Chapter IV: Observations on New Spain.iv'-1 (3)

The appearance of the Spanish troops is certainly, at a distance, à la militaire; their lances are fixed to the side of the saddle under the left thigh and slant about five feet above the horse. On the right the carabine is slung in a case to the front of the saddle, or pommel, crosswise, the breech to the right hand; and on each side of the saddle, behind the rider, is a pistol; below the breech of the carabine is slung the shield, which is made of sole leather three doubled, sewed together with thongs, with a band on the inside to slip the left arm through; those of the privates are round, and are about two feet in diameter. The officers and non-commissioned officers have their shields oval, bending on both sides, in order to permit the arrow to glance, and they have in general the arms of Spain with Don Carlos IV. gilt on the outside, with various other devices, which add much to the elegance of their appearance on horseback, but are only calculated to be of service against savages who have no fire-arms. The dragoons of the viceroyalty do not make use of the lance or shield, but are armed, equipped, and clothed after the modern manner, as are also the dragoons of the eastern provinces. When they recently expected to be opposed to the American troops they were deprived of the lance and shield, and received the straight cutlass in their stead.

Their dress is a short blue coat, with red cape and cuffs, without facings, leather or blue cotton velvet small-clothes and waistcoat, the small-clothes always open at the knees, the wrapping-boot with the jack-boot and permanent spur over it, a broad-brimmed, high-crowned wool hat, with a ribbon round it of various colors, generally received as a present from some female, which they wear as a badge of the favor of the fair sex and a mark of their gallantry.

Their horses are small and slender-limbed, but very active and capable of enduring great fatigue. The equipments of the horses are, to our idea, awkward; but I believe them superior to the English, and they have the advantage over us in the skill of the rider, as well as in the quality of the beast. Their bridles have a strong curb, which gives so great a mechanical force to the bridle that I believe it almost practicable with it to break the jaw of the beast. The saddle is made after the Persian mode, with a high projecting pommel or, as anciently termed, bow, and is likewise raised behind. This is merely the tree; it is then covered by two or three covers of carved leather and embroidered workmanship, some with gold and silver in a very superb manner. The stirrups are of wood closed in front, carved generally into the figure of a lion's head, or that of some other beast; they are very heavy, and to us present a very clumsy appearance. The horseman, seated on his horse, has a small bag tied behind him, his blankets either under him, or lying with his cloak between his body and the bow, which makes him at his ease. Thus mounted, it is impossible for the most vicious horse ever to dismount them. They will catch another horse with a noose and hair rope, when both are running nearly at full speed, with which they soon choke down the beast of which they are in pursuit; in short, they are probably the most expert horsemen in the world.

At each post is a store, called the king's, where it was the original intention of the government that the soldiers should be supplied with provisions, clothing, arms, etc., at a cheap rate; but it being a post generally given to some young officer to make his fortune, they are subject to great impositions. When a dragoon joins the service he receives from the king five horses and two mules, and this number he is always obliged to keep good from his own pocket; but when he is discharged, the horses and mules receive the discharge mark and become his private property. They engage for five or ten years, at the option of the soldier, but in the bounty there is a very material difference. It is extremely easy to keep up their corps, as a private dragoon considers himself upon an equality with most of the citizens and infinitely superior to the lower class, and not unfrequently you see men of considerable fortune marrying the daughters of sergeants and corporals.

The pay of the troops of New Spain varies with the locality, but may be averaged, in the internal provinces, as follows:

Colonel, $4,500; lieutenant-colonel, $4,000; major, $3,000; captain, $2,400; first lieutenant, $1,500; second lieutenant, $1,000; ensign, $800; sergeant, $350; corporal, $300; private, $288. With this pay they find their own clothes, provisions, arms, accouterments, etc., after the first equipments.

Corporal punishment is contrary to the Spanish ordinances. They punish by imprisonment, putting in the stocks, and death. As a remarkable instance of the discipline and regularity of conduct of those provincial troops, although marching with them and doing duty as it were for nearly four months, I never saw a man receive a blow or put under confinement for one hour. How impossible would it be to regulate the turbulent dispositions of the Americans with such treatment! In making the foregoing remark I do not include officers, for I saw more rigorous treatment exercised toward some of them than was ever practiced in our army.

The discipline of their troops is very different from ours. As to tactics or military maneuvers, they are not held in much estimation; for, during the whole of the time I was in the country, I never saw a corps of troops exercising as dragoons, but frequently marching by platoons, sections, etc., in garrison, where they serve as infantry with their carabines. In these maneuvers they are very deficient. On a march a detachment of cavalry generally encamp in a circle. They relieve their guards at night; as soon as they halt the new guard is formed on foot with their carabines, and then marched before the commandant's tent, where the commanding officer of the guard invokes the holy virgin three times; the commanding officer replies, "It is well." They then retire and mount their horses, and are told off, some to act as guard of the horses, as cavalry, others as guard of the camp, as infantry. The old guards are then paraded and relieved, and the new sentinels take post. Their sentinels are singing half the time, and it is no uncommon thing for them to quit their post to come to the fire, go for water, etc.--in fact, after the officer is in bed, frequently the whole guard comes in; yet I never knew any man punished for those breaches of military duty. Their mode of attack is by squadrons, on the different flanks of their enemies, but without regularity or concert, shouting, hallooing, and firing their carabines; after which, if they think themselves equal to the enemy, they charge with a pistol and then a lance. From my observation on their discipline I have no hesitation in declaring that I would not be afraid to march over a plain with 500 infantry and a proportionate allowance of horse artillery of the United States army, in the presence of 5,000 of these dragoons. Yet I do not presume to say that an army with that inferiority of numbers would do to oppose them, for they would cut off your supplies, and harass your march and camp, night and day, to such a degree as to oblige you in the end to surrender to them without ever having come to action. If, however, the event depended on one single engagement, it would eventuate with glory to the American arms. The conclusion must not be drawn that I consider they are more deficient in physical firmness than other nations, for we see the savages, 500 of whom on a plain fly before 50 bayonets, on other occasions brave danger and death in its most horrid shapes, with an undaunted fortitude never surpassed by the most disciplined and hardy veterans. It arises solely from the want of discipline and confidence in each other, as is always the case with undisciplined corps, unless stimulated by the godlike sentiment of love of country, of which these poor fellows know little. The traveling food of the dragoons in New Mexico consists of a very excellent species of wheat biscuit, and shaved meat well dried [charqui], with a vast quantity of red pepper [chile colorado], of which they make bouilli and then pour it on their broken biscuit, when the latter becomes soft and excellent eating.

