Gervasio Argüello
(rubric)

Presidio of San Francisco,
31 October 1811

JOSÉ ARGÜELLO’S ATTACK ON AN INDIAN VILLAGE, 1813

The excerpt below is apparently a direct quotation, although there are no quotation marks in the transcript.

José Argüello to Governor Arrillaga
San Francisco, October 31, 1813
(Prov. St. Pap., XIX: 334-348)

VI. EXPEDITIONS, 1815-1820

In 1815 a joint expedition consisting of two or more parties traversed the valley. Two full accounts remain, those of Ortega and of Pico. In 1816 Father Luís Antonio Martinez circulated in the Tulare Lake region, some of his exploits generating a lively controversy with other friars. The delta was again visited in 1817 by Father Narciso Duran, who left an extensive diary. With him was Lieutenant Luís Argüello, who also submitted a report. All these documents are presented herewith.

The last important expedition of the pioneering period was that of Estudillo in 1819, but, as explained previously, this diary has already been translated and published. Subsequent to 1820 numerous incursions were made into the valley and even well into the Sierra Nevada. They were, however, not exploratory in character but were outright military raids and campaigns. They should therefore not be included in the present group of expeditions.

ORTEGA’S EXPEDITION TO KINGS RIVER AND TULARE LAKE, 1815

Juan Ortega’s Diary

Copy, made by Sergeant Ortega at Mission San Juan Bautista with covering letter, of diary, November 4-15, 1815, of expedition from Mission San Miguel, accompanied by Father Juan Cabot and soldiers, in search of runaway Indians. Report on the lower Kings River and “Tulare Lake” area.

Diary written by Master Sergeant Don Juan de Ortega with reference to the localities which, by order of the Governor, I was directed to survey, reckoning from November 4 up to the day when junction was made with Sergeant José Dolores Pico on Kings River.

4th day. At about ten o’clock in the evening I arrived at San Miguel Mission with a party of fifteen men. At one and one-half leagues from the mission we joined that night another party of the same number which came from Monterey.

5th day. This day I left the said mission, accompanied by Reverend Father Fray Juan Cabot and, together with the party, moved camp for the night at the place called Cholam.1

6th day. We stayed all day in this place organizing the horses.

7th [and 8th] day. At dawn we started out and camped for the night at Chenem. Here I remained all day of the 8th until sundown. Then we traveled all night so as not to be seen by the Indians. Because we were now in the Plain of the Tulares and because it is a land without trails the guide and all of us lost our direction and did not know where we were. However, having sent out Corporal Juan Arroyo, a soldier, and the guide to explore, they returned after a long time with the report that we were near Kings River. I immediately ordered haste to be made, but even so we could not reach the crossing of the river before dawn.

9th day. Realizing that it was useless to fall upon the village of Tache2 in the daytime, for the sun was already up, I decided to remain hidden all day in a low area formed by a bend in the river. We managed to catch two old Indians who were coming to fish who, before they went back to their village of Tache, told us its correct location. At sunset, the same afternoon, I decided to post two men with horses hidden at the river crossing to prevent Indians from getting to the village. After they had been there a little while two Indians appeared on horseback going through the meadow toward the village mentioned, with four animals ahead of them, one loaded with fish. However, seeing themselves overtaken by the soldiers, they abandoned horses and saddle and crossed the river by swimming. In the darkness of the night, along the river and in the tule swamps and thickets it was impossible to catch them. By the saddle the soldier Martin Olivera recognized the Indian Antonio, a fugitive from Soledad Mission.

