The house-tops of the village of St. John's were crowded, as well as the streets, when we entered, and at the door of the public quarters we were met by the president priest. When my companion, who commanded the escort, received him in a street and embraced him, all the poor creatures who stood round strove to kiss the ring or hand of the holy father; for myself, I saluted him in the usual style. My men were conducted into the quarters, and I went to the house of the priest, where we were treated with politeness. He offered us coffee, chocolate, or whatever we thought proper, and desired me to consider myself at home in his house.
As I was going, some time after, to the quarters of my men, I was addressed at the door by a man in broken English: "My friend, I am very sorry to see you here; we are all prisoners in this country and can never return; I have been a prisoner for nearly three years, and cannot get out." I replied: "that as for his being a prisoner, it must be for some crime; that with respect to myself I felt no apprehension; and requested him to speak French, as I could hardly understand his English." He began to demand of me so many different questions on the mode of my getting into the country, my intention, etc., that by the time I arrived in the room of my men, I was perfectly satisfied of his having been ordered by some person to endeavor to obtain some confession or acknowledgment of sinister designs in my having appeared on the frontiers, and some confidential communications which might implicate me. As he had been rather insolent in his inquiries, I ordered my men to shut and fasten the door. I then told him that I believed him to be an emissary sent on purpose by the governor, or some person, to endeavor to betray me; that all men of that description were scoundrels, and never should escape punishment, whilst I possessed the power to chastise them—immediately ordering my men to seize him, and cautioning him, at the same time, that, if he cried out, or made the least resistance, I would be obliged to make use of the saber which I had in my hand. On this he was so much alarmed, that he begged me for God's sake not to injure him; he also said that he had been ordered by the government to meet me, and endeavor to trace out what and who I was, and what were my designs, by endeavoring to produce a confidence in him, by his exclaiming against the Spaniards and complaining of the tyranny which they had exercised toward him. After this confession, I ordered my men to release him, and told him that I looked upon him as too contemptible for further notice; but that he might tell the governor, the next time he employed emissaries, to choose those of more abilities and sense; and that I questioned if his Excellency would find the sifting of us an easy task.
This man's name was Baptiste Lalande;[I'-5] he had come from the Illinois to the Pawnees, to trade with goods furnished him by William Morrison, a gentleman of the Illinois, and thence to New Mexico with the goods which he had procured, and established himself; he was the same man on whom Robinson had a claim. He returned into the priest's house with me, and, instead of making any complaint, he in reply to their inquiries of who I was, etc., informed them that when he left Louisiana I was governor of the Illinois. This I presume he took for granted from my having commanded for some time the post of Kaskaskias, the first military post the United States had established in that country since the peace; however, the report served to add to the respect with which my companion and host treated me.
I had at this place the first good meal, wine, etc., which, with the heat of the house, and perhaps rather an immoderate use of the refreshments allowed me, produced an attack of something like cholera morbus, which alarmed me considerably, and made me determine to be more abstemious in future.
This father was a great naturalist, or rather florist; he had large collections of flowers, plants, etc., and several works on his favorite studies, the margins and bottoms of which were filled with his notes in the Castilian language. As I neither had a natural turn for botany sufficient to induce me to puzzle my head much with the Latin, nor understood Castilian, I enjoyed but little of the lectures which he continued to give me for nearly two hours on those subjects; but, by the exercise of a small degree of patience, I entirely acquired the esteem of this worthy father, he calling me his son, and lamenting extremely that my faith had not made me one of the holy Catholic church.
The father, being informed that I had some astronomical instruments with me, expressed a desire to see them. All that I had here was my sextant and a large glass which magnified considerably, calculated for the day or night; the remainder of my instruments being with my sergeant and party. On his examining the sextant, and my showing him the effect of it in the reflection of the sun, he, as well as hundreds who surrounded us, appeared more surprised at the effect of the instrument than any nation of savages I was ever among. Here an idea struck me as extraordinary—how a man who appeared to be a perfect master of the ancient languages, a botanist, mineralogist, and chemist, should be so ignorant of the powers of reflection and the first principles of mathematics. But my friend explained that enigma, by informing me of the care the Spanish government took to prevent any branch of science from being made a pursuit, which would have a tendency to extend the views of the subjects of the provinces to the geography of their country, or any other subject which would bring to view a comparison of their local advantages and situations with other countries.[I'-6]
St. John's was inclosed with a mud wall, and probably contained 1,000 souls; its population consisted principally of civilized Indians, as indeed does that of all the villages of New Mexico, the whites not forming one-twentieth part of the inhabitants.
Mar. 3d.[I'-7] We marched after breakfast, B. Lalande accompanying us, and in about six miles came to a village [Santa Cruz], where I suppose there were more than 2,000 souls. Here we halted at the house of a priest, who, understanding that I would not kiss his hand, would not present it to me. The conduct and behavior of a young priest who came in was such as in our country would have been amply sufficient forever to have banished him from the clerical association—strutting about with a dirk in his boot, a cane in his hand, whispering to one girl, chucking another under the chin, going out with a third, etc.
From this village [Santa Cruz] to another small village [Pojoaque], of 500 inhabitants, is seven miles. At each of those villages is a small stream, sufficient for the purpose of watering their fields. At the father's house we took coffee. From this village [Pojoaque] it was 17 miles to another [Tesuque], of 400 civilized Indians. Here we changed horses and prepared for entering the capital [Santa Fé[I'-8]], which we came in sight of in the evening. It is situated along the banks of a small [Santa Fé] creek, which comes down from the mountains, and runs west to the Rio del Norte. The length of the capital on the creek may be estimated at one mile; it is but three streets in width.
Its appearance from a distance struck my mind with the same effect as a fleet of the flat-bottomed boats which are seen in the spring and fall seasons, descending the Ohio river. There are two churches, the magnificence of whose steeples form a striking contrast to the miserable appearance of the houses.[I'-9] On the north side of the town is the square of soldiers' houses, equal to 120 or 140 on each flank. The public square is in the center of the town; on the north side of it is situated the palace, as they term it, or government house, with the quarters for guards, etc. The other side of the square is occupied by the clergy and public officers. In general the houses have a shed before the front, some of which have a flooring of brick; the consequence is that the streets are very narrow, say in general 25 feet. The supposed population is 4,500 souls. On our entering the town the crowd was great, and followed us to the government house. When we dismounted we were ushered in through various rooms, the floors of which were covered with skins of buffalo, bear, or some other animal. We waited in a chamber for some time, until his Excellency appeared, when we rose, and the following conversation took place in French: