wikship] NARRATIVE OF JARAMILLO 591 



mentioned, we turned back it may have been two or three days, where 

 we provided ourselves with picked fruit and dried corn for our return. 

 The general raised a cross at this place, at the foot of which he made 

 some letters with a chisel, which said that Francisco Vazquez de 

 Coronado, general of that army, had arrived here. 



Tins country presents a very line appearance, than which 1 have 

 not seen a better in all our Spain nor Italy nor a part of France, nor, 

 indeed, in the other countries where I have traveled in His Majesty's 

 service, for it is not a very rough country, but is made up of hillocks 

 and plains, and very fine appearing rivers and streams, which cer- 

 tainly satisfied me and made me sure that it will be very fruitful in 

 all sorts of products. Indeed, there is profit in the cattle ready to the 

 hand, from the quantity of them, which is as great as one could imag- 

 ine. We found a variety of Castilian prunes which are not all red, 

 but some of them black and green; the tree and fruit is certainly like 

 that of Castile, with a very excellent flavor. Among the cows we 

 found flax, which springs up from the earth in clumps apart from one 

 another, which are noticeable, as the cattle do not eat it, with their tops 

 and blue flowers, and very perfect although small, resembling that of 

 our own Spain (or and sumach like ours in Spain). There are grapes 

 along some streams, of a fair flavor, not to be improved upon. The 

 houses which these Indians have were of straw, and most of them round, 

 and the straw reached down to the ground like a wall, so that they did 

 not have the symmetry or the style of these here; they have something 

 like a chapel or sentry box outside and around these, with an entry, 

 where the Indians appear seated or reclining.' The Indian Isopete 

 was left here where the cross was erected, and we took five or six of 

 the Indians from these villages to lead and guide us to the flat-roof 

 houses. 2 Thus they brought us back by the same road as far as where 

 I said before that we came to a river called Saint Peter and Paul's, 

 and here we left that by which we had come, and, taking the right 

 hand, they led us along by watering places and among cows and by 

 a good road, although there are none either one way or the other 

 except those of the cows, as 1 have said. At last we came to where 

 we recoguized the country, where I said we found the first settlement, 



"The Spanisntext (p. 315)of this description of the Kansas-Nebraska plains is: "Esta tierratiene 



muy linda la apariencia, tal que no la ho visto yo mejor . . . porquo no es tierra nruy dohlada sino 

 de lo mas (de lomas) y llanos, y rios de muy linda apariencia y aguas, que cierto me contento y tengo 

 preBimcion que sera, muy frnctifera y de todos frutos. En Ins ganados ya est;i la esperencia (inspi- 

 riencia) en la rnano porla muehedu mine que hay, que estanta cuanto quieran pensar : jallamos eirguelas 

 de Castilla, im genero dellas que ni son del todo eoloradas, sine entre coloradas y algo negras y ver- 

 des. (,) EI arbol y el fruto es cierto de Castilla, de muy gentil sabor; jallamos entre lasvaeas, lino, que 

 produce la tierra. 6 breeitas (hebrecitas) arrediadas unas de otras, que comoel ganado no las come se 

 qnedan por alii con sus cabezuelas y nor azul, y aunque pequefio muy perfecto, natural del de nuestra 

 Espafia Iperfeeto; zumaque natural . . . ). En algunos arroyos, uvas de razonable sabor para no 

 benetieiadas: las easas que cstos Indies leman, eran de paxa y mnohas dellas redondas, y la paxa 

 llegaba hasta el suelo eomo pared que no tenia la proportion y mauera de las do aca ; por de fuera y 

 encima desto, tenian una nianera cninn capiUao garita, con una entrada doude se asomaban los indios 

 sentados 6 echados." 



2 The pueblos of the Rio Grande. 