Farther south they use large quantities of parched corn-meal and sugar [pinole], as practiced by our hunters, each dragoon having a small bag. In short, they live, when on command, on an allowance which our troops would conceive little better than starving, never, except at night, attempting to eat anything like a meal, but biting a piece of biscuit, or drinking some parched meal with sugar and water, during the day.

From the physical as well as moral properties of the inhabitants of New Spain, I do believe they are capable of being made the best troops in the world, possessing sobriety, enterprise, great physical force, docility, and a conception equally quick and penetrating.

The mode of promotion in the internal provinces is singular, but probably productive of good effects. Should a vacancy of first lieutenant offer in a company, the captain commanding nominates, with the senior second lieutenant, who by seniority would fill the vacancy, two other lieutenants to the general, giving his comments on all three. The general selects two for a nomination to the court, from whom is selected the fortunate candidate, whose commission is made out and forwarded. As the letters of nomination are always kept a secret, it is impossible for the young officers to say who is to blame if they are disappointed, and the fortunate one is in a direct way to thank the king only for the ultimate decision. And thus with superior grades to the colonel.

The king of Spain's ordinances for the government of his army are generally founded on justice and a high sense of honor. I could not get a set from any of the officers to take to my quarters, consequently my observations on them were extremely cursory. They provide that no old soldier shall ever be discharged the service, unless for infamous crimes. When a man has served with reputation for 15 years and continues, his pay is augmented; 20 years, he receives another augmentation; 27 years, he receives the brevet rank and pay of an ensign; and 32, a lieutenant, etc. Those circumstances are a great stimulant, although not one in a thousand arrives at the third period, when they are permitted to retire from the service with full pay and emoluments. All sons of captains, or of grades superior, are entitled to enter the king's schools as cadets, at the age of 12 years.

The property of any officer or soldier who is killed on the field of battle, or dies of his wounds, is not liable to be taken for debt, and is secured, as well as the king's pension, to the relatives of the deceased.

Courts-martial for the trial of commissioned officers must be formed of general officers; but this clause subjects the officers of the provinces to a great species of tyranny, for the commanding general has taken it upon himself to punish for all offenses not capital, and consequently according to his own judgment and prejudices, from which there is only an appeal to the king, and difficult it is indeed for the complaints of a subaltern to reach his majesty through the numerous crowd of sycophants who surround him, one-half of whom are probably in league with his oppressor. It likewise deprives an officer of the most sacred of all rights, that of being tried by his peers; for, should he be sent to Mexico or Europe for trial, it is possible he cannot take half the testimony which is necessary to complete his justification.

There is another principle defined by the ordinances, which has often been the cause of disputes in the service of the United States. The commandant of a post in the Spanish service, if barely a captain, receives no orders from a general, should one arrive at his post, unless that general should be superior in authority to the person who posted him; for, says the ordinance, he is responsible to the king alone for his post. That principle, according to my ideas, is very injurious to the country which adopts it. For example, we will say that a post of great importance, containing immense military stores, is likely to fall into the hands of the enemy; an officer superior to the commandant receives the information, repairs to the post, and orders him immediately to evacuate it. The commandant, feeling himself only responsible to the authority who placed him in that position, refuses to obey, and the magazines and place are lost. The principle is also subversive of the very root of military subordination and discipline, where an inferior should in all cases obey a superior, who alone should be responsible for the effect arising from the execution of his orders. It will readily be believed that, in my thus advocating implicit obedience to the orders of a superior, that I do not suppose the highest improbabilities or impossibilities, such as an order to turn your arms against the constituted authority of your country, or to be the ensign of his tyranny or the pander of his vices. Those are cases where a man's reason must alone direct him, and are not--indeed, cannot be--subject to any human rule whatever.

_Religion._ It forms a subject with which I am very imperfectly acquainted; but, having made some inquiries and observations on the religion of the country, I will freely communicate them, fearful at the same time that I lay myself open to the severe criticism of persons who have in any degree applied themselves to the study of theology or the ritual of the catholic church.