10th day. At dawn I attacked the village of Tache although considerably discouraged by my suspicion that the two Indian fugitives had given word during the night of our arrival. As a matter of fact, I found the village deserted. I followed through the tule swamp and after going a little way I met three armed Indians at a distance of about one hundred long varas. We talked to them through the interpreter. The reply they gave us was that they were afraid; whereupon they plunged into the marshy lake. I waited here until nearly nine o’clock in the morning, together with the Father, calling to them. Finally some eight or nine of them showed themselves, unarmed, but buried deep in the swamp. We urged them to come out, but with no effect. They said that all the people were scared and were hiding in the lake because the fugitive Indians and other Christian runaways from Soledad had told them we were coming to kill them at the point of the lance. Here were found three horses, one from San Miguel and two from Soledad, formerly in possession of the fugitives. These Indians informed us that the Indian Antonio and his companions the previous night had started in the direction of the village of Notonto.3 With a view to seeing if we could catch them I decided to visit the latter village. But all was in vain, for we arrived at the town a little before sunset and were received by the Indian inhabitants with much affection. Indeed, two of them came out to meet us on the road, giving us their poor presents and imparting the information that no fugitives had appeared there. After the Father, with some of the soldiers, had dismounted and after they had inspected the entire village, we retired to camp for the night at a distance of one and a half gunshots. The Indians came there to serve the troops by bringing water and firewood.

11th day. At dawn the Indians returned to bid us farewell with much rejoicing. We took the direction of the village of Telame,4 where we arrived at sunset. The people of this big village we found to be totally dispersed on account of the heavy mortality and great famine which they had been suffering. However, we were received with much affability and were given presents. The Father succeeded in baptizing four very old women and one man who was dying.

12th day. We set out in search of the village of Choynoct,5 spending almost all the day looking for it. We found it in the same manner as the previous one [Telame] and in the same condition. From there we went to pass the night higher up on the San Gabriel River.

13th day. We went on and spent the night at the crossing of this river.

14th day. We took the direction of the village of Sumtache.6 After having gone about a league and a half into the tule swamp along a narrow trail we found the village on the other side of an arm of the lake, with some twenty armed men in front of it. However, after we had talked to them and stated the purpose of our visit, several of them laid down their weapons and came to where we were. Reproached for having received the troops in such a manner, they said they were scared because the fugitive Indians from Soledad had told them the soldiers were coming to kill them all. Asked by the Father where were the four Indians of his mission who were fugitives in this village, they replied that two had gone to the village of Bubal to join the Christians who were there with license to travel (as actually was the case) and that the other two had gone the previous week to the village of Tulamne, toward the south. After instructing them, according to the Governor’s orders, that they should accept no fugitives in the future we took the path toward the village of Bubal. We did not arrive until about eleven o’clock in the evening because its location had been changed and the guide could not find it. Here we were received with more affability than at the previous places.

15th day. At dawn we followed our course toward a junction with the party of Sergeant José Dolores Pico, a junction which we actually effected at about seven o’clock in the afternoon. In all the journey described no slaughter of horses has been observed and no adverse sentiment on the part of the Indians excepting only the fear inspired among them at the village of Tache and Sumtache by the fugitives from Soledad. I may note that at the village of Tache the Father baptized the only man discovered there, a man incapacitated, covered with leprosy [lepra], and debilitated by illness.

As far as the remainder of the expedition is concerned, up to the 2nd of December, I refer to the account written by Sergeant José Dolores Pico, since I have no additions or changes to make in it. The foregoing is what I have to communicate to your Excellency, in compliance with my obligations.

Juan de Ortega
(rubric)

Mission San Juan Bautista,
December 2, 1815

José Dolores Pico’s Diary, 1815

3rd day [of November]. I left the Presidio [of Monterey] and went as far as the Royal Treasury, where all the troops under my command were mobilized. This day there were no events worth recording.

4th day. On this day I inspected the troops, the ammunition, and the weapons, and at about five o’clock in the afternoon continued my march toward the place called Ansaimas [Paraje de los Ansaimas].7 Near seven o’clock in the evening I arrived with one soldier at Mission San Juan, where I met Reverend Father Fray Jaime Escude. After reviewing the troops who were to go with me from the mission, we started on our way, the Father being with us, at quarter past twelve at night. At about one o’clock in the morning we met the rest of the troops at the Arroyo of San Benito. All well.

