S24 
FOREST AND STREAM. 
[April 23, i8g8. 
to outstrip, without apparent effort, even the fastest of 
the lean horses of the whites. 
Northward the column plodded for some three 
weeks, at times catching glimpses across the western 
water of the blue peaks of the mountains of the island of 
Marquez, or of California^ as they variously called it, 
and suffering some loss of horses, while the flock of 
sheep dwindled fast, and the now lonely dog had to be 
kept in leash lest he should race them to death. 
Diaz now decided to stop and rest his company for a 
week. His march had been kept down to the pace of the 
traveling sheep, and he had made in tliis time little more 
than two lumdred miles, but he went into camp on the 
bank of a pool, which formed part of one of those disap- 
pearing and reappearing streams so common in the arid 
West. This theoretical stream was called by the Span- 
iards somewhat pompously the San Ygnacio River. The 
grass, springing after the July rains, was now strong and 
succulent. The horses and sheep picked up wonderfully 
and the men managed to capture several antelope, which 
proved to be excellent eating. Starting again northward 
and afterward westward, Diaz at last reached the Col- 
orado River about the first of November. He called 
the I'iver the Tizon (or "burnt wood") River for some 
unknown reason, and was much struck by its size. More- 
over, he began noAV to have misgivings about the vice- 
roy's geographj', and found that his own map was cer- 
tainly unreliable. 
Still he pressed on tip the river along the east bank, 
and was finally met by news of Alarcon's ships. He 
interpreted the information, much of which was given 
by signs to mean that the ships were on the sea coast 
at the mouth of the river, as indeed they had been a 
month before. But, while yet a good way above the 
river's mouth, a tree was found on the bank with a great 
fresh blaze on the side, and on the blaze was written 
by the point of a hot iron: "Alar con has come thus far; 
dig at the foot of this tree for letters." The letters were 
found in a wooden box and told that the hardy and in- 
telligent sailor had been up the river with his men a 
long way in rowboats, but had found that it would be 
impossible to communicate with Coronado by this route. 
He also said that no further advance by sea was possible 
because the sea was a gulf and that the ocean did not 
flow in around the north of the island of Marquez or 
California, but that that supposed island was a part of the 
land forming the gulf. Alarcon therefore, after doing 
and finding out everything possible, had sailed back. 
Diaz now consulted with his men about their future 
plan of action. They decided first to march up the river 
until they' might find some good place to camp for a few 
days and cither fell timber for raft-building or capture 
Indian boats, if they should be found, to ferry them 
across the stream; then to visit the new regions beyond. 
For they had heard much of the pearls of the island of 
Marquez, and seen some fine jewels from those parts, 
and if Alarcon was right the Marquez land was no island, 
but could be reached on foot by crossing the stream 
before them, unless indeed some "mountains of fire" 
laid down indistinctly on the map should bar the way. 
One obstacle, however, to rapid journeys and easy sub- 
sistence was the determined hostility of the natives. Fur- 
ther south in Anahuac, in Culiacan, even in Sonora, the 
Indians, who formed large and partly civilized bodies, 
were brave to be sure, and fought well against invasion, 
but after Spanish steel and Spanish powder had won 
a few engagements the natives for the most part sub- 
mitted to Christian rule. Here, however, from the Seris 
onward, the miserable imsocial wanderers seemed ani- 
mated by no motive but hatred of their kind. They lived 
on food often of surprising and disgusting character: 
spiders, insects, decaying meat, cooked or raw, all seemed 
palatable to these creatures. Their dress was but a rag- 
ged hide or loin cloth of woven grass. Their hair, matted 
with dirt, was the only protection for their heads. Yet, 
with all this, their endurance and swiftness were the 
marvel of the strong and hardy soldiers. Lurking be- 
hind some rock or cactus clump for hours or even days, 
they would fire their arrows and speed away laughing at 
the futile pursuit. Fortunately their bows were weak, 
and their aim, except at close distances, was poor, so that 
as the wary captain was always on his guard, the band 
thus far had suffered only from a few slight wounds and 
the necessity of a constant watch. 
Diaz then starting his men up the river in the cool 
weather of the late autumn, kept near enough the stream 
to feed his animals on the green grass of the bottoms. 
Scouts could examine the level desert or the low stony 
hills with little trouble, and while occasionally the march 
was stopped at the sight of hostile natives sneakmg m 
the neighborhood, the sheep were the mam hmdrance 
to speed. The flock, however, had proved indispensable 
and had fed the men for many days when the wilderness 
offered them no resources. 
