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SEMICENTENNIAL PUBLICATIONS
OF THE
UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA
1868-1918
SPAIN IN THE WEST
A SERIES OF ORIGINAL DOCUMENTS
FROM FOREIGN ARCHIVES
VOLUME III
Earliest Prixt of Kino's Map of Pimeria Alta, 1705
r i
K<56.7W
KINO'S HISTORICAL MEMOIR
OF PIMERIA ALTA
A CONTEMPORARY ACCOUNT OF THE BEGINNINGS OF CALI-
FORNIA, SONORA, AND ARIZONA, BY FATHER EUSEBIO
FRANCISCO KINO, S.J. , PIONEER MISSIONARY
EXPLORER, CARTOGRAPHER, AND
RANCHMAN
1683-I7 I I
PUBLISHED FOR THE FIRST TIME FROM THE ORIGINAL MANUSCRIPT
IN THE ARCHIVES OK MEXICO; TRANSLATED INTO ENGLISH,
EDITED AND ANNOTATED, BY
HERBERT EUGENE BOLTON, Ph.D.
FROFESSOR OF AMERICAN HISTORY AND CURATOR OF THE
BANCROFT" LIBRARY, UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIX
VOLUME I
THE ARTHUR IL CLARK COMPANY
CLEVELAND: 1919
COPYRIGHT, I9I9l BY
HERBERT E. BOLTON
CONTENTS
Preface 21
Introduction 27
TABLE OF CONTENTS AND BRIEF COMPENDIUM OF THIS
HISTORY OR TREATISE UPON THE CELESTIAL FAVORS
EXPERIENCED IN THE NEW CONVERSIONS OF
THIS UNKNOWN NORTH AMERICA*
Dedicatory to His Royal Majesty, Philip V, in Thanks-
giving for his new Royal Cedula which so greatly
favors these new (.(inversions, and which is the mo-
TIVE for Writing this Treatise 85
Prologue to the charitarle Reader; that these Niw
Conquests and New Conversions are to such an ex-
tent DUE TO THE CELESTIAL FAVORS OF OUR Ix>RD THAT
THEY CANNOT RE ATTRIBUTED TO HUMAN FORCES . . 97
Part I. Niw spiritual and temporal Conquests in
Pimeria, of the Kingdom of Ni i v \ BlSCAYA, during the
Suspension of the Enterprise of the Conquest and Con-
version of California: and the EVENTS of the twelve
Years from 1687 to 1699
Book I. First Entry into Pimeria, in Nucva Biscaya, and the
Beginnings of its spiritual and temporal Conquest, and of its
Conversion to our Holy Catholic Faith .... 105
Chapter L Because of the Suspension of the Conquest and
Conversion of California, two Alms arc asked and ob-
tained from the Royal Treasury for two Missionary Fa-
thers for this Coast and Mainland nearest to California.
a In the original manuscript this Table of Content* is placed after the text,
and occupies fourteen unnumbered pages, written in double columns. The
last page bears the signature of Father Kino. It will be noted that the
Table of Contents is not an exact copy of the headings distributed throughout
the text, although the variations are unimportant in the main. In one or
two places the numbering of the chapters in the original manuscript vrai in-
consistent. This defect has been rectified by the editor, and certain other
minor liberties have been taken.
8 CONTENTS [Vol.
Chapter II. Royal Provision and Royal Cedula which favor
the new Conversions.
Chapter III. My Arrival at these Missions of Sonora, and
my first Entry into this Pimeria with the Father Visitor,
Maunel Gonzales.
Chapter IV. Expedition to San Ygnacio de Caborica, San
Joseph de los Ymeres, and Nuestra Senora de los Re-
medios.
Chapter V. First Opposition experienced in this new Con-
version.
Chapter VI. Second Opposition and Discords Sown in this
Pimeria.
Chapter VII. The Father Visitor, Manuel Gonzales, visits
the three new Pueblos of this Pimeria, for which four
other Missionary Fathers are asked and obtained.
Book II. Visit and Triennium of the Father Visitor Juan
Maria Salvatierra, 1690, 1691, 1692 117
Chapter I. The new Father Visitor, Juan Maria Salvati-
erra, comes to visit the four Fathers of this Pimeria in
their new districts.
Chapter II. During this Visitation the Sobaipuris and other
Natives come from the North to meet us.
Chapter III. Report of the Condition of this Pimeria by the
Father Visitor to the Father Provincial, Ambrosio Oddon,
and the Reply of the Father Provincial.
Chapter IV. Journey northward of more than sixty Leagues
to the Sobaipuris.
Chapter V. Expedition or Mission westward to the Nation
of El Soba, even to the Sea of California, until California
itself was seen.
Chapter VI. Dedication of the new Church of Nuestra
Senora de los Dolores.
Chapter VII. Second and third Expeditions to the Sea of
California.
Chapter VIII. Expedition or Mission to the North and
Northwest for more than one hundred Leagues, as far as
to the Rio Grande and the Casa Grande, and the Discovery
of the two new Nations, the Opa and the Coco-Maricopa.
Book III. Arrival of the Venerable Father Francisco Xavier
one] CONTENTS
Saeta at these new Conversions ; his Apostolic Fervor, Work,
Zeal, and Holy Letters; his Glorious, Innocent Death . 130
Chapter I. Expedition of the Venerable Father Francisco
Xavier Saeta to his new Mission of Nuestra Senora de la
Consepcion del Cavorca.
Chapter II. First Holy Fervor and Zeal, and one of the
Holy Letters of the Venerable Father Francisco Xavier
Saeta.
Chapter III. The Venerable Father goes out to seek Alms
for his new Mission and for the Building of his new
Church.
Chapter IV. Third very tender Letter of the Venerable
Father Francisco Xavier Saeta, in which his more than
paternal Affection for his Children is shown.
Chapter V. The Venerable Father returns to his Mission
and in another Letter declares the very good conduct of
his Children.
Chapter VI. Two other Letters in which the Venerable
Father declares his laudable Desire to go to California
also.
Chapter VII. Letter in which the Venerable Father refuses
to leave La Consepcion, in order to stay and obtain the
Crown of Martyrdom in Holy Week.
Chapter VIII. Last Letter of most tender Farewell from
the Venerable Father.
Chapter IX. Concerning three other Murders committed
in San Pedro del Tubutama.
Chapter X. Happy Death of the Venerable Father Fran-
cisco Xavier Saeta and of his four Servants, and the Plun-
dering of his House.
Chapter XL Expedition of the Garrison of this Province
of Senora to punish the Malefactors and to remove the
Body of the Venerable Father.
Chapter XII. Second Expedition of the Garrison, and new
and greater Disturbance than before.
Chapter XIII. Third Expedition with three Garrisons of
One Hundred and sixty b men and with many friendly
Indians from Everywhere, even from Hyaqui.
bThe text reads "one hundred and fifty."
10
CONTENTS [Vol.
Book IV. General Peace-agreements of this Pimeria, and Let-
ters of various Persons who prophesy and promise Great
Fruits from the Innocent and Happy Death of the Venerable
Father Francisco Xavier Saeta . . . . . .148
Chapter I. The very Catholic Peace-agreements of this Pi-
meria.
Chapter II. Sundry Letters of principal persons, who prog-
nosticate and promise very copious spiritual and temporal
Fruits in the most constant Conversion of many Souls.
Chapter III. Other Letters from other prominent Fathers
who promise and assure the same blessed and copious
Fruit.
Chapter IV. Other Letters from three Lieutenants of this
Pimeria in regard to the Blessed Death of the Venerable
Father Francisco Xavier Saeta.
Chapter V. Another Letter citing the Universal Example
of the other new Conversions, which likewise began with
the Shedding of the Blood of their Ministers.
Chapter VI. Prophecies of the Venerable Father Francisco
Xavier Saeta himself, of his glorious and greatly desired
Martyrdom.
Book V. My Journey to Mexico and my Return to the Mis-
sions ; Visitation of the Father Visitor, Oracio Police ; various
entries to the North, the West, and the Northwest; Discov-
ery and Reduction of new Nations . . . . .158
Chapter I. My Journey to Mexico to obtain missionary
Fathers for this Pimeria.
Chapter II. My Departure from Mexico and Arrival at
these Missions of the Pimeria.
Chapter III. New and old and very violent Contradictions
and Opposition which hindered the Coming of the mis-
sionary Fathers to this Pimeria.
Chapter IV. Various Entries to the Northeast by Order
of the Father Visitor, Oracio Police ; and the Delivery of
the District of Cocospera to Father Pedro Ruis de Con-
treras.
Chapter V. The principal Captains and Governors of this
Pimeria go to Santa Maria de Baceraca to see the Father
Visitor and ask for Fathers, a Journey of more than one
one] CONTENTS n
hundred and then of more than one hundred and fifty
Leagues.
Chapter VI. Great and peaceful Entry of twenty-two Sol-
diers to the Rio Grande and the last Sobaipuris.
Chapter VII. Arrival at the Rio Grande and Casa Grande
and the Return to Nuestra Senora de los Dolores, having
Travelled in Going and Returning more than two hun-
dred and seventy Leagues in Pimeria.
Chapter VIII. Another Entry to the West with a Father
and the Senor Lieutenant of this Pimeria.
Chapter IX. The hostile Jocomes and Xanos attack Co-
cospera and burn the Church and the Father's House.
Book VI. Victory of the Pimas over the Enemies of this Prov-
ince of Sonora, the Jocomes, Sumas, Mansos, and Apaches . 178
Chapter I. The hostile Jocomes and Janos attack the
Rancheria of Santa Cruz de Quiburi.
Chapter II. Captain Coro with his Pimas comes to the
Rescue, and they kill more than three hundred hostile
Jocomes, Sumas, Mansos, and Apaches.
Chapter III. The Reports of this Victory were well re-
ceived in all Parts, and in the Real de San Juan with
Ringing of Bells.
Chapter IV. Another great Expedition to the Coast of the
Sea of California, in which are discovered and reduced
more than four thousand new Pima Indians, who give us
four hundred and thirty-five Infants to baptize.
Chapter V. Opinions and Reports received in regard to the
above-mentioned happy Entry.
Chapter VI. Another great Entry, in which arc Discovered
more than eighty Leagues of new Lands and new Peo-
ples: from the Rio Grande the Rio Azul is sighted: de-
tailed Information is obtained in regard to the very pop-
ulous and very large Rio Colorado near-by; and the new
Yuma Nation is reduced.
Book VII. Visitation by the Father Visitor Anttonio Leal, and
new Journeys of his Reverence to the Pimeria, to the North,
Northwest, and West ....... 200
Chapter I. First paternal Letters of Father Visitor An-
ttonio Leal with a View to encourage these new Conver-
sions of this Pimeria.
12
CONTENTS [Vol.
Chapter II. First News of the Reduction of the Apaches
nearest the Rio Colorado.
Chapter III. Journey or Mission of the Father Visitor
Antonio Leal through the Pimeria to the Sobaipuris of
the North, and to the northwest and the west Coasts,
two hundred and forty Leagues in Going and Returning,
from October 24 to November 28, 1699. In the Course of
it twenty-three Baptisms are performed and about seven
thousand Souls are seen and counted.
Chapter IV. Return of the Father Visitor Antonio Leal
from the Interior by the northwestern and western Coasts.
Chapter V. Expedition of Captain Coro's Pimas Sobaipuris
against the Enemies of this Province, in Company with
the Garrison ; and the good Fortune which they had.
Book VIII. Of the great Fruit, spiritual and temporal, which
at small Cost to his royal Majesty (God preserve him) can
be garnered among the surrounding Nations of all this
North America . . . . . . . . .212
Chapter I. Of this North America, in general almost un-
known.
Chapter II. Of the neighboring great California.
Chapter III. Father Juan Maria Salvatierra, availing him-
self of the Alms of the Faithful, crosses over from Hyaqui
to the Conversion of California in 1697.
Chapter IV. Various Voyages and Expeditions which have
been made to California since the Beginning of the Con-
quest of New Spain.
Chapter V. Other recent information in Regard to the
present State of California, derived from the Letters which
Father Juan Maria Salvatierra writes to the Father Vis-
itor Anttonio Leal on September 2, and to me on October
17, 1699.
Part II. New Expeditions of more than 200 Leagues,
and the discovery of new nations, large vol-
umed Rivers, and the Land Passage to
California in thirty-two Degrees
Book I. Of the Measures, Dispositions, and Expeditions which
in the Year 1699 are made in order to discover the Land
Route to California ........ 227
Chapter I. Letters of the principal Superiors, and the very
one] CONTENTS 13
Catholic Royal Cedula, which inspire the Writing of this
second Part of the Celestial Favors.
Chapter II. In various Expeditions Reports of the Passage
by Land to California are obtained.
Chapter III. Diary of the Expedition to the North in Order
to discover a Road and Route by Land to California, as
many Persons desire, write about, and request.
Chapter IV. At San Francisco Xavier del Bac of the
Sobaipuris I called the principal Governors and Captains
from more than forty Leagues around to find out whether
the blue Shells came from any other Region than the
opposite Coast of California.
Chapter V. Letters which reach me from the Soldiers who
meantime had come into the Pimeria from Cucurpe, to
San Ygnacio and to Tubutama.
Chapter VI. My Return to Nuestra Senora de los Dolores,
and my Desire and Attempt to live and establish a Mis-
sion at San Francisco Xavier del Bac, i^ order to be
nearer to so many new Nations.
Chapter VII. Expedition of one hundred and seventy Leagues
to the North and Northwest in Search of the Land Route
to California; and the Discovery of the very large, pop-
ulous, and fertile Rio Colorado (which is the true Rio
del Norte), and of its new Nations.
Chapter VIII. We descend the Rio Grande, to the West,
and after a Journey of fifty Leagues reach the Yuma
Nation, Discover four new Nations, and sight the Cali-
fornias.
Chapter IX. Having seen that the Gulf of California did
not extend to thirty-two Degrees,0 when we set out on the
Return to Nuestra Senora de los Dolores the many Na-
tives from farther along call us and cause us to return,
and we go on to the large Rio Colorado.
Chapter X. We take leave of the many People of the Rio
Colorado, or Rio del Norte, and return by the other
Route, through San Marcelo.
Chapter XL Setting out from San Marcelo, after a Jour-
cThis figure records Kino's final conclusion regarding the latitude of the
head of the Gulf. The text, written several years earlier, reads "thirty-five
degrees."
U
CONTENTS [Vol.
ney of fifty Leagues we arrive at Nuestra Senora de la
Conception del Caborca, and after fifty more at Nuestra
Senora de los Dolores.
Chapter XII. Letters which the Fathers of the Company,
as well as others, secular Gentlemen, write me, having
heard the News of the above-related Expedition and Dis-
covery.
Chapter XIII. Letter of the Father Rector Juan Maria de
Salvatierra, to whom in the Months preceding I had
written of the very great Probability of the Land route
to California.
Chapter XIV. About seven hundred Beeves and other Cat-
tle are collected and herded in these Missions of Sonora,
and taken to Matape and Hyaqui for California.
Book II. Expedition or Mission with the Father Rector, Juan
Maria de Salvatierra, to the Head of the Sea of California,
at thirty-one Degrees of Latitude; Hostilities of the Apaches
on these Frontiers of Sonora. Good State of the New Con-
versions of this extensive Pimeria and of its neighboring new
Nations .......... 265
Chapter I. The coming of the Father Rector Juan Maria
de Salvatierra from the Mission of Nuestra Senora de
Loreto, California, to these Missions of Hyaqui, Sonora,
and of this Pimeria, to go by Land to said California.
Chapter II. The Coming of the hostile Apaches to these
Frontiers of Sonora, with so many Hostilities, Robberies,
and Murders, that it seemed that it was going to prevent
our Expedition to the Land Passage to California.
Chapter III. These Hostilities of the Apaches are attri-
buted, although very falsely, to the Pimas; and the In-
nocence of this Pimeria is clearly shown and declared.
Chapter IV. The Father Rector, Juan Maria de Salvatier-
ra, comes to this Mission or Pueblo of Nuestra Senora
de los Dolores, and we undertake the Expedition to the
Passage by Land to California. His Reverence sets out
westward for San Ygnacio, and after a Journey of fifty
Leagues arrives at Nuestra Senora de la Consepcion.
Chapter V. My Departure from Nuestra Senora de Los
Dolores, to overtake Father Rector Juan Maria de Sal-
one] CONTENTS 15
vatierra, drawn from the Diary of this Journey to the
Land Passage to California.
Chapter VI. Having performed thirty-three solemn Bap-
tisms at La Consepcion, after going fifty Leagues along
the Coast of the Sea of California we arrive at the Ranch-
eria and Ranch of San Marzelo del Sonoidag.
Chapter VII. Setting out from San Marzelo del Sonoidag
to the Westward, after a Journey of thirty-four Leagues d
we arrive at the Head of the Sea of California at thirty-
one Degrees Latitude.
Chapter VIII. On Account of finding a Sand-dune more
than sixty Leagues around, situated at the Head of the
Sea of California, and because our Pack-animals were
growing tired, we returned, having twice sighted Cali-
fornia.
Chapter IX. Setting out from San Marzelo, after a fifty-
three Leagues' Journey we arrived at San Francisco Xavier
del Bac of the Sobaipuris. The Kindness and good Con-
dition of the Natives.
Chapter X. Setting out from San Xavier del Bac, after
travelling sixty Leagues we arrive at Nuestra Senora de
los Dolores ; Letters from the royal Justices and military
Leaders which we receive on the Way in regard to the
happy Victory of these Pimas over the Enemies of this
Province of Sonora.
Chapter XI. Various other Letters from the different Mis-
sionary' Fathers, both in regard to the above-mentioned
Journey to the Land-Passage to California, and in regard
to the Victory of these Pimas over the Enemies of this
Province of Sonora.
Chapter XII. Letters from other secular Gentlemen and
Ministers of his royal Majesty in regard to this Journey
and the Passage to California, and in regard to this Vic-
tory of the Pimas.
Chapter XIII. Four new Missionary Fathers enter this
Pimeria.
Book III. Of my Expedition of two hundred Leagues to the
Quiquima Nation of California Alta and to the very large,
d Thirty-five leagues in the text.
!6 CONTENTS [Vol.
very fertile, and very populous Rio Colorado, which is the
real and true Rio Del Norte, 1701, and this Journey, going
and coming, was of more than 400 Leagues . . . 305
Chapter I. Letter of the Father Rector, Juan Maria de
Salvatierra, in regard to this Expedition, which I receive
when on the Point of Mounting my Horse to undertake it.
Chapter II. My Departure from Nuestra Senora de los
Dolores for the Quiquimas of California, who are two
hundred Leagues distant, with twelve Servants, and my
Arrival at San Marzelo, a Journey of more than ninety
Leagues.
Chapter III. We set out from San Marzelo, and after a
sixty Leagues' Journey we arrive at the Yumas, and at
San Dionicio at the Confluence of the Rio Grande de
Hila and the large Rio Colorado, or Rio del Norte.
Chapter IV. Setting out from San Dionisio, and from the
Confluence of the Rivers, we arrive at the Quiquima Na-
tion of California Alta.
Chapter V. I cross the very large-volumed Rio Colorado
or Rio del Norte, on a Raft, with a Servant, and pene-
trate to the westward three Leagues, through many
Rancherias and through very fertile and pleasant Cham-
paigns.
Chapter VI. Having seen the Land Passage to California,
we turn back for Nuestra Senora de los Dolores. They
give us Infants to baptize, and we arrive in Safety at San
Marzelo.
Chapter VII. After Returning, Accounts of this Expedition
are given to various Persons, in particular to the Father
Visitor, Anttonio Leal, in the following Letter.
Chapter VIII. Letter from the three Father Rectors in
Reply to the News in my Letters.
Book IV. Of the new Discovery of the evident and very patent
Passage by Land to California in 32 Degrees of north Lati-
tude; and that California is not an Island but a Peninsula;
and the Discovery of the very large-volumed and very pop-
ulous Colorado River, which is the true Rio del Norte of
the Ancients 329
Chapter I. Doubts and Controversies which for so many
Years have existed in regard to whether California is
one] CONTENTS 17
continental, or Terra Firma, continuous with this New
Spain.
Chapter II. The Expedition of two hundred Leagues is
undertaken with Father Rector Manuel Gonzales to the
Quiquimas from the fifth of February to the middle of
April, 1702. After the first ninety Leagues' Journey we
arrive at San Marzelo del Sonoidag, and later at the
mouth of the very large and very populous Rio Colorado,
or Rio del Norte.
Chapter III. Setting out from San Marzelo del Sonoidag,
after more than sixty Leagues' Journey we arrive at the
very large Rio Colorado of the Yuma Nation.
Chapter IV. Setting out from San Dionicio and the Con-
fluence of the Rivers Colorado and Rio Grande, after
fifty Leagues' Journey to the Southwest (between South
and West) we arrived at the Quiquima and Cutgana
Nations, and at the Mouth of the above-mentioned Rivers.
Chapter V. Having gone beyond and left the Sea of Cali-
fornia to the eastward, after having entered about twenty-
five Leagues farther than in the preceding Journeys in-
land we turn back to our Mission and the Province of
Sonora; and after going one hundred and eleven Leagues
we arrive at San Marzelo.
Chapter VI. Leaving San Marzelo, after about seventy
Leagues' Journey we arrive at the new Pueblo of El Tu-
butama; and the only Misfortune which we suffered.
Chapter VII. Many other Things relating to this Journey
inland were drawn from the long Letter which I wrote
to the Father Visitor.
Chapter VIII. Cogent Reasons and clear Arguments which
establish the Certainty of the Land Passage to California.
Chapter IX. Letters from important Personages in Regard
to these new Conversions, which I received on my Return
from this Journey inland.
Chapter X. Means for these new Conversions and for the
total Reduction of this North America, which hitherto
has been unknown.
Chapter XL Advantages which may result from these new
Conversions to the Benefit of all this unknown North
America.
!8 CONTENTS
Chapter XII. Certificate of the Senor Alcalde Mayor, Juan
Matheo Manje, in Regard to the Letter and Report of
four Sheets to the Father Visitor, Anttonio Leal ; and in
Regard to the Journey inland and the Land Passage to Cal-
ifornia.
Chapter XIII. Other Letters from different Persons in Re-
gard to this Journey inland and to the Land Passage to
California.
Book V. The Coming of Indians from remote Parts with
Messages from very distant Rancherias bordering on Cali-
fornia Alta and living on the Land Passage to it, all of whom
ask for Fathers and Holy Baptism. Efforts are made to go
to negotiate and solicit the Coming of the necessary Fathers . 370
Chapter I. The Governor of San Marcelo, with other Jus-
tices, comes ninety Leagues' Journey to Nuestra Senora de
los Dolores with Crosses to solicit fathers for his People
and for the Yuma and Quiquima People.
Chapter II. Happy Death of a recently baptized Indian.
Chapter III. Of two other Journeys inland which I made
to the West and North, looking to the spiritual and tem-
poral Welfare of the poor Natives.
Chapter IV. Letters from the Father Visitor and from the
Senor Alcalde Mayor in regard to the State of this Pi-
meria.
Chapter V. There is Discussion of my going to Mexico to
obtain and bring Fathers for these Harvests of Souls, so
extensive and so ripe, in this Pimeria and in other neigh-
boring Nations.
Chapter VI. Others, and I also, are of the Opinion, par-
ticularly because neither the new Government nor the
Mission of European Fathers has arrived, that my Going
to Mexico is not necessary.®
Chapter VII. The Building of two good spacious Churches
in the second and third Pueblos of my Administration in
this Pimeria.
eThe manuscript contains a heading, just preceding this, for which there
is no corresponding chapter in the text. It reads "Chapter VI. Many others
think it very desirable that I go to Mexico to obtain fathers." It has been
omitted by the editor and the numbering adjusted to that of the text.
ILLUSTRATIONS
Earliest Print of Kino's Map of Pimeria Alta,
1705 ......... Frontispiece
Two prints of the famous map, evidently from the same plate,
appeared in the same year. One was in the Memoire de Tre-
<voux (May, 1705), p. 746, from which the print shown here is
copied, and the other in Lettrrs Edijiantcs et Curieuses (V.
Recueil, authorized January 17. 1705). The Spanish original of
the map has never been printed. The assertion frequently made
that Kino's map was published in 1701 is an error.
Plan of the Settlement at San Bruno, 1683 facing page 40
Drawn by Father Kino and hitherto unpublished. Transmitted
by the vicer<>\, March 26, 1685. A. (i. I. 1-1-3/21. Torres
Lanzas, No. 77.
Map of the Part of Lower California where Atondo
and Kino labored, 1683-1685 49
Drawn by Father Kino, 1683. Transmitted to the King by
the Viceroy, March 26, 1685, A. (J. 1. 1-1-3/21. Original 38 x 54
centimeters. Torres Lanzas, No. 76.
A Later Version of Kino's M \p of Pi mi ri a Alta . 331
Hitherto unpublished. A.G.I., 67-3-39. Original 33 x 40
centimeters. Torres Lanza^, No, 93 ; I owerjr, p. 215. Certain
data on the map shows it to be a middle or later 18th century
reproduction.
PREFACE
In publishing this great memoir left by Father Kino
I am carrying out, after two centuries, a hope expressed
in 1705 by Father Tamburini, Father General of the
Society of Jesus. Thanking Kino for his heroic work,
to the humble missionary in the wilds of the Pacific
Slope the dignitary wrote:
I heartily rejoice that your Reverence may continue your
treatise on those missions entitled Celestial Favors, the first
part of which you sent us here. I hope to receive the other
two parts which your Reverence promises, and that they may
all be approved in Mexico, in order that they may be published.
The hope was justified by the merit of the work.
Indeed, the rediscovery and the publication of this
long lost manuscript, whose very existence has been
disputed, puts on a new basis the early history of a large
part of our Southwest.
The problem of the biographer of Father Kino will
be to tell much in little, so many and long continued
were his activities. He was great not only as mission-
ary and church builder, but also as explorer and ranch-
man. By Kino or directly under his supervision mis-
sions were founded on both sides of the Sonora-Ari-
zona boundary, on the Magdalena, Altar, Sonoita, and
Santa Cruz Rivers. The occupation of California by
the Jesuits was the direct result of Kino's former resi-
dence there and of his persistent efforts in its behalf,
for it was from Kino that Salvatierra, founder of the
permanent California missions, got his inspiration for
that work.
22 MEMOIR OF PIMERIA ALTA [Vol.
To Kino is due the credit for first traversing in
detail and accurately mapping the whole of Pimeria
Alta, the name then applied to southern Arizona and
northern Sonora. Considered quantitatively alone,
his work of exploration was astounding. During his
twenty-four years of residence at the mission of Do-
lores, between 1687 and 171 1, he made more than fifty
journeys inland, an average of more than two per year.
These journeys varied from a hundred to nearly a thou-
sand miles in length. They were all made either on
foot or on horseback, chiefly the latter. In the course
of them he crossed and recrossed repeatedly and at
varying angles all of the two hundred miles of country
between the Magdalena and the Gila and the two hun-
dred and fifty miles between the San Pedro and the Col-
orado. When he first opened them nearly all his trails
were either absolutely untrod by civilized man or had
been altogether forgotten. They were made through
countries inhabited by unknown tribes who might but
fortunately did not offer him personal violence, though
they sometimes proved too threatening for the nerve of
his companions. One of his routes was over a forbid-
ding, waterless waste, which has since become the
graveyard of scores of travelers who have died of thirst
because they lacked Father Kino's pioneering skill. I
refer to the Camino del Diablo, or Devil's Highway,
from Sonoita to the Gila. In the prosecution of these
journeys Kino's energy and hardihood were almost be-
yond belief.
All the foregoing was the work of a man of action,
and it was worthy work well done. But Kino also found
time to write. Historians have long known and had
access to a diary, three "relations," two or three letters,
and a famous map, all by Kino, and all important for
one] EUSEBIO FRANCISCO KINO, S.J. 23
the history of the region where he worked. His map
published in 1705 was the first of Pimeria based on
actual exploration, and for nearly a century and a half
was the principal map of the region in existence. And
there has now come to light, discovered by the present
writer in the archives of Mexico, this vastly more im-
portant work - a complete history, written by Kino him-
self at his little mission of Dolores, covering nearly his
whole career in America. It was known to and used
by the early Jesuit historians, but has lain forgotten
ever since. It is now found to be the source of prac-
tically all that has been known of the work of Kino and
his companions, and to contain much that never has
been known before. Kino, therefore, was not only the
first great missionary, ranchman, explorer, and geog-
rapher of Pimeria Alta, but his book was the first and
will be for all time the principal history of his region
during his quarter century.
The original of the manuscript here published was
discovered by the editor some eleven years ago, after
it had suffered a century and a half of oblivion. It
was found in the Archivo General y Publico, at Mexico
City, where it comprises nearly the whole of volume 27,
Seccion de Misiones. The original contains four hun-
dred and thirty-three small folio pages of text and a
fourteen page table of contents. There is no doubt of its
authenticity, for it bears three signatures of Father Kino,
which correspond to those in original letters signed by
him. More convincing still, it bears certain peculiari-
ties of Father Kino's orthography, the result of his
early education, which can not be mistaken.
The manuscript was written at different times over a
long period of years, and consequently the handwriting
24 MEMOIR OF PIMERIA ALTA [Vol.
changes. The Prologue and Part I are written in uni-
form ink and hand, which are the same as those of
Father Kino's original diary of 1698, also discovered by
the writer. Part II to page 214 is written in paler ink,
with a coarser pen, and in a slightly different style of
hand, which is clearly Father Kino's, nevertheless.
From page 215 to page 264 the ink is darker, the hand
finer, and more like that of Part I. The corrections in
Part I are in the ink and hand of the early portion of
Part II, which indicates that when Father Kino wrote
Part II he revised Part I. Pages 265-338 are written
in two different hands, clearly not Father Kino's, but
bear corrections in Kino's hand. The remainder of the
manuscript, from page 339 to the end, including the
Indice, is again in Father Kino's handwriting.
Great care has been taken to secure a faithful copy of
Kino's original manuscript, the making of the transcript
being personally supervised by the editor himself and
Dr. William Edward Dunn.
In preparing the manuscript for publication, effort
has been made to apply the best rules of critical schol-
arship. Some liberties, perforce, have been taken.
The paragraphing of the original has been retained in
most cases, but in a few instances this was impracticable.
The placing of the chapter headings, in which there
was varied practice in the original, has been unified.
Liberties dictated by the requirements of printing have
been taken in the matter of placing the marginal head-
ings. The numerous underscorings of words and pas-
sages in the original have been disregarded, since it is
not certain by whom or under what circumstances they
were inserted, and since the omission in no wise affects
the meaning of the text. The original has been fol-
lowed in the matter of accents and in the spelling of
one] EUSEBIO FRANCISCO KINO, S.J. 25
proper names, but capitalization and punctuation have
been modernized. The peculiarities of spelling and
the corruptions in Kino's Latin quotations have been
retained.
The making of the translation has not been the
smallest part of the editorial work. Indeed, "mere
translation" is lightly regarded only by those who
have never seriously tried it. Great care has been
taken to make the English version both accurate and
readable, an end not always easy of attainment. The
translation was made jointly by Miss Elizabeth How-
ard West and the editor. A preliminary translation
of the larger portion of the manuscript was first
made by Miss West. With this draft as a base the
editor has worked over the entire manuscript numerous
times, and is responsible for the final form.
The Introduction is not intended as an exhaustive
biography of Father Kino, but rather as a preparation
for the reading of Kino's personal memoir, which fol-
lows. It falls into three fairly distinct parts. The
early pages are based largely on new materials other
than those here published, and may be regarded as a
contribution to knowledge, since they for the first time
make known the circumstances of Kino's coming to
America, and follow his movements, largely unknown
hitherto, from that time to his advent in Pimeria Alta.
From that point Kino's own memoir gives his career in
detail, and in consequence the second part of the Intro-
duction becomes an interpretation rather than a chron-
ological narrative of the great missionary's principal
life-work. The third portion is a bibliographical ex-
position and evaluation of Kino's memoir. The foot-
notes, besides providing the necessary aids for the
student and giving supplementary information, call at-
26 MEMOIR OF PIMERIA ALTA
tention to frequent errors and gaps in the older and the
standard modern histories which the publication of
Favores Celestiales now enables us to correct or supply.
The preparation of this work for publication has
been under way for some ten years. Meanwhile pressing
duties have intervened and new material has been un-
covered. It was planned to publish the original Span-
ish, but owing to uncertainties caused by the Great War,
the publishers have deemed this inadvisable. The edi-
tor has gathered material for another volume or more
of letters and diaries by Kino, which he hopes to pub-
lish later, if the interest in and support for the present
volumes make such publication possible.
The editor's obligations for assistance are many and
deep. The aid rendered by Dr. W. E. Dunn and Miss
Elizabeth Howard West has already been mentioned.
Dr. Charles Wilson Hackett has given extensive and
most valued editorial assistance. The Reverend Fath-
er D. J. Kavanagh, S.J. of St. Ignatius College, San
Francisco, has revised the translation of the scriptural
passages. The Reverend Father Thomas Lantry
O'Neill, of Newman Hall, Berkeley, has assisted in
many matters relating to Catholic practices. The Rev-
erend Father Th. Pockstaller, S.J., has read all of the
proofs, prepared most of the index, and given valuable
criticism at many points. Dr. Charles H. Cunningham
gave important aid in obtaining materials from the
Archives of the Indies. Professors Herbert I. Priest-
ley and Charles E. Chapman have given frequent
counsel. The personal interest in the work manifested
by His Grace, the Most Reverend Edward J. Hanna,
Archbishop of San Francisco, has been a constant
source of inspiration.
INTRODUCTION
One of the anomalies of historical study just now is
the fact that the oldest fields are the newest. Ancient
history, once thought to be an exhausted topic, is at
present offering the freshest materials and the liveliest
interests. Similarly, in the United States, the South-
west, once the best known and then an almost forgotten
portion, is now the subject of a "revival of learning."
This section was not only known, but books were writ-
ten about it in the sixteenth century.1 New Mexico
boasts a history in the form of an epic poem, filling a
volume, and printed in 1610.2 Several eighteenth cen-
tury works dealt largely with New Mexico, Arizona,
and California. And yet the serious study of the his-
tory and of the bibliography of historical writings re-
lating to this region is still in its infancy.
Only with extreme difficulty can we of the twentieth
century comprehend the spirit which inspired the first
pioneers of the Southwest. We can understand why
man should struggle to conquer the wilderness for the
wealth which it will yield, but almost incomprehen-
sible to most of us is the sixteenth century ideal which
brought to this region its first agents of civilization -
the Jesuit and Franciscan missionaries. These men
came single minded, imbued with zeal for the saving of
souls. Most of them were men of liberal education.
1 For example, Cabeza de Vaca's Naufragios, of which an edition ap-
peared at Zamora in 1542 and another at Valladolid in 1555.
2 Reference is made to Villagra's Historia de la Nueva Mexico (Alcala,
1610).
28 MEMOIR OF PIMERIA ALTA [Vol.
Many of them were of prominent families, and might
have occupied positions of honor and distinction in
Europe.
KINO COMES TO AMERICA
Peer of any of these noble spirited men was Father
Kino, Apostle to the Pimas. Eusebio Francisco Kino,
as he wrote his name, was born in the Valley of Nons-
burg, near Trent, in the Austrian Province of Tyrol,
on August 10, 1644. It is an interesting coincidence
that his birth was in the same year that his intimate
friend, disciple, and fellow worker, Juan Maria Salva-
tierra, was born at Milan.3 It has generally been as-
sumed that Kino's name was originally Kuhn, but
German scholars themselves claim otherwise. Som-
mervogel, whose Bibliotheque has the nature of an
official publication, asserts that the name was Chino, as
was affirmed to Father Melandri in 1870 by a member
of the Chino family. This view is borne out by several
contemporary letters published in German in Stock-
lein's Neue Welt-Bott, where the name is given as
Chinus and Chino. While in New Spain the Jesuit
himself usually wrote his name Kino, and Spaniards
sometimes spelled it Quino,4 to preserve the hard sound
of the ch, no doubt.
In point of nationality Kino is typical of a large class
of the early Jesuit missionaries in Arizona, Sonora, and
California. That is, although he was in the service of
Spain, he was non-Spanish by blood and breeding.
Among Kino's companions and successors, for example,
3 Sommervogel, Bibliotheque de la Compagnie de Jesus, premiere partie,
vol. iv, 1044; Clavigero, Historia de la Baja California, 39; Beristain, Bib-
lioteca Hispano- Americana, 1819. Bancroft, North Mexican States and Tex-
as (vol. i, 250, footnote), inexactly gives the date as "about 1640."
4 Sommervogel, ibid., vol. iv, 1044; Stocklein, Der Neue Welt-Bott mit
allerhand Nachrichten dern Missionariorum Soc. Jesu, erster band (Augsburg
and Gratz, 1726).
one] EUSEBIO FRANCISCO KINO, SJ. 29
we find Steiger, Keler, Sedelmayr, and Grashofer,
whose names disclose their German origin; Goni, Sal-
vatierra, Picolo, and Ripaldini, bearing in their names
the marks of their Italian extraction; and Januske and
Lostinski, whose surnames stamp them as Bohemians.
Though his name was Italian in form. Kino's birth,
education, and early associations were altogether Ger-
man. His early education was acquired at Ala, in
Tyrol, and later he studied in the universities of Ingol-
stadt and Freiburg. One of his teachers at the latter
place whose instruction was long remembered and
treasured was Father Adam Aygentler, author of a
world map. Another of his instructors was Father
Henry Scherer, author of the Hierarchical Geography''
published at Munich in 1703, in which some of Kino's
writings on California were incorporated.
The primary facts of Kino's entry into the Company
of Jesus are set forth in the following extract from the
original manuscript Libra de Profesiones of the Prov-
ince of Mexico: "Native of Trent, born August 10,
1644; entered the Company in the Novitiate of Lans-
perga [Landsberg], of the Province of Upper Ger-
many, Nov. 20, 1665; he made his vows; he finished his
studies, made his third probation, and has taught
grammar three years."6
Had he chosen to do so Kino might have enjoyed an
honorable position, and perhaps even won fame in Eu-
rope, for during his student career at Freiburg and
5 Scherer, P. Henrico. Geographia llierarchica sive Status Ecclesiastici
Romano-Catholici per Or hem Universum Distrihuti Succincta Descriptio
Historico-Geographica. Authore P. Henrico Scherer, Societatis Jesu. Sump-
tibus Joannis Caspari Bencard, Bibliopolae A cadcmiac Dilinaanae. Mon-
achii, Typis Maria; Magdalene Rauchin, Vidua?. Anno MDCCIII. 40 pp. 8
n.n. 257, ind. di pp. 11, n.n. con antiporta.
* Beristain, Bihlioteca Hispano Americana Septentrional, Adiciones y Cor-
recciones (1898), 392.
30 MEMOIR OF PIMERIA ALTA [Vol.
Ingolstadt he greatly distinguished himself in math-
ematics. In 1676, when the Duke of Bavaria and his
father, the Elector, went from the electoral court at
Munich to Ingolstadt, they engaged Kino in a discus-
sion of mathematical sciences, with the result that he
was offered a professorship in the University of Ingol-
stadt. But he preferred to become a missionary to
heathen lands. To this, perhaps, he was inclined by
family tradition, for he was a relative of Father Mar-
tini, famous missionary in the East and author of many
works on China.
The decision to become a missionary was made when
Kino was twenty-five, as the result of a serious illness.
In his Favores Celestiales he tells us that "To the most
glorious and most pious thaumaturgus and Apostle of
the Indies, San Francisco Xavier, we all owe very
much. I owe him first my life, which I was caused to
despair of by the physicians in the city of Hala, of
Tirol, in the year 1669; second, my entry into the Com-
pany of Jesus; and third, my coming to these mis-
sions."7 Another mark of Kino's gratitude for his re-
covery was the addition of Francisco to his name.
He had hoped to go to the Far East, literally to fol-
low in the footsteps of his patron, but in 1678 there
came a call for missionaries in New Spain, and thither
he was sent instead. The exact date of Kino's arrival
in Mexico has been a subject of conjecture and even of
error by secondary writers, 1678, 1680, and 1681 being
variously given. It will be seen below that the last
date is the correct one.8
7 See volume i, 96-97. The date of his novitiate was 1665. Kino
gives the date of his illness as 1669. In view of the great ease with
which the figures 5 and 9 of the seventeenth century Spanish manuscripts
became interchanged in transcribing, I suspect that the dates are one and the
same, and that his becoming a Jesuit followed his illness.
8Thwaites [Jesuit Relations, vol. lxviii, 333], gives the date 1678; Ban-
one] EUSEBIO FRANCISCO KINO, S.J. 31
The circumstances of Kino's journey to America can
be gleaned from Stocklein's Neue Welt-Bott, a valuable
but a much neglected source for American history.9 In
that work is published a letter to his father by Adam
Gerstle, a Jesuit missionary who came to the New World
in the same mission with Father Kino. From Sommer-
vogel we learn that Kino set out for America in April,
1678. From Father Gerstle's letter we learn that he
and eighteen others, including Father Kino, left Genoa
on June 1 2, on two Genoese vessels. The band included
Father Carolus Calvanese and Franciscus Borgia, Ital-
ians; Theophilus de Angelis, a Welshman; Andreas
Mancker, Carolus Borango, and Adam Gerstle, Austri-
ans; Joannes Tilpe, Joannes Strobach, Josephus Neu-
man, Mathias Cuculinus, Paulus Klein, Wenceslaus
Christman, and Brother Simon Poruhradiski, Bohemi-
ans; Joannes Ratkay, Hungarian; Thomas Revell,
Netherlander; Mathias Fischer (country not named) ;
Antonius Kerschbaumer and P^usebius Franciscus Chi-
nus, Tyrolese.
The vessels reached Alicante on the twenty-fifth of
June. Early in the voyage they had experienced a heavy
storm, and when near port were becalmed for several
days. On the way they passed numerous vessels, and as
each hove in sight they prepared to give it battle, but
all proved to be friendly. From Alicante the com-
panions went to Seville, which they reached too late to
take passage in the fleet sailing to the West Indies.10
Father Gerstle's letter gives a very graphic account
croft [North Mexican States, vol. i, 251], gives it 1680 or 1681; Beristdin
[Biblioteca Hispano-A mericana), and Sommervogel \Bibliolheque, vol. iv,
1044], say 1680; Ortega [Hist, del Nayarit, 284], correctly gives the date as
1681.
9 Der Neue Jt'elt-Bott mit all er hand Nachrichten dern Missionariorum
Soc. Jesu.
10 "Brief P. Adami Gerstl, S. J. an seinem Vatter," Puebla, July 14, 1681,
in Stocklein, Neue H'elt-Boti, Theil i, num. 31.
32 MEMOIR OF PIMERIA ALTA [Vol.
of some phases of Seville life. He was especially inter-
ested in the monopoly of industry and commerce by the
Dutch and the French, of the latter of whom forty
thousand lived in Seville; in the amazing number of
clergy and monastic houses there; in the prevalence of
poverty and the multitude of beggars, of whom the
archbishop regularly fed twenty-two thousand out of
his income; in the crude skill of the blood-letters, at
whose hands one of the nineteen, Father Fischer, suc-
cumbed ; in the depreciation of silver on the arrival of a
treasure fleet from America; in the crude methods of
public execution, and the premature burials; and in the
bull fights, in which the nobles participated and on
which the Church frowned.
The delay in Spain was unexpectedly long. In 1679
some royal ships sailed for America, but as they went
by the African coast to get slaves the Jesuits did not
embark. Some private vessels also sailed, but their
charge for the passage was higher than the Father Pro-
curator was willing to pay, consequently they awaited
the departure of the next royal fleet for the West Indies.
Late in March (the twenty-fifth) Gerstle and his
companions returned to Cadiz, and on the eleventh of
July the West Indian fleet sailed, convoyed by two
armed galleons. But the vessel on which the eighteen
Jesuits embarked foundered on a rock shortly after sail-
ing, and they returned the same night to Cadiz on a
small boat, the Tartana. The Father Procurator now
bent every energy to get passage on one of the other ves-
sels, and hurried back and forth between the port au-
thorities and the admiral of the fleet. About two
o'clock the next morning the sleeping band of Jesuits,
now increased by two or three, were awakened by the
Procurator, put on board a boat, and taken to the fleet,
one] EUSEBIO FRANCISCO KINO, S.J. 33
already outside the harbor. The first vessel overhauled
consented to take Fathers Calvanese and Borgia; the
second refused to take any; on the third embarked
Fathers Tilpe and Mancker; on the fourth Father
Borango and Father Zarzola, superior of the mission;
on the fifth Fathers De Angelis and Ratkay; on the
sixth Fathers Strobach and Neuman. Brother Poru-
hradiski, who had remained on the wrecked vessel with
the Jesuits' baggage, also managed to find passage on
the same ship with the superior. But twelve were left
behind, among them being Fathers Cuculinus, Klein,
Christman, Kerschbaumer, Chinus (Kino), Revell, and
Gerstle.11 It is this enumeration by Father Gerstle
that gives us our clue to Father Kino's movements.
Father Gerstle and seven companions now returned
to Seville to wait, and to minister during an epidemic.
Father Kino evidently remained at Cadiz, where he
observed the great comet which was visible there
between December and February. Meanwhile the
Father Procurator conducted a lawsuit to recover six
thousand dollars paid in advance for passage in the
wrecked vessel.
On January 16, i68r, Father Gerstle and his com-
panions again left Seville for Cadiz, arriving on the
eighteenth, and on the twenty-ninth they at last set sail
for America. In the West Indies the fleet divided,
according to custom, and eight of the eighteen compan-
ions went to New Granada, the rest continuing to Vera
Cruz, which they reached after a rough voyage of over
ninety days.
The above account is gleaned from the letter written
by Father Gerstle at Puebla, on July 14, 168 r. It con-
11 An account of the wreck and of the journey of some of the Fathers to
America is given in "Brief Patris Mancker," Mexico, January 25, 1681, in
Stocklein, Neue ff'elt-Bott, Theil i, num. 30, pp. 85-90.
34 MEMOIR OF PIMERIA ALTA [Vol.
firms Father Ortega's statement that Kino arrived in
America in 1681, Sommervogel and others to the con-
trary, notwithstanding. It, in turn, is circumstantially
confirmed by the entry in the manuscript Libro de
Profesiones of the Province of Mexico, which says of
Fathers Kino and Revell : "They came from the Prov-
ince of Austria and arrived at Veracruz on May 3,
1681."12
The band of devoted Jesuits who had set out from
Genoa together were destined to scatter to the ends of
the earth. The story of their personal experiences in
America and the islands of the western seas occupies
large space in the pages of Stocklein's Neue Welt-Bott.
As has been stated, eight of the companions were sent
to New Granada. Ten came to Mexico, whence some
went to the Philippines and others to the Marianas
Islands and to China. Fathers Borango, Tilpe, Stro-
bach, De Angelis, and Cuculinus went to work among
the heathen of the Marianas Islands, Father Tilpe still
being there in 1703. Mancker and Klein went to the
Philippines and Gerstle to China. Ratkay worked in
Sonora, Neuman in Nueva Vizcaya, Kino in Cali-
fornia, Sonora, and Arizona. Of the four who went to
Marianas Islands, three- Borango, Strobach, and De
Angelis -won the martyr's crown.13
Father Kino's mathematical knowledge brought him
into prominence as soon as he arrived in Mexico, where
12 Beristain, Biblioteca Hispano Americana Septentrional, Adiciones y
Correcciones (1898), pp. 392-393. Gerstle says that the voyage lasted ninety-
six days, beginning January 29. Counting to May 3 would give only ninety-
five days.
13 See Stocklein, "Vorrede des ersten Theils," and missionary letters by
Borango (num. 2), Tilpe (num. 3, 64), Strobach (num. 4, num. 5), Cuculinus
(num. 7, num. 8), Garzia and Bonani (num. 9), Mancker (num. 12, num.
20), Ratkay (num. 28, num. 29), Gerstle (num. 31), Neuman (num. 32),
Gilg (num. 33, num. 35), Klein (num. 37).
one] EUSEBIO FRANCISCO KINO, S.J. 35
he at once entered into a public discussion with the
famous Jesuit scholar Sigiienza y Gongora, concerning
the recent comet. One of the fruits of this discussion
was a pamphlet published by Kino in Mexico in 1681
under the title: "Astronomical explanation of the comet
which was seen all over the world during the months of
November and December, 1680, and in January and
February in this year of 1681, and which was observed
in the city of Cadiz by Father Francisco Kino, of the
Company of Jesus."14
As a result of this debate Kino enjoyed the friendship
of Sigiienza y Gongora. This was no small matter, for
Sigiienza was a man of great intellect and of wide influ-
ence. The impression made by Father Kino on Sigiien-
za was shared by the viceroy, the Marques de la La-
guna,15 and this in time led to further recognition.
KINO IN CALIFORNIA
Father Kino's first important missionary work in
America was in Lower California. For two centuries
and a half the Spaniards had made weak attempts to
subdue and colonize that forbidding land. California
14 Exposicion Astronomica de el Cometa, que el Aho de 16S0, por los
meses de Xovicmbrc, y Diziemhre, y este Aho de l6Sl, por los Meses de Enero
y Febrero, se ha visto en todo el mundo, y le ha observado en la Ciudad de
Cadiz, El P. Eusebio Francisco Kino de la Compahia de Jesus. Con licencia,
en Mexico por Francisco Rodriguez Lupercio, 1681, 4.0 ffnc. 28, 1 carte.
This title is taken from Sommervogel [Hibliotheque, vol iv, 1044], who
gives also the circumstances of the composition of the work. Bancroft gives
the first word of the title as "Explicacion" [North Mexican States and
Texas, vol. i, 251], while Beristain gives several other variations from the
above form. The title alone proves that Kino arrived in Mexico in 1681.
He saw the comet in Cadiz between November, 1680, and February, 1681,
and, by implication, only in Cadiz; therefore he could not have reached
Mexico while the comet was still visible.
15 For the impression made by Kino on the viceroy, see the letter by
Father Neuman, from Sisokitschik, Nueva Vizcaya, July 29, 1686, in Neue
Welt-Bott, Theil i, 106.
36 MEMOIR OF PIMERIA ALTA [Vol.
had been discovered by one of Cortes's sailors in 1533.
Two years later the great conquistador himself led a
colony to the Peninsula, then thought to be an island
and called Santa Cruz. The enterprise failed, but
Cortes continued his explorations, and Ulloa, sent out
by him in 1539, rounded the cape and proved Santa
Cruz to be a peninsula. Henceforth it was called Cali-
fornia. Three years later Cabrillo, in quest of the
Strait of Anian, that is, the northern passage to the At-
lantic in which everybody believed, explored the outer
coast of California beyond Cape Mendocino.
New interest in California followed the conquest of
the Philippines by Legazpi (1565-1571); indeed, in
the later sixteenth century California was as much an
appendage of Manila as of Mexico. Legazpi's men
discovered a practicable return route to America, down
the California coast, and thereupon trade, conducted in
the Manila galleon, was established between Manila
and Acapulco. But the voyage was long, scurvy ex-
acted heavy tribute of crews and passengers, and a port
of call was sorely needed. English pirates, too, like
Drake and Cavendish, infested the Pacific, and were
followed by the Dutch Pichilingues. California, there-
fore, must be explored, protected, and peopled.
It was with these needs in view that Cermeno in 1595
made his disastrous voyage down the California coast;
that Vizcaino in 1597 attempted the settlement of La
Paz, and in 1602 explored the outer coast; and that the
king in 1606 ordered a settlement made at Monterey.
The Monterey project failed, but settlements and
missions crept up the Sinaloa coast across the Gulf, and
the pearl fisheries of California attracted attention,
hence new attempts were made on the Peninsula. Hav-
one] EUSEBIO FRANCISCO KINO, SJ. 37
ing little cash to spare, the monarchs tried to make
pearl fishing rights pay the cost of settlement and de-
fense. In the course of the seventeenth century, there-
fore, numerous contracts were made with private ad-
venturers. By the terms the patentees agreed to people
California in return for a monopoly of pearl gathering.
With nearly every expedition went missionaries, to con-
vert and help tame the heathen. In pursuance of these
agreements several attempts were made to settle, espe-
cially at La Paz, where Cortes and Vizcaino both had
failed. Other expeditions were fitted out at royal ex-
pense. The names of Carbonel, Cordova, Ortega, Por-
ter y Casanate, Pinadero, and Lucenilla all stand for
seventeenth century failures to colonize California.
At first the natives of California had been docile, but
they had been enslaved and abused by the pearl hunters,
against the royal will, and had become suspicious and
hostile, as later pioneers learned. Through various
misunderstandings and incomplete explorations, in the
course of the century California had again come to be
regarded as an island.
In spite of the repeated failures, another attempt at
settlement was decided upon. By an agreement of De-
cember, 1678, confirmed by a royal cedula of Decem-
ber 29, 1679, the enterprise was entrusted to Don Isidro
Atondo y Antillon, governor of Sinaloa, who was now
given the title of Admiral of the kingdom of the Cali-
fornias.16 The spiritual ministry, so important a part
of every Spanish conquest, was assigned to the Jesuits,
by agreement with the Father Provincial, Bernardo
Pardo.
16 Venegas, Noticia, vol. i, 219; Autos sobre los Parages que ha descu-
bierto en las Yslas Calijornlas el Almirante don Ysidro de Atondo, in El
Virey de la Nueva Espana da cuenta, etc., A.G.I., 1-1-2/31.
38 MEMOIR OF PIMERIA ALTA [Vol.
In the midst of Atondo's preparations Father Kino
arrived in Mexico (in May, 1681), and was named,
with Father Matias Goni, missionary to California.
Again Kino's mathematical learning was given recogni-
tion, for the viceroy made him royal cosmographer,
that is, astronomer, surveyor, and map maker, of the
expedition. Before leaving Mexico Kino prepared
himself for his scientific task by studying California
geography, borrowing maps for the purpose from the
viceroy's palace and taking them to the Colegio Max-
imo of San Pedro y San Pablo to copy.17
It was expected that the expedition would sail in the
fall of 1681, and before the end of the year Kino left the
capital for his new field of labor. On November 15,
presumably on his way through Guadalajara, he was
made vicar of the Bishop of Nueva Galicia for Cali-
fornia, Father Goni being made his assistant. As the
vessels for the expedition were being built by Atondo
at Pueblo de Nio, near Villa de Sinaloa, thither Kino
made his way, and there we find him in March, 1682. 18
Kino now became involved, innocently, in a dispute
over ecclesiastical jurisdiction in California between
the bishops of Guadalajara and Durango.19 Having
already a commission as vicar of the former, because of
the dispute, it would seem, he applied for and secured
17 See page 334. Venegas, Noticia, vol. i, 219, conveys the im-
pression that the royal cedula of December 29, 1679, named Kino cos-
mographer, but he is not mentioned in that document [Baja California
Cedulas, Ms., Bancroft Library, 74]. The selection of the missionaries
was doubtless made by the Provincial Father Pardo [Alegre, Hist., vol. iii,
42-43]. See also Clavigero, 36; Documentos para la Historia de Mexico,
cuarta serie, vol. v, n-12; Bancroft, North Mexican States, vol. i, 186-187.
18 These movements of Father Kino between his arrival in Mexico and
his departure for California, hitherto unknown, are revealed by a manuscript
expediente entitled Sobre pertenencia del Govierno Espiritual de Californias,
A.G.I., 67-4-2.
19 Expediente sobre pertenencia; Alegre, Hist., vol. iii, 27-28.
one] EUSEBIO FRANCISCO KINO, S.J. 39
a similar commission from the latter.20 This may or
may not be the reason why Father Antonio Suarez was
now made superior of the California mission, but so he
was. Incident to the contest, Father Kino was ordered
by the Bishop of Guadalajara to relinquish his com-
mission from the rival bishop, and the question was ter-
minated by the viceroy in favor of Guadalajara. By
December 5 the vessels had left Sinaloa and were at
Chacala, taking on supplies, and Fathers Suarez, Kino,
and Goni were there ready to embark. For some rea-
son not given Father Suarez did not go to California,
however, and Kino went as superior.21
At last, on January 17, 1683, the expedition sailed.
The voyage was difficult, the crew raw, and the vessels
were driven into the harbor at Mazatlan. Two months
after setting sail they entered the Sinaloa River,22 well
north of their objective point. From here they re-
traced their course, crossed the Gulf, and reached the
coast near La Paz, already the site of so many failures.
During the voyage the launch was lost and never
reached port.23
On April 1 anchor was cast and a formal proclama-
tion issued requiring good treatment of the Indians and
regulating the gathering of precious metals and pearls,
the two primary interests of the expedition. Next
20 His application was made at Pueblo de Nio, March 25, 1682. Expe-
diente sobre pertencncia.
21 Bancroft [North Mexican States, vol. i, 187] states that Father Goni
did not go with this expedition. This is a mistake, it being Father Copart
and not Goni who went later.
22 March 18.
23 "A Descent made by the Spaniards, in the Island of California," in
Lockman, Travels of the Jesuits, vol. i, +08-420. For other forms of this
narrative see Bancroft, North Mexican States, vol. i, 187, footnote 24. Some
doubt was expressed as to whether or not this was the old Bay of La Paz
{ibid., 410). It was at any rate clearly the one now so-called.
4o MEMOIR OF PIMERIA ALTA
day a site was selected and a cross erected near a fine
grove of palm trees and a good spring of water. On
the fifth all disembarked with the royal standard, a
salute was fired, three vivas were shouted for Charles
II, and the admiral took possession for the king, calling
the province Santisima Trinidad de la California. At
the same time Fathers Kino and Goni took ecclesiasti-
cal possession.24
A small fort was begun at once, and a log church and
huts were erected. Sending the Concepcion to the Rio
Yaqui for supplies, Atondo and Kino made minor ex-
plorations. The Indians near the settlement, though
shy at first, soon became friendly, and Fathers Kino
and Goni began to study their language. The Guay-
curos, toward the south, and enemies of the former,
were hostile on the other hand, and by July i a state of
war existed. The soldiers were now panic stricken, and
clamored to abandon the settlement. "It is plain," says
Father Venegas, that Atondo "had with him few like
those courageous and hardened men who at an earlier
day had subdued America." Since the Concepcion had
not returned, and supplies were consequently short,
Atondo yielded, and on July 14 the San Jose weighed
anchor, with all the Spaniards on board.