5th day. We continued our march to the place mentioned [Ansaimas], where we met citizens Cornelio Lucas Altimirano, Manuel Pinto, and Quintin Ortega, all with weapons and horses. Here I remained the rest of the day waiting for the equipage of the Father, which had not yet arrived.

6th day. We left this place at about five o’clock in the morning, taking an easterly direction, and at about seven o’clock in the evening we arrived at the place called San Luis Gonzaga, which is situated at the foot of the Sierra on the border of the Tulare Valley. Here we passed the night without incident.

7th day. In the morning I again inspected the troops and the munitions and at about nine o’clock in the evening we started out, going toward the east. At twelve o’clock midnight we reached the Tulares at the arroyo called San José.8 Here we passed the remainder of the night up to the hour of attacking the village of the Cheneches.9

8th day. At three o’clock in the morning we left this place and fell upon the said village at four o’clock. Sixty-six souls were captured, between Christians and heathen, women and men. I released four men and twelve old women, who were crippled. The majority of the people escaped because this village is in a bad location. Here were found seven live horses and five recently dead. The Father baptized an infant girl on the point of death, to whom he gave the name Severa. These heathen told me that at a distance of four leagues up the River San Joaquin from this village there was another village called Nopchenches, which had many horses, and at which were to be found the Christian fugitives Justo, Damian, Severo, and Pedro Pablo. I sent Corporal Juarez with fourteen men to arrest the said Christians and heathen, and bring back the horses which they said were to be found there.

Reaching the village, he entered it, but no people remained except the chief and four of his companions. The corporal charged him with [concealing] the Christians and the horses which had been there. To this he replied that the Christians, together with all his people, as soon as they heard the noise of the troops going to the other village, had fled to the swamps and that he and the others with him alone remained. He also said that at the edge of the swamp there were two more and that he would go and get them. This he did and on his return the corporal told him to call to his people (with the idea of catching them) to help him capture the Christians. He said he was going to bring them and went off with the others who were already with him. They did not return, although he [the Corporal] remained waiting a long time. Seeing that they were not coming back, he retired and reported to me. We then directed our course back to the place called San José. Here I consulted with the corporals and decided not to attack the village of Malim, for the Tulares were very much stirred up and it did not seem wise to do so until our return. No other news.

9th day. This morning I ordered Corporal Castillo with eight men to escort 54 Indians, heathen and Christians, to the Presidio. After having set him on his way I took a southerly direction and emerged from the tule swamp. Having traveled about eight leagues from the said swamp I turned in an easterly direction toward the San Joaquin River. On arriving at this river at about six o’clock in the afternoon I was told that some armed heathen were crossing to the opposite bank. Immediately Corporal Juarez went over with some men to investigate them. The heathen, seeing that the soldiers were crossing the river, gathered in a village near by and began to shoot at them without further delay. The corporal ordered [his men] to fire, killing two, and at that moment I arrived with the rest of the troops. The enemy retired some distance into the thickets. Thereupon I ordered all the troops to bring up the horses and remount, but after consulting briefly with the corporals, we decided it was better to retire a distance of two leagues and wait till the next day because night had already fallen.

10th day. At three o’clock in the morning of this day I was informed by Soldier Mariano Soberanes (who was on duty as sentinel) that a light was to be seen in a thicket near the camp. I ordered Soldier Archuleta to reconnoitre and he returned saying that the illumination was a gunshot away and that it could be the heathen of the previous day intending to attack us at dawn. I ordered the sentinels to be on the alert.

At five o’clock in the morning I told two men to investigate the exposed fire. As soon as they got close they encountered the heathen Indians, who were already coming to attack the camp, and fired on the first of them. As soon as we heard the uproar which resulted I came up with the troops to oppose them. Having formed a line of battle, I told the interpreter to ask them what they wanted and they answered, to fight. Even after we had said to them that the officer in charge did not wish to do them any harm, they gave no heed, but began to fight. Seeing this I ordered them to be fired upon. They then retreated to the interior of the underbrush. The troops dismounted at my command and fell upon them, killing three and capturing one alive. Of the dead, one was found to be a Christian of Mission San Juan and a leader in stealing horses. Of those who escaped some were seen to be wounded, and, according to the quantity of blood visible along the river, I consider that most of them must have died. The action having ceased, I ordered Corporal Juarez with ten men to make a reconnaissance of the rancheria, which was called Copicha, to see if there were any horses. They brought out one, together with two Indians. The latter were among those who had been in the battle and, along with the other [captured as described above], confessed that they had followed us to this place with the purpose of killing us, the dead Christian being the one most determined to do this. During the night they [the Indians] shot a few arrows but did us no damage. During the engagement the only casualty was Soldier Juan Espinoza who received a dart between his coat and his skin, but it did not hurt him.

At eleven o’clock in the morning we set out in a direction south and a little east and at a distance of eight leagues we came upon eleven animals belonging to the village of Tape, which was in a wood along the same river bottom. These we gathered up, leaving the village for the return trip because it was already afternoon. At about four leagues we reached the junction of the San Joaquin and the San José rivers where we camped. We left behind one horse, exhausted and unable to travel. Here we spent the night without incident.

11th day. At five o’clock in the morning we continued in the same direction as on the previous day, going along the River San José. At about 4 leagues we crossed it and traveled to the east in order to avoid bad traveling. After a league we resumed the former direction and at a distance of nine leagues we camped for the night on the bank of the same [river]. There had fallen by the wayside one exhausted and useless horse and one more of those which we had recovered from the Indians. Here we passed the night without incident.

12th day. At five o’clock in the morning we set out in the same direction and at about ten leagues we encountered a conflagration, at which there were some heathen Indians. As soon as we saw them I made arrangements to catch them, but as soon as they saw us, they presented themselves without any apprehension. They gave us the news that they had seen the troops accompanying Don Juan Ortega the previous day on Kings River. They told me they would take me there, which they did. On the way we came upon two villages of these same people, called Gumilchis,10 who all showed themselves to be very agreeable. I informed them that the high chief who governed us wished them all well and was pleased at the good journey which they made possible for the troops. I said that they should not admit Christians or horses in their villages because the said chief requested it. We crossed the river, where we came upon the trail of the troops mentioned. We followed this trail for a league and camped for the night without incident.

13th day. At dawn of this day Soldier Juan Martinez was sick in his stomach, and about seven o’clock in the morning we started out in a southerly direction. At four leagues we camped without further trouble.

14th day. This day we remained in the same place awaiting the troops brought by Don Juan Ortega, and the soldier Martinez recovered without difficulty.

15th day. At about six o’clock in the afternoon the troops which we were expecting arrived, with their horses used very roughly, for three leagues back they had abandoned seven exhausted animals. Otherwise all was well.

16th day. The seven worn-out animals were brought in. We agreed upon what should be done, but the departure was postponed until the following day. No other news.

17th day. At three o’clock in the afternoon we left this place, moving back by the same road and visiting, as we passed, the village of Notonoto. Here we were received with much affection and made the same speech as to the Gumilchis. At a distance of two leagues, going west, we crossed the river and there spent the night without incident.

18th day. This day we took the same direction,11 a little to the northwest. We wanted to pass by the villages which we had seen before. The inhabitants of these, on seeing the troops, took to the brush, and no matter how much we called to them, through the interpreter, they did not come. We followed our course, coming finally to sleep at a lake at the edge of the tule swamp. To this we gave the name of San Pablo and spent the night there without incident.

19th day. We left this place at two o’clock in the afternoon in order to attack a village which the guides said was to be found in the meadow along the San Joaquin River. When it appeared to us that we were near it, we stopped to await the dawn in order to attack. Meanwhile we recovered the two horses which previously had fallen exhausted in the same locality. No other incident.