A little over a week's march (during which the party 
must have crossed the Gila River, though none of the 
reports mentions that fact) brought the explorers about 
a hundred miles above the point where they had found 
Alarcon's letter. Now they spied half a dozen of the 
brush-wood huts that the Indians live in, and a few of 
those platforms with huge baskets on them which the 
squaws used for the storage of the wild seeds they col- 
lected. The inhabitants of this village did not exactly de- 
fend their settlement, but lurked in the neighborhood and 
managed to wound both a man and a horse before a vol- 
ley from the matchlocks, which were carried by a part 
of the Spanish force, scared them off to a respectful dis- 
tance. Diaz found here a canoe, but his men did not 
manage it well. It was a small craft at best and so 
cranky that the two soldiers who tried it turned over 
with it after a dozen strokes. 
The men were in shallow water, and waded out, but 
they neglected the boat, which floated down stream. 
No effort in fact was made to find the canoe, for Diaz 
thought it would be better to build a raft out 9f a group 
of cottonwoods which grew in a bend of the river. 
The green trees were cut and proved to be so heavy 
as almost to sink in the water without a load, but some 
old windfalls lay amid the standing timber and by choos- 
ing those which were dry but not yet decayed a raft was 
made, lashed together with ropes. The raft could carry 
eight or nine men and their baggage. The horses were 
towed behind, either wading in the shallows or . swim- 
ming in the deeper current, and the sheep were tied 
and laid on the raft among the men, a few going over 
each time. A great part of the crossing could be made 
by poling the raft, and the main trouble then was to 
keep off the sand banks. Then when they drew near the 
channel, the raft was pushed along fast, and if there were 
a favoring breeze blankets were held up to give head- 
way. It took, however, five trips, and two whole days 
were used up in ferrying, for some of the men had to go 
hack each time with the raft, and at every crossing the 
current swept the clumsy contrivance far down stream, 
so that when the whole party were over they 'found them- 
selves ten miles below their first starting point. 
On Sunday, Nov. 21, old style — for the year, you re- 
member, was 1540 — the crossing was finished, the sheep, 
the dog, the surviving horses and the baggage were all 
safely over, and Father Jayme reverently laid on the 
ground the small consecrated stone he always carried 
to sanctify his rustic altars and celebrated mass, while 
the Spaniards knelt and a few Indians, less ferocious 
seemingly than their kinsmen across the river, gazed 
in wonder at the strange company with their stranger 
animals, their glittering arms and their impressive rites. 
But these solemn rejoicings were followed by a stroke 
of fate which cost the expedition its loved and revered 
leader and sent most of the soldiers on a long retreat. 
About a week after the party had started south along 
the west bank of the river the dog of Sainz was trotting 
along with the column when something frightened the 
sheep. There is no animal probably so stupid even to the 
point of suicide as a sheep. The flock was crowding over 
toward a steep ravine and Sainz ran to head them off. 
His greyhound, which was ill-mannered and untrained, 
straightway bounded after the sheep and was like_ to 
have bitten some and chased others to their death. Diaz, 
whose patience had already been tried by the antics of 
the dog, spurred his horse to a fast gallop and hurled 
his lance with a speed and aim which would have pinned 
the hound to the ground, but for the fact that the spear 
glanced on the branch of a mesquite tree and turned 
over and over, finally sticking into the ground with butt 
down and point raking backward. All this passed so 
quickly that Diaz did not notice his spear among the 
bushes until he Avas close on to it, and then his hard- 
mouthed horse did not turn quickly enough to save him. 
The spear point pierced the thigh and ran crosswise some 
2in. into the body of the rider. Courageous to the last, 
Diaz at once had the weapon pulled out, and though 
faint from the shock and bleeding directed his men to 
make a litter and bear him on to the next water. For 
two days they lay encamped at a scanty spring with little 
shade, "when it became clear that Diaz's wound would 
probably prove fatal. He himself urged the whole party 
to go forward, carrying him while he lived, and after he 
died taking possession of new lands for the Catholic 
king. The soldiers were too cast down to care now for 
adventure, and the Indians, perceiving that some evil 
fortune had befallen the Spaniards, harassed them ex- 
ceedingly. By slow marches the party withdrew to the 
great river, and there in the cool shade they nursed their 
captain for several days longer until his strong and gal- 
lant spirit took its flight. 
