17.
Because they were written on the same day and seemingly in the same handwriting, we presume that this inscription and the one to the west were written by the same man. The first one says:
“The 28th day of September of 1737, arrived here the Bachelor Don Juan Ignacio of Arrasain.”
The second reads:
“The 28th day of September of 1737, arrived here the illustrious Señor Don Martin de Elizacochea, Bishop of Durango, and the day following, went on to Zuñi.”
The good “Bachelor” was a Bachelor of Laws, not necessarily a single man. The event records one of the first visits to this territory by a Bishop from Durango, Mexico.
Don Martin de Elizacochea inscription, 1737
Don Francisco Manuel de Silva Niéto Poem, 1629