. A second large church was begun by the Jesuits, but never completed; it served as a prison for the patriot Hidalgo before his execution. See Wislizenus, _op. cit._, pp. 60-63.--ED.

[86] San Buenaventura was originally a Franciscan mission about a hundred and eighty miles northeast of Chihuahua. It was frequently disturbed by Apache attacks, and about 1775 was moved a short distance and made one of the frontier presidios.--ED.

[87] From its location this river would seem to be the Santa Maria, a small stream which rises in the mountains south of San Buenaventura, and flowing northward loses itself in a lake not far from El Paso.--ED.

[88] Casas Grandes is a short distance south of Janos (see _ante_, note 78). Near the Mexican village are the famous ruins of large, several-storied dwellings built by an Indian tribe that has passed away. Evidence of a canal which conveyed the water supply is also to be seen, and at some distance from the cluster of buildings is a kind of watch-tower. Similar ruins have been discovered in Arizona, all the work of Pueblo Indians, although of a tribe having attained a somewhat higher culture than those of to-day. See Bandelier, "Final Report," iv, pp. 544-575.--ED.

[89] The town of El Paso dates from about 1680, when the Spanish were driven out of Santa Fé by the great Pueblo revolt. For Indian, trapper, trader, and miner it has been a gateway between the Atlantic and Pacific river systems. Its name arose from the fact that there the Rio del Norte emerges from the mountains to the plains. The modern El Paso, Texas, is across the river from the old town.--ED.

[90] This is not the Pacos (Pecos), previously mentioned by Pattie (see _ante_, note 49), but the Puerco, a western tributary of the Rio del Norte. Puerco was also a common, though mistaken name, for the Pecos, hence the confusion. The Puerco is a narrow, shallow stream, about seventy-five miles in length, which, rising in the mountains west of Santa Fé and flowing southward, unites with the Rio del Norte a few miles above Socorro.--ED.

[91] The Mescalero were among the most treacherous and murderous tribes of the Apache. Their favorite haunts were the mountains bordering the Rio del Norte on the east. Some five hundred of them are now on the Mescalero reservation in New Mexico.--ED.

[92] The Mimbres River flows between Mimbres Mountain and the copper mines, being but a short distance from the latter.--ED.

[93] This is probably Andrew Henry, a pioneer trader on the Missouri, for whom see our volume xv, p. 246, note 107.--ED.

[94] See _ante_, note 65.--ED.

[95] The jaguar (_Felis onca_) most resembles the leopard of the old world. It inhabits the wooded parts of America, from Texas to Paraguay.--ED.

[96] For the Cocopa Indians, see _ante_, note 65. The Pipi were probably Pimi, a distinct linguistic family, occupying southern Arizona and northern Mexico. They lived a settled life in villages, and were generally well-disposed toward the whites.--ED.