The Making of the Great West (Illustrated Edition). Samuel Adams Drake

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The Making of the Great West (Illustrated Edition) - Samuel Adams  Drake


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met with an untimely check. But, strangely enough, it made progress in another quarter through these very misfortunes.

      For while De Soto was vainly seeking for gold on that side, his countrymen were bestirring themselves in the same business in a quite different direction, as we shall see.

      ROCK INSCRIPTIONS, NEW MEXICO.

      At this time it was Don Antonio de Mendoza who was the emperor's viceroy in Mexico. Now Mendoza aimed to gain distinction with his sovereign by being the first who should discover and make known to the world, all the unexplored region lying north of Mexico, which was accounted as rich as any yet known to the Spaniards. Most of all, perhaps, Mendoza wished to find the land's end in that northern direction, as by doing so he would complete the work of putting a girdle round the continent, and gain the glory of it for himself.

      The second obstacle, the Spaniards had created for themselves, by making slaves of all natives taken in arms. Rather than be slaves the Indians had fled into the mountain fastnesses. As their fear of the Spaniards was very great, these fugitives secreted themselves in the most inaccessible places, choosing rather to live like wild beasts than be branded like cattle with hot irons, and nursing their hatred of their oppressors. Not venturing to come down into the open valleys where they would be at the mercy of their conquerors, these unhappy people lived in caves, or in stone dwellings perched high among the rocks, where they could at least breathe the air of liberty unmolested. Those who formerly lived in the valleys had also fled to the mountains when they heard of the Spaniards' coming. So the Spaniards would have to contend not only with nature, but with a brave and a hostile people, if they attempted to subdue them.

      NEW MEXICO.—ROUTE OF SPANISH INVADERS.

      These promises of peace induced a great many of the natives to come down from the mountains; and once there they were easily won over with gifts and kind words, and in gratitude for the promise not to capture and enslave them as they had done, told the Spaniards to go and come as freely as they chose. The natives were then sent home to spread the news among their brethren.

      As in Florida, so here a long period of inaction followed these failures. In both cases the Spaniards had come and seen, but not conquered. The Mississippi flowed on untroubled to the sea, the heart of the continent still kept its secret fast locked in the bosom of its hills. But we know now that the gold and silver the Spaniards craved so much to possess were there waiting for the more successful explorers.

      JUNCTION OF THE GILA AND COLORADO.


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