20th day. At about three o’clock in the afternoon we went to the above-mentioned river in search of the village which the guide talked about. Having arrived at the spot the guide was asked where the village was. He said it was so far away that we would get there only at sunset. We asked him why he had deceived us and he answered because he felt cold. We asked him again and he said that the village of Tape was the one which was to be found in that direction. However, since it was afternoon we decided to wait for the horses, which had been left with ten soldiers and two cowboys. They crossed the river without our knowing where. We asked the guide the location of the ford so that we could join the other soldiers with the horses but we failed to do so because the guide misled us. We slept at the junction of the San José and San Joaquin rivers, one league apart, with no other incident.

21st day. At nine o’clock in the morning we joined the troops with the horses, killing on the way two deer to supply the troops, who were without provisions. The day passed by and we decided to attack the village mentioned previously at four o’clock the next morning. But we did not carry out this plan because of a great stampede of the horses at about ten o’clock in the evening. Even though all the troops were mounted it was not possible to contain the stampede, because many animals had scattered in numerous groups. At this misfortune the Christian Indian from Santa Cruz, who had accompanied us through Kings River, deserted us. He had seemed so devoted that we had released him from his bonds so that he could better bear the hardships of the road.

22nd day. This morning the horses were counted and sixty-five animals were missing. Corporals Francisco Juarez, Antonio Olivera, Juan Arroyo, and Encargado José Villavicencio, taking ten men [each] and Rivera with four were ordered to go out in different directions. Juarez, going to the east, found thirty-eight animals and had to kill one horse because it was exhausted. Arroyo, who went to the south, brought the news that the tracks led to the trail toward Soledad, but because it was late he turned back. Villavicencio, who went to the north, reported that at a distance of a league and a half there was a village. Near it was a mule, one of those we had lost during the preceding night, and Villavicencio had seen tracks of horses going down to drink. He saw some old Indians coming toward the woods in which he was hidden, so he did not leave the woods and did not catch the mule, in order to avoid being seen by the old people. Olivera brought back no information. It was decided to attack the village at dawn in case some of the inhabitants had remained there. Nothing else to report.

23rd day. This day we set out for the village mentioned, which, according to information taken from Indian prisoners, we know to be Tapee. After surrounding it on both sides of the river, we caught three old Indian men, one Christian from Santa Cruz, together with eight old women. Here we came upon two hundred and thirty-eight recently killed animals, a great deal of meat quartered and dried, and sixteen live animals, mares and riding horses, some shot with arrows and others very badly treated. Most of these horses belong to Mission San Juan. The heathen mentioned previously were asked where were the people of this village. [The reply was that] first they had waited for us down the river with three others who claimed that we were coming in search of them, and then they had gone to the hills. A few of the people were opposite the village in the woods. The troops went on foot to hunt for them but found no one.

The Christian was held captive and the old men, after being chastised, were let loose. It was then decided that Corporal Arroyo should go right away to follow the trail which he had abandoned the day before, taking ten men with two mounts each. He was to return the following day with or without the lost horses. Here the troops were provided with some dried fish (although bad) and wild rice, with which they managed to pass the two days we were in this locality. No other incident.

24th day. Corporal Arroyo arrived about four o’clock in the afternoon with the information that the horses had gone toward San Luis Gonzaga. We decided to follow on our way. No other news.

25th day. Today we continued with our expedition and at about seven o’clock in the morning we arrived at the village of Cupicha, which we found without inhabitants. (This village is in the meadow along the river where the San Joaquin joins the Tecolote.) We inquired of the heathen Indians whom we had with us and they told us the people had moved to the mountains.