To the last Diaz had urged priest and soldiers to fur- 
ther efforts, showing them the duty of a true Spaniard 
to his king and a true apostle to his church, and finally 
died bravely and quietly, having partaken of the holy 
sacrament. 
The men sorrowfully buried their commander, and 
then consulted as to their future course. Father Jayme 
was filled with missionary spirit, and eager to follow the 
promptings of his own heart and that of his beloved cap- 
tain. Estrada too was for going forward, and of that 
counsel were Martinez and Bejar, but Sainz was over- 
come with grief that his dog had caused so great a di.s- 
aster and wished to go back, and all the others except 
the four named agreed with Sainz. So, in great friend- 
ship, the band decided to separate. And it is remarkable 
to see how few disputes arose, even after the loss of the 
strong and gentle hand which had trained the band to 
feel as one man. Sainz led back his twenty men to the 
land of the Pimas and Papagos, who were found to be 
much more tractable than the Indians of the river, and 
by the help of these natives they managed to collect 
quite a little gold dust from the placers^ of northern 
Sonora, and late in the winter returned to Culiacan. , 
Estrada, Bejar, Martinez and Father Jayme mounted 
their horses, for four horses of those remaining had been 
allotted to these explorers, and again started to the south- 
west to reach the land of the Cocopahs, who were said to 
be more gentle or at least less ferocious than the river 
tribes. 
Father Jayme grieved exceedingly that of all the heath- 
en he had met on the journey, one only had he baptized, 
and that one was a wounded man, who tried to stab the 
priest during the holy office, so that it was doubtful 
whether the power of grace had taken effect even in this 
instance. He thought, however, that perhaps the natives 
further south would be persuaded of the truth like the 
tribes of Anahuac, and he hoped strongly to save many. 
The natives near by, however, were so hostile that the 
party started at night, and by a long march got a safe 
lead on their enemies. One boy only was seen dogging 
them the next day, skimming swiftly with bare feet over 
sharp flints and cactus thorns, of which even the pro- 
tected Spaniards were wary. It is indeed uncertain 
whether the youth was really an enemy or only a hostage 
from the southern tribes held by the river Indians, who 
was anxious to join the soldiers on their march, but 
afraid to do so. Estrada laid a cunning trap for him. 
The party on passing over a sharp rise in the ground saw 
a gully twisting down to the left. Estrada jumped off 
his horse and hid behind a rock, telling the rest to hasten 
forward, so that only a part of them cotdd be seen at a 
time in the twists and turns of the ravine. The simple 
plan worked perfectly. The pursuer came rapidly along, 
scanning the tracks and glancing now and then at the 
distant band. On a sudden, Estrada caught him with a 
strong grip on both arms and raised a great shout. The 
companions then came back and secured the captive 
with a rope, when they again took up their journey. The 
prisoner after the first start of surprised terror had 
seemed resigned. His stolid and dirty features looked 
as if they were trying to express wonder and admiration 
at the bearded whites and their strange animals. 
Father Jayme was delighted. That evening in camp 
he strove earnestly to exorcise the demon which evident- 
ly lurked behind the grim visage of the youth by certain 
Latin prayers. From the accounts of the soldier chron- 
iclers it can be seen that Father Jayme was somewhat 
of a classical scholar, and not a little proud of his learn- 
ing. When the Avriters speak of him as using the words 
of the vulgate or the service, this Latin, familiar to all 
good churchmen, is often recognizable (indeed it is 
sometimes a surprise on looking up some deplorable 
Latin to find that it gives the exact words of the vul- 
gate),, but at times the renderings of the good priest's 
learned words became a riddle after filtering through the 
untaught memories of his rudtr friends. This is espe- 
cially true of Martinez, who seems to have been less_ cul- 
tivated than either Jaramillo or Castaneda, the historians, 
who wrote also about the fortunes of other parts of the 
expedition, and indeed it is not certain whether Martinez 
himself could write at all. 
The ceremony of casting the devil but of the captive 
began with the words, "In nomine patris conjuro te O! 