Atondo now went to the Sinaloa coast to refit, in
order to make a new attempt farther up the California
coast, where more promising lands and Indians had
been reported. Setting sail again, on October 6 he
landed with the missionaries and men at a bay called
San Bruno, a few leagues north of La Paz. Here a new
24 The formal act of possession by Atondo is preserved for us in Alegre,
Hist., vol. iii, 43-45; that by Kino and Goni is contained in Sobre pertenen-
cia. Kino and Goni both signed acts of possession. The dates given
above are from the acts of possession, there being some discrepancy in the
account given in Lockman.
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EUSEBIO FRANCISCO KINO, S.J. 43
settlement was begun, the San Jose being sent for sup-
plies and recruits and with dispatches for the viceroy.25
The routine of life at San Bruno from December 21,
1683, to May 8, 1684, can be gleaned from the detailed
diary kept by Father Kino and preserved to us in the
original in the archives of Mexico.26 It begins with an
account of an exploration by Father Kino and Ensign
Contreras into the Sierra Giganta, to the west. The
principal occupations at the little outpost of civilization
were those connected with providing food, shelter, pro-
tection, and the conversion of the natives. The docile
Indians labored willingly in building the fort, the
houses, and the church, and brought such supplies as
the sterile land afforded.
Father Kino's diary gives us a perfect picture of a
true missionary, devoted heart and soul to the one ob-
ject of converting and civilizing the natives, and for
whom no task was too mean and no incident too trivial
if it contributed to his main end. He was like the
artist, or the true scholar, much of whose labor would
be unbearable drudgery to one not inspired with the
zeal of a devotee.
Kino regarded the poor natives as his personal
wards. He loved them with a real affection, and he
ever stood ready to minister to their bodily wants, or to
defend them against false charges or harsh treatment.
He dwelt with affection on all evidence of friendship
shown by the Indians, and recorded every indication of
their intelligence. He took sincere delight in instruct-
ing them, and in satisfying their childish curiosity re-
25 Venegas, Noticia. vol. i, 222-230; Autos sobre los Parages.
26 Terccra Entrada en 2 J de Diciemkre de 16S3 (printed in Documentos
para la Historia de Mexiro, cuarta serie, vol. i, 405-458). Original manu-
script in the archives of Mexico. The details are filled in by the Autos
sobre los Parages.
44 MEMOIR OF PIMERIA ALTA [Vol.
garding such things as the compass, the sun dial, the
lens with which he started fires, and the meaning of the
symbols used in his maps.
The first task of the missionary was to win the confi-
dence of the natives, and the direct way to their hearts
was through their stomachs. Whenever a visit was
made to an outlying rancheria, therefore, gifts of maize,
pinole, and other eatables were carried for all natives
who might be encountered. When strangers came from
a distance they, too, were given presents. Confidence hav-
ing been secured, the Indians would leave their boys
with the missionaries, whose house was usually crowded
with them over night. Thus was afforded a means of
teaching them the Spanish language, and the rudimen-
tary uses of clothing, and to recite the prayers, sing,
and perform domestic duties. It was with the young
that Kino was especially concerned, and whenever he
made an excursion he was usually followed by a troop
of Indian boys running by his side, trying to keep up, or
crying if left behind. Often one or more urchins
might be seen triumphantly mounted behind the Father
on the haunches of his horse. Kino tells with zest
how a young boy who was living at the mission resisted
the efforts of his parents to take him away, calling for
help on "Padre Eusebio."
Nothing gave Father Kino such true pleasure as
some sign that an Indian was becoming interested in the
Faith.27 He dwells at length and with evident delight
on the story of a little native girl who knelt before a
picture of the Virgin and begged permission to hold the
Christ Child; on the progress made by his charges in
repeating the prayers, singing the salve, and reciting the
27 On the other hand he showed little interest in the tribal customs, which
so engaged the attention of many missionaries.
one] EUSEBIO FRANCISCO KINO, SJ. 45
litanies; and on their zeal in helping to decorate the
crude church for the celebration of the feast days.
Sometimes, as was true of all missionaries among the
heathen, his ingenuity was put to the test to explain
Christian concepts in the simple Indian language. A
classic example is his own story of how he explained the
Resurrection by reviving some apparently lifeless flies.
When the astonished Indians shouted Ibimu huegite
they had given the Father the native term for which
he had been seeking.
On August 10 the San Jose at last returned, bringing
twenty additional soldiers, supplies, and dispatches
from the viceroy. At this time Father Juan Bautista
Copart also came, and on August 15 Father Kino made
final profession within the Jesuit Order in Father Co-
part's hands. An extended exploration across the moun-
tains was now projected, and during the autumn the
San Jose plied to and from the Yaqui River, bringing
horses, mules, and supplies. On the first expedition,
made between August 29 and September 25, Father Kino
accompanied Captain Andres, and secured aid from
the mainland missions, particularly from Father Cer-
vantes at Torin. Bancroft conjectures that Kino "prob-
ably remained in Sonora a year," but such was by no
means the case.28 On a subsequent trip Kino's place
was taken by Father Gofii. While the San Jose was
making her supply voyages a new post and mission were
established a few leagues inland from San Bruno at the
fine springs of San Isidro.
The expedition over the mountains was planned for
December, but when it was ready to start some of the
soldiers opposed it. The year had been one of extreme
29 North Mexican States, vol. i, 251. Bancroft's whole treatment of the
subject here is hazy and inaccurate. Kino returned with Andres on Sept. 25.
46 MEMOIR OF PIMERIA ALTA [Vol.
drought, both in California and on the mainland, and
there was a serious lack of supplies. Both the Concep-
cion and the launch had failed to appear, and the safety
of the settlers depended on one small vessel, which was
now about to leave for Mexico. The clamors of the
faint-hearted, however, merely served to bring out that
optimism which was one of Kino's strongest qualities,
and in his letters to the viceroy he discounts the dismal
prophesies of the malcontents.
The San Jose sailed on December 14, bearing Father
Copart, whose stay in California was therefore short,
and on that day Atondo was at San Isidro ready to
start on his expedition on the morrow, accompanied by
Father Kino, twenty-nine soldiers and Indian guides,
and taking eighty mules and horses. This expedition
apparently did not succeed, but either it or another did,
for Father Kino tells us that in 1685 he, with Atondo,
crossed the mountains to the South Sea, in latitude
twenty-six degrees, where he saw certain blue shells,
which fifteen years later became an important factor in
his further movements. Meanwhile the complaints of
the soldiers grew stronger, and the tide of discontent
could not be stemmed even by Father Kino's optimism.
A council was held, and on May 7 Atondo, his men, and
the missionaries again abandoned their settlement.29
For the remainder of the story of this enterprise we
have hitherto been dependent chiefly upon Father
Venegas's history, but we now have access to a file of
contemporary letters by Fathers Kino and Goni30
which give us more exact information. On May 8
Atondo and Father Goni, in a bilander, set sail for
29 For the above events see Autos sobre los Parages que ha discubierta.
30 No. 30. El Obispo da quenta del estado en que esta la conquista de las
Yslas Californias. A.G.I. 67-3-28.
one] EUSEBIO FRANCISCO KINO, SJ. 47
the port of San Ignacio, Sinaloa, to refit for a pearl
gathering expedition to California. A few hours later
Captain Guzman and Father Kino, in the Concepcion,
steered for the Yaqui River, to refit for an expedition
to explore the California coast in search of a better
site further north. Equipping his launch, Atondo,
with Father Gofii, recrossed the Gulf, and spent the
greater part of August and September in pearl hunting,
but with very slender results. By September 22 he had
returned to San Ignacio.31
Landing at the Yaqui River mouth on May 1 1, Guz-
man and Kino went with their party to recuperate at
the mission of Father Cervantes at Torin, and on the
nineteenth Kino went on to visit the Father Rector,
Diego de Marquina, at the mission of Raun. At these
missions supplies were gathered, and in June Guzman
and Kino sailed up the Gulf to the Seris coast. At Sal-
sipuedes Father Kino spent three days with the natives,
who begged him to remain among them, promising
him horses, provisions, and aid in building a mis-
sion. Xhis visit had a direct connection with Father
Kino's advent later in Pimeria Alta. On the way down
the Gulf they explored the California coast for a short
distance above San Bruno, where they stopped late in
August,32 finding the country now green, after the long
drought, and the Indians anxious for their return. En-
countering the admiral engaged in pearl fishing, on
September 7 they again lost sight of him, and, being
short of provisions, they sailed to Matanchel, arriving
31 Father Gofii to the Bishop of Guadalajara, on board the bilander, at
San Ignacio, September 22, 1685, manuscript in Xo. 30. Venegas [Noticia,
vol. i, 236] makes it appear that the settlement of San Bruno was removed by
Atondo during this voyage, but from the contemporary correspondence it is
clear that this is a mistake. It had already been abandoned in May.
32 The twenty-eighth. Guzman, Kino, and seven or eight soldiers landed.
48 MEMOIR OF PIMERIA ALTA [Vol.
on September 17, and finding the San Jose there and
well equipped for California, but with its captain dead.
From Matanchel Father Kino went to Guadalajara,
where on October 10 he wrote to the Bishop a long re-
port, and made a fervent appeal for California.
Having returned to San Ignacio in September, Aton-
do received a despatch from the viceroy ordering him to
maintain the California settlements already undertaken.
But as the Concepcion had gone to Matanchel with the
soldiers and Father Kino, Atondo could do nothing but
follow them thither.
On the last day of October Kino left Guadalajara to
return to Matanchel and join Atondo. Just outside
Compostela he met the admiral on his way to Mexico.
When Kino reached Matanchel on November 12, he
learned that by a despatch of October 31, predicated on
the assumption that California had been abandoned,
and that the fleet was without occupation, Atondo was
ordered to go to meet the Manila galleon, warn it
against Dutch pirates, and escort it to Acapulco. This
news was most depressing to Father Kino, and again he
addressed to the Bishop of Guadalajara an appeal for
California.33
Atondo also returned to Matanchel, and on Novem-
ber 29 he and Kino sailed in the fleet to meet the gal-
leon. Falling in with it next day, they convoyed it
safely to Acapulco. Thence they proceeded to Mexico,
where Father Kino lodged at the Casa Profesa. Early
in February the viceroy held a council, before which
reports on California by Atondo and Kino were read.
It being concluded that California could not be subdued
33 Father Kino to the Bishop of Guadalajara,, Colegio de Guadalajara,
October 10, 1685. Kino to the Bishop of Guadalajara, Matanchel, November
15, 1685. Kino to the Bishop of Guadalajara, Compostela, November 5,
1685, in No. 30. El Obispo da quenta.
Map of the Part.))- Lower California where Atondo and
Kino i vbori d, i68 j- [685
one] EUSEBIO FRANCISCO KINO, S.J. 49
by the methods hitherto attempted, it was decided to
relinquish the task to the Jesuits, with an annual sub-
sidy from the crown, and on April 1 1 Kino and Atondo
were requested to report the amount needed. But the
vice-provincial, Father Marras, rejected the offer, on
the ground that the Order did not wish to undertake
the burden of temporal administration. It was now
decided, therefore, to furnish Atondo the thirty thou-
sand dollars a year which he and Kino had reported nec-
essary. A new expedition was thus about to be under-
taken by these two veterans, when an urgent request for
half a million dollars came from Spain, together with
an order, dated December 22, 1685, to suspend the con-
quest of California because of the recent revolt of the
Tarahumares.34 Thus was the California enterprise
put aside, to be revived twelve years later by Kino and
Salvatierra.
KINO IN PIMERfA ALTA
At this point Father Kino takes up in detail the story
of his career in America in his Favores Celestiales,
which is printed hereinafter, and the remainder of this
sketch will therefore be brief.35 As soon as he learned
that the conversion of California had been suspended,
he asked and obtained permission to go to the Guaymas
and Seris, with whom he had dealt during his voyages
from California to the mainland. Leaving Mexico
City on November 20, 1686, he went to Guadalajara,
34 Kino to the Bishop of Guadalajara, Casa Profesa, February 15, 1686;
Venegas, Noticia, vol. i, 236-240; real cedula, December 22, 1685, A.G.I.
67-3-28. Transcript in Bancroft Library. According to a dispatch from
the Audiencia of Guadalajara, April 27, 1702, the abandonment of California
cost Father Copart his reason, which at that date he had not recovered.
A.G.I. 67-3-28. Transcript in Bancroft Library.
35 Since this section is based largely on the Favores Celestiales, printed
hereinafter, numerous specific references will not be given.
50 MEMOIR OF PIMERIA ALTA
where he secured special privileges from the Audiencia.
Setting forth again on December 16, he reached Sonora
early in 1687, and was assigned, not to the Guaymas as
he had hoped, but to Pimeria Alta, instead.
Pimeria Alta included what is now northern Sonora
and southern Arizona. It extended from the Altar
River, in Sonora, to the Gila, and from the San Pedro
River to the Gulf of California and the Colorado of
the West. At that day it was all included in the prov-
ince of Nueva Vizcaya ; later it was attached to Sonora,
to which it belonged until the northern portion was
cut off by the Gadsden Purchase.
Kino found Pimeria Alta occupied by different divi-
sions of the Pima nation. Chief of these were the Pima
proper, living in the valleys of the Gila and the Salt
Rivers, especially in the region now occupied by the
Pima Reservation. The valleys of the San Pedro and
the Santa Cruz were inhabited by the Sobaipuris, now
a practically extinct people, except for the strains of
their blood still represented in the Pima and Papago
tribes. West of the Sobaipuris, on both sides of the in-
ternational boundary line, were the Papagos, or the
Papabotes, as the early Spaniards called them. On the
northwestern border of the region, along the lower Gila
and the Colorado Rivers, were the different Yuman
tribes, such as the Yumas, the Cocomaricopas, the Co-
copas, and the Quiquimas. All of these latter spoke
the Yuman language, which was, as it is today, quite
distinct from that of the Pima.
When Kino made his first explorations down the San
Pedro and the Santa Cruz Valleys, he found them each
supporting ten or a dozen villages of Sobaipuris, the
population of the former aggregating some two thou-
sand persons, and of the latter some two thousand five
EUSEBIO FRANCISCO KINO, SJ. 51
hundred. The Indians of both valleys were then prac-
ticing agriculture by irrigation, and raising cotton for
clothing, and maize, beans, calabashes, melons, and
wheat for food. The Papagos were less advanced than
the Pimas and Sobaipuris, but at Sonoita, at least, they
were found practicing irrigation by means of ditches.
The Yumas raised crops, but apparently without artifi-
cial irrigation. Much more notable than the irrigation
in use at the coming of the Spaniards, were the remains
of many miles of aqueducts, and the huge ruins of cities
which had long before been abandoned, structures
which are now attributed by scientists to the ancestors
of the Pimas.
Father Kino arrived in Pimeria Alta in March,
1687,36 a°d began without the loss of a single day a work
of exploration, conversion, and mission building that
lasted only one year less than a quarter of a century.
When he reached the scene of his labors the frontier
mission station was at Cucurpe, in the valley of the
river now called San Miguel. Cucurpe still exists, a
quiet little Mexican pueblo, sleeping under the shadow
of the Agua Prieta Mountains, and inhabited by de-
scendants of the Eudeve Indians who were there when
Kino arrived. To the east, in Nueva Vizcaya, were
the already important reales, or mining camps, of
San Juan and Bacanuche, and to the south were numer-
ous missions, ranches, and mining towns; but beyond,
in Pimeria Alta, all was the untouched and unknown
country of the upper Pimas.
On the outer edge of this virgin territory, some fif-
teen miles above Cucurpe, on the San Miguel River,
Kino founded the mission of Nuestra Senora de los Do-
36 It may be of interest to note that this was the very month of La Salle's
assassination in the wilds of Texas.
52 MEMOIR OF PIMERIA ALTA [Vol.
lores (Our Lady of Sorrows), at the Indian village of
Cosari. The site chosen was one of peculiar fitness
and beauty. It is a commonplace to say that the mis-
sionaries always selected the most fertile spots for their
missions. This is true, but it is more instructive to give
the reason. They ordinarily founded their missions at
or near the villages of the Indians for whom they were
designed, and these were usually placed at the most
fertile spots along the rich valleys of the streams. And
so it was with the village of Cosari.
Near where Cosari stood, the little San Miguel
breaks through a narrow canon, whose walls rise sev-
eral hundred feet in height. Above and below the
canon, the river valley broadens out into rich vegas of
irrigable bottom lands, half a mile or more in width
and several miles in length. On the east, the valley is
walled in by the Sierra de Santa Teresa, on the west by
the Sierra del Torreon. Closing the lower valley and
hiding Cucurpe, stands Cerro Prieto; and cutting off
the observer's view toward the north rises the grand
and rugged Sierra Azul. At the canon where the river
breaks through, the western mesa juts out and forms a
cliff, approachable only from the west.
On this promontory, protected on three sides from
attack, and affording a magnificent view, was placed
the mission of Dolores. Here still stand its ruins, in
full view of the valley above and below, of the moun-
tain walls on the east and the west, the north and the
south, and within the sound of the rushing cataract of
the San Miguel as it courses through the gorge. This
meager ruin on the cliff, consisting now of a mere frag-
ment of an adobe wall and saddening piles of debris, is
the most venerable of the many mission remains in all
Arizona and northern Sonora, for Our Lady of Sorrows
was mother of them all, and for nearly a quarter of a
one] EUSEBIO FRANCISCO KINO, S.J. 53
century was the home of the remarkable missionary
who built them.37
From his outpost at Dolores, during the next quarter
century, Kino and his companions pushed the frontier
of missionary work and exploration across Pimeria
Alta to the Gila and Colorado Rivers. By 1695 Kino
had established a chain of missions up and down the
valley of the Altar and Magdalena Rivers and another
chain northeast of Dolores. In April, 1700, he found-
ed, within the present state of Arizona, the mission of
San Xavier del Bac, and within the next two years those
of Tumacacori and Guebavi within the present state of
Arizona. Kino's exploring tours were also itinerant
missions, and in the course of them he baptized and
taught in numerous villages, all up and down the Gila
and the lower Colorado, and in all parts of northern
Pimeria.
Kino's work as missionary was paralleled by his
achievement as explorer, and to him is due the credit
for the first mapping of Pimeria Alta on the basis of
actual exploration. The region had been entered
by Fray Marcos, by Melchior Diaz, and by the
main Coronado party, in the period 1539-1541. But
these explorers had only passed along its eastern and
western borders; for it is no longer believed that they
went down the Santa Cruz. Not since that day- a cen-
tury and a half before -had Arizona been entered from
the south by a single recorded expedition, while, so far
as we know, not since 1605, when Onate went from
Moqui down the Colorado of the West, had any white
man seen the Gila River/* The rediscovery, there-
37 The ruins of the Mission of Dolores are on Rancho de Dolores, on the
hill directly overlooking the residence of the owner. They were visited by
the writer in 1911.
38 Father Kino is authority for the statement that before his day the
Spaniards of New Mexico had traded with the Sobaipuris of the San Pedro
Valley.
54 MEMOIR OF PIMERIA ALTA [Vol.
fore, and the first interior exploration of Pimeria Alta
was the work of Father Kino.
Not to count the minor and unrecorded journeys
among his widely separated missions, he made at least
fourteen expeditions across the line into what is now
Arizona. Six of them took him as far as Tumacacori,
Benson, San Xavier del Bac, or Tucson. Six carried
him to the Gila over five different routes. Twice he
reached that stream by way of Santa Cruz, returning
once via Casa Grande, Sonoita, the Gulf of California
and Caborca. Once he went by way of the San Pedro,
once from El Saric across to the Gila below the Big
Bend, and three times by way of Sonoita and the Cam-
ino del Diablo, along the Gila Range. Two of these
expeditions carried him to Yuma and down the Colo-
rado. Once he crossed that stream into California, and
finally he reached its mouth.
East and west, between Sonoita and the eastern mis-
sions, he crossed southern Arizona several times and by
several trails. In what is now Sonora he made at least
half a dozen recorded journeys from Dolores to Ca-
borca and the coast, three to the Santa Clara Mountain
to view the head of the California Gulf, and two to the
coast by then unknown routes south of the Altar River.
This enumeration does not include his journey to Mex-
ico, nor the numerous other trips to distant interior
points in what is now Sonora, to see the superior
mission authorities.
After 1699, aside from his search for souls in the
Pimeria, Kino's most absorbing quest was made in
search of a land route to California. Since the days of
Cortes and Cabrillo many views had been held regard-
ing the geography of California, some regarding it as
a peninsula and others as an island. Kino had been
one] EUSEBIO FRANCISCO KINO, SJ. 55
taught by Father Aygentler, in the University of Ingol-
stadt, that it was a peninsula, and had come to America
firm in this belief; but in deference to current opinion,
and as a result of certain observations of his own, he
had given up the notion, and as late as 1698 he wrote
of California as "the largest island of the world." But
during the journey of 1699 t0 tne Gila occurred an in-
cident that caused him to turn again to the peninsular
theory. It was the gift, when near the Yuma junction,
of certain blue shells, such as he had seen in 1685 on the
Pacific coast of the Peninsula of California, and there
only. If the shells had come to the Yumas from the
South Sea, he reasoned, must there not be land connec-
tion with California and the ocean, by way of the Yuma
country? Kino now ceased his work on the boat he
was building at Caborca and Dolores for the navigation
of the Gulf, and directed his efforts to learning more
about the source of the blue shells. For this purpose
he made a journey in 1700 to San Xavier del Bac.
Thither he called the Indians from all the villages for
hundreds of miles around, and in "long talks1' at night
he learned that only from the South Sea could the blue
shells be had.
This assurance was the inspiration of his remaining
journeys. In the same year, 1700, he for the first time
reached the Yuma junction, and learned that he was
above the head of the Gulf, which greatly strengthened
his belief in the peninsular theory. In the next year he
returned to the same point by way of the Camino del
Diablo, passed some distance down the Colorado, and
crossed over to the California side, towed on a raft by
Indians and sitting in a basket. Finally, in 1702, his
triumph came, for he again returned to the Yuma junc-
tion, descended the Colorado to the Gulf, and saw the
56 MEMOIR OF PIMERIA ALTA [Vol.
sun rise over its head. He was now satisfied that he
had demonstrated the feasibility of a land passage to
California and had disproved the idea that California
was an island.
In estimating these feats of exploration we must re-
member the meager outfit and the limited aid with
which he performed them. He was not supported and
encouraged by several hundred horsemen and a great
retinue of friendly Indians as were De Soto and Coro-
nado. On the contrary, in all but two cases he went
almost unaccompanied by military aid, and more than
once he went without a single white man. In one ex-
pedition, made in 1697 t0 tne Gila, he was accompan-
ied by Lieutenant Manje, Captain Bernal, and twenty-
two soldiers. In 1701 he was escorted by Manje and
ten soldiers. At other times he had no other military
support than Lieutenant Manje or Captain Carrasco.
without soldiers. Once Father Gilg, besides Manje,
accompanied him; once two priests and two citizens.
His last great exploration to the Gila was made with
only one other white man in his party, while in 1694,
1700, and 1 701 he reached the Gila with no living soul
save his Indian servants. But he was usually well sup-
plied with horses and mules from his own ranches, for
he took at different times as many as fifty, sixty, eighty,
ninety, one hundred and five, and even one hundred
and thirty head.
The work which Father Kino did as a ranchman, or
stockman, would alone stamp him as an unusual busi-
ness man, and make him worthy of remembrance. He
was easily the cattle king of his day and region. From
the small outfit supplied him from the older missions
to the east and south, within fifteen years he established
the beginnings of ranching in the valleys of the Mag-
one] EUSEBIO FRANCISCO KINO, SJ. 57
dalena, the Altar, the Santa Cruz, the San Pedro, and
the Sonoita. The stock-raising industry of nearly twen-
ty places on the modern map owes its beginnings on a
considerable scale to this indefatigable man. And it
must not be supposed that he did this for private gain,
for he did not own a single animal. It was to furnish
a food supply for the Indians of the missions estab-
lished and to be established, and to give these missions
a basis of economic prosperity and independence. It
would be impossible to give a detailed statement of his
work of this nature, but some of the exact facts are nec-
essary to convey the impression. Most of the facts, of
course, were unrecorded, but from those available it is
learned that stock ranches were established by him or
directly under his supervision, at Dolores, Caborca,
Tubutama, San Ignacio, Imuris, Magdalena, Quiburi,
Tumacacori, Cocospera, San Xavier del Bac, Bacoan-
cos, Guebavi, Siboda, Busanic, Sonoita, San Lazaro,
Saric, Santa Barbara, and Santa Eulalia.
Characteristic of Kino's economic efforts are those
reflected in Father Saeta's letter thanking him for the
present of one hundred and fifteen head of cattle and as
many sheep for the beginnings of a ranch at Caborca.
In 1699 a ranch was established at Sonoita for the triple
purpose of supplying the little mission there, furnish-
ing food for the missionaries of California, if perchance
they should reach that point, and as a base of supplies
for the explorations which Kino hoped to undertake
and did undertake to the Yumas and Cocomaricopas, of
whom he had heard while on the Gila. In 1700, when
the mission of San Xavier was founded, Kino rounded
up the fourteen hundred head of cattle on the ranch of
his own mission of Dolores, divided them into two
equal droves, and sent one of them under his Indian
58 MEMOIR OF PIMERIA ALTA [Vol.
overseer to Bac, where the necessary corrals were con-
structed.
Not only his own missions but those of sterile Cali-
fornia must be supplied; and in the year 1700 Kino
took from his own ranches seven hundred cattle and
sent them to Salvatierra, across the Gulf, at Loreto, a
transaction which was several times repeated.
And it must not be forgotten that Kino conducted
this cattle industry with Indian labor, almost without
the aid of a single white man. An illustration of his
method and of his difficulties is found in the fact that
the important ranch at Tumacacori, Arizona, was
founded with cattle and sheep driven, at Kino's orders
one hundred miles across the country from Caborca,
by the very Indians who had murdered Father Saeta at
Caborca in 1695. There was always the danger that
the mission Indians would revolt and run off the stock,
as they did in 1695; and the danger, more imminent,
that the hostile Apaches, Janos, and Jocomes would do
this damage, and add to it the destruction of life, as
experience often proved.
Kino's endurance in the saddle was worthy of a
seasoned cowboy. This is evident from the bare facts
with respect to the long journeys which he made. When
he went to the City of Mexico in the fall of 1695, being
then at the age of fifty-one, he made the journey in
fifty-three days, between November 16 and January 8.
The distance, via Guadalajara, is no less than fifteen
hundred miles, making his average, not counting the
stops which he made at Guadalajara and other impor-
tant places, nearly thirty miles per day. In November,
1697, when he went to the Gila, he rode about seven
hundred or eight hundred miles in thirty days, not
counting out the stops. On his journey in 1698 to the
one] EUSEBIO FRANCISCO KINO, SJ. 59
Gila he made an average of twenty-five or more miles a
day for twenty-six days, over an unknown country. In
1699 he made the trip to and from the lower Gila, about
eight or nine hundred miles, in thirty-five days, an
average of ten leagues a day, or twenty-five to thirty
miles. In October and November, 1699, he rode two
hundred and forty leagues in thirty-nine days. In Sep-
tember and October, 1700, he rode three hundred and
eighty-four leagues, or perhaps one thousand miles, in
twenty-six days. This was an average of nearly forty
miles a day. In 1701, he made over four hundred
leagues, or more than eleven hundred miles, in thirty-
five days, an average of over thirty miles a day. He
was then nearing the age of sixty.
Thus we see that it was customary for Kino to make
an average of thirty or more miles a day for weeks or
months at a time, when he was on these missionary
tours, and out of this time are to be counted the long
stops which he made to preach to and baptize the In-
dians, and to say mass.
A special instance of his hard riding is found in the
journey which he made in November, 1699, with Fath-
er Leal, the Visitor of the missions. After twelve days
of continuous travel, supervising, baptizing, and
preaching up and down the Santa Cruz Valley, going
the while at the average rate of twenty-three miles
(nine leagues) a day, he left Father Leal at Batki to
go home by carriage over a more direct route, while
he and Manje sped "a la ligera" to the west and north-
west, to see if there were any sick Indians to baptize.
Going thirteen leagues (thirty-three miles) on the
eighth, he baptized two infants and two adults at the
village of San Rafael. On the ninth he rode nine
60 MEMOIR OF PIMERIA ALTA [Vol.
leagues to another village, made a census of four hun-
dred Indians, preached to them, and continued sixteen
more leagues to another village, making nearly sixty
miles for the day. On the tenth he made a census of
the assembled throng of three hundred persons,
preached, baptized three sick persons, distributed pres-
ents, and then rode thirty- three leagues (some seventy-
five miles) over a pass in the mountains to Sonoita, ar-
riving there in the night, having stopped to make a
census of, preach to, and baptize in, two villages on
the way. After four hours of sleep, on the eleventh he
baptized and preached, and then rode, that day and
night, the fifty leagues (or from one hundred to one
hundred and twenty-five miles) that lie between Sonoita
and Busanic, where he overtook Father Leal. During
the last three days he had ridden no less than one hun-
dred and eight leagues, or from two hundred and fifty
to three hundred miles, counting, preaching to, and bap-
tizing in five villages on the way. And yet he was up
next morning, preaching, baptizing, and supervising the
butchering of cattle for supplies. Truly this was stren-
uous work for a man of fifty-five.
Another instance of his disregard of toil in minister-
ing to others may be cited. On the morning of May 3.,
1700, he was at Tumacacori, on his way to Dolores,
from the founding of Mission San Xavier del Bac. As
he was about to say mass at sunrise, he received an ur-
gent message from Father Campos, begging him to has-
ten to San Ignacio to help save a poor Indian whom
the soldiers had imprisoned and were about to execute
on the following day. Stopping to say mass and to
write a hurried letter to Captain Escalante, he rode
by midnight to Imuris, and arrived at San Ignacio in
time to say early mass and to save the Indian from
one] EUSEBIO FRANCISCO KINO, S.J. 61
death. The direct route by rail from Tumacacori to
Imuris is sixty-two miles, and to San Ignacio it is sev-
enty. If Kino went the then usual route by the Santa
Cruz River, he must have ridden seventy-five or more
miles on this errand of mercy in considerably less than a
day.
Kino's physical courage is attested by his whole ca-
reer in America, spent in exploring unknown wilds and
laboring among untamed savages. But it is especially
shown by several particular episodes in his life. In
March and April, 1695, tne Pimas of the Altar Valley
rose in revolt. At Caborca Father Saeta was killed and
became the proto-martyr of Pimeria Alta. At Cabor-
ca and Tubutama seven servants of the mission were
slain, and at Caborca, Tubutama, Imuris, San Ignacio
and Magdalena-the whole length of the Altar and
Magdalena Valleys -the mission churches and other
buildings were burned and the stock killed or stamped-
ed. The missionary of Tubutama fled over the moun-
tains to Cucurpe. San Ignacio being attacked by three
hundred warriors, Father Campos fled to the same
refuge, guarded on each side by two soldiers. At Do-
lores Father Kino, Lieutenant Manje, and three citi-
zens of Bacanuche awaited the onslaught. An Indian
who had been stationed on the mountains, seeing the
smoke at San Ignacio, fled to Dolores with the news
that Father Campos and all the soldiers had been killed.
Manje sped to Opodepe to get aid; the three citizens
hurried home to Bacanuche, and Kino was left alone.
When Manje returned next day, together they hid the
treasures of the church in a cave, but in spite of the
soldier's entreaties that they should flee, Kino insisted
on returning to the mission to await death, which they
did. It is indicative of the modesty of this great soul
62 MEMOIR OF PIMERIA ALTA [Vol.
that in his own history this incident in his life is passed
over in complete silence. But Manje, who was weak
or wise enough to wish to flee, was also generous and
brave enough to record the padre's heroism and his
own fears.
In 1 701 Kino made his first exploration down the
Colorado below the Yuma junction -the first that had
been made for almost a century. With him was one
Spaniard, the only other white man in the party. As
they left the Yuma country and entered that of the
Quiquimas, the Spaniard, Kino tells us in his diary,
"on seeing such a great number of new people," and
such people -that is, they were giants in size -became
frightened and fled, and was seen no more. But the
missionary, thus deserted, instead of turning back, de-
spatched messages that he was safe, continued down the
river two days, and crossed the Colorado, towed by the
Indians on a raft and sitting in a basket, into territory
never before trod by white men since 1540. Perhaps
he was in no danger, but the situation had proved too
much for the nerve of his white companion, at least.
And what kind of a man personally was Father Kino
to those who knew him intimately? Was he rugged,
coarse fibered, and adapted by nature to such a rough
frontier life of exposure? I know of no portrait of
him made by sunlight or the brush, but there is, fortu-
nately, a picture drawn by the pen of his companion
during the last eight years of his life, and his successor
at Dolores. Father Luis Velarde tells us that Kino was
a modest, humble, gentle, ascetic, of mediaeval type,
drilled by his religious training to complete self ef-
facement. I should not be surprised to find that, like
Father Junipero Sierra, he was slight of body as he
was gentle of mind.
one] EUSEBIO FRANCISCO KINO, SJ. 63
Velarde says of him:
Permit me to add what I observed in the eight years during
which I was his companion. His conversation was of the
mellifluous names of Jesus and Mary, and of the heathen for
whom he was ever offering prayers to God. In saying his
breviary he always wept. He was edified by the lives of the
saints, whose virtues he preached to us. When he publicly
reprimanded a sinner he was choleric. But if anyone showed
him personal disrespect he controlled his temper to such an ex-
tent that he made it a habit to exalt whomsoever maltreated
him by word, deed, or in writing. . . And if it was to his
face that they were said, he embraced the one who spoke them,
saying, "You are and ever will be my dearest master!" even
though he did not like him. And then, perhaps, he would go
and lay the insults at the feet of the Divine Master and the
sorrowing Mother, into whose temple he went to pray a hun-
dred times a day.39 After supper, when he saw us already in
bed, he would enter the church, and even though I sat up the
whole night reading, I never heard him come out to get the
sleep of which he was very sparing. One night I casually saw
someone whipping him mercilessly. [That is, as a means of
penance]. He always took his food without salt, and with mix-
tures of herbs which made it more distasteful. No one ever
saw in him any vice whatsoever, for the discovery of lands and
the conversion of souls had purified him. These, then, are the
virtues of Father Kino: he prayed much, and was considered
as without vice. He neither smoked nor took snuff, nor wine,
nor slept in a bed. He was so austere that he never took wine
except to celebrate mass, nor had any other bed than the
sweat blankets of his horse for a mattress, and two Indian
blankets [for a cover]. He never had more than two coarse
shirts, because he gave everything as alms to the Indians. He
was merciful to others, but cruel to himself. While violent
fevers were lacerating his body, he tried no remedy for six
days except to get up to celebrate mass and to go to bed
again. And by thus weakening and dismaying nature he con-
quered the fevers.
39 The allusion is to the name of the mission, Nuestra Senora de los
Dolores.
64 MEMOIR OF PIMERIA ALTA [Vol.
Is there any wonder that such a man as this could
endure the hardships of exploration?
Kino died at the age of sixty-seven, at Magdalena,
one of the missions he had founded, and his remains are
now resting at San Ignacio, another of his establish-
ments. His companion in his last moments was Father
Agustin de Campos, for eighteen years his colaborer
and for another eighteen years his survivor, as I recent-
ly learned from the church records of San Ignacio.
Velarde describes his last moments in these terms:
Father Kino died in the year 171 1, having spent twenty-four
years in glorious labors in this Pimeria, which he entirely cov-
ered in forty expeditions, made as best they could be made by
two or three zealous workers. When he died he was almost
seventy years old. He died as he had lived, with extreme hu-
mility and poverty. In token of this, during his last illness he
did not undress. His deathbed, as his bed had always been, con-
sisted of two calfskins for a mattress, two blankets such as the
Indians use for covers, and a pack-saddle for a pillow. Nor
did the entreaties of Father Agustin move him to anything else.
He died in the house of the Father where he had gone to dedi-
cate a finely made chapel in his pueblo of Santa Magdalena, con-
secrated to San Francisco Xavier. . . When he was singing
the mass of the dedication he felt indisposed, and it seems that
the Holy Apostle, to whom he was ever devoted, was calling
him, in order that, being buried in his chapel, he might accom-
pany him, as we believe, in glory.39a
The words of that eloquent writer, John Fiske, in
reference to Las Casas, Protector of the Indians, are
not inapplicable to Father Kino. He says:
In contemplating such a life all words of eulogy seem weak
and frivolous. The historian can only bow in reverent awe
before . . . [such] a figure. When now and then in the
39a 1 have seen no confirmation of Father Benz's story that Kino was
was killed by rebel Indians. From what is said here it seems altogether
improbable. See Catholic Encyclopedia, vol. viii, 660.
one] EUSEBIO FRANCISCO KINO, S.J. 65
course of centuries God's providence brings such a life into this
world, the memory of it must be cherished by mankind as one
of its most precious and sacred possessions. For the thoughts,
the words, the deeds of such a man, there is no death. The
sphere of their influence goes on widening forever. They bud,
they blossom, they bear fruit, from age to age.
THE FA FORES CELESTIALES
This Introduction, however, is not concerned alone
with the history of Father Kino's work, but also with
the bibliography of his personal writings relating to his
career in America. My investigations in foreign
archives have enabled me to improve that bibliogra-
phy in three directions: (1) By extension, through
bringing to light items not hitherto known by modern
scholars, or, if known, not known to be extant; (2) by
curtailment, through the elimination of titles ascribed
to Kino which should be accredited to others;40 and
through the identification of titles which have been re-
garded as distinct but which in fact refer to the same
work, and are therefore duplicates; (3) by making
known the original manuscripts in cases where former-
ly only imperfect copies have been available. But
within the space at my command it would be impos-
sible to treat adequately all three of these phases, or
even one of them, and I shall therefore devote it chiefly
to the discussion of the most important single item of
Kino's writings, his lost History, its rediscovery, iden-
tification, and value as an historical source.
40 The list of Kino writings has been unduly lengthened, for example, by
the inclusion, as diaries by Kino, of several separate chapters of Manje's
Luz de Tierra Incognita, libro ii, cited below. This has been done in Som-
mervogel's Bibliothcque, the catalogue of the British Museum, the catalogue
of the Buckingham Smith Collection in the New York Historical Society
Library, Quaritch's trade catalogue, Hodge, Handbook of American Indians,
vol. ii, 253, and elsewhere.
66 MEMOIR OF PIMERIA ALTA [Vol.
Early References to a "History" by Kino
In the works of the early Jesuit historians who dealt
with New Spain there are certain references to an
"Historia" (History) or "Relation" (Relation) by
Father Kino which have not been satisfactorily ac-
counted for by any of the bibliographies of Kino's writ-
ings which have come to my notice. Thus, in the Pro-
logue to Venegas's Noticia de la California completed
in Mexico in 1739 and published at Madrid in i757,40a
it is stated by the editor that "Father Venegas, to write
his History, had present . . . the Manuscript His-
tory of the Missions of Sonora by Father Eusebio Fran-
cisco Kino," etc. Similarly, Alegre, in the Prologue
to his Historia de la Compania de Jesus en Nueva Es-
pana, which he left incomplete in 1767 at the time of
the Jesuit expulsion, mentions as one of his principal
sources "the relation of Sonora, by Father Francisco
Eusebio Kino."41 A third Jesuit work, falling chron-
ologically between the two already cited, mentions a
Kino manuscript in such terms as to suggest at once the
work referred to by Venegas and Alegre. Allusion is
here made to Father Ortega's Apostolicos Afanes,
which was completed in Mexico in 1752 and published
at Barcelona in 1754.42 Ortega cites, as his main reli-
40a Noticia de la California .... sacada de la Historia Manuscrita,
Formada en Mexico ano de 1739 for el Padre Miguel Venegas, etc. (Madrid,
1757). An English version of this work was published at London in 1759 as
A Natural and Civil History of California, two volumes.
41 "La de Sonora, por el padre Francisco Kino," the antecedent of la
being relacidn. See Historia de la Compania de Jesus en Nueva Espana que
estaba escribiendo El P. Francisco Javier Alegre al Tiempo de su Espulsion
(Mexico, 1841), vol. i, "Prologo," p. 3.
42 Apostolicos A fanes de la Compania de Jesus Escritos por un Padre de
la Misma Sagrada Religion de su Provincia de Mexico. This work was
completed in Mexico by Father Joseph Ortega, and published anonymously
at Barcelona in 1754. A reprint was published by Manuel de Olaguibel in
Mexico in 1887 as Historia del Nayarit, Sonora, Sinaloa y ambas Californias.
one] EUSEBIO FRANCISCO KINO, S.J. 67
ance for his treatment of Kino's career, what he several
times calls a "Relacion" (Relation) by Father Kino,
and to which he once refers as a legajo (bundle) of
Kino's papers "in which his expeditions, undertakings,
and discoveries are coordinated."43
In the foregoing works, it is seen, we have three
specific references to a history, or relation, by Kino.
The editor of Venegas calls it "the Manuscript History
of the Missions of Sonora," Alegre "the relation of
Sonora," and Ortega a relation, or papers, "in which
his expeditions, undertakings, and discoveries are co-
ordinated." No such work has been known to modern
scholars, I believe, and, so far as I have been able to
discover with the resources at my command, the refer-
ences by Venegas, Ortega, and Alegre are the only ones
to a history of Sonora or to a work of that nature made
by anyone who claims to have used it, although it is
possible that there may be others which have not come
to my notice. It will be seen that the latest of these
references was made as early as 1767, or nearly a cen-
tury and a half ago.44
For the identification of the author, see the "Prologo" to the 1887 edition.
This edition does not contain the "Prologo y Protesta del Autor" found in
the original edition, copies of which are in the library of Santa Clara Col-
lege, California, and the Bancroft Library at the University of California.
For references to the Kino manuscript used by Ortega, see Historia del
Nayarit, 301, 303, etc.
43 "A la Pimeria Attn, cuyas malas y buenas calidades quedan breve-
mertte dibujadas, enviaron los superior es al padre Eusebio Francisco Kino;
y habiendose encontrado un legajo de sus papeles en que estdn coordinados
sus viajes, empresas y descubrimientos, sera muy conveniente que su memoria
en suscinta relacion se conserve en esta Historia'" [Historia del Nayarit,
301-302]. Again, "El mismo apostolico sdbio jesuita en sus papeles se refiere
a varios que de sus descubrimientos ha remitido, 6 a Rom.i . . . 6 a
Mexico" {ibid., 302).
44 A reference was made in 1792 by one who had seen it. This was
Father Figueroa, who in that year compiled the manuscript collection called
Memorias para la Historia de Nueva Espana, consisting of thirty-two vol-
umes. In volume xvii he copied Kino's diary of 1683-1685. Incident thereto
68 MEMOIR OF PIMERIA ALTA [Vol.
Conjectures of Modern Writers
Nevertheless, a few modern authors have noticed the
allusions in the old Jesuit histories, and it is interesting
to see what they have thought they meant. The earliest
conjecture which I have seen as to their meaning is that
made by Beristain y Souza, in his Biblioteca Hispano-
Americana Septentrional, first published in Mexico in
the period 1816-1821. Commenting in that work up-
on Alegre's reference, Beristain conjectured that the
so-called "Historia" by Kino was "perhaps nothing
else," to use his own words, than Kino's diaries, letters,
and reports, otherwise known, taken collectively. "Or,"
he says, "it may be the relation which was brought to
my notice by my inquisitive friend, Don Jose Maria
he made the following comment: "Among the manuscript papers of the
secret archive of the extinguished province of the Company of Jesus of New
Spain we found some in the very handwriting of the apostolic man Francisco
Kino. They detail at great length some of the expeditions which, on various
occasions, this same father undertook for the discovery and conversion of the
barbarian heathen living in the barrancos and rancherias which extend
toward the Sea of California. The greater portion of the papers written by
Father Kino furnished material for the work which, under the title of A fanes
Apostolicos, was printed in Barcelona by the Company of Jesus in 1754.
Since they were communicated to the public in this way, it is seen that they
have no place in this collection, except the diary that follows, which is not
included in that work. It contains, indeed, detailed notices of the discovery
and conversion of many rancherias of heathen which are not distinctly treated
of in the Apostolicos A fanes." This note was published in Documentos para
la Historia de Mexico (fourth ser., Mexico, 1856, tomo i, 403), as an intro-
duction to Kino's "Tercera Entrada," to which Figueroa refers. It is clear,
therefore, that Father Figueroa saw the papers to which the other authors
referred, but that, on the other hand, he did not recognize their unity or their
exact relation to the A fanes.
Clavigero, Historia de la Antigua 6 Baja California (Mejico, 1852), in
the "Prefacio del Autor" says of Venegas: "approvechandose de las cartas
de los misioneros, y especialmente de los padres Salvatierra, Piccolo y
Ugarte, que fueron de los mas celebres y antiguos[,~\ de la historia manu-
scrita de Sonora, compuesta par el infatigable padre Kino, etc." He evi-
dently took this from the "Prologo" of Venegas, and had no personal
knowledge of the "historia manuscrita" by Kino.
one] EUSEBIO FRANCISCO KINO, S.J. 69
de la Riba y Rada." This relation, he explains, was
the "Relacion diaria" of 1698, now slightly known
but which Beristain evidently had never seen.45
The De Backers, in their monumental Bibliotheque*6
published at Liege, 1869-1876, follow Beristain, and,
favoring the latter of his alternative conjectures, query
with respect to the Kino "Historia," as cited by Alegre,
"is it different from C [the "Relacion diaria"] ?" The
Sommervogel edition of the De Backer, printed as late
as 1893, contains the same query without adding new
light.
In the meantime Bancroft, writing in 1884, made a
somewhat different conjecture, and one that was not
without some shrewdness, although quite wide of the
mark. It will be remembered that Ortega states that
in writing the Apostolicos Afanes he made use of a
'"relacion" by Father Kino. Noting this statement,
Bancroft says, "Venegas refers to a Ms. Historia de So-
nora by Kino, referring to the letters embodied in the
Apostolicos Afanes." A little farther on in the same
work Bancroft says of the Afanes, "Libros ii and iii re-
late to the Jesuit work in Pimeria, and the former al-
most exclusively to Kino's achievements down to 1710,
being in substance as is believed Kino's own letters on
the subject. It may be regarded probably as the His-
toria de Sonora vaguely alluded to by several writers
as having been left in Ms. by Kino." Again, he says
of Manje: "His reports have fortunately been pre-
served . . . being often more satisfactory than
even Kino's letters as embodied in the Apostolicos
45 The evidence that he had not seen it is the fact that he copies from
another source a peculiarity of title which is not found in the original.
46 Bibl'totheque des escrivains de la Compagnie de Jesus (Liege, 1853-
1861), vol. v, 367-368. See Sommervogel, Bibl'totheque de la Compagnie de
Jesus, Premiere Partic, vol. iv, 1044, and Addenda, xii; and vol. ix, 548.
70 MEMOIR OF PIMERIA ALTA [Vol.
Afanes." In his Arizona and New Mexico, published
in 1888, he states unequivocally that the A fanes, or a
part of it, is made up "mainly of Kino's letters."47
And thus, to summarize, it has been conjectured that
the "Historia" referred to by the early writers was (1)
merely Kino's letters "as embodied in the Apostolicos
Afanes" or (2) his letters, diaries, and reports taken
collectively, or (3) the single diary of 1698. In all
these cases there is an implied disbelief in the existence
of a History, in the sense of a compilation or treatise.
The Discovery of the Favores Celestiales
This word of Bancroft, excepting Sommervogel's
repetition of the De Backers's query, seems to be the
last that has been said upon the subject up to the pres-
ent. But now mystery is dispelled and conjectures are
made superfluous by the discovery in the archives of
Mexico of what is clearly the "Historia" or "Relacion"
to which Venegas, Ortega, and Alegre referred. The
complete title of the work is: "Favores Celestiales de
Iesus y de Maria Ssma. y del gloriosissimo Apostol de
las Yndias S. Francisco Xavier experimentados en las
nuevas Conquistas y nuevas Comversiones del nuevo
Reino de la Nueva Navarra desta America Septen-
trional yncognita, y Passo por Tierra a la California en
35 grados de Altura con su nuevo Mapa cosmografico
de estas nuevas y dilitadas Tierras que hasta Aora ha-
vian sido yncognitas, dedicados a la Rl. Magd. de Feli-
po. V. mui Catolico Rey y gran Monarca de las Es-
panas, y de las Yndias." It is referred to here as the
Favores Celestiales.
The "Mapa Cosmografico" is not filed with the man-
47 Bancroft, North Mexican States and Texas, vol. i, 190, 253, 256; Ari-
zona and New Mexico, 254.
one] EUSEBIO FRANCISCO KINO, SJ. 71
uscript and has not been seen by the present writer, un-
less it be the Kino map of 1701.
General Nature of the Work
The general nature of the work is readily gathered
from its table of contents. It opens with a dedication
to "the very Catholic Majesty of Our Lord Philip V
and the conventional "Prologue to the charitable read-
er." The body consists of five parts, of greatly unequal
lengths, each divided into books and chapters. Part
I is a consecutive account of the spiritual affairs, the
explorations, the Indian troubles, and other temporal
interests in Pimeria Alta, with considerable attention
to California, from the time of Kino's arrival in March,
1687, to November, 1699, and contains near the end a
discussion of the spiritual and temporal advantages
which might be derived from further conquests in "this
most extensive northern portion of this North America,
which is the largest and best portion of the earth."
Parts II, III, and IV cover in a similar way the pe-
riod from 1700 to 1707, with particular emphasis upon
Kino's own exploring expeditions in Pimeria Alta,
along the Gila and Colorado Rivers, and along the Gulf
coast. Here the chronological narrative ends. Part
V was not originally written as a portion of the "His-
toria," but was incorporated, in Kino's last days, as a
suitable conclusion. It is a report to the King, finished
in 1710, the year before Kino's death, and consists of
an extended argument in favor of the promotion of
further conquests in California and other parts of the
northern country, with a view to the establishment of a
new kingdom to be called "New Navarre."
In short, the Favores Celestiales is a history of Pi-
meria Alta and of explorations therein and therefrom,
72 MEMOIR OF PIMERIA ALTA [Vol.
with considerable attention to California affairs, for
the twenty-three years between 1687 and 17 10, written
by the principal personage in the region during the
period.
From internal evidence we learn the essential facts
concerning the compilation of the Favores Celestiales.
It was written at the request of the Father General
of the Jesuit order, and is therefore official in character.
The various parts were compiled at different times,
during a period of more than ten years, between 1699
and 1 710, and different portions of the work were for-
warded to the authorities as they were completed, be-
fore the termination of the whole work. In fact, no
evidence has been seen that the completed history was
sent to the authorities. One striking fact is that it was
all written at Kino's remote mission of Nuestra Seftora
de los Dolores, in the intervals between the absorbing
and fatiguing labors of the missionary and the explorer.
The Identity of the Favores Celestiales with the
"Historia"
A careful study establishes beyond the shadow of a
doubt the identity of the Favores Celestiales with the
"History" or "Relacion" used by Venegas, Ortega, and
Alegre. A detailed comparison shows that in the part
dealing with Kino's life work, Ortega's Apostolicos
Afanes is little else than a summary of the Favores Ce-
lestiales, and not always a critical summary at that,
though in general very good. In the order of presen-
tation, the former follows the latter throughout, while
there are innumerable evidences of word and phrase
borrowing. The two other writers, Venegas and Ale-
gre. are so brief in the ground covered by the Favores
Celestiales that it is less easy to detect borrowing, but in
one] EUSEBIO FRANCISCO KINO, S.J. 73
Venegas a few instances are so palpable as to leave no
doubt. With respect to Alegre, it appears that while
he had the Favores Celestiales at hand, in the main he
followed Ortega's condensation of it, rather than the
original.
Its Value as a Source
Our primary interest in the Favores Celestiales, of
course, is to know its value as an historical source. To
determine this, it is necessary to analyze its contents in
the light of the hitherto extant sources for the different
periods and subjects which it covers. The results of an
exhaustive examination of that nature can only be in-
timated here, and this mainly in a quantitative way.
i. In the first place, the Favores Celestiales is a
continuous account of an entire historical movement of
great importance, covering a period of more than twen-
ty years, from the pen of the principal actor. In this
respect it has no known rival, and its value is obvious.
Next to it in rank from this standpoint is Libro II of
Manje's Luz de Tierra Incognita, of which more lat-
er. Even if all the facts which the Favores Celestiales
contains could be gleaned from other sources, it would
still, from its personal associations, have the highest
intrinsic value.
The worth of such a treatise, to be sure, is greatly
dependent upon the author's method of work. That
Kino wrote from the sources, and kept close to them,
and thus fulfilled one important condition, is evidenced
by the fact that in the Favores Celestiales he quotes
from about two hundred documents, giving some in
their entirety, and citing others. He must have had at
hand and drawn upon the correspondence of many
years. Numerically, the larger portion of the docu-
74 MEMOIR OF PIMERIA ALTA [Vol.
ments quoted are letters from his superiors and asso-
ciates, but there are also, quoted at length, seven diaries
of exploring expeditions, chiefly within what is now the
United States. Nearly all of these diaries, and the
whereabouts of quite all, I believe, have been hitherto
unknown.
2. In the second place, the discovery of the Favores
Celestiales discloses the chief source from which the
extant secondary works are drawn; for, as it has been
said, it now appears that Ortega's Afanes, which has
represented the maximum of our information, is mere-
ly a summary of the Favores Celestiales, while Vene-
gas and Alegre, still briefer, depended directly or in-
directly on the same source. More recent accounts of
Kino's work have all been drawn mainly from Ortega,
Alegre, Manje, and Venegas.
Recurring at this point to Bancroft's conjecture, it is
now seen that while the Afanes is not composed of
Kino's own letters, to any important extent, and that
the "Historia" (i.e. Favores Celestiales) is by no means
identical with the Afanes (or with Book II of it, if that
is what Bancroft meant to say) ; yet Bancroft rightly
concluded that the Afanes was founded on a wealth of
original documents, and that by the "Historia" and the
"Relacion" Ortega, Venegas, and Alegre all referred
to the same thing, whatever it was.
3. The supreme test is what the Favores Celestiales
contains that is not found in the available primary
sources, as distinguished from the secondary works.
This question must be considered from the standpoint
of the different periods covered by Kino, for no single
generalization will hold for all periods.
For the history of Pimeria Alta from the time of
Kino's arrival there in 1687 to the coming of Manje late
one] EUSEBIO FRANCISCO KINO, SJ. 75
in 1693, our main reliance has hitherto been the second-
ary works of Ortega, Venegas, and Alegre, none of
whom was an eye-witness or even a contemporary, and
the earliest of whom wrote many years after the close
of the period designated. Very few contemporary doc-
uments for these years -almost none by Kino -have been
known. Thus the Favores Celestiales is not only the
principal source of our secondary accounts, but practi-
cally the only important primary source for the period.
It is not surprising, therefore, that, besides greatly en-
larging our information, it corrects many errors that
have become current, and puts on a solid footing a
number of important statements hitherto uncertain or
skeptically regarded, with reference to early explora-
tions within the United States.48
For the period extending from 1694 t0 l7oli inclu-
sive, our most important single source has been the ac-
count by Manje, commander of Kino's military escort
on several expeditions. For this compilation Bancroft
improvised the title, Historic de Pimeria Aha™ etc.
48 To this period Kino devotes two books, entitled "Book I, First Entry
into Pimeria, and the beginnings of its Spiritual and Temporal Conquest,
and of its Conversion to Our Holy Catholic Faith," and "Book 11, Visit and
Triennium of the Father Visitor Juan Maria Salvatierra, 1690, 1691, 1692."
From the founding of Mission Dolores, in March, 1687, to January, 1691,
very little has hitherto been known of Kino's doings. Thus Bancroft writes
that his "subsequent movements for several years are not recorded in detail,"
and that "he kept on alone and before 1690 had fine churches in each
of his villages (North Mexican States and Texas, vol. i, 253). Again, in his
Arizona and New Mexico [p. 352], Bancroft says: "For six years he toiled
alone, till fathers Campos and Januske came in 1693." But the Favores
Celestiales contains several chapters on this dark period. It tells us, too,
that Kino did not work alone all the time, as has been supposed, but that
Fathers Luis Maria Pineli, Antonio Arias, Pedro de Sandoval, and Juan del
Castillejo "came in and accomplished some good in this Pimeria," stating spe-
cifically where each worked (see volume i, 116). These are but illustrations
of numerous ways in which this first portion of the Favores Celestiales will
correct and enlarge our information for the period.
49 North Mexican States and Texas, vol. i, 256.
76 MEMOIR OF PIMERIA ALTA [Vol.
Of it he says: "This work is composed of Manje's
diaries given literally, but connected apparently by
some editor whose name is unknown." But the orig-
inal manuscript, which, also, I had the good fortune to
discover, shows that it is Libro II of a work called Luz
de Tierra Incognita, and that the unknown editor was
Manje himself. The work extends to 1721, but is rela-
tively unimportant for the current of events after
1701.50 Of this relation it has been said that its only
rival for the period under consideration is the Apos-
tolicos Afanes;51 and in the absence of the source from
which the Afanes was drawn, this opinion was correct.
But we now have that source, and the assertion no long-
er holds.
A careful comparison shows that the Favores Celes-
tiales supplements the Luz de Tierra Incognita in many
important particulars, only a few of which can be men-
tioned. In general, it emphasizes mission affairs, while
Manje's work gives relatively more attention to mili-
tary events. With Manje at hand, Bancroft was con-
strained to say of Kino's first visit to Casa Grande, in
1694- the first unquestioned expedition thither on rec-
ord -"No diary was kept, and our knowledge is limited
to the bare fact that such an entrada was made."52 But
50 A copy of Libro i is in the Biblioteca Nacional, Mexico (1720, 1 vol.
octavo, Ms.). This work covers the history of discovery in the northwestern
part of New Spain, and particularly in Pimeria Alta before Manje's day.