The kingdom of New Spain is divided into four archbishoprics, viz.: Mexico, Guadalaxara, Durango, and St. Louis Potosi. Under these again are the sub-bishoprics--deacons, curates, etc., all of whom are subject and accountable to their immediate chief for the districts committed to their charge, and the whole are again subject to the ordinances of the high court of inquisition held at the capital of Mexico, whence are fulminated the edicts of their censure against the heresies and impious doctrines of modern philosophy, both as to politics and religion. I am credibly informed that the influence of that tribunal is greater in his Catholic majesty's Mexican dominions than in any Catholic country in Europe or perhaps in the world. A few years since they condemned a man to the flames, for asserting and maintaining some doctrine which they deemed heretical; and a Jew who was imprudent enough to take the image of Christ on a cross, and put it under the sill of his door, saying privately he would make the dogs walk over their God. They likewise examine and condemn to the flames all books of a modern sentiment, either as to religion or politics, and excommunicate anyone in whose hands they may be found. I recollect to have seen a decree of theirs published in the Mexican gazettes, condemning a number of books, "as heretical and contrary to the sacred principles of the holy Catholic church, and the peace and durability of the government of his Catholic majesty." Amongst these were mentioned Helvetius on Man, J. J. Rousseau's works, Voltaire's, Mirabeau's, and a number of others of that description; even at so great a distance as Chihuahua a officer dared not take Pope's Essay on Man to his quarters, but used to come to mine to read it.

The salaries of the archbishops are superior to those of any officers in the kingdom; the bishop of Mexico's being estimated at $150,000 per annum, when the viceroy's is $80,000, with $50,000 allowed for his table, falling short of the bishop's $20,000.

Those incomes are raised entirely from the people, who pay no tax to the king, but give one-tenth of their yearly income to the clergy, besides the fees of confessions, bulls, burials, baptisms, marriages, and a thousand impositions which the corruption of priestcraft has introduced, and which have been kept up by their superstition and ignorance. Notwithstanding all this, the inferior clergy, who do all the slavery of the office, are liberal and well-informed men; I scarcely saw one who was not in favor of a change of government. They are generally Creoles by birth, and always kept in subordinate grades, without the least shadow of a probability of rising to the superior dignities of the church. This has soured their minds to such a degree that I am confident in asserting that they will lead the van whenever the standard of independence is raised in that country.

_Politics._ It has often been a subject of discussion with politicians, in what manner a mother country should treat her distant and powerful colonies, in order to retain them longest in their subjection; for the history of all nations and all ages has proved that no community of people separated from another by an immense ocean, feeling their power, strength, and independence, will remain long subject to the mother country, purely from the ties of consanguinity and similarity of habits, manners, and religion. Society itself having arisen from the mutual wants, fears, and imbecility of the infancy of human institutions, a large body of that society will remain no longer subject to another branch, at the immense distance of 1,000 leagues, than until they feel their maturity, and capability of providing for their own wants and their own defense. Therefore we may draw a conclusion that no political course of conduct whatever will eventually prevent the separation; but there is a line of conduct which certainly must retard it in a great measure; and prudence would dictate to the mother country the policy of giving way without a struggle to an event beyond her power to prevent.

The two great examples of English and Spanish America are before our eyes. England gave us liberty to pursue the dictates of our own judgment with respect to trade, education, and manners, by which means we increased in power, learning, and wealth, with a rapidity unknown in the annals of the world, and at the first attempt to infringe the rights which we had hitherto enjoyed, asserted that claim which nature and the locality of our situation gave us a right to demand and a power to defend. Had Great Britain yielded to the storm with grace and dignity, she would have secured our gratitude, ancient prejudices, and affections in her favor; on the contrary, by a long and arduous conflict, the murder of thousands of our citizens, the destruction of our country, the profanation of our altars, and the violation of every right, divine and human, she implanted in the breast of the Americans an antipathy approaching nearly to horror, a desire of revenge almost hereditary; and destroyed the bonds of brotherhood which might have subsisted between the two countries. It will take ages of just conduct from her to the United States to eradicate this. Spain pursued a different line of conduct toward her Mexican dominions, which were settled by Europeans 60 years previous to any part of the United States, and might be termed a conquered kingdom, rather than the settlement of a savage country. This country she has therefore bound up in all the ligatures of restrictions, monopolies, prohibitions, seclusions, and superstitions; and has so carefully secluded all light from bursting in on their ignorance, that they have vegetated like the acorns in the forest, until the towering branches have broken through the darkness of the wild which surrounded them and let in the light of heaven. The approximation of the United States, with the gigantic strides of French ambition, have begun to arouse their dormant qualities, and to call into action the powers of their minds on the subject of their political situation.

An instance of their disposition for independence has been exhibited in their feeble attempts at a revolution on the 15th of January, 1624, under the viceroyalty of Don Diego Carrello Galves; the insurrection on the 8th of June, 1692; and more recently, in 1797, under the Count de Galves,[IV'-51] when they proclaimed him king of Mexico in the streets of the capital, and 130,000 souls were heard proclaiming, "Long live Galvez, king of Mexico!" It was then only for him to have willed it, and the kingdom of Mexico was lost to Charles IV. forever. But preferring his loyalty to his ambition, he rode out attended by his guards to the mob, with sword in hand, crying out, "Long live his Catholic majesty, Charles IV.," and threatening to put to instant death with his own hand any persons who refused immediately to retire to their houses. This dispersed the people. In another quarter of the kingdom an immense number had also collected and proclaimed him king. He sent 10,000 men against them, dispersed them, and had four beheaded. Those firm measures saved the country at that period, and for them he received the greatest honors from the court of Spain; but was poisoned a short time after, fulfilling the maxim that "it is dangerous to serve a jealous tyrant." For such always conceive that the same power which stilled the ocean's rage can by its will raise the storm into all the majesty of overwhelming fury. Thus, by taking his life, it relieved them from the dread of his influence with the Mexicans.