We went westward and crossed the river. At this point Corporal Arroyo was sent to follow up the tracks which he had relinquished the previous day, and the place was specified where we were to meet. He took with him four soldiers and two cowboys, who were to go to San Luis Gonzaga for provisions. He also had orders that, if he found the trail going in that direction, he should turn it over to Manuel Butron and that the latter should continue on to the place mentioned and send back a sack of pinole, which we had left in storage there, and two belonging to the Father. At about seven o’clock in the evening Arroyo returned with the information that he had turned over the trail to the said Butron. In the morning three soldiers were incapacitated, Atenacio Mendoza, José Soberanes, and José Espinoza, the first with a head-ache, the second with a stomach-ache, and the third with a bad foot due to a fall from a horse. Today six deer were caught, which were supplied to the troops. During the night, which we spent on the arroyo San José, it rained on us. No other incident.

26th day. Early this morning soldiers Gabriel Espinoza and José Arellanes were sick but those who were ill yesterday had recovered. Three deer were taken. At about seven o’clock in the evening the party arrived with the provisions. There was a fanega [of pinole] and it was distributed among the troops. Butron reported that he followed the tracks of the horses as far as the summit [of the coast range].

At about eight o’clock in the evening, soldier Joaquin Juarez being the sentinel in the camp and Arroyo corporal of the guard, one of the heathen Indian prisoners broke the rope with which he was tied and ran away. Corporal [sic] Juarez yelled that the prisoner had escaped. The troops converged upon the spot, a little tule swamp opposite us, but were not able to find him. For this offense the corporal and the soldier were placed under arrest among the horses until further orders. No other incident.

27th day. It was decided to attack the village of Malim. Leaving fifteen soldiers, two corporals, and ten cowboys with the horses we set out in the rain at one o’clock in the afternoon. We pursued a northerly course. Arriving at the San Joaquin River we entered the village Cheneche and found it without inhabitants. We kept on down the river and at about three leagues we came upon foot tracks at the edge of a thicket. A corporal with four soldiers went to examine the place and in the middle [of the thicket] they found a blind old man and an old woman. They [the soldiers] returned to report and were ordered to bring them [the Indians] back for questioning; but they could not find the latter. Here we passed the night with considerable discomfort on account of the rain which had fallen on us during the afternoon. No other news.

28th day. The morning of this day we continued in the same direction. At about half a league we came upon the village of Cheneches,12 where two old women were found. It was clear that the other inhabitants had gone on ahead of us, slipping into the thickets and swamps. In any case, we were able to find no one. After about two leagues we arrived at the junction of Mariposa Creek and the river. The guide whom we took with us, who was from that village, had previously told us that he was familiar with the village of Malim, but when he got there he said he did not know where it was; but he did know that this was his country and we were hunting for his village. I ordered him given ten lashes. While this was being done, the soldiers spied some heathen who were coming up Mariposa Creek. By scattering out in various directions the troops succeeded in catching two Christians from Santa Cruz and three heathen. The latter were to take us to the village but previously we encountered one of their little ranchos. The inhabitants all fled to the swamps without our being able to seize a single one. The village was located at a distance of three leagues west. However, after we had passed it by about a quarter of a league, they [the Indians] said it was behind us. On arriving [at the village] we found by our trail that we had missed it by no more than a gunshot. From this it was obvious that the captives had acted with malice, giving opportunity to the others [their countrymen] to escape. Here two horses and a very few tracks were discovered. (According to the signs observed this village does not have many horses, yet the region where it is known that the heathen have done terrible damage is from Tappee, inclusive, to Cheneches. We found in those places more than 500 dead animals.)13 From here we retired to Arroyo de Santa Rita where Corporal Juarez was sent with six soldiers to join the other troops who were escorting the horses and proceed the following day to San Luis Gonzaga.14 Here it rained. No other incident.

29th day. We set out for San Luis Gonzaga, arriving about two o’clock in the afternoon. Corporal Juarez got there about five o’clock, having killed and left behind fourteen worn-out horses from among those picked up in the swamps. The sick soldiers continued to recover. No other news.

