The Southwestern Historical Quarterly, Volume 17, July 1913 - April, 1914 Page: 209
454 p. ; 23 cm.View a full description of this periodical.
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Boolk Reviews and Notices
Though the book purports to be an economic history, the longest
chapters are those merely narrative. Thus forty-eight pages are
given to the journey of Lewis and Clark, twenty-five to that of
the Astoria expedition, ten to the Coronado expedition, ten to
Pike, fifteen to La Salle (as against fourteen to the rest of Louis-
iana under both France and Spain), and six to Burr.
Nevertheless, the chief shortcomings of the book are not those
of general plan, but of detail. This can be illustrated by the
treatment given to the Spanish province of Texas. In the first
place, and explaining all that follows, it is plain from both the
bibliography and the text that the author was oblivious or indif-
ferent to practically the whole product, not inconsiderable, of
modern scholarship relating to this portion of her field. Not a
reference is given, for example, to any one of the fifteen volumes
of the Texas State Historical QUARTERLY, or to Clark's doctoral
dissertation on The Beginnings of Texas. Had these and similar
contributions been consulted, a host of inexcusable mistakes would
have been avoided.
It will be a surprise to all students of early Texas to learn that
in the first half of the seventeenth century "Franciscan friars
made several attempts to reach the Tehas" (p. 67). Was a sin-
gle known attempt made before 1650 ? If so, the discovery is so
important that it should be supported by evidence. The map on
p. 78 shows Joutel's route to be from the Cenis to the lower Nat-
chitoches, when as a matter of fact he went to the Cadodacho,
nearly two hundred miles to the northwest of the lower Natchi-
toches (a small matter, but about the same difference as between
Boston and Albany). The Cenis visited by Joutel were living on
the Neches, not on the Trinity. The Cadodacho were not on the
Sabine, as the map shows, but near the great bend of the Red
River. On page 80 a most surprising route is given for Tonti in
his search for La Salle. Perhaps it makes little difference to
state that Texas had its beginnings as a Spanish settlement on the
Trinity instead of on the Neches (p. 95), but the error is com-
parable to confusing the Connecticut with the Merrimac, two
streams about the same distance apart as the Trinity and the
Neches. And who were the Cenis as distinguished from the.
Texas? The error in the map on this point on p. 78- is repeated
in the text on p. 95, where it is made to appear that the two mis-209
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Texas State Historical Association. The Southwestern Historical Quarterly, Volume 17, July 1913 - April, 1914, periodical, 1914; Austin, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth101061/m1/213/: accessed May 2, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Texas State Historical Association.