England would naturally have been the power they would have looked up to, in order to form an alliance to secure their independence; but the insatiable avarice and hauteur exhibited by the English in their late descents at La Plate [La Plata, in South America], with the disgrace of their arms, has turned their views from that nation.

They therefore have turned their eyes toward the United States, as to a sister of the same soil, in their vicinity--one who has within her power ample resources of arms, ammunition, and even men, to assist in securing their independence, and who in that event would secure to herself the almost exclusive trade of the richest country in the world for centuries, and [the opportunity] to be her carriers as long as the two nations exist. For Mexico, like China, will never become a nation of mariners, but will receive the ships of all the world into her ports, and give her bullion in exchange for the productions of their different countries. Then, what would not be the advantages the United States would reap from the event! Our numerous vessels would fill every port, and our vicinity would enable us to carry off at least nine-tenths of her commerce; even on the coast of the Pacific no European nation could vie with us. There would also be a brisk inland trade carried on with the Spanish provinces via Red river; and having a free entrance into all their ports, we should become their factors, agents, guardians--in short, their tutelar genius; as they fear but hate France and all French men and measures. It therefore remains for the government of the United States to decide whether, if Bonaparte should seize the crown of Spain, the States would hold out a helping hand to emancipate another portion of the western hemisphere from the bonds of European tyranny and oppression: or, by a different policy, suffer 6,000,000 people to become, in the hands of French intrigue, enterprise, and tactics, a scourge on our southwestern boundaries, which would oblige us to keep up a large and respectable military force, and continually lay us liable to a war on the weakest and most vulnerable part of our frontiers.

Twenty thousand auxiliaries from the United States under good officers, joined to the independents of the country, are at any time sufficient to create and effect the revolution. These troops can be raised and officered in the United States, but paid and supplied at the expense of Mexico. It would be requisite that not only the general commanding, but that every officer, down to the youngest ensign, should be impressed with the necessity of supporting a strict discipline, to prevent marauding, which should in some instances be punished with death, in order to convince the citizens that we come as their friends and protectors, not as their plunderers and tyrants. Also, the most sacred regard should be paid not to injure the institutions of their religion; thereby showing them we have a proper respect for all things in any way connected with the worship of the Deity, at the same time that we permit every man to adore him agreeably to the dictates of his own judgment.

The details requisite for the equipment, organization, etc., of the corps, so as to adapt it to the locality of the country and the nature of the service, could be easily formed, but would be impertinent here.

Should an army of Americans ever march into the country, and be guided and governed by these maxims, they will only have to march from province to province in triumph, and be hailed by the united voices of grateful millions as their deliverers and saviors, whilst our national character resounds to the most distant nations of the earth.

WASHINGTON, April 12th, 1808.

FOOTNOTES:

[IV'-1] Chapter IV., which I introduce to accommodate Pike's Observations on New Spain, as the article may be briefly entitled, consists of the leading piece of the App. to Pt. 3 of the orig. ed., pp. 1-51; it had no number, but as it came first and was followed by a piece presented as No. 2, it is of course to be taken as No. 1, _pro forma_. The original heading was: Geographical, Statistical, and General Observations made by Capt. Z. M. Pike, on the Interior Provinces of New Spain, from Louisiana to the Vice Royalty, and between the Pacific Ocean, Gulph of California and the Atlantic Ocean or Gulph of Mexico. This was by far the most important article in the whole work, bringing news of great public interest in 1810. Much of it was original; how much of it was borrowed without acknowledgement could only be said after careful examination of prior works on the same subject. It should be compared with Humboldt and Bonpland's Political Essay on the Kingdom of New Spain, with a Physical and Geographical Atlas, etc., 2 vols., 4to, with atlas, folio, of 20 plates. Pike's two maps of Mexico will be best understood in connection with the same source of information: see Memoir, _anteà_.

[IV'-2] Nueva España (New Spain) is a term whose geographical and political connotation has varied much. As the colonial name of what we call Mexico it was first applied to Yucatan and Tabasco by Grijalva, in 1518, and next extended to all the Cortesian conquests. The kingdom of New Spain proper was a region under the audience of Mexico, which corresponded closely to the modern states of Yucatan, Campeche, Tabasco, Vera Cruz, Hidalgo, Guanajuato, Michoacan, Colima, Mexico, Morelos, Tlascala, Puebla, Guerrero, Oajaca, and Chiapas. The viceroyalty of New Spain, dating from 1535, when the first viceroy, Mendoza, entered in possession, was much more comprehensive, as it embraced all the Spanish possessions in Central and North America, from the S. boundary of Costa Rica, as well as the West Indies and the Spanish East Indies. Its political composition was the five audiences of Mexico, Guadalajara, Guatemala, Santo Domingo, and Manila, and the captaincy-general of Florida. During the eighteenth century the East Indies and Guatemala were excluded from the viceroyalty. The viceroyalty of New Spain, as the term was most generally used, long consisted of the three "kingdoms" of New Spain, New Galicia, and New Leon. This corresponded to modern Mexico, plus then undefined territories of Texas, New Mexico, and California, now parts of the United States. On the separation in 1793 of the Provincias Internas or Internal Provinces, the viceroyalty of New Spain corresponded to the present Mexico, plus the Californias, but minus southern Coahuila, Durango, Sinaloa, Chihuahua, and Sonora. Spanish viceroyalty ceased in 1821, but "New Spain" was not finally "Mexico" till 1824 (during the Empire under Iturbide, 1822-28). The term "Provincias Internas" was vaguely used, as early as the seventeenth century, for the northern parts of New Spain or Mexico. "In 1777 (by order of Aug. 22, 1776) a new government was formed under this name, completely separated from the viceroyalty of New Spain, and comprising Nueva Vizcaya ([New Biscay] Durango and Chihuahua), Coahuila, Texas, New Mexico, Sinaloa, Sonora, and the Californias. The Capital was Arizpe in Sonora, and the audience of Guadalajara retained its judicial authority; the governor was also military commandant. In 1786 and 1787-93 the government was again subordinate to the viceroy. When the final separation was made in 1793, California was attached to Mexico," Cent. Cyclop., 1894, _s. v._, p. 828. This last "New Spain" is Pike's; and the present article is mainly devoted to the Provincias Internas of this New Spain--excepting that nothing is said of the Californias.

