The Southwestern Historical Quarterly, Volume 22, July 1918 - April, 1919 Page: 255
521 p. : ill. (some col.), ports. ; 23 cm.View a full description of this periodical.
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The First Europeans in Texas, 1528-156
cerning the regions where maize could be found, and the relative
distances to each, are clear and understandable.
The journey was performed in accordance with their directions,
and without incident. The distance traveled "up the river to the
north," to where they "had to cross," would take the travelers
from Presidio to the site of El Paso, and might stretch as far as
Rincon, N. M.
(b) The Westward Journey to the Maize Region
CABEZA DE VACA :s We crossed the river and marched for
seventeen days more. At sunset, on a plain between very high
mountains, we met people who for one-third of the year eat but
powdered straw, and as we went by just at that time, had to eat
it also, until, at the end of that journey, we found some perma-
nent houses, with plenty of harvested maize, of which, and of its
meal, they gave us great quantities, also squashes and beans and
blankets of cotton.
OvIEno :159 From there they crossed to the west and went
more than twenty other days' journey to the maize, through a
people somewhat hungered, but not for long, because they ate
some powder of grass, and killed many jack rabbits, of which the
Christians always carried more than they could use. On this
road they rested sometimes, as they were accustomed to do, and
they arrived at the first houses where they had maize, which were
more than two hundred leagues from Culican.
The blunders which other students have made in discussing the
portions of these narratives which deal with the journey along
the coast of the Gulf of Mexico, warn against attempting to trace
this journey into the region beyond the Rio Grande, because of
our limited knowledge of the topography of southwestern New
Mexico, southeastern Arizona and northern Sonora. The "plain
between high mountains," where Cabeza de Vaca found the people
who ate powdered straw, at sunset after crossing the Rio Grande,
could probably be identified by one familiar with the region be-
tween Rincon and El Paso. The map suggests that the western
journey through this region must have been through the region
about Deming, New Mexico, Douglas, Arizona, and Agua Prieta,
Sonora, and that the first maize was found in the upper Sonora
valley. Beyond this last point the route from north to south is
"8lbid., 155.
"'Oviedo, II1, p. 609.255
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Texas State Historical Association. The Southwestern Historical Quarterly, Volume 22, July 1918 - April, 1919, periodical, 1919; Austin, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth117156/m1/269/: accessed April 28, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Texas State Historical Association.