It contains at the end a copy of Kino's diary of 1698, of which the original
was discovered by me in another archive. Libro 11 published in Docu-
mentos para la Historia de Mexico, ser. iv, tomo i (Mexico, 1856), without
title, is a continuation of this work, a fact that has never before been noted,
so far as my knowledge extends. A copy of Libro I is in the Peabody Mu-
seum, and is listed among the Bandelier transcripts in Report of the United
States Commission to the Columbian Historical Exposition at Madrid, 1892-
1893, 326.
51 Bancroft, Arizona and New Mexico, 354.
52 North Mexican States, vol. i, 259; see Arizona and New Mexico, 355.
one] EUSEBIO FRANCISCO KINO, S.J. 77
the Favores Celestiales devotes a chapter to the visit,53
short, it is true, but nevertheless very enlightening. Kino
embodies in his account of the period designated, and
especially of the events of 1695, manY original letters
not given elsewhere, to my knowledge,54 and devotes
several chapters to important happenings of 1696,
1697, and I09^ not touched at all by Manje. For
one exploring expedition of 1699 and another of 1701
Kino parallels Manje's diary with his own, while for
two expeditions of 1700 and one of 1701 not treated at
all by Manje he gives diaries. It has already been
noted that most of these diaries have not only been
unavailable but also unknown to modern scholars.
Manje, on the other hand, supplies diaries of three ex-
peditions made in 1694, one m 1697, and one m I099
of which Kino gives only secondary accounts, based,
apparently, on his own diaries.
For the period from April, 1701, to Kino's death, in
171 1, the lack, hitherto, of primary sources, has been as
great as for that before 1694, while the Favores Celes-
tiales, fortunately, is much fuller for this period than
for the former. Our main reliance here, as there, has
been the older secondary histories already mentioned,
especially the Afanes. This work, hitherto much the
fullest account of the period, devotes to it some twelve
thousand words, while the Favores Celestiales, besides
being the source of all that the Afanes contains, devotes
to the same period some seventy-five thousand words, or
53 Parte i, Libro n, Capitulo vm: "Entrada 0 Mision at Norte y al
Nortueste de mas de loo leguas hasta al Rio y casa grand* y descubrimiento
de las dos Nuevas Naciones la opa y la Coco Maricopa." The spelling of
"Nortueste" illustrates one of Kino's peculiarities of composition alluded to
on a previous page.
54 Libros m and IV, comprising thirteen and six short chapters, respec-
tively, are devoted entirely to the work and martyrdom of Father Saeta and
the Indian troubles following that event.
78 MEMOIR OF PIMERIA ALTA [Vol.
six times the space. It is here, perhaps, that its dis-
tinctive value for narrative history is greatest, in view
of the brevity of other accounts of the events of these
years. The chronological treatment of events extends
in the Favor es Celestial es only to 1707. Among the
notable source items incorporated for this period are
four diaries, none hitherto accessible, and the "In-
forme" of 1710, which is cited by Ortega, but whose
whereabouts and contents apparently have been un-
known to modern scholars.
The Favores Celestiales will not be studied least,
perhaps, for the light which it throws upon the ques-
tion of the peninsularity of California and upon Kino's
ambitious visions of northward progress of the Jesuit
missions and the Spanish arms. In addition to the nar-
ratives and the diaries which it gives of numerous ex-
plorations made to get new light upon California geog-
raphy, the Favores Celestiales devotes a chapter to the
discussion of Kino's conclusions concerning it.
55
LISTS OF FATHER KINO'S WRITINGS
Having made the foregoing general statement re-
garding the writings of Kino incorporated by him in
the Favores Celestiales, their relative importance may
be made clearer by enumerating them in a list beside
one of those hitherto known and available to modern
scholars. A tentative list of such writings, eliminating
all duplications, all titles of doubtful authenticity, and
all unpublished manuscripts whose whereabouts has
not been ascertained, is given below. The process by
55 Parte II, Libro iv, Capitulo I. Mr. I. B. Richman, for whose California
under Spain and Mexico the present writer gathered all the Mexican archive
materials, made some slight use of the Favores Celestiales in the form of
the writer's translation. His statement (op. cit.} 387) that "portions more or
less complete are to be found in various Ms. collections and in print" is
based on the mistake of confusing Manje's Luz de Tierra Incognita for a
work by Kino.
one] EUSEBIO FRANCISCO KINO, S.J. 79
which it was derived need not be stated here. A num-
ber of titles given by Sommervogel, Beristain, and
others, will be missed, but, as has been indicated, those
lists are greatly confused, and when critically studied
many of the items disappear. It is to be understood,
however, that the list given here is not considered as by
any means final.
A. Kino writings hitherto available
Exposicion Astronomica de el Cometa (Mexico, 1681).
Tercera Entrada. en 21 de Diciembre de 1683.
Printed in Documentos para la Historia de Mexico, ser. iv, torn, i, 405-
468. Original Ms. in the archives of Mexico.
Une lettre. Oct. 5, 1684.
So cited by Sommervogel, as printed in Scherer's Geographia hier-
archica. Monachii, 1703. As a matter of fact, the extract is not a single
letter, "but a gathering of several letters" of Kino.
A letter of May 13, 1687, "an einen unbenannten Priester."
Quoted in "Brief Patris Adami Gilg," in Stocklein, Neue Welt Bott,
1726.
Relacion del estado de la Pimeria que remitte el Pe. Visitador Ho-
racio Polici: y es copia de Carta que le escribe el Capitan Dn.
Christoval Martin Bernal. Dec. 3 and 4, 1697.
Printed in Documentos para la Historia de Mexico, ser. iii, torn, iv,
797-809. Original Ms. in the archives of Mexico.
Colocasion de nuestra Sa. de los Remedios en su nueva capilla de su
nuevo pueblo de las Nuevas Conversiones de la Pimeria En 15 de
Setiembre de 98 as. Nuestra Senora de los Dolores, Sept. 16,
1698.
Printed under a wrong title in Documentos para la Historia de Mexico,
ser. iii, torn, iv, 814-816. The title given above is that of the original Ms.
in the archives of Mexico.
Carta del padre Eusebio Francisco Kino, al padre visitador Horacio
Policio, acerca de una entrada al Noroeste y mar de la California,
en Compania del Captain Diego Carrasco, actual teniente de esta
dilatada Pimeria, que fue de ida y vuelta mas de trescientas leguas,
a 22 de setiembre de 1698. Signed at Nuestra Senora de los
Dolores, Oct. 18, 1698.
Printed in Documentos para la Historia de Mexico, ser. iii, torn, iv,
817-819. The above title is that of the original Ms. in the archives of
Mexico.
80 MEMOIR OF PIMERIA ALTA [Vol.
Relasion Diaria de la entrada al nortuesta que fue de Yda y Buelta
mas de 300 leguas desde 21 de setiembre hasta 18 de Otubre de
1698. Descubrimiento del desemboque del rio grande hala Mar
de la California y del Puerto de Sa. Clara Reduction de mas de
4000 almas de las Costas Bautismos de mas de 400 Parbulos 1698.
Con Ensefianzas y Experienzias.
Unprinted. The above title is from the original in the archives of
Mexico. Known hitherto only in the form of a Ms. copy at the end of
Libro I of Luz de Tierra Incognita in the Biblioteca Nacional.
Breve relacion de la insigne victoria que los Pimas, Sobaipuris en 30
de Marzo del Ano de 1698 han conseguido contra los enemigos
de la Provincia de Sonora. May 3, 1698. Post-dated Oct. 25.
Printed in Documentos para la Historia de Mexico, ser. iii, torn, iv,
810-813. The above title is from the original Ms. in the archives of
Mexico.
Paso por tierra a la California y sus Confinantes Nuebas Naciones,
etc. 1 701.
This is Kino's famous map of Pimeria Alta, which has been printed in
many editions.
The above list, including ten titles, and comprising
three letters, two diaries, three relations, and one map,
embraces, as has been said, all the unquestioned Kino
items available to modern scholars, so far as I have been
able to determine up to the present.50 To these can now
be added, from those incorporated in the Favores Ce-
lestiales, seven diaries, three letters, and an "informe,"
or report. None of these items, so far as I am aware,
has been available to modern students. Some were
referred to by the older historians, but have been posi-
tively declared not extant. Others have never been
mentioned to my knowledge. It will be seen that the
new list is longer than the old. Thus the Favores Ce-
lestiales, regarded merely as a source book, doubles our
available Kino writings. It must be remembered, of
course, that though they are given in documentary
56 This enumeration does not account for all the manuscripts listed in the
Catholic Encyclopedia, vol. viii, 660, since some of the titles listed there are
of uncertain identity.
one] EUSEBIO FRANCISCO KINO, S.J. 81
form, they may not be exact copies. The titles here
given are in most cases chapter headings. The list is
as follows:
B. Additional Kino writings incorporated in the
Favores Celestiales
Entrada o Mission del Pe. Visitador Antonio Leal en la Pimeria a
los Sobaipuris del Norte y a la costa del Nortueste y del Poniente
de ida y buelta de 240 leguas desde 24 de ottue. hasta 28 de No-
viembre de 1699 ans hai en ella 23 Bautismos, y se ven y quentan
como 7000 almas.
Translated in this volume, pages 203-210.
Relacion Diaria de la Entrada al Norte en orden a descubrir camino,
y passo por tierra a la California, segun muchas Personas desean
escriven, y piden.
Translated in this volume, pages 230-240.
Entrada de 170. leguas al' Norte y Nortueste en Busca del Passo
por tierra a la California, y Descubrimto. del Caudalosissimo muy
Poblado, y muy fertil Rio Colorado (que es legitimo Rio del
Norte) y de las Nuevas Naciones.
Translated in this volume, pages 242-258.
Entrada (o Mission) al Remate de la Mar de la California en 34
grados del [sic] Altura Con el Pe. Rr. Juan Maria de Salvatierra.
Translated in this volume, pages 265-292.
Entrada de 200. leguas a la Nacion Quiquima de la California Alta
y al muy Caudaloso, muy fertil, y muy poblado Rio Colorado, que
es el legitimo, y verdadero, Rio del Norte. 1701.
Translated in this volume, pages 307-322.
Letter to Father Leal, describing the same journey. Dec. 8, 1701.
Translated in this volume, pages 322-324.
Entrada de 200. leguas del ano 1702. con el muy individual Nuevo
Descumbrimto. del muy cierto y muy patente Passo por tierra a
la California, que se reconoce no ser Ysla, sino Penisla, Feb.-Apr.,
1702.
Translated in this volume, pages 335-347.
Letter to Father Leal, describing the above expedition, Apr. 8,
1702.
Translated in this volume, pages 347-362.
Mission Quaresmal de mas de 50 leguas Al Nortueste y al Poniente,
desde 27 de febrero asta 20 de Marzo, de 1706 entrando A San
82 MEMOIR OF PIMERIA ALTA
Ambrosio del Busanic, Al Tibutama y a Nra ssa de la Concep-
cion del Caborca. Feb.-March, 1706.
Translated in volume ii, 165-170.
Ynforme y Relasion de las nuevas Comversiones de esta America Sep-
tentrional, etc. Feb. 2, 17 10.
Translated in volume ii, 227-271.
Letter to King Philip V, transmitting the foregoing. Feb. 2, 17 10.
Translated in volume ii, 224-225.
67. Other Kino manuscripts now available
Besides the foregoing the editor of this work has
procured from the Archivo General de Indias the fol-
lowing Kino writings hitherto not available, it is be-
lieved. They all relate to Kino's early career in Amer-
ica. Transcripts of each are in the Bancroft Library.
The location of the originals in the archives is indi-
cated in the Bibliography at the end of Volume II.
Letter to the Bishop of Durango. Pueblo de Nio. March 25, 1682.
Testimonio de la Posecion tomada. Puerto de Nuestra Sefiora de la
Paz, April 5, 1683. By Eusebio Francisco Quino and Pedro
Mathias Goni. Signed by these and witnessed by Francisco de
Pereda y Arze, Matheo Andres, Martin de Verastegui.
Delineacion de la Nueva Provincia de S. Andres del Puerto de la
Paz, y de las Islas circumvecinas de las California, 6 Carolinas.
Dec. 21, 1683.
Description de la Fortificacion y Rl. de S. Bruno de Californias.
i683[?].
Letter to the viceroy. San Bruno, Dec. 6, 1684.
Letter to the viceroy. San Bruno, Dec. 8 [?] 1684.
Letter to the Bishop of Guadalajara, Torin, May 30, 1685.
Letter to the Bishop of Guadalajara, Colegio de Guadalaxara, Oct.
10, 1685.
Letter to the Bishop of Guadalajara. Compostela, November 5, 1685.
Letter to the Bishop of Guadalajara. Matanchel, Nov. 15, 1685.
Letter to the Bishop of Guadalajara, on board the Almiranta, Dec.
2, 1685.
Letter to the Bishop of Guadalajara, Casa Profesa, Feb. 15, 1686.
Petition asking prohibition of taking Indians with seals to work in
mines from his prospective mission. Guadalajara, Dec. 16, 1686.
CELESTIAL FAVORS OF JESUS,
Most Holy Mary, and the Most Glori-
ous Apostle of the Indies, San Francis-
co Xavier, Experienced in the New
Conquests and New Conversions of
the New Kingdom of Nueva Navarra
of this Unknown North America; and
the Land-Passage to California in
Thirty-five Degrees of Latitude, with
the New Cosmographic Map of these
New and Extensive Lands which hith-
erto have been unknown. Dedicated
to the Royal Majesty of Philip V, Very
Catholic King and Grand Monarch of
the Spains and the Indies.
TO THE VERY CATHOLIC MAJESTY OF
OUR SOVEREIGN, PHILIP V
When, six years ago,57 I received from our Father
General, Thirso Gonsales,58 a most paternal letter of the
preceding year, very urgently charging me to continue
to write the "Celestial Favors Experienced in These
New Conquests and New Conversions," at the same time
the father provincial, Francisco de Arteaga (who with-
out my meriting it named me rector of these missions),
sent me the very Catholic royal cedula of your Majesty,
dated July 17, 1701, in printed form, and inserted in the
report which, upon request of the Royal Audiencia of
Guadalaxara and by order of your Majesty, was made
and printed by Father Francisco Maria Picolo,89 mis-
sionary of California, concerning the prosperous con-
dition of that apostolic conquest and conversion. And
since the royal, very Catholic, and most Christian
cedula of your Majesty so greatly favors all these new
conversions, both of California and of this mainland of
Cinaloa and Sonora, and of this Pimeria, through your
Majesty's so piously ordering that they be maintained,
extended, and encouraged by all possible means, and
through your Majesty's so tenderly granting the benign
license which, in the year 1697, tne Senor Viceroy
Don Joseph Sarmiento de Valladares gave to Father
57 That is, in 1702.
68 Father Tirso Gonzales was general of the Jesuits from July 6, 1687, to
October 27, 1705 (Catholic Encyclopedia, vol. xiv, 85-86).
59 Father Picolo's report is incorporated by Father Kino in this work.
See volume ii, 46-67.
86 MEMOIR OF PIMERIA ALTA [Vol.
Rector Juan Maria de Salvatierra and me to go to
California to seek the conversion of those heathen,
charging his Royal Audiencia of Guadalaxara with
preparing the necessary reports, in order that in view
of them such provisions should be made as might be
considered proper in order to perfect the work which
had been undertaken so many years before, and which
is of such great service to God and to the increase of
our holy Catholic faith, resolving that there should be
assigned six thousand pesos each year from this treas-
ury, etc., in view of all this I recognize this royal cedil-
la of Your Majesty to be one of the chief celestial
favors which our Lord bestows upon us, and about
which I have here to write.
And having present this royal and Catholic cedula
of your Majesty, and the said report of the prosperous
condition of California and of the neighboring friends,
lovers of the new conversions, a religious pen60 an-
swered me that it was even more important to report
and write of these new conversions of this province of
Sonora and of this Pimeria, since they have more prof-
itable and fertile lands, and are of less expense to the
royal estate.
Because of this very Catholic royal cedula of your
Majesty, these conquests in this very extensive North
America might be called the New Philippines of
America, with the same and with even greater proprie-
ty than that with which the conquered islands of the
East Indies in Asia were named Philippines in consid-
eration of the great Catholic zeal of Philip III;61 un-
less your Royal Majesty prefers, as has been and is the
60 Father Agustin Campos, missionary at San Ignacio.
61 Philip III reigned 1598-1621. The Philippines were so named as a re-
sult of the Villalobos expedition of 1543, and in honor of the prince, who
became Philip II.
one] EUSEBIO FRANCISCO KINO, SJ. 87
opinion of various persons very zealous in the service
of both Majesties, that these new conquests, which are
more than two hundred leagues in extent, should be
decorated with the name of the New Kingdom of
Nueva Navarra, as others are called kingdoms of
Nueva Biscaya, Nueva Galisia, etc. For this New
Kingdom of the American Nueva Navarra might unite
still other neighboring kingdoms which are being con-
quered with those already conquered, just as the king-
dom of Navarra in Europe lies between and unites the
crowns and realms of France and Spain.
With all my heart, I wish that now I might have a
small part of the good fortune which Father Andres
Peres de Rivas had when he dedicated to Philip, the
fourth of this so happy name, and your Majesty's im-
mediate predecessor, the notable volume or history of
the Triumphs of the Faith among barbarous nations 6:
(which were the new conquests and the new conversions
of Cinaloa and of surrounding tribes) from the year
1590 to that of 1645, now that since then we have pene-
trated more than one hundred leagues further this way,
as far as this province of Sonora, and more than one
hundred and fifty other leagues to the Taraumares,03
and now that I, with only my servants and fifty or sixty
or more mules and horses, in more than fifty journeys
inland, made through the great mercy of our Lord dur-
ing these twenty years, some of which have been fifty,
sixty, and one hundred leagues and some one hundred
and fifty and two hundred leagues in extent, have pene-
trated to the north, to the west, and to the northeast, and
62 The reference is to the work of Andres Perez de Ribas, entitled His-
toria de los Trivmphos de Nvestra Santa Fee entre gentes las mas barbaras
y fieras del Nueuo Orbe. Madrid, 1645.
63 The Tarahumares lived east of the Sierra Madre, mainly in the present
state of Chihuahua. They are of Piman stock (Hodge, Handbook of Ameri-
can Indians North of Mexico).
88 MEMOIR OF PIMERIA ALTA [Vol.
particularly to the most unknown regions of the north-
west, as far as the land passage to California, which I
discovered in the years 1698 and 1699, and which is in
the latitude of thirty-five degrees, where I discovered
also the very large, extremely fertile, and most densely
populated Colorado River (the true Rio del Norte of
the ancients), which flows into the head of the Sea of
California and reaches to the neighborhood of the
hither borders of Gran Quivira.
By means of these many and repeated journeys and
missions which I have made to all parts, without spe-
cial expense to the royal estate, there remain reduced to
our friendship and to obedience to the royal crown, and
with a desire to receive our holy faith, more than thirty
thousand souls in this vicinity, both in this Pima na-
tion, which has more than sixteen thousand souls, and
in the neighboring lands of the Cocomaricopas, Yumas,
Quiquimas, Cutganes, Bagiopas, Hoabonomas,64 etc.
And there are many more tribes with more souls and
people, where one can enter with all ease; for I have
already sent them messages and discourses concerning
Christian doctrine, and they have informed me, and we
know, that if missionary fathers come they will follow
and imitate these other nations already reduced.
In these twenty-one years, after having been mission-
ary of California in the expedition made at a cost of
more than half a million to the royal estate by the Ad-
miral Don Ysidro de Atondo y Antillon, whom I
aided in taking possession of California (passing to the
opposite coast and the South Sea in the latitude of
64 All these were tribes living near the lower Gila and lower Colorado
Rivers. The Yumas, Quiquimas (Quigyumas), Cutganes (Cuchan, Kwi-
chana), and Cocomaricopas (Maricopas) are all Yuman tribes. Hodge, our
best authority on this group, regards the Hoabomomas as probably of Yuman
and the Bagiopas as probably of Shoshonean stock. See the "Index" for each
of the tribes.
one] EUSEBIO FRANCISCO KINO, S.J. 89
twenty-six degrees, and holding the offices of first rector
of that new conversion, vicar of the Senor Bishop of
Guadalaxara, and cosmographer of his Majesty), I
have baptized here in these new conquests and new
conversions about four thousand five hundred souls,65
and could have baptized twelve or fifteen thousand if
we had not suspended further baptisms until our Lord
should bring us missionary fathers to aid us in instruct-
ing and ministering to so many new subjects of your
Majesty and parishioners of our Holy Mother Church.
Since afterwards the conquest and conversion of
California was suspended, I asked for and obtained
permission to come to these neighboring coasts and the
heathen people of this province of Sonora, which be-
gins in the latitude of thirty-two degrees. And the
father provincial, Anbrosio Oddon,66 having named me
rector of these new missions and of those of San Fran-
cisco Xavier de Sonora, and Father Juan Maria de
Salvatierra as visitor of Cinaloa and Sonora, when, in
the year 1691, his Reverence came to visit these new
conversions of this Pimeria, we went inland for the
space of a whole month and more than fifty leagues
of travel. And, seeing these lands so pleasant, so rich,
so fertile and able so easily to lend aid to the scanty
lands of California, the said father visitor, Juan Maria
de Salvatierra,67 and I agreed to foster so far as we could
65 It has been customary for writers to state that Father Kino baptized
more than 40,000 natives, instead of 4,000. This was due to a misreading of
Kino by Ortega, author of the Apostolicos Afanes, and whom other writers
have followed.
66 Father Ambrosio Oddon was named provincial in November, 1689, to
succeed Father Bernabe de Soto. In December, 1693, he was succeeded by
Diego de Almonazir, and himself became rector of the Colegio Maximo of
Mexico (Alegre, Historia de la Compania de Jesus, vol. iii, 68-69, 75)-
67 Father Juan Maria Salvatierra was the leader of the Jesuits in their
great missionary work in Baja California from 1697 to 1717, part of which
go MEMOIR OF PIMERIA ALTA [Vol.
the continuation of that new conquest and conversion
of California, his Reverence at once making for that
purpose a very favorable report. When, seven years
afterwards, we obtained the desired license, which is
cited in the said royal cedula of your Majesty, my go-
ing was prevented by the reports which the royal offi-
cials of this province of Sonora dispatched to Mexico,
saying that I was needed in this extensive Pimeria, and
Father Francisco Maria Picolo was sent in my place.
But I, always encouraged to that end by our father
general, Thirso Gonzales, and by the father visitor,
Orasio Polise,68 from here have tried to promote the
welfare of both conquests, and of their new conversions,
in this most extensive and unknown North America,
which seems to give thanks to the Lord by offering
such an opportunity for its complete conquest and con-
version, that, God helping, we shall be able to write
new treatises and volumes. One of them may be called :
The Seven New Kingdoms. "The seven ancient,
heathen, and fallen cities69 of this unknown North
America, which are being changed and reduced under
the most Christian protection of the very Catholic
King and great [monarch] of the Spains and the In-
dies, Philip V., may God preserve him."
These seven new kingdoms, in place of the seven an-
cient cities, might be: I, Nueva Biscaya, which lies
time he held the office of provincial in New Spain. For his work see Engel-
hardt, Missions and Missionaries of California, vol. i, 71-113; Alegre, His-
toria de la Compania de Jesus, vol. iii, passim; Venegas (Burriel), Noticia
de la California, vol. ii, 1-307. Bancroft, North Mexican States and Texas,
vol. I, chap, xi, xv. A portrait of Salvatierra is printed in Engelhardt, vol.
i, facing p. 80. A more pleasing one is in Alegre, vol. iii, facing p. 96.
68 Oracio Polici was visitor in 1696. In that year and the next Kino made
several journeys into Arizona, at Father Polici's order. See post, page 164.
69 The allusion is to the old belief in Seven Cities in northwestern Amer-
ica. Columbus heard of them while in the West Indies, Guzman sought
them in Sinaloa, Fray Marcos identified them with the Zuni pueblos which he
discovered. Coronado conquered them in 1540.
one] EUSEBIO FRANCISCO KINO, S.J. 91
to the south and southeast; II, Nuevo Mexico, which
is northeast of us; III, California Baja, which lies to
the southwest and west of us, and extends as far as the
latitude of thirty-five degrees, with the Gulf of Cali-
fornia between; IV, this new kingdom of Nueva
Navarra, scene of these new conquests and new con-
versions, which are between the other new kingdoms,
and about in the center or heart of all this North Amer-
ica; V, California Alta,70 which lies to the west and
northwest of us, from the latitude of thirty-five degrees
to that of forty-five or forty-six; VI, Gran Quivira,71
which lies to the northwest of us, where the pirate Eng-
lish captain placed his pretended Sea of California;
VII, Gran Teguayo,72 or Nueva Borbona, which is to
the north of us, beyond the Moqui, and extends from
thirty-seven or thirty-eight degrees north latitude to
the Sea of the North, which Hudson discovered in the
year 1612, in the latitude of fifty-two, fifty-three, and
fifty-four degrees.
COSMOGRAPHIC PROOF that California is not an Is-
land, but a Peninsula. I have just written another
small treatise called "Cosmographic Proof that Cali-
fornia is not an Island,73 but a Peninsula, and is contin-
70 It is sometimes maintained that "California Alta," as used early in the
eighteenth century, referred primarily to the upper part of the peninsula. It
is clear, however, that Kino here meant distinctly the country north of the
peninsula, and essentially what is now comprised in the states of California
and Oregon.
71 Gran Quivira originally was sought toward the northeast of New Mex-
ico, but later it was placed by some map makers northwest of New Mexico.
For a sketch of Gran Quivira in history see Hodge, Handbook of American
Indians, part ii, 346-347.
72 According to Hodge, Teguayo was the name of the Tewa (Tegua)
country of New Mexico. In the seventeenth century, writers {e.g. Benavides)
located it eastward of New Mexico. Escalante located the "province" in
Utah (Hodge, Handbook) part ii, 718.
73 I have never seen any reference to this document other than the present
and others which Kino makes in this work. Evidently it was never printed.
92 MEMOIR OF PIMERIA ALTA [Vol.
uous with this New Spain, the Gulf of California end-
ing in the latitude of thirty-five degrees," and, with its
map, I am sending it to Mexico to the father provincial,
Juan de Estrada,74 as his Reverence asks me to do.
The purposes of these new conquests and new conver-
sions and of the celestial favors that we experience in
them are very much and very particularly promoted
by the holy, paternal letter which I have just received
from our most reverend father general, Miguel Angel
Tamburini,75 who, at the same time that he furnishes a
copy of most of these writings of mine, which, by order
of his predecessor, Father Thirso Gonzales, went to
Rome, among other paternal, most excellent, and holy
things, writes me the following:
Letter of Our Father General. Hearing of the new
discoveries and of their condition, I find much to praise in the
mercies of God towards those nations that are being discovered
and brought to the knowledge of Him ; and our Company owes
special thanks to His Divine Majesty, in that he chooses its sons
as instruments of so great glory to Him. I await the other two
parts of the Celestial Favors which your Reverence promises. All
these reports are such as fill me with joy and with a desire to re-
spond to the zeal of your Reverence and of your companions.
But just as there are obstacles there, we regret that here wars,
lack of intercourse, and the dangers of the seas detain our mis-
sionaries. But we all trust with great confidence in the loving
providence of God ; for since it has been His will, in such
troubled times as these, to disclose those new regions, and to re-
veal to us the many souls that are scattered outside of His flock,
it can not be in order that we may see them perish, but instead
74 Father Juan de Estrada became acting provincial in November, 1707.
He had been provost of the Casa Profesa of Mexico (Alegre, Historia, vol.
iii, 150). He was succeeded by Father Antonio Jardon (1708-1711) ; he in
turn by Alonso Arrevillaga, in April, 1711 (Alegre, Historia, vol. iii, 150-
157)-
75 Succeeding Father Tirso Gonzalez, Father Michele Angelo Tamburini
was general of the Jesuit Order from January 31, 1706 to February 28, 1730
{Catholic Encyclopedia, vol. xiv, 85-86).
one] EUSEBIO FRANCISCO KINO, S.J. 93
to give us means and power to draw them from their forests and
reduce them to pueblos and churches. Thus, I beg his divine
Majesty to guard your Reverence the many years which I desire.
Your Reverence's servant, Miguel Angel Tamburini.
Rome, September 5, 1705.
Thus far the letter of our father general, from Rome,
so laden with celestial favors. Here follow the means
and forces which he says our Lord will give us to re-
duce so many souls to pueblos and churches. They
are those which by divine grace we already have, and
are as follows :
Means for these New Conversions. I. The
very rich and fertile lands, abounding in wheat, maize,
beans, good rivers, groves, etc. We already have made
many crops, fields, and abundant harvests. II. We
already have prepared many ranches of cattle, sheep,
goats, and horses, not only in these new pueblos, but
also very far inland, at distances of twenty, thirty, forty,
fifty, and more leagues. III. We already have very
good orchards and vineyards to supply wine for the
masses. IV. The temperature of these new lands is
similar to that of Europe. V. These new conquests
are inhabited by industrious Indians. VI. The lands
are mineral bearing. VII. We already have conquered
these Pima Indians, who are able and accustomed to
win continual victories over the enemies who infest this
province of Sonora, etc. VIII. These natives on the
neighboring California Gulf have very good salines,
and fisheries of all kinds of palatable fish, oysters, and
shrimps. They also have bezoar, the medicinal fruit
called jojoba, blankets, cotton fabrics, curious and very
showy baskets or pitchers, macaws, and feathers; and
further inland there must be other means, advantages,
and conveniences. IX. The harvest of the very many
94 MEMOIR OF PIMERIA ALTA [Vol.
souls is now so ripe that all the year they come from
distances of fifty, one hundred, one hundred and fifty,
and more leagues, to see me and to ask me to go and
baptize them, or to procure for them priests who shall
go to assist, care for, and minister to them.
And although these extensive conquests will require
about fifty missionary fathers, all with their customary
alms or necessary supplies, your Majesty can furnish
them, without its causing any new expense to the royal
estate, by merely ordering that some amounts which
are now being spent by it without securing the ends for
which your Royal Majesty intends them, and which are
therefore not profitable, be assigned to the said fifty
missionary fathers of these new conquests and new con-
versions, who, God willing, will better achieve both
purposes, as I will state in another and separate me-
morial.
I conclude with what, so much to our purpose and
to the purposes of all, our Holy Mother Church says,
prays, and sings on the first feast day in May, that of
San Felipe and Santiago, namely, Gentiles Salvatorem
videre cupientes ad Philipum accesserunt™ that is, the
Gentiles who wished to see the Saviour of the world
drew near to Philip. And thus we see and happily
experience with the very Catholic, very pious, and most
Christian royal cedula of your Majesty, that all the
innumerable Gentiles of these new conversions and new
conquests of this very extensive and formerly unknown
North America and Nueva Navarra, etc., in order to
see, know, and love the Saviour of the world and to save
themselves eternally, draw near to the most pious pro-
76 "The Gentiles, desiring to see the Savior, came to Philip." Roman
Breviary, Lesson iv, Feast of Sts. Philip and James, Apostles. Founded on
John, xii, 20, 21. Marginal annotation in the original Ms: 1 Mai). Noct.
11 Led. 1.
one] EUSEBIO FRANCISCO KINO, S.J. 95
tection, happy obedience, and fortunate vassalage of
Philip V,77 the very Catholic and most happy king and
grand monarch of the Spains and the Indies, whose
royal life may the Sovereign Divine Majesty preserve
and prosper through long and most happy years with
His celestial favors, for the temporal and eternal hap-
piness of the European and American worlds, and of
the universe of the heavens and of the earth, for ever-
more, amen. Nuestra Senora de los Dolores, of these
new conquests and new conversions of Nueva Navarra,
November 21, 1708. From your very Catholic and
humble Chaplain, Eusebio FRANCISCO Kino.
77 Philip V was king of Spain during the years 1700-1746.
PROLOGUE TO THE CHARITABLE READER
Father Alexandre) Francisco Tivipucci, closely imi-
tating Father Marcello Mastrilli in tender devotion to
San Francisco Xavier, as shown in the novena of that
glorious holy Apostle of the Indies, says these words:
Before Jesus and most holy Mary, I do not wish to owe this
health of mine to human means and forces or to the virtues of
medicine, but solely to Thee, O my most glorious protector, San
Francisco Xavier.
The very same will be said by these poor sons of this
Pimeria and of this mainland, and by me, and by the
most loving fathers and sons of the neighboring Cali-
fornia, et nati natorum et qui nasentur.™ And we will
attribute these new spiritual and temporal conquests of
these new conversions to the celestial favors of these
above mentioned most divine protectors of ours rather
than to human agencies or to the military forces of the
presidios and soldiers, etc.; and we will repeat with the
royal prophet, Dominus virtutum, ipse est rex gloriae
(Ps. 23) ; et exaltare, Domine, in virtute tua, cantavimus
et psalemus virtutes tuas™ (Ps. 20). We will sing, O
Lord, Thy greatness, Thy virtues, Thy great mercies,
and Thy celestial favors and those of Thy Saints.
To the most glorious and most pious thaumaturgus
and apostle of the Indies, San Francisco Xavier, we
all owe very much. I owe him, first, my life, of which
78 "And their children's children and those yet unborn."
79 "The Lord of Hosts He is the King of Glory" (Psalm xxiii, 10). "Be
Thou exalted, O Lord, in Thy own strength; we will sing and praise Thy
powers" (Psalm xx, 14).
98 MEMOIR OF PIMERIA ALTA [Vol.
I was caused to despair by the physicians in the City of
Hala, of Tirol, in the year 1669; second, my entrance
into the company of Jesus; third, my coming to these
missions indicated. And because I know that I owe
and do not know whether or not I pay, I beg and en-
treat all the celestial court and all the earthly universe
to aid me in giving him due thanks for so many celestial
favors bestowed upon the most unworthy of all the
earth.
And by celestial favors I mean here especially the
wonderful mercies which, before Jesus and Mary, we
receive from this most glorious apostle of the Indies, in
the midst of such great human obstacles and opposi-
tion as, through Divine disposition, have been encoun-
tered in the reduction of so many souls, who exceed
twenty thousand. And as Father Visitor Juan Maria
Salvatierra very fittingly said during his visit to this
Pimeria in the middle of January, 1691, when, at that
time, we were speaking together here of the conversion
of California (the Holy Church includes the same
words in the prayer of the three holy kings), Apertum
est nobis ostium magnum et evidens; et adversarii multi
(Corint ld).m There has indeed been opened to us a
very wide and very obvious gate to all this most ex-
tensive northern part of this North America, situated
in its most pleasant and most fertile temperate zone;
and, moreover, human means have been so lacking that
many times those whose duty it was to aid us have hin-
dered us, and those who were our friends have become
our enemies, placing many obstacles in the way of ev-
erything and trying to make light of the whole affair.
All the good is due to spiritual agencies: to these ce-
80 «a great and evident door is opened unto us ; and there are many ad-
versaries {Ostium enim mihi apertum est magnum et evidens; et adversarii
multi." I Cor., xvi, 9).
one] EUSEBIO FRANCISCO KINO, SJ. 99
lestial favors of Jesus and Mary and San Francisco
Xavier; to all of the holy convent of Nuestra Senora de
los Reyes of Seville, Spain; and to all of the holy con-
vent of San Joseph de Garcia in the imperial City of
Mexico, as is attested by their long papers and cata-
logues, prints, and vellums, in which they note for us
the holy aids of fervent and continuous prayers, volun-
tary penances and devotions, and pious works, by which
these holy communities and many and various other
servants of our God, both men and women, are pleased
to commit to his Divine Majesty the good and happy
promotion of these new conversions. And, thanks to
the Most High, by means of the celestial favor of this
very wonderful and pacific Christian charity, more will
be attained now than by ordinary human agencies and
by the military labors of arms and of wars, just as, in
speaking of Rome, Pope Saint Leo, in the first sermon
of St. Peter and St. Paul, declares in these words,
Quamvis enim multis aucta victorijs ius ynpeni tin
terra marique protuleris minus tamen est quod tibi
bellicus labor subduxit quam quod Pax Christiana sub-
iecit*1
During all these years the Senor commander of the
arms of these provinces himself, Don Domingo Jironza
Petris de Cruzatte,82 has wished to avail himself of his
81 "For though thou (O, Rome), increased by many victories, didst once
spread the right of thy power over land and sea, still the toil of war won less
for thee than what Christian peace subdued" (Roman Breviary, Fifth Lesson,
Feast of Sts. Peter and Paul). The entire passage refers to the spread of
Christian Rome's influence. The substitution of subduxit for subdidit shows
that the quotation was from memory.
82 Domingo Jironza Petriz de Cruzat (or Cruzate) was sent by King
Carlos II in 1680 as visitador of the Leeward Island with a force of fifty
men and the rank of captain of infantry, and with orders to the viceroy to
provide him an office in reward for services in the wars against Portugal.
He was made alcalde-mayor of Mestitlan, a province near Mexico City, and
some two years afterward became governor of the revolted province of New
ioo MEMOIR OF PIMERIA ALTA [Vol.
very Christian devotion toward his great patroness,
Nuestra Senora del Pilar, and of other pious works,
spiritual exercises, charitable plans, Christian gifts, and
very Catholic reasoning with these natives of Pimeria,
rather than of violent and bloody wars. By the former
means the Pimeria has been reduced, and at the same
time the hostile Jocomes and Janos have been destroyed,
and this tormented province of Sonora relieved, re-
paired, and made quiet and peaceful. Who can doubt
now that all these are the agencies, unexpected and un-
hoped for, with which, as a few years ago another fath-
er visitor prophesied so correctly, these missions of
Sonora were to reform and give peace to these prov-
inces?
Let thanks, then, be given to the Most Holy Trinity,
thanks to Jesus and most holy Mary, thanks to the most
glorious apostle of the Indies, San Francisco Xavier,
and to all the celestial court, for all the celestial favors
that we have received and are receiving in these new
spiritual and temporal conquests and conversions;
thanks for the similar matchless benefits that we hope
to receive in the future, in the highest, the most lucra-
Mexico. He ruled "con aplauso" till 1686, made several campaigns against
hostile Indians, but failed to reconquer the province. Again becoming gov-
ernor of New Mexico (1689-1691) he made renewed attempts to reconquer
the province, but failed, although in the struggle at Zia he left six hundred In-
dians dead on the battle-field. Before the king had heard of Jironza's victory
he was replaced by Diego de Vargas Zapata. In a royal cedula of June 21,
1691, the king thanked him for his services, conceded him the robe of the
three military orders, and ordered that he be retained in New Mexico if
Vargas had not taken possession. In 1693 he was made commander of the
newly established Compania Volante of Sonora and alcalde-mayor of the
province, with the capital at San Juan Bautista. His nephew, Juan Matheo
Manje, was made ensign of the company and later lieutenant alcalde-mayor.
During his rule (1693-1700) Jironza made numerous campaigns against the
marauding Indians, and was much esteemed by the Jesuit Fathers, while
Manje became Kino's principal soldier associate. See Manje, Luz de Tierra
Incognita; Bancroft, North Mexican States and Texas, vol. i, 255-256, 262,
272-274.
one] EUSEBIO FRANCISCO KINO, S.J. 101
tive, and most happy ministry of all ministries in the
world. This is the happy reward for preaching the gos-
pel in these apostolic undertakings, as was put so clearly
by the Venerable Father Pedro de Belasco, on being
called by his superiors to leave the new conversions of
Sinaloa, where he was working so gloriously, in order
to go to Mexico to teach the arts. He told them that
he would have them consider the injury that would be
done to the Holy Writ, which was taught by the Son of
God and read by His apostles and disciples, if they took
him away from teaching and reading it to those needy
tribes merely to employ him with the earthly maxims
of a heathen philosopher; that it would be a mortifica-
tion to him to leave the book of the Gospels for the
books of Aristotle, the preaching of Christ for the
teachings of Porphyry, the explanation of the cate-
chism of sound and eternal truths for the categories of
vain and futile sophistries; that they should consider
before God whether it would not be a shame if the lan-
guages which he had already learned and which anoth-
er could not learn so quickly, and which could be used
in catechizing heathen and in teaching Christian peo-
ple, should go to waste, to the spiritual injury of so
many people, merely in order to occupy himself in
reading what many others in the province could al-
ready do; that he was not needed; that he had come
from the missions not to leave them, but to make known
their needs and his strong desire to return to them; but
that he was ready to do whatever obedience might re-
quire of him, before God. Thus far the Venerable
Father Pedro de Velasco, who returned to his famous
missions.
Now, O Sovereign Creator of heaven and earth, who,
with Thy infinite and most divine love, and with Thy
most high celestial providence, ever surest, sweetest,
ioa MEMOIR OF PIMERIA ALTA
and gentlest disposition, hast permitted or caused these
human obstacles and contradictions, ludens in orbe
terarum,83 and with equally loving, pious, and fatherly
affection hast protected and dost protect us with so
many celestial favors, permit not in the future that
there should be so great forgetfulness of Thy most
divine and most holy name in these extensive unknown
lands, Nunquid cognosentur in tenebris, mirabilia tua
aut justisia tua in terra oblivionis? (Ps. 87). 84 Grant
that Thy evangelical workers may come, and that, with
Thy celestial favors and with their apostolic toil, all
these tribes, especially the many neighboring ones of
this North America, may be brought to holy knowledge
of Thee and of Thy most divine love, in order that they
may praise Thee with Thy chosen ones, the saints of
the celestial court throughout all eternity, Vt cognos-
camus in terra viam tuam, in omnibus gentibus salutare
tuum, confiteantur tibi populi, Deus confiteantur tibi,
populi omnis benedicatnos Deus Deus noster benedi-
catnos Deus et metuant (et diligant) te omnes finis
terrce (Ps. 66). 85 And may these benedictions please
my charitable reader, as is my wish. Amen. Nues-
tra Senora de los Dolores, December 3, day of the glo-
rious apostle of the Indies, San Francisco Xavier, 1699.
83 "Playing in the world" (Prov., viii, 31. Ludens in orbe terrarum et
delicia mea esse cum filiis hominum). The scriptural reference is to wis-
dom, but in Catholic liturgy the whole passage is applied sometimes to the
Word of God, the "Verbum," and sometimes to the Blessed Virgin Mary,
who has been called Seat of Wisdom.
84 "Shall Thy wonders be known in the dark, and Thy justice in the land
of forgetfulness?" {Psalm lxxxvii, 13). The aut for et indicates again a
quotation from memory. We should now write cognoscentur and justitia.
85 "That we may know thy way upon earth, thy salvation in all nations.
Let the peoples confess to Thee, O God; let all the peoples confess to Thee.
May God, our own God, bless us, may God bless us. And may all the ends
of the earth fear (and love) Thee" (Psalm, Ixvi, 3, 4, 8). Populi omnis for
populi omnes, as now written, and omnes fines for omnes finis. The metuant
te for metuant eum, and the insertion of et diligant, show intentional freedom
in quoting.
PART I
NEW SPIRITUAL AND TEMPOR-
al Conquests in Pimeria, of the King-
dom of Nueva Biscaya, during the
Suspension of the Enterprise of the
Conquest and Conversion of Califor-
nia; and the Events of the Twelve
Years from 1687 to 1699
BOOK I. FIRST ENTRY INTO PIMERIA,
AND THE BEGINNINGS OF ITS SPIRIT-
UAL AND TEMPORAL CONQUEST,
AND OF ITS CONVERSION TO
OUR HOLY CATHOLIC FAITH
CHAPTER I. BECAUSE OF THE SUSPENSION OF THE
CONQUEST AND CONVERSION OF CALIFORNIA, TWO
ALMS ARE ASKED AND OBTAINED FROM THE ROYAL
TREASURY FOR TWO MISSIONARY FATHERS
FOR THIS COAST AND MAINLAND
NEAREST TO CALIFORNIA
The enterprise of the conquest and conversion of
California, in which I took part for more than two
years, with two other fathers of the Company, with the
offices of superior, or rector, and of cosmographer of
his Majesty, may God preserve him, having been sus-
pended,86 for twelve years and going on thirteen I have
been in this extensive Pimeria, which has a length from
north to south of more than one hundred leagues, reach-
86 The reference is to the attempt of Atondo y Antillon to subdue Cali-
fornia, 1683-1685. See Venegas (Burriel), Noticia de California, vol. iii,
218 et seq. See also references in the "Index" of the present work.
Important new material concerning the abandonment of California is con-
tained in an expediente of correspondence, in the Archivo General de Indias,
at Seville (A.G.I. 67-3-28. Audiencia de Guadalajara. Copy in the Ban-
croft Library). It contains a report on California by the Bishop of Guadala-
jara, February 18, 1686; Kino to the Bishop of Guadalajara, Torin, May 30,
1685; id. id., Guadalajara, October 10, 1685; id. id., Compostela, November
5, 1685; id. id., Matanchel, November 15, 1685; id. id., on board the Almi-
ranta, December 2, 1685; Father Matias Gones (Goni) to Bishop Garabito,
Port of San Ignacio, Sinaloa, September 22, 1685; Kino to the Bishop of
Guadalajara, Casa Profesa, Mexico, February 15, 1686; Atondo to the Bishop
of Guadalajara, Mexico, February 16, 1686. These letters give a clue to
Kino's itinerary after leaving California.
106 MEMOIR OF PIMERIA ALTA [Vol.
ing from the province and valleys of Sonora almost to
the province of Moqui, and a width of as many and
even more leagues from east to west, from the land of
the Jocomes, Janos, Sumas, Apaches,87 etc., to the
arm of the Sea of California. For, on the occasion of
this suspension, I asked of the father provincial, who
at the time was Father Luys del Canto,88 permission to
come to the heathen people of these coasts nearest to the
above mentioned California, and when his Reverence
said to me that there were no alms from his Majesty for
this purpose, I told him that if he would give me per-
mission I would ask them of his Excellency. He re-
plied that I should make a report, and with it and one
of his own his Reverence asked and obtained two alms
for two persons. With one I came at once to this
Pimeria, and with the other Father Adan Gil 89 came
later to the neighboring Seris. When these alms were
conceded, the fiscal of his Majesty, Don Pedro de la
Bastilla, may God preserve him, asserted that these
coasts would afford the best opportunity possible for
continuing afterwards from here with the conquest
and conversion of California. Leaving Mexico on
November 20, 1686, just after Father Bernabe de Soto
had come as provincial, I went to Guadalaxara, whence
87 The Janos and Jocomes, now extinct, dwelt between Casas Grandes,
Chihuahua, and the Gila. Bandelier regarded them as the most southern
band of Apaches, and as a composite of broken down tribes. Missions were
early established among them at Janos and Carretas. See Hodge, Handbook,
vol. i, 628; Hughes, Anne, Beginnings of Spanish Settlement in the El Paso
District (University of California, Publications in History, vol. i). They
became absorbed in the main Apache nation.
88 Luis del Canto was provincial in New Spain, 1683-1686. He was suc-
ceeded by Father Bernabe Soto, long a missionary among the Tepehuanes
(Alegre, Historia, vol. iii, 60-61). Soto was still ruling in November, 1689
{ibid., pp. 66-67).
89 Concerning Father Adam Gilg (or Gil), see Stocklein, Letters no. 33
and no. 53. In both he speaks of Kino. See also Huonder, Anton, Deutsche
J esuiten-missionare des 17. und 18. Jahrhunderts, 108.
one] EUSEBIO FRANCISCO KINO, S.J. 107
I set out on December 16, having obtained from the
Royal Audiencia the royal provision and the inserted
royal cedula which is given in the following chapter.90
CHAPTER II. ROYAL PROVISION AND ROYAL CEDU-
LA WHICH FAVOR THE NEW CONVERSIONS
At the suggestion of the father provincial, Luis del
Canto, and of the father provincial elect, Bernabe de
Soto, I asked for and obtained from the Royal Au-
diencia of Guadalaxara, through the very Catholic zeal
of the Senor president, Don Alonso Sevallos y Billa
Gutierres, and of the Senor judge Don Christobal de
la Palma, a royal provision to the effect that during
five years no natives whatever should be taken out with
seals to work, from the places where I should go for
their conversion. I requested this royal provision at a
very opportune time, for there had just arrived from
Spain the very Catholic royal cedula which orders that
for twenty years recent converts to our holy faith shall
not be taken away with seals. This royal cedula is
dated at Buen Retiro, May 14, of the said year of 1686.
It is so very Catholic and so favorable to the new con-
quests and new conversions that I will insert here some
of its notable paragraphs.
90 Important new data concerning Father Kino's negotiations with the au-
thorities at Guadalajara is contained in an expediente of correspondence in
the Archivo General de Indias {A. G. I. Audiencia de Guadalajara, 67-1-36.
Transcript in the Bancroft Library). It includes a report by the Audiencia
to the King, July 23, 1686, in virtue of the real cedula of May 14, 1686
(quoted in next chapter) ; copy of the cedula of May 1+, 1686, by which we
are able to check Kino's copy; report to the Audiencia by Father Joseph de
Azcarasso, Franciscan, concerning frontier missions, October 9, 1686;
negotiations of the Audiencia with various missionary organizations; petition
of Eusebio Francisco Kino, "missionary named for the reduction and con-
version to our Holy Faith of the Seris, Huaymas, and Pimas in the province
of Sonora, Kingdom of Nueva Vizcaya," regarding taking Indians under seal
to work in mines, undated, but passed on by the Audiencia December 16,
1686; and petition of Father Azcarasso, undated, but considered May 2,
1687.
108 MEMOIR OF PIMERIA ALTA [Vol.
Well, then, our most Catholic monarch, Don Carlos
II, may God preserve him many most happy years,
writes as follows:
Royal Cedula. Whereas,91 in my Royal Council of the
Indies information has been received that twenty-four leagues
from Mexico the tribes of heathen Indians begin and that they
continue without interruption through the provinces of Nueva
Espana, Nueva Galicia, Nueva Biscaya, Nueva Mexico, etc.,92
and 93 that care is not given to their conversion ; and since this is
the first and principal obligation of the ministers, to whose ful-
fillment they should give very particular care and attention, so
that the neglect and omission which even here have been noted
and experienced may not continue; since for this conversion no
escort of soldiers is needed, as the natives show no resistance, and
as some nations and districts assist with others ; since this care is
the first obligation of the Council, and is kept prominently in
mind by it, as in the eighth ordinance I have charged it to do;
and wishing to satisfy its conscience, in so far as it may be con-
cerned, as I have satisfied my own by fulfilling so important an
obligation, and by applying all means, endeavors, and requests
possible, in order to secure the execution of a thing that is so ser-
viceable to God, our Lord, who, in his great providence, always
returns a very great and notable increase to my monarchy for
what is spent from my royal estate in these new conversions ; and
wishing to comply with this obligation, which I regard as the
principal one of my great desire, I have agreed to issue the pres-
ent cedula, by which I order and command my viceroy of Nueva
Espana and the presidents and judges of my Royal Audiencias of
Mexico, Guadalaxara, and Guatemala, and the governors of
Nueva Biscaya, that as soon as they shall receive this my cedula
they shall exercise very especial care and application to the end
91 A comparison of this copy of the cedula with the official copy in A.G.I.
Aud. de Guad., 67-1-36, shows that Kino has omitted numerous phrases of the
original, as non-essential to his point, and has paraphrased others. Two ex-
amples are given in the two notes following.
92 "Y pr. el nuebo Rno. de Leon asta la florida" is omitted by Kino
here (see copy in A.G.I. Aud. Guad., 67-1-36).
93 "Y que entre campeche y Guatemala y sus costas del mar del Norte ay
otras naciones de Yndios Jentiles y que teniendoles a la puerta y tan imme-
diatos," omitted by Kino (see ibid.).
one] EUSEBIO FRANCISCO KINO, S.J. 109
that all the tribes of heathen Indians which may be found in the
district and jurisdiction comprised in the government of each
audiencia and government district, may be reduced and con-
verted to our holy Catholic faith, each one providing, in so far
as concerns him, that from now on their reduction and conver-
sion be undertaken with the mildest and most effective means
that can be employed and contrived, entrusting it to the ecclesi-
astics most satisfactory to them and of the virtue and spirit re-
quired for so very important a matter, giving to them for the
purpose the assistance, favor, and aid that may be necessary, and
encouraging them in it in the best manner possible, and promis-
ing in my name to all new converts that during the first twenty
years of their reduction they will not be required to give tribute
or to serve on estates or in mines, since this is one of the reasons
why they refuse to be converted. And I charge my ministers to
notify me at once of the receipt of this dispatch, of what may be
done in virtue thereof, and of the condition which this matter
may be assuming, so that upon receipt of this information the
orders most important for its continuation may be given, because
I desire that all time possible be gained in a matter of such im-
portance and so serviceable to God and to me. Done at Buen
Retiro, May 14, 1686. I, the King.
CHAPTER III. MY ARRIVAL AT THESE MISSIONS OF
SONORA, AND MY FIRST ENTRY INTO THIS PIMERIA,
WITH THE FATHER VISITOR, MAN-
UEL GONZALES
With this royal provision and royal cedula, which
by its admirable Catholic zeal might well and should
astonish and edify the whole world, I came in February
of 1687 to these missions of Sonora, and went to Opos-
sura to see and talk with the father visitor, who then
was Father Manuel Gonzales.94 I found in his Rev-
erence such charity and so holy a zeal for the welfare
94 According to Bancroft {North Mexican States and Texas, vol. i, 252)
"Kino went first to the Ures" where he arrived "early in 1687," and where he
secured interpreters. For additional data concerning his arrival in Pimeria
Alta see volume ii, 76-77, where it appears that Father Belmar entered with
him.
no MEMOIR OF PIMERIA ALTA [Vol.
of souls, that his Reverence in person came at once
more than fifty leagues' journey to this pueblo of Nues-
tra Senora de los Dolores, which is five leagues from
the old mission of Cucurpe, of the rectorate of San
Francisco Xavier de Sonora. On the way we passed
by the mining town of San Juan95 and saw the Senor
alcalde mayor, who, with the great respectfulness that
characterizes him, gave obedience to the royal cedula
and to the royal provision. Coming by the valley of
Sonora we saw the father rector of the mission or rec-
torate, who then was Father Juan Munos de Burgos,
and by the valley and pueblo of Opodepe, Tuape, and
Cocorpe,96 divisions or pueblos then administered by
Father Josep[h] de Aguilar; and on the thirteenth of
March, 1687,97 we three Fathers together came to Nues-
tra Senora de los Dolores del Bamotze,98 or de Cosari,
having the day before notified the natives. Their gov-
ernor was absent, but, nevertheless, they received us
with all love, for, months and years before they had
asked for fathers and holy baptism.
95 Real de San Juan was situated some forty leagues eastward from
Dolores, and an equal distance southward of Arizpe. It was at this time the
seat of government of the alcaldia mayor of Sonora.
96 Cucurpe was thus the frontier mission of Sonora at this time. Indeed,
this fact is stated by Kino himself in his letter of May 13, 1687. The place,
still in existence, is a few miles south of the site of mission Dolores, in the
San Miguel River Valley.
97 Bancroft states that the mission of N.S. de los Dolores was "founded"
on the thirteenth of March. This may be true, in the sense of going through
certain formalities of the founding. But none of the sources which I have
seen state that even this was the case. Kino does not; Ortega states that on
the thirteenth Kino reached the place where he founded the mission (Apos-
tolicos A fanes, p. 246) ; Alegre says that from the Real de San Juan he went
to the place where he afterward founded the mission (Historia, vol. iii, 61).
In his letter of May 13, 1687, Kino states that on the thirteenth Father Gon-
zalez baptized one infirm Indian, but says nothing of the founding of the
mission. See Alegre, Historia, vol. iii, 62, for more light.
98 In his letter of May 13, 1687, Kino calls this place "Tschinnas de
Bamuschil" (Stocklein, Neue fVelt-Bott, Theil i, 109).
one] EUSEBIO FRANCISCO KINO, S.J. in
The following day" the father visitor, leaving us
fathers and the children with a very paternal goodbye,
returned toward Oposura to the necessary occupations
of Holy Week, etc., suggesting to Father Aguilar and
me that we should see later if there was opportunity
to go somewhat further inland to seek and find a place
where a second pueblo might be founded.
CHAPTER IV. EXPEDITION TO SAN YGNACIO DE
CABORICA, SAN JOSEPH DE LOS HIMIRIS, AND
NUESTRA SExORA DE LOS REMEDIOS
Upon this advice of the father visitor we at once, the
very same day, went inland to the west, and after going
ten leagues found the very good post of Caborica,100 in-
habited by affable people, which by order of the father
visitor we named San Ygnacio.101 Then, turning to the
north, we found another good post, with plenty of do-
cile and domesticated people. This place we named
San Joseph de los Himires.102 To the east we found an-
99 From this time until January, 1691, Kino's movements have been little
known (see Apostolicos A fanes, 247-249; Alegre, Historia, vol. iii, 61-73; Ban-
croft, op. cit., vol. i, 253), and the contribution of the Favores Celestiales at
this point is therefore highly important. It is supplemented by some details
in the letter of May 13, 1687.
100 Bancroft says, "It seems to have been called S. Ignacio Caborca at first,
but ... as there was another pueblo known as Caborca," etc. (Bancroft,
North Mexican States, vol. i, 253). Is it not an error of the A fanes that
Caborica was called Caborca? Caborca is on the lower Altar River, a
few leagues from the Gulf. For frequent references to this place, see
"Index."
101 In his letter of May 13 Kino states that the name San Ignacio was given
to the village which the natives called Himires. Plainly either the letter or
the Favores is wrong, and there is no doubt that it is the letter. In that
document he gives Himires as the first of the three places visited. It seems
that, writing two months after the visit, he got the names of the places con-
fused.
