CORONADO'S MARCH. 333 



tude 40° north ; and to a still larger river further on (probably the Mis- 

 souri) — makes it exceedingly probable that he reached the fortieth degree 

 of latitude, or what is now the boundary between the States of Kansas 

 and Nebraska, well on towards the Missouri Eiver ; and in this region I 

 have terminated his explorations north on the accom])anying map.* 



In regard to the return route of the army of Coronado, which he 

 dispatched to Tignex before he reached Quivira, it is expressly men- 

 tioned that they passed by some salt ponds, and, as I believe they are 

 ouly to be found in that region of country between the Canadian and 

 Arkansas Elvers, on the Little Arkansas Eiver, a tributary of the latter, 

 in about latitude 37°, and longitude 09°, I have located this route as 

 passing by these ponds, with some probability of its being correct.t 



Another point of the return route of the army was where it struck 

 the Eio Cicuye, about thirty leagues below the bridge, where it had 

 crossed it on their outward march-l 



Besides the provinces I have endeavored to locate there were a num- 

 ber, as I have already stated, visited by Coronado, or his officers, which 

 ■were situated on the Eio Tiguex, (Eio Grande,) or some of its tribu- 

 taries, as follows : Quirix, containing seven villages ; in the Snow Mount- 

 ains, seven ; Ximena, three ; Chea, one ; Hemes, seven ; Aguas Calien- 

 tes, three ; Yuque-yunque of the mountain, six ; Valladolid or Braba, 

 one ; Tutahaco, eight. 



Quirix was unquestionably' 8an Phelipe de Queres of the present day; 

 Chea, Silla ; Hemes, Hemez ; Aguas Calientes, the ruins which I have 

 seen at Ojos Calientes, twelve miles above Hemez, on the Eio de Hemez; 

 and Braiia, Taos. The situation of all the places named accord so well 

 with that given by Castaheda as to leave but little doubt that they are 

 identical. 



In addition, in relation to Braba, Castaheda states that it was the last 

 town on the Eio Tiguex, north, and was " built on tlie two banks of a 

 stream which was crossed by bridges built of nicely-squared i)ine tim- 

 ber." Gregg, speaking of Taos, which is the last pueblo on the Eio 

 Grande north of Santa Fe, says : " There still exists a pueblo of Taos, 

 composed for the most part of but two edifices of very singular con- 

 struction, on each side of a creek, and formerly communicating by a 

 bridge. The base story, near 400 feet long and 150 wide, is divided into 

 numerous apartments, upon which other tiers of rooms are built, one 

 above another, forming a pyramidal ])ile of fifty or sixty feet high, and 

 comprising some six or eight stories."§ The identity, therefore, of the 

 two places I think certain. 



All the vilages along the Eio de Tiguex, (Eio Grande,) explored by 

 Castaiieda. were included in a district thirty leagues (102 miles) broad 

 and one hundred and thirty (442 miles) long. 



Castaheda, speaking of the origin of the people who inhabited these 

 regions, says: " This circumstance, the customs and form of government 



* This hypothesis is also strengthenecl by the fact that the Turk who guided Coro- 

 nado stated that he was " a native of the country on the side of Florida," that is, 

 toward the east from the Eio Tiguex, (Eio Grande,) in the valley of which he was at 

 that time; that in his country Avas "a river two leagues broad," &c.; and that when 

 he reached Quivira he told the Spaniards " that his country was still beyond that." 

 (See Castaueda's Relations, Ternaux Compans, pp. 72, 77, 131.) 



t See ante, p. 40. 



t IJetween the outward and return route the Canadian Eiver is deeply canoned for 

 fifty miles, which doubtless necessitated the army on its return either to cross it where 

 it did when going to Quivira, or at least tifty miles below that point ; and doing the 

 latter, it naturally struck the Pecos proportionally lower down from the bridge. 



§ Gregg's Commerce of the Prairies, 2d. ed., vol), ii, j). 277. 



