But the information to be derived from Coronado's march, on the ethnography of New Mexico, is not confined to the above. While at Cibola, Indians from a tribe or region called "Cicuyé," which was said to be found far to the east, came to see him. They brought with them buffalo-hides, prepared and manufactured into shields and "helmets." Although the Spaniards had heard of the buffalo before reaching Zuñi, the animal itself had not been met with, and accordingly Coronado sent Hernando de Alvarado to Cicuyé, and in quest of the "buffalo country."[47]
Cicuyé is the "Cicuique" of Juan Jaramillo, and the "Acuique" of an anonymous relation of the year 1541: it lay to the east of Acoma, through which the Spaniards passed.[48] Between it and Acoma was the pueblo of "Tiguex," at a distance of three days' march, while Cicuyé was five days from Tiguex.[49] General Simpson identifies the latter with a point on the Rio Grande del Norte, "at the foot of the Socorro Mountains," and then places Cicuyé at "Pecos."[50] Between Acoma and the Rio Grande there lies the Rio Puerco; and on its banks other authorities, conspicuous among whom is Mr. W. W. H. Davis, have located Tiguex, while Cicuyé, according to them, was on the Rio Grande, somewhere near the valley of Guadalupe.[51] Both conclusions have their strong points; but both of them have also their weak sides. [p. 18]
If it took five days of march from Zuñi to Acoma, three days more, in a north-easterly direction, would have brought the Spaniards to the Rio Grande, and certainly much beyond the Rio Puerco; and then Pecos could easily be reached in five days.[52]
But we are unable to guess, even, at the length of each journey. From Zuñi to Acoma the country was uninhabited; therefore the length of each journey may have been great, because there was nothing to attract the attention of the Spaniards,—nothing to prevent them from hastening their progress in order to reach their point of destination. From Acoma on, the ethnographical character changed. The actual distance to the Rio Grande may be shorter; but pueblos sprung up at small intervals of space, which necessitated greater caution, and therefore greater delay, in the movements of the advancing party. Still, we have a guide of great efficiency in another branch of information. The pueblo of "Tiguex," mentioned as lying three days from Acoma, indicates, seemingly, a settlement of Tehua-speaking Indians. Now, the "Tehua" idiom is spoken in those pueblos which lie directly north of Santa Fé. San Ildefonso, San Juan, Santa Clara, Pohuaque, Nambé, and Tesuque. But it is quite ap[p. 19]parent that, considering the great distance of Santa Fé from Acoma, the journeys, as indicated in Castañeda, would fall very short of any of the pueblos mentioned.[53]
The Tehua, like all the tribes along the Rio Grande, suffered vicissitudes and consequent displacements; and it might be advanced that one or the other of the Tehua villages, formerly known as Tiguex, might now be destroyed.
Fortunately, we need not resort to such hypotheses. It appears, from documentary evidence of the year 1598, that there was, distinct from the Tehua or Tegua, a tribe of "Chiguas," or "Tiguas;"[54] and, from the notes of Father Juan Amando Niel (written between 1703 and 1710), it results that their settlements were near Bernalillo, on the Rio Grande; there[p. 20] being at that time three villages, the most northern of which was Santiago, the central one Puaray, near Bernalillo, and the most southern one San Pedro.[55] The distance between the first two pueblos, according to Fray Zarate Salmeron, in 1626, was about one and a half leagues, or five and a half English miles.[56] Tiguex, therefore, must be located on or near the site of Bernalillo. The "Rio Tiguex" of Castañeda is the Rio Grande del Norte, and the Indians of Tiguex belonged to the stock of the "Tanos" language, now spoken still by a few Indians at Galisteo, and by the inhabitants of the pueblos of Sandia and Isleta.[57] Even the direction in which the Spaniards moved from Acoma—that is, to the north-east—perfectly agrees with that in which Bernalillo lies, whereas the mouth of the Rio Puerco, below which General Simpson locates Tiguex, lies south-east of the pueblo of Acoma.
Having thus, as we believe, satisfactorily located Tiguex, it is easy to locate Cicuyé. It can be nothing else than Pecos, whose aboriginal Indian name, in the Jemez language, is "Âgin," whereas Pecos is the "Paego" of the Qq'uêres idiom. There is no other Indian pueblo answering to its description and geographical location as given by the chroniclers of Coronado. The fact that "when the army quitted Cicuyé to[p. 21] go to Quivira, we entered the mountains, which it was necessary to cross to reach the plains, and on the fourth day we arrived at a great river, very deep, which passes also near Cicuyé,"[58] does not at all militate against it. The easiest passage, and the most accessible one from Pecos eastward, leads directly to the slopes between the Rio Gallinas and the Rio Pecos; and either of these two streams could be, and had to be, met with very near to the confluence of both.[59] For other proof, and very conclusive too, I refer to my detailed description of the Ruins of the Pueblo de Pecos.
I repeat, it is not to our purpose to describe the "faits et gestes" of Coronado and of his men, but only to discuss the results of his march for the Ethnography of New Mexico. I even exclude Ethnology in as far as it does not include language. The distribution of tribes and stocks of tribes designated by idioms, as Coronado revealed it in 1540 to 1543, is to be the final result of the discussion. Therefore, I leave the acts of the Spaniards aside everywhere, when they are not essential to the object, and do not even follow a strict chronological sequence.
After Alvarado had left Cibola for Tiguex, Coronado himself followed him; and, "taking the road to Tiguex," he crossed a range of mountains where snow impeded his march,—and during which march he and his men were once two and a half days without water,—until finally he reached a pueblo called "Tutahaco."[60] General Simpson has not paid any attention to this place. Mr. Davis places it near Laguna.[61] This author has forgotten that Tutahaco was further from Zuñi than Tiguex itself, since it took Coronado more than eleven days to reach it.[62] This could not have been the case, had he[p. 22] passed north of Acoma; he must consequently have passed south of it, and, while originally following the trail to Tiguex, deviated in a direction from N.E. to E.S.E., crossing the mountains, and then finally struck the "Tiguex" pueblos, but in their southern limits, on the Rio Grande about "Isleta."[63] Castañeda is very positive in regard to the fact that "Tutahaco" was on the same river as "Tiguex," and that from the former Coronado ascended the stream to the latter.[64] This river was the Rio Grande; and, consequently, "Tutahaco" was south of "Puaray" or Bernalillo. There, he heard of other pueblos further south still.[65] "Tutahaco" was "four leagues to the south of Tiguex."[66]
When Coronado reached "Tiguex" at last, it thereafter became the centre of his operations. Castañeda very justly remarks: "Tiguex is the central point;"[67] and a glance at the map, substituting Bernalillo for it, will at once satisfy the reader of the accuracy of this statement.