wureinp] EARLY MISSIONARIES AMONG THE PUEBLOS 401 



The friar was successful in his labors until he endeavored to enlarge 

 the sphere of his influence, when the jealousy, or possibly the cupidity, 

 of the Indians led them to kill him, rather than permit the transfer- 

 ence to some other tribe of the blessings which he had brought to them. 1 



Friar Juan de la Cruz is not mentioned by Castafieda nor by Jara- 

 millo, but Mendieta and Mota Padilla are very clear in their accounts 

 of him. He was an older man than the others, and had been engaged 

 in missionary work among the natives of the Jalisco country before he 

 joined this expedition. Coronado left him at Tiguex, where he was 

 killed, according to Mota Padilla. The date, in the martyrologies, is 

 November 25, 1542. Many natives of the Mexican provinces stayed in 

 the Pueblo country when Coronado abandoned it. Some of these were 

 still at Cibola when Antonio de Espejo visited it in 1583, while others 

 doubtless made their way back to their old homes in New Spain, and 

 they may have brought the information about the death of Friar Juan. 



Friar Luis Descalona, or de Ubeda as Mota Padilla calls him, was a 

 lay brother, who selected Cicuye or Pecos as the seat of his labors in 

 New Mexico. Neither the Spanish chronicles nor the Indiau tradi- 

 tions which Mr Baudelier was able to obtain give any hint as to his 

 fate or the results of his devotion to the cause of Christianity. 



THE RETURN TO NEW SPAIN 



The army started on its return from Tiguex to Cibola and thence to 

 Culiacan and Mexico early in the spring of 1542. The march was with- 

 out interruption or diversion. As the soldiers reentered New Galicia 

 and found themselves once more among settlements of their own race, 

 beyond the reach of hostile natives, the ranks dwindled rapidly. The 

 men stopped to rest and to recruit their strength at every opportunity, 

 and it was only with the greatest difficulty that Coronado was able to 

 keep together the semblance of a force with which to make his entry 

 into the City of Mexico. Here he presented his personal report to the 

 viceroy. He had little to tell which could interest the disappointed 

 Mendoza, who had drawn so heavily on the royal treasure box two 

 years before to furnish those who formed the expedition with everything 

 that they might need. Besides the loss in his personal estate, there 

 was this use of the royal funds which had to be accounted for to the 



! Vetancurt, in the Menologia, gives the date of the martyrdom of Fray Juan de Padilla as Novem- 

 ber 30, 1544, and I see no reason to prefer the more general statements of Jaramillo, Castafieda, and 

 Mota Padilla, which seem to imply that it took place in 1542. Docampo and the other companions 

 of the friar brought the news to Mexico. They must have returned some time previous to 1552, 

 for Gomara mentions their arrival in Tampico, on the Mexican gulf, in his Conquista de Mexico 

 published in that year. Herrera and Gomara say that the fugitives had been captured by Indians 

 and detained as slaves for ten months. These historians state also that a dog accompanied the 

 fugitives. Further mention of dogs in connection with the Coronado expedition is in the stories of 

 one accompanying Estevan which Alarcon heard along Colorado river, also in the account of the 

 death of Melchior Diaz, and in the reference by Castafieda to the use of these animals as beasts of 

 burden by certain plains tribes. 



Mendieta and Vetancurt say that, of the two donados, Sebastian died soon after his return, and the 

 other lived long aB a missionary among the Zacatecas. 



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