Satanas." The rest of the address cannot now be re- 
stored from the confusion of tongues into which it has 
fallen, but the prisoner himself, in spite of his forbidding 
appearance, seems to have desired to stand well with his 
captors. He submitted to an aspersion of holy water, 
and was grateful when the good father undid his bonds 
and wound a cloth around a ragged cut in his ai;m, which 
he seemed to have got by some fall or accident during the 
night. The good father was now assured that he had 
gained a convert, and only waited for a more complete 
understanding of the signs or words of the neophyte 
to baptize him. 
Provisionally he was called Juan, as none of the party 
could pronounce those singular sounds he used, appar- 
ently to tell his name, and as a measure of precaution 
Estrada took his bow. H. G. Dulog. 
[to be continued.] 
John Clough's Ride. 
Currituck, N. C. — This season', which closed March 
31. was equal to any during the past ten years; and the 
snipe season just beginning bids fair to be a good one 
also. 
There has been much speculation among the natives, 
as well as visitors, during the past year or two as to 
what the future holds in store for us. If the water con- 
tinues to grow salt, as it has done for the past two 
years, there is no question that the canvasbacks, red- 
heads and ruddy ducks will leave us. About sixty-five 
years ago, when old Currituck Inlet was open, we are 
told by some of our oldest friends that while there was 
an abundance of black brant, sea coots, old squaws and 
other kinds of salt-water ducks, with an occasional flock 
of wild geese, there were none, or scarcely any, of the 
other varieties we now prize so much. There are many 
reasons for the water changing from fresh to salt, but 
the principal one is that the beach lying between the 
Sound and Atlantic Ocean, which is only from a half 
mile to one and a quarter miles wide, seems slowly but 
constantly washing away. Every fall and spring wben 
the equinoctial comes the storm tides come across into 
the Sound and leave the water 'for months almost as salt 
as the ocean itself. Whether these storms grow worse 
we are not sure, but certain it is that every season more 
and more salt water comes across, leaving the beach 
more level and less able to prevent it. 
In my^own opinion, in less than a quarter of a cen- 
tury the whole beach from Back Bay in Virginia to 
Roanoke Island, N. C, will be simply a reef out in the 
sea. As an example we would direct the reader to Cobb's 
Island, off the Virginia coast. Five years ago it was a 
large island, hundreds of acres in extent, with a large 
hotel on. it. Last fall a heavy storm came, and to-day 
there is simply a reef out in the ocean. 
It has been our lot to be caught on the coast in some 
of these storms. The experiences were wild and weird, 
and never to be forgotten. 
Sunday morning, March 16, 1846, John Dyer, of Prin- 
cess Anne, about nine miles south of Virginia Beach, was 
aroused from his slumber and told he must prepare to 
vacate, and that he would probably have to swim for 
his life. It so happened that John had been careless 
with his gun some weeks before, and had shot a part 
of his right leg off. William Clough, his wife and three 
children occupied this one-story (16 by 20) building with 
John, hut they had only one small skiff between them, 
which barely held Wifliam and hisTittle family. William 
quickly placed them in the boat and pushed oft', prom- 
ising to return for John and his stiff leg as soon as he 
found land; but alas! he found no land, or at least no 
olive branches, and never returned. By this time the 
wind had increased to a hurricane, and the breakers 
were tumbling over the beach 10 to isft. high. Now 
John had been placed, when wounded, on an old-fash- 
ioned high-post feather bed, in which there were 5olbs. 
of wild goose feathers. The house began to rock like 
a cradle, and John to pray; still William, his only hope, 
came not. It was awful. The water began to come in 
through the door and run across the floor; still no 
William. The cat, the only living creature left save John, 
jumped on the bed, and at this moment the roof parted 
and blew over; then came an immense wave, 
and away they went, floating away on the- crest 
of the huge billow. The top part of the house 
had been used for a smoke-house, and as luck would 
have it, when the house fell a large ham fell on the bed 
with him. For hours he drifted before the wind and 
tide, flat on his back, on this "downy couch," with no 
. hope of being saved. AH that afternoon and far into 
the inky night he drifted on ; finally, worn out from ex- 
posure, he fell asleep and slumbered on. There are no 
mountains in that section, but three days later John was 
found in the top of a live oak tree, about 12ft. from the 
ground, still sticking to the old feather bed, with the 
cat for a companion quietly sleeping by his side. This 
is a true story. Currituck. 
The FoEEST AND Stream is put to press each week on 
Tuesday. Corresipondencc intended f^t puhlicattnri 
should reach us at t?ie latest Tjy Monday, and as much, 
ea/rlier as practicable. 
