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November 9, 1776
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Ojo del Canutillo
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November 22, 1776
Ojo de San Jose
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

Dominguez and Escalante Journal
Source:
Chavez, A. & Waner, T. (1995) The Dominguez and Escalante Journal,  University of Utah Press, SLC, UT
Disclaimer: Educational Material / Non-Commercial

November 7
We went very early to inspect the canyon and the ford, taking along the two genizaros Felipe and Juan Domingo, so that they might ford the river on foot since they were good swimmers. In order to lead the animals down the side of the canyon mentioned it was necessary to cut steps in a rock with axes for the distance of three varas or a little less. The rest of the way the animals were able to get down, although without pack or rider. We went down to the canyon and having traveled a mile we descended to the river and went along it downstream about two musket shots sometimes in the water, sometimes on the bank, until we reached the widest part of its current where the ford appeared to be. One of the men waded in and found it good not having to swim at any place. We followed him on horseback a little lower down, and when half way across, two horses which went ahead lost their footing and swam a short distance. We waited, although in some peril, until the first wader returned from the other side to guide us and then we crossed with ease, the horses on which we crossed not having to swim at all. We notified the rest of our companions, who had remained at San Vicente, that with lassoes and ropes they should let the pack saddles and other effects, down a not very high cliff to the bend of the ford, and that they should bring the animals by the route over which we had come. They did so and about five o'clock in the afternoon they finished crossing the river, praising God our Lord and firing off a few muskets as a sign of the great joy which we all felt at having overcome so great a difficulty and which had cost us so much labor and delay, although the principal cause of our having suffered so much since we reached the Parusis was our lack of someone to guide us through such bad terrain. For through lack of an experienced guide we went by a very roundabout route, spent many days in such a small area, and suffered hunger and thirst. And now, after having suffered all this, we learned the best and most direct route where there were water holes adjusted to an ordinary day's travel. Most of this we heard of as we traveled, especially after we left our southerly direction on the day we set out from San Dónulo or Arroyo del Taray. Because from that place we might have gone to the large water hole which we found in the next plain. From here we might conveniently have reached another water hole which is about three leagues to the northeast of San Angel. From this latter place we might have reached Santa Gertrudis. From here we might have gone on three leagues and stopped in the same arroyo with good water and sufficient pasturage, going on in the afternoon as far as possible to the northeast, following the same direction, avoiding the sierra entirely, and arriving next day at the Rio de Santa Teresa three or four leagues north of San Juan Capistrano. From this river we could have gone east-southeast to San Diego and from there to the ford without any special inconvenience and avoiding many windings, acclivities and bad stretches. But doubtless God disposed that we should not obtain a guide, perhaps as a benign punishment for our sins, or perhaps in order that we might acquire some knowledge of the people who live in these parts. May His holy will be done in all things and His holy name glorified.

The ford of the river is very good and here it must be a mile wide, or a little more. Before reaching this place the Navajó and Dolores rivers have united, together with all those which we have mentioned in this diary as entering one or the other. And in no place which we have seen along here is it possible to establish on the banks any settlement whatsoever, or even to travel on either bank a good day's journey either downstream or upstream with the hope that its water might serve for men and animals, because, aside from the bad terrain, the river runs in a very deep gorge. All the region nearest to the ford has very high cliffs and peaks. Eight or ten leagues to the northeast of the ford there is a high, rounded peak which the Payuchis, whose country begins here, call Tucané, which means Black Peak, and it is the only one hereabouts which can be seen close at hand from the river crossing.

On this eastern bank, at the very ford which we called La Purísima Concepción de la Virgen Santisima, there is a fair-sized valley of good pasturage. In it we spent the night and observed its latitude by the north star, and it is 36° and 55'.


