320 CORON ADO'S MARCH. 



itively affirmed that they had no knowledge of the bracelets, and they 

 assured him that the Turk was a great liar, who deceived him. Alva- 

 rado, seeing there was nothing else he could do, lured the chief, Bigotes, 

 and the Cacique under his tent, and caused them to be chained. The 

 inhabitants reproached the captain with being a man without faith or 

 friendship, and launched a shower of arrows on him. Alvarado con- 

 ducted these prisoners to Tiguex, where the general retained them more 

 than six months."* 



This affair seems to have been the beginning of Corouado's troubles 

 with the Indians, which were subsequently increased by his exacting 

 a large quantity of clothing, which he divided among his soldiers. 



Two weeks after Coronado left Cibola for Tiguex, agreeably to his 

 orders, the army under the command of Don Tristan d' Arellano took up 

 its march from that place for Tiguex. The first day they reached the 

 handsomest, and largest village in the province, where they lodged. 

 a There they found houses of seven stories, which were seen no- 

 where else. These belonged to private individuals, and served as 

 fortresses. They rise so far above the others that they have the appear- 

 ance of tow^ers. There are embrasures and loop-holes from which lances 

 may be thrown and the place defended. As all these villages have no 

 streets, all the roofs are flat, and common for all the inhabitants ; it is 

 therefore necessary to take possession, first of all, of those large houses 

 which serve as defenses."! 



The army passed near the great rock of Acuco, already described, 

 where they were well received by the inhabitants of the city perched 

 on its summit. 



Finally it reached Tiguex, where it was well received and lodged. 

 The good news given by the Turk cast their past fatigues into oblivion, 

 though the whole province was found in open revolt, and not without 

 cause, for on the preceding day the Spaniards had burnt a village ; and 

 we have already seen that the imprisonment of Bigotes and the Turk, 

 and the exactions of clothing by Coronada, had also very greatly exas- 

 perated them. The result of all this was that the Indians generally re- 

 volted, as they said, on account of the bad faith of the Spaniards, and 

 the latter retaliated by burning some of their villages, killing a large 

 number of the natives, and at last laying siege to and capturing Tiguex. 

 This siege lasted fifty days, and was terminated at the close of 1540.$ 



After the siege the general dispatched a captain to Chia, which had 

 sent in its submission. It was a large and populous village, four leagues 

 west of the Tiguex River. Six other Spaniards went to Qnirix, a prov- 

 ince composed of seven villages. All these villages were at length 

 tranquilized by the assiduous efforts of the Spaniards to regain the 

 confidence which they had justly lost by their repeated breaches of 

 faith ; but no assurances that could be given to the twelve villages in the 

 province of Tiguex would induce them to return to their homes so long 

 as the Spaniards remained in the country ; and no wonder, for no more 

 barbarous treachery was ever shown to a submissive foe than had been 

 shown to these Tigueans by these faithless Spaniards. 



So soon as the Tiguex River, (Rio Grande,) which had been frozen for 

 four months, was sufficiently free from ice, the army took up its march 

 on the 5th of May, 1541, to Quivira, in search of the gold and silver which 



*Castafieda's Relations, Ternaux Compans, pp. 76, 77. 7>. 



tCastaiieda's Relations, Ternaux Compans, p. 80. 



JCastafieda says 154'2, evidently an error, as may be ascertained by accounting for 

 the time consumed by the army in its march from Cluametla, which it left on the next 

 day alter Easter, 1510. (See ante, p. 12.) 



