542 THE CORONADO EXPEDITION, 1540-1542 [eth.ann.H 



of them because I am writing at a time when many men are still 

 living who saw them and who will vouch for my account. Who could 

 believe that 1,000 horses and 500 of our cows and more than 5,000 

 rams and ewes and more than 1,500 friendly Indians and servants, in 

 traveling over those plains, would leave no more trace where they had 

 passed than if nothing had been there — nothing — so that it was neces- 

 sary to make piles of bones and cow dung now and then, so that the 

 rear guard could follow the army. The grass never failed to become 

 erect after it had been trodden down, and, although it was short, it was 

 as fresh and straight as before. 



Another thing was a heap of cow bones, a crossbow shot long, or a very 

 little less, almost twice a man's height in places, and some 18 feet or more 

 wide, which was found on the edge of a salt lake in the southern part, 1 

 and this in a region where there are no people who could have made it. 

 The only explanation of this which could be suggested was that the 

 waves which the north winds must make in the lake had piled up the 

 bones of the cattle which had died in the lake, when the old and weak 

 ones who went into the water were unable to get out. The noticeable 

 thing is the number of cattle that would be necessary to make such a 

 pile of bones. 



Now that I wish to describe the appearance of the bulls, it is to be 

 noticed first that there was not one of the horses that did not take flight 

 when he saw them first, for they have a narrow, short face, the brow 

 two palms across from eye to eye, the eyes sticking out at the side, so 

 that, when they are running, they can see who is following them. They 

 have very long beards, like goats, and when they are running they throw 

 their heads back with the beard dragging on the ground. There is a 

 sort of girdle round the middle of the body. 2 The hair is very woolly, 

 like a sheep's, very fine, and in front of the girdle the hair is very long 

 and rough like a lion's. They have a great hump, larger than a camel's. 

 The horns are short and thick, so that they are not seen much above 

 the hair. In May they change the hair in the middle of the body for a 

 down, which makes perfect lions of them. They rub against the small 

 trees in the little ravines to shed their hair, and they continue this 

 until only the down is left, as a snake changes his skin. They have a 

 short tail, with a bunch of hair at the end. When they run, they carry 

 it erect like a scorpion. It is worth noticing that the little calves are 

 red and just like ours, but they change their color and appearance with 

 time and age. 



Another strange thing was that all the bulls that were killed had 

 their left ears slit, although these were whole when young. The reason 

 for this was a puzzle that could not be guessed. The wool ought to 



'Ternaux, p. 236: "Ton trouva sur le bord oriental d'un dee lacs sales qui sont vers le sud, un 

 endroit qui avait environ une deini-portee de luousquet de longueur, et qui etait entierenient convert 

 d'os de bisons jusqu'a la bauteur de deux toises sur trois de large, ce qui est surprenant dans uu 

 pays desert, et oil personne n'aurait pu rassembler ces os." 



'Compare tin- Spanish. Ternaux, p. 237: "lis ont sur la partie anterieure du corps nn poil fris* 

 aemblable a la lainede moutons, il est tres-fin sur la croupe, et lisse coranie la criuiere du lion." 