102 San Jose de los Hymeris (Alegre, Historia, vol. iii, 62); San Jose de
Imuris, on the Rio San Ignacio, some twenty-five or thirty miles across the
mountains from Dolores (Bancroft, op. cit., vol. i, 253); San Joseph and Los
Remedios were named on the fifteenth (Kino, Letter of May 13, 1687).
ii2 MEMOIR OF PIMERIA ALTA [Vol.
other, likewise of industrious Indians, which we named
Nuestra Sefiora de los Remedios. It is distant from
Nuestra Sefiora de los Dolores seven leagues, to the
north.103 In all places they received with love the Word
of God for the sake of their eternal salvation.104 We
returned, thanks to the Lord, safe and rejoicing, to
Nuestra Sefiora de los Dolores.105 Father Aguilar went
on to Cucurpe, and I began to catechize the people and
to baptize children. The governor of Nuestra Seiiora
de los Dolores came from inland and by him and others
I sent to various and even remote parts of this Pimeria
divers messages and friendly invitations, requesting that
they should endeavor likewise to become Christians,
saying that for them would be the good and the ad-
vantage, for I had come to aid them in order that they
might be eternally saved.
CHAPTER V. FIRST OPPOSITION EXPERIENCED IN
THIS NEW CONVERSION
Being always very much aided in everything by the
great charity of Father Joseph de Aguilar, by Divine
grace everything went, on the part of the natives, with
entire prosperity, pleasantness, and satisfaction, and
there were welcome additions,106 but on the part of oth-
103 Alegre says "seven leagues east" (Historia, vol. iii, 62) ; Ortega (Apos-
tolicos A fanes, p. 246), gives it as north. Bancroft says "between Dolores
and Imuris" (op. cit., vol. i, 253). See "Map" and "Index."
10i At this point Alegre falls into evident error, stating that later N.S. de
los Dolores and San Ignacio were put into Kino's charge, the other places
being abandoned (Historia, vol. iii, 62). Ortega (Apostolicos A fanes, 247)
correctly states that Los Remedios and Dolores remained in Kino's charge,
"que siempre hasta su muerte administro el padre Kino." See post, page 118,
where Kino states that he had already taken charge of Los Remedios in
January, 1691.
105 On March 26 (Kino, Letter of May 13, 1687).
106 By May 13, 1687, Kino had baptized at Dolores thirty children and
youths, including two sons of the cacique. Before the end of April he had
built a chapel (Bethaus) and "a very poor parsonage (Pfarrhof)." (Kino,
Letter of May 13, 1687).
one] EUSEBIO FRANCISCO KINO, S.J. 113
ers there was no lack of hostility, which has endured
up to the present day. A false report was despatched
to the Senor alcalde-mayor of the mining town of San
Juan, that these natives, on the coming of the father
missionary, had moved far away. These serious but
false reports reached the father visitor, Manuel Gon-
zales, troubling his Reverence greatly, and he wrote to
Tuape, where the three fathers, Joseph de Aguilar,
Antonio de Roxas, and I were holding Holy Week,10'
with more than one hundred Pimas of this new pueblo
of Nuestra Senora de los Dolores. Of the Pimas there
were about forty107 recently baptized infants and chil-
dren, whom the Spanish ladies of the mining town of
Opodepe dressed richly and adorned with their orna-
ments and best jewels, like new Christians, for the Pro-
cession of the Blessed Sacrament, to the great delight of
all ; nor was there the least truth in the pretended with-
drawal of the natives, which so falsely was reported to
the mining town of San Juan. All this we wrote to the
father visitor for his consolation, we three fathers sign-
ing the letter.
CHAPTER VI. SECOND OPPOSITION AND DISCORD
SOWN IN PIMERIA
Returning from Holy Week and Easter at Tuape to
Nuestra Senora de los Dolores, I went inland to San
Ygnacio and San Joseph de los Himires, where in all
places things were going very well, in spiritual and
temporal matters, in Christian teaching, beginnings of
baptisms, buildings, planting of crops, etc., but in Nues-
tra Senora de los Remedios I found the people so dis-
consolate that they said to me openly that they neither
106a Holy Week in 1687 fell between March 23 and March 30.
107 It seems that Kino took his neophytes from Dolores to Tuape to cele-
brate Holy Week. This may have been because his mission was only im-
perfectly established.
ii4 MEMOIR OF PIMERIA ALT A [Vol.
wished to be Christians nor to have a missionary father.
On asking them why, they answered me, first, because
they had heard it said that the fathers ordered the peo-
ple hanged and killed; second, because they required so
much labor and sowing for their churches that no oppor-
tunity was left the Indians to sow for themselves; third,
because they pastured so many cattle that the watering
places were drying up; fourth, because they killed the
people with the holy oils; fifth, because they deceived
the Indians with false promises and words, and because
I had falsely said that I had a letter or royal cedula of
the king our Sovereign, whereas I had no such letter,
for if I had I would have shown it to the Senor lieu-
tenant of Bacanuche. These chimeras, discords, and
altercations disturbed me very much, but I recognized
at once whence they might have come; and although
the father visitor and I had shown the royal provision
which I carried, with the royal cedula inserted, to the
Senor alcalde-mayor in the mining town of San Juan,
which was sufficient there, within two days (on the
tenth of May) I went with the justices108 of Nuestra
Senora de los Dolores to the mining town of Baca-
nuche,109 which is twenty leagues away. I showed the
royal provision and the royal cedula to the Senor lieu-
tenant, Captain Francisco Pacheco Zevallos, in whom
I found all kindness, and told him of what had hap-
pened in Nuestra Senora de los Remedios because of
the untruths which had been spread so falsely during
the preceding days against the fathers. And gradually
things were remedied and the calumnies of the mali-
cious and of the common enemy hushed, and although
los These were evidently native officials.
109 Bacanuche, a real, or mining camp, about twenty leagues northeast of
Dolores and the same distance north of Arizpe and south of Cananea. It is
situated on the Bacanuche River, a branch of the Sonora.
one] EUSEBIO FRANCISCO KINO, S.J. 115
there was no lack of stories and pretended dangers from
persons of little loyalty, the natives of this Pimeria be-
came so inclined to our holy faith that from places fur-
ther inland, from El Tupo, El Tubutama, and other
parts, they asked for fathers and holy baptism.
CHAPTER VII. THE FATHER VISITOR, MANUEL GON-
ZALES, VISITS THESE THREE NEW PUEBLOS OF THIS
PIMERIA, FOR WHICH FOUR OTHER MISSION-
ARY FATHERS ARE ASKED AND OBTAINED
Because of the news of the good beginnings and of
the baptisms of infants at this new mission of Nuestra
Senora de los Dolores, the father provincial, Bernave
de Soto, who had been missionary for many years, was
so much comforted that his Reverence wrote me that he
would very willingly exchange his office of provincial
for mine of missionary, in order to be able to baptize
children, since in the provincial office his time was wast-
ed, while here in the missions there was profit.
On January 19, 1689, the father visitor, Manuel Gon-
zales, came on his first visit to these new pueblos. He
went to San Ygnacio, San Joseph, Cocospora, Nuestra
Senora de los Remedios, etc., and would have gone
much further inland, even to the tribe of El Soba, if
the bogs caused by the spring rains110 and those of the
River of San Ygnacio had not spoiled the roads for us
and obstructed the passes. In Nuestra Senora de los Do-
lores he was so pleased by the structure of the church
and the house which had been begun, the Christian
teaching, the devotion at prayers, the book of baptisms,
the singing school, the rich lands and crops, etc., that
his Reverence said and wrote that he had not seen a new
110 The details given in this chapter are almost entirely omitted from the
standard authorities, and, as will be seen, Bancroft falls into positive error in
connection with the matters discussed.
n6 MEMOIR OF PIMERIA ALTA
mission which enjoyed, in so short a time, so many con-
veniences and such progress in spiritual and temporal
matters. Moreover, a little later his Reverence, to-
gether with the Senor alcalde-mayor, Bias del Castillo,
asked and obtained from Mexico four new fathers for
this Pimeria, and assigned them to the following four
new missions:111 Father Luys Maria Pineli to San Yg-
nacio, Santa Maria Magdalena, and San Miguel del
Tupo ; Father Antonio Arras llla to San Pedro del Tubu-
tama and San Antonio de Uquetoa; Father Pedro San
Doval to San Lorenzo del Saric, and San Ambrosio del
Tucubabia; and Father Juan del Castillejo to Santiago
de Cocospera, San Lazaro, and Santa Maria. They
came in and accomplished some good in this Pimeria,
but the opposition, obstacles, and false reports to the
effect that so many fathers were not needed, since the
people were very few, very much retarded and almost
entirely put a stop to matters. And now enter the new
government, the new father provincial, and the new
father visitor.
111 Bancroft, citing the Apostolicos A fanes, writes "but from the very first
years exaggerated and absurd rumors of their [the Indians'] ferocity are
vaguely alluded to as having kept away other padres and greatly troubled
the pioneer, who, nevertheless kept on alone [the italics are mine], and before
1690 had fine churches in each of his villages;" {North Mexican States and
Texas, vol. i, 253). In his Arizona and Neiv Mexico, 352, Bancroft writes:
"For six years he toiled alone, till fathers Campos and Januske came in 1693
to take charge of San Ignacio and Tubutama ; and only eight padres besides
Kino worked in this field during the latter's life, there being rarely, if ever,
more than four at the same time." Ortega correctly states that the new mis-
sionaries arrived, but does not give details. He adds that they could not
remain because it was judged that they were more needed elsewhere {Apos-
tolicos A fanes, 247). Alegre {Historia, vol. iii, 74) puts under 1690 the
order for the retirement of the missionaries from "Los Remedios and S. Jose
de los Hymeris." For both of these, see "Index."
ma "Arias." See post, page 118 and volume ii, 141.
BOOK II. VISIT AND TRIENNIUM OF THE
FATHER VISITOR JUAN MARIA SAL-
VATIERRA, 1690, 1 69 1, 1692
CHAPTER I. THE NEW FATHER VISITOR, JUAN
MARIA SALVATIERRA, COMES TO VISIT THE FOUR
FATHERS OF THIS PIMERIA IN THEIR DISTRICTS
The new government having entered, and Father
Ambrosio Oddon having come as provincial, his Rever-
ence designated Father Juan Maria de Salvatierra, who
was stationed in Los Chinipas,112 as visitor of these mis-
sions of Sonora and Sinaloa, and me, though unworthy,
as rector of this rectorate or mission of San Francisco
Xavier de Sonora and of this Pimeria. His Reverence
having heard so many reports for and against this Pi-
meria, he ordered Father Visitor Juan Maria Salva-
tierra to come and visit it and acquaint himself with it.
The father visitor came to this district of Nuestra Se-
nora de los Dolores on the twenty-fourth of December,
1690.113 He held Christmas service here and sang
112 Bancroft locates the old mission of Chinipa (Chinipas) on an upper
branch of the Mayo River {North Mexican States, vol. i, 208). Today
Chinipas is the name of a branch of the Fuerte River flowing through the
same general mountain region. The Chinipas mission was Salvatierra's
principal station before he went to California. Chinipas is not to be con-
fused with Chinapas, north of Arizpe.
113 Bancroft {op. cit., vol. i, 254) following Alegre {Historia, vol. iii, 73)
states that Salvatierra "met Kino at Dolores in the spring of 1691." The
Favores thus corrects this slight mistake. At this point Bancroft falls into a
more serious error, refusing to follow the authorities who had seen the
Favores of whose existence he was unaware. Commenting on Salvatierra's
visit in 1691 he says that Alegre "strangely speaks of Tubutama, Saric, and
other raficherias as missions already founded, although at most they could
only have been visited by Kino and a few children baptized. Sill more
n8 MEMOIR OF PIMERIA ALTA [Vol.
mass in this new and capacious church, although it was
not entirely completed. He then went inland for more
than forty leagues, visiting this Pimeria for a month.114
We went in from Nuestra Senora de los Dolores to
Nuestra Senora de los Remedios, a distance of seven
leagues. I was already taking this pueblo under my
care, for the people were still much deceived because
of the discord that had been sown against the fathers.
We went on to the valley and pueblo of San Joseph de
los Himires, a distance of six leagues, at which place
was Father Pedro de San Doval, for the time being,
with seventy families. We went down to San Ygnacio,
a distance of three leagues, and to Santa Maria Magda-
lena and Tupo, where Father Luys Maria Pineli was.
There were many people in all these places.
We continued to San Pedro del Tubutama, a journey
of ten leagues from El Tupo, where Father Antonio
Arias was stationed, and found more than five hun-
dred souls. Some of the chief men of the neighboring
tribe of El Soba also came to see the father visitor, and,
as we celebrated there the Pascua de Reyes, I preached
to them from the text Reges de Saba veniunt]115 and we
discussed the reduction of the Pimas of El Soba, who
extend on the west and northwest to the Sea of Califor-
nia. We proceeded to El Saric and Tucubavia, a
strangely he speaks of padres being ordered to retire from Remedios and
Imuris, although there had been no padres there at all" (op. cit., vol. i, 254).
From the above paragraph and the statements on page 116 it is clear that
Bancroft is mistaken, not to mention his temerity in trying to establish a
negative by mere assertion.
114 From the next paragraph it is clear that the month covered Kino's
trip with Salvatierra, and that Kino does not mean that Salvatierra first
made a trip alone.
115 "Kings come from Saba" (Isaias, Ix, 6. Omnes de Saba venient.
Psalm Ixxi, 10. Reges Arabum et Saba dona adducent). Both passages are
used in the "grace at meals" on the feast and during the octave of the
Epiphany. The intermingling of the texts is therefore quite natural.
one] EUSEBIO FRANCISCO KINO, S.J. 119
journey of ten leagues, where we counted more than
seven hundred souls, who received us everywhere with
great pleasure to themselves and to us. Almost every-
where they gave the father visitor infants to baptize,
and presented us with many supplies, etc.
CHAPTER II. THE SOBAIPURIS AND OTHER NATIVES
COME FROM THE NORTH TO MEET US 116
It was our intention to turn back from El Tucubavia
to Cocospera, but from the north some messengers or
couriers of the Sobaipuris of San Xavier del Bac, more
than forty leagues' journey, and from San Cayetano del
Tumagacori,117 came to meet us, with some crosses,
which they gave us, kneeling with great veneration,
and asking us on behalf of all their people to go to their
rancherias also. The father visitor said to me that
those crosses which they carried were tongues that
spoke volumes and with great force, and that we could
not fail to go where by means of them they called us.
Whereupon we ascended to the Valley of Guebavi,118 a
journey of about fifteen leagues, and arrived at the
rancheria of San Cayetano del Tumagacori, where
there were some of the Sobaipuris headmen, who had
come twenty and twenty-five leagues from the north.
In San Cayetano they had prepared us three arbors,
one in which to say mass, another in which to sleep, and
116 For an account of this event see Alegre, Historia, vol. iii, 73. Ban-
croft is in a state of doubt at this point. He says: "Kino may have crossed
the line as far as Tumacacori with Salvatierra in 1691, and he is said
to have reached Bac in 1692; but the records of these earliest entradas are
vague" {Arizona and New Mexico, 355). This vagueness is now dispelled
by Kino's writings.
117 Tumacacori (Tumagacori) is located in the Santa Cruz valley between
Mission San Xavier del Bac and Nogales. The ruins of the old mission are
still there. See "Map" and "Index."
118 For the location of Guevavi see the "Map." The ruins of the Guevavi
mission were still visible when the spot was visited by the editor a few
years ago.
120 MEMOIR OF PIMERIA ALTA [Vol.
the third for a kitchen. There were more than forty
houses close together. Some infants were baptized,
and the father visitor gave good hopes to all that they
should obtain the fathers, the holy baptism, and the
boon of their eternal salvation which they requested.
When his Reverence had seen so many people, so docile
and so affable, with such beautiful, fertile, and pleasant
valleys, inhabited by industrious Indians, he said to me
these words: "My Father Rector, not only shall the re-
moval from this Pimeria of any of the four fathers as-
signed to it not be considered, but four more shall come,
and by the divine grace I shall try to be one ol them."
We went on to the rancheria of Guebaui and to the val-
ley and rancheria of Santa Maria, a journey of fifteen
leagues, where we remained five days, catechizing and
baptizing infants and adults.119 We then came to Co-
cospera, and this new pueblo was given over to Father
San Doval. In all of these journeys the father visitor
and I talked together of suspended California, saying
that these very fertile lands and valleys of this Pimeria
would be the support of the scantier and more sterile
lands of California, concerning which he made a report
to Mexico.120
119 This passage, or more probably that in Apostolicos A fanes, 249, seems
to be the basis for the statement of Velasco (Sonora, 139) that the Guevavi
mission was founded during this trip (Bancroft, op. cit., vol. i, 254). Manje
makes it appear that Salvatierra and Kino went no further than Tucubavia
on this entrada. As Manje's record is that of a contemporary diary, it should
not be considered lightly, but here it is manifestly wrong.
120 Clavijero states that Salvatierra's interest in California came through
information given him by Father Kino regarding the natives {Hist, de la
Antigua 6 Baja California, 39). Reference is evidently made to the confer-
ences had during this trip. See also Apostolicos A fanes, 250; Alegre, His-
toria, vol. iii, 74; and Bancroft, op. cit., vol. i, 254.
one] EUSEBIO FRANCISCO KINO, S.J. 121
CHAPTER III. REPORT OF THE CONDITION OF THIS
PIMERIA BY THE FATHER VISITOR TO THE FATHER
PROVINCIAL, AMBROSIO ODDON, AND THE
REPLY OF THE FATHER PROVINCIAL
January, 1691. We remained in Cocospera five
days more, at the end of January, [ i6]9i, catechizing
and baptizing the infants and the adults who had
learned the prayers and the Christian doctrine, and pre-
paring and writing a report of what had been sent to
Mexico and to the father provincial, Ambrosio Od-
don. He, in virtue of what the father visitor wrote
and reported, and of my letter, replied to me in the
following words:
I thank your Reverence from my heart for the holy zeal with
which you devote yourself to the welfare of those souls, as shown
by the relation or report that I have received from the father vis-
itor, Juan Maria Salvatierra. There is no reason for growing
weary because things pertaining to the service of God have their
obstacles, so much the more noticeable when they are vested
with zeal and founded on erring judgment.
The father visitor having left us all instructed and
consoled by his holy visit to this Pimeria, his Reverence
went to visit the rectorate of the Holy Martyrs of Japan,
commending to me, with his holy zeal, the reduction of
the Sobaipuris of the north and of the Sobas to the west,
and, with respect to California, even the building of a
small bark in which to go there. His Reverence went
afterwards to his mission of Chinipas, while here the
customary obstacles and opposition were so great that
when, as usual, the Hocomes, Janos, and Sumas carried
off various herds and droves from this province and its
frontiers, these offenses were imputed, though falsely,
to the Pimas, and their conversion and the coming of
the missionary fathers were completely prevented.121
121 For the same matter see Alegre, vol. iii, 72-73, who adds the Chinarras.
122 MEMOIR OF PIMERIA ALTA [Vol.
CHAPTER IV. JOURNEY NORTHWARD TO THE
SOBAIPURIS
AUGUST 23, 1692. In spite of the obstacles which
were present, and seeing that the whole of Pimeria was
quiet, during the last part of August and the first part
of September, 1692, I went in, with fifty pack-animals,
my servants, and some justices, to the Sobaipuris, both
of the north and of the northeast. The latter are in the
valleys of the river of Quiburi, to the east, and the
former are in the valley and river of Santa Maria, to
the west. The journey to the former was more than
eighty leagues by very level road. I found the natives
very affable and friendly, and particularly so in the
principal rancheria of San Xavier del Bac, which con-
tains more than eight hundred souls.
I spoke to them of the Word of God, and on a map
of the world showed them the lands, the rivers, and the
seas over which we fathers had come from afar to bring
them the saving knowledge of our holy faith. And I
told them also how in ancient times the Spaniards were
not Christians, how Santiago came to teach them the
faith, and how for the first fourteen years he was able
to baptize only a few, because of which the holy apostle
was discouraged, but that the most holy Virgin ap-
peared to him and consoled him, telling him that the
Spaniards would convert the rest of the people of the
world. And I showed them on the map of the world
how the Spaniards and the faith had come by sea to
Vera Cruz, and had gone in to Puebla and to Mexico,
Guadalaxara, Sinaloa, and Sonora, and now to Nuestra
Senora de los Dolores del Cosari, in the land of the
Pimas, where there were already many persons bap-
and changes Sumas to Yumas. Also Apostolicos Afanes, 250-251, and Ban-
croft, op. cit., vol. i, 253-254.
one] EUSEBIO FRANCISCO KINO, S.J. 123
tized, a house, church, bells, and images of saints, plen-
tiful supplies, wheat, maize, and many cattle and
horses; that they could go and see it all, and even ask
at once of their relatives, my servants, who were with
me. They listened with pleasure to these and other
talks concerning God, heaven, and hell, and told me
that they wished to be Christians, and gave me some
infants to baptize. These Sobaipuris are in a very fine
valley of the Rio de Santa Maria,122 to the west.
I then passed on to the other Sobaipuris, of the east,
on the Rio de San Joseph de Terrenate, or de Qui-
buri,123 who, in their chief rancheria, that of San Sal-
vador del Baicatcan, are thirty leagues distant. Cap-
tain Coro and the rest of them received me with all
kindness. It is true that I found them still somewhat
less docile than the foregoing of the west.
CHAPTER V. EXPEDITION OR MISSION WESTWARD
TO THE NATION OF EL SOBA, EVEN TO THE SEA OF
CALIFORNIA, UNTIL CALIFORNIA
ITSELF WAS SEEN
DECEMBER ii of 1693. In tne meantime, Father
Diego de Almonazir came as provincial and Juan
Munos de Burgos as father visitor, and from the
eleventh until the twenty-fourth of December I went
west to the Pima nation which they call that of El
Soba, who is their chief cacique, or head and captain of
these more than four thousand Indians.124 He has al-
122 The modern Santa Cruz River, which flows north from the Sonora
border, past Guebavi, Tumacacori, and San Xavier del Bac, and is lost in
the Arizona plateau before reaching the Gila.
123 The modern San Pedro River, a branch of the Gila.
124 Ortega [Apostolicos Afanes, 251) regards this entry as belonging under
1692, evidently considering it out of place in the narrative. Bancroft, for
reasons which he does not state, but which may be inferred, suggests that the
expedition was more likely made early in 1693 (op. cit., vol. i, 254).
124 MEMOIR OF PIMERIA ALTA [Vol.
ways been very valiant in various wars that he has had
with the Pimas of the east, and since the time when,
ten or twelve years ago, those of El Soba killed the
governor called El Podenco, of this rancheria, now
pueblo, of Nuestra Senora de los Dolores, they had
been very hostile to each other. Our Lord was pleased,
however, that we should restore peace between them.
Thereupon, I entered with Father Agustin de Campos,
Capt. Sebastian Romero, and my servants, and found
the people affable, except that in some places they ap-
peared afraid, wondering at the new and white faces,
which they had never seen before.
After about eight leagues' journey we came to a little
peak which we named El Nasareno, and from its sum-
But the entry is evidently correct as here given, the trouble being with that
in chapter vi referring to an expedition in July. Confining ourselves for
the present to the Favores text, it is to be noted that in chapter vi, Kino uses
the phrase "This same year of 93," and that chapter vii is headed "Second
and Third Expeditions to the Sea of California." From these two items we
would infer that Kino meant to state that only one expedition had been made
to the gulf before that of February, 1694, and that this was in 1693. And
there is no doubt that this was the case. But the confusion makes a some-
what extended explanation necessary.
For the expeditions of 1694 to the coast Manje's diaries, preserved in the
Luz de Tierra Incognita, libro ii, are the unquestioned authority. They
make it clear that Kino and Campos had made an expedition in 1693, as
Kino relates, but that only one had been made (Capitulo i) ; that after this
trip Kino hastened to the Real de San Juan to get military support for the
continuation of his discoveries and missionary work on the coast (Manje,
Luz de Tierra Incognita, libro ii, cap. i) ; and that Kino and Manje made three
expeditions to the coast in 1694. The first of these was made in February,
by Kino, Kapus, and Manje, when they [again?] climbed the Cerro de
Nazareno and explored the coast. In March Kino and Manje made a second
trip, during which the beginning of boat-building, as described by Kino, was
made, while Manje explored the coast. In June they went the third time,
Kino to supervise the boat-building while Manje explored. But the building
of the boat was suspended by order of the Father Visitor, Juan de Burgos
(Manje, Luz de Tierra Incognita, libro ii, capitulos ii and iii).
Thus I conclude that Kino's statements in chapter v are correct; that in
chapters v-vii he gives the correct number of expeditions for 1693 and 1694,
but that the trip spoken of in chapter vi, as of July, 1693, was clearly that of
June, 1694, and that the last one mentioned in chapter vii was that of June,
1694.
one] EUSEBIO FRANCISCO KINO, S.J. 125
mit on the fifteenth of December we saw clearly more
than twenty-five continuous leagues of the land of Cali-
fornia, for it is not more than fifteen or eighteen leagues
across to the principal rancheria. At the request of
Father Antonio Leal, who was in Arispe, we named it
La Consepcion de Nuestra Senora del Caborca, and his
Reverence offered to our Lady the mass of the day of
San Francisco Xavier for the good success of this ex-
pedition to Caborca.
CHAPTER VI. DEDICATION OF THE CHURCH OF
NUESTRA SENORA DE LOS DOLORES
On April 26 of this same year of [i6]93, this new
church of Nuestra Senora de los Dolores was solemnly
dedicated. To this ceremony came the father rector
of Matape, Marcos de Loyola, the father visitor, Juan
Mufios de Burgos, who said mass, and Father George
Lostinski, of San Ygnacio, who preached. Likewise
there came very many Pimas from the north and from
the west.
In July,125 also, I went inland to the nation of El
Soba with lieutenant Juan Matheo Manje, and we be-
gan the construction of a bark, cutting the timbers and
some large planks.120 The rest of the timbers, flooring,
and futtocks were made here in Nuestra Senora de los
Dolores, with the idea of carrying the whole bark in
four parts to the sea by mules, and there to put it to-
gether, nail it, calk it, and pass to the nearby Cali-
fornia. But afterward opposition likewise delayed
and hindered matters, although our Lord was able to
125 As stated in the note above, this was clearly the expedition of March-
April, 1694, the details of which are described in Manje's diary in Luz de
Tierra Incognita, vol. ii, cap. iii. This paragraph in Kino's Ms. is, there-
fore, out of place.
126 The details of this expedition are described by Manje in his diary,
op. cit., cap. 1.
126 MEMOIR OF PIMERIA ALTA [Vol.
order other things, even better, as will be seen later in
connection with what is already being done in Cali-
fornia.
CHAPTER VII. SECOND AND THIRD EXPEDITIONS
TO THE SEA OF CALIFORNIA
February, 1694. ^n February, 1694, I made an-
other expedition to the same waters of the Sea of Cali-
fornia, in company with Father Marcos Antonio Ka-
pus,126a who was stationed in Cucurpe, and Lieutenant
Juan Matheo Manje. We again saw very clearly the
same California and its principal and larger hills. We
named them San Marcos, San Matheo, San Juan (for
the name of San Lucas is already given to the Cape of
California), and San Antonio, as may be seen on the
map. The natives of the nation of El Soba we found
so friendly that, having come thirty, forty, and fifty
leagues' journey from the north to see us, they gave us
their infants to baptize.
A few months later127 I made another expedition
with Lieut. Juan Matheo Manje, to this nation and to
the sea, and we discovered the good port of Santa Sa-
bina on the day of that saint.
During these months and the preceding ones there
was built in La Consepcion del Caborica a capacious
earth-covered hall of adobe and earth, and wheat and
126a Marcus Anton Kapps [Kapus, Kappus, Khappus] was an Austrian,,
born at Steinbiichel, in Krain, 1657. He entered the Jesuit order October
27, 1676; became prominent in the Sonora missions; died November 20,
1717. A letter by him dated at Matape, June 20, 1699, is in Stocklein, Der
Neue Welt-Bott, num. 56, Theil ii, 86. See ibid., Theil i, 100, ii, 77, vii, 78^
and Huonder, op. cit., p. no; also Sommervogel, Bibliotheque.
127 This was evidently the third expedition of 1694, described by Manje,
in his diary, op. cit., cap. iii. During this journey Manje explored the coast.
Lumholtz {Neiv Trails in Mexico, 146-149) gives interesting data concern-
ing Caborca, including a picture of the old church. The title of this
valuable book is peculiarly inappropriate, since Lumholtz's travels were
chiefly over "old trails," most of which were well known to Father Kina
more than two hundred years ago. Compare his map with mine.
one] EUSEBIO FRANCISCO KINO, S.J. 127
maize were sown for the father whom they were asking
for and hoping to obtain.
CHAPTER VIII. EXPEDITION OR MISSION TO THE
NORTH AND NORTHWEST FOR MORE THAN ONE
HUNDRED LEAGUES, AS FAR AS TO THE RIO GRANDE
AND THE CASA GRANDE, AND THE DISCOVERY
OF THE TWO NEW NATIONS, THE OPA
AND THE COCOMARICOPA
In November, 1694, I went inland128 with my ser-
vants and some justices of this Pimeria, as far as the
casa grande, as these Pimas call it, which is on the large
River of Hila that flows out of Nuevo Mexico and has
its source near Acoma. This river and this large house
128 Manje was not on this journey with Father Kino, but in June, 1694,
while Kino was at Caborca, Manje had explored northward from San Pedro
del Tubutama, going through the native settlements of Gutubur, Saric,
Busanic, and Tucubavia. fie says at this point, "hasta aqui es lo mas q
havia entrado o llegado 3 anos antes el R. Pe. Juan Maria de Salvatierra en
su Visita" (op. cit., Ms. p. 26). But note ante that Kino gives circum-
stantial details of a visit with Salvatierra to Tumacacori and Guevavi.
Neither does Manje mention Kino's journey of August-September, 1692 (for
what reason is not clear). From Tucubavia Manje continued on to Gubo
and Cups, where he heard of the Casas Grandes to the north, and where he
turned southward through Moicaqui to Caborca (Diary, in Manje, op. cit.,
28).
In May, 1694, Lieutenant Antonio Solis went north among the Sobaipuris
of the Rio de Terrenate, and crossed the Sierra del Comedio to San Xavier
del Bac (Manje, op. cit., pp. 30-31). The importance of this chapter in the
Favores, as placing on a solid foundation the assertion that Kino made the
expedition, and as giving some of its details, is considerable. Manje makes
only brief mention of the fact that the trip was made, and Bancroft is skep-
tical of the more complete account in the Afanes. Its soundness is now
established (Manje, Historia, 34; Ortega, Apostolicos Afanes, 252-253; Ban-
croft, Arizona and Ne<w Mexico, 355; North Mexican States and Texas, vol.
i, 259).
As has already been seen, Manje, in 1694, had made an excursion north-
ward to Tucubavia, where he had heard of the Gila River and the Casa
Grande. According to Manje, Kino was skeptical of the truth of the story,
until it was verified by some Pimas of San Xavier del Bac who went to
Dolores to visit him, and who accompanied him as guides on the expe-
dition (Manje, op. cit., 34).
128 MEMOIR OF PIMERIA ALTA [Vol.
and the neighboring houses are forty-three leagues be-
yond and to the northwest of the Sobaipuris of San
Francisco Xavier del Bac. The first rancheria, that
of El Tusonimo, we named La Encarnacion, as we ar-
rived there to say mass on the first Sunday in Advent;
and because many other Indians came to see us from the
rancheria of El Coatoydag, which was four leagues
further on, we named the latter San Andres, as the fol-
lowing day was the feast of that holy apostle.128a All
were affable and docile people. They told us of two
friendly nations living further on, all down the river to
the west, and to the northwest on the Rio Azul, and still
further, on the Rio Colorado. These nations are the
Opas and Cocomaricopas. They speak a language very
different [from that of the Pimas], though it is very
clear, and as there were some who knew both languages
very well, I at once and with ease made a vocabulary
of the said tongue, and also a map of those lands,
measuring the sun with the astrolabe.
The casa grande129 is a four-story building, as large
as a castle and equal to the largest church in these lands
of Sonora. It is said that the ancestors of Montezuma
deserted and depopulated it, and, beset by the neigh-
boring Apaches, left for the east or Casas Grandes,
and that from there they turned towards the south and
southwest, finally founding the great city and court of
128a Bancroft's mistrust of the A fanes leads him here into needless error.
He states (North Mexican Stales and Texas, vol. i, 259) that it is "implied" by
the Afanes that Kino named these two rancherias. But the Afanes clearly
asserts this fact, and does not merely imply it. I believe that the Favores
is the only authority which identifies these rancherias with the native names.
129 On the Ms. of the Luz de Tierra Incognita there is a drawing of the
Casa Grande, presumably by Manje (p. 57). There is also one made
in 1776 on one of the original diaries of Juan Bautista de Anza. Father
Kino evidently had more knowledge of the Coronado expedition than Ban-
croft gives him credit for (North Mexican States and Texas, vol. i, 259 ).
one] EUSEBIO FRANCISCO KINO, S.J. 129
Mexico. Close to this casa grande there are thirteen
smaller houses, somewhat more dilapidated, and the
ruins of many others, which make it evident that in
ancient times there had been a city here. On this occa-
sion and on later ones I have learned and heard, and
at times have seen, that further to the east, north, and
west there are seven or eight more of these large old
houses and the ruins of whole cities, with many broken
metates and jars, charcoal, etc. These certainly must
be the Seven Cities mentioned by the holy man, Fray
Marcos de Niza, who in his long pilgrimage came clear
to the Bacapa rancheria of these coasts, which is about
sixty leagues southwest from this casa grande, and
about twenty leagues from the Sea of California. The
guides or interpreters must have given his Reverence
the information which he has in his book concerning
these Seven Cities, although certainly at that time, and
for a long while before, they must have been deserted.
The natives and children of the Pimas, Opas, and Co-
comaricopas were very well pleased. ,29a
129a Manje gives the following description of the ruins about Casa
Grande in 1697. "We continued west, and after going four leagues
more arrived at noon at the 'casas grandes', within which mass was said
by Father Kino, who had not yet breakfasted. One of the houses is a
large edifice whose principal room in the middle is of four stories, those
adjoining its four sides being of three. Its walls are two varus thick, are
made of strong cement and clay, and are so smooth on the inside that they
resemble planed boards, and so polished that they shine like Puebla pottery.
The angles of the windows, which are square, are very true and without
jambs or cross pieces of wood, and they must have made them with a
mold or frame. The same is true of the doors, although they are narrow,
by which we know it to be the work of Indians. It is 36 paces long and
21 wide. It is well built, as is seen from the drawing on the margin, and
has foundations. An arquebus-shot away are seen twelve other half fallen
houses, also having thick walls, and all with their roofs burned." (Luz
de Tlerra Incognita, libro ii, cap. 5). See also Lumholtz, op. c\t., 340-3+2;
Hodge, Handbook, part i, 209, and authorities there cited.
BOOK III. ARRIVAL OF THE VENERABLE
FATHER FRANCISCO XAVIER SAETA AT
THESE NEW CONVERSIONS; HIS APOS-
TOLIC FERVOR, WORK, ZEAL, AND HOLY
LETTERS; HIS GLORIOUS, INNOCENT
DEATH; AND VARIOUS LETTERS
PROPHETIC OF THE GREAT FRUIT
OF THESE CONVERSIONS
CHAPTER I. EXPEDITION OF THE VENERABLE
FATHER FRANCISCO XAVIER SAETA TO HIS NEW
MISSION OF NUESTRA SEnORA DE LA CON-
SEPSION DEL CABORICA 130
Although I have written another little treatise131 of
more than twenty sheets concerning the glorious, in-
nocent death of the venerable Father Francisco Xavier
Saeta, I may say here, in brief, that this very zealous,
apostolic man was of the very best blood of Cicilia,132
and now his blood is very glorious and most fortunate,
130 On the coming of Father Saeta to Pimeria, the founding of the mission
of Nuestra Senora de la Concepcion de Caborca, and the events there before
the death of Father Saeta, the following eight chapters are by far the best
account. Hitherto the acount by Ortega in Apostolicos A fanes (254-257),
which is based directly on these chapters, has been the best. Manje (Luz de
Tlerra Incognita, libro ii, 35-36) gives some additional details, but his chron-
ology is defective. By following him instead of the Afanes, Bancroft as-
signs the founding of the mission to the year 1695, though he mentions the
contradictory evidence in the Afanes in a footnote {North Mexican States
and Texas, vol. i, 259). The authenticity of Kino's account, based on the
original letters quoted here, is unquestionable.
131 So far as the editor is aware, this pamphlet has not been known to
earlier students, nor is its present whereabouts known to the editor. See the
"Bibliography." See also volume ii, 158.
132 The Ms. reads "Guila"; the Afanes reads "Cicilia," which is probably
correct.
EUSEBIO FRANCISCO KINO, S.J. 131
since it was shed in the apostolic ministry, preach-
ing and spreading our holy Catholic faith. The
venerable father came from Mexico132 to the new
conversions of this Pimeria about the middle of Oc-
tober, 1694, and I? setting out by order of the supe-
riors from this district of Nuestra Sefiora de los Do-
lores on October 19,134 went on the twenty-first to leave
his Reverence in the new district that was assigned
to him, which was that of Nuestra Senora de la Consep-
sion del Caborica, in the nation of El Soba. It is forty-
four leagues west from Nuestra Senora de los Dolores
and only twenty from the Sea of California, whither
the venerable father, to his own great pleasure, aspired
and hoped to go some day. Midway between Nuestra
Senora de los Dolores and La Consepsion there are two
other districts, that of San Ygnacio, where Father Agus-
tin de Campos was and still is stationed, and that of
Tubutama, administered by Father Daniel Ganusque.
We went in by the most direct road, leaving these
two districts to the right. And it was a particular com-
fort and a great wonder to the venerable father to see
the great affability of such friendly people as we found
everywhere, for they immediately gave him some in-
fants to baptize. The first one that he baptized he
named after his most beloved patron, San Francisco
Xavier; another one after San Ygnacio; another, after
San Pedro; another, Maria; another, Rosalia, etc.
Three leagues this way is the rancheria or newly begun
133 Manje states that he came in consequence of the sending to Mexico of
his own reports and the reports of others, by the missionaries and General
Domingo Jironza, in consequence of which alms were finished by the royal
treasury (Manje, Luz de Tierra Incognita, libro ii, 35-36).
134 Manje makes it appear that Saeta made his alms-gathering trip in
Sonora before he went to Caborca, not arriving there till January, 1695.
But from the letters which follow this is clearly not the case (Manje, op.
cit., 36).
i32 MEMOIR OF PIMERIA ALTA [Vol.
pueblo of San Diego del Pibquin,134a which also be-
longed to the mission of La Consepcion. In both places
the children received us with great pleasure to them-
selves and to us, and with many crosses and arches
placed all along those pleasant and level roads.
CHAPTER II. FIRST HOLY FERVOR AND ZEAL, AND
ONE OF THE HOLY LETTERS OF THE VENER-
ABLE FATHER FRANCISCO XAVIER SAETA
The venerable father began at once, with admirable
and holy fervor, the spiritual and temporal adminis-
tration of his new mission, teaching the Christian doc-
trine by means of the interpreter, teaching prayers by
means of a temastidn, and beginning at the same time
the construction of a chapel or little church, he labor-
ing personally on the work with his own holy hands,
Laborantis manibus nostris™5 as Saint Paul said. He
made a good garden, a wheatfield, and later a farm,136
etc. Eight or nine most fervent holy letters which the
venerable father wrote me, which still exist and are in
my possession, and which I look upon and preserve as
relics, make known his most tender and most exquisite
apostolic charity, zeal, and holy fervor. Eight days
after entering La Consepcion, he wrote me the follow-
ing:
Through the mercy of God I have sufficient courage to endure
joyfully everything for His love. The children, because of their
conduct, give me a thousand comforts, which is what concerns
me, as your Reverence can read in the enclosed letter for the
father visitor, from which, together with the cited report of our
134a"Pitguio," Hist, del Nayarit, 317, but this is clearly a typographical
error, for in that work Pitquin is the regular form. It is not the same as
Pitic, now Hermosillo.
135 "Laboring with our hands" (I Cor., iv, 12. Et Laboramus operantes
manibus nostris. "And we labor, working with our hands").
136 According to Manje {op. cit., 36) Saeta at first occupied the old house
which had been built during the expeditions of 1693 and 1694 to Caborca.
one] EUSEBIO FRANCISCO KINO, S.J. 133
coming to this new mission,137 you can learn the rest, also. The
children have made five hundred adobes, etc.
Thus far the venerable father. At the same time the
superiors determined that the new missions of this
Pimeria, with the neighboring district of Cocurpe,
should form and be a separate rectorate,138 and Father
Marcos Antonio Kapus, who is at present rector of
Matape, was named its rector. It is called the recto-
rate or mission of Nuestra Senora de los Dolores, for
this district, with that of Cocospera, already had six
fathers.
CHAPTER III. THE VENERABLE FATHER GOES OUT
TO SEEK ALMS FOR HIS NEW MISSION AND
FOR THE BUILDING OF HIS NEW CHURCH
NOVEMBER 15, 1694. Afterward, in the middle of
November, the venerable father determined to go to
collect among the other fathers, of the old missions,
alms for his new district and the building of his church,
etc. I had promised him and proceeded to give him
six[ty]138a head of cattle and an equal number of sheep
and goats, sixty fanegas of wheat and maize, a drove of
mares, etc. His Reverence came to Nuestra Senora
de los Dolores, and went on to Cucurpe, whence he
wrote me the following letter on November 15.
Second Letter, November 15, 1694. The father rector
has taken much comfort from the good news that I have sent
him concerning the happy beginnings of my mission, and he gives
me ample authority to procure, through the charity of our fa-
thers, its temporal advancement. In order that it may prosper
137 Manje refers to "un Cuaderno de apuntes del Padre" in which the
success of the mission is treated (Manje, op. cit., 36).
138 The erection of the new rectorate is, apparently, not mentioned by the
other authorities, at least in this connection. The five missionaries in
Pimeria were evidently Kino at Dolores, Saeta at Caborca, Campos at Mag-
dalena and San Ignacio, Janusque at Tubutama, and Sandoval at Cocospera.
i38a This clearly should be sixty. See page 136.
134 MEMOIR OF PIMERIA ALTA [Vol.
in a spiritual way, your Reverence, with your fervent charity
and zeal, will not cease asking God for its happy success, so that
all may redound to the greater glory of God and the spiritual
welfare of our most beloved children. If there should be an
occasion, give them my warmest greetings, etc.
Thus far the venerable father, who went at once to
the other three extensive rectorates, that of San Fran-
cisco Xavier de Sonora, that of San Francisco de Bor-
ja, and that of the Holy Martyrs of Japan, and every-
where, especially in Matape, his very fine zeal being
recognized, he was given liberal alms.
CHAPTER IV. THIRD VERY TENDER LETTER OF
THE VENERABLE FATHER FRANCISCO XAVIER
SAETA, IN WHICH HIS MORE THAN PATERNAL
AFFECTION FOR HIS CHILDREN IS SHOWN
THIRD LETTER. On January 19, from the district
of Guepaca,139 Sonora, he wrote me this most charitable
and loving letter:
I send your Reverence two bundles. I am leaving for Ma-
tape, and go in great haste, because of my eagerness to give your
Reverence a thousand most cordial embraces and to be among
my most beloved children, whom I greet and embrace with all
my heart and with all my love. And I consider well spent these
labors which I have performed in their aid. Sit nomen Domini
bene dictum. ,140 The Senor governor and captain, Don Pedro de
Almazan, and Father Rector Manuel Gonzales especially com-
mend themselves to your Reverence. Your Reverence will par-
139 On the map in Bancroft's North Mexican States, vol. i, 251, this is
given as Huepaca, on the Sonora River, south of Arizpe and north of Ures.
According to Manje, Father Saeta was at San Juan Bautista on January 2,
where he took part in the fiesta of N.S. del Pilar, and whence he set out to
"found" the mission of Concepcion. The foregoing letter shows that Manje
could not have been correct on this point. It indicates that Saeta must have
gone south from San Juan Bautista, instead of directly to his mission.
(Manje, op. cit., 36.) Ortega (Apostdlicos Afanes, 256), although following
the Favores, gives a wrong impression as to the date of the alms-gathering
journey.
140 "Blessed be the name of the Lord" (Job, i, 21).
one] EUSEBIO FRANCISCO KINO, S.J. 135
don this very miserable note, which I am writing with a scrawl.
Goodbye, my most loving father. Humilimus ex corde.
Xaverius Saeta.141
The venerable father had already passed through
Matape some weeks before, and he now returned to
learn what was to be given him, and at what time, etc.
He received very generous and considerable alms from
Father Rector Marcos de Loyola, most perfect and
zealous lover and great benefactor of new conversions.
CHAPTER V. THE VENERABLE FATHER RETURNS
TO HIS MISSION AND IN ANOTHER LETTER
DECLARES THE VERY GOOD CON-
DUCT OF HIS CHILDREN
JANUARY, 1695. At the end of January, 1695, tne
venerable father returned to his mission of La Consep-
cion de Nuestra Senora del Caborca. He was very
well content, and the children rejoiced greatly to see
that the few servants who had set out with his Rever-
ence now returned very well clothed and were telling
many new things about the missions which they had nev-
er seen before, and saying that wherever they had gone
they had been shown great kindness, even more than
if they had gone among their own relatives. The con-
tentment of the venerable father is shown by the fol-
lowing letter of March 4, 1695, in which he says:
March. My children place themselves at the feet of your
Reverence, to whom I can give nothing but good news of them.
The justices came running along the road to receive me, with
joy and happiness equal to that which I feel at seeing and em-
bracing them as my longed-for and most beloved children.
They continue to attend mass every morning and catechism
twice a day, large as well as small. They work with all love,
and have become aids to the three other rancherias of the vicin-
141 "Truly your most humble servant, Xavier Saeta." An ordinary
termination of a Latin letter.
i36 MEMOIR OF PIMERIA ALTA [Vol.
ity, which are those of Unuicat, Bopota,142 and Actum, whose
governors have promised me to come down with their people to
live with me in this pueblo, as I have urged them to do. If they
do so, it will surely be greatly to the glory of God, and one of
the largest pueblos in this province can be formed. It will not
fail through lack of my endeavours, etc. I have planted a very
pretty garden plot, in which the little trees are set out and the
vegetable seeds sown for the refreshment of the sailors from
California, etc.
He adds that a start has already been made on a good
ranch, with corrals, and plentiful grass and water, etc.
CHAPTER VI. TWO OTHER LETTERS IN WHICH
THE VENERABLE FATHER DECLARES HIS GOOD AND
HOLY DESIRE TO PROCEED TO THE CON-
VERSION OF CALIFORNIA143
How much the venerable father desired and solicited
even the new transmarine conversions of California
may be judged from his following two letters, one of
the fifteenth and the other of the twenty-first of March
of [i6]95. In one he writes me thus:
Fifth Letter. Yesterday, the fourteenth inst., I received
your Reverence's very welcome favor of the second of this
month, through the Indian Santiago, who brought me the sixty
head of sheep and goats for the provisioning of this new mission.
These, together with the thirty-five [fifty-five] preceding, make
one hundred and fifteen. The fifteen will be for our dear Cal-
ifornia, as your Reverence suggests. May God repay your Rev-
erence for the charity, while on my part I give you due thanks
with all my heart.
Sixth Letter. In the other letter, of March 21, he
writes thus:
With inexpressible pleasure to me and to my children, the
herdsmen arrived yesterday, Passion Sunday, the twentieth in-
142 Not the same as Santa Maria Bugota, noted elsewhere.
143 This item seems to be omitted from all the other authorities.
one] EUSEBIO FRANCISCO KINO, SJ. 137
stant, with the cattle which your Reverence gives for this mis-
sion, to the number of one hundred head. As your Reverence
suggests to me, the other five spotted cows, with your Rever-
ence's brand, are assigned, as is your wish, to our most beloved
holy hermitess, Rosalia de las Californias, to whom I am con-
tinually praying Sit partus et aura suis,14i in order that
some day we may go to set up with our own hands her image
and in time her own statue on that innocent and happy little
hill, dedicated to her, etc.
CHAPTER VII. LETTER IN WHICH THE VENERABLE
FATHER REFUSES TO LEAVE LA CONSEPCION, IN
ORDER TO STAY AND OBTAIN THE CROWN
OF MARTYRDOM IN HOLY WEEK
Now follows the seventh letter of the venerable fa-
ther in which he manifests his decision, although sent
for, not to leave his mission, because of his desire to stay
to receive the crown of martyrdom in the holy season in
which the Redeemer of the world and King of Mar-
tyrs obtained it.
Seventh Letter, 1695. Well, on the ninth of
March, the venerable father says to me:
I received your Reverence's very dear letter of the twenty-
fourth ult., through the muleteers who brought me my trunks
and who arrived on the fourth of this month. I appreciate very
much your Reverence's noble attention, shown by inviting me to
enjoy myself, but I must say, my father, that I will not be able
to enjoy the favors of your Reverence, for really I am already
very much engrossed, both in spiritual and temporal matters;
for, foreseeing that these difficulties must arise, in setting out
again I tried to dispose once for all of all the affairs that I could,
because then I was not needed, while now I believe that I am
very much needed here. In fact, I have excused myself also
from going to other places where they had invited me for Holy
144 "May she be a port of safety and a breeze to her clients." (See Ovid,
Vos eritis nostra portus et ara fuga, "You will be harbor and home to our
exile").
138 MEMOIR OF PIMERIA ALTA [Vol.
Week, and I shall hardly be able to go to San Pedro del Tubu-
tama to perform the duties of the church. But occasions will
not be lacking, etc. Francisco is going, etc.
Thus far the venerable father Francisco Xavier
Saeta.
CHAPTER VIII. LAST LETTER OF MOST TENDER
FAREWELL FROM THE VENERABLE FATHER
I add the eighth and last letter, which the venerable
father wrote me on April i, a few hours before his
glorious death, and which, without his knowing or sus-
pecting it, is a most tender farewell. I received it
twenty-seven hours after his holy martyrdom occurred,
the news of his death itself having come two hours
before. The letter is as follows:
The great favor of your Reverence reaches me, with the rolls
of bread, biscuit, etc., for which I return to your Reverence due
and cordial thanks. In regard to the question of our seeing
each other one of these days, your Reverence may notify me by
an Indian whenever you wish me to go to the post of Santa
Maria; for, although I am badly needed here if I leave for a
moment, because I am so very busy, nevertheless, I will steal
that short bit of time and, like fleet Saeta, will fly and place my-
self at the feet of your Reverence, to receive your commands and
discuss many things. I shall be glad if the articles of clothing
referred to can be brought at the time of meeting from some of
these mining towns for my children, for they are limited to sack-
cloth, blankets, tunics, and pisiete. I will promptly pay what
they are worth, either in wheat or in silver, at the latest at wheat
harvest, for here work proceeds with vigor - feruet opus 145 —
and I realize that these attractions are very helpful for the spir-
itualities as well as for the temporalities. I cannot spend much
time on this letter, as the bearer wishes to return. I always
remain subject to the orders of your Reverence. Vale, pater
optime, et in tuis sacrificiis, tui yndignisimi famuli ne oblivis-
145 "The work glows," i.e. proceeds with vigor (Virgil, JEneid, vol. i,
line 436. Fervet opus redolentque thymo fragrantia mella).
one] EUSEBIO FRANCISCO KINO, SJ. 139
caris precor.1*6 Consepcion de Nuestra Sefiora del Caborca,
April i, 1695. Your Reverence's humblest servant in Christ.
Xavier Saeta.
P.S. I. Through lack of vinegar I have not yet tried my
very pretty garden. I appreciate very much the kindness your
Reverence does me in writing in my behalf to the superiors, and
although I merit nothing except all kinds of confusion (for what
I do is nothing in comparison with what I owe to the divine
Majesty and to His most beloved souls), nevertheless I do not
fail to be grateful for the kindness. Vale iterurn humanissime
Pater et felix vive.147
P.S. II. The bearer of your Reverence's letter has grieved
me unspeakably by the news he brought me, to the effect that the
Hocomes attacked San Pedro del Tubutama the other day and
killed poor Martin and the boy Fernando, who were returning
from bringing me the cattle.148 In God's name your Rever-
ence will tell me about what happened, as well as about Father
Daniel.149
Thus far the venerable father in his last letter, in-
side; but after it was sealed he wrote me the following
on the outside:
I shall be very much pleased if your Reverence receives the
bundle of relics and other little things which I sent to you by
Father Daniel. I received two sacks of maize by hand of the
governor of Bosna. The maize could not be brought from
Santa Maria on account of the enemies, for the news of the
deaths of Martin and the boy is confirmed. Let your Rever-
ence not lose sight of me.
Thus far the venerable father. I received this last
long and most tender letter at eleven o'clock on Easter
day, having received two hours before, at about nine
o'clock in the morning, the sad news of his holy death.
146 "Farewell, most excellent Father. In your holy sacrifices do not, I pray,
be unmindful of your most unworthy servant" (i.e., in your Masses).
147 "Again, farewell, most kindly Father, and be happy."
148 For accounts of the uprising at Tubutama, see "Index" and Apostdlicos
A fanes, 256-257; Manje, Luz de Tierra Incognita, libro ii, 30-31.
149 Father Daniel Januske.
i4o MEMOIR OF PIMERIA ALTA [Vol.
APRIL 2, 1695. it: occurred at sunrise on the morn-
ing of Holy Saturday, or Saturday of the Gloria, April
2, 1695, as I will now tell in chapter nine. The news
of it came in twenty-seven hours, a distance of forty-
six leagues.
CHAPTER IX. CONCERNING THREE OTHER MUR-
DERS COMMITTED IN SAN PEDRO
DEL TUBUTAMA
The disturbances and murders which the venerable
father mentions in his last letter, and which were attri-
buted to the Jocomes, were not committed by them, but
by the Tubutamas themselves, and later, by some oth-
ers, disgusted, very much stirred up, and irritated at
certain bad treatment and new and old severities, and
even at some murders in the west and in the north.
Those malcontents went to take vengeance on La
Consepcion, destroying almost all the mission. It is
evident that the three murders which took place in El
Tubutama on March 29, four days before the death of
the venerable father- namely, those of three Opata In-
dians, Antonio, the herdsman of El Tubutama, Martin
and the boy Fernando, who were returning from La
Consepcion, were committed by the Tubutamas because
of the harsh and choleric treatment with which, many
times, the said Opata Indian Antonio abused and beat
the Pima Indians of El Tubutama. For, on the same
day, March 29, Holy Tuesday, he knocked down on the
ground and wounded with spur thrusts the overseer of
the farm, who cried out to his relatives, "This Opata is
killing me;" whereupon the rest of the Pimas shot two
arrows at him. Nevertheless, he mounted a horse and
fled to the pueblo. They followed and killed him,
plundered the other Opata Indians named, burned the
one] EUSEBIO FRANCISCO KINO, S.J. 141
house and little church of the venerable father, and
killed many cattle, etc., as the father had set out a few
hours before for San Ygnacio and Cucurpe with the
news of all this.
And it seems that some of these disturbers went to
the neighboring rancheria of San Antonio del Vquitoa,
eight leagues to the southwest, and the malcontents
there, together with others, about forty in all, planned
to do the same thing [in Pitquin], which is distant
about twelve leagues, the common enemy and others,
their following, cooperating to the complete obstruc-
tion of our holy faith. On the first day of April
these forty-odd sinners came down to San Diego del
Pitquin, which is three leagues from La Consepcion,
and arranged to commit very early on the following
morning the sacrilegious iniquities which in fact they
so barbarously did commit against the person of the
venerable father, his property, and his four servants,
Opatas and strangers.
CHAPTER X. HAPPY AND GLORIOUS DEATH OF
THE VENERABLE FATHER FRANCISCO XAVIER
SAETA AND OF HIS FOUR SERVANTS, AND
THE PLUNDERING OF HIS HOUSE
At sunrise on Saturday of the Gloria, April 2, 1695,
these forty-odd malefactors from San Antonio del
Vquitoa entered the house of the venerable father, ap-
parently in peace, but with their bows and arrows.
They talked to the venerable father and he with them,
and bade them good-bye in a friendly way. They went
out, the venerable father accompanying them to the
door of the spacious hall, where he at once discovered
the evil purpose of the sacrilegists, and although the
venerable father called the captain of La Consepcion,
142 MEMOIR OF PIMERIA ALTA [Vol.
through fear of the armed people he failed to approach.
Then the venerable father knelt down in the very door
of his hall (which was the one that still served as a
little church) to receive, as he did receive, the two ar-
row shots, and arising with them he went in to embrace
a very pretty crucifix which he had brought with him
from Europe, and, seating himself on a box, on account
of weakness and pain, and afterwards on the bed, bleed-
ing, he gave his happy spirit to the sovereign Creator.
These cruel barbarians also killed the four servants
of the venerable father. One was named Francisco
Xavier and was a native of Vris. He served as inter-
preter and was married to a Pima woman of this Pi-
meria named Luisa, a native of the great rancheria of
Mototicachi, which was so unreasonably destroyed in
the year 1688. More than twenty captives were car-
ried off from it to the mining town which they call
Los Frayles, and more than fifty natives were beaten,
merely because of the malicious suspicion that they
were stealing stock and committing the hostilities in
this province, although it is thoroughly patent now that
they have been committed by the Hocomes, Xanos,
Sumas, and Apaches combined, and not by these much
persecuted poor Pimas of this extensive Pimeria here-
about.
Therefore, his Excellency ordered that these cap-
tives should be restored to their liberty and to their
nation, whereupon the said Lucia came to this pueblo
of Nuestra Senora de los Dolores, where she married
the above mentioned Francisco Xavier. The second
of the servants was Josep[h], a very good herdsman, a
native of Chinapa, who had married in Cocospera.