30th day. We set out from this place at about six o’clock in the morning and arrived at Ausaymas at about five in the afternoon, leaving in the vicinity seventy-eight used-up animals. Most of these had been recovered from the Tulares and were killed. The others were brought to this place with some difficulty at eight o’clock in the evening. Nothing else of importance occurred.

1st day of December. We stayed in the place previously mentioned in order to rest the horses. Nothing else of importance.

2nd day. We arrived at Mission San Juan with ten soldiers ill with stomach ailments. No other news.

3rd day. By morning the soldiers had recovered and we continued our march to the Presidio, taking nine prisoners and sending the soldiers of the guard to their respective garrisons. One soldier accompanied Father Escude to his mission and another accompanied Father Cabot.

Dolores Pico
(rubric)

Mission San Juan Bautista,
3 December 1815

FATHER MARTINEZ’ EXPEDITION

The following five documents, all in the Bancroft Library, show clearly the confusion in the valley following the repeated expeditions of the preceding years, particularly those of 1815. The first, second, and third concern the Martinez sortie into the southern valley and include in full the original account by Father Martinez and the drastic criticism of his behavior by Father Cabot. The reader may form his own opinion with respect to the merits of the controversy.

The last two excerpts relate to minor and otherwise unrecorded incidents.

Father Martinez’ Report

Fr. Luís Antonio Martinez’ to Prefect Sarria
San Luis Obispo, May 29, 1816
(Alexander S. Taylor Papers. Archbishop’s Office,
San Francisco. Doc. 489.)

My venerated Prelate and Sir:

I have just arrived from an ecclesiastical journey with good fortune, although not so much as I was expecting. The people through whose lands I have gone are not yet capable of reason, and prefer their state of misery to all the benefits available to them far from their rude and wretched dwellings.

In all the villages I saw I gave something to eat to everyone who presented himself; one, two, or even three ladles full of atole. I gave them presents. I treated them with as much loving-kindness as I could so as to mould them to my ultimate purpose, which was simply their own best interest.

The names of the villages are:15 Lucluc, 28 leagues distant from the mission, at the edge of the plain; from here I went to Thuohuala, about 9 leagues; from here to Gelecto, about 9; from here to Lihuahilame, about 19; and from there to Quihuame, about 7. At this point we could not cross a big river (the source of which we did not see) which runs from north to south, and south to north. It makes a bend in the plain some 7 leagues from Telame. Its speed and the dense brush along its banks prevented our passage. It fills the lakes of Buenavista, of Gelecto, and of Thuohuala. In all our trip we did not see a good tree, nor wood enough to cook a meal, nor a stone, nor even grass enough for the horses, more than bunch grass, or what grows in the swamps. This big river ends as such in Buenavista Lake or loses itself in ponds and swamps. Along all the border of the plain [i.e., along the river] there is a great meadow a league wide, very heavily overgrown with brush. However, the lands through which the river runs are pure sand, without grass and utterly useless for any good purpose.

In the first village, Lucluc, we found about fifty Indians with their women and children. In this place they offered to bring me a small boy, after much begging and persuasion, and after I had given his parents two blankets, some ornaments, meat, etc. In the night the Indians sent a message for the following day, and in the morning we met the Indian Gabriel, as he was called by the soldiers, for he had gone with them on all the previous expeditions. He, with six other heathen Indians, accompanied us to the village of Thuohuala, which we found deserted except for one old woman on a mat, and a paralytic, whom they could not carry into the swamps. I was here three days, sending my Indians on sorties through the tule swamps. They brought me back about ten families, together with a sick man. The latter I ordered to be taken by my Indians to his house, covered with a wrap. I gave the others atole, making it clear that they should have no fear, that my trip was only for the purpose of visiting them and offering them the facilities of San Luís Mission together with the knowledge of the True God, without which no one can live well or enjoy any good fortune. I told them they should have no fear.

