winship] THE DEATH OF ESTEVAN 361 



when he reached the village in person. He proceeded thither at once, 

 but instead of being admitted, he was placed under guard in a house 

 near by. 1 All the turquoises and other gifts which he had received 

 from the Indians during his journey were taken from him, and he was 

 confined with the people who accompanied him, over night, without 

 receiving anything to eat or drink. The next morning Estevan tried to 

 run away, but was overtaken and killed. The fugitives who brought 

 this news to Friar Marcos said that most of their companions also had 

 beeu killed. The Indians who had followed the friar forthwith began 

 to mourn for three hundred of their relations and friends, who had per- 

 ished, they declared, as a result of their confidence in his forerunner. 

 This number was undoubtedly an exaggeration. Castaneda heard that 

 the natives of Cibola kept a few lads from among those who were with 

 the negro, "and sent back all the rest, numbering about sixty." The 

 story of Estevan's death is reputed to have been preserved among the 

 legends of the Indians of Zuni. According to this tradition, the village 

 at which the " Black Mexican" was killed was K'iakima, a village now 

 in ruins, situated on a bluff at the southwestern angle of Thunder 

 mountain mesa; but this is totally at variance with the historical evi- 

 dence, which seems to point quite conclusively to Hawikuh, the first 

 village encountered from the southwest, as the scene of Estevan's 

 death. 2 One of the Indiau stories of Estevan's death is that their wise 

 men took the negro out of the pueblo during the night, and "gave him 

 a powerful kick, which sped him through the air back to the south, 

 whence he came!" 



The killing of Estevau made it impossible for Friar Marcos, alone and 

 unprepared for fighting, to enter the Cibola region. The first reports 

 of the disaster, as is usually the custom, told of the death of all who 

 accompanied the negro, and in consequence there was much wailing 

 among the Indians who had followed the friar. They threatened to 

 desert him, but he pacified them by opening his bundles and distribut- 

 ing the trinkets brought from Mexico. While they were enjoying 

 these, he withdrew a couple of stone-throws for an hour and a half to 

 pray. Meanwhile, the Indians began again to think of their lost friends, 

 and decided to kill the friar, as the indirect cause of the catastrophe. 

 But when he returned from his devotions, reinvigorated. and learned of 

 their determination, he diverted their thoughts by producing some of 

 the things which had been kept back from the first distribution of the 

 contents of his packs. He expounded to them the folly of killing him, 

 since this would do him no hurt because he was a Christian and so would 

 go at once to his home in the sky, while other Christians would come 

 in search of him and kill all of them, in spite of his own desires to 

 prevent, if possible, any such revenge. "With many other words" he 



1 This is precisely the method pursued by the Zuiiis today against any Mexicans who may be fonnd 

 in their vicinity during the performance of an outdoor ceremonial. 



2 This question has been fully discussed by F. W. Hodge. See "The First Discovered City of 

 Cibola," American Anthropologist. Washington, April, 1895. 