The third was a plainsman,150 a native of Cumpas,
150 Sabanero.
one] EUSEBIO FRANCISCO KINO, S.J. 143
named Francisco. The fourth was another boy, a
native of Vres, named Fernando, who had aided in
taking the cattle to La Consepcion. The barbarians
plundered the house of the venerable father, killed and
stampeded the cattle, sheep and goats, and the horse-
herd, and went away leaving the people of La Consep-
cion grief stricken. Four or five days afterward the
governor of El Bosna, whom I had sent to find out in
detail about all that had happened, arrived at La Con-
sepcion. As he found that the bodies of the dead were
decomposing, he burned them, not being able to give
them any other burial. Near the body of the vener-
able father he found the holy crucifix, which he was
bringing to me when he met the soldiers from the presi-
dio, who took it away from him.
CHAPTER XI. EXPEDITION OF THE GARRISON OF
THIS PROVINCE OF SONORA TO PUNISH THE
DELINQUENTS AND TO REMOVE THE
BODY OF THE VENERABLE FATHER
Upon receiving the news, which I at once despatched
to the superiors and to the royal justice, the Senor gov-
ernor of arms, Don Domingo Jeronsa Petriz de Cruzat,
responded and came at once with the soldiers of his
presidio and with many friendly Indians, and accom-
panied by Father Agustin de Campos and Father Fer-
nando Bayerca, for the purpose of redressing the in-
juries and to remove the body of the venerable father to
La Consepcion. But from everywhere around there
the people fled through fear of the soldiers, whom they
had never seen before. Having killed a boy, beaten
an Indian woman, and taken captive three little chil-
dren whom they encountered, they gathered up the
bones and ashes of the venerable father, and various
i44 MEMOIR OF PIMERIA ALTA [Vol.
papers, books, and other trifles. Returning, the Senor
governor observed the day of the Holy Cross in May in
this new church of Nuestra Senora de los Dolores, con-
fessing and partaking of the holy Sacrament in the
morning, and in the afternoon we all proceeded to the
nearby pueblo of Cucurpe. We bore the bones and
ashes of the venerable father; and the Sefior governor,
to the great satisfaction of all, deigned to lead by the
bridle the mule which bore the little box containing
the bones of the venerable father. The following day
the burial occurred, the father rector of this rectorate
of Nuestra Senora de los Dolores, Father Marcos An-
tonio Kappus, singing mass.
CHAPTER XII. SECOND AND NEW EXPEDITION OF
THE GARRISON AND NEW AND GREATER
DISTURBANCE THAN BEFORE
As all the people of El Tubutama and its vicinity,
those of La Consepcion, and especially the delinquents
of San Antonio del Uquitoa, etc., had fled afar through
fear of the garrison, the Senor governor of arms was
of the opinion that he should wait a little, and that,
affecting carelessness, only the chief criminals should
be punished, the good Pimas who were not guilty of
or accomplices in the crime cooperating. But others
urged that return should be made to inflict severe pun-
ishment at once. The captain of the presidio returned
with more supplies. We summoned the people, with
the delinquents of El Tubutama, to make peace. The
innocent ones and the justices went inland to seek out
and summon the malefactors, and all came with crosses
and without arms, but all were killed, both good and
bad, to the number of more than fifty, among them
being the governor of El Bosna and the governor of
one] EUSEBIO FRANCISCO KINO, SJ. 145
El Tupo, who with great friendliness and loyalty had
labored so hard and traveled so far in hunting for the
criminals, and who had aided in their punishment.
At so many murders of so many innocents, for there
were only five or six of the delinquents there, the rela-
tives of the dead were aroused and stirred up to such a
degree that after the garrison had retired or gone away,
they burned the houses or chapels of San Ignacio, San
Joseph de los Hymires, Santa Maria Magdalena, and
La Consepcion (which at the time of the murder of the
venerable father they had not burned), profaning the
holy ornaments and destroying all the supplies, cattle,
and horses, etc. But, happily, Father Agustin de Cam-
pos with the six soldiers who had remained with him
as guard, had left, fleeing to Cucurpe and Opodepe.
We were all in great straits, but I sent such quieting
messages as I could to all parts, and by Divine grace
the trouble went no further.
CHAPTER XIII. THIRD EXPEDITION WITH THREE
GARRISONS OF ONE HUNDRED AND FIFTY MEN
AND WITH MANY INDIAN FRIENDS FROM
EVERYWHERE, EVEN FROM HYAQUI
JULY AND AUGUST, 1695. Afterward, in July and
August, there went inland three camps or garrisons,
comprising one hundred and fifty men, with two hun-
dred loads of supplies, and with many Indian friends
from all parts, even from the Pimeria of the north itself,
for besides the garrison of this Presidio of Sonora, that
of the Presidio of Xanos entered under General Juan
Fernandez de la Fuente; likewise, the garrison of the
Presidio of El Gallo, under General Don Domingo
Theran. These two garrisons passed through the
lands of the Hocomes and the hostile Xanos, in order
146 MEMOIR OF PIMERIA ALTA [Vol.
to reach Pimeria, and in those lands, in the Serro de
Chiguicagui,151 they found almost all the spoils of the
many robberies which, during all these years had been
committed in this province of Sonora and on its fron-
tiers, including many arquebuses, swords, daggers, spurs,
saddle-bags, saddles, boots, etc., whose theft many had
so falsely imputed to the Pimas Sobaipuris.
There were also found the pieces, very recently
broken, of the bugle which they took away from the
bugler of General Quiros. Among these Hocomes
were found the spoils of the soldier Juan de Ochoa,
whom, a few weeks before, they had captured alive,
killing his three companions, on the road between
Guachinera and Guasavas. Many of these spoils,
guns, saddles, etc., were redeemed, and truces were
made with the enemy until they should come to the
Pimeria, whither General Don Domingo Theran hur-
ried, entering Tubutama at night, without the other
two garrisons knowing it, and killing fifteen or sixteen
Pimas. Hereupon the people fled in all directions,
just as they were about to deliver up the criminals to
their deserved punishment.
The garrisons, together with the friendly Indians,
went up from El Tubutama to El Saric, and then de-
scended to La Consepcion, a march of more than forty
leagues, consuming fruitlessly many weeks' time, be-
cause the people were still far away, until with great
prudence, experience, and very Christian zeal, General
Juan Fernandez de la Fuente, realizing that there was
151 The Chiricahua (Chiguicagui) Mountains are in southeastern Arizona,
about half way between the Rio Gila and the international boundary lint.
Hodge (Handbook of American Indians, vol. i, 282) says that the Chiricahua
Apaches were the most warlike of the Arizona Indians. Chiricahua is a
small town on the El Paso and Southwestern Railway about twenty miles
northeast of Douglas.
one] EUSEBIO FRANCISCO KINO, S.J. 147
no rebellion among these Pimas, since in all this time
they did not resist, oppose, or make war on any one,
anywhere, but merely fled through fear of the soldiers,
and remained in retreat, endeavored to make peace,
with the stipulation and condition that the Pimas and
their chief captains and governors should obligate
themselves to deliver up the principal malefactors in
the murder of the venerable Father Francisco Xavier
Saeta, and the Pimas joyfully accepted the proposal.
BOOK IV. GENERAL PEACE-AGREEMENTS
OF THIS PIMERIA, AND LETTERS OF VARI-
OUS PROMINENT PERSONS WHO PROPH-
ESY AND PROMISE GREAT FRUITS
FROM THE INNOCENT AND HAPPY
DEATH OF THE VENERABLE FA-
THER FRANCISCO XAVIER SAETA
CHAPTER I. THE VERY CATHOLIC PEACE-AGREE-
MENTS OF THIS PIMERIA
General Juan Fernandez de la Fuente, seeing that
all the Pimas, those who had retreated as well as those
who had not, those of the west and those of the north,
were falling in so amicably with his very generous and
very Catholic proposals relative to the peace-agree-
ments, his Grace summoned me to see that the truces
were properly drawn up, so that we fathers should be
safe, content, and satisfied. I went at once to El Tupo
and La Consepcion, whither many natives of six dis-
tinct rancherias, or pueblos, presently arrived, on the
twenty-fifth of August. Soon we came to the plains of
La Cienega del Tupo; and on August 30, day of the
most glorious Saint of the Indies, Rosa de Santa Maria,
seven other rancherias or pueblos and many governors
went down thither.
And after sundry very pacific and very Catholic
talks on the part of the Company, and especially on the
part of the generals, some very friendly, very excellent,
and very Christian peace-agreements were drawn up
in the name of God and the King, the Pimas very will-
EUSEBIO FRANCISCO KINO, S.J. 149
ingly obligating themselves promptly to surrender the
principal delinquents to their merited punishment.
And it was a source of most singular comfort, and edi-
fication, and tenderness to see those generals embracing
those poor Pima captains and governors with such lov-
ing, Christian, Catholic embraces and friendly caresses.
Thanks to the Sovereign Lord, some peace-agreements
were drawn up and so well established and fixed that,
by Divine mercy, they remained very permanent, to the
great advantage of the province and to the great injury
of our enemies, the Hocomes; and in due time these
captains and governors fulfilled their promise, surren-
dering to the royal justice the principal delinquents.
They were catechised, baptized, and prepared for
death; but the very great and paternal charity of the
father visitor, Oracio Polise, seeing them so humble and
so repentant, obtained their pardon.
CHAPTER II. SUNDRY LETTERS OF PRINCIPAL PER-
SONS, WHO PROGNOSTICATE AND PROMISE VERY
COPIOUS SPIRITUAL AND TEMPORAL FRUITS IN
THE MOST CONSTANT CONVERSION OF MANY
SOULS; AND, IN THE FIRST PLACE, THE
LETTERS OF THE SUPERIORS
Father Rector Marcos Anttonio Kapus. The
father rector of this mission or rectorate of Nuestra
Senora de los Dolores, Marcos Anttonio Kapus, with-
out delay, early in April, while we were still somewhat
in doubt in regard to the death of the venerable father
(inasmuch as since the news of the death, which was
brought by an Indian, many letters had come from the
venerable father), wrote me the following words:
I constantly feel, sensirn sine sensu, a greater and greater ven-
eration for this our glorious protomartyr, and I hope that our
Lord in his Divine Majesty will look upon this innocent victim,
150 MEMOIR OF PIMERIA ALTA [Vol.
for the furtherance of the conversion of very many souls. (And
immediately afterward his Reverence adds:) I have the great-
est hopes that all these evils are destined to bring forth much
fruit and exceeding great good. May his Divine Majesty grant
it and may she [Nuestra Sefiora de los Dolores] be our protector
and our support.
Father Visitor Juan Munos de Burgos. The
father visitor, Juan Munos de Burgos, from the mining
town of San Juan, through which his Reverence was
passing on his return from the visitation, wrote me the
following:
May our Lord requite your Reverence for the holy zeal with
which you are endeavoring to stay the fury of such ungrateful
people. May your Reverence, as father of those poor souls,
aid them with your counsels and holy sacrifices, for I hope in the
Lord that in the future the blood of that angel will be the means
whereby the Pimeria will bring forth much fruit for the greater
glory of God our Lord. May He guard your Reverence for me
in much comfort.
In another letter, of April 15, his Reverence writes
to me thus: "Be of good cheer, your Reverence, for I
hope in the Lord that all this must redound to the great-
er glory of God, as we have seen in other new con-
quests where our brethren have shed their blood." In
another, from his district of Guepaca, his Reverence
writes to me the following:
Your Reverence's health has given me great concern, since
they told me that they had seen your Reverence looking very ill,
and I am rather inclined to think that in the present case your
Reverence's heart and holy zeal are still suffering over the revolt
of that new Christendom. God well knows that I would like
to see your Reverence with lively hopes in our Lord that soon
we shall see those poor misguided beings brought again into the
bosom of our holy mother Church. In what new conversions
have we not seen the shedding of blood of apostolic noblemen,
whose irrigation has fertilized the harvest of many souls? In
God's name, your Reverence, be of good courage in the Lord,
one] EUSEBIO FRANCISCO KINO, S.J. 151
and comfort your heart ; and with the same zeal continue in the
conversion of those poor ingrates.
Father Provincial, Diego de Almonazir. The
father provincial, Diego de Almonasir, having heard of
this blessed death of the venerable father, Francisco
Xavier Saeta, writes to and consoles the rest of the
fathers, saying that we should have a thousand desires
to obtain the same fortune as our companion; but that
the Lord, content with Father Saeta, wished the others
for the instruction of those people, and that their mar-
tyrdom should be without blood, but more prolonged
in the continual risk of life and the difficult task of our
ministry in the face of their brutish obstinacy. Says
the father provincial to the father visitor, in regard to
the fathers of Pimeria: "For my part, commend me
to and signify to all my grateful envy of their blessed
labors and happy lot, quite in keeping with the apos-
tolic life and travail." Thus far the father provincial.
CHAPTER III. OTHER LETTERS FROM OTHER PROM-
INENT FATHERS WHO PROMISE AND ASSURE
THE SAME BLESSED AND COPIOUS FRUIT
May 11, 1695. Father Rector Manuel Gon-
zales. The father rector of the College of Oposura,
Manuel Gonzales, on May 11 wrote thus:
With that of your Reverence, I received the note of the de-
ceased father, Francisco Xavier Saeta — may he be with God in
Glory- a very edifying note written a few days before his death.
I have thought and I still think of your Reverence in as grievous
and unhappy a case as that of our children, the Pimas. I so desire
to comfort them that I would fain declare it with tears of my
heart's blood instead of ink ; but I am consoled by my knowledge
of your Reverence, who knows how deep and hidden are the just
and holy judgments of God our Lord, whom we ought to adore
and venerate with all our hearts and souls. Good courage, my
best beloved father, for God our Lord is able to bring great
i52 MEMOIR OF PIMERIA ALTA [Vol.
good out of evil. How much your Reverence has worked for
the good of those poor creatures, how well you were conducting
so holy a work, and how far you had advanced it, all the world
knows. (And afterwards his Reverence continues:) I beg of
your Reverence, for the love of God our Lord and of His most
holy Mother, our Lady of Sorrows, that your Reverence, in such
sorrow, cast yourself at the feet of this our Lady, and offer
yourself wholly to her, conforming yourself in everything to the
Divine will, trusting much in the Divine goodness that when it
shall please His Divine Majesty all will be rectified to His great
honor and glory and to the advantage of all those poor sons of
our heart. May God have pity upon them and guard your Rev-
erence for me.
June 9, 1695. Father Rector Anttonio Leal.
Thus far the father rector, Manuel Gonzales. On the
ninth of June the father rector, Anttonio Leal, wrote
me from his holy College of Guadiana the following
letter.
I took great comfort from the pleasing reports with which
the father visitor favored me, of the progress and increase of
Christianity in the Pimeria, occasioned by the entry of your Rev-
erence one hundred and fifty leagues to the north, and of the
great number of heathen who anxiously sought the waters of holy
baptism. But how could such ease be free from envy; and how
could the Devil allow so many souls, which he held as his own,
to escape him, without doing his utmost to block their path-
way?
I have greatly regretted, and all greatly regret, that that re-
volt should have occurred among those poor creatures, although
I hope in our Lord that it has not been in all parts. However,
my father, though the faith of our God has had such a setback,
not for that has it been destroyed; and although the Apostles,
disciples of Christ, and their successors in all ages, have died,
si caro infirma spiritus promptus,152 those who have remained
have again promptly kindled the fires of the Holy Spirit,
152 "If the flesh be weak, the spirit is willing" (i.e., "If weak in body, yet
willing in spirit" {Matthew, xxvi, 41, or Mark, xiv, 38. Spiritus quidem
promptus est, caro autem infirma).
one] EUSEBIO FRANCISCO KINO, SJ. 153
reviving it from the deadest ashes. Your Reverence, whom it
behooves not to give up - for the blood of our brother is to be the
watering by which those new plants are to wax greater, and in
heaven he is to be the patron of those poor souls — your Rever-
ence has been and must be their apostle; and great will be the
compassion which for some is suffered by others. Then, my
father, the blood of Christ! Be not cast down, your Reverence,
by what has happened, for it is the cause of God, and God will
return for its sake and assist your Reverence, whom I pray Him
to guard for me many years. Since, your Reverence, I have ever
been your companion in desires whose fulfillment our Lord hath
not granted me, may he make me a participant in your labors.
Thus far the father rector, Anttonio Leal, with his
very paternal encouragement. The father rector of the
College of Matape, Marcos de Loyola, a missionary
very experienced as well in new as in old missions,
writes me almost the same. He says that our Lord
must desire this Pimeria for some great thing, since
He permits it to be attacked and impeded with
much opposition. And in another letter, of February
26, 1695, even preceding these disturbances, with more
discerning prophecy, he writes as follows:
This means that your Reverence will not lack laborers to
win the crown of eternity. Happy your Reverence, who has an
opportunity to gain so much in heaven ; I even envy your Rever-
ence, for, as things are going you should take comfort in every-
thing, for it is of God's law, and He is leading. There is no
reason to lose heart on that account, but rather to hope in God,
for He will bring from everything great fruit and good.
Thus far the father rector of Matape, Marcos de
Loyola; and much of this nature many fathers have
written and said.
154 MEMOIR OF PIMERIA ALTA [Vol.
CHAPTER IV. OTHER LETTERS FROM THREE LIEU-
TENANTS OF THIS PIMERIA IN REGARD TO
THE BLESSED DEATH OF THE VENERABLE
FATHER FRANCISCO XAVIER SAETA
Captain Pasqual de Picondo, who a few months be-
fore had been lieutenant of the Real de Bacanuche and
of this Pimeria, writes me the following:
I regard the death of the venerable Father Francisco Xavier
Saeta as one of the greatest glories that could be desired, for
many have wished to die for our Lord Jesus Christ in like min-
istry and have not obtained their wish. Happy once and a thou-
sand times Father Francisco Xavier Saeta, who obtained from
our Lord the boon that his stole should be bathed in blood.
And I regard all this Pimeria as flourishing, and predict that it
will yield ripened fruit for the granary of the Church; and let
the reverend fathers of Pimeria rejoice and congratulate them-
selves likewise, that they have a martyr comrade in heaven who
is and will be their advocate with our Lord Jesus Christ, that
their holy desires and labors may succeed.
Another and similar letter his successor in the lieu-
tenancy, Captain Josepfh] Romo de Vivar, wrote me
from Real de Bacanuche; and another, from the Real
de San Juan, the General Don Pedro Garzia de Al-
mazan, who had been a very great admirer of the vener-
able Father, since the latter four months before his hap-
py death had lodged in his house at the Real de San
Juan, when he preached at the feasts of Nuestra Senora
de la Consepcion. And after other very fine letters in
reference to the matter, more recently the present lieu-
tenant of this Pimeria, Juan Matheo Manje, nephew of
the Sefior military commander of this province of So-
nora, on the nineteenth of September, 1695, wrote me
the following:
I have been pleased to learn of your Reverence's going to
Mexico. May the sovereign Lord grant you a pleasant journey
and complete success in everything and bring you back safe, ac-
one] EUSEBIO FRANCISCO KINO, SJ. 155
companied by fervent and apostolic ministers for this Pimeria,
vineyard of the Lord ; for by the blood of the most zealous Father
and martyr, Francisco Xavier Saeta, that harvest of souls is
being fertilized, and in time will be the most flourishing, just as
happens in the fields where by watering the land is fertilized in
order that it may make the harvest of wheat luxuriant. Nor
will this innocent blood of the venerable father martyr be like
that of Abel, which cried for vengeance, but it will be a foun-
tain of supplications and appeals for the conversion of those
heathen tribes, and for their repentance, for they know not what
they did - like those others who crucified Jesus the Lamb Him-
self, and who crucify Him again by opposing and hindering
those new conversions. I am consoled, however, that your Rev-
erence, by going to Mexico, will arrange for ministers, etc. I
rejoice at the coming of the governors of the Soba nation from
the west to Nuestra Senora de los Dolores. The blood which
was shed is beginning to bear me fruit.
This and much more from Captain Juan Matheo
Manje, present lieutenant of this Pimeria, who with
very Christian zeal and like valor has on various occa-
sions made divers expeditions with me.
CHAPTER V. ANOTHER LETTER CITING THE UNI-
VERSAL EXAMPLE OF THE OTHER NEW CONVER-
SIONS, WHICH LIKEWISE BEGAN WITH THE
SHEDDING OF THE BLOOD OF
THEIR MINISTERS
Father Antonio Menendez, July 2, 1695. Fa-
ther Antonio Menendes, rector of the mission of San
Ygnacio de Mayo, of Hyaqui, on the second of July,
1695, wrote from his holy College of Conicari 153 as fol-
lows:
In Hyaqui I received, with the pain which may be imagined,
your Reverence's report of what had happened in the new con-
version; this I knew already, and in my solitude I was thinking
that your Reverence's heart must be completely broken, since at
153 Conicari is on the Mayo River about twenty-five miles northeast of
Alamos.
156 MEMOIR OF PIMERIA ALTA [Vol.
every avenue the common enemy opposes himself to hinder and
embarrass that which is for the glory of God. This is a good
sign, my father, for all those new conversions begin with min-
isters' blood for their fertilization, and, indeed, is a sign of per-
severance and good success. Thus was the conversion of Cina-
loa begun with Father Tapia; that of Chinipas with the two
fathers Julio Pascual and Manual Martinez, that of Tepeguanes
with seven glorious fathers, that of Taraumares Antiguos with
the blood of fathers Cornelio and Jacome Basilio; and now the
new conversion of Taraumares Nuevos with Father Coronda
and Father Manuel Zanches. Therefore, be of good spirits
my father, for God willed that the first fruits of that conversion
should be the suffering of Father Francisco Xavier Saeta.
Thus far the father rector, Antonio Minendes. And,
indeed, we see very plainly the above-mentioned fruits
in the reduction of so many souls who, in the midst of
so many hindrances cuce spesificari possent mortes quo
ano, quo loco, etc. . . 154 already are with such con-
stancy coming from regions so remote to ask for holy
baptism.
CHAPTER VI. PROPHECIES BY THE VENERABLE
FATHER FRANCISCO XAVIER SAETA HIMSELF OF HIS
GLORIOUS AND GREATLY DESIRED
MARTYRDOM
Many persons, who came with and conversed with
the Venerable Father in the passage from Spain to
Vera Cruz and in Mexico, have had and still have
memories so vivid of the many times when with singular
tenderness he used to speak of his great desire to shed
his blood and give his life for the Faith by means of a
blessed, holy martyrdom, that they have written from
Mexico to these missions, making detailed and express
mention of those holy prophecies of his. One long let-
ter from a person of this class, which is in my posses-
154 "Whose deaths could be specified as to year, place," eta
one] EUSEBIO FRANCISCO KINO, S.J. 157
sion, treats very expressly of these holy premonitions of
his. It arrived several weeks after his blessed death,
but was written in Mexico at almost the same time at
which here in La Consepcion the venerable father ob-
tained his desired crown of martyrdom, of which I my-
self have heard him speak with singular tenderness,
adding very expressly many times those words of St.
John the Baptist, Posuit me [sic] ut sagitam electam,15
referring to his surname, Saeta, which in Latin is sagi-
ta, and in Castilian flecha 156 In the letter which the ven-
erable father wrote me from Guepaca on the nineteenth
of January, 1695, ne closed with the words : "May your
Reverence pardon the miserable scrawl which I am
writing with this arrow stroke." When the venerable
father, a few months ago, went out to collect alms for
his mission, in taking leave of various persons on going
to the interior he said to them, as if he were going to
die, "Adieu till we meet in heaven." And thus ever our
Lord has given increase to his holy Church with His
own most holy blood and with the blood of His well
beloved and dearest ministers. Plantaverunt Ecclesiam
tuam sanguine sua, et sanguis Martirum semen chris-
tianorum.157 With this in mind a father visitor well said
that the death of the venerable Father Francisco Xavier
Saeta was a pearl for the Company.
155 Isaias, xlix, 2. Posuit me sicut sagittam electam. "He hath made me
a chosen arrow."
156 I.e., arrow.
157 "They planted the Church with their blood; and the blood of Martyrs
is the seed of Christians" (Tertullian, Apologeticus adversus Gentes, cap. 1.
Plures efficimur, quoties metimur a vobis ; semen est sanguis Christianorum) .
The same thought is expressed in several passages of Tertullian.
BOOKV. MYJOURNEYTO MEXICO AND MY
RETURN TO THE MISSIONS; VISITATION
OF THE FATHER VISITOR, ORACIO POLICE ;
VARIOUS ENTRIES TO THE NORTH,
THE WEST, AND THE NORTHWEST;
DISCOVERY AND REDUCTION
OF NEW NATIONS
CHAPTER I. MY JOURNEY TO MEXICO TO OBTAIN
MISSIONARY FATHERS FOR THIS PIMERIA158
Since the year before, and earlier, when from these
coasts of this Pimeria we caught sight of California
nearby, I had asked and obtained permission from the
father provincial, Diego de Almonacir, to go to Mex-
ico to discuss with his Reverence and with his Excel-
lency the conversion of California and the extensive
new lands of this mainland; but my going had been
prevented by the royal justice and some fathers, the
lieutenants, and citizens of this province, who reported
to Mexico that I should be needed here, and that I was
accomplishing more than a well governed presidio, etc.
This year, 1695, however, in view of the very Christian
truces which had been drawn up on the thirtieth of
August in this Pimeria, and since the harvest of souls
158 For an account of this trip to Mexico, see Bancroft, North Mexican
States and Texas, vol. i, 262-263 ; Alegre, Historia, vol. iii, 88-89 1 Apos-
tolicos A fanes, 263; Manje, Luz de Tierra Incognita, libro ii, cap. iv (45).
The account given by Alegre is in some respects better than that given here
by Kinc% especially with respect to the details of Kino's efforts while in
Mexico to secure justice for the Pimas. He says nothing, however, of Kino's
efforts in behalf of California during this journey. In fact, none of the
other authorities except the Afanes mention them.
EUSEBIO FRANCISCO KINO, S.J. 159
was so plenteous, so widespread, and so ripe, I deter-
mined, although some opposed me, to avail myself of
the license, almost an order, which I had from the
father provincial, and to go to Mexico for the good of
so many souls in sore need; and so, setting out from
these missions of Sonora on the sixteenth of November,
1695, 159 in seven weeks and after a journey of five hun-
dred leagues, I arrived at Mexico on January 8, 1696.
It was God's will that I should be able to say mass
every day of this trip; and the three masses of the Feast
of the Nativity I said in the new church of Nuestra
Senora de Loreto of Guadalaxara. The same day on
which I arrived at Mexico Father Juan Maria Salva-
tierra100 arrived by another route, while that morning
the new government had been installed, Father Juan de
Palacios having entered as provincial. I took with me
to Mexico the son of the captain general of this Pimeria,
and we received the utmost kindness and favors from
the new father provincial and his predecessor, from his
Excellency the Conde de Galves, and even from her
Ladyship, the viceroy's wife, who were delighted at
seeing new people who came from parts and lands so
remote.
In reference to California, on account of various mis-
haps, neither I nor Father Juan Maria Salvatierra ac-
complished our purpose at that time, although the year
following Father Juan Maria did accomplish it at the
coming of the new viceroy, Conde de Valladares, etc.
In regard to fathers for this Pimeria, I obtained five
159 The details given here with respect to the date of lea\ ing for Mexico,
and the taking of the chief's son with him, are lacking in the other authori-
ties except the A fanes.
160Alegre says that Salvatierra, Zappa, and Kino all three arrived on
the same day {op. cit., p. 89). The Afanes gives January 6 as the day of
Kino's arrival in Mexico.
160 MEMOIR OF PIMERIA ALTA [Vol.
from the new father provincial, Juan de Palacios,
though afterward the reports, false or ignorant, and the
contrary opinions of those less interested, delayed every-
thing, or almost everything, as usual.
CHAPTER II. MY DEPARTURE FROM MEXICO AND
ARRIVAL AT THESE MISSIONS OF THE PIMERIA
February 8, 1696. On the eighth of February,161
1696, I set out from Mexico with Father Anttonio de
Benabides,162 who came to prepare himself in Guadi-
ana163 for this Pimeria. I came to observe Holy Week
and Easter at Conicari, whence I forwarded the de-
spatch of the government and many other letters which
I was carrying to the new father visitor, Oracio Po-
lise, and to other fathers. Afterward I passed on to
Santa Maria de Bazaraca164 to see the father visitor;
and I found in his Reverence all affection and a very
great and fatherly love for these new conversions. I
had to return in the company of Captain Christobal de
Leon, his son, and his men, for the greater security of
my person ; but his Divine Majesty saved me from the
161 This detail is lacking from the other accounts except the A fanes.
162 Alegre (Historia, vol. iii, 89) says that Kino brought with him Father
Gaspar Barrillas. If this be true, it is strange that Kino does not mention
the fact. Could Kino mean Barrillas instead of Benavides? According to
Manje, upon the arrival of Barrillas, he was conducted to Tubutama and
Caborca, in the latter of which places he reestablished the destroyed mission
(op. cit., 46). Ortega states that Kino conducted Barrillas to Caborca in Feb-
ruary, 1697 (cited in Bancroft, North Mexican States, vol. i, 263). Kino
shows that it was in 1698, after the expedition with Bernal {post, page
175). It may be, therefore, that Barrillas did not return with Kino, who
reached Dolores in May, 1696. Ortega implies that none of the five
missionaries were sent (Apostolicos A fanes, 264).
163 Guadiana is the same as Durango, where there was at this time a
Jesuit college. It was long the capital of Nueva Vizcaya, and is now the
seat of government of the state of Durango.
164 Santa Maria Bazeraca (now Bacerac) is situated on the north flowing
stretch of the upper Yaqui River, nearly straight east of Arizpe, near the
Chihuahua boundary, and high in the mountains. See "Map" and "Index."
one] EUSEBIO FRANCISCO KINO, S.J. 161
great misfortune into which his Grace fell, for the hos-
tile Jocomes killed him165 and all his people on the
road not very far from Oputo,166 while I went to say
goodbye to the father rector, Francisco Carranco, and
Father Pedro del Marmol.167 In the middle of May I
arrived at Nuestra Senora de los Dolores. While I
was gone to Mexico Father Agustin de Campos had
administered the mission;168 and his Reverence upon
my return went to his mission of San Ygnacio.
In June, as the Pima children of the interior had
heard of my return from Mexico, their principal gov-
ernors and captains came to see me in such numbers and
from parts so remote, from the north, from the west, etc.,
that Captain Don Antonio de Estrada Bocanegra,165
who had been an eye-witness, wrote a long account of
them, noting the fifty, sixty, seventy, eighty, ninety, and
one hundred or more leagues' journey which many of
them had come, all for the purpose of asking and ob-
taining holy baptism and fathers for their rancherias
and for their many people. All received the very pa-
ternal and very Catholic messages of the father pro-
vincials and of their Excellencies, with various gifts
which meanwhile they had sent them; and I sent them
away comforted with fair hopes that by the divine
165 por rne details of this massacre see Manje, Luz de Tierra Incognita,
libro ii, 45-48 and page 162, footnote. The references cited give the geog-
raphy of the event. Alegre gives the Apaches as the aggressors.
166 Oputo is on the upper Yaqui River, just north of latitude 300, and
southeast of Arizpe.
167 These details are omitted from the other accounts.
168 That is, he reestablished his mission, which had been destroyed in
1695. (See Manje, Luz de Tierra Incognita, libro ii, 46, on this point).
After the Pima revolt had been quieted in 1695, Father Campos served as
chaplain in a campaign against the Jocomes and Janos. During this cam-
paign General Theran de los Rios lost his life (Manje, Luz de Tierra In-
cognita, libro ii, 45).
169 This item is lacking from the other accounts.
162 MEMOIR OF PIMERIA ALTA [Vol.
Grace they should accomplish the good intent and pur-
pose which they professed of obtaining missionary
fathers.
CHAPTER III. NEW AND OLD AND VERY VIOLENT
CONTRADICTIONS AND OPPOSITION WHICH HIN-
DERED THE COMING OF THE MISSIONARY
FATHERS TO THIS PIMERIA170
Nevertheless, so great were the obstacles and
the opposition against this Pimeria that they caused
even the most friendly father visitor, Oracio Polise, to
falter. It was again reported, but very falsely, as has
since been seen, that the Pimas Sobaipuris were closely
170 Accounts of the Indian troubles of the later months of 1695 and of the
year 1696 are given in Manje, Luz de Tierra Incognita, libro ii, 45-48 and
Alegre, Historia, vol. iii, 92-93, each account supplementing the other. Either
work is much better than Kino's on this point. The following summary is
based on Manje and Alegre: In September, 1695, tne three companies which
had been in the Pimeria, with Father Campos as their chaplain, made a
campaign against the Jocomes and Janos, who were pestering Sonora. In
this campaign they killed sixty and captured seventy of the enemy, the cap-
tives being distributed as slaves among the soldiers. In the course of the ex-
pedition most of the soldiers were taken ill, from drinking poisoned water, as
it was believed, and General Theran de los Rios died. In January, 1696,
Captain Antonio de Solis punished the Conchos, and put to death three leaders
at Nacori, south of Oputo, in the upper Yaqui Valley, Father Carranco being
present at the execution. In March the Apaches, Jocomes, and Janos, who
had attacked Tonibavi, were punished, eighteen being killed. Sometime
before May (for Kino was with the party) the same Indians attacked the
party of Captain Cristobal de Leon, in the Sierra of San Cristobal, while
they were on their way from Cusiguriachi. Father Kino, who had been in
De Leon's band, fortunately had just turned aside to visit Fathers Carranco
and Marmol, as related on page 161. To avenge this attack the Compania
Volante went to the Sierra de Batepito, near Corodeguachi, but had little
success. Jironza now called on the chiefs of the Janos and the Pimas to make
a general campaign. They united at the Sierra Florida, near the Gila, and
succeeded in killing thirty-two men and capturing fifty women and children.
During the same year of 1696 a general uprising was attempted in Tarahu-
mara, Tecupeto, and Sonora, under the influence of chief Quigue, or Quihue,
of the pueblo of Santa Maria Baseraca. After ten leaders had been hanged
at San Juan Bautista and Tecupeto, and chief Quigue had lost his life near
Janos, quiet was restored. For the rebel chief's eloquent speech setting forth
the grievances against the Spaniards, see Alegre, op. cit.
one] EUSEBIO FRANCISCO KINO, SJ. 163
allied with the hostile Jocomes, and with the other
enemies of this province of Sonora; and they were
charged with stealing droves of horses, etc., and with
having many large corrals full of them. It was falsely
reported, also, that these Pimas were involved in the
tumults and revolts of Taraumara, on the testimony of
the Taraumares themselves, but the Taraumares could
not have been speaking of the Pimas of this Pimeria,
who are more than one hundred and fifty leagues distant
from the Taraumares, but only of the Pimas near them,
who are those of Tapipa and near Yecora.171 It had
been said and reported, but very falsely, that the Pimas
of the interior and their neighbors were such cannibals
that they roasted and ate people, and that for this rea-
son one could not go to them; but already we have en-
tered and have found them very friendly and entirely
free from such barbarities.
I found it published at the coming of his Illustrious-
ness to Matape that Father Kino was asking in letters
that they bring him with soldiers out of the tumultuous
Pimeria, when such a thing had never entered my
thoughts.172
It was said and written to Mexico that I lived
guarded by soldiers, but I have never had, nor thanks to
the Lord, needed such a guard.
It has been said and written that the Sobaipuris and
others farther on had killed Father Kino and all his
people who went with him in the entry of 1698 ; but the
fact is that in all parts they received us with the utmost
kindness and, thanks be to the Lord, we are still living.
Toward the end of July of the past year it was re-
171 Yecora is on an upper branch of the Yaqui River in western Chi-
huahua.
172 Alegre alludes to these charges in his Historia, vol. iii, 101. The
events to which he refers took place in 1697.
164 MEMOIR OF PIMERIA ALTA [Vol.
ported that the Soba nation was in commotion, and that
we three173 fathers were in great danger of our lives.
Father Barillas was taken from La Consepcion,174 and
the garrison was summoned and came. But there was
not then nor is there now the least of these pretended
dangers.
Another great contradiction and opposition and very
false report has been that the Pimeria has few people
and does not need many fathers. But it is a very well
established fact that it has more than fifteen thousand
souls.
CHAPTER IV. VARIOUS ENTRIES TO THE NORTH-
EAST175 AND TO THE NORTH BY ORDER OF THE
FATHER VISITOR, ORACIO POLISE; AND THE DELIV-
ERY OF THE DISTRICT OF COCOSPERA TO
FATHER PEDRO RUIS DE CONTRERAS
Nevertheless, in order that conditions might be in-
vestigated and the facts ascertained, the father visitor,
Oracio Police, bade me make various entries, in which
talks and instruction in Christian doctrine and in life
somewhat civilized were given; and the very submis-
sive natives gave me many little ones to baptize.
On the tenth of December I went to San Pablo de
Quiburi, a journey of fifty leagues to the north, passing
by Santa Maria and by Santa Cruz, of the Rio de
San Joseph de Terrenate. I arrived at Quiburi on the
fifteenth of December, bearing the paternal greetings
which the father visitor sent to this principal and great
173 That is, Kino, Campos, and Barrillas.
174 This statement is an implied contradiction of Manje's assertion that
Caborca was occupied only at times (Luz de Tierra Incognita, libro ii, 46).
175 This chapter is very important as giving the actual details of the
preparations which Kino made for the missionaries in the San Pedro and
Santa Cruz valleys. Except for Ortega's summary of it, these circumstances
have not hitherto been clear. (Bancroft accepts Ortega at this point). No
other authority states the number of trips made to these places by Kino in
1696 and 1697. See Bancroft, North Mexican States, vol. i, 263.
one] EUSEBIO FRANCISCO KINO, S.J. 165
rancheria; for it has more than four hundred souls as-
sembled together, and a fortification, or earthen en-
closure, since it is on the frontier of the hostile Ho-
comes. As a result of the Christian teaching, the
principal captain, called El Coro, gave me his little son
to baptize, and he was named Oracio Polise; and the
governor called El Bajon,175a and others, gave me their
little ones to christen. We began a little house of
adobe for the father, within the fortification, and im-
mediately afterward I put in a few cattle and a small
drove of mares for the beginning of a little ranch.
On the thirteenth of January, 1697, I went in to the
Sobaipuris of San Xavier del Bac. We took cattle,
sheep, goats, and a small drove of mares. The ranch
of San Luis del Bacoancos was begun with cattle. Also
there were sheep and goats in San Cayetano, which the
loyal children of the venerable Father Francisco Xavier
Saeta had taken thither, having gathered them in Con-
sepcion at the time of the disturbances of 1695. At the
same time, some cattle were placed in San Xavier del
Bac, where I was received with all love by the many in-
habitants of the great rancheria, and by many other
principal men, who had gathered from various parts
adjacent. The word of God was spoken to them, there
were baptisms of little ones, and beginnings of good
sowings and harvests of wheat for the father minister
whom they asked for and hoped to receive.
On the seventeenth of March, 1697, I again went in
to San Pablo de Quiburi.176 I returned by way of San
17Ga£/ Coro means "The Chorus"; El Bajon means "Tne Bassoon."
176Alegre by error puts in at this point the account of the Pima victory
over the Apaches which occurred on March 30, 1698. He not only puts it
under the date of 1697, but before the visit of the Pimas to Father Polici,
related in the next chapter as occurring in October, 1697, and before the ex-
pedition of Bernal to the Gila, which was in part a result of the visit of
Polici (Alegre, Historia, vol. iii, 100).
166 MEMOIR OF PIMERIA ALTA [Vol.
Geronimo, San Cayetano, and San Luys, looking in all
places after the spiritual welfare of the natives, bap-
tising some infants and sick persons, and consoling all
with the very fatherly messages from the father visitor,
and even from the Senor alcalde mayor and military
commander, notifying them at the same time to be
ready to go with the soldiers on the expedition against
the enemies of the province,177 the Hocomes, the Xanos,
Sumas, and Apaches. With the same intent and pur-
pose I again went in to San Pablo de Quiburi on the
seventeenth of April, and they received me with crosses
and arches placed in the road.
At this time I gave over the district of Cocospera178
and Santa Maria to Father Pedro Ruis de Contreras,
with complete vestments or supplies for saying mass,
good beginnings of a church and a house, partly fur-
nished, five hundred head of cattle, almost as many
sheep and goats, two droves of mares, a drove of horses,
oxen, crops, etc.179
CHAPTER V. THE PRINCIPAL CAPTAINS AND GOV-
ERNORS OF THIS PIMERIA GO TO SANTA MARIA DE
BAZERACA TO SEE THE FATHER VISITOR AND ASK
FOR FATHERS, A JOURNEY OF MORE THAN ONE
HUNDRED AND THEN OF MORE THAN
ONE HUNDRED AND FIFTY LEAGUES 180
So great were the desires of the natives of this Pi-
meria to obtain missionary fathers that they determined
177 This statement illustrates the part which virile missionaries like Kino
played in the defence of the frontier.
178 Notice that Kino's language implies that Cocospera was the principal
place and Santa Maria the subordinate. Bancroft states that early in 1697
Father Ruiz arrived and was put in Suamca, with Cocospera as a insita.
179 For references to events of this period see in volume ii, page 157, a
letter to Kino by Father General Thirso Gonzalez, dated December 27, 1698,
in reply to one from Kino dated June 3, 1697. It is far out of place, and
should be read in this connection.
180 por another account of some of the events of this chapter, see Alegre,
Historia, vol. iii, 101. He supplies a few details not given here.
one] EUSEBIO FRANCISCO KINO, S.J. 167
to go to Santa Maria de Baceraca181 to ask them of the
father visitor. Some had come the fifty, sixty, eighty,
ninety, one hundred, and more leagues' journey to reach
Nuestra Senora de los Dolores;182 and as there was still
a journey of about one hundred leagues to Santa Maria
de Bazeraca, and as they had never gone so many
leagues away from their country, I went with them
through Sonora. In the Real de San Juan, in Oposura,
and in Guasavas, through which we passed, both the
seculars and the fathers received us with all kindness.
On the sixth of October, day of Our Lady of the
Rosary, we reached Santa Maria de Baceraca.
We were received with a thousand tendernesses and
with such joy by the father visitor, Oracio Police, that
his Reverence on the following day chanted a solemn
mass to the three holy kings, who were the first gentiles
who came to adore the Messiah -Frimitice Gentium.16*
And his Reverence, through various inquiries, even
secret, which he made and ordered made, was so well
satisfied with the great loyalty of these Pimas that he
wrote a very fine letter to the Senor military commander
requesting that the Pimeria should be favored; that ef-
forts should be made to secure for it the fathers which it
needed and deserved, since thereby the province would
be quieted and made rid of the hostile Jocomes and
Xanos, who would retreat to the east (all of which was
181 On the upper Yaqui River. See ante, footnote 164..
182 Alegre states that they arrived at Dolores toward the end of Septem-
ber. This may be merely an inference from the foregoing, but it is evident
that he had access to documents at this point which I have not seen. He
states that chief Pacheco had brought his wife to Bacar.utzi (Bacanuchi),
thence to Dolores, thence to Toape, where she was baptized as Nicolasa,
and that the coming in September was a second visit for the purpose (His-
toria, vol. iii, 101).
183 "The first fruits of the Gentiles" (2 Thess., ii, 12. Quod elegerit vos
Deus primitias in salutem: "God hath chosen you first fruits unto Salva-
tion").
168 MEMOIR OF PIMERIA ALTA [Vol.
afterward fulfilled to the letter) ; and that some soldiers
should come into this Pimeria, at least as far as Qui-
buri, to see with their own eyes the good state of affairs
and the ripeness of the very plentiful harvest of souls.184
Having asked when the soldiers were coming to Qui-
buri, I was told the 7th of November. And the same
day I entered also from Nuestra Seiiora de los Dolores,
with Captain Juan Matheo Manje.185 Our intention
was to penetrate forty or fifty leagues further inland,
down the Rio de Quiburi, to the last Sobaipuris of the
northeast and to the Rio de Jila, or Rio Grande, which
is the same, for up to that time we had not penetrated so
far inland by that route.
CHAPTER VI. GREAT AND PEACEFUL ENTRY OF
TWENTY-TWO SOLDIERS TO THE RIO GRANDE
AND THE LAST SOBAIPURIS 186
I arrived at Quiburi with Captain Juan Matheo
Manje, my servants, and more than sixty horses and
mules, intending to penetrate to the last Sobaipuris.
In Quiburi I received a letter from the captain of the
soldiers stating that they were on their way, and they
arrived on November 9. We found the Pima natives
184 Credit for suggesting an expedition by soldiers to the interior Pimas
is here given to Father Polici. Manje takes the credit to himself. See Luz
de Tierra Incognita, libro ii, cap. 5, first paragraph: "y por estinguir yo el
mal Concepto, con q nos abrasavan la venida de Evangelicos operarios pa.
su Reducion con Cautela suplique al Genl. mi tio entrase una escuadra de
soldados en conpa. del Pr. Kino y mia, a esta descubrimiento" (p. 49).
185 Kino and Manje left Dolores on November 2, with ten Indian servants,
thirty horses, and presents for the Indians. They went via Remedios, Co-
cospera (where Father Pedro Ruiz de Contreras was stationed) San Lazaro,
Santa Cruz de Gaybanipitea (here they were met by Bernal with the sol-
diers) and Quiburi where they arrived on the 9th (Manje, Luz de Tierra
Incognita, libro ii, cap. 15). Bernal in his diary says that he overtook Kino
at Quiburi on the ninth. Kino gives circumstantial evidence to show the
same thing, but Manje says that Bernal joined them on the seventh at Santa
Cruz de Gaybanipitea (Diary, Nov. 7).
186 Thg principal authorities for this entrada, aside from the present
work, are Manje's account in diary form (but with subsequent additions)
one] EUSEBIO FRANCISCO KINO, S.J. 169
of Quiburi very jovial and very friendly. They were
dancing over scalps and the spoils of fifteen enemies,18
Hocomes and Janos, whom they had killed a few days
before. This was so pleasing to us that the Sefior Cap-
tain Christobal Martin Bernal, the Senor alferez, the
sergeant, and many others, entered the circle and danced
merrily in company with the natives. More and more
the captain was disposed to penetrate farther with me;
but many were of the opinion that it was impossible to
go further and among the last Sobaipuris without two
hundred men. To this I replied that one could pene-
trate to the last Sobaipuris as safely as one could go to
Sonora, for their principal captains, El Humari, his
two sons, and others, had come to be catechised and
baptized, after Easter, during the previous months;188
that Captain Humari had been named Francisco Eu-
sebio, and his sons, now well-grown, one Francisco
Xavier and the other Oracio Polise; that for a long
time they had been inviting me most amicably to go to
see them in their rancherias, lands, and valleys, which
are about one hundred and twenty leagues189 from
in Luz de Tierra Incognita, libro ii, cap. 15, and the reports written by
Bernal. These include a letter to Father Polici declaring the quiet state
in which the Sobaipuris were found, dated at N. S. de los Dolores, December
2, 1697, and attested by Kino, Escalante, Acuna, and Barcelona. With this
is Bernal's diary of the expedition beginning November 4 at Frontera de
Santa Rosa de Corodeguachi, and ending at Dolores December 4, 1697.
This also is witnessed by Kino and the others named. My copy is from the
original Ms. in the Archivo General, Mexico, Misiones, vol. 26, and is
labled "Vista y puesta en su lugar. X.A." [Xavier Alegre]. Secondary
authorities for this entrada are Ortega, Apostolicos Afanes, book ii, chap, vi,
where he gives a brief summary of the Favores; Alegre, Historia de la Com-
pahia de Jesus, vol. iii, 102, makes brief mention of the expedition and quotes
from Bernal's letter to Polici.
187 Kino says fifteen scalps, but Bernal gives the number as thirteen.
188 Manje states that it was the previous year that Humari was baptized
(see Diary, entry for November 13). Kino doubtless knew the facts in the
case.
189 Manje estimates two hundred leagues. Ibid.
170 MEMOIR OF PIMERIA ALTA [Vol.
Nuestra Senora de los Dolores. Thereupon it was de-
cided that the soldiers also should go.
The following day, November io,190 the day of the
Patronage of Most Holy Mary, the two captains, Chris-
toval Martin Bernal and Juan Matheo Manje, con-
fessed and received communion, and we all together
undertook the expedition191 of about thirty-five leagues
to the north, by the same river and valley of Quiburi.
We met with the first Sobaipuris and with Captain
Humari192 himself, who had come three days' journey
to meet us. Afterward, in seven or eight large ranch-
erias we found more than two thousand souls, all very
friendly and industrious Indians,193 who, on hearing the
190 Both Manje and Bernal say that they stopped at Quiburi, starting on
the eleventh.
191 Manje gives his itinerary as Dolores, Cocospora, San Lazaro, Santa
Maria, San Joachin de Basosuca, Santa Cruz de Gaybanipitea, Quiburi,
Paraje de los Alamos, Cusac, Jiaspi, Muyva, Arivavia, Tutoyda, Comarsuta,
La Victoria (Busac and Tubo near-by), San Gregorio Taumaturgo, Casas
Grandes, Tusonimo, San Andres, past a tank or Algive, Santa Catarina de
Cuituabagu, Valle de Correa, San Agustin de Oiaur, San Xavier del Bac,
San Caietano del Tumagacori, Guevavi, Bacuancos, San Lazaro, Santiago de
Cocospora, Los Remedios, Dolores (compare names given by Bernal).
192 Manje shows that Humari's village was Victoria de Ojio, the last on
the river to the north. Both Kino and Venegas place it east of the river.
193 Manje gives the following picture of the Indian settlements in the San
Pedro valley: Santa Cruz de Gaybanipitea, a village of one hundred per-
sons, west of the river, contained twenty-five houses. They had irrigating
ditches and raised extensive crops. At Kino's request they had built a house
of adobe, beams, and terrado, and were tending for him about one hundred
cattle. A league below was Quiburi, home of Captain Coro, head Pima
chief. In great valleys they raised by irrigation large quantities of maize,
frijoles, and cotton, the last of which they used for clothing. Quiburi had
five hundred souls. Coro entertained the Spaniards in an earth-covered
house of adobe, built for the purpose. For twenty-five leagues down the
river all the villages had been abandoned within a year, on account of war
between Chiefs Coro and Humari. At the end of that stretch was Cusac, of
seventy souls, and two leagues beyond, Jiaspi, or Rosario, a village of one
hundred twenty persons and twenty-seven houses. Here they were met by Chief
Humari, who had already been baptized at Dolores. The visitors were re-
ceived in a specially prepared house of poles and reeds. Here as at Cusac
and elsewhere, plentiful crops were raised of calabashes, frijoles, maize, and
one] EUSEBIO FRANCISCO KINO, SJ. 171
Word of God and receiving good treatment offered us
many little ones to baptize. We gave many staffs of
justices, governors, and captains. In all parts they gave
us many of their eatables, and always there were pro-
visions enough and to spare, without the soldiers having
brought them from the presidio for so long a journey.
Nor did we ever find the least trace of the droves of
horses which so falsely had been charged to these in-
nocent Sobaipuris. For it was not they who had stolen
them,194 but the hostile Jocomes, Xanos, etc., a vindica-
tion as worthy of being known as it is plainly set forth
in the two long relations 195 of the two captains who
went on this expedition.
CHAPTER VII. ARRIVAL AT THE RIO GRANDE AND
CASA GRANDE AND THE RETURN TO NUESTRA
SE5JORA DE LOS DOLORES, HAVING TRAVELLED IN
GOING AND RETURNING MORE THAN
TWO HUNDRED AND SEVENTY
LEAGUES IN PIMERIA
Travelling always by the valleys of the Rio de Qui-
buri, we arrived at the Rio Grande, or Rio de Hila.
And following its bank and its very large Cottonwood
cotton, which was dextrously woven. Through the mediation of the Span-
iards, Coro and Humari now became reconciled. A league below Jiaspi
was Muyva and within the next six leagues four more villages, the last be-
ing Arivavia. The four aggregated five hundred persons living in one hun-
dred and thirty houses, made of poles and reeds, in the form of "dome and
gallery." Three leagues below was Tutoyda, of one hundred souls; three more
leagues brought them to Comarsuta, of eighty souls, and three to La Victoria
de Ojio, a village of three hundred and eighty persons, and home of chief
Humari. This was the last village before reaching the Gila, but off the
road and near by were Busac and Tubo, comprising eighty-five men. Thus,
in the valley below Santa Cruz lived more than two thousand people in
fourteen villages, chief of which were Quiburi and La Victoria, headquarters
of Coro and Humari, respectively. Compare Bernal's account.
194 Manje, Luz de Ticrra Incognita, libro ii, 53, also mentions the fact
that they saw no indications of horses.
195 He refers to the diaries and reports of Manje and Bernal.
172 MEMOIR OF PIMERIA ALTA [Vol.
groves, after travelling three days'196 journey to the
west, we arrived at the Casa Grande197 and its neigh-
boring rancherias. As we journeyed we always had on
the right hand198 and in sight, but on the other bank of
the river, the very extensive Apacheria. The soldiers
were much delighted to see the Casa Grande. We mar-
veled at seeing that it was about a league from the river
and without water; but afterward we saw that it had a
large aqueduct with a very great embankment, which
must have been three varas high and six or seven wide-
wider than the causeway of Guadalupe at Mexico.199
This very great aqueduct, as is still seen, not only con-
ducted the water from the river to the Casa Grande,
but at the same time, making a great turn, it watered
and enclosed a champaign many leagues in length and
breadth, and of very level and very rich land. With
ease, also, one could now restore and roof the house and
repair the great aqueduct for a very good pueblo, for
there are near by six or seven rancherias of Pimas
Sobaipuris200 all of whom in all places received us very
kindly, with crosses and arches erected and with many
of their eatables, and, with great pleasure to themselves,
gave us many little ones to baptize. On one occasion,
when several of our horses had been scattered and lost,
196 As a matter of fact, they were less than two full days, according to
Manje. On the sixteenth, after having reached the junction, they went three
leagues and camped ; on the seventeenth they went ten leagues ; on the
eighteenth, nine leagues to camp. Bernal gives the same report as to the
time, making the distance less.
197 Manje, entry for the eighteenth {Luz de Tierra Incognita, libro ii,
57) gives a detailed description of the Casas Grandes. The largest of these,
he says, was three stories high, except the principal room, which was four.
The walls were two feet thick.
198 Both Manje and Bernal make it clear that they journeyed some dis-
tance south of the river.
199 See Manje's description.
200 Manje describes a rancheria on both banks, a league away, numbering
one hundred and thirty souls. They were afraid of the horses and soldiers,
never having seen any before (Manje, Luz de Tierra Incognita, libro ii, 58).
one] EUSEBIO FRANCISCO KINO, S.J. 173
they at once went in search of them, nor did they give
up until they had collected them all for us.
We very promptly passed on by the rancheria of la
Encarnacion201 and arrived at that of San Andres,202
where the excellent Captain Juan de Palacios (who had
been at Santa Maria de Baseraca, travelling in going
and returning four hundred leagues) welcomed us with
all affection, and with so many arches and crosses that
they reached for more than two leagues. And, having
spoken at San Andres with some of the Cocomaricopas,
and even sent them messages that they might carry
them to the not very distant Moquis of New Mexico,
on the twenty-first of November, 1697, we began the
return to Nuestra Senora de los Dolores. We passed
by the great rancheria and great valley of San Xavier
del Bac,203 in which and its environs we saw and
counted more than six thousand people, all very do-
mestic and very friendly. We found and killed cattle,
sheep, and goats, and found even bread, fresh and very
201 Manje states that four leagues west of the Casa Grande they reached
the rancheria of Tusonimo, where there was a mound of mountain goat
horns like a hill, the goat being their common food. Manje estimated one
hundred thousand horns in the pile and two hundred souls in the village.
This is the rancheria which they called La Encarnacion (Manje, Luz de
Tierra Incognita, libro ii, 59; Bernal, Relacion, 12).
202 Leaving at Tusonimo (La Encarnacion) the horses and soldiers under
Barzelona, twelve soldiers went down stream seven leagues (Manje, Luz
de Tierra Incdgnita, libro ii, 59). Kino was still with them (Bernal, Re-
lacion, 12). Going seven leagues they came to the rancheria of San Andres,
where lived Juan de Palacios, who had gone with Kino to Bazeraca and been
baptized, being named in honor of the provincial of Mexico. Four hundred
persons lived here (Manje, Luz de Tierra Incognita, libro ii, 59).
203 Manje {Luz de Tierra Incognita, libro ii, 60) states that they started
home by way of Santa Catarina de Cuituabagu, La Valk de Correa, San
Agustin de Oiaur, San Xavier del Bac, Tumagacori, Guevavi, Bacuancos,
San Lazaro, Cocospera, Los Remedios, and thence to Dolores. Bernal gives
the same list except that he omits Bacuancos and San Lazaro. There is a
slight discrepancy also in the dates given by the two accounts. Manje {op.
cit., libro ii, 63), has them at Guevavi on the twenty-seventh, then passing
on to Bacuancos. Bernal has them in San Gayetano on the twenty-seventh,
and in Guevavi on the twenty-eighth.
174 MEMOIR OF PIMERIA ALTA [Vol.
good, which they baked for us in the new oven which I
had ordered at San Xavier del Bac. We arrived in
time to celebrate the Feast of San Francisco Xavier on
the third of December,204 in the church of Nuestra
Senora de los Dolores, with the chanting of mass and
many confessions and communions, etc., in thanksgiving
for so successful an entry, of which the captains and I
wrote in long relations of four or five sheets.205 This
entry was well received by all good men, because of the
abundant and very clear evidence which was thereby se-
cured as to whether the farthest Sobaipuris were good
or bad, friends or enemies, involved and culpable, or
innocent of the robberies and hostilities of this prov-
ince. The father provincial wrote a very fine letter, and
promised fathers for this Pimeria, and sent them; but
the usual obstacles were not lacking to delay every-
thing, or almost everything.
206
CHAPTER VIII. ANOTHER ENTRY TO THE WEST
WITH A FATHER AND THE SENOR LIEU-
TENANT OF THIS PIMERIA207
Of the fathers whom the father provincial sent us,
one was Father Gaspar de las Barillas,208 who came
204 According to Bernal they reached Dolores at 2 p.m. of December 2
(18). Manje says they arrived on December i, but the preceding paragraph
indicates that it was the second.
