﻿518 
  REPORT 
  UNITED 
  STATES 
  GEOLOGICAL 
  SURVEY. 
  ^ 
  

  

  Extreme 
  Southicestern 
  Limit. 
  — 
  Eespecting 
  the 
  extreme 
  southwestern 
  

   limit 
  of 
  the 
  former 
  range 
  of 
  the 
  buffalo, 
  Keating, 
  on 
  the 
  authority 
  of 
  

   Colhoun, 
  wrote, 
  in 
  1823, 
  as 
  follows 
  : 
  " 
  Be 
  Laet 
  says, 
  on 
  the 
  authority 
  of 
  

   Herrera, 
  that 
  they 
  grazed 
  as 
  far 
  south 
  as 
  the 
  banks 
  of 
  the 
  Yaquimi.* 
  

   In 
  the 
  same 
  chapter 
  the 
  author 
  states 
  that 
  Martin 
  Perez 
  had, 
  in 
  1591, 
  

   estimated 
  the 
  Province 
  of 
  Cinaloa, 
  in 
  which 
  this 
  river 
  runs, 
  to 
  be 
  three 
  

   hundred 
  leagues 
  from 
  the 
  city 
  of 
  Mexico. 
  This 
  river 
  is 
  supposed 
  to 
  be 
  

   the 
  same 
  which, 
  on 
  Mr. 
  Tanner's 
  map 
  of 
  IsTorth 
  America 
  (Philadelphia, 
  

   1822), 
  is 
  named 
  Hiaqui,t 
  and 
  situated 
  between 
  the 
  27th 
  and 
  28th 
  degrees 
  

   of 
  north 
  latitude. 
  Perhaps, 
  however, 
  it 
  may 
  be 
  the 
  Eio 
  Gila, 
  which 
  

   empties 
  itself 
  in 
  latitude 
  32°.''! 
  

  

  On 
  referring 
  to 
  the 
  works 
  cited 
  by 
  Keating, 
  I 
  find 
  that 
  Herrera 
  gives 
  

   the 
  statement 
  on 
  the 
  authority 
  of 
  Nuiia 
  de 
  Guzman, 
  who 
  made 
  a 
  journey 
  

   to 
  Cinaloa 
  in 
  1532. 
  According 
  to 
  a 
  map 
  accompanying 
  De 
  Laet's 
  work 
  

   the 
  province 
  of 
  Cinaloa 
  included 
  the 
  parallels 
  of 
  twenty-seven 
  and 
  twen 
  

   ty-eight 
  degrees. 
  Herrera's 
  statement 
  is 
  as 
  follows 
  : 
  " 
  E.n 
  la 
  ribera 
  de 
  

   Yaquimi 
  ay 
  algunas 
  vacas, 
  y 
  muy 
  grandes 
  ciervos"5§ 
  — 
  simply 
  that 
  many 
  

   cattle 
  and 
  many 
  deer 
  of 
  very 
  large 
  size 
  were 
  found 
  on 
  the 
  banks 
  of 
  the 
  

   Yaquimi. 
  In 
  the 
  context, 
  nor 
  in 
  any 
  of 
  the 
  old 
  writings 
  descriptive 
  of 
  

   this 
  region 
  at 
  the 
  time 
  it 
  was 
  first 
  visited 
  by 
  the 
  Spaniards, 
  do 
  I 
  find 
  

   any 
  further 
  statements 
  that 
  could 
  by 
  the 
  freest 
  license 
  of 
  translation 
  be 
  

   rendered 
  bison 
  or 
  buffalo. 
  As 
  the 
  only 
  species 
  of 
  the 
  deer 
  family 
  found 
  

   in 
  this 
  region 
  is 
  the 
  little 
  Cervus 
  mexicanus, 
  one 
  of 
  the 
  smallest 
  deer 
  found 
  

   in 
  North 
  America., 
  the 
  phrase 
  muy 
  grandes 
  ciervos 
  can 
  only 
  refer 
  to 
  this 
  

   species, 
  and 
  gives 
  at 
  once 
  sufficient 
  evidence 
  of 
  the 
  exaggerated 
  style 
  of 
  

   the 
  narrative, 
  — 
  a 
  fault 
  well 
  known 
  to 
  be 
  common 
  to 
  the 
  descriptive 
  

   writings 
  of 
  those 
  times. 
  This 
  obscure 
  statement 
  does 
  not 
  apparently 
  

   afford 
  satisfactory 
  ground 
  for 
  doubting 
  what 
  historians 
  have 
  so 
  gen- 
  

   erally 
  accepted 
  in 
  respect 
  to 
  the 
  buffalo, 
  namely, 
  that 
  it 
  was 
  first 
  met 
  

