Читать книгу The History of Spanish America - Sir Richard Henry Bonnycastle - Страница 17

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The most, northerly province of New Spain is New Mexico, which extends from the Spanish boundary in 39° of north latitude, and is terminated by an unknown country, inhabited by the savage tribes, and by ranges of lofty mountains which have been very little explored; on the east, it has unknown countries between it and the United Statesʼ territory of Louisiana, from which it is divided by an ideal line; on the west by unknown lands and Indian nations; and on the south by the intendancy of New Biscay; it is 175 leagues in length and 40 in breadth: the limits on the east and west are not, however, very accurately defined. This country has been subdivided into several districts; but as few details of these have ever been published, it is impossible to ascertain their accuracy. Though very extensive, it is but thinly peopled, and that chiefly by the native tribes.

Throughout its whole western extent, the great chain of the Sierra Madre presents itself, running from south to north, and extending nearly the whole length of North America; this chain changes its name after quitting the Spanish territory, and then receives that of the Stony Mountains, Crane Mountains, Azure Mountains, &c. It is supposed, and with great probability, that this immense range is part of the same Cordillera as the Andes; thus forming one continuous ridge from the Tierra del Fuego to the Icy Ocean in the north. It is the great barrier of the west, and interposes its awful front to the whole length of the world.

In New Mexico, the climate is colder, generally speaking, than that of any other part of the Spanish possessions. The summers are warm, but not intensely scorching, the winters cold, and frequently very severe, especially in the higher regions of the mountains; and they are not deluged with those incessant rains that prevail in some other parts of New Spain. This country lies within the temperate zone. The soil is represented as, in some parts, extremely fertile, which appears from the luxuriancy of the pasturages, where the herds of buffaloes and bisons are found; in others, as very arid and barren. The country is, excepting on the Cordillera, agreeably diversified into hill and vale; and the rivers and lakes are well stocked with fish; great quantities of game frequent the mountains; and the forests are stored with wild animals. Many of the writers on this country state, that it is amongst the most agreeable and the most plentiful colonies of America. Under these circumstances, it is wonderful that the Spaniards do not settle it more effectually; their attention has, however, of late years, been so much distracted by the unhappy state of the mother country, and by the struggle of the colonies for independence, that they have not had leisure to extend their views to this desirable land.

The capital of New Mexico is Santa Fé, which is in 36° 12ʹ north latitude, and 104° 52ʹ 45ʺ west longitude, on a river which falls into the Great Rio del Norte; it was founded in 1682, and is small and placed near the northern limits of the colony; its population is 3,600.

The other towns of most importance are;—Santa Cruz, containing 8900 souls, and Albuquerque 6000 souls; both near the east bank of the great Rio del Norte.

There are enumerated 26 villages and 19 missions in New Mexico.

The Passo del Norte, or Fort, is the most noted of these, and is situated in a country which produces all sorts of fruits and a fine wine; it is on the right bank of the Rio del Norte, 60 leagues south of Santa Fé.

This country, which was discovered by a missionary in 1581, was finally subdued in 1644, and slightly settled by the missionaries.

The mines are generally of tin; and the total population is about 40,000.

The chief river of this country is the Rio Grande del Norte, (the great northern river,) called also Rio Bravo, rising in the Sierra Verde, beyond the extreme bounds of the province; and after a course of 2000 miles, this noble stream enters the Gulf of Mexico, traversing the whole length of New Mexico, the province of Coaguila, and that of New Santander. In the province of Coaguila it receives the Puerco River, a considerable stream, which rises south of Santa Fé, the capital.

The Rio Grande is beautifully adorned in New Mexico by woody banks of poplar and oak. It is subject to periodical floods, which begin in April and end in June; the great road from the south to Santa Fé, runs along the east bank of this river in New Mexico, and crosses it at the Fort del Passo before mentioned, and is so level, that carriages of a light construction are used on it; but the wandering Indians render travelling unsafe in some points. In New Mexico, the Rio del Norte frequently is encrusted, during the winter, with ice thick enough to travel on. This river is fordable for horsemen in the droughts of summer; the streams which join it in New Mexico, are of no moment, the country being in general dry; near the northern part some rivers rise which have been conjectured to be the Red River, and Arkansas of Louisiana; but the geography of the countries to the west and east of New Mexico, remains in a very defective state.