205 He clearly refers to Bernal's reports, which he and others signed.
206 Sommervogel lists a map of New Mexico by Kino dated 1697, which
may have been connected with this expedition. "Le P. Kino dressa en
1697 une carte du Nouveau-Mexique, d'apres la relation Ms. du P. Estevan
de Perea. De L'Isle s'en servit pour la sienne." (Mem. de Tre<v., 1703, p.
676). Sommervogel, Bibliotheque, vol. 4, cols. 1044-1045. Quoted by
Lowery, A Description List of Maps, p. 216.
207 The principal authorities for the events of this chapter, aside from the
present, are Manje, Luz de Tierra Incognita, libro ii, 6; Ortega, Apostolicos
A fanes, 270; Alegre, Historia, vol. iii, 89.
208Alegre {Historia, vol. iii, 89) states that Kino brought Barrillas back
with him in 1696. Manje (Luz de Tierra Incognita, libro ii, 46) implies the
same. But see ante, page 160.
one] EUSEBIO FRANCISCO KINO, S.J. 175
from Arispe to this mission of Nuestra Senora de los
Dolores at the end of January; and having solemnized
here the Feast of Candlemas, on February 3 209 we went
inland to the Soba nation to the westward, that his Rev-
erence might choose one of the three new posts, Tubu-
tama, Consepcion, or Tucubabia, where, in each place,
there were some beginnings of amission, some baptisms,
a house, cattle, crops ,etc. With us went the present
lieutenant of this Pimeria, Juan Ramos Sarmiento, and
his predecessor, Captain Juan Matheo Manje. In all
places we were received with all love and comfort, both
to the natives and to ourselves. Also, we counted more
than three thousand souls. Father Barrillas chose La
Consepcion as a good site for a mission, and returned
to Arispe for his baggage, etc., and to keep Holy Week
and supply himself with what the superiors ordered
given him. He entered La Consepcion in June, but be-
cause of certain pretended dangers, which have existed
neither then nor since, as the soldiers went in and as-
certained, he left in July and has not returned.
CHAPTER IX. THE HOSTILE HOCOMES AND XANOS
ATTACK COCOSPERA, AND BURN THE CHURCH
AND THE FATHER'S HOUSE210
The revolted Hocomes, Sumas, and Apaches, who,
ever since the uprising of the Xanos have been the
avowed enemies of this province of Sonora, after so
209 Ortega (Apostolicos A fanes, 270), says February 3, 1697, instead of
1698.
210 Accounts of this event are given in Kino's Breve Relation de la In-
signe Victoria; Manje, Luz de Tierra Incognita, cap. 5 (65-66); Ortega,
Apostolicos A fanes, 270-271 ; Alegre, Historia, vol. iii, ioo-ioi. References
are made to it in Kino's Colocasion de Nuestra Senora de los Remedios. It
is clear that both Alegre and Ortega used the Favores for their accounts.
Since writing the foregoing sentences I have acquired a report of the event
by Jironza to the viceroy, dated at San Juan Bautista, Sonora, May 16, 1698
(A.G.I. 67-3-28).
According to Bernal, on September 15, 1697, the Sobaipuris of the north-
176 MEMOIR OF PIMERIA ALTA [Vol.
many robberies, damages, and murders which they have
for so many years and so continuously perpetrated all
over the province and on its frontiers, on the twenty-
fifth of February, 1697,211 made an attack on Coco-
spora,212 at a time when the pueblo was without men,
for they had gone inland to barter maize; and al-
though one of the enemy was left dead, they killed two
Indian women, sacked the pueblo, burned it, the
church, and also the house of the father, who was de-
fended by the few natives who had remained. The en-
emy carried off some horses and all the small stock, and
retired to the hills. A few from Cocospera followed
him, but when he saw them coming he ambushed them
and killed nine of them. The garrison planned to make
an expedition inland, and we notified the natives that
east and of San Xavier del Bac attacked the Jocomes, killing four and taking
two children prisoners ; on October 26 they attacked the Jocomes and killed
thirteen ; and in December reconnoitered the country of the enemy (Relation
del Estado). It would seem that the attacks on Cocospera and Quiburi were
in retaliation for these Pima aggressions.
211 This date should be 1698, although Kino elsewhere gives it as 1697.
Kino correctly gives it as 1698 in his Breve Relation written May 3, 1698,
just after the event and in his Relation Diaria of 1698. Manje (Luz de
Tierra Incognita, libro ii, 65) gives the date 1698; Kino, in his Colocasion,
written in 1698, refers to the attack of September 15, 1697, as the first attack
of the Jocomes ; and refers to the subsequent fight of March 30, "de este
presente ano de 98" (2); Alegre erroneously gives the date as 1697; Ban-
croft gives the date 1698, but Ortega (Apostolicos A fanes, 270-271) careless-
ly follows Kino's Favores; Alegre tells of a previous attack on the pueblo of
Jesus Maria, but puts this event before the expedition of 1697 to the Gila
(Historia, vol. iii, 100). Jironza, reporting the event, gives the date as
March 30, 1698 (letter to viceroy, May 16, 1698. A.G.I. 67-3-28).
212 Manje (Luz de Tierra Incognita, libro ii, 83) in recounting this at-
tack on Cocospera, tells of Father Ruiz's brave resistance, aided by the Indian
governor, Juan Maria. According to him the enemy was three hundred
strong. He tells of the burning of the house but not of the church; he says
that the presidials and Pimas overtook the enemy in Sierra de Chiguicagui,
killed thirty, captured sixteen, and recovered some horses. Kino's account
gives a different impression. Manje adds that because of the burning of
the mission Father Ruiz and the neophytes abandoned it (Luz de Tierra In-
cdgnita, libro ii, 83).
one] EUSEBIO FRANCISCO KINO, SJ. 177
they should provide themselves with arms to accom-
pany the soldiers.213 In the meantime, while the enemy
was being despoiled of the supplies which he had
taken from Cocospera, he made an attack on the ranch-
eria of Santa Cruz de Quiburi, on the twenty-ninth of
March, day of the Feast of the Resurrection of our
Lord.
213 Kino, in his Breve Relation, mentions the same preparation for a cam-
paign. Jironza gives more detail. He tells (letter to viceroy, May 16,
1698) that he arranged to make a joint expedition with two hundred or
three hundred Pima allies, and was awaiting them, ready to set out, when
he heard the news of the victory of March 30, 1698.
BOOK VI. VICTORY OF THE PIMAS OVER
THE ENEMIES OF THIS PROVINCE OF
SONORA, THE HOCOMES, XANOS, SU-
MAS, MANSOS, AND APACHES
214
CHAPTER I. THE HOSTILE JOCOMES, XANOS, ETC.,
ATTACK THE RANCHERIA OF SANTA
CRUZ DE QUIBURI 215
March 30, i698.215a The avowed enemies, the
Hocomes, Sumas, Mansos, and Apaches, who between
great and small numbered about six hundred, persuad-
ing themselves that they could accomplish in Santa
Cruz del Rio de Quiburi what they had done the month
before in the pueblo of Cocospera, showed their arro-
gance by attacking the rancheria at daybreak on the
morning of March 30. They killed its captain and
two or three others, and forced them to retreat to their
fortification, which consisted of a house of adobe and
earth with embrasures.216 But the enemy, defending
themselves and covering themselves with many buck-
skins, approached the fortification, climbed upon its
214 For other accounts of this episode, see Kino, Breve Relation; Manje,
Luz de Tierra Incognita, 65-66; Ortega, Apostolicos A fanes, 270-271; Ban-
croft, North Mexican States, vol. i, 274; Alegre, Historia, vol. iii, 100-101
(under 1697, erroneously). A newly discovered source is Jironza's letter to
the viceroy, May 16, 1698 (A.G.I. 67-3-28).
215 Kino calls it Santa Cruz de Quiburi; Manje (Luz de Tierra Incognita,
libro ii, 65) Santa Cruz de Taybanipitca ; Alegre (Historia, vol. iii, 100)
Santa Cruz de Cuervo.
215a xhe text reads 1697, but this is a slip. See ante, page 176, footnote
211.
216 Manje states that this fortification was the adobe house built by the
Indians at the instance of the Spaniards- evidently since Kino's visit in 1697
(op. cit.). Kino, in his Breve Relation, states that they "retreated to their
corral and fortification of adobe y terrado."
EUSEBIO FRANCISCO KINO, S.J. 179
roof, destroying and burning it, and with a shot killed
one man,217 for they had one of the arquebuses which
on other occasions they had taken from the soldiers.
They sacked and burned the rancheria, killed three
cattle and three mares of the ranch which I had here,
and began to roast and stew meat and beans, and to
parch and grind maize for their pinole, both the men
and the women, who had all fought as equals, consider-
ing themselves as already quite victorious.
CHAPTER II. CAPTAIN CORO WITH HIS PIMAS
OF QUIBURI COMES TO THE RESCUE, AND THEY
KILL MORE THAN THREE HUNDRED HOSTILE
JOCOMES, MANSOS, SUMAS, AND APACHES
But meantime the news reached the neighboring
rancheria of Quiburi, which is a league and a half from
Santa Cruz, and immediately its captain, called El
Coro, came to the rescue with his brave people, together
with other Pimas who had come from the west to barter
for maize, and who contributed to the fortunate out-
come of the event,218 for they were supplied with the
arms which we had bidden them to provide to go on the
expedition with the soldiers of the presidio. The cap-
tain of the enemy, called El Capotcari,219 proposed -for
with Captain Coro came many Pimas- that they should
fight, ten on one side and ten on the other. Captain
Coro accepted the proposal, and selected ten Pimas,
217 Manje says that they killed three Pimas. Kino accounts for four or
five dead. Jironza says that four were killed and ten wounded.
218 Manje says that five hundred came to the rescue of Quiburi, where
they had gathered to go with the soldiers in a campaign against the enemy,
doubtless the campaign referred to by Jironza. Kino {Breve Relacion) says
that they came "From the environs of San Javier del Bac." When near the
Gila in October, 1698, Kino learned that the chief of San Bonifacio, whom
he met, had been, with his braves, among those who aided in the victory at
Quiburi (Relacion Diaria).
219 Alegre gives the name "Capoteari."
i8o MEMOIR OF PIMERIA ALTA [Vol.
while Captain Capotcari selected ten others, the most
valiant of all he had. Five were Apaches, as was also
one of the other five.
They began shooting their arrows, and, as the Pimas
are very dexterous in shooting and also in parrying the
arrows of their adversaries, and as the Apaches, al-
though dexterous in shooting arrows and with the lance,
are not dexterous in parrying the arrows, five Pimas
soon wounded the five Apaches who were their antag-
onists, as did four other Pimas their adversaries, the
Hocomes and Xanos. Captain Capotcari was very
skillful in catching the arrows, but his opponent, a
valiant Pima, grappled with him and, struggling, threw
him to the ground and beat his head with stones.220
Thereupon all the rest of the enemy began to flee, and
the Pimas followed them through all those woods and
hills for more than four leagues, killing and wounding
more than three hundred, of whom fifty-odd221 re-
mained dead and stretched out nearby, and the rest, as
they were wounded with the poisonous herb, died along
220Manje does not tell this remarkable tale, nor, strangely enough, does
Kino tell it in his Breve Relacion, written May 3-October 25, especially to re-
port the event. Kino's account therein of the victory is as follows: "And
having conferred mouth to mouth with the principal captain of the hostile
Jocomes, called Copotiari (Capotcari), said Copotiari said that Captain Coro
and all his Pima men were not men but women ; that the Spaniards with
whom he had been joined by the padres were not brave; that he frequently
had killed many of them and of the soldiers likewise. Thereupon the Pimas
became so angered that a valiant fellow came up and knocked him down and
pounded him, and the rest proceeded with like valor. They pursued their
companions more than two leagues, killing them, so that there escaped only
six, who were riding as many horses belonging to Cocospera." Jironza tells
the story of the individual combat, much as Kino gives it here in the
Favores (Letter to viceroy, May 16, 1698).
221 Manje (Luz de Tierra Incognita, libro ii, 66) says that sixty enemies
were killed and one hundred sixty-eight died of poisoned arrows. Jironza
says that thirty-two men and twenty-two women were killed, and many
wounded, all of whom would die, "because of our knowledge of the very
strong poison from the herb with which they prepare their arrows."
one] EUSEBIO FRANCISCO KINO, S.J. 181
the trails. The remainder, about three hundred, went
after this ill fortune, and from fear of the Pimas, as
they confessed, to ask and to offer peace in the presidio
of Xanos to Senor General Juan Fernandez de la
Fuente, in El Passo, New Mexico,222 to Maestre de
Campo223 Luys Granillo, and in the pueblo of Socorro,
as the letters and authentic reports from there attested.
And there have remained still in revolt only sixteen
braves and twenty-seven non-combatants.
224
CHAPTER III. THE REPORTS OF THIS VICTORY
WERE WELL RECEIVED IN ALL PARTS, AND
IN THE REAL DE SAN JUAN WITH
RINGING OF BELLS 225
Captain Coro and the natives informed me immedi-
ately of the occurrence by a messenger, sending me the
news and the count of the dead on a long stick. By an-
other messenger I advised the Senor military command-
er and other fathers and seculars in the Real de San
Juan and in other parts, of the fortunate event, and
they responded with great joy and pleasure. The Senor
military commander said that this victory would serve
for the complete relief of all the province ; and he agreed
to give the presents which his Lordship two months
before had promised these Pimas if they would strike a
good blow. The father visitor wrote that he was giving
222 Manje (Luz de Tierra Incognita, libro ii, 66) says that the Janos
separated from the Apache to make peace at El Paso.
223 A militia officer of superior rank commanding a division of troops.
Compare the French mestre de camp, a colonel of infantry or cavalry. The
maestre de campo was a common official on the northern frontier in the sev-
enteenth and eighteenth centuries.
224 De Chusma. "Muchedumbre de familias de Indios, excepto los hom-
bres de guerra, 6 sea conjunto de mujeres, ninos, y viejos que componen una
tolderia 6 campamento de Indios." I.e. non-combatants.
225 This chapter is in part almost an exact copy of Kino's Breve Relacion
of May 3, 1698.
182 MEMOIR OF PIMERIA ALTA [Vol.
a thousand thanks to his Divine Majesty for the very
fortunate event. The father rector of Matape dedi-
cated a mass and a solemn feast to the Most Holy Trin-
ity for the good fortune. The Senor lieutenant of the
Real de San Juan226 said: "To your Reverence and to
all the province I give hearty congratulations for so
happy a victory of the natives; and here we are all
felicitating both our Lord and Most Holy Mary, and
ringing the bells for it." Captain Pedro Garzia de
Almazan gave thanks on his own behalf and on behalf
of the citizens of the Real de San Juan and of the Real
de Nacosari; and he offered227 and gave presents for
those Pimas, as did also the father rector of Matape,
Father Juan Munos de Burgos, and Captain Francisco
de Escarsega.
Nevertheless, the opposition of those ill disposed
could not fail, as the letter of a certain prominent per-
son indicates, in these words: "We are greatly rejoiced
at the good news and the victory of the Pimas, and that
the excellence of their work may be seen and the lie be
given to many opponents who calumniated them with
falsehoods." Whereupon, I called the Senor lieutenant
of this Pimeria to draw up the certificate and legalized
investigation of what had happened. I went in the
fifty leagues to Santa Cruz de Quiburi, and on the
twenty-third of April we viewed the dead bodies of the
enemy. We encountered the twenty-two soldiers who
also, because of the incredulous, had come in, by way
of Terrenate, and who were actually investigating the
226 Antonio Morales. (See Kino, Breve Relacion).
227 They offered five hundred pesos in clothing (Kino, Breve Relacion).
Jironza tells us that before this victory, through his lieutenant and "Padre
Quino" he had promised the Pimas two thousand pesos in clothing, and that
he would gladly keep his promise now, since a campaign would cost more
than that amount in pinole, meat, and tobacco (letter of May 16, 1698).
one] EUSEBIO FRANCISCO KINO, SJ. 183
above mentioned and contradicted deaths. We saw and
counted fifty-four corpses nearby, thirty-one of men,
and twenty-three of women. The natives gave us va-
rious spoils, which we brought away with us, among
them an arquebus, powder, and balls, a leathern jacket,
buffalo and deer skins, bows and arrows, and scalps of
the above mentioned enemies. Of the Pima natives in
the rancheria of Santa Cruz five died, and nine were
wounded but recovered.228
228 This paragraph is taken directly from Kino's Breve Relacidn. Manje
(Luz de Tierra Incognita, libro ii, 66) states that it was Alferez Juan de
Escalante, who, with Manje and twenty soldiers, went to certify to the deaths.
He states that for seven leagues they followed the battle-march, counting six-
ty dead, and that it was reported that one hundred and sixty-eight died of poi-
soned arrows. He says nothing of Kino's part in spreading the news nor of
his going to count the dead. Jironza tells us that he sent Escalante with
twenty-five men to view the signs of the victory and to enlist the Pimas to
pursue the enemy. The Pimas made excuses, and he did not urge them,
since there were "recent allies" (letter of May 16, 1698). Kino took ad-
vantage of the victory above recounted to appeal for ten or twelve new
missionaries. Indeed, this was the purpose for which the Breve Relacidn
was written.
184 MEMOIR OF PIMERIA ALTA [Vol.
CHAPTER IV. ANOTHER GREAT EXPEDITION TO
THE COAST OF THE SEA OF CALIFORNIA, IN WHICH
ARE DISCOVERED AND REDUCED MORE THAN FOUR
THOUSAND NEW PIMA INDIANS, WHO GIVE US
FOUR HUNDRED AND THIRTY-FIVE
INFANTS TO BAPTIZE 229
This journey,230 or mission, I relate in the letter which
I wrote to the father visitor, and is as follows :
My Father Visitor Oracio Polise, Pax Christi:
In obedience to your Reverence's charge that I should
229 The principal original authorities for this first exploration of a route
through southwestern Arizona have been: Kino, Relasion Diaria de la En-
trada al nortueste of which the editor discovered the original (see "Bibliog-
raphy") ; Kino, Carta del Padre Eusevio Kino al Padre visitador H oracio
Polici acerca de una entrada al Noroeste (see "Bibliography"). This letter
is almost identical with the one copied by Kino in the present chapter, and,
although the latter is dated October 20, yet there can be little doubt but
that it should be the eighteenth. Bancroft did not have access to the diary,
and asserted that it was not extant, this being another example of an un-
forunate tendency of that author, who seemed to think that he had all the
material that could ever be assembled. He says: "accompanied by Captain
Diego Carrasco instead of Mange, an unfortunate substitute for the his-
torical student, as the original diary is not extant" {North Mexican States
and Texas, vol. i, 266) ; again: "but unfortunately, Manje's place was taken
by Captain Carrasco, and no particulars affecting Arizona are extant"
{Arizona and New Mexico, 357). Alegre {Historia, vol. iii, 103-104) used
Kino's diary, and Ortega {Apostolicos A fanes, 272-273) summarizes the
Favor es, but does not use the diary, for which Alegre criticises him {op. cit.).
Bancroft draws a wrong inference from the date October 20, copied by
Ortega from the letter of October 18. He says of the letter of the eighteenth:
"This is a hasty letter written before he had time to copy his regular diary,
which was sent on October twentieth" {North Mexican States, vol. i, 266).
It seems improbable that Kino would have sent two identical letters two
days apart. As a matter of fact, the copy of the diary contained at the
back of the Luz de Tierra Incognita, libro, i, is dated December 8, 1698.
This copy was used by Bandelier as early as 1890, but he evidently did not
study Kino's route carefully. (See Final Report, vol. i, in). The editor
was the discoverer of the original of the diary, and is the first to make
extensive use of it.
Not only has the original of Kino's diary been recovered, but, still further
230 Bancroft follows Kino, Carta, October 18; Ortega, Apostolicos A fanes,
272-274; Alegre, Historia Compania de Jesus, vol. iii, 203-204 (Alegre saw
Kino's diary) ; Venegas, Noticia, vol. ii, 91-92; Lockman, Travels, vol. i, 355.
one] EUSEBIO FRANCISCO KINO, S.J. 185
go inland to the exploration of the northwest coast and
the disemboguement of the Rio Grande into the Sea of
California, in order to report to the father provincial
and his Excellency, who command that the new con-
versions be encouraged and that a hand be given 2:L to
Father Juan Maria Salvatierra by way of northwest, I
went in, travelling in going and returning more than
three hundred leagues. I took with me Captain Diego
Carrasco, present lieutenant of this Pimeria, who also
gives an account of what has happened and been seen,
to the Senor alcalde mayor and military commander of
this province.232 And now that I have just arrived with
setting aside Bancroft's view, the editor has recently secured a diary of the
expedition kept by Carrasco, together with Jironza's instructions to Carrasco
and his report to the viceroy. These new materials constitute an expediente
in the Archivo de Indias (67-3-28). They comprise (a) a report by
Jironza to the viceroy on May 16, 1698, recounting the Pima victory of
March 30; (b) Jironza's instructions to Captain Diego Carrasco, September
15, 1698 (he was expressly instructed to hunt for a quicksilver mine reported
to be in the Sobaipuris nation, to give staves of office to the chiefs, and not
to leave Kino till he should be restored to his mission) ; (c) Carrasco's
official diary, called Diario fecho, etc., a close copy or pharaphrase of Kino's
diary; (d) a report by Carrasco to Jironza, dated at Dolores, October 18,
and giving a brief account of the expedition; (e) a report by Jironza to the
viceroy, recounting the expedition, San Juan Baptista, March 8, 1699; (f) a
dictamen fiscal concerning the matter by Lie. Baltazar de Tobar, Mexico,
October 19, 1699.
231 This phrase corrects a mistake in the Memorias version of the Carta
of October 18. That reads "y se le demonsro al P. Juan Maria," etc. This
and the Relasion Diaria read "y se le de mano al Pe. Ju. Maria," etc. In
the Relasion Diaria Kino states that the journey was made in obedience to a
letter by Visitor Polici to Father Mora, rector, and transmitted to Kino, who
incorporates part of Father Mora's letter. Kino notes that for some months
he had been in poor health, but, nevertheless, he assembled the necessary
outfit and set out with twenty-five horses. Forty had been sent ahead five
days before to Bac and twenty others were to set out ten days afterward
for Caborca, to meet them for the return journey.
232 Domingo Jironza Petris de Cruzat. It is interesting to note the
slightly differing emphasis of Kino and Jironza (who were the best of
friends) in speaking of the aims of the expedition. In his instructions to
Carrasco (September 15, 1698, A.G.I., 67-3-28) Jironza recites that "Quino"
has reported that he is "about to make a journey to explore the Rio Grande
186 MEMOIR OF PIMERIA ALTA [Vol.
all prosperity, thanks be to the Lord, while I am mak-
ing a fair copy of the daily relation, with its map,233 I
report to your Reverence how, on the twenty-second of
September, day of the most holy name of Most Holy
Mary, we set out from this pueblo of Nuestra Senora
de los Dolores with the governor of this place and seven
other persons, my servants, and with more than sixty
pack animals, going inland toward the north and north-
west234 to the Rio and Casa Grande, a journey of more
than one hundred leagues.235 In the rancheria of La
Encarnacion, that of San Andres, and in those nearby,
we were received with all kindness, with crosses and
arches erected, and with many of their eatables, by more
than one thousand souls, men and women. In the
rancheria of San Andres there came to render us obedi-
ence the Opas236 and Cocomaricopas, who are a people
of very distinct dress, features, and language,237 though
connected by marriage with the Pimas, and very affable
and its disemboguement into the California Sea." Therefore, since the
journey is through hostile country Carrasco is ordered to go to assist Kino,
keep a diary, give Saints' names to the Indian villages, count the inhabitants,
make note of water supply and distances, appoint and give bastones of office
to governors of the villages, "and especially" to do his best to discover the
quicksilver mine reported among the Sobaipuris.
233 I have not seen this map, nor have I seen any other mention of it.
234 Kino's Carta has it "Norte y Noreste."
235 The Relasion Diaria gives the following itinerary: Dolores, Los
Remedios, San Lazaro, Bacoancos, Guebavi, San Cayetano, San Xavier del
Bac, San Augustin del Oyaut, San Clemente, Santa Catalina del Caitoabagum,
the Algive (tank), Encarnacion (on the Gila) ; San Andres, San Angelo del
Botum, San Bonifacio del Coati y del Sibuoidag, San Francisco del Adid,
Anagam, Cubit tubig and Gaga near-by), San Serafin, three unnamed
villages, Nuestra Senora de la Merced del Batqui, or Bat Ki (Baggibuributa
or Babgiturituto and Ooteam near-by), San Rafael del Actum Grande,
San Marcelo del Sonoidag, San Serguio, Santa Brigida, toward the sea,
up Cerro de Santa Brigida (Santa Clara), San Marcelo, San Luis
Bertrando del Bacapa, San Eduardo del Baipia, Caborca, San Diego del Pit-
quin, Santa Teresa del Addi, Tubutama (here Kino received a letter from
Captain Bernal), Tuputi, Magdalena, Dolores, reached October 18.
236 The Opas are not mentioned in the Carta.
237 This passage corrects the Carta, which says : "Que es gente de mas
instinto y mejor semblante y trage como en su h'idioma, pero muy afable."
one] EUSEBIO FRANCISCO KINO, S.J. 187
and docile. They desire to be Christians like the Pimas.
We comforted them, giving them a captain, a governor,
and a fiscal mayor, good hopes of salvation,238 and
friendly messages for all their nation, etc.
Afterward we set out for the south, the southwest,
and the west, going about eighty leagues,239 and, arriv-
ing at the Sea of California, under the lee of the estuary
of the Rio Grande we found a very good port or bay in
thirty-two degrees' latitude, with fresh water and tim-
ber. It must be the port which the ancient geographers
called the Puerto de Santa Clara.240 Its entrance
trends from southwest to northeast, and it has a moun-
tain chain to the west. We came from the Rio Grande
to La Consepcion, reconnoitering the whole northwest
coast, which is more than ninety241 leagues long, from
north to south, and has more than forty rancherias,
great and small together, all the people so friendly, so
docile, and so affable, that in all places they received us
in houses made ready, with crosses and arches erected,
giving us many of their very plentiful pitajayas, and
hares, deer, rabbits, etc., from their hunts, and with
much rejoicing, feasts, dances, and songs by day and by
night. We counted in these rancherias more than four
thousand persons, and they gave us to baptize four hun-
dred and thirty-five little ones, for the most of whom
Captain Diego Carrasco was godfather. In the single
rancheria of San Francisco del Adid,242 to which we
The Relation Diaria says: "vimos como el traje hasi en los tnugeres y la
lengua es mui diferente de la de los pimas."
238 Lacking from the Carta.
239 Several words here omitted from the Carta.
240 Adair Bay. Lumholtz (op. cit., 197) remarks that although the
Jesuits were the first to open the trail from Sonoita to the Gila, "there is
no evidence to show that they ever traversed the country to the south of
it, at least west of Sonoita." My map shows, however, that Kino made
four journeys into the Sierra del Pinacate (Santa Clara) region over the
very trails followed two hundred and ten years later by Lumholtz.
241 The Carta has it "ochenta."
242 The Carta has it "Assis," manifestly a mistake.
188 MEMOIR OF PIMERIA ALTA [Vol.
gave the name of this most glorious patriarch and great
patron, San Francisco Xavier,242a inasmuch as in it on
the fourth of October we kept his holy day, they gave us
after the mass of the saint one hundred and two little
ones to baptize.
In the afternoon we went two243 leagues farther, to
another rancheria, which we named San Seraphin, and
they gave us to baptize sixty-five other little ones.
From there, passing by La Merced del Batqui and San
Raphael del Actum, a journey of about thirty-two
leagues to the west,244 we arrived at San Marzelo del
Sonoidag, a post very suitable for a great settlement, be-
cause it has very good pastures and rich lands, with
their irrigation ditches, and with water which runs to
the port above mentioned, from which it is only twenty
leagues by very level road. From San Marzelo I dis-
patched very friendly messages to the north. In this
entry we gave more than forty staves of captains, gov-
ernors, alcaldes, and fiscals.245 We came by way of La
Consepcion, passing at fifteen leagues southward from
San Marzelo the rancheria of Bacapa, whither came
the very Reverend Father Fray Marcos de Niza in his
apostolic peregrination, and where he had reports,
which he puts in his book, of the Seven Cities to the
north and northeast.
After about forty leagues' journey we reached La
242a Evidently a mistake for "Asis," a9 Oct. 4 is the feast of St. Francis
of Asisi.
243 The Relasion Diaria gives this as three leagues.
244 Most of these place names are omitted from the Carta. The Relasion
Diaria does not give the direction at this point.
245 Kino fails to mention a journey which he made at this time from
Sonoita west. On October 8 they left Sonoita for the Gulf. On the way they
passed San Sergio, and reached Santa Brigida, a village near the Gulf coast.
On the ninth they climbed the near-by mountain of Santa Brigida or Santa
Clara, and viewed the Gulf. On the tenth they returned to San Sergio and
San Marcelo {Relasion Diaria).
one] EUSEBIO FRANCISCO KINO, S.J. 189
Consepcion, and twenty-two leagues to the eastward we
came to El Tubutama, in each of which places there
are cattle, sheep and goats, wheat, maize, and a house
of adobe for the fathers whom they hope to obtain.
For this these natives as well as those of Tucubabia and
those of San Luys supplicate and pray very fervently,
tending the crops for that purpose. And I, for the
ease of my conscience, commend them strongly to the
fatherly protection of your Reverence, that you may be
pleased to contribute to their receiving this full and
only means of their eternal salvation. It has been an
especial comfort to us that I have been able to say mass
every day therefor, although many days we travelled
twenty and twenty-two leagues, on account of the good
pastures, good roads, good pack-animals, and super-
abundant provisions, all these natives guiding and ac-
companying us with all love, and, if the occasion de-
manded, coming to meet us with many jars of water
many leagues' journey. Nuestra Senora de los Dolores,
Oct. 20, 1698. Your Reverence's humble servant,
Eusevio Francisco Kino.246
CHAPTER V. OPINIONS AND REPORTS RECEIVED IN
REGARD TO THE ABOVE-MENTIONED
HAPPY ENTRY
The entry which I have just related was the occasion
of the greatest comfort to Father Visitor Oracio Palise
and to the military commander;247 and they, like many
246 At the end of his Relasion Diaria Kino wrote a several page report
entitled Del estado, gracias al Seiior, Pasifico y quieto de esta dilatada
Pimeria y de la Prova. de Sonora, 1698 a. It is an emphatic refutation of
the charges that the Pimas are hostile and that the population of Pimeria
Alta is small. By actual figures he shows that the population of the explored
parts was more than sixteen thousand. He closes by saying that Pimeria
Alta will be able to aid in converting California, "the largest island in the
world."
247 In his report of March 8, 1699, to the viceroy, Jironza emphasized
the importance of the victory of March 30, the great number of Indians en-
190 MEMOIR OF PIMERIA ALTA [Vol.
others, expressed their gratification thereat in long and
very fine letters. Especially rejoiced at this entry were
the fathers of California, who, on seeing this coast al-
ready so well subdued, determined with the other con-
querors of California to ascend higher; and their rev-
erences afterward wrote me the two letters given here.
Father Juan Maria Salvatierra speaks thus:
Quod felix faustum fortunatumque sit.2i8 Much have I re-
joiced and much has Father Francisco Maria Picolo rejoiced in
the new, glorious entry from the Rio Grande ; and we are desir-
ous of knowing whether from that new coast which your Rever-
ence traversed California may be seen, and what sign there is on
that side whether this narrow sea is landlocked. We and all
the people of this camp are pleased, and all salute your Rever-
ence. I have just now received two letters from your Reverence,
the first being dated October 21, shortly after you had returned
from your apostolic journey in this direction. Over here, if
we had not already entered and set foot on this land we know
not what next.
But this now depends on nothing but following up the advan-
tage gained, there being Christmas already. I tell your
Reverence this that you may not be cast down with contradic-
tions and rumors. As for the map, it will be made by Father
Francisco Maria in August, after a voyage of discovery has been
made in the boats as far as latitude thirty-five degrees or a little
higher. I should greatly rejoice if your Reverence would come
on this voyage of discovery, for thus you could disembark on the
Rio Grande, by coming here after the harvest and the ingather-
ing of the wheat. Your Reverence might embark at Hyaqui,249
and upon your arrival here we should all set sail, your Rever-
ence, Sebastian Romero, and one of us, with twelve soldiers, and
countered in the last journey, and the desire of the Sobaipuris for mission-
aries. The fiscal, Tobar, on October 16 recommended that Kino be asked fof
more explicit reports regarding the need of missionaries (A.G.I. 67-3-28).
248 "May it be happy, joyful, and fortunate." This is a common formula,
e.g. Quod bonum, faustum, fortunatumque esset (Cic. Div. I, 45, 102) ; Ut
nobis haec habitatio Bona, fausta, felix, fortunataque eveniat (Plaut. Trin.
ii 2, 3).
249 Yaqui.
one] EUSEBIO FRANCISCO KINO, S.J. 191
we should sail well up this coast, after going up to thirty-six
degrees on the coasts of the Pimeria.
It has rained much here all this winter, and this whole land
is as fragrant as a sweet-smelling garden ; and if there had been
lands prepared, much seed could have been sown, and all would
have brought forth fruit; but one can not do everything. I
thank your Reverence for your kindness to this your mission. I
have been greatly pleased to learn of the placing of the image
of Our Lady of Remedies in her pueblo so persecuted ; and in-
deed I am moved to tenderness on reading of it. This Lady is
to be the remedy for everything. With this I close, beseeching
you not to forget me in your holy prayers and holy sacrifices.
Loreto Concho, March 28, 1699. From your Reverence's ser-
vant in Christ. Juan Maria Salvatierra.
Father Francisco Maria Picolo writes thus:
May His Divine Majesty preserve for me my well beloved
Father Eusevio Francisco Kino many happy years, multiplied in
the glorious progress of your work of conversion. With the
greatest pleasure I have read of the entry which your Reverence
made from the Rio Grande, skirting by land the coast of the
strait of our California, and I give your Reverence a thousand
congratulations. In the name of Jesus may you snatch from the
devil all those souls, and in spite of all hell, Ylluminareiis qui in
tenebris et in umbra mortis sedent.250 By hearing of your heroic
deeds I in my humility am encouraged to do something for the
greater glory of the Lord, whom I pray to grant your Reverence
many happy Easters. I hope on another and more favorable
occasion to write your Reverence at greater length, reporting to
you in detail the state of things here, which, because they are
under the protection of our Lady 251 are prospering. Cheer me,
your Reverence, with your most welcome news, for as soon as
the ships arrive we shall try to go to the port which your Rever-
ence discovered ; and in the Holy Sacrifices do not forget this
your useless servant and brother, Loreto Concho, March 27,
1699. Your Reverence's humble servant and brother.
Francisco Maria Picolo.
250 "To enlighten them that sit in darkness and in the shadow of death"
(Luke, i, 79. llluminare his qui in tenebris et in umbra mortis sedent). Kino
doubtless quotes from memory here.
251 Our Lady of Loreto.
i92 MEMOIR OF PIMERIA ALTA [Vol.
Thus far the fathers of California. But the accus-
tomed contradiction and opposition, delayer and hin-
derer of the coming of the fathers, were not lacking.
Although from their beginnings the reports to Mexico
and Parral had been favorable, now those ill-disposed
sent other and very contrary reports, which made it im-
possible to send the fathers necessary, according to the
accounts which from Mexico have been written to me of
the opposition and these false and very hostile stories.
They were to the effect that the Cocomaricopas and
other new nations of the Rio Grande, to the westward
of La Encarnacion and San Andres, and of the Rio
Colorado to the northwest, whither we did not pene-
trate, were so barbarous and such cannibals that they
roasted and ate people, and they added other unheard
of chimeras.
But our Lord willed that in another entry, even
greater than that related -the next chapter tells of it- a
few months afteiward, we found, passing through all
those rancherias, everything quite the contrary, and the
greatest affability and friendship on the part of all those
natives, without the least trace, sign, or indication of
such or so falsely pretended roastings of people. And
our happiness in the face of such false reports was that
we had left in San Andres, as in San Marzelo, very
good messages or talks for all the new nations farther
on, asking them to advise me whether they wished me
to come to see them, and saying that all would be for
their good. And as a few weeks afterward there came
to me from all parts most friendly replies and invita-
tions and prayers that I should go to see them, and
speak to them of their eternal salvation, having com-
municated these things to the father visitor, I deter-
mined to make another entry or mission, and to pene-
trate much farther than hitherto.
one] EUSEBIO FRANCISCO KINO, S.J. 193
CHAPTER VI. ANOTHER GREAT ENTRY, IN WHICH
ARE DISCOVERED MORE THAN EIGHTY LEAGUES OF
LANDS AND NEW PEOPLES; FROM THE RIO GRANDE
THE RIO AZUL IS SIGHTED; DETAILED INFOR-
MATION IS SECURED IN REGARD TO THE
VERY POPULOUS AND VERY LARGE RIO
COLORADO NEAR-BY; AND THE NEW
YUMA NATION IS REDUCED252
February 7, 1699. In order to effect a clear refuta-
tion and dispersion of the calumny which had been
raised against those new nations of the Rio Grande,
etc., and having gone to the Real de San Juan to secure
from the alcalde mayor a lieutenant who could give an
authenticated report of everything,253 on February 7 we
began this entry, the Serlor Lieutenant Juan Matheo
Manje, Father Adamo Gilg, and I, with some servants
and more than ninety pack animals.254 We entered by
the northwest to San Marzelo del Sonoidag,255 where a
252 A full diary account of this expedition is given by Manje in Luz de
Tierra Incdgnita, libro ii, cap. 6, entitled Relacion diaria q hice con
los R. Padres Eusebio Franco. Kino y Adamo Gilg Jesuitas pr. el norueste a
descubrir los Caudalos[os] Rios Colorado, y Jila, y Naciones Pimas, Yumas y
Cocomaricopas en q sitan sus Pueblos, desde 7 de febrero asta catorce de
Marzo de i6qq de 380 leguas de yda y buelta, Campana de los Soldados, pp.
66-84. Brief accounts are in Bancroft, North Mexican States and Texas, vol.
i, 269-271; Bancroft, Arizona and Neiv Mexico, 357. Ortega, Apostolicos
A fanes, 282-285; Alegre, Hisloria de la Compahia de Jesus, vol. iii, 117-118.
In his report of March 8, 1699, to the viceroy, Jironza states that Manje
went in February to the Colorado where the quicksilver mines had been re-
ported (A.G.I. 67-3-28).
253 According to Manje the missionaries asked General Jironza, com-
mander of the Compania Volante of Sonora, and Captain Ruiz de Avechuco,
alcalde mayor of Sonora, for the services of Manje. Manje left the Real de
San Juan Bautista, "capital" of the province, on January 6, 1699, with title of
teniente de alcalde mayor y capitan a guerra. Traveling the forty leagues
intervening, he arrived at Dolores on January 9. The departure thence was
delayed by rains (Luz de Tierra Incognita, libro ii, 67).
254 Manje [ibid., 67) says "eight loads of provisions, eighty horses, and
vestments for saying mass."
255 Manje gives the details. On the seventh they crossed the Sierra del
Comedio, ten leagues, to San Ygnacio Caborica, where Campos was sta-
tioned; on the eighth, three leagues to Santa Magdalena de Buquivaba, thence
194 MEMOIR OF PIMERIA ALTA [Vol.
new ranch was begun, with thirty-six head of cattle
which I ordered sent ahead for the fathers of Cali-
fornia, if perchance they should go up to the near-by
port of Santa Clara.256 Passing very near it, we entered
upon the more than forty leagues of coast and new road
between there and the mouth of the Rio Grande257 and
its confluence with the Rio Colorado. By the natives
whom we found along this road we were received with
all love. We spent the twenty-second of February, the
day of the Chair of St. Peter in Antioch, on the Rio
Grande, whither more than fifty natives, Pimas, Yumas,
Opas, and Cocomaricopas, had gathered; and we
named the post and rancheria San Pedro, as another
rancheria lower down was named San Pablo.258
And because eighty leagues farther to the east, on this
past Tupo to the Laguna del Tupo, nine leagues for the day. Here they
found flax (lino) growing. On the ninth, twelve leagues to San Pedro del
Tubutama. Since the revolt the Indians here had not had a pastor but
Campos visited them annually. On the tenth, seventeen leagues to Saric, then
past Busanic, and three leagues more to Tucubavia. Here and in the vicin-
ity of Tubutama there were two thousand Indians suitable for a good mission.
On the eleventh, ten leagues west to El Guvo Verde, so called because of a
tank of rain water used by the Indians. On the twelfth, five leagues west to
the clear spring of Santa Eolalia, with a village near by. Here they were
shown a great cave, formerly inhabited by a giant, which Manje describes
with great vividness. Four leagues more to a small tank. On the thirteenth,
five leagues to a flowing stream near a high, square Penasco, visible for
eighteen leagues like a castle. They called it Noah's Ark. Five more
leagues to an arroyo. Sonoita was reached on the sixteenth.
256 The chief here was made governor, and he and others went with the
party as guides. Setting out on the seventeenth, they passed Carrizal,
then twenty leagues to Aguaje de la Luna; twelve leagues to another good
aguaje; fifteen leagues to Las Tinajas; six leagues to the Rio Grande,
reached on the twenty-first (Manje, Luz de Tierra Incognita, libro ii, 71 et seq.
257 The Gila River.
258 Manje gives a long description of the Indians at this point {Luz de
Tierra Incognita, libro ii, 72 et seq.). The Opas and Cocomaricopas are
identical with the Maricopas, who still live with and below the Pimas, on
the Gila River. They call themselves Pipasje, but are called Maricopa by
the Pimas. In the nineteenth century they moved up the Gila on account of
wars with their kindred, the Yumas. See Hodge, Handbook, part i, 805-806.
one] EUSEBIO FRANCISCO KIXO, S.J. i£5
same river, close to La Encarnacion and Casa Grande,
there was the rancheria of San Andres, afterwards, at
the suggestion of Father Adamo, giving other rancherias
the names of the other holy apostles, this Rio Grande
we named Rio de los Santos Apostoles. To this it may
be added that all its inhabitants are fishermen, and have
many nets and other tackle with which they fish all the
year, sustaining themselves with the abundant fish and
with their maize, beans, and calabashes, etc. These
people so new, of very different dress, customs, and
languages, all received us with the utmost friendship,
affection, and pleasure on their part and ours, their
chiefs coming out to meet us more than a league's jour-
ney, giving us afterward of their eatables, etc. We
preached to them the word of God in the Pima lan-
guage, and, with an interpreter, in the language of the
Cocomaricopas, which is that spoken by the Opas and
the Yumas. It was well received, and they would have
given us many little ones to baptize, but we accepted
and baptized only a few sick persons. We informed our-
selves in regard to the rancherias and people farther to
the north, northeast, and northwest, and of the very
populous Rio Colorado near-by, which is even larger
than the Rio Grande, and they told us that the Yumas,
Cutganes, and Alchedomas259 came next in order. We
dispatched Christian messages and talks in all direc-
tions and occasionally some little gifts and gewgaws;
and already here in Nuestra Sefiora de los Dolores I
have received very friendly replies, in which they call
me to go to treat of their eternal salvation.
These natives of San Pedro in the two days when we
were with them gave us various presents of the unusual
sorts which they have there. Among them were some
259 A branch of the Yumas.
i96 MEMOIR OF PIMERIA ALTA [Vol.
curious and beautiful blue shells, which, so far as I
know, are found only on the opposite or western coast of
California. Afterward it occurred to me that not very
far distant there must be a passage by land to near-by
California; and shortly, by Divine grace, we shall try
to find it out and see it with all exactness.260 Father
Adam made while here a vocabulary of the Cocomari-
copa language. On taking our leave, February 23, we
left messages for them and for those of the sea, to the
effect that if the ships or fathers of California should ar-
rive at those their coasts they should receive them with
all love and without fear, for they were our brothers
and men of very good heart.
Leaving the natives very desirous that we should re-
turn, we took our course eastward up the Rio Grande,261
passing by various rancherias,262 which we gave the
names of the other holy Apostles, San Matias del Tu-
magoidad (because on this holy day we arrived there),
San Mateo, San Simon, San Felipe y Santiago, San
260Manje states that he was anxious to go to the Gulf of California, that
he had come expressly for this purpose, but that the Indians begged them not
to do so, and that the missionaries were afraid that such a step would offend
the Cocomaricopas. Manje and the Indian interpreter, Francisco Pintor,
rode to a hill and were shown the junction of the Gila and Colorado. The
camp was evidently near Dome and above Blaisdell. At this point Manje
records that the natives told here of the visit of a white woman whom he
thought might be Mother Maria de Jesus de Agreda, said to have visited the
Indians of New Mexico and Texas, in spirit, earlier in the century. The
Indians told of the visit of Onate over ninety years before.
26i They started on the twenty-third.
262 According to Manje, none were seen for thirty leagues. San Matias
Tutum was reached at that distance, San Mateo de Cuat at thirty-four
leagues. Then followed San Tadeo de Vaqui, San Simon Tucsani, and two
unnamed villages (San Felipe and Santiago?). On March i the Gila Bend
was reached, and the river was left here. Twenty-four leagues east and
three from the junction with the Rio Verde they reached a Pima village
called San Bartolome; ten more leagues took them to San Andres de Coata,
visited in 1697. After passing La Encarnacion, they left the river (on the
fifth) and the Casa Grande. Passing the Algive (tank) made by the ancients,
they went via San Xavier del Bac to Dolores.
one] EUSEBIO FRANCISCO KINO, S.J. 197
Bartolome, etc. After eighty leagues' journey along
the Rio Grande we arrived at San Andres, La Encarna-
cion, and Casa Grande, having received in all parts all
kindness and many of their provisions, with almost the
same courtesy as if we had journeyed among Christians.
In some places they gave us so much and so very good
fish that we gave it as a ration to the men, just as beef is
given where it is plentiful. Likewise, they guided us
and accompanied us, and came many days' journey to
meet us, with the utmost friendship, loyalty, and cour-
tesy; and although those of the west had always lived
at great enmity and in very bloody wars with those of
the east, toward us all were very friendly and most lov-
ing; and God willed also that we should with felicity
establish peace between them, so that they ceased those
conflicts, since I said to them that God our Lord, the
best beloved Creator of heaven and earth and of men
did not wish that peoples should persecute and kill each
other so cruelly in that way; triat only the devil, the
common enemy of the human race, tried and sought to
have men kill one another, in order that both the slain
and the slayers should go to hell and to the eternal,
never ending fire. They made some very friendly
peace-agreements and general alliances, and they still
endure, all because they wish to be peaceful Christians,
and without wars, except those which might be neces-
sary against the enemies of the faith; for in such cases
even though one should die fighting to the last extrem-
ity he is saved, and such blood can even serve as bap-
tism to one who might not be baptized with vvater.
This side of San Felipe y Santiago del Oyadoibuise
we saw the Rio Azul,263 with its pleasant cottonwood
groves, which comes from near the Moquis. At San
263 Manje mentions Rio Verde but not Rio Azul.
198 MEMOIR OF PIMERIA ALTA [Vol.
Andres I found the letter and the cross which many
months before I had despatched to the Moquis, inviting
them to our friendship and their reduction, and urging
that they reconcile themselves with our Holy Mother
Church, returning to our holy faith. Even some years
before I had urged the same thing; but then as now we
found the obstacle of the very difficult passage through
the Apaches. Therefore, with new messages and new
gifts, and with promises to the bearers that they should
be escorted by armed men wherever there was fear of
any danger from the Apaches, I again despatched the
letter and the cross to the Moquis and to their principal
justices, for some knew how to read and write. And,
as I shall later set forth, in part the purpose was accom-
plished.
Thanks to the infinite goodness of the Lord, so com-
pletely did we effect the desired proof that the natives
of the Rio Grande, or Rio de los Apostoles, and their
environs, did not roast and eat people, that the Senor
Lieutenant Juan Matheo Manje, in his careful and well
written relation that he wrote of this entry, said that,
because there was so much affability, love, and affection
on the part of these new peoples, he was of the opinion
that years before the venerable Mother Maria de Jesus
de Agreda had come to domesticate and instruct them,
as there is a tradition that she came from Spain mirac-
ulously to instruct some other nations, of New Mex-
ico, for the Reverend Fathers of San Francisco found
them already somewhat instructed. Others have been
of the opinion that the blessed blood of the venerable
father Francisco Xavier Saeta is fertilizing and ripen-
ing these very extensive fields. Passing by San Fran-
cisco Xavier del Bac, and by San Cayetano, we arrived,
thanks to the Lord, after a prosperous return trip, at
one] EUSEBIO FRANCISCO KINO, S.J. 199
Nuestra Senora de los Dolores, on the fourteenth of
March, having traveled in going and coming about
three hundred and sixty leagues.26*
In this entry we learned that on the third of March
the Sobaipuris of Captain Humaric had dealt a blow
to the Apaches of the Rio de Hila, killing thirty-six265
of them and taking captive eight little children, of
whom they brought me five to Nuestra Senora de los
Dolores, where they were baptized. A little after-
ward came also the very friendly replies to the messages
which in the above-mentioned entry we had sent to the
numerous people of the Rio Colorado
266
264 San Xavier del Bac was reached March 7, and left on the ninth. That
night in a storm Father Kino was taken ill, his limbs swelling badly. Next
day, in spite of continued storm, he insisted on traveling, but after going
three leagues he was taken ill with vomiting and again they stopped. On
the eleventh he was better, and they continued to Tumacacori. Bacoancos
was reached on the twelfth, Cocospera on the thirteenth, and Dolores on the
fourteenth.
205 Manje says that six Apaches were killed.
266 Manje says, at the end of his account of the journey, that it will be
well now to investigate whether the rumored quicksilver mines are the gold
and silves mines of the Sierra Azul, what white people are settled on the
Gulf of California, whether Spaniards or strangers, and what white woman
it was who had visited the Indians; to explore the "island" of California;
and to ascertain the origin of the Aztecs.
BOOK VII. VISITATION BY THE FATHER
VISITOR ANTTONIO LEAL, AND NEW
JOURNEYS OF HIS REVERENCE TO
THE PIMERIA, TO THE NORTH,
NORTHWEST, AND WEST
CHAPTER I. FIRST PATERNAL LETTERS OF FATHER
VISITOR ANTONIO LEAL WITH A VIEW TO
ENCOURAGE THESE NEW CONVER-
SIONS OF THIS PIMERIA
May and June, 1699. In May and June of 1699
the father visitor, Antonio Leal, who had just ceased to
be visitor of the missions of Cinaloa, came to us at these
missions of Sonora. When we were expecting mission-
ary fathers from Mexico for this Pimeria, it was writ-
ten to us that they could not come because the reports
from this Pimeria had been very unfavorable and not
at all uniform. Nevertheless, especially because the
father visitor informed himself by word of mouth of
his predecessor, God willed that things should become
cleared up, and that their complete remedy should be
discussed. His Reverence wrote me letters so paternal,
and so tender, so zealous, and so highly charitable to-
ward these poor children that they inspired and en-
couraged me to write this little book. Especially of
most singular comfort to us was the letter which I re-
ceived at vespers of the eve of San Ygnacio267 in the
Pueblo of Our Father San Ygnacio as I was return-
ing from a little journey to Tucubabia, Tubutama, and
267 The Feast of San Ignacio falls on July 31.
EUSEBIO FRANCISCO KINO, SJ. 201
La Consepcion. I read it at the altar of our Father
San Ygnacio (which is in the hall, because there is no
church as yet) , for in it was the lighted candle, and as I
received the letter in question after nightfall. When,
afterwards, I gave those affectionate messages to the
natives, they were most delighted, very much pleased,
and very desirous of seeing his Reverence.
September 22, 1699. On September 22 his Rever-
ence writes me the following:
I took great comfort in the desires and the constancy of those
children; and since they repeat their petitions, may God grant
them and satisfy their wish to see me, which I share in equal or
perhaps a greater degree. And I beg your Reverence that if
any really believe, you will do me the favor to salute them in
my name and commend me to them.
And as from beyond the Yumas to the northwest and
to the north, from the Rio Colorado, various new na-
tions and rancherias, as a result of the messages which
I sent them in the preceding entries, called me with
very friendly and tender insistence to treat of their con-
version, when I asked of his Reverence permission to
go upon that expedition, he answered me that with
much pleasure he would go personally with me on the
said journey, because of the great desire which he had
always had for the welfare of so many poor creatures.
And when afterward I asked his Reverence to please
advise me as to what I could provide for the entry in
question, he wrote me these words:
But of me or for me take no thought, your Reverence, nor
may you take thought, because I can eat a piece of jerked beef,
and it tastes very good to me and suffices me. What I really
desire is that the journey may be accomplished, whereby the de-
sire of those poor people may be fulfilled, and so I trust in our
Lord, etc.
202 MEMOIR OF PIMERIA ALTA [Vol.
CHAPTER II. FIRST NEWS OF THE REDUCTION OF
THE APACHES NEAREST THE RIO COLORADO
AUGUST 6 AND 7, 1699. On the sixth and seventh of
August of the year 1699, the captain of San Cayetano
and the governor and twelve or thirteen other justices2'
of the interior came to this pueblo of Nuestra Senora de
los Dolores, saying to me that Captain Humaric and
the other Sobaipuris, of La Encarnacion and of San
Andres, were sending to advise me that through the
cross, letter, gifts, and messages which at the beginning
of March I had despatched from San Andres to the
Moquis, the Apaches nearest the Rio Colorado were
won over to our friendship, for the messages, letter,
and cross which I sent, the Apaches had received and
applied to themselves, making peace with the rest, our
friends; and that the Opas, Cocomaricopas, and Pimas,
were sending to call me to speak and treat of their con-
version, and were sending me four buckskins as a
present.
I imparted this good news to the father visitor, to the
Senor military commander, and to others. The father
visitor on the twenty-ninth of August answered me as
follows :
Great comfort have I received from your Reverence's letter
of the seventeenth instant, because of the pleasing news of the
Apaches, which is the best which this province could have ; and
the people of New Mexico must receive it with general bell-
ringing. Already it appears that the prophecy of Fray Juan de
Jesus is being fulfilled, to the effect that the Apaches were going
to be reduced and embrace our holy faith in very truth and were
going to form a choice Christendom.
And afterward his Reverence ends the letter with
these very paternal words:
I trust in God that our journey will be for His holy service,
for I desire in the extreme to see those poor children, to whom I
268 I.e. Indian officials.
one] EUSEBIO FRANCISCO KINO, S.J. 203
beseech your Reverence to commend me, and I commend them
to our Lord, who, I trust, will take away all the obstacles in the
way of their healing.
Thus far the father visitor, Antonio Leal. In re-
gard to the Apaches, almost the same was written by the
father rector of Matape and others; and although the
common enemy did not fail to oppose this also, since
some would have it that these reports were far from the
truth, on the first of October Captain Humaric and
others from the Rio Grande came and confirmed them,
as did time also, thanks to the infinite goodness of our
eternal God and to the celestial favors of his most holy
Mother and of the most glorious apostle of the Indies,
San Francisco Xavier.
CHAPTER III. JOURNEY OR MISSION OF THE FATHER
VISITOR ANTONIO LEAL THROUGH THE PIMERIA
TO THE SOBAIPURIS OF THE NORTH, AND TO THE
NORTHWEST AND THE WEST COAST TWO HUN-
DRED AND FORTY LEAGUES IN GOING AND RETURN,
FROM OCTOBER 24 TO NOVEMBER 28, 1699. IN
THE COURSE OF IT TWENTY-THREE BAPTISMS
ARE PERFORMED AND ABOUT SEVEN THOU-
SAND SOULS ARE SEEN AND COUNTED269
Father Visitor Anttonio Leal, with Father Francisco
Gonzalbo,270 having arrived from the pueblo of Cu-
curpe at this pueblo of Nuestra Serlora de los Dolores
on the twenty-first of October,271 on the twenty-fourth,
day of the most glorious archangel San Miguel Raphael,
269 A full account of this expedition is given by Manje, Luz de Tierra
Incognita, libro ii, cap. 7. This account by Kino, which is practically a diary,
is the only other first-hand record available. It supplements Manje in many
particulars. See volume ii, 184 for further information regarding Manje's
diary.
270 Manje gives his name as Golzalvo, from San Joseph and La Merced,
in Pimeria Baja (Luz de Tierra Incognita, libro ii, 87, 90). See "Index" for
other references to Father Gonzalvo.
271 Manje joined them at Dolores next day.
204 MEMOIR OF PIMERIA ALTA [Vol.
we set out for Nuestra Senora de los Remedios. Fifty272
pack animals went from this district, sixty-six others,
for the most part mules, having been despatched a
month before to San Xavier del Bac.
October 25. The following day, the twenty-fifth,
having said mass, we three fathers set out for Coco-
spora, where at midday Father Agustin de Campos
overtook us. In the afternoon we passed on four
leagues farther toward San Lazaro ; and at eight o'clock
at night the Senor lieutenant of this Pimeria, Juan
Matheo Manje, overtook us,273 being sent by the Senor
military commander of this province of Sonora, Don
Domingo Jironsa Petris de Crusat, to accompany us in
this entry with two soldiers, Antonio Ortis Cortes and
Diego Rodrigues.
26. On the twenty-sixth, after nine leagues' journey,
we arrived at San Luys del Bacoancos, the Indians of
Santa Maria having come to see the father visitor in
San Lazaro. In San Luys, where we counted forty
houses, as also in the following posts or rancherias of
Guebabi and San Cayetano, they received us with all
kindness, with crosses and arches erected in the roads,
with earth-roofed adobe houses, which they have pre-
pared for the father whom they hope to receive; as also
for the said father they have and care for a ranch with
seven head of cattle, with two small droves of mares
and eleven this year's colts, and with two hundred head
of sheep and goats; also crops of wheat, maize, and
beans. We killed one fat beef and two sheep for food.