BRIEF ACCOUNT OF THE PEOPLE WHOM WE SAW, DEALT WITH, AND LEARNED OF BY REPORT, FROM THE VALLEY OF SEÑOR SAN JOSÉ TO THE FORD OF THE RIO GRANDE DE COSNINA, INCLUSIVE.
In this land, which, although we traveled in it one hundred long leagues counting the turns we made, must be sixty Spanish leagues from north to south, and forty from east to west, there live a large number of people, all of pleasing appearance, very friendly, and extremely timid. For this last reason, and because all whom we saw spoke the Yuta language in the same way as the western-most Payuchis, we call all these of whom we are speaking Yutas Cobardes. The particular names correspond to the country which they inhabit, and distinguish them as belonging to various provinces or territories, not as different nations, since all the Yutas known hitherto compose a single nation, or they might be called a kingdom divided into five provinces, known by the common name of Yutas: the Yutas Muhuachis, the Yutas Payuchis, the Tabehuachis, the Sabuaganas, and the Yutas Cobardes. These last are divided into the Huascaris, who live in the Valley of Señor San José and its vicinity; the Parusis, who follow them on the south and southwest, inhabit the banks and vicinity of the little river of Nuestra Señora del Pilar, and are the only ones among all these we saw who apply themselves to the planting of maize; the Yubuincariris, who live almost south of the Parusis and through here are the nearest to the Rio Grande; the Yutas Ytimpabichis, who live on the mesas and peaks which are near to and north of the campsite of Santa Barbara; the Pagampachis, who likewise live in the bad country of mesas and barren gorges, because although they have a spacious valley through which the Rio Grande runs, as we have already said, they are not able to utilize the waters of this river for irrigation. According to the account given by the Yubuincariris, to the south-southwest of them downstream there live other people whom they call Payatammunis. To the west and west northwest of the Huascaris, we learned also, there live other people of the same language as themselves. All the rest (and they are many) who live on this western or northern side, upstream, in all the sierra which runs down from the Lagunas, and the land which lies between it and the last northern rivers which we crossed before they joined, are, according to the reports which we obtained, of this same sort of Indians, and belong partly to the Yutas Barbones, partly to the Huascaris, and partly to the Lagunas, depending upon their proximity to each one of these groups, judging by the greater similarity with which those nearest speak the general language.
November 8.
We set out from the ford and camp of La Concepción, and ascended from the bed of the river by a long ridge which was not very difficult, then turned south-southeast following a well-beaten trail, and traveled five leagues over sandy land with some rugged places. Swinging now to the east for a league, we halted near the last cliff of the range which runs from the river to this place, naming the campsite San Miguel, in which there was good pasturage and plentiful rain water. -Today six leagues.

Today we found many tracks of Indians but saw none. Through here wild sheep live in such abundance that their tracks are like those of great flocks of domestic sheep. They are larger than the domestic breed, of the same form, but much swifter. Today we finished the horse meat we had brought, so we ordered another horse killed. Tonight we felt much colder than on the other bank.

November 9
We lost the trail and were unable to find a way by which to descend to a canyon which lay immediately to the southeast of us, or to cross more than a half league of rocks and ridges which prevented us from continuing along our route. For this reason we turned east-northeast, and having traveled two leagues over bad terrain, the same difficulty obliged us to halt on a mesa without being able to take a step forward. Near this mesa we found some ranchos of Yutas Payuchis, neighbors and friends of the Cosninas. We made great efforts through the Laguna and other companions to induce them to come near to where we were, but either because they suspected that we were friends of the Ioquinos, toward whom they are very hostile, or because they had never seen Spaniards and greatly feared us, we were unable to induce them to come.

November 10
Very early we two went with the interpreter and the Laguna to their ranchos, but we were unable even on foot to get to the place where they were. We sent the two persons mentioned away, we ourselves remaining on an elevation from which we saw them and were seen by them, in order that seeing us alone they might approach with greater willingness and less fear. After the interpreter had urged them for more than two hours, five of them came, but when they were about to reach us they turned and fled, and we were unable to stop them. The interpreter went back to see if they would sell us some provisions but they replied that they had none. They told him that the Cosninas lived very near here, but at present were wandering not far away in the woods, gathering piñon nuts, and that a short distance from here we would find two roads, one leading to the Cosninas and the other to the Pueblo of Oraybi, in Moqui. They also gave him signs of the trail which we had lost, saying that we would have to go back as far as San Miguel and from there descend to the canyon mentioned. In this way we spent most of the day, and during the remainder we returned to the campsite of San Miguel, going half a league closer to the arroyo or canyon to which formerly we had been unable to descend. We camped at the beginning of the descent . -Today half a league southeast.

