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.
This country presents a very fine appearance, than which I 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 certainly 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 Land, from the quantity of them, which is as great as one could imagine. 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[1] 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. [2] 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. 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 I have said. At last we came to where we recognized the country, where I said we found the first settlement,
- ↑ The pueblos of the Rio Grande.
- ↑ The Spanish text (p.315) of this description of the Kansas-Nebraska plains is: "Esta tierra tiene muy linda la apariencia, tal que no la he visto yo mejor. . . porque no es tierra muy doblada sino de lo más (de lomas) y llanos, y rios de nay linda apariencia y aguas, que cierto nie contento y tengo presuncion que será nay fructifera y de todos frutos. En los ganados ya está la esperencia (inspiriencia) en la mano por la muchedumbreque hay, que es tauta cuanto quieren pensar: jallanos cirguclas de Castilla, mu género dellas que ni son del todo coloradas, sino entre coloradas y algo negras y verdes. (,) El árbol y el fruto es cierto de Castilla, de gentil sabor: jallamos entre las vacas. lino, que produce la tierra, é brecitas (hebrecitas) arredradas unas de otras, que como el ganado no las come se quedan por allí con sus cabeznelas y flor azul, y aunque pequeño muy perfecto, natural del de nuestra España (perfecto; zumaque natural. . .). En algunos arroyos. uvas de razonablo yahor para no beneficiadas: las casas que estos indios tenian, eran de paxa y muchas dellas redondas, y la paxa llegaba hasta el suelo como pared que no tenia la proporcion y manera de las de acá: por do fuera y encima desto, tenian una manera como capilla ó garita, con una entrada donde se pronaban los indios Bentados ó echados."