[IV'-3] El Reino de Nueva Galicia, or New Galicia, was a prime division of colonial New Spain, whose limits fluctuated, like those of most Mexican political divisions, but for most of the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries corresponded nearly to the modern states of Jalisco, Aguas Calientes, and Zacatecas, plus a small part of San Luis Potosí. The audience of Guadalajara, originating in 1548, had jurisdiction over this Nueva Galicia; in 1786 the latter became the intendency of Guadalajara; and after 1792 the Provincias Internas were judicially subordinate to the audience of Guadalajara. Pike's "administration of Guadalaxara" corresponds inexactly to the present State of Jalisco or Xalisco. This lies on the Pacific coast, bordered by the states of Sinaloa, Durango, Zacatecas, Aguas Calientes, Guanajuato, Michoacan, and Colima; area, 27,261 sq. m.; pop., 1,280,500; capital, Guadalajara. The situation of this city is lat. 21° N., long. 103° 10´ W.; it was founded in 1542, and is now the second largest city in Mexico, pop. 95,000. That "one of the Gusman family," who Pike says built it "in 1551" was probably Nuño or Nuñez Bertrande Guzman, b. Guadalajara (in Spain) about 1485, d. there 1544; he was the enemy of Cortés, and the conqueror of New Galicia. Rio Grande de Santiago is the largest river in the state, and Lago de Chapala, which lies mostly within its limits, is the largest lake in Mexico; area, over 1,300 sq. m.

[IV'-4] Valladolid was the name of an old Castilian province in Spain, and of the capital of that province; it was applied to a political division in Mexico which has entirely disappeared, though corresponding to some extent to the present State of Michoacan. The capital of this was also called Valladolid until 1828, when it was changed to present Morelia, in honor of the patriot priest José Maria Morelos y Pavon, b. there Sept. 30th, 1765; joined the revolt of Hidalgo, 1810; was captured Nov. 15th, 1815; executed Dec. 22d, 1815, near the City of Mexico.

[IV'-5] This administration has been so changed and subdivided that it is not easily compared in a word with existing divisions which represent its former extent. In general terms it was a south central portion of Mexico with an extensive Pacific coast line, but cut off from the Atlantic by Vera Cruz and Puebla, and bordered on the N. by San Luis Potosí, etc. The present State of Mexico is an area of somewhat over 9,000 sq. m., bounded by Querétaro, Hidalgo, Tlascala, Puebla, Morelos, Guerrero, and Michoacan. Its capital is Toluca; for the City of Mexico, capital of the republic, is in a small Federal District set apart from the rest of the state (like our District of Columbia), with an area of only 463 sq. m. The pop. of the present State of Mexico is about 830,000; the capital city of the republic has a pop. of 330,000; its situation is lat. 19° 25´ 45´´ N., long. 99° 7´ 18´´ W., at an alt. of about 7,500 feet.

[IV'-6] The present State of Oajaca has an extensive Pacific coast-line on the S., Guerrero and a small part of Puebla on the W., Puebla and Vera Cruz on the N., Vera Cruz and Chiapas on the E.; area, about 28,800 sq. m.; pop. about 816,000. The capital city of the same name is on the Rio Verde or Atoyac, about 200 m. S. E. of the City of Mexico; pop. 29,000.

[IV'-7] Vera Cruz is the long, narrow maritime state of Mexico, with the Gulf on the E., Tamaulipas on the N., and then bordered on the W., S., and E., successively, by San Luis Potosí, Hidalgo, Puebla, Oajaca, Chiapas, and Tabasco. The land is low along the Gulf, or in the _tierra caliente_, but soon rises to the mountainous _tierra fria_ of most of the state. The whole area is 27,450 sq. m.; pop. 642,000. The long-famous seaport of Vera Cruz is the principal city, pop. 24,000, in lat. 19° 12´ N., long. 96° 9´ E. This was founded near the present site by Cortés in May, 1519, by the name of Villa Rica de la Vera Cruz; site changed to the Rio de la Antigua in 1525; to present position in 1599; became City of Vera Cruz in 1615; was taken by the French in 1838, by the Americans in 1848, by the Allies in 1861. The celebrated Picacho of Orizaba, 10 m. N. of Orizaba, alt. 18,314 feet, is on the boundary between Vera Cruz and Puebla. This is the highest mountain of N. America, except Mt. St. Elias.