November 11
Very early the descent was examined and the lost trail was found, and we continued on our way. We descended to the canyon with great difficulty because it has some dangerous places and is made up entirely of cliffs. The Indians have repaired it with loose rocks and logs and in the last bad place they have a stairway of the same materials, more than three varas long and two wide. Here two small streams come together, entering the Rio Grande near the site of San Carlos. We ascended to the opposite side along a ridge of rocks and crags which is between the two small streams, making many turns and passing some perilous benches of rock which could be made passable only by the use of crowbars. We finished the ascent at nearly midday, having traveled in the descent and the ascent two leagues to the eastsoutheast. Here, to the northeast of the trail, there are two small peaks. From the smaller we swung southeast, and having traveled three leagues over good terrain, we camped, although without water, because there was good pasturage for the animals and plentiful firewood to withstand the severity of the cold which we suffered, naming the campsite San Proto. - Today five leagues.

November 12
We set out from San Proto to the south-southeast. We traveled now over an open road and good terrain for three leagues, and right on the road we found a small spring of good water from which, after we had broken the ice, all the men and all the animals drank. Judging from the vestiges, it is a campsite of the Cosninas when they go to the Payuchis. We continued south along the same road, experiencing excessive cold, and having traveled four leagues over very good terrain we left the direct road for Moqui, according to the instructions of the Payuchis, and followed the more used one of the Cosninas toward the southsouthwest. Having traveled a league, we found several uninhabited little houses or ranchos, and indications that many cattle and horses had pastured here for some time. We continued over the same road, and after we had traveled a league and a half to the southwest, night fell and we camped without water, naming the campsite San Jacinto. Today nine and one-half leagues.

Because of the great cold part of us stopped for a while, the rest of the companions going forward, to make a fire and massage Don Bernardo Miera, who was now about to freeze on our hands, for we feared he could not withstand such extreme cold. For this reason the rest of the companions arrived at the above-mentioned spring ahead of us, and before we overtook them they went on without putting water in the vessels which they carried for this purpose, for which inadvertence we suffered great thirst tonight.

November 13
We set out from San Jacinto toward the south-southwest along the same road, over good land with timber and abundant pasturage, and having gone two leagues we swung to the south one and one-half leagues, and found in some rocks plenty of water for the men and almost enough for all the animals. We continued across a sandy plain two leagues to the south, and half a league to the southeast, and camped about a league beyond another pool which contained bad water which we found on the same road. We named the campsite El Espino because we caught a porcupine here, and we tried its flesh, which is very appetizing. We were all greatly in need of food for since the night before we had not tasted anything except a piece of toasted hide, so the porcupine distributed among so many persons served only to stimulate the appetite. For this reason we ordered another horse killed, which we had not done sooner because we expected to find some food in some of the ranchos of the Cosninas, but we have not seen even recent vestiges of them. - Today six leagues.

November 14
We set out from El Espino toward the southsoutheast, and having traveled a little less than a league we found on the road a large pool of good water, from which all the animals drank to their satisfaction. We continued southeast, and having gone three-fourths of a league, we entered a canyon in which four springs of good water rise. We traveled along it half a league to the southeast and arrived at a small farm and some ranchos of the Cosninas, which were very beautiful and well arranged. This farm is irrigated by the four springs mentioned and two other large ones which rise near it. This year the Cosninas planted maize, beans, calabashes, water melons and cantaloupes on it. When we arrived they had already gathered their harvest, and judging from the refuse or remains which we saw of everything, it was abundant, especially the beans, for if we had stopped here we could have gathered half a fanega of them. The farm was surrounded by peach trees, and, besides several huts made of branches, there was a little house very well made of stone and mud. In it were the baskets, jars, and other utensils of these Indians. Judging from the tracks, they had been absent for several days, perhaps to seek piñon nuts in the high sierra close by toward the south-southwest. From the rancho, roads led out in different directions, and we did not know which we ought to take to go to Moqui, because now we could not go farther afield to seek the Cosninas, both because of the lack of provisions as well as on account of our severe suffering from the winter weather. We took a road which runs to the southeast and traveled two leagues over very level terrain, passing some springs of good water, and crossed a small river which flows from northeast to southwest and carries as much water as a fair-sized ditch. It has its small grove and medium-sized meadows but very bad pasturage where we crossed it. After leaving the river we climbed a mesa on which there was a small lake, and several pools of rain water which serve as drinking places and watering holes for the cattle of Moqui, which we now began to see in large herds. We traveled along the mesa two and one-half leagues to the east-southeast, ascended a high hill, and because night was coming on and there was good pasturage for the animals, we stopped, naming the campsite Cuesta de los Llanos, because from this place wide plains and fields begin without mesas, trees, or sierras, but with very good pasturage, that extend to the southeast beyond Moqui. - Today six and one quarter leagues.

November 15
We left the Cuesta de los Llanos, going eastsoutheast, traveling along the plains nine leagues without finding water in the whole day's march, because we did not wish to turn aside to look for it. We found some in a valley in which there was chamise of the kind they call chizo, and we camped in the valley, naming it La Cafiada de los Chizos. - Today nine leagues to the east-southeast.

We had nothing for supper tonight because the horse meat which we had did not suffice for all. Here there were large herds of cattle, and all the companions wished to kill a cow or a calf, impatiently urging us to permit them in this way to relieve the hunger we all were suffering. Considering that we were now near the pueblo of Oraybi and that this might stir up some trouble for us with the Moquinos and defeat our purpose, which was to use again the means of the evangelical light and meekness to combat their willful blindness and inveterate obstinacy, we ordered another horse killed, and that no one should go near the cattle even though they might be strays or common stock, as the companions assured us they were.

November 16
We set out east-southeast from La Cañada de los Chizos, traveled three leagues, and near a high mesa swung east-northeast for a quarter of a league. Here we found a very much used road. Concluding that it would go to one of the pueblos of Moqui we followed it, and having traveled over good and entirely level country for three leagues to the northeast and a little less than two to the north, we arrived at the mesa of the Pueblo of Oraybi. Ordering the companions to halt at the foot of the mesa, and that no one except those who were accompanying us in the ascent should go to the pueblo until we should instruct them to do so, we ascended without incident and on entering the pueblo we were surrounded by a great number of Indians, large and small. In a language which they did not understand we asked them for the cacique and the chiefs, and when we wished to go to the house of the cacique, they restrained us, one of them saying in the Navajó tongue that we must not enter the pueblo. Don Juan Pedro Cisneros, in the same tongue spiritedly asked if they were not our friends. Thereupon they quieted down, and an old man led us to his house and made us welcome in it, assigning us a room in order that we might pass the night there, and giving us the viands which they eat. - Today seven leagues.

Tonight the cacique and two old men came to visit us, and after having given us to understand that they were our friends, they offered to sell us the provisions we might need, as we had intimated that we would be grateful for them.

November 17
Very early in the morning they brought for us to the lodging some baskets or small trays of flour, beef tallow, guavas, and other kinds of food. We purchased promptly all we could because of the most necessary things they brought us the least. For lack of an interpreter we were unable to take up the matter of their conversion, as was desirable and as we wished to do, but we explained some things to them, especially to the cacique and to our host and benefactor. They listened attentively but said nothing except that they wanted to maintain friendship with the Spaniards. The cacique told us he had already sent word to the other pueblos in order that they might offer us hospitality and sell us the provisions we might need until we reached Zufii. We gave them to understand that we were very grateful for this favor and the others we had received at their hands. In the afternoon we set out from Oraybi for the pueblo of Xongopabi, and having traveled about two and a quarter leagues to the southeast we arrived after sunset, and they welcomed us courteously, promptly giving us lodging.'", - Today two and a quarter leagues to the southeast.

