[ 12] An error, since the party had just left Cheneches.
[ 13] The huge number of dead animals found in these villages is testimony to their great significance as an item in the diet of the natives. The Nupchenches group evidently had undergone a profound alteration from a sedentary, principally vegetarian people to active, hard-riding, meat-eating raiders.
[ 14] From the 16th to the 28th of December the Pico-Ortega expedition was pursued by miserable fortune and turned in a really pathetic performance. Not lacking in competent leadership, it nevertheless floundered for nearly two weeks through rain and mud, lost its horses, was led on repeated wild-goose chases by native guides, and accomplished nothing in the military sense. On the other hand, it contributed to the rapid economic and physical disintegration which was being undergone by the valley tribes. The Spaniards could return to the coast and organize a new expedition. The natives could not recover from the damage they suffered.
[ 15] The geography of this trip is very confusing and has never been cleared up satisfactorily. Despite the fact that Father Martinez gives distances with a great air of exactness, these distances cannot be tied to recognizable points. It is clear that Thuohuala is Bubal, of the Wowol, very probably on the western side of Tulare L. The river mentioned, which ends in Buenavista L., Goose L., and Tulare L., may have been Kern, since, moreover, it is the only unfordable stream in the southern valley. However, Telamé refers to the village of the Telamni, west of Visalia. The only river 20 mi. (7 leagues) from Telamé would be the Tule R. which, to be sure, flows into Tulare L. but is 100 mi. from Buenavista L. Gelecto may have been at or near Goose L., but if so, where was Lihuahilame, 19 leagues away?
It may have been that Martinez actually stayed in the southwestern areas of the valley and never crossed the line of the lakes and sloughs at all. If so, when he mentioned “Telamé” he was talking about the subtribe Tulamni west of Buenavista L., not the Telamni in the Kaweah delta. In favor of such an hypothesis is his statement that “in all our trip we did not see a tree.” This could scarcely have been true, had he reached the lower Kaweah R. The big river was very probably the Kern.
[ 16] The photocopy in the Bancroft Library is poorly executed. Several words close to the binding of the original book are impossible to decipher.
[ 17] For another version of this fight see the account by Father Cabot.
[ 18] The personal pronouns in this excerpt are somewhat confusing. However, the reader need only bear in mind that this is a transcript of a letter, not the original. Hence the first two words may be rendered: “Father Cabot says....” The entire letter is, of course, condensed and paraphrased in the transcript.
[ 19] Here is a clear instance of mission Indians going by themselves on a raid to the valley. They were, of course, authorized to do so by the missionary himself (Father Fray Antonio Jaime). How many such forays took place we have no means of knowing. As a rule, only when the expedition got into trouble was notice taken of it in the official correspondence or in the reports of the friars. It is probable that, in addition to these trips, which might be called “semiofficial,” a vast number of Mission Indians came and went without permission. The disturbing influence of such small parties in the valley was not as great as that of the major, full-scale military enterprises, but in the aggregate must have been considerable.
[ 20] These villages are in the general region of Tulare L.