   ■with 
  in 
  its 
  native 
  haunts 
  by 
  Cabega 
  de 
  Vaca, 
  on 
  the 
  plains 
  of 
  Texas, 
  in 
  

   1530, 
  and 
  next 
  by 
  Coronado's 
  expedition 
  in 
  1542. 
  In 
  rebuttal 
  of 
  this 
  

   supposed 
  proof 
  of 
  the 
  existence 
  of 
  the 
  buii^alo 
  in 
  Western 
  Mexico, 
  on 
  the 
  

   Yaquimi 
  or 
  Yaqui 
  Eiver, 
  during 
  the 
  middle 
  of 
  the 
  sixteenth 
  century, 
  we 
  

   have 
  the 
  rather 
  weighty 
  evidence 
  that 
  the 
  other 
  early 
  Spanish 
  explorers 
  

   who 
  traversed 
  this 
  region 
  did 
  not 
  even 
  hear 
  of 
  the 
  buffalo 
  till 
  they 
  

   reached 
  the 
  Gila, 
  where 
  they 
  found, 
  as 
  before 
  stated, 
  its 
  robes 
  in 
  the 
  

   possession 
  of 
  the 
  Indians, 
  which 
  the 
  latter 
  had 
  obtained 
  from 
  the 
  tribes 
  , 
  

   living 
  far 
  to 
  the 
  northeastward. 
  In 
  1539, 
  for 
  example. 
  Friar 
  Marco 
  de 
  | 
  

   Niga 
  set 
  out 
  from 
  the 
  town 
  of 
  San 
  Miguel, 
  in 
  the 
  Province 
  of 
  Culiacan, 
  ■ 
  

   situated 
  far 
  to 
  the 
  southward 
  of 
  the 
  Rio 
  Yaqui, 
  in 
  search 
  of 
  the 
  famed 
  

   Kingdom 
  of 
  Cibola. 
  In 
  this 
  journey 
  he 
  reached 
  the 
  Zuni 
  Eiver, 
  whence 
  

   he 
  retraced 
  his 
  steps 
  to 
  San 
  Miguel 
  and 
  passed 
  on 
  to 
  Compostella, 
  sit- 
  

   uated 
  in 
  latitude 
  about 
  21°. 
  The 
  following 
  year 
  (1540) 
  Coronado, 
  with 
  his 
  

   large 
  army, 
  passed 
  over 
  nearly 
  the 
  same 
  route, 
  both 
  crossing 
  the 
  Eio 
  

   Yaqui. 
  Ni9a, 
  however, 
  saw 
  only 
  the 
  prepared 
  skins 
  of 
  the 
  buffalo, 
  

   which 
  was 
  also 
  all 
  that 
  Coronado 
  saw 
  till 
  after 
  he 
  had 
  passed 
  Cicuic 
  and 
  

   reached 
  the 
  Great 
  Plains 
  east 
  of 
  the 
  Eocky 
  Mountains. 
  It 
  is 
  from 
  these 
  

   explorers 
  and 
  from 
  Cabe9a 
  de 
  Vaca 
  that 
  we 
  get 
  the 
  first 
  specific 
  account 
  

   of 
  the 
  buffalo. 
  It 
  hence 
  follows 
  that 
  there 
  is 
  good 
  reason 
  for 
  supposing 
  

   the 
  buffalo 
  to 
  have 
  been 
  absent 
  from 
  the 
  western 
  provinces 
  of 
  Mexico, 
  

  

  *" 
  Juxta 
  Yaquimi 
  fluminis 
  ripas 
  tauri 
  vaccajque 
  et 
  prcegrandes 
  cervi 
  pascuntur." 
  — 
  

   De 
  Laet, 
  Americce 
  Utriitsque 
  Descriptio, 
  Lugd. 
  Batav. 
  Auuo 
  1633, 
  Lib. 
  Cap. 
  6." 
  p. 
  286. 
  

  

  t 
  The 
  Rio 
  Yaqui, 
  doubtless, 
  of 
  modern 
  maps. 
  

  

  :!; 
  Long's 
  Expedition 
  to 
  the 
  Source 
  of 
  the 
  St. 
  Peter's 
  River, 
  Vol. 
  II, 
  p. 
  28. 
  

  

  § 
  Herrera 
  (Antonio 
  de), 
  Historia 
  de 
  las 
  Indias 
  Occidentales, 
  Tomo 
  III, 
  p. 
  16. 
  (Ed. 
  of 
  

   1728.) 
  

  

  