Coronado And The Seven Cities Of Cibola
The remarkable success of Cortez and Pizarro in Mexico and Peru went far
to convince the Spaniards that in America they had found a veritable land
of magic, filled with wonders and supremely rich in gold and gems. Ponce
de Leon sought in Florida for the fabled Fountain of Youth. Hernando de
Soto, one of the companions of Pizarro, attempted to find a second Peru in
the north, and became the discoverer of the Mississippi. From Mexico
other
adventurers set out, with equal hopes, in search of empire and treasure.
Some went south to the conquest of Central America, others north to
California and New Mexico. The latter region was the seat of the fancied
Seven Cities of Cibola, the search for which it is here proposed to
describe.
In 1538 Francisco Vasquez de Coronado was appointed governor of New
Galicia, as the country lying north of Mexico was named, and sent out a
certain Fray Marcos, a monk who had been with Pizarro in Peru, on a
journey of exploration to the north. With him were some Indian guides and
a negro named Estevanico, or Stephen, who had been one of the survivors of
the Narvaez expedition to Florida and had travelled for years among the
Indians of the north. He was expected to be of great assistance. As the
worthy friar went on he was told of rich regions beyond, where the people
wore ornaments of gold, and at length he sent the negro in advance to
investigate and report. Stephen was to send back by the Indians a cross,
the size of which would indicate the importance of what he had learned.
Within four days messengers returned with a great cross the height of a
man, significant of great and important discoveries.
One of the Indians told the friar that thirty days' journey from the point
they had reached was a populous country called Cibola, in which were seven
great cities under one lord, peopled by a civilized nation that dwelt in
large houses well built of stone and lime, some of them several stories in
height. The entrances to the principal houses were richly wrought with
turquoise, which was there in great abundance. Farther on they had been
told were other provinces, each of them much greater than that of the
seven cities.
Two days after Easter, 1539, Fray Marcos set out on the track of his
pioneer, eager to reach the land of wonders and riches of which he had
been told. Doubtless there rose in his mind dreams of a second Mexico or
Peru. The land through which lay his route was strange and picturesque.
Here were fertile valleys, watered by streams and walled in by mountains;
there were narrow canons through which ran rapid streams, with rock-walls
hundreds of feet high and cut into strange forms of turrets and towers.
As he went on he heard more of the seven cities and the distant kingdoms,
and of the abundance of turquoises with which the natives adorned their
persons and their doorways. But nothing was seen of Stephen, though
shelter and provisions were found which he had left at points along the
route. As for the dusky pioneer, Fray Marcos was never to set eyes on him
again.
At length the good monk reached a fertile region, irrigated like a garden,
where the men wore three or four strings of turquoises around their necks;
and the women wore them in their ears and noses. But Cibola lay still
beyond, the tales of the natives magnifying its houses till some of them
were ten stories in height. Ladders, they said, were used in place of
stairways. Reaching at length the Gila River, a stream flowing through
deep and rugged valleys, he heard again of the negro, who was crossing the
wilderness to the northeast, escorted like a prince by some three hundred
natives. Fifteen days journey still lay between Fray Marcos and Cibola,
and he went on into the wilderness, escorted, like his pioneer, by a large
train of natives, who volunteered their services.
For twelve days the journey continued through a rough mountain region,
abundantly supplied with game, consisting of deer, rabbits, and
partridges, which was brought in by the Indian hunters. But now there came
back startling news, for one of the negro's guides appeared, pallid with
fright, telling how Stephen had reached Cibola, where he had been seized,
plundered, and imprisoned. Farther on two more Indians were met, covered
with blood and wounds, who said that they had escaped from the slaughter
of all their comrades by the warlike people of Cibola.
The bold monk had now much trouble in getting his frightened followers to
go on with him, but by means of abundant presents he induced two of the
chiefs to proceed. He was determined to gain at least a sight of the land
of wonders, and with the chiefs and his own followers he cautiously
proceeded. At length, from a hill summit, he looked down on a broad plain
on which he saw the first of the famous seven cities. To his excited fancy
it was greater than the city of Mexico, the houses of stone in many
stories and with flat roofs. This was all he could tell from his distant
view, in which the mountain hazes seem to have greatly magnified his power
of vision.
That was the end of Fray Marcos's journey. He did not dare to approach
nearer to that terrible people, and, as he quaintly says, "returned with
more fear than victuals;" overtaking his escort, which, moved by still
greater fear, had not waited for him. Back to Coronado he went with his
story, a disappointing one, since he had seen nothing of either gold,
silver, or precious stones, the nearest approach to treasure being the
greenish turquoise.
