CHAPTER VI. 
Condition of the Aborigines of New Mexico upon its discovery by Spaniards. 
From regarding the present condition of the wild natives of the interior of our country, the 
mind naturally turns to an inquiry concerning their past history. From themselves, little can 
he learned. Indians are a wary people, cautious in all their intercourse with whites, and 
guard with religious fidelity the secrets of their tribes and race. Of their numerous traditions, 
it, is probable that few have been communicated to us, and those are generally in meager out¬ 
lines, partly from the want of a common language by which the savage might express his 
ideas. Therefore, for a history of the tribes under consideration, we must seek materials in 
the reports of early Spanish explorers, and allow the balance of the web to be woven with what 
can be collected from traditions, superstitions, antiquities, arts, customs, and from a comparison 
of their physiological developments and language with those of other nations. 
From the same sources only can be found a solution to other questions equally interesting. 
Frequently, at this day, are discovered extensive ruins, which must have been the abodes of a 
large population, at a considerable distance from permanent springs or streams of water; and 
it has been suggested by some, that the climate and nature of the country must have undergone 
a radical change since the occupation of those pueblos. At present, the regions of Moqui and 
Zuni contain, during certain seasons, only a scanty supply of water; while, according to vague 
traditions of the Indians, in the palmy days of their ancestors, not only the valleys, but the 
extensive mesas also, which are now usually waterless and comparatively barren, were fertilized 
by rain, and yielded abundant crops to the cultivators of the soil. The rains that have lately 
flooded that country—probably for the first time during many years—seem to add interest to 
the theory of a change, which, according to an ancient Indian prediction, handed down from 
generation to generation, and fully believed in by that superstitious people, is now to be 
reversed. Hence, to elucidate these points, as far as material may be found for it, the records 
of the explorers of the sixteenth century become matter of interest. Many of them are yet in 
manuscript, and enclosed in the archives of Spain or Mexico. Those which were published had 
a limited circulation, and are now rarely to be met with. Among the rare and valuable works 
upon American history in the extensive library of Col. Peter Force, of Washington, are 
found printed and manuscript documents illustrative of the condition of this continent upon 
its first discovery by Spaniards. Here Ave have access to Hakluyt’s description of voyages, pub¬ 
lished in 1600. As it contains much that is interesting regarding early explorations in the 
region between Rio Grande and the Colorado, and may be useful for a comparison with the pre¬ 
ceding, a brief recapitulation of those portions which relate to the country and people under 
consideration will constitute the remainder of this chapter. 
“RELATION OF THE REVEREND FATTIER FRIAR MARCO DE NIC A TOUCHING HIS DISCOVERY OF THE KING¬ 
DOM OF CEVOLA.” 
In execution of the instructions of the right honorable lord Don Antonio de Mendoca, vice¬ 
roy and captain-general for the Emperor’s majesty in New Spain, Friar Marco de Nica departed 
from the town of San Miguel, in the province of Culiacan, on Friday, the 7th of March, in the 
year 1539. His companion was Friar Honoratus, and he carried with him a negro named 