November 18
After the principal Indians of this pueblo and of the others nearby, Xipaolabi and Mossonganabi, had assembled, and we had told them of our gratitude for the favors and the warm welcome they had given us, we preached to them, partly by signs and partly in the Navajó tongue. They replied that they were unable to answer us because they did not understand the Castilian tongue or we the Moquino, and that we should go to Gualpi where there were persons versed in Castilian and where, talking as much as we might desire with the caciques and chiefs, we would learn what everybody wished to know. But when we urged them that if they had understood us they themselves should reply, they added that the cacique and chief of Oraybi had sent to tell them they must lodge us, listen to us, and sell us provisions, cultivating our friendship without treating of or admitting any other subject, since they wished to be our friends but not Christians. This over, we gave to the Indian who had lodged us and extended to us many courtesies a woolen cloak for his wife, thinking that in this way they would better understand our gratitude and become more attached to us. But it did not turn out the way we expected, for although the Indian woman gladly accepted the cloak, a brother of hers took it away and threw it toward us with a deep frown. We concluded that his hostility toward this innocent recompense arose from a suspicion of some evil purpose, contrary to our honor and profession, so we tried, with the seriousness and circumspection which the case demanded, to explain to them our true motive. Then the Indian, wishing to make amends for the affront he had shown us, although his guilt was not as grave as it appeared, put us in another predicament even worse than the first, many of us finding ourselves unable to understand a thing. After causing us to think seriously and when the crowd had dispersed he pointed out Father Fray Silvestre and Don Pedro Cisneros and said in Navajó that he had heard what took place in Oraybi when the fathers Fray Silvestre and Don Juan Pedro had been there in the summer of the previous year, and he had been present in Gualpi when the Cosnina talked to Father Fray Silvestre and told him about the road from Moqui to the Cosninas, and that now we had come by this same road; that he would not permit his brothers-in-law and brothers to accept the cloak, because if they did so their relatives and neighbors would be angry with them. He said this to satisfy us, but we were unable to understand clearly the other thing regarding which he wished to tell us, although it is not very difficult to infer it from the foregoing events. This afternoon we left for Gualpi, and having traveled nine leagues, more than four of them to the east, we arrived at night. Some of our small following remaining at the foot of the mesa, we ascended with the rest of them. We were welcomed very joyfully by the Tanos and Gualpis and they lodged us in the house of the cacique of the Tanos, where we spent the night. - Today two and one fourth leagues to the east.

After we had rested for a short time, we were told by an apostate Indian named Pedro, from the pueblo of Galisteo in New Mexico, who was now old and had great authority in this pueblo of the Tanos at Moqui, that they were now at fierce war with the Navajó Apaches, who had killed and captured many of their people. For this reason, he added, they were hoping that some fathers or Spaniards would come to these pueblos in order through them to beg from the Sefior Governor some aid or defense against these enemies. So they had been especially delighted when they learned that we were coming to visit them because they hoped we would aid and console them. This appeared to us to be one of the finest opportunities to induce them to submit to the Faith and to enter the dominions of His Majesty, God spare him. So we replied, giving them great hopes and telling them they must summon the chiefs of the three other pueblos to come to Gualpi, so that next day all might assemble in this pueblo of Tanos to discuss this matter at length and seriously. Then Pedro said that if we wished to take him with us he would like to go to the Villa of Santa Fé to arrange with the Señor Governor, in the name of the Moquinos and the Tanos, the alliance which they desired, and to request the aid they needed. We replied to him that we would take him gladly, and would use our good offices with the Señor Governor, in favor of all the Moquinos, but that for this it was necessary that each one of the six pueblos should send some person of authority into the presence of his lordship18. They promised that next day they would assemble in the way suggested and that they would send for us when they were assembled in a kiva, to talk over and discuss everything and decide what was best.