With my arguments I was able to acquire some seventy men, all warriors, but noticed that those whom I had taken out of the swamp during the night had gone elsewhere. Of the seventy whom I gathered with the help of the Indian Gabriel, no one ran away again. They ate and even slept with us in our camp. I knew where the women and the others were and I expressed the displeasure caused by seeing a friendly village run away from us. They unanimously maintained that a certain Chape and other old men were to blame for having spread the rumor that we wanted to kill them all. Nevertheless he himself [i.e., Chape] gave me and the corporal a little basket and we gave him some fish. During the time I was there, I gave him, in addition to the food, some beads. After this transaction I decided to continue my journey toward the village of Gelecto, where we found no trace of people except the cemetery, because they had destroyed the village in their wars. After spending the night here I went on to Telamni. This consumed the whole day (without anyone having a meal). Furthermore I had to endure showers falling on my back four times during this period.

Since we did not try to hide ourselves, the train of horses stirred up a great dust visible for several leagues. As soon as I arrived at Telamni, they observed us from Lihuahilami the Great. At that place there had been a big riot the day previously, as a result of which some eight men had been killed, among them the grandson of Quipagueces. For this reason they were very much worried for fear the father would come to avenge the murders. The chief sent me a message to inform me of this occurrence and I answered that he should not be concerned for I did not come to do harm to anyone nor [would I] permit anyone else to hurt them. I wanted only to see them and offer them the services of the mission. This chief had me summoned to request that I place the camp close to his village, which would contain about three hundred married men. The next day I went into it and everyone received us with pleasure. I talked to them of religious matters and they said to me that [illegible]16 they were made Christians, but that it had to be there. Three of them who wanted to go with me presented themselves and they started out very happy. When we reached the village of Quihuama, the chief, who already knew I was coming, had hidden the people in the brush. While I was dismounting, he had caused them to drop their clothing and flee to the thickets. In consequence I was not able to speak to anyone.

I was now about six leagues from Telamé and was hemmed in by a big river, which afforded no transit anywhere. It runs along the northern side of the valley and forms a lake and swamps where the plain obstructs its flow. I decided to turn back, for to persist in going on to Telamé would mean a long detour. So I went back, accomplishing the operation without any event worth mentioning, as far as the village of our friends at Thuohuala, called, in the language of San Miguel, Hubal. There we found that the village had moved. Since on my first visit I had departed on such good terms with these people, I was the more astonished at their fickleness. I decided to send some Indians to let them know I was there and that I would like to see them all together. They received these poor fellows with arrows and, if the latter had not carried with them their leather shields to defend themselves, not a one would have got back to the camp (they were below Hubal at a village called Pusas). They quickly sent word to me at the camp. The corporal and six men went out but found no one there. My Indians did not use weapons against anyone and made no more resistance than to seize arrows and take bows out of the hands of those who were offending. They took three prisoners, two women and a man, who, according to the story, were all yelling “Kill the Playanos!” [Playanos, people from the coast.] The next day the village was burned and everything in it destroyed because the people in it had taken up arms against those who had treated them well. One Indian was slightly wounded in the head; two horses were hit by arrows, one rather seriously, and another stolen with the saddle, together with all those from which the riders had dismounted in order to deliver my message.17 This village deserves severe punishment.

In all the land we have covered there is neither good water to drink nor stones nor firewood, even enough to cook a meal, except in the river bottom. The latter is overgrown with cottonwoods and willows but there is no land fit for sowing crops because everywhere is sand.

The foregoing, my respected Prelate, is the information I have to give you concerning my journey. I cannot forget that in all the time I was away there was nothing but a miserable supper at night and chocolate in the morning, that in the day I was weak and tired with traveling and in the night, no matter what protection I used, I was soaking wet till after my prayers. Nevertheless, may this all be for the greater honor and glory of God, our Lord, who, with all these labors ... [illegible] ... arrived at San Luis....

May your health..., etc.

Fr. L. de Martinez

This is a copy

Father Cabot’s Report

Fr. Juan Cabot to Prefect
San Miguel, June 1, 1816
(Archbishop’s Arch., III (1): 213-216)