[IV'-8] Present State of Puebla is entirely cut off from the sea, being wedged in among Vera Cruz on the E., Oajaca on the S., Guerrero on the S. W., and Morelos, Mexico, Tlascala, and Hidalgo, on the W.; area 12,740 sq. m.; pop. lately, 845,000; capital, La Puebla de los Angeles, so called from a pious taradiddle; pop. about 110,000; it is a very old city, founded about 1530, and was taken by the French in 1863. The famous peak of Popocatepetl, or Smoking mt., a volcano about 17,800 feet high, is on the boundary between this state and Mexico, 45 m. S. E. of the city of the latter name; and N. of that peak is another volcano, Ixtaccihuatl or the "Woman in White," over 16,000 feet high.

[IV'-9] Guanajuato is a small central state, surrounded by Zacatecas, San Luis Potosí, Querétaro, Michoacan, Jalisco, and Aguas Calientes; area, 11,370 sq. m., pop. over 1,000,000; capital of same name, about lat. 21° 1´ N., long. 100° 35´ W.; pop. 52,000.

[IV'-10] Zacatecas has altered less than some of the administrations, the present state being bounded N. by Coahuila, N. and N. W. by Durango, W. and S. W. and S. by Jalisco, S. by Aguas Calientes, E. by San Luis Potosí; area, 25,230 sq. m.; pop. 585,640; capital of same name, about lat. 22° 40´ N., pop. about 60,000.

[IV'-11] Pike's "St. Louis" corresponds, though inexactly, to present State of San Luis Potosí, lying among Nuevo Leon, Tamaulipas, and a small extent of Vera Cruz on the E., Zacatecas on the W., Coahuila on the N., and Guanajuato, Querétaro, and Hidalgo on the S.; area, 24,450 sq. m.; pop. about 550,500; capital of the same name, 223 m. N. N. W. of City of Mexico; pop. 62,600.

[IV'-12] Nuevo Santander, whose history is something of a political curiosity, was originally a division of colonial New Spain, and continued to be known as a colony until 1786. The extent was about that of the present State of Tamaulipas, bounded substantially as Pike says, though it once overreached the Rio Grande into what is now Texas. Tamaulipas has Texas on the N., separated by the Rio Grande; the Gulf of Mexico on the E.; Nuevo Leon and Coahuila on the W.; San Luis Potosí on the S. W. and S.; with a small extent of Vera Cruz on the extreme S.; area, 29,350 sq. m.; pop. about 173,000; capital, Ciudad Victoria. The river, on one of whose headwaters this city is situated, falls into the Gulf near the Barra de Santander, as it is still called, about 60 Mexican leagues S. of the mouth of the Rio Grande, and rather less than 40 such leagues N. of Tampico; its length is supposed to be about 150 m.

[IV'-13] Or Nuevo Reino de Leon, as it was long styled. This was a division of colonial New Spain, corresponding to the present State of Nuevo Leon, but, when a kingdom, including certain portions of what are now Tamaulipas and San Luis Potosí; it was attached to the intendency of the latter in 1786. New Leon still has Tamaulipas along the whole of its E. border, excepting that its northern panhandle is environed by Coahuila, which thence extends on its W. side to San Luis Potosí, which latter thence curves to meet Tamaulipas at the end of the southern panhandle. The shape of some of the Mexican states would show, in the absence of all history, that earthquakes and volcanoes were not the only agitations against which New Spain contended in the settling of some of her geographical problems. Area of New Leon, 24,000 sq. m.; pop. 272,000; capital, Monterey: for Pike's location of Monterey on "Tiger" r., see note 33, p. 682, May 18th, 1807. The position of this city is about lat. 25° 40´ N., long. 100° 25´ W.; pop. 46,000; it is best known to us as a prize captured by the U. S. forces under Z. Taylor, Sept. 23d, 1846. The Count of Monterey was one Caspar de Zuñiga y Azevedo, b. _ca._ 1540, d. Lima, Peru, Feb. 10th, 1606, viceroy of Mexico, Oct. 5th, 1595-1603, of Peru, Nov. 28th, 1604, till death; Monterey bay, Cal., named for him. The American officer whom Pike names was Edward D. Turner of Massachusetts, who entered the army as an ensign of the 2d Inf. Mar. 4th, 1791; became a lieutenant July 13th, 1792: captain of the 2d sub-Legion Nov. 11th, 1793, and of the 2d Inf. Nov. 1st, 1796; served as brigade inspector from Nov. 1st, 1799, to Apr. 1st, 1802; was retained as a captain of the 1st Inf. from the latter date, and resigned Nov. 30th, 1805.

[IV'-14] This comes at the end of the present dissertation, when Pike has finished with his account of the Internal Provinces, to which he now proceeds. Two of these, Sonora and Sinaloa, are "internal" to the extent of bordering on the Gulf of California and not on the high sea. These he never saw; those he traversed correspond to the present three Mexican states of Chihuahua, Durango, and Coahuila, and to our Territory of New Mexico, State of Texas, and a small part of the State of Louisiana. Most of the commentary that would otherwise be here offered has already been put upon Pike's itinerary through these regions; but some points will come up for further criticism or explanation.