November 19
The chiefs of Mossonganabi came, and when they were assembled with the caciques and chiefs of these pueblos of the mesa of Gualpi in a kiva of the Tanos, the apostate Pedro led us to it, giving us as an interpreter another apostate, an Indian of the pueblo of Santa Clara named Antonio el Cuati, because he speaks and understands the Castilian language well. He translated our words into the Tegua language, and Pedro into the Moquino, so that all of us in the assembly might understand. They related everything they had discussed before we arrived at the kiva, and said they had agreed that the apostate Pedro should go with us to the Villa of Santa Fé in order that in the name of all he might ask the Señor Governor for aid against the Navajó Apaches, and establish friendship with the Spaniards, and they begged us to do everything possible in their behalf. We replied to them that we would take their part in every way, because we loved them like children, and were very sorry for their troubles, but that since only God is allpowerful and rules all, so long as they remained in their infidelity and until they ceased to offend Him, they would not be able to free themselves from suffering these troubles. Then we explained to them the severity of the eternal punishments which, if they did not accept the Christian religion, they must inevitably suffer in Hell, taking advantage for greater clarity and force, of the afflictions of which they had just told us. We told them also that if they would submit, they would have constant and sure help from the Spanish arms against all the heathen who might attempt to attack them, as did the Christian pueblos of New Mexico. This caused them to see at the same time the uselessness and inconstancy of the friendships and alliances which they had celebrated many times before with the Yutas and Navajós. And after having told them everything we thought suitable and efficacious, we told them that they must make known their decisions, with the understanding that whether or not it accorded with our desires, we were firm in our promise to take their ambassadors to Santa Fé and aid them in every way possible. Three times we urged them, exhorting them to enter the fold of the Holy Church, impugning and proving false and insubstantial their arguments for not accepting the Faith. Regarding the first, they replied that they knew the governors were sending the fathers to persuade them to submit to their authority but that they had not and still did not wish to. Regarding the second, they gave us to understand that, since there were many more heathen nations than Christian, they wanted to follow the more numerous party, and that besides this, they lived in country which was very inconvenient for the service which, once converted, they would have to render the Spaniards.

When we had overcome the apparent force of each one of these arguments, finding now nothing to contradict, the men of the assembly talked a long time, each in turn, beginning with those of the greatest authority and continuing in the order of their importance. And although each one spoke individually, he expressed himself in the form of a dialogue, and concluded his discourse by asking various questions of the others, who replied by assenting or denying respectively according to the nature of the questions. In these discourses they related the traditions of their ancestors and exhorted that they be observed, concluding that it was better for them to suffer their present troubles and calamities than to violate these traditions. So they replied that they wished only our friendship but by no means to become Christians, because the old men had told them and counseled them never to subject themselves to the Spaniards. We tried to make them see the foolish impiety of such traditions and counsels but without any success whatsoever. Finally they decided that Pedro should not go to the Villa of Santa Fé, the reason for which decision he himself told us, saying, "Now they do not wish that I should go to see the Governor because, since I am a Christian, they say that he will not let me return to Moqui." He feared this much more than the others, and so we were unable to get him to carry out his first intention. The assembly having ended, we withdrew very sadly to our lodging, realizing that the obstinacy of these unhappy Indians was invincible. And so we decided to continue next day to Zuñi before the passes and roads should be closed, because it was now snowing constantly, for which reason we were unable to observe the latitude of these pueblos of Moqui.

November 20
In the afternoon we set out from the pueblos of Gualpi, and having traveled four leagues east by southeast, we camped for the night at the watering place called El Ojo del Cañutillo or Ojito de Moqui. - Today four leagues.

November 21
We set out from El Ojo del Cafiutillo to the northeast, and having traveled three leagues we swung to the east-southeast two, then going a little more than two additional leagues to the east, we camped more than half a league before reaching a small watering place named the Estiladero or Ojito del Peñasco 99 - Today seven leagues.

November 22
We left the companions with the rest of the animals, which were now worn out, in order that they might follow slowly to Zuñi, and we with three of the companions set forth in light order, and having traveled nine leagues east by southeast, we arrived at the place called Cumáa. Here we rested a while, and then continued two more leagues to the east. The animals were now exhausted and we had to halt. - Today eleven leagues.

November 23
We continued our journey although it snowed all day with troublesome flurries, and having traveled on the gallop for twelve leagues, we camped at the place called Kianatuna or Ojo de San José. Tonight we suffered greatly from the cold. - Today twelve leagues almost all toward the east.
 

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