27. On the twenty-seventh at noon we arrived at
Guebavi where we counted ninety souls. There are
many more in the rancheria of Los Reyes to the east-
272 Manje says 60.
273 Manje makes it appear that he set out from Dolores with Kino. The
latter must be right in this detail.
one] EUSEBIO FRANCISCO KINO, S.J. 205
ward, about four leagues away. In the afternoon we
passed on to San Cayetano. We slept in the earth-
roofed adobe house, in which I said mass the day fol-
lowing.
28. On the twenty-eighth the governor of San Cay-
etano gave his little son to the father visitor to baptize,
as also the governor of San Luys had given him his.
Three other little ones they gave us, Father Gonzalvo
and me, to baptize. In the afternoon we set out, to
spend the night at a watering place of the river of this
valley, six leagues distant.
29. On the twenty-ninth, after ten leagues' journey,
we arrived, two hours past noon, at the great rancheria
of San Xavier del Bac of the Sobaipuris. More than
forty boys came forth to receive us with their crosses in
their hands, and there were more than three hundred
Indians drawn up in line, just as in the pueblos of the
ancient Christians. Afterward we counted more than
a thousand souls. There were an earth-roofed adobe
house, cattle, sheep and goats, wheat and maize, and
the sixty-six relay pack animals. We killed three
beeves and two sheep. The fields and lands for sowing
were so extensive and supplied with so many irrigation
ditches running along the ground that the father visitor
said they were sufficient for another city like Mexico.
30. On the thirtieth the governor of El Ootcam,274
to the west, named Tocodoy Onigam,275 came to see us,
with ten other Indians. And being questioned, he told
us by means of kernels of maize that he had in his
rancheria two hundred and sixty-six sou's.27* In the
years preceding he had given me to baptize his little
274 Manje says he came on the twenty-ninth.
275 This may be the same as Anegam, the name of a village west of Bac.
276 Manje says 270.
206 MEMOIR OF PIMERIA ALTA [Vol.
daughter, who was named Maria. This day Father
Gonzalvo baptized a little girl.
Nov. i. On the first of November, after the three
masses said by the three fathers, we passed on to San
Agustin del Oyaut,277 four278 leagues' journey; and leav-
ing on the left the rancheria of San Cosme del Tucson,
we passed by its splendid fields, similar to those of San
Xavier del Bac. The natives received us with all kind-
ness, and gave me four sick persons to baptize. We
counted two hundred men, who represent two hundred
families. The plan had been that we should go on to
the Rio Grande, the Rio Azul, and the Rio Colorado,
to the Opas and the Cocomaricopas, etc., but, as two
servants of the father visitor fell sick, and as the soldiers
of Captain Christoval Martin Bernal, for whom his
Reverence was waiting, did not come, a rest of two days
was taken here.279
2. Meantime, on the second of November, the Senor
lieutenant and Antonio Ortis Cortes and I went on to
Santa Catarina del Cuytoabagum,280 a journey of fif-
teen leagues. We found three hundred men, who rep-
resent three hundred families, and more than one thou-
sand persons, who received us with all kindness, giving
us many kinds of their food. From here we despatched
friendly messages to the nations of the Rio Grande, to
the Cocomaricopas, and to the Yumas of the Rio Colo-
rado, saying that we did not pass on to see them because
two servants of the father visitor had fallen sick.281
3. On the third we returned to San Agustin, and
almost at midnight the father visitor and I received let-
277 Oiaur (Manje).
278 Six leagues' journey (Manje).
279 This reason for not going to the Rio Grande is not given by Manje.
280 Caytuabaga (Manje).
281 Manje says they went to San Clemente also.
one] EUSEBIO FRANCISCO KINO, S.J. 207
ters from Captain Christoval Martin, notifying us that
he was going inland to the east with the Pimas of Cap-
tain Coro in pursuit of the hostile Jocomes. He asked
of me, and I gave him for this purpose, ten head of cat-
tle at San Luys.5
282
CHAPTER IV. RETURN OF THE FATHER VISITOR
ANTONIO LEAL FROM THE INTERIOR BY THE
NORTHWESTERN AND THE WESTERN COASTS
NOVEMBER 4. On the fourth we returned from San
Agustin to San Xavier del Bac, where they gave us four
sick little ones to baptize. Having despatched from
San Xavier del Bac directly to Nuestra Senora de los
Dolores the two sick servants of the father visitor, we,
traveling westward on the fifth, sixth, and seventh, af-
ter twenty-eight leagues' journey, and having passed
by various rancherias, all of very friendly and very
docile people, arrived at the rancheria of San Seraphin
del Actum.283 There came out to welcome us more than
twenty justices who had assembled, and about twenty
boys, who received us on their knees, with crosses in
their hands, that they might give them to the father
visitor; and afterward we were welcomed by more
than four hundred men and many women drawn up in
a very long line with their little ones already baptized,
two years before. They comprised about twelve hun-
dred souls. In the afternoon we passed on to San
282 Several details here are omitted by Manje. He does not say that the
writer was met at San Agustin.
283 The details for these days are given by Manje. The Indians asked
for Father Golzalvo (Gonzalvo) as missionary, and Father Leal promised
them that he should be sent to them. Leal expressed the opinion that the
valley would support a city of thirty thousand inhabitants. (It has one with
over three-fourths that population now.) On the fifth they went west ten
leagues; on the sixth, six leagues to El Tups [Tupo], then three to El Cupo
or El Humo. On the seventh, eight leagues to San Seraphin del Actum.
208 MEMOIR OF PIMERIA ALTA [Vol.
Francisco del Adid,284 where we were received by two
hundred men and about eight hundred souls, among
them being many of the one hundred and two little ones
whom they had given me here to baptize on the morn-
ing of the day of San Francisco, the fourth of October,
two years before. All were much pleased to hear the
word of God; and at night there was formed a circle
of twenty-five governors, among them being the prin-
cipal one of the four Cocomaricopas who had come to
see us, who, with the governor of Nuestra Serlor de los
Dolores, spoke with fervor of their eternal salvation,
and the father visitor heard that new language for the
first time. And these Cocomaricopas with very rare
courtesy and loyalty brought me a very fat, pretty
horse, which we had left behind lost the year before.
On the eighth, having left friendly messages and
some little gifts for the people of the north, the Apach-
eria, the Moquis, etc., we set out from San Francisco,
and, turning somewhat to the south, after twelve leagues'
journey we arrived at Nuestra Senora de la Mersed
del Batqui, where we found more than eight hundred
souls, who had assembled to receive us with the same
kindness as those preceding. Because another servant,
one of Father Gonzalvo's, fell ill, his Reverence and
the father visitor were detained285 here. Consequent-
ly the Senor lieutenant and I went on to San Raphael
of the other Actum,286 and to San Marzelo del Sonoy-
dag, a journey of twenty leagues, to inform ourselves
better in regard to the land passage to California, to see
if there were any sick, and to bring a beef from that
ranch, which has fifty head of cattle, and is only twenty
284 Manje calls this San Francisco de Ati.
285 Father Leal went by carriage to Tubutama.
286 Lumholtz (New Trails in Mexico, chap, vi) gives an account of most
interesting experiences in 1909 in some of the very villages here mentioned
by Father Kino two hundred and ten years earlier.
one] EUSEBIO FRANCISCO KINO, SJ. 209
leagues from the good harbor of Santa Clara, on the Sea
of California. And we made very careful inquiry in
regard to the blue shells of the opposite coast, and to the
passage by land to California.287 In the rancherias
along this route we saw and counted more than one
thousand souls. I baptized three sick persons, among
them a Cocomaricopa, who gave the new information
regarding the Cuculatos,288 a people of a distinct lan-
guage, who live beyond the Rio Colorado. We brought
beef, and, as the fathers had set out from La Mersed,
we overtook them in San Ambrosio del Busanic, where
we killed two other beeves and two sheep of the large
and small stock, which, with wheat, maize, and beans,
and an earth-roofed adobe house, these more than
three hundred natives tend for the father whom they
hope to receive. On the way they brought me four
little ones and a sick adult to baptize.289
On the fourteenth we arrived at El Tubutama, a ten
leagues' journey. We found three hundred and thirty-
two souls and noted that at the stroke of the bell by
their temastidn the boys and girls under instruction
come to say prayers morning and evening, as in Sonora.
We found cattle and small stock, about one hundred
head of the two kinds, wheat, maize, and beans, a house,
and a little earth-roofed adobe church for the father
whom they hope to receive; and there is almost the
287 Manje says nothing of this phase of the matter.
288 Mentioned in Venegas, Noticia de California, vol. i, 58 (1759), and as
Cuculates by Taylor in Browne, Res. Pac. Slope, app. 54, 1869.
289 The details of the journey are given by Manje. On the eighth they
went thirteen leagues to San Rafael; on the ninth, nine to Baguiburisac, and
sixteen to El Coat y Sibagoyda (San Bonifacio. See the journey of 1698) ;
on the tenth, travelling all night, thirty-three leagues to Sonoita; on the
eleventh, travelling day and night, fifty leagues to Busanic; on the thirteenth
to Tubutama. Manje is one day ahead of Kino from here on to San Ignacio,
where Manje says they remained two days.
210 MEMOIR OF PIMERIA ALTA [Vol.
same outfit twenty-two leagues farther on at La Con-
sepcion de Nuestra Senora del Caborca.
On the fifteenth, we arrived at Santa Maria Magda-
lena; on the sixteenth at San Ygnacio, where Father
Agustin de Campos welcomed us; on the seventeenth
at Nuestra Senora de los Remedios; and on the eigh-
teenth at Nuestra Senora de los Dolores.
CHAPTER V. EXPEDITION OF CAPTAIN CORO'S PI-
MAS SOBAIPURIS AGAINST THE ENEMIES OF
THIS PROVINCE, IN COMPANY WITH THE
GARRISON; AND THE GOOD FOR-
TUNE WHICH THEY HAD
At the same time that we made the above mentioned
expedition somewhat further to the west, Captain Chris-
toval Martin Bernal, who had asked of me and whom
I had given ten beeves from the new ranch of San Luys,
made an expedition to the Sobaipuris of the east and of
the Rio de Quiburi, with the soldiers of the presidio;
and with the same Sobaipuris of Captain Coro he made
an expedition to the enemies of this province of Sonora
who live even farther to the east; and on his return
to his presidio of Coro de Guachi, on the twenty-
eighth of November, 1699, he wrote me the following
letter:
For what I owe and the obligation which I am under to your
Reverence I write these lines, informing you how our Lord was
pleased to allow me to make an attack upon a little rancheria of
enemies, and how in it our loving excellent Pimas showed great
fidelity in their friendship to us ; for three of the enemy's braves
and three women were killed, and we took twelve prisoners;
wherefore, I give infinite thanks to the divine Majesty for our
good fortune, and to your Reverence, since by means of your
most Christian heart and great zeal so many souls are gained for
heaven, and so many rebels against our holy faith are punished.
May our Lord keep them in peace, that we all may have the rest
one] EUSEBIO FRANCISCO KINO, S.J. 211
which we desire, and grant your Reverence the health which my
affectionate love desires for you, at whose feet I offer mine. I
received the ten beeves which I asked of your Reverence.
Thus far Captain Christoval Martin Bernal. The
Senor military commander, on the sixth of December,
concerning this particular wrote me the following:
I thank your Reverence for the news of the victory of my
arms and of my dear Pimas Sobaipuris ; for we can all give one
another hearty congratulations for the good fortune and for the
defeat which they inflicted upon the enemy. (And afterward
his Lordship adds:) I beg that your Reverence will give thanks
to Captain Coro and to the other natives on my behalf and on
behalf of my soldiers, for Captain Christoval Martin tells me
they did well.290
290 At this point Manje records an expedition made in 1700 which Kino
omits here but alludes to later on. In December, 1699, Father Melchor Bar-
tiromo requested General Jironza to send a squadron of soldiers to restrain
the Seris, who were molesting Tuape, Cucurpe, and Magdalena, which he
administered. Alferez J. B. de Escalante accordingly set out in January,
1700, with fifteen soldiers, going to the rancheria of Santa Magdalena de
Tepocas, then to Nuestra Senora del Populo, where Father Gilg was sta-
tioned. Accompanied by Gilg, he then pursued the Seris to the Gulf, but
they escaped to the islands. He now returned to Tuape and Santa Magda-
lena, then went to the Gulf by a different route and gathered one hundred
and twenty Tepocas, whom he turned over to Father Bartiromo. Late in March
Escalante returned to the coast, pursued the Seris to the islands, and took
some of them to Father Bartiromo, returning to Cucurpe in April. Being
called to San Ignacio by Father Campos, he made a foray northward in
which he captured one hundred and twelve delinquent Indians whom he de-
livered to Father Campos. He then went south through Pimeria Baja to Be-
len and Yaqui, recovering apostates. At the end of six months and after a
journey of two hundred leagues, he returned to his presidio. These activities
of Escalante are a good illustration of the cooperation usual between the sol-
diers and the missionaries in controlling the frontier Indians. Kino alludes
to Escalante's expedition on page 234, post, and on pages 238-239, post,
quotes a letter from Escalante giving added light on it.
BOOK VIII. OF THE GREAT FRUIT, SPIRIT-
UAL AND TEMPORAL, WHICH AT SMALL
COST TO HIS ROYAL MAJESTY (GOD PRE-
SERVE HIM) CAN BE GARNERED AMONG
THE SURROUNDING NATIONS OF ALL
THIS NORTH AMERICA
CHAPTER I. OF THIS NORTH AMERICA, IN GENERAL
ALMOST UNKNOWN
Among the above-mentioned favors which our Lord
has granted us in these expeditions, or missions, conver-
sions, discoveries, reductions, conquests, spiritual and
temporal, and baptisms, it can be inferred that one is
the great, good, and abundant fruit which, in the ser-
vice of the two Majesties, can be secured, not only in
the discovered parts, but also in all this very extensive
northern district of all this North America, which is
the greatest and best remaining portion of the world,
because the discovery and conquest have just been ef-
fected, both on this mainland and on the very extensive,
great and populous California near-by, that in all parts
the very many souls may be saved and redeemed by
the most precious blood of our Redeemer Jesus, and
all at small cost to the royal treasury. For most of
these lands are very rich and fertile, most of the Indians
industrious, many of the lands mineral bearing, and
most of them of a climate so good that it is very similar
to the best of Europe, to that of Castilla, to that of
Andalucia, to that of Italy, to that of France, to that of
Germany; because most of this North America is in the
EUSEBIO FRANCISCO KINO, SJ. 213
same degrees of altitude of the north pole or geographi-
cal latitude as Europe itself, that is, in 36, 37, 38, 39, 40,
41, 42, 43, 44, 45, 46, 47, 48, 49, 50 degrees and upward;
also because this North America is so extensive that it
exceeds all kingdoms and empires and provinces of all
Europe; and little by little, with good management,
and if some conquests already made lend a hand to
those which may be in progress, as the royal cedulas
suggest, through these spiritual and temporal conquests
to the west and to the northwest it will be possible to
cross to the opposite coast of the Sea of California and
to its cape of Mendosino, and to the harbor of Monte
Rey; and there will be possible a port of call for the
ship of China or the Philippine galleon, and at the same
time some commerce for these provinces of Sonora,
Nueva Biscaya, and Nueva Galizia, etc. And to the
north and northeast it will be possible to penetrate to
Gran Quibira and to Gran Teguayo, etc., and to the
Strait of Anian;291 and perhaps also in that direction it
will be possible to open a way and shorter water route
to Spain.
CHAPTER II. OF THE NEIGHBORING GREAT
CALIFORNIA
In the very extensive neighboring California, which
is about six hundred leagues long from southeast to
northwest, and about one hundred leagues wide from
east to west, I lived almost two years continuously, at
291 All through the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries there was wide-
spread belief in the existence of a northern passage, called the Strait of
Anian, from the Atlantic to the Pacific Ocean, and all the leading nations
made efforts to find it. This was one of the permanent aims of Spanish ex-
ploration on the western coast of America. See Bancroft, History of the
Northwest Coast, for an excellent chapter on "The Northern Mystery and
Imaginary Geography, 1500-1595."
214 MEMOIR OF PIMERIA ALTA [Vol.
the time of the enterprise and conquest by the admiral
Don Ysidro de Atondo y Antillon,292 in the years 83, 84,
and 85, having with me Father Pedro Matias Goni
and Father Juan Baptista Copart, and holding the of-
fice of rector of the mission, although unworthy; and
with the commission of cosmographer of his Majesty
(God guard him), I made a map, which was printed.
And in latitude twenty-six degrees we crossed to the
opposite coast from the Real de San Bruno, with more
than eighty horses, a journey of about sixty leagues,
finding in all parts many people, friendly, docile and
affable. This was all at the very great and Catholic
expense of the royal treasury, which, with the construc-
tion of the three ships, Capitana, Almiranta, and
Patache, and with the seamen and soldiers, provisions,
munitions, etc., exceeded half a million.293
In the Real de San Bruno, in San Ysidro and San
Dionisio, and in their vicinity, we left the people, more
than four thousand souls, very submissive, very docile,
very friendly, somewhat instructed in the principal
mysteries of our holy faith, and with great desire to
receive holy baptism, although, because of lack of au-
thority we baptized only thirteen sick or dying, of
whom three recovered, inasmuch as in the month of
May this enterprise was abandoned or suspended, for
reasons which our Lord knoweth, and because after-
ward from Matanchel we set out in the South Sea in
November, 1685, by order of his Excellency, with two
of the ships of California to meet and warn and rescue
the China galleon from the hostile pirates, for the
292 por 0ther references to Kino's expedition to California with Atondo,
see the "Index" under "Atondo."
293 As a matter of fact, the cost was only a quarter of a million, as is fre-
quently stated on official authority. Kino evidently had not access to official
sources of information on this point.
one] EUSEBIO FRANCISCO KINO, SJ. 215
Pichilingues294 with many pirogues were lying in wait
for it, to rob it, in the port of Navidad.295
The holy zeal of Father Juan Maria Salvatierra was
so moved to compassion that, as has already been stated,
on hearing, in his visit to this Pimeria,296 of the ripeness
of so great a harvest of souls, he made a report to
Mexico as early as the year 1691, in order that the con-
quest and conversion of the said Californias should be
continued; and although his purpose was not immedi-
ately accomplished, his Reverence did accomplish it
afterward.
CHAPTER III. FATHER JUAN MARIA SALVATIERRA,
AVAILING HIMSELF OF THE ALMS OF THE
FAITHFUL, CROSSES OVER FROM HYA-
QUI TO THE CONVERSION OF
CALIFORNIA IN 1697 29T
By his untiring and holy zeal, Father Juan Maria
Salvatierra succeeded with such felicity and efficacy,
thanks to the sovereign Lord, to most holy Mary and
to the most glorious apostle of the Indies, San Francis-
294 The name given the Dutch pirates on the West Coast.
295 Navidad is a port on the coast of Mexico in latitude 190 13' and
twenty miles northwest of Manzanillo harbor. In the sixteenth century it
was one of the most important western harbors, and was the port for the
Manila galleon before that of Acapulco was opened.
From Kino's own letters, just obtained from Seville, we now know that on
May 30, 1685, he was at Torin, Sinaloa; on October 10 he was at the
Jesuit College of Guadalajara; on November 15 he was on board the Al-
miranta at Matanchel ready to go to meet the Manila galleon; on February
15, 1686, he was at the Casa Profesa, Mexico (A.G.I. 67-3-28).
296 See ante, pages 117-121, for Salvatierra's visit to Pimeria Alta and
his journey into Arizona with Kino.
297 The details of Salvatierra's expedition to California are given in
Father Picolo's report, volume ii, 46-67. Other original authorities are
Salvatierra's letters printed in Doc. Hist. Mex., segunda serie, vol. i, 103-157.
Some newly discovered manuscript sources are listed in the "Bibliography."
For secondary accounts see Bancroft, North Mexican States, vol. i, and Vene-
gas, Noticia.
216 MEMOIR OF PIMERIA ALTA [Vol.
co Xavier, in crossing over to California, that on the
tenth of October, 1697, he accomplished his glorious
purposes, embarking in Hyaqui with the necessary
men and funds by means of the alms which his Rever-
ence obtained from the faithful and from various pious
persons, especially Don Juan Cavallero.298
I was also to go on this enterprise with his Rev-
erence, but the superiors here, the royal justice, and the
citizens of this province, through reports which they
sent to Mexico, prevented me.299 Afterward Father
Francisco Picolo crossed over, and the most glorious
fruit which their Reverences are producing merits oth-
er separate treatises by a better pen, for mine is very
clumsy; for now, with the other conquerors, they have
three large ships of their own, and other small ones;
this year of 1699 they have already found very rich
lands in latitude twenty-six degrees, and are beginning
three excellent missions, one called Nuestra Senora de
Loreto de Concho, on the east coast, another called
San Francisco Xavier del Nipe300 on the sierra and
inland; (and another, Nuestra Senora de los Do-
lores) 301 they intend to found on the opposite coast.
From the lofty sierra which we named La Giganta
they see both seas, that of California to the east, and
the South Sea to the west. Everything inspires very
great hopes that where there had been so many and
298 The beginnings of the Pious Fund are set forth by Engelhardt, vol. i,
73-75. Don Alonso Davalos, Conde de Miravalles, and Don Matheo Fer-
nandez de la Cruz, Marques de Buena Vista, each promised $1,000. Others
followed their example, and $15,000 were soon raised. Don Pedro Gil de la
Sierpe, treasurer of Acapulco, donated a launch. The Cofradia de N.S. de
los Dolores, in Mexico, gave $10,000, and Rev. Juan Cavallero y Cosio, a
wealthy priest of Queretaro, gave $20,000.
299 In 1698 Kino was granted a license to spend half his time in
California. See volume ii, 157-158.
300 A mis-copy for Vigge.
301 In the margin of the original.
one] EUSEBIO FRANCISCO KINO, S.J. 217
almost insuperable obstacles, the infinite goodness of
our Lord with His celestial favors is going to establish
a very flourishing Christendom and bring about the
eternal salvation of very many souls.
CHAPTER IV. VARIOUS VOYAGES AND EXPEDITIONS
WHICH HAVE BEEN MADE TO CALIFORNIA
SINCE THE BEGINNING OF THE CON-
QUEST OF NEW SPAIN 302
During the eighteen years that I have lived in New
Spain I have tried to acquire all the information pos-
sible in regard to those who have gone to California,
and in what years, and I have obtained the following:
The first who went to discover California and to
enter the port of Nuestra Senora de la Paz was the
Marques del Valle, Don Fernando Cortes, who, hav-
ing conquered Mexico in the year 1522, eleven years
afterward, in 1533, with twelve3'3 ships undertook and
accomplished this discovery of California.304
In the year 1535 the new and first viceroy of New
302 Excellent chapters on the subject are found in Bancroft, North Mexican
States and Texas, vol. i, chaps, iii, iv, vi, vii, and viii. On the whole, the
summary by Kino is remarkably good, as compared with other accounts
written at so early a date. A valuable summary of the various attempts to
subdue California was made by the Council of the Indies on July 9, 1701, in
a document bearing the title: Consejo de Indias a g de Jullio de 1701.
Representa a V. Mgd. lo que ha passado en la conquista poblazion y reduzion
de las Calif ornias desde su principio; El Estado que oy tiene, y las provi-
denzias que combendra se den para acalorar a los Religiosos de la Compania
que se han encargado de esta empresa y la tienen muy adelantada. Eleven
Ms. pages (A.G.I. Aud. de Guadalajara, 67-1-37). The document notes a
pearl fishing permit before that of Vizcaino, namely, one given in 1585, by
the Viceroy Moya de Contreras, to Fernando de Santo Ortiz.
303 Apparently a slip for two — dos.
304 The reference is to the expedition of Becerra and Grijalva in the Con-
cepcion and the San Ldzaro, from Tehuantepec, in 1533. The crew of the
Concepcion murdered Becerra, and, under command of Fortun Jimenez, dis-
covered California. Jimenez, in turn, was murdered by his crew (Bancroft,
North Mexican States and Texas, 45-47, and works there cited).
218 MEMOIR OF PIMERIA ALTA [Vol.
Spain, Don Antonio de Mendoza, sent to continue this
enterprise General Francisco de Alarcon with other
ships with high decks, which were all lost, and the
soldiers and mariners barely escaped with their lives,
but reached the port of Navidad. Hereupon explorers
were discouraged for many years.305
In the year 1597 Sebastian Biscaino went at his own
expense to the Californias with five religious of San
Francisco, but shortly afterward returned to Acapul-
co.306
In the year 1602, in the time of Feliphe III, the
Conde de Monte Rey being viceroy, he307 went at the
expense of the royal treasury with three ships and with
three religious of Nuestra Senora del Carmen and
traced all the west coast.308
In the year 1606 there came a royal cedula to the
Senor viceroy, Conde de Montes Claros, ordering that
the above named Sebastian Biscaino should go to settle
in the port of Monte Rey.
In the year 161 5, Captain Yturbide,309 with the li-
cense which he had secured from Felipe III, and after
the Pichilingues had taken away one of his two ships,
went to California with the other. He went up to
thirty degrees of latitude, and the Senor viceroy, the
Marques de Guadalcazar, sent him to advise the ship
305 Kino has apparently confused the expedition of Cortes in 1535 with
that of Alarcon in 1540. Cortes led a colony to California but it soon failed.
Alarcon's expedition of 1540 was a part of the Coronado expedition to New
Mexico.
306 The Vizcaino expedition started in 1596 and returned in 1597.
307 Vizcaino.
308 por diaries of this expedition, see Bolton, Spanish Exploration in the
Southwest, 154.2-IJ06, 42-133. The three Carmelites were friars Andres de la
Asumpcion, Antonio de la Ascension, and Tomas de Aquino.
309 Iturbe. See Chapman, The Founding of Spanish California, 9-10;
Bancroft, North Mexican States and Texas, vol. i, 163-164.
one] EUSEBIO FRANCISCO KINO, SJ. 219
from China that the Pichilingues, Dutch pirates, were
lying in wait for him.
In the year 1632, Captain Francisco de Ortega,31
with a ship which he had built at his own expense,
went from Masatlan on the first of March to the bays
of the Californias which they call Bahia de San Ber-
nabe and Bahia de la Paz; and in the month of Septem-
ber returned to Cinaloa.311
In the following year, 1633, this Captain Francisco
de Ortega went a second time with two clerics named
Don Diego de las Navas and Don Juan de Zuniga, who
in the harbor of Nuestra Senora de la Paz solemnized
one hundred and six baptisms. He went up to thirty-
two degrees latitude, and returned to New Spain; and
although he went three times to these Californias, their
conquest was not effected.
A few years afterward, about 1636, Captain Car-
boneli, who had been a pilot of Captain Ortega, went
to the Californias. He went up to thirty-six degrees
latitude. Also, the new governor of Cinaloa, Luys
Sestin de Canas, went in a little ship. He took with
him Father Jasinto Cortes, of the Company of Jesus,
who on his return wrote to the father provincial, Luys
de Bonifas, of the docility and meekness of the natives
of the Californias, offering himself as missionary
there.312
In the years 1643 and 1644 Phelipe IV sent the Ad-
miral Don Pedro Portel de Casanate to the Califor-
nias, at the same time charging the Sefior Conde de
310 For the Ortega voyages see Bancroft, North Mexican States, vol. i,
170-176.
311 The dates given by Bancroft {North Mexican States, vol. i, 171-172)
vary slightly from those given here.
312 For Carbonel, see Bancroft, North Mexican States, vol. i, 175-176.
The expedition of Cestin de Canas was in 1642. Ibid., 181.
220 MEMOIR OF PIMERIA ALTA [Vol.
Salvatierra with their conquest and conversion; and
said Admiral, having built two ships, set out to meet
the China ship at the Island of Zeniza.313 In going
and returning he merely entered in passing the Bay of
San Bernabe; and having arrived at the mouth of the
Rio de Santiago, whence he sent a post to his Excel-
lency, the villains burnt his two ships.314
In the year 1647 the same Admiral built two other
ships in the Villa de Cinaloa; and in the years 1648 and
1649 he went in them a second time to the Calif ornias,
taking with him Father Jasinto Cortes and Father
Andres Baes. He discovered many harbors and coves,
and in all parts many natives. Later he was sent to
warn the China ship, and soon afterward entered upon
the governorship of Chile.315
In the year 1664 Admiral Don Bernardo Bernal de
Pinadero went to California at his Majesty's expense316
with two ships which he had built in the Valle de Van-
deras; but, although some pearls were obtained, be-
cause of the discord and the deaths which occurred the
purpose of the conquest was not accomplished, neither
then nor when three years afterward317 came the order
for him to go again to California, as he did in the year
1667, with two other ships, which he had built in the
Puerto de Chacala with money which he had borrowed.
In the year 1668 Captain Francisco de Lusenilla
313 An island north of Cerros Island, near the outer coast of Lower Cali-
fornia. See Bolton, Spanish Exploration in the Southwest, 1542-1706, Index.
314 They were burned in the harbor of the Santiago or Tololotlan, the
deed being charged to the Portuguese competitor of Casanate. Bancroft, ibid.,
182-183.
315 Kino gives data here that Bancroft did not have. See ibid., 183. The
accounts by Venegas and Alegre are evidently taken directly from this
passage.
316 Bancroft does not give the date. Ibid., 184.
317 The text reads "eight years afterward" but is corrected in the margin
to read "three years afterward." See Bancroft, North Mexican States, vol.
i, 183-184.
one] EUSEBIO FRANCISCO KINO, S.J. 221
went to the Californias with two ships which he had
built at his own expense, and with two religious of San
Francisco he reached the Cape of San Lucas and the
port of Nuestra Senora de la Pas. Finally, he re-
turned to the port of San Francisco Xavier de los
Guaimas, near the mouth of the Rio de Hyaqui.31
In the years 1681, 1682, 1683, 1684, and 1685, by or-
der of his Majesty Don Carlos II (God guard him),
in the time of the viceroys Don Fray Payo and the
Marques de la Laguna, Admiral Don Ysidro de Aton-
do y Antillon built in Cinaloa to go to the Californias
(at a cost of more than half a million319 to the royal
treasury) three ships, the Capitana, Almiranta, and
Balandra ; and on the twenty-fifth of March of the year
i684,319a we went and reached the Puerto de la
Paz, and higher up, in latitude twenty-six degrees,
the Real de San Bruno. By land we crossed over to
the opposite coast, discovering the Rio de Santo Thom-
as, and in all parts many natives, docile and peaceable.
Three fathers of the Company of Jesus went also, and
in the eighteen months that we were in said California
we left many of the natives instructed. In the year
1685 we were sent to meet the China ship, and we
convoyed it in safety to the port of Acapulco.32 In
Mexico his Excellency granted us an appropriation of
thirty thousand dollars; but because at the time when
it was about to be paid requests came from Spain for
five hundred thousand dollars, the conquest was sus-
pended. Recently we have had a glimpse of it on three
occasions by way of the Pimeria; in the years 1693 an(^
1694, in latitude thirty degrees, from the very shores
318 See Bancroft, North Mexican States, vol. i, 184-185.
319 The cost was a quarter of a million in fact. See ante, page 214.
319a a mistake for 1683.
320 For accounts of Atondo's attempt, see ante, pages 35-49, 213-214.
222 MEMOIR OF PIMERIA ALTA [Vol.
of the arm of the sea which divides the land of
California from that of this Pimeria, which is no more
than eighteen leagues wide.321
Captain Francisco de Ytamarra went to Califor-
nia in the month of October, 1694, ana* found that
the natives of the Island of San Bruno, of San Dionisio,
and of San Agustin asked with insistence for the fathers
of the Company of Jesus.322
On the tenth of October, 1697, Father Juan Maria
Salvatierra went to California with alms from the
faithful, and I, who was appointed as his companion, re-
mained for the present in this Pimeria by order of the
Senor viceroy and of the father provincial, Father
Francisco Maria Picolo going in my place.
CHAPTER V. OTHER RECENT INFORMATION IN RE-
GARD TO THE PRESENT STATE OF CALIFORNIA,
DERIVED FROM THE LETTERS WHICH FATHER
JUAN MARIA SALVATIERRA WRITES TO
THE FATHER VISITOR ANTTONIO
LEAL, ON SEPTEMBER 2, AND TO
ME ON OCTOBER 17, 1699
Since the time when I was in California, at the port
of Nuestra Senora de la Paz and at the Real de San
Bruno, I have been aided and succored with all liberal-
ity and charity by Father Gaspar Thomas, rector of the
College of Matape, and the father visitor, Juan Bau-
tista de Anzieta, visitor of these missions of Cinaloa
and Sonora, and many other fathers. The long letter
of the Father Visitor Juan Maria de Salvatierra to the
Father Visitor Antonio Leal says in substance the fol-
lowing:
The father provincial Luis de Bonifas prophesied that the
321 See ante, pages 123-126.
322 Venegas and Alegre, on whom Bancroft depends for data on Itamarra,
follow Kino. See Bancroft, North Mexican States, vol. i, 194.
one] EUSEBIO FRANCISCO KINO, S.J. 223
missions of California would be colonies of those of Nueva Bis-
caya and that one would aid another. As Father Andres
Peres 323 relates, with the coming of the China ship to the op-
posite coast and with the development of water transportation,
in time not a few things which are very dear in the province will
become cheaper. Let these missions of California, so small and
new, be aided for two or three years, and afterward they will
sustain themselves.
That province of Sonora has been the mother of all the mis-
sions for the last thirty years, since in Sonora (and in the visita-
tion of the Pimeria in the year 1691) were born the strong de-
sires whence has resulted the birth of this mission of California.
In it, thanks be to the Lord, is the pueblo of Loreto Concho, and
in it are fifty-four persons from the other side, from New Spain,
soldiers, women, and salaried servants. On the sea I have
thirty-two mariners in three vessels, all salaried. On land the
Indians are at peace and in subjection. We have good land,
and the opposite coast has been reconnoitered and explored.
And if we are not deserted, sometime we shall make an expedi-
tion by land and by sea to the opposite shore for the discovery of
a good harbor (in the vicinity and latitude of this post of
Loreto), suitable to shelter the China ship and succor any
that comes into it in great distress, for mere lack of a landing-
place, a long standing want, and motive enough for our Com-
pany, mother of the sick and disabled, to take in hand any enter-
prise. We two fathers here have four new pueblos, the adults
being catechumens, and many little ones and sick adults be-
ing Christians; and they subject themselves to receive punish-
ment without mutinies or revolts. Here every kind of animal
multiplies; and already there are here eight species of animals
from the other side, now acclimated to Loreto. With two years
only of encouragement it appears to me this will be altogether
assured.
I have no lack of means for the payment of the soldiers, ser-
vants, and sailors, nor for merchandise. They receive their pay
whenever they wish, indeed, they have received five thousand
pesos by appropriation in Mexico in royal securities this year;
323 The reference is to Perez de Ribas, Historia de los Trivmphos de
Nvestra Santa Fee.
224 MEMOIR OF PIMERIA ALTA
and the goods are cheap here. The only lack I have suffered is
of provisions, and, because of this shortage, some worries and
danger of mutiny among the people. But the most holy Virgin,
conqueror and colonizer, has been present with us in all and has
brought us succor not on one occasion, but on many, when least
we expected it, as is the case now with the return of the bark, by
which I have received twenty-four loads, twenty-three of flour
and one of pinole, a fine present, all of which comes to me from
the province of Sonora. The natives not yet conquered tremble
before our arms, directed by the arm of Mary. And we hope
that in the first expedition to San Xavier del Vigge, which is in
the centre of the sierra, those of the opposite coast will come to
render obedience, to facilitate matters, and that they them-
selves may be the ones to call us to go to their land and pre-
vent so far as possible the outbreak of war or confusion.
Thus far Father Juan Maria Salvatierra to Father
Visitor Antonio Leal; and to me, on October 17, his
Reverence writes the following:
Father Francisco Maria Picolo is at present in the pueblo of
San Xavier Biaontom, within the sierra, a very pleasant land.
Eusebio, your Reverence's son, Andresillo's nephew, is well, and
salutes your Reverence, to whom because of haste I write no
more. Loreto Concho.
October 17, 1699.
PART II
OF THE CELESTIAL FAVORS OF
Jesus, Most Holy Mary, and the Most
Glorious Apostle of the Indies, San
Francisco Xavier, experienced in the
New Conversions of this North Amer-
ica, or New Philippines, in the Years
1699, 1700, 1 70 1, 1702; and the New
Discovery of the Passage by Mainland
to California in Thirty-two Degrees
of Latitude, by which it is found to be
not an Island, but a Peninsula, with
very Fertile Lands, with Very Large,
Rich, and Populous Rivers, with Many
Gentle, Docile, and Friendly New Na-
tions.
BOOK I. OF THE MEASURES, DISPOSI-
TIONS, AND EXPEDITIONS WHICH IN THE
YEAR 1699 ARE MADE IN ORDER TO
DISCOVER THE LAND ROUTE
TO CALIFORNIA
CHAPTER I. LETTERS OF THE PRINCIPAL SUPE-
RIORS, AND THE VERY CATHOLIC ROYAL
CtDULA, WHICH INSPIRE THE WRIT-
ING OF THIS SECOND PART OF
THE CELESTIAL FAVORS
Having written, by order of our father general,
Thyrso Gonzales, the account of the celestial favors,
which I have set forth in the First Part, and having
sent it from the Real de San Juan to Mexico by Bach-
elor Don Joseph Moreno that it might be taken to
Rome, as it was taken by the father procurators Ber-
nardo Rolandegui and Nicolas de Vera,324 his Rever-
ence answered me in a letter of December 24, 1701,
which I received December 26, 1702, that he had re-
ceived it and read it with such pleasure that most af-
fectionately he charged me to write this Second Part.
At the same time the father provincial, Francisco de
Arteaga, also wrote me a very paternal holy letter, with
the superscription of the rector325 of these missions of
Nuestra Senora de los Dolores, asking me for informa-
tion in regard to them, to give to our father general.
And soon afterward, by the hand of the father visitor,
324 See post, page 375.
325 I.e., forwarded by the rector.
228 MEMOIR OF PIMERIA ALTA [Vol.
Antonio Leal, his Reverence sent me the printed report
on the state of California which Father Francisco
Maria Picolo drew up and printed,326 with the in-
serted very Catholic and most Christian royal cedula
of the King our Lord Felipe V (God preserve him
many most happy years) dated July 17, 1701, which so
greatly favors the new conquests and new conversions,
not only of California, but also of Cinaloa and Sonora
and of this Nueva Biscaya where we live, enjoining
their encouragement and advancement, at the same
time with that of the new conversions of California,
and containing these most pious words to his Royal
Audiencia of Guadalaxara:
I ask and charge you to inform me very minutely in regard to
the region in which the uncivilized Indians are found, and the
present state of the conversions in Cinaloa, and Sonora, and
Nueva Biscaya, that in view of these reports and your opinion I
may proceed to adopt the measures which I may deem expedi-
ent,327 etc.
The royal cedula as well as the letters of the prin-
cipal superiors will be put in their place at the time
when they were received, that is, at the close of 1702,
as most singular celestial favors which, in the midst of
such contradictions, we have experienced in these new
conversions. All these things impel me with great
force to write this second part, as my continued and
multitudinous occupations may permit.
326 Printed in this work, volume ii, 46-67.
327 A transcript of this cedula, from the Archivo General de Indias
(A.G.I. 67-3-28) is in the Bancroft Library. Kino does not quote exactly
here, but paraphrases the paragraph.
one] EUSEBIO FRANCISCO KINO, SJ. 229
CHAPTER II. IN VARIOUS EXPEDITIONS REPORTS
OF THE PASSAGE BY LAND TO CALIFORNIA
ARE OBTAINED328
When, ten years ago, setting out from Nuestra
Senora de los Dolores for the west, and passing through
the lands of El Soba, I arrived, after sixty leagues'
journey, on three different occasions with different per-
sons at the coast of the Sea of California, we saw plain-
ly that that arm of the sea kept getting narrower, for
in this latitude of thirty-three degrees we already saw
on the other side more than twenty-five leagues of Cali-
fornia land in a stretch so distinctly that we estimated
the distance across or width of that arm of the sea to be
no more than fifteen or eighteen or twenty leagues.329
Therefrom arose the desire to ascertain the width
higher up; and in the year 1698, at thirty-five degrees
latitude, and at one hundred and five leagues by a
northwest course from Nuestra Senora de los Dolores,
on the very high hill, or ancient volcano, of Santa
Clara, I descried most plainly both with a telescope
and without a telescope the junction of these lands of
New Spain with those of California, the head of this
Sea of California,33' and the land passage which was
there in thirty-five degrees latitude. At that time,
however, I did not recognize it as such, and I persuaded
myself that farther on and more to the west the Sea of
California must extend to a higher latitude and com-
municate with the North Sea or Strait of Anian, and
must leave or make California an island. And it was
with me as with the brethren of Joseph, who ate with
him and made merry with him, he giving them the
328 This chapter summarizes the genesis of Kino's idea of the peninsu-
larity of California.
329 See ante, pages 123-126.
330 See ante, pages 184-189.
230 MEMOIR OF PIMERIA ALTA [Vol.
wheat and provisions which they required, and talked
with him but knew him not, until his time.331
A year afterward, at the suggestion of the father vis-
itor, Oracio Police, I penetrated one hundred and sev-
enty leagues to the northwest, and went beyond thirty-
five degrees north latitude, with Father Adamo Gilg and
Captain Juan Mateo Manje, and almost reached the
confluence of the Rio Grande de Hila and the Colo-
rado, where the natives gave us some blue shells.332
And still it did not occur to us that by that way there
was a land-passage to California, or to the head of its sea ;
and not until we were on the road returning to Nuestra
Senora de los Dolores did it occur to me that those blue
shells must be from the opposite coast of California
and the South Sea, and that by the route by which they
had come thence, from there to here, we could pass
from here thither, and to California. And from that
time forward I ceased work on the bark, twelve varas
long and four wide, which we were building at La Con-
cepcion del Cabotca near the Sea of California, and
here at Nuestra Senora de los Dolores, intending to
carry it afterward, entire, to the sea.
CHAPTER III. DIARY OF THE EXPEDITION TO THE
NORTH IN ORDER TO DISCOVER A ROAD AND
ROUTE BY LAND TO CALIFORNIA, AS
MANY PERSONS DESIRE, WRITE
ABOUT, AND REQUEST 333
MARCH 29, 1700. The expedition of which I write
in this and the three following chapters I made from
the twenty-first of April to the sixth of May, 1700; and
331 Genesis, chaps. 42-45.
332 See ante, pages 193-199.
333 So far as I am aware, there is no other first hand account of the expe-
dition which gives the story of the founding of Mission San Xavier del Bac.
Ortega wrote his brief account from this, and others have followed him.
one] EUSEBIO FRANCISCO KINO, S.J. 231
the father visitor, Antonio Leal, saw, read, and signed
the account, with these words: "I have seen this ac-
count and the letters which in it are cited, and the origi-
nals are as they are quoted."
Being in the pueblo of Nuestra Senora de los Re-
medios on the twentieth of March, a governor from near
the Rio Grande, and other Pima natives, brought me a
holy cross, with a string of twenty blue shells, which
were sent me by the principal governor of the Coco-
maricopas, who lives in the great rancheria of Dacoy-
dag, with a very friendly response to some messages
which I had sent him, inviting him to receive our holy
faith, in imitation of many others. This rancheria is
on the Rio Colorado, and is one hundred and seventy
leagues to the northwest of this pueblo of Nuestra
Senora de los Dolores. And again reflecting that those
blue shells were from the opposite coast, as I had seen
them there when I was in California, I informed sev-
eral fathers of them, sending them afterward, together
with the holy cross, to the Father Visitor Antonio Leal ;
for his predecessors, Father Visitor Manuel Gonzales,
Father Visitor Juan Maria de Salvatierra, and Father
Visitor Oracio Police, had very strongly urged the
exploration of those lands, seas, and rivers of the north
and of the northwest.
In the middle of April his Reverence replied to me
as follows: "The cross and shells came with your Rev-
erence's letter to Arispe, and I greatly rejoice at seeing
them, because of the distance whence they sent them,
which is an indication of friendliness." And Father
Marcos Antonio Kappus, rector of the College of
Matape, on the tenth of April wrote me the following:
"God bless me! And what great news and how rare is
that which your Reverence imparts to me, and which the
232 MEMOIR OF PIMERIA ALTA [Vol.
people of the north and the northwest bring you, to the
effect that it is possible to pass overland to California,
news truly the greatest, if it is verified, but which, al-
though desired so long, it has never been possible to
confirm. May our Lord grant that the news may be
verified, since for Father Juan Maria de Salvatierra it
will be most gratifying, etc."
Also, the reverend father rector of this mission of
San Francisco Xavier, Adamo Gilg, wrote me that it
was expedient to employ means to verify these things,
etc. ; and the Senor military commander, Don Domingo
Jyronza Petris de Cruzatt, informed me that he had
the same very anxious zeal for those discoveries;
while at this very same time came to me the desired
license from our father general, Tyrso Gonzales, to oc-
cupy myself six months of the year in this Pimeria and
six in California. For this reason and in order at the
same time to cast a glance at the spiritual and temporal
condition of the three newly begun missions of the
north and the northwest, I determined to go inland for
a few days to find out and obtain all possible informa-
tion in regard to these matters.
April 21, 1700. And, setting out on the twenty-first
of April from Nuestra Senora de los Dolores, with
three justices of this pueblo, seven servants, and fifty-
three sumpters, some being mules and others horses, we
arrived at Nuestra Senora de los Remedios.
22. On the twenty-second, having in the morning
given orders as to what the natives were to do in the
building of the new church, in the afternoon we reached
Cocospora, where we were received by one hundred and
fifty natives, who had just returned to settle this pueblo,
and had just rebuilt and roofed a hall and a lodge for
one] EUSEBIO FRANCISCO KINO, S.J. 233
the father's house, with orders soon to roof the little
church also, for three years before, on the twenty-fifth
of February, 1697, tne hostile Hojomes and Janos had
sacked and burned this pueblo, although soon after-
ward, on the thirtieth of March, near Quiburi Captain
Coro with his Pima people routed and destroyed them,
killing more than two hundred of them, as is related in
the First Part.334
23. On the twenty-third, three infants having been
given us to baptize, we set out for San Lazaro, where
we took our siesta, and where they gave us a little girl
to baptize, and on the way to San Luys they gave us
two others, one little girl, and one adult, a sick woman;
and another, a little boy, on our arrival at San Luys,
where the five justices of Guebavi came to meet us, with
those of San Luys. We killed one beef of the one hun-
dred and fifty which they were tending there, with a
drove of mares, and with one hundred and seventeen
head of sheep and goats, with a good field of wheat,
maize, and beans which they had, and with an earth-
roofed adobe house, all for the father whom, with the
other neighboring rancherias, or incipient pueblos, they
hoped to receive.
24. On the twenty-fourth we set out for Guebavi
and San Cayetano. In Guebavi, where we took a siesta,
there were about two hundred souls; in Los Reyes de
Sonoydag, five leagues farther eastward, Captain Coro
had gathered with all his people, who numbered more
than five hundred souls. Thirteen days before, at
Easter, here at Nuestra Senora de los Dolores, he had
been instructed and baptized, naming himself Antonio
Leal. In all places there were many more people, and
more houses than when we entered here six months be-
334 This was in 1698, as has been made clear, ante, page 176, footnote 211.
234 MEMOIR OF PIMERIA ALTA [Vol.
fore with Father Visitor Antonio Leal and the Senor
lieutenant of this Pimeria, Juan Mateo Manje.335 Here
at Guebavi there were also eighty-four head of sheep
and goats, a good field of wheat, maize and beans ready
for harvest, and an earth-roofed adobe house for the
father whom they hoped to receive. In the afternoon
we arrived at San Cayetano.
25. On the twenty-fifth we set out for San Xavier
del Bac, of the Sobaypuris, about twenty leagues' jour-
ney, arriving at nightfall, and being welcomed with all
kindness by many natives of this great rancheria. We
gave them here, as in other places, the paternal greet-
ings which the father visitor sent to all, and they were
very grateful for them; also the word of God was
spoken to them, and was well received.
CHAPTER IV. AT SAN FRANCISCO XAVIER DEL BAAC
OF THE SOBAYPORIS I CALLED THE PRINCIPAL GOV-
ERNORS AND CAPTAINS FROM MORE THAN FORTY
LEAGUES AROUND TO FIND OUT WHETHER
THE BLUE SHELLS CAME FROM ANY
OTHER REGION THAN THE OPPO-
SITE COAST OF CALIFORNIA
APRIL 26, 1700. Having arrived at this great ranch-
eria of San Xavier del Baac of these Sobaiporis of the
west, which are those of the Rio de Santa Maria (the
Sobaypuris of the Rio de San Joseph living thirty
leagues farther to the east) I heard the news which also
I had heard on the road two or three days before, that
some soldiers had gone into the Pimeria of Soba and
of the west, and finding myself with so many Indians
in this great valley, who were close to three thousand,
and also in view of the many prayers of the natives that
I should stay with them, I determined not to go farther.
335 See ante, pages 203-210.
one] EUSEBIO FRANCISCO KINO, S.J. 235
And from this great valley of San Xavier, by way of
the Rio Grande westward as far as the Cocomaricopas
and Yumas, and even to the Rio Colorado, as I desired,
I tried to take and did take measures to find outwhether
the blue shells came from any other region than the op-
posite coast of California. To that end I despatched
various messengers in all directions, some to the east
to call Captain Humaric; others to the north to call
those of Santa Catalina, and those of La Encarnacion
and of San Andres, of the Rio Grande, with their jus-
tices, governors, and captains; and especially others to
the west and northwest to call various Pima, Opa, and
Cocomaricopa governors from near the Rio Colorado,
to learn with all possible exactness in regard to the blue
shells and the passage by land to California. During
the seven davs that we were here, while most of those
J 7
whom I sent with the invitations were on the way, we
catechized the people and taught them the Christian
doctrine every day, morning and afternoon. We killed
six beeves of the three hundred which they were tend-
ing for me here, with forty head of sheep and goats,
and a small drove of mares. They had also a good field
of wheat which was beginning to head; and during the
following days they planted for the church a large field
of maize, which they had previously cleared.
27. On the twenty-seventh they gave me five little
ones to baptize.
28. On the twenty-eighth we began the foundations
of a very large and capacious church3 '' and house of
San Xavier del Baac, all the many people working with
much pleasure and zeal, some in digging for the foun-
dations, others in hauling many and very good stones
of tezontle from a little hill which was about a quarter
336 This paragraph should set at rest forever the perennial conjectures
regarding the date of the founding of the celebrated mission of San Xavier
del Bac.
236 MEMOIR OF PIMERIA ALTA [Vol.
of a league away.337 For the mortar for these founda-
tions it was not necessary to haul water, because by
means of the irrigation ditches we very easily conducted
the water where we wished. And that house, with its
great court and garden near by, will be able to have
throughout the year all the water it may need, running
to any place or work-room one may please, and one of
the greatest and best fields in all Nueva Biscaya.
29. On the twenty-ninth we continued laying the
foundations of the church and of the house. Today and
yesterday Captain Humaric and his son, named Oracio
Police, arrived from the Sobaiporis of the east; the
other and elder son, named Francisco Xavier, had re-
mained behind to guard their country, which is on the
Apache frontier. Many other justices also came, and
among them an alcalde to whom the soldiers in the last
expedition, which they made in November, 1699, had
given the staff of office.
30. On the thirtieth, at sunrise, various letters from
Nuestra Senora de los Dolores were brought me by a
courier of this Pimeria, who, it appeared, must have
made the sixty leagues which intervenes in a day and a
half and the two nights. After mass I went down to
the rancheria of San Cosme, a three leagues' journey,
and to that of San Agustin, two leagues farther, to see
whether there were any sick or little ones to baptize.
At San Cosme they gave me six children to baptize,
and one adult, a sick woman ; and at San Agustin I bap-
tized three more little ones. In the afternoon we re-
turned to San Xavier del Baac, and at nightfall various
justices arrived from the northwest and from Santa
Catalina and from the Rio and Casa Grande, among
337 Apparently the hill to the east of the mission on which is placed the
grotto of Lourdes. Tezontle is a porous stone much used for building in
Mexico.
one] EUSEBIO FRANCISCO KINO, SJ. 237
them being the captain and governor of La Encarna-
cion, thirty-five leagues away. Immediately, and also
at night, we had long talks, in the first place in regard
to our holy faith, and in regard to the peace, and qui-
etude, and love, and happiness of Christians, and they
promised, as we requested of them, to carry these good
news and teachings to other rancherias and nations
much farther on, to the Cocomaricopas, Yumas, etc.
At the same time I made further and further inquiries
as to whence came the blue shells, and all asserted that
there were none in this nearest Sea of California, but
that they came from other lands more remote.
We discussed also what means there might be where-
by to penetrate to the Moquis of New Mexico, and we
found that by going straight north the entry would be
very difficult, since these Pimas were on very unfriend-
ly terms with the Apaches who live between, although
the distance and the journey was probably not more
than sixty or seventy leagues, for this valley of San
Xavier del Baac is in thirty-two and a half degrees of
north latitude, and the Moquis and Zunis in thirty-six
degrees.
MAY 1, 1700. On the first of May, in the afternoon
and at nightfall, many justices, captains, and governors
arrived from the west, from San Francisco del Addi,
and from San Serafin, some coming forty and fifty
leagues. We talked with them a great part of the
night, as we had done the night before, in regard to the
eternal salvation of all those nations of the west and the
northwest, at the same time continuing various inquiries
in regard to the blue shells which were brought from
the northwest and from the Yumas and Cutganes, which
admittedly came from the opposite coast of California
and from the sea which is ten or twelve days' journey
238 MEMOIR OF PIMERIA ALTA [Vol.
farther than this other Sea of California, on which
there are shells of pearl and white, and many others,
but none of those blue ones 338 which they gave us among
the Yumas and sent me with the holy cross to Nuestra
Senora de los Remedios.
CHAPTER V. LETTERS WHICH REACH ME FROM
THE SOLDIERS WHO MEANTIME HAD COME
INTO THE PIMERIA, FROM CUCURPE TO
SAN YGNACIO AND TO TUBUTAMA, ETC.
This first day of May there also reached me, from
the southwest, letters from the squadron of soldiers who
had come to Tubutama and Saric, and whose com-
mander, Alferez Juan Bautista Escalante, wrote me the
following:
My Father Eusebio Francisco Kino, I can not refrain
from writing these lines to inform your Reverence that, having
entered this Pimeria, I have come to two rancherias which I had
never seen before, namely, that of El Saric, and this one higher
up, called El Busanic [and Tucubavia].339 I assure your Rev-
erence I have infinitely rejoiced and also been impressed to see so
many people as are here together, for, as they are obedient and
docile they are better than Christian pueblos. But it is a great
pity that these poor creatures lack a father minister to lead and
guide them to the bosom of our holy faith. In order to report
this truth to my general, that he may cooperate in this very holy
work, I ordered all the people assembled, and I found and
counted four hundred and thirty-seven souls, a source of much
pleasure to all. These are in this rancheria of Busanic alone ;
in the one which I have seen lower down there are also many
people. I am about to start outward, and therefore I am not
going further into the interior. Now I pray the divine Majesty
to grant your Reverence the health which my great affection de-
sires for you, and which your great zeal and your great charity
deserves, for the protection of this heathendom. From this
338 Here Kino draws on his experience in California between 1683 and
1685.
339 Added on the margin of the original Ms.
one] EUSEBIO FRANCISCO KINO, S.J. 239
rancheria of El Busanic, April 26, 1700. I kiss your Reverence's
hand. Your faithful servant, Juan Bautista Escalante.
P.S. I report to your Reverence also that in this rancheria
I killed a bull for them 340 from the stock which your Reverence
has here, and I beg your Reverence to approve it.
Thus far the commander of the soldiers. Juan Casaos
wrote almost the same. And as all this Pimeria, seven-
teen thousand souls, are being reduced, well may it be
seen how great a need there is for workers.
CHAPTER VI. MY RETURN TO NUESTRA SEnORA DE
LOS DOLORES, AND MY DESIRE AND ATTEMPT
TO LIVE AND ESTABLISH A MISSION AT
SAN FRANCISCO XAVIER DEL BAAC,
IN ORDER TO BE NEARER TO
SO MANY NEW NATIONS
May 2. On May 2, having solemnized three other
baptisms and two marriages in facie Ecclesi<z,3il and
bidding goodbye to those captains and governors, we set
out for Nuestra Senora de los Dolores. All the chil-
dren gave me many messages for the father visitor, for
the other fathers, the Senor military commander, and
all of the Spaniards; and the captain of San Xavier del
Baac gave me his son, who was probably about twelve
years old, to come and he did come with me the sixty
leagues' journey to Nuestra Senora de los Dolores to
be taught the prayers and the Christian doctrine and to
assist at mass.
3. On the third, in San Cayetano, as I was going at
sunrise to say mass, I received a letter from Father
Agustin de Campos, in which his Reverence summoned
me to San Ygnacio to help save from death a poor de-
linquent whom the soldiers had taken prisoner with the
intent and determination to beat him to death the fol-
340 For the soldiers.
341 "Before the church."
240 MEMOIR OF PIMERIA ALTA [Vol.
lowing day, May 4. I replied that I would go imme-
diately after mass. I also wrote to Alf erez Juan Bautista
Escalante, thanking him for the letter which I had re-
ceived two days before at San Xavier del Baac. Trav-
elling that day more than twenty-five leagues, I arrived
almost at midnight at San Joseph de Hymeres, and the
next day very early, in time to say mass, at San Ygnacio,
and we succeeded in rescuing the prisoner from death.