The eastern towns of New Mexico, as well as its villages, are in general thickly peopled, on account of the proximity of the country to tribes of warlike Indians. On the west of the great river Del Norte, the Indians are of a comparatively peaceable character, and are on friendly terms with the natives, of New Mexico.—Of these western tribes—

The Moqui Indians have towns well constructed, after the manner of the ancient Mexicans, for the purposes of defence; and the missionaries who have visited these tribes, say, that although their language is different from that of the ancient Mexicans, yet, from several concurrent circumstances, they appear to be part of the remnant of those people who scattered themselves at Cinaloa, on their march from the north. Their houses exactly resemble those of Casas Grandes, which the Aztecs built on their route near the Rio Gila.

It is the Indians of the east country, from the great river Del Norte, that are so constantly engaged in disputes with the New Mexicans.

Of these, the Cumanches are amongst the most warlike. They have no settled place of abode, but wander about, as the chase, or their inclinations dictate, in the immense extent of country from the rivers Trinidad and Brazos, across the Red River, to the heads of the Arkansas and Missouri, and beyond the Rio Bravo, over the ridge of the Great Cordillera; they have, of course, from this unsettled life, no towns or villages, and are subdivided into many hordes, who have so little communication with each other, as to be often supposed to be distinct tribes. They principally exist by the chase, the flesh of the bison and buffalo being their chief food; this, with some vegetables, which they procure from the tribes and settlements in their vicinity, constitutes nearly the whole of their nourishment. They carry about with them tents made of the skins of these animals, which they form like a bell, large enough to contain a dozen people; but the heads of the tribes and other great persons, have them of a much larger size. The tents are pitched in regular order, in the manner of a town, having streets of communication.

The wild horses which run about the country serve the Cumanches in their predatory excursions; they know well how to ride and manage these animals, and pass nearly all their time on horseback; their tents are removed on horses, and having few other goods to pack up, they perform marches with astonishing quickness, and fall upon the unsuspecting settlers, whom they plunder of every thing, and carry off their children to serve them as slaves; many Spaniards existing in a state of servitude amongst them.

The chase of the buffalo is carried on by them on horseback, and they kill that animal either with arrows or with spears.

In person, the Cumanche Indian is strong and well made, uncommonly neat and clean; the dress of the women is a long loose robe, tied round the waist with a fine girdle; the whole is formed of leather, decorated with paintings in a rude manner: the men wear a close shirt and pantaloons of the same materials.

Their language is totally different from that of the neighbouring Apaches.

They cook their beef with a mixture of wild fruits and herbs, and particularly with a sort of bean which grows on a tree; this mess they season with pepper, which grows abundantly in the country they inhabit; and the food, so prepared, is said to be very good and palatable.

The great extent of uncultivated territory on both sides of New Mexico is subdivided amongst many other Indian tribes; of these, however, a dry detail cannot prove interesting; and so little is accurately known concerning those subdivisions, that errors would unavoidably arise in recapitulating them. The chief of these districts is named Apacheria, from the Indian tribes called Apaches, a warlike and restless race of Americans, who inhabit the country to the west and east of Santa Fé.

They are denominated, towards the southern part of New Mexico, Apaches Mescaleros; Apaches Llaneros, and Lipanes in the northern part; and Apaches, Chicaraguis, Mimbrenos and Gilenos, on the eastern side. They are a brave, resolute and independent people, extremely attached to their primitive customs, and very jealous of the power of the Spaniards, with whom they are frequently at variance; but this does not proceed to open war, as they stile themselves the allies of Spain. They were subjugated on the first settling of this country, but revolted towards the close of the 17th century, since which time they do not acknowledge subjection to that power.

In referring to what has been before observed concerning the great chain of mountains which pervade this country, it will be necessary to state, that the name Sierra Madre, or Topia, is more strictly applied to that elevated part of this immense ridge, which commences near Guadalajara, and extends 450 miles in a northerly direction into New Mexico; the breadth of all its ridges, or parallel crests, at this part, is sometimes 120 miles, where the chain is called more distinctively by the appellation of Sierra Madre, or Mother Ridge, on account of its great altitude above the other parts: it has, by some writers, been compared with the Cordillera of Peru; and the chasms and precipitous terminations of its sides, are said to exceed any of the most terrific and sublime mountain features of the world; their aspect is terrible, their depths profound, and appear to the wondering traveller, to unite the concave of heaven and the valleys of New Spain, by everlasting walls of adamant.

