Owing To The Habit Of
The Indians At The Lower Portion Of The River Of Warming Themselves In
Cold Weather With A Burning Stick, Diaz Called The River El Rio Del Tizon
- The River Of The Firebrand.
Disaster Comes to the Spaniards.
Disappointed at what he had found at
Cibola and Tiguex, Coronado now decided to go with his whole army to a
place which had been described to him in most glowing terms by an Indian.
He told of a place of fabulous wealth named Quivera, and, says the ancient
historian: "He gave such a clear account of what he told, as if it was
true and he had seen it, that it seemed plain afterward that the devil was
speaking in him." Carried away by these glowing visions of wealth, Coronado
sent Tovar back to San Hieronimo. Melchior Diaz was dead, and the little
settlement was in an excitement, because one of the soldiers had just been
killed by a poisoned arrow, shot by one of the natives. In trying to punish
this offence, owing to the folly of the officer sent by Tovar in charge of
the primitive force, seventeen more soldiers were killed by poisoned
arrows, so that the ensign hastily abandoned the place, and moved with his
sadly reduced force forty leagues toward Cibola, into a valley called Suya.
From this point, he ultimately collected the best of his men, and marched
on to Tiguex, to find Coronado already gone on his heartbreaking expedition
to Quivera.
Coronado Returns to New Spain. After long and fruitless search, Coronado
returned to New Spain, a disappointed man, disgraced and discarded. Tovar
returned with him, but doubtless later found congenial work in other
fields.
CHAPTER XXV. Fray Marcos And Garces, And Their Connection With The Grand
Canyon
Hotel and Stations Named for Spanish Priests. At Williams, the gateway to
the Canyon, the Santa Fe Railway Company recently has erected a typical
Mission style hotel, to which the name of Fray Marcos has been given. Here
Canyon visitors who stop off between trains find excellent accommodations.
At Needles, California, on the Colorado River, is another reinforced
concrete building, named after another Franciscan priest, Francisco Garces.
Both Fray Marcos and El Garces are managed by Fred Harvey, who also has
charge of El Tovar Hotel. The history of this part of the Southwest for the
last thirty years cannot be written without mention of this masterful man,
who made railway meal service a fine art. In accordance with a policy
established some time ago by the Santa Fe Company, the architecture of
their station hotels conforms to the Spanish Mission styles, as far as
possible, and they are given names of those who are inseparably connected
with the romantic history of this region.
Fray Marcos Comes to America. In the chapter "Tovar and the Discovery of
the Grand Canyon," brief reference is made to the reconnaissance undertaken
by Fray Marcos de Niza, a Franciscan friar, to determine the truth of the
reports brought into Culiacan by Cabeza de Vaca. This narrative of Fray
Marcos is taken, in the main, from George Parker Winship's introduction to
his translation of Castaneda's narrative, published in the fourteenth
annual report of the United States Bureau of Ethnology. This friar was born
in Nice, then a part of Savoy, and he came to America about the year 1531.
His contemporaries called him a Frenchman, though there is no evidence that
he was of French parentage. He was sent as one of the religious to
accompany Pizarro on his expedition to Peru, and was present at the trial
and execution of the native king, Atahualpa. From Peru, he returned to
Central America, and thence he returned on foot to Mexico. He was a man of
known bravery and character, and already was appointed to the office of
vice-commissary of his order. Thus Mendoza felt no hesitation at charging
him with the arduous mission of penetrating to the heart of what are now
Arizona and New Mexico, as far as the reported seven cities of Cibola, and
bringing back to his superiors a truthful account of what he saw. The
father provincial of the order, Fray Antonio de Ciudad Rodrigo, on August
26, 1539, certified to the high esteem in which Fray Marcos was held, and
stated that he was skilled in cosmography, and in the arts of the sea, as
well as in theology.
Mendoza Instructs Fray Marcos. Mendoza drew up for him a set of
instructions as to how he should proceed. These were very explicit as to
the good treatment the Indians were to receive at his hands, and required
him to make certain scientific observations with due care and thoroughness.
He was to leave letters at stated intervals, and also send back to the
viceroy reports of his progress, wherever possible. Coronado escorted him
as far as the new town of Culiacan, and on March 7, 1539, accompanied by a
lay brother, Onorato, he started on his trip.
Courage of Spaniards. When it is remembered that this journey of several
hundreds of miles was on foot, - for the rule of the Franciscans was that
all their members should travel afoot save in cases of extreme necessity, -
through a barren, almost waterless desert, roamed over, by warlike Indians,
the courage of the man is apparent. Yet he was not remarkable in this. The
history of Mexico and of all the Spanish colonies, as well as those of New
Mexico (which used to include Arizona), Texas, and California, abounds in
the names of men of equal courage and daring. On reaching Petatlan, Brother
Onorato fell sick, and Marcos had to leave him behind; thence alone, as far
as white men were concerned, he traveled to Cibola. Six Indian interpreters
and a large number of natives accompanied and followed him, and Stephen,
the negro, went ahead as his guide.
Investigates Regarding Pearl Islands. He reached Vacapa (now known as
Matapa), in Central Sonora, two days before Passion Sunday, which in 1539
fell on March 23.
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