The story of the negro pioneer, as afterwards learned, was one that might
have fitted the Orient. He advanced with savage magnificence, bells and
feathers adorning his sable arms and legs, while he carried a gourd
decorated with bells and with white and red feathers. This he knew to be a
symbol of authority among the Indians. Two Spanish greyhounds followed
him, and a number of handsome Indian women, whom he had taken up on the
way, attended him. He was followed with a large escort of Indians,
carrying his provisions and other effects, among them gifts received, or
plunder taken, from the natives.
When near Cibola, he, in disobedience of the orders given him, sent
messengers to the city bearing his gourd, and saying that he came to treat
for peace and to cure the sick. The chief to whom the gourd was presented,
on observing the bells, cast it angrily to the ground, exclaiming,--
"I know not those people; their bells are not of our fashion; tell them to
return at once, or not a man of them will be left alive."
In despite of this hostile message, the vain-glorious negro went on. He
and his company were not permitted to enter the city, but were given a
house outside of it, and here they were stripped of all their possessions
and refused food and drink. The next morning they left the house, where
they were quickly surrounded and attacked by a great number of the
townspeople, all of them being killed except the two Indians who had
brought the news to Fray Marcos.
Why they were treated in this manner is not known. They seem to have been
looked on as spies or enemies. But it is interesting that the legend of
the killing of a Black Mexican still lingers in a pueblo of the Zuni
Indians, though three centuries and a half have since then elapsed.
The story of the discovery of the Seven Cities, as told by the worthy Fray
Marcos, when repeated in the city of Mexico gave rise to high hopes of a
new El Dorado; and numbers were ready to join in an expedition to explore
and conquer Cibola. The city was then well filled with adventurers eager
for fame and fortune, many of them men of good family, cavaliers of rank
"floating about like corks on water," and soldiers ready to enlist in any
promising service. It is no wonder that in a few weeks a company of over
three hundred were enlisted, a large proportion of them mounted. The
Indians of the expedition numbered eight hundred, and some small
field-pieces were taken along, while sheep and cows were to be driven to
supply the army with fresh meat.
Francisco de Coronado was given the command, and so distinguished was the
cavalcade that the viceroy would have appointed each of the gentlemen a
captain but for fear of making the command top-heavy with officers. It was
early in 1540 that the gallant expedition set out, some of the horsemen
arrayed in brilliant coats of mail and armed with swords and lances,
others wearing helmets of iron or tough bullhide, while the footmen
carried cross-bows and muskets, and the Indians were armed with bows and
clubs. Splendid they were--but woe-befallen were they to be on their
return, such of them as came back. An accessory party was sent by sea,
along the Pacific coast, under Hernando de Alarcon, to aid, as far as it
could, in the success of the army. But in spite of all Alarcon's efforts,
he failed to get in communication with Coronado and his men.
On the 7th of July, after following the monk's route through the mountain
wilderness, the expedition came within two days' march of the first city
of Cibola. It was evident from the signal-fires on the hills and other
signs of hostility that the Spaniards would have to fight; but for this
the cavaliers of that day seem to have been always ready, and the next day
Coronado moved forward towards the desired goal.
At length the gallant little army was before Hawaikuh, the city on which
Fray Marcos had gazed with such magnifying eyes, but which now was seen to
be a village of some two hundred houses. It lay about fifteen miles
southwest of the present Zuni. The natives were ready for war. All the old
men, with the women and children, had been sent away, and the Spaniards
were received with volleys of arrows.
The houses were built in retreating terraces, each story being smaller
than that below it, and from these points of vantage the arrows of the
natives came in showers. Evidently the place was only to be taken by
assault, and the infantry was posted so as to fire on the warriors, while
a number of dismounted horsemen sought to scale the walls by a ladder
which they had found. This proved no easy task. Coronado's glittering
armor especially made him a shining mark, and he was so tormented with
arrows and battered with stones as he sought to ascend that he was wounded
and had to be carried from the field. Others were injured and three horses
were killed, but in less than an hour the place was carried, the warriors
retreating in dismay before the impetuous assault.
Glad enough were the soldiers to occupy the deserted houses. Their food
had given out and they were half starved, but in the store-rooms they
found "that of which there was greater need than of gold or silver, which
was much corn and beans and chickens, better than those of New Spain, and
salt, the best and whitest I have seen in all my life." The chickens seem
to have been wild turkeys, kept by the natives for their plumage. But of
the much-desired gold and silver there was not a trace.