This part of the chain, and indeed nearly the whole of it, is in general densely covered with forests of the most gloomy appearance, composed principally of pines and oaks. In these impracticable wilds, birds of every description, peculiar to the country, inhabit; and their variegated and beautiful plumage throws a ray of lustre on the sombre scene.

On the summits of some of these mountains snow eternally lodges, and the cold, in consequence, is intense. Many rivers take their rise in the sides and near the tops of this Cordillera, and rush with impetuous force into the valleys below, whence they take their courses to the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans. During the rainy season, (from June to September,) and when the upper snows lose their solidity and become fluid, these rivers, and the smaller streams, are turned into torrents, inundating the lowlands; and their devastations, to the distance of 10 or 12 miles, are inconceivable. During this period, when the natives are forced to much manual labour and bodily exertion in the open air, to repress the ravages of the waters, these pests of warm climates, the musquitoes, become intolerable.

Bears, tigers, &c. with various beautiful species of squirrels, inhabit the thick forests on the sides of the Sierra Madre. This ridge is most prolific in silver, each quintal of earth in the mines yielding a mark (two thirds of a pound); but these mines, on account of their distance from Mexico, have many of them been forsaken.

This ridge received its other name of Topia, from the appellation of a tribe of savages who inhabited it, and who were converted to the Catholic faith by the exertions of the Jesuit missionaries in 1590. So little was known of the existence of the Indians in some of the middle parts of this chain, that the inhabitants were not converted till the year 1718.

As before observed, nothing can be accurately advanced with respect to the termination of the continuation of the Topia, or Sierra Madre Cordillera on the north; but it seems, without much doubt, to be continued to an amazing distance towards the north pole, and that the Stony Mountains are certainly a part of it. In the immediate vicinity of the northern boundary of the Spanish territories, the tribe of Indians called the Moquis, are reckoned amongst the inhabitants of its regions; they live under the same parallel as Santa Fé, the capital of New Mexico, and some distance to the westward of that place; their houses have already been mentioned.

The Sierra Madre sends off a branch in the west part of the province of New Mexico; this ramification, the summits of which are very lofty, is called Gemes, and bears a south-easterly direction; whilst on the eastern side, it throws off another arm, called the ridge of Nahmi; which is, however, of inferior height, and of shorter duration, than that of Gemes.

From the shore of the Pacific to the great Topian ridge, the general distance may be computed at 140 miles; in many places, however, it is greater, and in some, where the continent begins to straighten its bounds, not one half that distance.

The Topian chain takes the name of Sierra de las Grullas, from 38° to 40° north latitude; beyond that to 42° north latitude, it receives the name of Sierra Verde; during its southern course, it bears several distinct names, besides the general one of Sierra Madre.

It is in the Sierra Verde, that the great rivers, Colorado and Del Norte take their rise, and their sources are only separated from each other by the ridge of the mountain.

The great tract of uncultivated country between the Colorado and Gila, is inhabited by tribes of wandering Indians whose names appear on the map. To the south of the Gila is a tract of uncultivated country, inhabited by the Apaches Tontos, and other tribes: it was in this country that two missionaries in 1773, at the distance of three miles from the Gila, discovered the ruins of a Mexican or Aztec city, the houses of which were similar to those that are mentioned in the account of Mexico. These houses were large, and the one most entire, consisted of five rooms three stories high, and in length, was 445 feet by 276 broad, the walls being 3 feet 11 inches in thickness. A wall and towers surrounded the mansion; and the ruins of the city occupied more than a square league; fragments of pottery and domestic utensils were found in all directions; and a canal had conducted the waters of the Gila to the city. This was supposed to be the second station of the Mexicans in their migration from the north; the third is in New Biscay, near Fort Yanos.

The Indians in the environs of these great buildings are more polished than their neighbours, and are in a more social state; from which circumstance, it is conjectured, that they are a remnant of the Aztec nation, who settled here in their journey from the northern countries.