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Appendix

I.

HISTORICAL INTRODUCTION.

Part I.

The earliest knowledge of the existence of the sedentary Indians in New Mexico and Arizona reached Europe by way of Mexico proper; but it is very doubtful whether or not the aborigines of Mexico had any positive information to impart about countries lying north of the present State of Querétaro. The tribes to the north were, in the language of the valley-confederates, "Chichimecas,"—a word yet undefined, but apparently synonymous, in the conceptions of the "Nahuatl"-speaking natives, with fierce savagery, and ultimately adopted by them as a warlike title.

Indistinct notions, indeed, of an original residence, during some very remote period of time, at the distant north, have been found among nearly all the tribes of Mexico which speak the Nahuatl language. These notions even assume the form of tradition in the tale of the Seven Caves,[1] whence the Mexicans and the Tezcucans, as well as the Tlaxcaltecans, are said to have emigrated to Mexico.[2] Perhaps the earliest mention p. 4of this tradition may be found in the writings of Fray Toribio de Paredes, surnamed Motolinia. It dates back to 1540 a.d.[3] But it is not to be overlooked that ten years previously, in 1530, the story of the Seven Cities, which was the form in which the first report concerning New Mexico and its sedentary Indians came to the Spaniards, had already been told to Nuño Beltran de Guzman in Sinaloa.[4] The parallelism between the two stories is striking, although we are not authorized to infer that the so-called seven cities gave rise to what appeared as an aboriginal myth of as many caves.[5]

The tale of the Seven Caves, as the original home of the Mexicans and their kindred, prevailed to such an extent that, as early as 1562, in a collection of picture-sheets executed in aboriginal style, the so-called "Codex Vaticanus," "Chicomoztoc," and the migrations thence, were graphically represented. All the important Indian writers of Mexico between 1560 and 1600, such as Duráro, Camargo, Tezozomoc, and Ixtlilxochitl, refer to it as an ancient legend, and they locate the site of the story, furthermore, very distinctly in New Mexp. 5ico. Even the "Popol-Vuh," in its earliest account of the Quiché tribe of Guatemala, mentions "Tulan-Zuiva, the seven caves or seven ravines."[6]

While it is impossible as yet to determine whether or not this legend exercised any direct influence on the extension of Spanish power into Northern Mexico, another myth, well known to eastern continents from a remote period, became directly instrumental in the discovery of New Mexico. This is the tale of the Amazons.

About 1524 a.d., Cortes was informed by one of his officers (then on an expedition about Michhuacan) that towards the north there existed a region called Ciguatan ("Cihuatlan"—place of women), near to which was an island inhabited by warlike females exclusively.[7] The usual exaggerations about metallic wealth were added to this report; and when, in 1529, Nuño de Guzman governed Mexico he set out northwards, first to conquer the sedentary Indians of Michhuacan, and then to search for the gold and jewels of the Amazons.[8] It was while on this foray that he heard of the Seven Cities in connection with Ciguatan. This latter place was reached; and, while the fancies concerning it were speedily dispelled by reality, those concerning the Seven Cities flitted further p. 6north.[9] Guzman overran, laid waste, and finally colonized Sinaloa. He sent parties into Sonora; but, after his recall, slow colonization superseded military forays on a large scale, at least for a few years.

During this time, Pamfilo de Narvaez had undertaken the colonization of Florida.[10] His scheme failed, and cost him his life. Of the few survivors of his expedition, four only remained in the American continent, wandering to and fro among the tribes of the south-west. After nine years of untold hardships, these four men finally reached Sonora, having traversed the continent, from the Gulf of Mexico to the coast of the Pacific. The name of the leader and subsequent chronicler of their adventures was Alvar Nuñez Cabeza de Vaca.[11]

It is not possible to follow and to trace, geographically, the erratic course of Cabeza de Vaca with any degree of certainty. His own tale, however authentic, is so confused[12] that it becomes utterly impossible to establish any details of location. We only know that, in the year a.d. 1536, he and his associates finally met with their own countrymen about Culiacan.[13]