The story of all the adventures of the Spaniards in this country is too
extended and not of enough interest to be given here. It must suffice to
say that before their eyes the Seven Cities of Cibola faded into phantoms,
or rather contracted into villages of terraced houses like that they had
captured. Food was to be had, but none of the hoped-for spoil, even the
turquoises of which so much had been told proving to be of little value.
Expeditions were sent out in different directions, some of them
discovering lofty, tower-like hills, with villages on their almost
inaccessible summits, the only approach being by narrow steps cut in the
rock. Others came upon deep canons, one of them discovering the wonderful
Grand Canon of the Colorado River. In the country of Tiguex were twelve
villages built of adobe, some on the plain and some on the lofty heights.
The people here received the Spaniards peaceably and with much show of
welcome.
In Tiguex was found an Indian slave, called by the Spaniards El Turco,
from his resemblance to the Turks, who said he had come from a rich
country in the east, where were numbers of great animals with shaggy
manes,--evidently the buffalo or bison, now first heard of. Some time
later, being brought into the presence of Coronado, El Turco had a more
wonderful story to tell, to the effect that "In his land there was a river
in the level country which was two leagues wide, in which were fishes as
big as horses, and large numbers of very big canoes with more than twenty
rowers on a side, and carrying sails; and their lords sat on the poop
under awnings, and on the prow they had a great golden eagle. He said also
that the lord of that country took his afternoon nap under a great tree on
which were hung a large number of little gold bells, which put him to
sleep as they swung in the air. He said also that every one had his
ordinary dishes made of wrought plate, and the jugs, plates, and bowls
were of gold."
No doubt it was the love of the strangers for the yellow metal that
inspired El Turco to these alluring stories, in the hope of getting rid of
the unwelcome visitors. At any rate, this was the effect it had. After
wintering in the villages of the Tiguas, which the Spaniards had assailed
and taken, they set out in the following April in search of Quivira, the
land of gold, which El Turco had painted in such enticing colors. Against
the advice of El Turco, they loaded the horses with provisions, the
imaginative Indian saying that this was useless, as the laden animals
could not bring back the gold and silver. Scarcely to his liking, the
romancing Indian was taken with them as a guide.
On for many leagues they went until the Pecos River was crossed and the
great northern plains were reached, they being now in a flat and treeless
country, covered with high grasses and peopled by herds of the great maned
animals which El Turco had described. These strange creatures were seen in
extraordinary numbers, so abundant that one day, when a herd was put to
flight, they fell in such a multitude into a ravine as nearly to fill it
up, so that the remainder of the herd crossed on the dead bodies.
Various tribes of Indians were met, the story they told not at all
agreeing with that of El Turco, who accordingly was now put in chains.
Coronado, not wishing to subject all his companions to suffering, but
eager still to reach the fabled Quivira, at length sent all his followers
back except thirty horsemen and six foot-soldiers, with whom he continued
his journey to the north, the bisons supplying them with abundance of
food.
For six weeks they marched onward, crossing at the end of thirty days a
wide stream, which is thought to have been the Arkansas River, and at last
reached Quivira, which seems to have lain in the present State of Kansas.
A pleasing land it was of hills and dales and fertile meadows, but in
place of El Turco's many-storied stone houses, only rude wigwams were to
be seen, and the civilized people proved to be naked savages. The only
yellow metal seen was a copper plate worn by one of the chiefs and some
bells of the same substance. The utmost Coronado could do was to set up a
cross and claim this wide region in the name of his master; and his chief
satisfaction was in strangling El Turco for his many embellished lies.
We shall not describe the return journey, though it was not lacking in
interesting incidents. Finally, having lost many of their horses, being
harassed by the Indians, and suffering from want of provisions, the
way-worn army reached known soil in the valley of Culiacan. Here all
discipline was at an end, and the disorganized army straggled for leagues
down the valley, all Coronado's entreaties failing to restore any order to
the ranks.
At length the sorely disappointed commander presented himself before the
viceroy Mendoza, with scarcely a hundred ragged followers who alone
remained with him of the splendid cavalcade with which he had set out.
Thus ends the story of the last of the conquistadores, who had found only
villages of barbarians and tribes of half-naked savages, and returned
empty-handed from his long chase after the Will-o' the-wisp of Quivira and
its fleeting treasures. Little did he dream that Quivira would yet become
the central region of one of the greatest civilized nations of the world,
and rich in productions beyond his most avaricious vision.