[IV'-15] New Mexico, as long as it was a province of New Spain, could not be satisfactorily bounded, for the simple reason that its boundaries were never clearly defined. Pike's ascription of lat. 44° N. sends it up to the shadowy border of "the Oregan"--that No Man's Land till Lewis and Clark descended the Columbia to the South Sea. This is no place to open the celebrated quarrel over boundaries that hovered in the air like clouds on political paper; suffice it, that when the Oregan became an undisputed possession of any nation, it already belonged to the United States. Away from the Pacific coast, Spanish dominion never exceeded 38° N. in fact, whatever it may have been on paper at any time. Shortly after Pike's time, _i. e._, from Feb. 22d, 1819, an intelligible theoretical boundary was agreed upon by the United States and Spain, though it was never run upon the ground. This line, aside from any question of the still unsettled boundary of Texas, ran from the Red r. to the Arkansaw r. on the meridian of 100° W. from Greenwich, up the Arkansaw to its source, thence due N. on whatever the meridian might prove to be to lat. 42° N., thence on that parallel due W. to the Pacific. Spanish Nuevo Mejico was quietly captured without resistance by the U. S. Army of the West under Kearny in 1846; formally ceded in 1848; organized as a U. S. territory in 1850; its southern boundary changed by the acquisition of the Gadsden purchase and definitely established in 1853; Arizona detached on the W. in 1863 along the meridian of 109° W.; eastern boundary, the meridian of 103° W.; present area, 122,460 sq. m.; pop. in 1890 given as 153,593. Thus, to all intents and practical purposes, Pike's "New Mexico" is our New Mexico and Arizona, and thence indefinitely northward. Present Arizona has an area of 112,920 sq. m.; pop. 59,620 by the census of 1890. In December, 1863, Governor John N. Goodwin and Secretary Richard C. McCormick, with other new Territorial officials, entered into possession on the ground, and formally proclaimed their functions. They proceeded to establish the capital on Granite cr., a tributary of the Rio Verde, and named it Prescott, for the historian, after having deliberated whether to call it Audubon, for the ornithologist. The log house built for the gubernatorial, secretarial, and all other functions was there when I last saw it, in 1892, and still the residence of one of the original party, Judge Fleury, who in the course of time exercised his versatile talent in every capacity, from cook to acting governor. Arizona is thus politically in its 32d year now (1895). Its historic period dates from 1540 or 1536; the prehistoric compass of time, since it was first inhabited, is very likely not exceeded by the Christian era--to judge from recent exhumations in the valley of the Gila, revealing a cluster of cities 6 m. long. Those who named the present capital Phoenix builded better than they knew--the name, I mean, not the mud hovels and wicker-work jacals which adorn some portions of that new center of political intrigue to which were lately shifted the inevitable dissensions that arose between the northern mountaineers and the southern deserteers.

[IV'-16] To correct in detail all such statements would hardly come within the scope of cursory notes, and I usually pass them over, as anyone can easily inform himself of the adjustment required for geographical precision. But in this particular instance it is well to remember that Pike had acquired an erroneous notion of the source of the Yellowstone, from considering the _South_ Platte to be the whole Platte, thus throwing the _North_ Platte out of court. Having no knowledge of this great river, he fancied there was some spot whence he could walk in a day to the source of any one of the four he names--a feat for which the seven-leagued boots of fable would be required: see note 5, p. 524. For some particulars concerning the Rio Grande, see note 32, p. 642. To the different names which the river had in different regions, add Rio Abajo and Rio Arriba for lower and upper sections, not well defined but conveniently recognized, of Rio del Norte above El Paso. Pike is quite right in the matter of Rio Bravo--a name never applied to the river in any portion of its course which he traversed in New Mexico.

