498 THE CORONADO EXPEDITION, 1540-1542 [kth.ann.14 



that if he would send away the horsemen and make his men keep away, 

 Juan Alemau and another captain would come out of the village and 

 meet him. Everything was done as they required, and then when 

 they approached they said that they had no arms and that he must 

 take his oil". Don Garcia Lopez did this in order to give them confi- 

 dence, on account of his great desire to get them to make peace. When 

 he met them, Juan Aleman approached and embraced him vigorously, 

 while the other two who had come with him drew two mallets 1 which 

 they had hidden behind their backs and gave him two such blows over 

 bis helmet that they almost knocked him senseless. Two of the soldiers 

 on horseback had been unwilling to go very far off, even when he ordered 

 them, and so they were near by and rode up so quickly that they res- 

 cued him from their hands, although they were unable to catch the 

 enemies because the meeting was so near the village that of the great 

 shower of arrows which were shot at them one arrow hit a horse and 

 went through his nose. The horsemen all rode up together and hur- 

 riedly carried off their captain, without being able to harm the enemy, 

 while many of our men were dangerously wounded. 2 They then with- 

 drew, leaving a number of men to continue the attack. Don Garcia 

 Lopez de Cardenas went on with a part of the force to another village 

 about half a league distant, because almost all the people in this region 

 had collected into these two villages. As they paid no attention to the 

 demands made on them except by shooting arrows from the upper 

 stories with loud yells, and would not hear of peace, he returned to his 

 companions whom he had left to keep up the attack on Tiguex. A 

 large number of those in the village came out and our men rode off 

 slowly, pretending to flee, so that they drew the enemy on to the plain, 

 and then turned on them and caught several of their leaders. The rest 

 collected on the roofs of the village and the captain returned to his camp. 

 After this affair the general ordered the army to go and surround the 

 village. He set out with his men in good order, one day, with several 

 scaling ladders. When he reached the village, he encamped his force 

 near by, and then began the siege; but as the enemy had had several 

 days to provide themselves with stores, they threw down such quanti- 

 ties of rocks upon our men that many of them were laid out, and they 

 wounded nearly a hundred with arrows, several of whom afterward 

 died on account of the bad treatment by an unskillful surgeon who was 

 with the army. The siege lasted fifty days, during which time several 



1 Wooden warclubs shaped like potato-mashers. 



2 Hota Padilla, xxxii, 7, p. 161, describes this encounter: " D. Garcia paso al pueblo mayor a requerir 

 al principal cacique, que se llamaba D. Juan Loman, aunque no estaba bautizado, y se dej6 ver por loa 

 mnros sin querer bajar de paz, y it instancias de D. Garcia, ofreci6 salirle a hablar, como dejase el 

 caballo y espada, porque tenia nmeho miedo; y en esta conformidad, desmonto 1). Garcia del caballo, 

 entregolecon la espada & sua soldados, a quienes bizo retirar, y acercilndosea los inuros, luegoque Juan 

 Loman se afronto, se abrazo de el, y al punto, entre seis indios que babia dejado apereibidos, lo lleva- 

 ron on peso y lotntraran en el pueblo si lapuerta no es pequeiia, por lo que en ella bizo bincapie, y 

 pudo resistir basta que llegaron soldados de a caballo, que le defendieron. Quisieron los indios 

 hacer alguna crueldad con diehu J). Garcia, por lo que intentaron llevarlo vivo, que si los indios saleu 

 con macanas 6 porras que usaban, le quitan la vida." 



