The Coming of the Mexicans

THE COMING OF THE MEXICANS ¹

Long ago before the Mexicans had settled thickly in this country they heard there were cities to the north. Some of the Mexicans went to their government and asked to come up against these wild Indians. Twelve men started out and came first to Tucson. The Mexicans prayed to their god that nobody should harm them, and they promised not to harm anybody. Ten of the men were half-breeds (half Indian) and two were new-comers in the country [paragraph continues]

p. 188

(Spaniards). One of the Spaniards prayed for them all every day, and as they went on he grew wiser and more powerful. They came to Zuñi and stopped there. In those days they did not know how to count a year, but they stayed about a year. When the Zuñi people first saw them, they were afraid. They thought they were animals because of the hair that grew on their faces, but the Spaniard who prayed went out and asked their god for power to cure the sick at Zuñi, and it was given to him. When the people saw that the sick were healed, they welcomed the strangers, and in a few days they gave thanks to the god of the Mexicans.

The Spaniard planned to send three of the party back to Mexico with messages, to tell their government that they were well received, that no sickness had interrupted their journey, and that the Zuñis were willing to take the Spanish on to new pueblos to the east. The three messengers started back to Old Mexico doing the best they could to avoid danger from the Indians, sometimes travelling by night.

When they had gone, the Zuñis provided an escort to take, The-one-who-had-cured-the-sick to Acoma. He lived there and healed the people. They went on to Laguna. The Zuñis told the people how long they had lived at Zuñi, and how many miracles they had done, and that their only difference from the Indians was that they had hair on their faces. They stayed there a second year. The Acoma Indians followed to Laguna bringing other sick people who had not yet been cured. The Zuñis went back home from Laguna, and the Lagunas brought the Spaniards on to Isleta. They told them not to be afraid for all Indians in this country were brothers. The Acoma Indians who were sick were brought all the way to Isleta to be cured by the Spaniard who had power. Also the Lagunas brought their sick. If any were sick, too, in Isleta., they brought them to him to be cured, and he cured them. While they stayed, one of the men of the party in Isleta became the lover of a girl of this pueblo and it is for this reason that we think Isleta is the most Spanish of the Indian pueblos. They had children and their great-grandchildren speak of this ancestor to-day.

The Isleta Indians guided the Spaniard-who-cured-the-sick on to Sandia, and the Sandia Indians brought them on to Santa Ana. After that they were taken west to Old Sia (to the northwest of present site). Many of the other pueblos had heard of these people who had come from the south, one of whom was a miracle worker, and they sent messages to each other asking about them. In every pueblo where they had been, the fathers said, "They are good people."

p. 189

When they came to Sia, they stayed there some time. Then the Indians took them to Jemez. Jemez was then far up in the canyon on the west side. The Jemez Indians brought the Spaniards to the present site of Cochiti (there were no people there then) and they passed east. They went to Pecos and stayed at Pecos two years. The fathers took them to the different northern pueblos, but they made their headquarters all this time in Pecos.

While they were living there, another band of Spaniards started from Mexico. They reached Zuñi, and there they sent word to the others, "Meet us at Laguna; we have arrived from Mexico." As soon as they heard this word they went back to meet the others at Laguna. The new company had a priest from Old Mexico and he was already baptizing. They came on and met the others at Laguna. The priest taught them that they should build churches and missions. When they left Laguna, the priest and his companions went on to Jemez. They welcomed him and told him they would build a church. They built there the first church. The people had already known The-man-who-cured-the-sick and they therefore accepted the priest and the church with great readiness. When they had been accepted in Jemez they went on to Pecos. These were the first three churches. ² That is the way we were taught the churches were built. Soon after they built the next church at Laguna. That is the way the new discoverers came from the south. Only seven returned to Old Mexico; the rest remained with the Indians.

Footnotes

187:1 Informant 4.

189:2 There is a fault here in the account. When questioned the narrator answered: "Yes, three: Isleta, Jemez, and Pecos. They built also a church at San Marcos" (whose inhabitants later joined Santo Domingo).