[IV'-17] Whatever the real implication of names bestowed upon actual or alleged branches of the Colorado by the early explorers from whom Pike drew his inspiration, as Escalante 1777, it is not difficult to identify those he uses, even when his text does not agree with his map, as happens in some cases. From the Rio Gila, for which see note 19, we will follow his map upward. 1. "Rio S^n. Maria" of the map, not in the text. The name Santa Maria held for many years for the branch of the Colorado now called Bill Williams' fork. This is composed of two main streams, to one of which the name Santa Maria is now usually restricted; the other is called Big Sandy. Bill Williams' fork does not head in Bill Williams' mountain, being cut off from that by the Rio Verde, etc.; its basin lies entirely W. of Aubrey and Chino valleys, and of the Prescott plains. This river drains westward from the Santa Maria, Granite, Juniper, Weaver, and other ranges in Arizona, and falls into the Colorado from the E. at a place called Aubrey City, the site of which was pointed out to me by a native when I navigated the Colorado in 1865, though I saw nothing like a city. 2. There is no mention in the text, nor any sign on the map, of the Colorado Chiquito, otherwise Little Colorado r., though this is a large water-course which, when it runs, drains an extensive area in N. Arizona. This stream heads about the White, Mogollon, and other ranges on or near the confines of New Mexico; receives from the Zuñian mts. its main fork, Rio Puerco of the West; flows N. W. past (E. of) the San Francisco and Bill Williams' peaks, and falls into the Colorado from the S. E., well up in the Grand Cañon of the latter; its own lower courses are terribly cañonous for a great distance, its bed being riven in chasms comparable even with the awful abyss of the Colorado itself. 3. Non-appearance of the Colorado Chiquito affects to some extent the identification of the river called in the text "de los Anamas or Nabajoa" and lettered on the map "Rio Jasquevilla." This is laid down as a large eastern branch of the Colorado which falls in _above_ the Grand Cañon, and on which lived the "Nahjo" (Navajo) and "Cosninas" (Cojnino) Indians, and _south_ of which were the "Indiens Moqui, Independent since 1680," in four villages lettered "Oraybe," "Mosanis," "Songoapt," and "Gualpi"--for, though the Moki legend is set astride of the river itself, it belongs to these four villages S. of the river. The stream in question certainly was meant for the Colorado Chiquito; but most of its ascribed characters are those of Rio San Juan of N. W. New Mexico, N. E. Arizona, and S. E. Utah. The leaning toward the Colorado Chiquito is shown by the location of the Cojnino Indians on this stream, and its passage next N. of the circle of ten peaks lettered "Sierra de los Cosninas"--these indicating the San Francisco, Bill Williams', and other mountains of central Arizona; but identification with the San Juan is possible by the location of the Navajos on its headwaters and of the Mokis further S., as well as by its entrance into the Colorado _above_ the Grand Cañon--for Pike charts the upper end of the cañon as the "Puerto del Bacorelli." Rio San Juan heads in N. W. New Mexico, next W. of the Rio Grande basin, having numerous collateral sources there and in contiguous parts of N. E. Arizona and S. W. Colorado; hence it enters S. E. Utah and runs to the Colorado around the base of Mt. Navajo, thus including in its ramifications adjacent corners of two states and two territories; two of its affluents retain to this day the names Rio de las Animas and Rio Navajo, respectively. Among its larger tributaries may be mentioned Rio Chusco, Chasco, or Chaco, and especially Rio Chelly--the latter being that one the mystery of whose famous Cañon de Chelly was fathomed by Captain J. H. Simpson in 1859. The two strange words which Pike uses in this connection, "Bacorelli" and "Jasquevilla," both treated in the Index, are not the same as Jicarilla, present name of certain mountains in Arizona and of a certain tribe of Indians called in Arizona "Hickory" Apaches. 4. The fact that the Grand Cañon of the Colorado is indicated on Pike's map may be certified in more than one way: (_a_) He marks below it certain "Indiens Chemequaba," _i. e._, Chemehuevi, a Shoshonean tribe then as now living in Arizona below the cañon, and thus isolated from their parent stock among Apaches of Athapascan lineage. (_b_) Pike's term "Cosninas," for certain Indians and mountains, is still an alternative name for the Cosnino, Cojnino, or Cataract Cañon, a side-spur of the Grand Cañon, and still the residence of a curious cave-dwelling tribe called Yavasupai, Havasupi, or Aguazul, who numbered 214 when I visited them in 1881. (_c_) The trans-continental route via the Arkansaw and Colorado rivers, which Pike suggests as the "best communication from ocean to ocean," need not be supposed to run through the Grand Cañon, but rather to approximate that lately achieved by the Atlantic and Pacific R. R., connecting on the E. with the A., T., and S. F. R. R., on the W. with the So. Cala. R. R. 5. West of the Grand Cañon Pike traces a problematical "Rio de los Panami des surfurcas on ignore l Embouchure," without beginning or end. This suggests Virgin r., whose junction with the Colorado in Nevada was then unknown. 6. Above the Grand Cañon, Pike forks the Colorado distinctly into two main branches, referable of course to the Grand and the Green rivers. 7. The main course of Grand r. is lettered "Rio de los Duimas," for which read Las Animas--but not "Los Anamas or Nabajoa" of Pike's text, already accounted for. This "Duimas" may be taken as intended to represent the whole course of Grand r. and its branches, as the Gunnison, etc. 8. The main course of the "Duimas" or Grand r. is what Pike means by Rio "de los Dolores" of the text, nameless on his map. This is the Dolores r. of present geography, running chiefly in Colorado, but joining the Grand in Utah. Pike forks this; one of these forks is the continuation of the Dolores; the other is present San Miguel r. of Colorado. 9. Green r. is the one lettered "Rio Zanguananos," as the main continuation of the Colorado itself. This is correct, though the singular S-shaped course in which it is laid down is so far out of drawing that the two branches of it which he names are thrown in the wrong direction. These two are the San Rafael and San Xavier of both text and map. The first one of them is present San Rafael r.; and if we take Pike's San Xavier to be the next above on the same side, it corresponds to Price r. We must not seek for any streams higher up the Grand than Price r.; the early Spanish travelers did not get very far in that direction; and Pike sets all these streams considerably S. of Great Salt l., not beyond the latitude he assigns to the head of the Rio Grande. The old Spanish trail from Colorado into Utah passed a certain Sierra La Sal, or Salt mt., which is situated near the confluence of the Green and the Grand; continued across both these rivers a little above their junction, and so on westward between the San Rafael r. and the San Xavier or Price r., into the basin of present Sevier r. and Sevier l. Now Pike sets his "Montaigne de Sel," or Mountain of Salt, close to the main Rio Zanguananos or Green r., and directly against the mouth of his San Rafael. This particular combination could not have been accidental, and seems to show what was really mapped, though so distortedly. As intimated in beginning this note, I have attempted identifications without prejudice to any original implication of the Spanish records, but solely according to what I find in Pike. The early names themselves seem open to the interpretation here offered, and I know from several futile attempts which I made that Pike's geography of the Colorado basin would be hard to square with the facts in any other way. Should the present identifications be acceptable, some hitherto unsurmounted difficulties would prove to have been overcome.