5-6. On the fifth I arrived with two soldiers at
Nuestra Senora de los Remedios, and on the sixth at
Nuestra Senora de los Dolores, where, in answer to a
letter which I had written from San Francisco Xavier
del Baac to the father visitor, Antonio Leal, offering
myself and even expressing my desire and pleading to
be the missionary at San Xavier del Baac and asking
that a successor be given me at Nuestra Senora de los
Dolores, I received from his Reverence the following
very fine letter:
I thank your Reverence sincerely in the name of our Lord
for the work which you have undertaken in His holy service for
the welfare of those poor souls, for visiting them, for the good
you have done in the confessions, etc., and for which you will
have your reward laid up in heaven. Let me say, my father,
that, in regard to what your Reverence writes about the found-
ing of San Xavier del Baac, what has been said has been said,
and that your Reverence may look upon it as your mission, be-
cause it appears to me very expedient for the progress in the
future; for, your Reverence being so far this way at los Dolores,
it is not so easy to see and to go frequently to the people of the
Rio Grande. And so, when your Reverence may think best and
may please, it shall be arranged, and your Reverence may go
thither, as we agreed when we discussed it there.342
Thus far the father visitor, Antonio Leal. And in
fact, within a few days, here at Nuestra Senora de los
342 The reference is to the journey of 1699 by Leal and Kino. It is shown
elsewhere that Kino did not go to Bac, but that Father Gonzalvo went in his
stead.
one] EUSEBIO FRANCISCO KINO, S.J. 241
Dolores I ordered rounded up the fourteen hundred-
odd cattle which were here and told the overseer that,
dividing them into two equal parts, he should take, as
he did take, one part to San Francisco Xavier del Baac,
and they made for him the necessary corrals, etc. But
never did a father come to succeed me in Nuestra
Seftora de los Dolores, nor could I go permanently to
San Xavier del Baac.
When I had communicated the news of this expedi-
tion to various persons, the father rector of the College
of Matape, Marcos Antonio Kappus, on the fifteenth
day of May wrote me the following:
I thank your Reverence for your most delightful letter, and
also for the sending of the blue shells; and I shall welcome most
heartily the announcement of those discoveries. I am very
strongly of the opinion that this land which we are in is main-
land and joins that of California. May our Lord grant that
there be a road as royal as we think and desire, for thereby the
labor as well as the care of California will be lessened.
Afterward, on the third of September, when I was
arranging to make an expedition longer than I had
theretofore made, his Reverence wrote me these words:
If your Reverence accomplishes the entry by land into Cali-
fornia we shall celebrate with great applause so happy a journey,
whereby the world will be enlightened as to whether it is an
island or a peninsula, which to this day is unknown. Quod
bonum, felix, fmistum fortunatumque sit, cedatque ad Dei ter
optimi maximi gloriam.343
The father rector of Oposura, Manuel Gonzales, on
the twenty-eighth of May wrote me the following:
I greatly desire that your Reverence may finally make this
most desired expedition by land into the Californias. If you
accomplish this we must erect to you a rich and famous statue,
343 "May it be good, happy, joyful, and fortunate, and may it redound to
the glory of God, thrice holy and mighty."
242 MEMOIR OF PIMERIA ALTA [Vol.
and if it is short there will be two statues. May God give your
Reverence health and strength for this and many other equally
good things besides.
Thus far the father rector of Oposura. I answered
his Reverence that one of the two statues should be of
Jesus of Nazareth, to whom his Reverence was so de-
voted that he had built and adorned for Him in Opo-
sura the best chapel there is in all these lands; and the
other of Our Lady of Sorrows.
CHAPTER VII. EXPEDITION OF ONE HUNDRED AND
SEVENTY LEAGUES TO THE NORTH AND NORTH-
WEST IN SEARCH OF THE LAND ROUTE TO CALIFOR-
NIA ; AND THE DISCOVERY OF THE VERY LARGE,
POPULOUS, AND FERTILE RIO COLORADO
(WHICH IS THE TRUE RIO DEL NORTE),
AND OF THE NEW NATIONS344
September and October, 1700. This chapter and
the six following are taken from the diary of the expe-
dition which we made in the months of September and
October, 1700. In this chapter I shall tell of my ar-
rival at Rio Grande and among the Cocomaricopa na-
tion, a journey of more than one hundred leagues, and
in the others the rest. I went toward the north and re-
turned by the west, travelling in going and returning
more than three hundred and eighty leagues, from the
twenty-fourth of September to the twenty-ninth of Oc-
tober, 1700, and in the meantime I solemnized forty-
two-baptisms of infants and sick persons.
SEPTEMBER 24. I set out from Nuestra Senora de
los Dolores with ten servants of the district and with
sixty pack-animals, many of them mules. On this day,
344 The value of Kino's work at this point is illustrated by Bancroft's re-
mark concerning this journey: "The diaries are not extant, and such details
as we have relate mainly to California geography, having little interest for
our present purpose" (Arizona and Neiv Mexico, 359). True then, Ban-
croft's statement no longer holds. Manje, not being with the expedition,
does not give a diary of it.
one] EUSEBIO FRANCISCO KINO, S.J. 243
the twenty-fourth, we arrived early at Nuestra Senora
de los Remedios, after a journey of seven leagues. That
afternoon we assisted in the building of the new house,
and I left them orders and instructions for the new
lodge which in my absence they were to finish building
and roofing.
25. On the twenty-fifth we set out for the ranch of
San Simon y San Judas del Siboda, where there were
about a thousand cattle and four droves of mares for
the new conversions which were being founded; and
having passed by the rancheria of Babasaqui, we ar-
rived after a journey of thirteen leagues and killed a
fat beef, which had more than four arrobas of suet and
tallow.
26. On the twenty-sixth, after a journey of fifteen
leagues, we arrived at San Ambrosio del Busanic y del
Tucubabia, the captain of this rancheria or incipient
pueblo coming four leagues to meet us. Here they
were tending for me seventy cattle, as many head
of sheep and goats, and five droves of mares, besides
wheat, maize, and beans, together with their medium-
sized church for the father whom they hoped to receive.
27. On the twenty-seventh, having solemnized after
mass nine baptisms, seven of little ones and two of the
sick adults, and having sent to advise the people of La
Consepcion del Cabotca that within twelve or fifteen
[days] they should come to meet us at the rancheria of
San Marcelo del Sonoydag, of the coast of the Sea of
California, we set out for the watering place of Santa
Eulalia and arrived, after a journey of twelve leagues,
about an hour after nightfall, because we nad been de-
tained in a rancheria of more than three hundred In-
dians. Their governor had come as far as San Am-
brosio del Busanic, and, having spoken to them the
Word of God, they made an agreement with us to the
244 MEMOIR OF PIMERIA ALTA [Vol.
effect that if there should be a missionary father all
would assemble to be baptized at San Ambrosio.
28. On the twenty-eighth we set out from the good
watering place of Santa Eulalia in company with the
fiscal mayor of a rancheria which is two leagues be-
yond. We arrived at this rancheria, where they had
prepared for us a very great heap of tunas, besides other
provisions. As the muleteers had dropped along that
road some pieces of dried meat which they carried, the
Indians of this rancheria who came behind, having
found them, were so courteous and loyal that they
brought them to us, and in view of this loyalty I di-
vided among them the meat and other little gifts. We
travelled today up to nightfall sixteen leagues, through
level lands which we had never travelled over or seen
before.
29. On the twenty-ninth, four leagues after having
set out from the place, we met with more than forty In-
dians, comprising the principal persons of this vicinity,
among them being the captain of San Rafael, the cap-
tain of El Comae, and other governors, who had come
ten, twenty, and thirty leagues, and who received us
with crosses which they carried in their hands and
which they gave us. Immediately they sent to various
places to bring us many provisions. After travelling
six leagues farther we arrived at the water-hole of
Nuestra Senora de la Merced del Batqui, where more
than two hundred souls had come together. There
were various talks on doctrine, given by myself and my
teachers345 of doctrine, especially at nightfall, when
we taught them, in the Pima language, the method of
baptism for dying persons and other cases of necessity
which may and sometimes do occur, when there is no
priest. Here they gave us two infants to baptize.
345 I.e. Indian interpreters and teachers.
one] EUSEBIO FRANCISCO KINO, S.J. 245
30. On the thirtieth of September, having de-
spatched half of the servants with the greater part of the
horses to go to await us ten or twelve days in the ranch
and rancheria of San Marzelo del Sonoydag, to the
westward, we set out with the best horses and mules
toward the north for El Comae and the Rio Grande.
Having passed by four other lesser rancherias, at night-
fall and after twenty leagues of very level road we ar-
rived at a great rancheria which we named San Gero-
nimo, because it was the day of this saint. They re-
ceived us with crosses and arches erected, with a little
house, and with provisions prepared, two hundred and
eighty Indians (for we counted them) being drawn up
in line, as in the Christian pueblos. An hour after
nightfall one hundred and fifty other Indians of another
rancheria came to see us and to extend to us a welcome;
because it was night neither the women nor the chil-
dren had come. Upon inquiry we learned that in this
vicinity, into which we had never before entered, there
were more than a thousand persons, who had never seen
a father or any Spaniard. To all we spoke the Word of
God, which was well received.
October i, 1700. On October 1 they gave us seven
infants and three sick adults to baptize; and if we had
stayed a day, as they requested, they would have given
us more than one hundred infants to baptize. Here a
new governor, a fiscal mayor, and other justices were
appointed.346 This governor, the captain of El Comae,
and the governor of San Francisco, went on with us to
the Rio Grande, accompanying us and guiding us with
all courtesy. At a league's distance there came out to
meet us an Indian with four little children, one sick,
that I might baptize them, and I baptized the sick child
340 Kino does not mention any military or secular officer with him. In
case there was none, Kino must have acted for the King in appointing officers.
246 MEMOIR OF PIMERIA ALTA [Vol.
for him. They gave us a large quantity of maize and
calabashes, but we accepted only a little for that day.
After a journey of six leagues we arrived at a very good
watering-place, and after twelve more at another,
among inaccessible rocks, which the pack-animals
could not reach to drink, although the guides brought
us enough water for ourselves.
2. On the second, after a journey of ten leagues, we
arrived at the Rio Grande and at its rancheria of El
Tutto, where we found more than two hundred persons.
More than one hundred and fifty other Indians, from
among the principal ones, came to see us from farther
up and farther down ; and some came to see us from the
[Colorado] river, because they had been informed that
at this time I was to pass through this region. All were
very affable, docile, and friendly people, the Cocomari-
copas as well as those of the Rio Colorado; for al-
though they are of a different language, there are al-
ways among them many Pimas and others who speak
the Pima language very well. They brought us many
of their eatables, and we spoke the Word of God both
to the Pimas and, through an interpreter, to the Coco-
maricopas of this place and from the Rio Colorado, all
of whom were rejoiced to hear it.
CHAPTER VIII. WE DESCEND THE RIO GRANDE TO
THE WEST, AND AFTER A JOURNEY OF FIFTY
LEAGUES REACH THE YUMA NATION,
DISCOVER FOUR NEW NATIONS, AND
SIGHT THE CALIFORNIAS 347
3. On October 3, day of Nuestra Senora del Ro-
sario, we set out for the west accompanied by many of
the people who had come to see us. There was also the
347 It is not easy to identify all the villages named in this journey down
stream with those named in the journey up stream a year earlier. See
pages 193-199.
one] EUSEBIO FRANCISCO KINO, S.J. 247
governor of El Tutto, who knew very well both the
Pima and the Cocomaricopa languages, and the alcalde
of San Felipe y Santiago del Oyadaybuise, who from
the east and up the river had brought me the notice
which the captain of La Encarnacion had sent me to the
effect that his people had dealt a blow to the Apaches.
After a journey of six leagues over very good road we
arrived at the rancheria called Guoydag, of more than
two hundred persons, many of whom were from the
Rio Colorado. During today's march the boys kept
throwing great quantities of grass to the mules and
horses, delighted that they ate it and did not eat boys,
as they had been made to believe was the case the year
before, when we entered in February, being then very
much afraid of us and fleeing from us, but now having
lost that fear entirely. In the afternoon, after going
seven leagues more, we reached the rancheria of San
Mateo del Batki,348 where they received us with divers
of their dishes and with fish.
4. On the fourth they gave us an infant to baptize.
We set out for San Matias del Tutumagoydag,349 and,
after a journey of thirteen leagues, arrived an hour be-
fore sunset, having passed by three rancherias in which
there must have been about seven hundred persons, in-
cluding many families from the Rio Colorado, all of
whom showed us great kindness. In San Matias they
received us with all friendliness. We gave some pres-
ents to the guides and interpreters, who went no further
with us, because thereafter we would be entering the
Yuma nation, with whom they were on unfriendly
terms, because of some murders which had taken place
348 This seems to be the San Tadeo de Vaqui visited February 26, 1699.
See Manje, Luz de Tierra Incognita, libro ii, 79.
349 This is the San Matias Tutum mentioned in Manje's diary of 1699
as the first village above San Pedro.
248 MEMOIR OF PIMERIA ALTA [Vol.
during the preceding months. But when we told them
that in future they should come in peace, they accepted
our counsels and requested us that among the Yumas
also we should become mediators of very firm peace-
agreements, as we did.
5. On the fifth, having talked the night before till
almost midnight about the Word of God, and having
.charged them to carry it on to the Rio Colorado, and
they having given us an infant to baptize, we set out
for the Yumas, always to the west and down the Rio
Grande (or Rio de los Santos Apostoles) ; and having
traveled about fifteen leagues over good but uninhab-
ited road, we arrived at a good place which we named
La Sienega de los Patos, or Laguna de los Ansares, for
there were great numbers of ducks and geese. We saw
various rancherias which had been deserted during the
preceding months.
6. On the sixth, setting out from La Cienega de los
Patos, after twelve leagues of very level road we met
the first Yumas, of San Pedro and of San Pablo. We
had penetrated to this point when they gave us the first
blue shells in February of the year before. They re-
ceived us very affectionately, even giving the dog which
was with us water and pinole in a little basket, with all
kindness, as if he were a person, wondering that he was
so tame and faithful, a thing never before seen by them.
In this respect they were like the Californians when
we went to see them the first time fifteen years before.
In three other respects we afterward found, during
these days, these natives and their country are like the
Californians: first, in the dress of the men and women;
second, in that the men cut their hair in one way and
the boys in another; third, in that here there are various
trees native to California, such as the incense tree and
the tree bearing the fruit which they called medesse.
one] EUSEBIO FRANCISCO KINO, SJ. 249
In the afternoon we set out toward the north, now
with Yuma guides. Here the river runs about eight
leagues to the north and afterward turns again to the
west. On the way they gave us great quantities of fish,
both raw and cooked; for, although they had their little
fields of maize, beans, calabashes, and watermelons, the
beans and maize were not yet ripe. We spent the night
at a very good stopping-place, which we called Camp
of Las Sandias, for there were watermelons in a very
rich sandy beach at the foot of a hill, from the top of
which California is plainly visible; and this day was
the day of San Bruno, patron of California.
7. On the seventh, setting out down stream, after
going four leagues we halted near a rancheria, which,
however, was on the other side of the river; and while
I despatched some friendly messages to the rancherias
round about, with the governor, the alcalde, and my
major-domo of Nuestra Senora de los Dolores, and the
four best pack-mules that we had, I ascended a hill to
the westward, where we thought we should be able to
see the Sea of California; but looking and sighting
toward the south, the west, and the southwest, both with
a long range telescope and without, we saw more than
thirty leagues of level country, without any sea, and the
junction of the Rio Colorado with this Rio Grande (or
Rio de Hila, or Rio de los Apostoles), and their many
groves and plains. We afterwards learned that in those
lands and their vicinity lived four new nations, of
friendly and industrious Indians, the Quiquima, Bagi-
opa, Hoabonomas, and Cutganas. Returning to our
stopping-place we ate, adding some sweetmeats for joy
that now, thank the Lord, we had seen the lands per-
taining to California, without any sea between and sep-
arating those lands from it. Because our Pima guides,
the captain and the governor of El Comae, the son of
250 MEMOIR OF PIMERIA ALTA [Vol.
the captain of San Raphael, and the captain of Actum,
named Miguel, were becoming weary, and because the
time for collecting the alms of cattle which the fathers
of these missions of Sonora were giving for California
were pressing upon me, I determined to return to
Nuestra Senora de los Dolores.
CHAPTER IX. HAVING SEEN THAT THE GULF OF
CALIFORNIA DID NOT EXTEND TO THIRTY-FIVE
DEGREES, WHEN WE SET OUT ON THE RETURN TO
NUESTRA SENORA DE LOS DOLORES THE MANY
NATIVES FROM FARTHER ALONG CALL US
AND CAUSE US TO RETURN, AND WE GO
ON TO THE LARGE RIO COLORADO
When, this same day, October 7, about four in the
afternoon, we were setting out from the stopping-place
to spend the night at the Camp of Las Sandias, I was
overtaken by the governor of these Yumas, to whom
we had given the staff of office the year before, and who
came from the junction of the rivers, saying to me that
those natives were begging that I should go to see them.
The relay was already setting out with my baggage and
the vestments and paraphernalia for saying mass, and I
let them go, remaining to speak very leisurely with this
governor, who knew very well both the Pima and the
Yuma languages, and having informed myself thor-
oughly that afternoon and part of the night in regard to
the gulf of California, the surrounding new nations, and
especially the large population of the great-volumed
Rio Colorado near-by, it seemed to me a matter of con-
science not to go to see those numerous natives.
8. On the eighth I arose very early and overtook
my servants, and after saying mass at the camp of Las
Sandias at dawn, and turning back to go to see these
natives of the junction of the rivers, after a journey of
one] EUSEBIO FRANCISCO KINO, S.J. 251
two leagues I met more than forty of them, who had
come to overtake me, travelling all night, fearing that
I might go without seeing them. They rejoiced great-
ly that I was now going to see them. As most of them
were on the other side of this Rio Grande, I told them
to go and notify them to cross to this side. But as they
said that the people were numerous and all were asking
that I should cross over there, they sought and found
me a ford where this Rio Grande divides into three
branches; and, crossing it, after eight leagues of very
good road I arrived at the first Yumas of the very large
volumed Rio Colorado, who came forth two leagues
to receive us with many of their viands. Here were
many of those who the previous year, 1699, had come
out to see us at the post or rancheria of San Pedro, so
named because of having said there the first mass which
was said in this new nation, on the day of the Chair
of Saint Peter, the twenty-second of February of the
past year, when I entered with Father Adamo Gilg
and Captain Juan Mateo Manje. The natives at
once very lovingly asked us about his Reverence and his
Grace, why they had not returned, etc., and we told
them that they were in good health, and that perhaps
some other time they would come here again.
On arriving at the great rancheria of the Rio Colo-
rado, more than a thousand persons, assembled together,
welcomed us; soon more than two hundred others came,
and the following day more than three hundred, who
came from the other side of this very large volumed
Rio Colorado (which is the true and real P io del Norte
of the ancients) swimming across it. We made them
many talks about our holy faith, which were very well
received, and thev thanked us for them with verv ten-
252 MEMOIR OF PIMERIA ALTA [Vol.
der and loving words and talks, both in the Pima lan-
guage and in the Yuma or Cocomaricopa, which are
the same. These talks, ours and theirs, lasted almost
the whole afternoon and afterward till midnight, with
very great pleasure to all. They begged of me to stay
with them, if only one or two days, saying that many
people were coming from up the river where the Al-
chedomas live, and from down the river where the
Quiquimas, Bagiopas, and Hoabonomas live. But I
dared not linger, lest I fail in coming to collect the
cattle for California, as I had been charged, and as the
branding time was near at hand.
9. On the ninth, after mass, they gave me two sick
adults to baptize. One was called Dionisio, because it
was the day of this glorious, holy martyr; likewise, be-
cause the mass of this saint had been said here, the
rancheria and very good post, close to the junction of
the rivers, was called San Dionisio.
Most of the Indians who this morning came to see us,
travelling nearly all the night, and swimming across
the river, were of very lofty stature, and the principal
one of them was of gigantic size and the largest In-
dian that we had ever seen. To him and two others we
gave staffs of the office of justice. On taking our leave
we comforted them, saying that we would try to return,
as they so importuned and desired.
This very large volumed, populous, and fertile Colo-
rado River, which without exception is the largest in
all New Spain, is that which the ancient cosmographers
by antonomasia called Rio del Norte. It very prob-
ably comes from Gran Quivira; and it is certain that
by the fertile and pleasant lands of this great river one
can penetrate to the Moquis, since it flows ten leagues
west of those pueblos, and since the rancheria of San
Dionisio, as I have found by measuring the height of
one] EUSEBIO FRANCISCO KINO, S.J. 253
the sun with the astrolabe, is in thirty-five and one-half
degrees of [north] latitude. Ascending this river,
which comes almost uniformly from the northeast, an-
other degree and a half, which in this latitude makes a
journey of thirty-six leagues, one reaches thirty-six de-
grees,350 which is the latitude of the Moquis, missions
pertaining to New Mexico; and there is probably no
danger in this region that the Apaches would impede
the entry.
CHAPTER X. WE TAKE LEAVE OF THE MANY
PEOPLE OF THE RIO COLORADO, OR RIO DEL
NORTE, AND RETURN BY THE OTHER
ROUTE, THROUGH SAN MARZELO
This day, October 9, having set out from San Di-
onisio and the junction of the two rivers, we arrived in
the afternoon at the camp of Las Sandias, where our
relay was, and then passed on two leagues farther to a
rancheria, where they gave us a great quantity of fish.
We ascended another and higher hill, whence at sunset
we plainly descried a large stretch of country in Cali-
fornia and saw that the two rivers, below the conflu-
ence, ran united about ten leagues to the west, and then,
turning southward, about twenty leagues farther on
emptied into the head of the Sea of California.
10. On the tenth, leaving the Rio Grande and com-
ing by the route by which we had entered in the month
of February of the past year, we arrived in time to take
our siesta at the tank of La Tinaja; and travelling in
the afternoon about twelve leagues farther, we arrived
an hour after nightfall at the watering-place which also
the past year we had called El Agua Escondida, be-
cause it was among the rocks.351
oso There is an obvious discrepancy here.
351 Some writers have confused Kino's La Tinaja with modern Tinajas
254 MEMOIR OF PIMERIA ALTA [Vol.
ii. On the eleventh, after dispatching most of the
servants with the relay, that they might go on to take
their siesta and wait for me wherever they should come
across good pasturage for the pack-animals, I turned
toward the west and ascended another hill, but I saw
nothing more than the continuation of these lands with
those of California, and the sands of the California sea.
Overtaking the servants, and travelling today twelve
leagues, we arrived before sunset at the tank of La
Luna, for we had given it this name the year before be-
cause we had arrived there at night by moonlight. And
because this watering-place is among some rocks so
high that the pack-animals cannot ascend to drink
water, we determined to eat a morsel of supper there
and then travel, and we did travel, three hours more by
night, in order to reach the watering-place of Carrizal
with more ease the following day.
12. On the twelfth, arising more than two hours be-
fore dawn, and setting out from the stopping-place at
the rising of the morning star, after thirteen leagues of
very good roads we arrived at ten o'clock at the good
Atlas. Eldredge (Beginnings of San Francisco, vol. i, 60) speaks of Kino's
Aguaje de la Luna and Agua Escondida as one and the same, though the
diaries give them as twelve leagues apart. Agua Escondida was evidently
modern Tinajas Altas. An excellent description of Tinajas Altas is given
in Report of the Boundary Commission (Washington, 1898), part ii, 25.
Aguaje de la Luna may have been Tinajas del Tule, a well-known tank
on the Sonoita trail, although judged by distances given in the diaries it
is too far west. (See post, pages 311-320). La Tinaja del Cerro de la
Cabeza Prieta as located by Lumholtz is out of the question, although
Aguaje de la Luna might be the tank of that name as shown on the
Boundary Commission map. Eldredge's assumption that Anza's Agua
Escondida was Kino's Aguaje de la Luna seems untenable, the former
probably being in the Sierra Pinta. The error may have arisen from
placing Los Pozos de en Medio west of Gila Range, when all the diaries of
the Anza expedition distinctly say that they were at the last camp before
entering the pass (Tinajas Altas Pass). Richman (op. cit., map) places
Anza's Agua Escondida east of La Purificacion, which is quite contrary to
the explicit words of the diaries.
one] EUSEBIO FRANCISCO KINO, S.J. 255
watering-place of El Carrizal, of the Arroyo de San
Marcelo del Sonoydag. I said mass, we breakfasted,
and after eating dinner we took a very good siesta; and
after eight leagues' journey farther we arrived at eight
o'clock at night at the rancheria and ranch of San Mar-
zelo, having been given good refreshments by the peo-
ple of another rancheria which was on the way and to
whom we spoke the word of God. They gave us three
sick adults to baptize, who were called Ygnacio, Fran-
cisco Xavier, and Francisco de Borja. The fiscal and
principal personage of this rancheria came with us to
Nuestra Senora de los Dolores, almost one hundred
leagues' journey.
The people of San Marcelo del Sonoydag, their gov-
ernor, and many others, came out more than three
leagues to meet us, with arches and crosses erected and
with a house or arbor prepared, with plentiful supplies
and meat, and wheat, maize, beans, and calabashes, for
there are crops of all these for the father whom they
are asking for and hoping to receive. We found here
our people and servants with the relay which on the
twentieth of the past month we had sent from La Con-
cepcion del Cabotca, who had come fifty leagues to
meet us at the summons which we had sent them from
San Ambrosio del Busanic.
This post and rancheria of San Marcelo is the best
there is on this coast. It has fertile land, with irriga-
tion ditches for good crops, water which runs all the
year, good pasture for cattle, and everything necessary
for a good settlement, for it has very near here more
than a thousand souls, and many more in its environs,
while there is a notable lack of water on the rest of this
coast, which extends fifty leagues south to La Concep-
cion del Cabotca, fifty leagues north to the Rio Grande,
256 MEMOIR OF PIMERIA ALTA [Vol.
fifty leagues east to the valley of San Xavier del Baac,
and fifty or more leagues west to the confines of the
Quiquimas and the mouth of the Rio Colorado.
13. On the thirteenth we rested at San Marzelo.
We received a holy cross which the captain of La En-
carnacion of the Rio Grande and Casa Grande sent me,
with very kind messages, from a distance of more than
seventy leagues. We catechized the people, and they
gave us four sick adults and four infants to baptize.
We counted the cattle, finding about fifty head, and
killed one fat beef. The overseer of this ranch and the
alcalde and the fiscal of this rancheria of San Marcelo
made plans to go and did go with us to Nuestra Senora
de los Dolores.
CHAPTER XI. SETTING OUT FROM SAN MARZELO,
AFTER A JOURNEY OF FIFTY LEAGUES WE AR-
RIVE AT NUESTRA SENORA DE LA CONCEPCION
DEL CABOTCA, AND AFTER FIFTY MORE
AT NUESTRA SENORA DE LOS DOLORES
October 14, 1700. On the fourteenth of October,
setting out for San Luys Bertrando de Bacapa, after a
journey of six leagues there came out to meet us many
natives with many of their viands and many very good
pitajayas, which on this coast are abundant and last
until December. After six leagues' journey farther we
arrived at San Luys Bertrando, where we were wel-
comed by about one hundred and fifty persons, with
many of their viands and pitajayas, and we spoke the
Word of God to them all.
15. Having invited these people to come to the
pueblos, the most arable pieces of land, and the rivers,
to live, we set out for San Eduardo del Baipia, and
after a journey of twenty leagues we arrived at night-
fall; there received us, with crosses placed in the roads,
one] EUSEBIO FRANCISCO KINO, S.J. 257
with a house or arbor and prepared viands, more than
twelve hundred persons, who had assembled from the
neighborhood, with many justices who had come from
various places, among them the captain of La Concep-
cion del Cabotca and other governors and the foreman
of Nuestra Senora de los Dolores, who had come to
meet us with some relay pack-horses and with bread
and other refreshments.
16. On the sixteenth, after travelling sixteen leagues,
we arrived at La Concepcion del Cabotca, where we
were received with all kindness and with an abundance
of provisions, for there were wheat, maize, large and
small stock, about one hundred head of each sort, an
earth-roofed adobe house, and a little church which
the venerable Father Francisco Xavier Saeta had built.
Of the many who came forth more than a league to
meet us and receive us, one greeted us with these words:
"Blessed and exalted be the most holy sacrament of the
altar and the immaculate conception of most holy
Mary," which among new people was a source of great
pleasure and of some wonder to us.
17. On the seventeenth, having spoken to them the
Word of God, and baptized infants which they gave
us, including a son of the captain of this nation, we set
out for El Tubutama which, after more than twenty
leagues we reached that night by moonlight, having
passed by the rancherias of San Diego del Pitquin and
San Antonio del Uquitoa, where also there were wheat
and maize for the father, and through that of El Ad-
dibuto. In El Tubutama there were more than two
hundred persons, a little church and a house of adobe
and earth, and at the ringing of their bell they recited
the prayers and the Christian doctrine, as in the pueblos
of Sonora. They had here about fifty head of cattle,
about one hundred head of sheep and goats, and every
258 MEMOIR OF PIMERIA ALTA [Vol.
year they plant wheat, maize, and beans for the father
whom they were hoping to receive.
1 8. On the eighteenth, after a seventeen leagues'
journey, we arrived at the pueblo of San Ygnacio, hav-
ing passed through that of Santa Maria Madalena,
which, with the pueblo higher up, namely that of San
Joseph de Hymeres, are in charge of Father Agustin
de Campos; and although his Reverence was somewhat
indisposed from tertian ague, he received us with all
kindness.
19. On the nineteenth, passing through San Joseph
de Hymeres and Babasaqui, after nine leagues' journey
I arrived at my pueblo of Nuestra Senora de los Reme-
dios, where I found that they had just finished roofing
two very good lodges with very good rafters and boards
of pine. We rested here this afternoon.
20. On the twentieth we arrived, thanks to his di-
vine Majesty, in safety at Nuestra Senora de los Do-
lores, having travelled in going and returning three
hundred and eighty-four leagues in twenty-six days,
without our pack-animals becoming weary and without
any mishap, which we attributed to the celestial favors
of our Lord, having happily caught sight of California
and the passage to it by land, having solemnized forty-
two baptisms, and discovered four other new nations
and the great Rio Colorado, or Rio del Norte. And
we reported this news to the lovers of new conversions
as previously they had asked me to do.
one] EUSEBIO FRANCISCO KINO, S.J. 259
CHAPTER XII. LETTERS WHICH THE FATHERS OF
THE COMPANY, AS WELL AS OTHERS, SECULAR
GENTLEMEN, WRITE ME, HAVING HEARD
THE NEWS OF THE ABOVE-RELATED
EXPEDITION AND DISCOVERY
The Father Visitor. The father visitor, Antonio
Leal, on October 9 wrote me the following letter:
I am greatly rejoiced over the return of your Reverence from
your journey, which the father rector, Juan Maria de Salva-
tierra, had written me to ask your Reverence about, because of
the importance of the certainty of its being mainland. Very
good news also is that of the Rio Colorado and of the other na-
tions. Operarii autem pauci,352 that is the pity of it. For
God now offers so great a harvest in so great a field. May he
recompense your Reverence for such toil in discovering so many
sheep, redeemed by the blood of Jesus Christ, but separated from
His fold.
The Father Rector of this Mission. The father
rector of this mission of San Francisco Xavier, Adamo
Gilg, writes thus:
A hearty welcome to your Reverence from your long apos-
tolic excursion, which the father rector Juan Maria Salvatierra
asked of us. It is now well established that the Sea of Cali-
fornia does not reach to thirty-four degrees of latitude.
To the father rector of the College of Matape, Mar-
cos Antonio Kappus, I sent, together with these reports,
some of the blue shells which they had given me the
year before, in February, on the Rio Colorado, and
which caused me to infer that this land route must exist
because I had seen shells of the same kind on the op-
posite coast in the year 1685, when in company with the
Admiral Don Ysydro de Attondo y Antillon.353
The Father Rector of Matape. The father rector
answered me thus:
I esteem the blue shells above my eyes, and especially the
352 "But the laborers are few" (Luke, x, 2).
353 See the "Index."
26o MEMOIR OF PIMERIA ALTA [Vol.
large one, which truly is a rare piece. May your Reverence
live a thousand years. Yesterday the father rector Juan Maria
Salvatierra sent me four shells from the opposite coast, and these
are neither more nor less than of the same sort and source.
The Senor Military Commander. The Senor mil-
itary commander of this province of Sonora, Don Do-
mingo Jironza Petris de Cruzatt, who always had
strongly urged these expeditions in the service of God
and the king, and for them had already in four other
distinct letters given me thanks in the name of his royal
Majesty, on this occasion also wrote me a very kind let-
ter full of comfort and congratulations, etc.
General Juan Fernandez de la Fuente. General
Juan Fernandez de la Fuente, captain of the presidio
of Janos and alcalde mayor of Casas Grandes, wrote me
the following:
At a time when evil rumors were current, spread by some ill
disposed persons (who for that reason are not credited, and who
dream of revolts not intended, which often arise from our an-
nouncing them and talking about them, the natives having no
such intention) with great rejoicing and appreciation on my part
I just received the very much esteemed letter of your Reverence,
by which I see all that has been done by your Reverence in the
service of God and the king, which for me has certainly been
most delightful news. Our very reverend fathers, Rector Juan
Maria de Salvatierra and Francisco Maria Piccolo, and all the
other pioneers, have greatly rejoiced, and I should be greatly
delighted if your Reverence and I could see each other, that face
to face and mouth to mouth we might confer upon all that might
be to your pleasure and of service to God and the King, and to
all. In all such matters as may arise, I shall subject myself, and
sacrifice my life and estate, for in doing the service of God and
the King and the common weal we may promise ourselves
eternal salvation, which is all that we can desire.
Thus far General Juan Fernandez de la Fuente.
one] EUSEBIO FRANCISCO KINO, S.J. 261
CHAPTER XIII. LETTER OF THE FATHER RECTOR
JUAN MARIA DE SALVATIERRA, TO WHOM IN
THE MONTHS PRECEDING I HAD WRITTEN
OF THE VERY GREAT PROBABILITY OF
THE LAND ROUTE TO CALIFORNIA
Two days after I had returned from the above-men-
tioned expedition to the Rio Colorado and the land
route to California, I received a long letter from the
father rector, Juan Maria de Salvatierra, dated Loreto
Concho, California, August 25, of this year of 1700.
In it his Reverence, among other things, writes to me
the following:
I received here in Loreto, all at one time, the letters of your
Reverence written in Matape and other places, and they were a
great comfort to me. We have rejoiced to know the almost cer-
tainty that this land is a part of the continent and joins
New Spain ; and the only thing lacking is to know in what lat-
itude this gulf ends, which we are all hoping your Reverence
will write us after the rains, for next year, if they succor us, it
will not be difficult to compass the one hundred leagues, even
though they be one hundred and fifty, so as to meet. We are in
great want, what with having had no supplies from Mexico in
fourteen months, and altogether lacking in the matter of goods,
chocolate, tobacco, etc., which can not be otherwise than the re-
sult of some other great disaster to a bark or barks. God's will
be done in everything, for I hope the gates of hell will not pre-
vail against the great little house of Loreto. And it has an im-
portant bearing upon the case to know the way by land to where
this sea heads, so as to be able to secure aid overland in an
emergency, such as may happen to us in case of complete de-
struction of the shipping, etc.
In regard to the gift of the cattle and their transportation to
Hiaqui, again I express to your Reverence my appieciation of
the abundant charity thereof, for your Reverence's part in it,
and also for what you did with the other fathers. Accept, your
Reverence, warm greetings from Father Francisco Maria Pic-
colo, and from all the people of this Loreto, who have rejoiced
262 MEMOIR OF PIMERIA ALTA [Vol.
in the hopes of the continental connection and who anxiously
await the last news.
Thus far the Father Rector Juan Maria de Salva-
tierra, just after these reports had been obtained, and as
I was actually writing to his Reverence, with the diary
of all the above-mentioned expedition, which I sent to
his Reverence in California. In view of its contents
his Reverence came afterward in person from Nuestra
Senora de Loreto, in California, to this mission of
Nuestra Senora de los Dolores of this Pimeria, to make
an expedition to the land passage to California, in the
month of February of the following year, 1701, as is
stated in Book II, following.
CHAPTER XIV. ABOUT SEVEN HUNDRED BEEVES
AND OTHER CATTLE ARE COLLECTED AND
HERDED IN THESE MISSIONS OF SONORA,
AND TAKEN TO MATAPE AND HYA-
QUI FOR CALIFORNIA
1700. On the occasion of Father Rector Juan Maria
de Salvatierra's having come from California to Cina-
loa and to Aome, in February and March of this year,
1700, for the cleaning, careening, and equipment of the
ship San Firmin, the question came up of the gift of
cattle which these missions of Sonora were to give to
California; and afterward the greater part of these
cattle were given at the most opportune time, which
was in October and November, at branding time. And
his Reverence wrote me from Cinaloa the two follow-
ing letters, the first, of May 9, being of this tenor:
On Wednesday I shall take the road for Onabas, and if I am
not prevented by my health, or some sudden call from Loreto,
California, I shall go on to Matape on the twenty-second of this
month. And because of the hope of happily seeing your Rever-
ence there, I do not answer the points, so loving, of your letter,
one] EUSEBIO FRANCISCO KINO, S.J. 263
which have caused my heart to swell. I have just received a
letter from the father rector of Matape, in which he advises me
that he has already received the ten loads of provisions which
your Reverence sends for the missions of Nuestra Senora de
Loreto, of California, for which I thank your Reverence, and
which I esteem above my eyes. And I thank your Reverence
for the three hundred beeves which you offer for California.
And on May 21, among other points in a long letter,
his Reverence wrote me the following:
I thought to be able to reach Matape, but the heat of the sun,
the development of an eye trouble by the natives, the sudden
return of the launch from California, and the necessity of my
presence, as well for the sake of the careening as of going
on her, because the people on the other side are alone and numer-
ous, the conjunction of these reasons has forced me to return
from here. I greatly regret the ill-fortune of not having been
able to see your Reverence. In reference to the three hundred
beeves which your Reverence wishes to give to California, I am
afraid that they will occasion want or damage in the missions of
the Pimas, for, as I have heard, your Reverence is asking for new
fathers to place in the Pimeria, and so for the present let me say
that your Reverence may keep one hundred for the Pimeria, but
the two hundred I need immediately for California, delivered in
the port of Hyaqui, which the father provincial has assigned to
me for cattle, and which is near Loreto Concho, of California,
a Christendom in which we have set foot, which is already estab-
lished, and which is being fostered, conserved, and advanced.
It has cost sweat, and blood, and great treasure, and through the
patronage of most holy Mary the gospel is being spread from sea
to sea, the rancherias intervening being now subdued from coast
to coast.
Thus far the father rector, Juan Maria de Salva-
tierra. In virtue of this letter, although some urged
the difficulty of the heat, and others other occupations,
I entered at once upon the work of transporting to
Matape, Tecoripa, and Hyaqui, the two hundred cattle
which this mission of Nuestra Senora de los [Dolores]
264 MEMOIR OF PIMERIA ALTA
was giving to California; and I accompanied them,
and in person helped them to Tuape in June.
Afterward, in November, on my return from my ex-
pedition at branding time, the other districts gave a
goodly number of cattle; for I went to Matape, a fifty
leagues' journey, to send them to the new ranch of Hya-
qui, that from that ranch the fathers of California might
obtain the meat, tallow, and lard that might be needed,
sending the cattle alive to California, also, as might be
needed and as occasion should demand. The district
of Oposura gave one hundred, and a thousand head of
sheep and goats, which were bought in Hyaqui in ex-
change for cattle. The district of Ures gave ten beeves
more, and the district of Cucurpe one hundred ; the dis-
trict of Matape gave sixty, besides some horses; the dis-
trict of Guepaca seventy, the district of Arispe fifty,
and the other missions other numbers. And with this
we ended the year 1700.
BOOK II. EXPEDITION OR MISSION WITH
THE FATHER RECTOR, JUAN MARIA DE
SALVATIERRA, TO THE HEAD OF THE SEA
OF CALIFORNIA, AT THIRTY-ONE DE-
GREES OF LATITUDE; HOSTILITIES OF
THE APACHES ON THESE FRONTIERS
OF SONORA. GOOD STATE OF THE
NEW CONVERSIONS OF THIS EX-
TENSIVE PIMERIA AND OF ITS
NEIGHBORING NATIONS
CHAPTER I. THE COMING OF THE FATHER RECTOR
JUAN MARIA DE SALVATIERRA FROM THE MISSION
OF NUESTRA SENORA DE LORETO, CALIFORNIA,
TO THESE MISSIONS OF HYAQUI, SONORA,
AND OF THIS PIMERIA, TO GO BY LAND
TO SAID CALIFORNIA
January and February, 1701. The father rector,
Juan Maria de Salvatierra, and I, having continually
exchanged letters with a view to possible discoveries
and to the advancement of these spiritual and tem-
poral conquests and new conversions of California, and
of its neighboring new lands and nations, and having
made reports of those of this Pimeria here (which, like
the missions, old and new, of Chinipas, of Cinaloa, and
of Sonora, owe so much to the apostolic holy care of his
Reverence, for he has been their most vigilant, very
zealous, and indefatigable father visitor), he came in
January and February of this year 1701, by sea, from
California to these missions of Hyaqui and Sonora, and
of this Pimeria, with firm and well founded hopes of
266 MEMOIR OF PIMERIA ALTA [Vol.
returning by land in latitude thirty-one or thirty-two
degrees to his mission of Nuestra Senora de Loreto
Concho, where his Reverence left as vice-rector Father
Francisco Maria Picolo, and as commander and cap-
tain of the soldiers, Captain Antonio de Mendosa y
Garzia, and the barks and crews in charge of their
commanders for the careening and the voyages which
might be necessary.
From Tecoripa and Matape and other places his
Reverence had written me numerous different letters
in regard to the things -provisions, pack-animals, and
cattle -which we should need for this new expedition
to the land passage to California, and perhaps to Cali-
fornia itself, and far inland, or even to Loreto Concho.
And, therefore, both here within this Pimeria and out-
side it, in the other neighboring missions, provision was
made of all necessaries in the way of servants, flour, bis-
cuit, meat, pack-animals, etc. And lest there should be
some resistance or difficulty in the passage by land to
California, or in California itself, in descending from
thirty-two degrees,354 where the above-mentioned pas-
sage is, to twenty-six degrees, where the mission of
Nuestra Senora de Loreto Concho is situated, the father
rector Juan Maria de Salvatierra determined to take
some soldiers for the journey. To that end his Rever-
ence went to the Real de San Juan to see the Senor mili-
tary commander, Don Domingo Jyronza Petris de Cru-
zatt, and with ease he obtained from his lordship ten355
soldiers with their commander, while from the other
citizens of the Real de San Juan and of the Valle de
354 See page 265, where he says thirty-one degrees. The figures 1, 2, and
4, in early Spanish manuscripts, are easily confused, a fact which may
explain Kino's apparent inconsistency in his latitudes.
355 Manje (Luz de Tierra Incognita, libro ii, 97) says that Salvatierra se-
cured Manje, four soldiers, and eight citizens.
one] EUSEBIO FRANCISCO KINO, S.J. 267
Sonora, and from the missionary fathers of the old mis-
sions, he acquired the necessary supply of good servants,
muleteers, and pack and saddle mules. With that from
without and from this Pimeria more than forty loads of
provisions and other things necessary were collected,
and were carried upon this expedition.
CHAPTER II. THE COMING OF THE HOSTILE
APACHES TO THESE FRONTIERS OF SONORA, WITH
SO MANY HOSTILITIES, ROBBERIES, AND MUR-
DERS, THAT IT SEExMED THAT IT WAS GOING
TO PREVENT OUR EXPEDITION TO THE
LAND PASSAGE TO CALIFORNIA
At this same time, in January and February, the
Apaches came in, for their accustomed annual rob-
beries; and after stealing horses, etc., in various places,
in the ranch of Cucurpe, very near here, they did the
serious damage of which Father Melchor Bartyromo
wrote me in the letter following, dated at Cucurpe,
February 1 :
1 70 1. For lack of paper I did not write to your Reverence
from Saracachi, where the enemy, more than two hundred In-
dians, made an attack on Sunday long after sunrise, killing six
persons, and wounding seven, of whom three are in danger.
They sacked all the houses except mine and the overseer's, where
the other people were saved, and carried off horses and mares,
we know not how many, and all the sheep and goats. I have
sorrowed only for the death of so many innocents, not for the
temporal matters. Commend us to the Lord, your Reverence,
in your holy sacrifices, to which I commend myself. Cucurpe,
Feb. 1.
P.S. Be on your guard, your Reverence, because it may be
that the enemy are still lurking about here, for they were many.
P.S. Now, at dawn, February 2, day of the Virgin, German
has come to inform me that they overtook the enemy and took
the stolen horses away from them.
Thus far Father Bartyromo.
268 MEMOIR OF PIMERIA ALTA [Vol.
The great misfortune through these deaths so pitiful,
greatly dismayed all the province, and it seemed that it
was going to hinder our journey to the land passage to
California. But the father rector, Juan Maria de Sal-
vatierra, wrote me from Tuape the following letters,
one of the tenth, the other of the fourteenth of Febru-
ary. The one of the tenth runs thus:
February io and 14. When I was on the point of writing
and dispatching a letter to your Reverence, Father Melchor told
me he had received one from your Reverence containing the
good news that Alferez Escalante had taken all the horses from
the enemy, and so I detain the bearer a little while to give your
Reverence congratulations for this victory. And, because your
Reverence was occupied in giving mules and horses in honor of
the Madonna of Loreto, and succor for her California mission,
the Lady has looked upon all the benefactors. Long live Jesus !
Long live Mary! I have received your Reverence's letter with
the salutations of the beloved Pima children, to whom I beg
your Reverence to return my greetings; for I will rejoice to
embrace them. Tomorrow or the day after I go to Cucurpe,
and, in order not to detain the bearer, I say no more.
The second letter, of the fourteenth, runs thus:
This war of Saracachi has done us a very ill turn. But there
is no reason to lose courage. I suppose that your Reverence is
very busy with the provisions, for the want of provisions alone
can make us turn back, but I am resolved on the contrary, since
from this knowledge of lands will come great good for the mis-
sions of Loreto Concho. It will be necessary that all your Rev-
erence's mules go from Los Dolores loaded ; some ten or twelve
loads of flour, some two loads of pinole, and two loads of biscuit.
And it is necessary that all the tierces be of six arrobas, which,
as they proceed, will be continually lessened. As to dried meat,
perhaps it would be well to take a couple of loads, so as not to
have to be troubled with having to kill as soon as one arrives at
the places even where there are live animals to kill.
I am stopping here these two days, for thus I shall see to pre-
paring the few beasts that I take, for, on ascending higher, it
will be necessary to shut them up at night, and they will suffer
much. And for my part, the reconnoissance of this land is of
one] EUSEBIO FRANCISCO KINO, S.J. 269
such importance that if necessary I shall stop here until the
rains, in the accomplishment of this purpose. And so for the
love of God I beg your Reverence to provide supplies, for I am
resolved on my part not to turn back for want of them; and
therefore I pray your Reverence to advise me of all, and in par-
ticular of what your Reverence has already provided of the kinds
above mentioned. I return the greetings of your Reverence's
children, the Californians who come with me, fruits of the toils
and zeal of your Reverence.
Thus far the father rector, Juan Maria de Salva-
tierra.
CHAPTER III. THESE HOSTILITIES OF THE APACHES
ARE ATTRIBUTED, ALTHOUGH VERY FALSELY,
TO THE PIMAS; AND THE INNOCENCE OF
THIS PIMERIA IS CLEARLY SHOWN
AND DECLARED
In regard to these above mentioned murders, rob-
beries, and hostilities, there were so many controversies
and such perverse and hostile opinions that the friend-
ships of principal persons of this province were im-
paired and broken, many attributing those evils to the
always hostile Hojomes, Janos, Sumas, and Apaches,
while others perforce laid them upon the Pimas of this
Pimeria, and attested reports, although false, were
made. But our Lord made clear the truth in many
ways, and forthwith the two following letters from
those who pursued the enemy and took from them a
great part of the booty which they carried, very clearly
indicated it to me. One, dated February 13, is from
Captain Pedro de Peralta, lieutenant of those frontiers,
and is as follows:
My Father Eusebio Francisco Kino. Reward! Reward!
Reward! The hostile Indians who attacked Saracachi, on their
return passed by this Real de Bacanuchi and took from the cor-
ral of Simon Romo a drove of mares and other beasts. It was
270 MEMOIR OF PIMERIA ALTA [Vol.
reported to the presidio of Fronteras, and Alferez Escalante set
out with fifteen men, while ten went from here. Near Chigui-
cahui they overtook thirty-six enemies, and recovered the ani-
mals from them; and they saw clearly and distinctly that they
were Apaches. They recovered tecomates 356 and other spoils
which they had stolen in Saracachi. The enemy fled to the
sierra and they could not be followed for lack of horses. Thus,
they are not Pimas, as has been imagined ; and so I do not lose
my reward, but I would give it gladly for the great love I bear
the Pimas. Yesterday, February 12, the soldiers arrived with
the horses, very much pleased at having discovered that the mur-
derers and robbers are Apaches and Hojomes, etc.
Thus far Captain Peralta. And Captain Christoval
Granillo de Salazar, also on the thirteenth of February,
from the Real de Bacanuchi wrote the following:
A matter of great rejoicing for me was the receipt of a letter
from your Reverence, for I have very greatly desired to have
news of the friendly Pimas, because of the great confusion in
which the rumors have kept us, and which are no sooner believed
than they are circumstantially disproved. Now our Lord hath
willed that the identity of those who attacked Saracachi should
be known. Yesterday, the twelfth instant, arrived my brother
Simon and the soldiers who went in pursuit of them, with the
Senor Alferez Juan de Escalante, who overtook them in the
little sierra beyond San Joseph, about twelve leagues from Chi-
guicahui, where they recovered the horses which were taken
from this valley. By their dress and their arms all the soldiers
recognized them to be Apaches, and they saw them about an
arquebus-shot away. They could not kill them, because they
lacked animals, and because the country was bad. I do not ask
reward because my godfather, Captain Peralta, has already
asked it, but I shall not lose it.
Thus far Captain Christoval Granillo de Salazar.
Another event, although sad in a way, clearly re-
vealed the innocence of this Pimeria. Because, on the
eighteenth of February, notice having come that here,
near the peak of Nuestra Senora de los Remedios, in a
356 Gourd vessels.
one] EUSEBIO FRANCISCO KINO, S.J. 271
deep and very rough valley, the enemy had stolen and
secreted many horses, some Indians from Nuestra
Senora de los Dolores and some from Nuestra Senora
de los Remedios set out to see to taking them away, and
the governor of Nuestra Senora de los Remedios with
two of his men, and the foreman of Nuestra Senora de
los Dolores, with others of his men, fought to the death.
And the Father Visitor Antonio Leal wrote me the let*
ter following:
I give your Reverence warm condolence, entwined with
hearty congratulations, for the death of the Pima children, for
with their blood and with their lives well they have manifested
to all the world that the malevolent and the malefactors are not
the Pimas nor the Pimeria.
The same was said and written by various other per-
sons, that is, that since the Pimas gave their lives to
resist the robberies, the Pimas were not the ones who
committed them, nor friends of such evils.
CHAPTER IV. THE FATHER RECTOR, JUAN MARIA
DE SALVATIERRA, COMES TO THIS MISSION OR PU-
EBLO OF NUESTRA SESJORA DE LOS DOLORES, AND
WE UNDERTAKE THE EXPEDITION TO THE PAS-
SAGE BY LAND TO CALIFORNIA. HIS REVER-
ENCE SETS OUT WESTWARD FOR SAN
YGNACIO AND AFTER A JOURNEY
OF FIFTY LEAGUES ARRIVES AT
NUESTRA SENORA DE LA
CONCEPCION 3"
About the twentieth of February Father Juan Maria
Salvatierra with ten soldiers and his native Cali-
fornians, etc., arrived from Cucurpe at this district of
Nuestra Senora de los Dolores. We talked with pleas-
ure of everything concerning the expedition to this land
357 For Salvatierra's journey with Kino, see Manje, op. cit., 96-110;
Salvatierra to Arteaga, in Doc. Hist. Mex., Cuarta Serie, tomo v, 126-15+;
Salvatierra to Gonzalez in Venegas Noticia, vol. ii, 101-102.
272 MEMOIR OF PIMERIA ALTA [Vol.
passage to California, especially on account of the blue
shells, because in these days the father rector of Matape
had written me the following letter:
Very greatly has the father rector, Juan de Salvatierra, re-
joiced to see the blue shells, in particular the large one with
which your Reverence favored me, and the two balls and the
belt;358 and his Reverence no longer doubts that this land has
continental connection with that of California.
Having arranged that this district of Nuestra Senora
de los Dolores should give for the journey to the pas-
sage twenty loads of provisions -flour, dried meat, bis-
suit, etc. -and eighty sumpters, most of them mules, the
father rector, Juan Maria Salvatierra, on the twenty-
fifth of February set out westward from Nuestra
Senora de los Dolores for the pueblo of San Ygnacio,
with two soldiers, for he had made the rest return to
Saracachi, on account of a rumor of enemies that
arose.359 His Reverence carried from here for the jour-
ney the picture of Our Lady of Loreto, well painted by
the hand of Juan Correa, which was a great comfort to
us in all the journey. We placed her upon the altar
when we said mass, the fathers taking charge of her
personally, the one in the morning and the other in the
afternoon.
358 Texido de la faxa.
359 Manje was sent with the military escort from the Real de San Juan
Bautista, capital of the province. Setting out on February 16, with eight
citizens, he went to Cucurpe, where he joined Father Salvatierra, who was
preparing supplies given for the journey by Father Melchor Bartiromo. The
departure for Dolores was delayed by an attack of three hundred Apaches on
Zaracachi, whence they stole two hundred animals. Manje set out on the
trail and found that the Apaches had killed five Pimas near Los Remedios.
Escalante also set out, from the presidio, with twenty soldiers, calling the
Pimas to aid, but failed to overtake the enemy. At Dolores, Manje was
joined by Ayudante Nicolas de Bohorques and three soldiers, making twelve
men in the escort, besides Manje. Manje's account conflicts slightly with
this one (Manje, Luz de Tierra Incognita, libro ii, 97-98). See also Sal-
vatierra's account, op. cit., 129-134.
one] EUSEBIO FRANCISCO KINO, S.J. 273
At San Ygnacio, which is ten leagues from Nuestra
Senora de los Dolores, and where Father Agustin de
Campos was, the Father Rector Juan Maria de Salva-
tierra provided himself with some supplies, and with
some more pack-animals; and as I, with the solicitude
in which the enemy kept us, was detained a little longer,
his Reverence wrote me the letter following on the
twenty-sixth of February:
What with the many gifts which your Reverence has made
me, I was able to come but slowly to this district of San
Ygnacio. May God recompense your Reverence for the great
charity which you dispense even to one who so little merits it.
Arrived here, I received the packet which your Reverence de-
spatched to me ; and news now comes that shortly a new viceroy
and archbishop will arrive. It has troubled me to know that
the enemy untied a horse at Tuape ; and the poor Father
Melchor 380 would suppose that the soldiers were at Los Do-
lores, while it was impossible that the two soldiers should ar-
rive tonight at Tuape. God grant that it be not a serious
affair; yet if it be so, your Reverence has the matter before
you, and at all events, whatever your Reverence may decide will
be the best considered, you being so experienced and old.
Thus far Father Juan Maria. In view of this letter
I determined to cast a glance at my three pueblos and
order them fortified, on account of such dangers of
enemies as existed. Meanwhile the eight soldiers re-
turned from Saracachi to Nuestra Senora de los Do-
lores with their leader, Nicholas Bohorgues, and with
Captain Juan Mateo Manje, nephew of the Sefior gov-
ernor of arms, who two days afterward went to overtake
the Father Rector Juan Maria de Salvatierra at San
Ygnacio.361 From there his Reverence continued his
360 Father Melchor Bartiromo, of Cucurpe.
361 Manje overtook Salvatierra at San Ignacio, and accompanied him to
Caborca, where Kino overtook them. An account of the journey of Salva-
tierra and Manje is given by Manje, Luz de Tierra Incognita, libro ii, 98-99.
See also Salvatierra's account, op. cit., 136-139. On the twenty-eighth they
274 MEMOIR OF PIMERIA ALTA [Vol.
westward route toward the sea of California, and to-
ward La Concepcion de Nuestra Senora del Cabotca,
through Tubutama, Addi, San Antonio del Uquitoa,
and San Diego del Pitquin, where his Reverence with
his great charity and holy zeal solemnized twenty-six
baptisms of sick persons and infants that the natives
gave him; and after about fifty leagues' journey from
Los Dolores he arrived with his people and with the
forty loads of provisions at La Concepcion safely and
quickly.
CHAPTER V. MY DEPARTURE FROM NUESTRA
SENORA DE LOS DOLORES, TO OVERTAKE FATHER
RECTOR JUAN MARIA DE SALVATIERRA, DRAWN
FROM THE DIARY OF THIS JOURNEY TO
THE LAND PASSAGE TO CALIFORNIA
March i, 1701. On March 1, 1701, I set out from
Nuestra Senora de los Dolores in a northerly direction
with nine servants and one servant of the Senor military
commander, and went to cast a glance at my other two
pueblos of Nuestra Senora de los Remedios and Cocos-
pora, because they were frontiers to the enemy, to pro-
vide for their defence by means of some towers362 and an
expedition of Pimas to the eastern lands through which
the hostile Hojomes363 and Apaches are accustomed to
travel and to penetrate.
2. On March 2, having given ashes at Nuestra Se-
nora de los Remedios, I went on to give them in the
pueblo of Cocospera, where I found two captains of
this Pimeria, one named El Coro and the other named
El Tarabilla,364 who had just spied the enemy. They
set out, passing Magdalena, Tubutama, Ati, Uquitoa, and Pitquin, reaching
Caborca on March 6 (Manje, op. cit., 98-99).
362 Toriones.
3(53 Jocomes.
364 «The Prattler."
one] EUSEBIO FRANCISCO KINO, S.J. 275
reported that they had seen their smokes, and that they
were not more than two days' journey away from the Pi-
meria, to the eastward. They offered to go soon with
a goodly number of Pimas of this immediate district
and of the Sobayporis of the north to fight against the
said hostile Hojomes and Apaches, and for this purpose
I ordered provisions of meat, maize, and wheat given
to them and to the soldiers, four of whom had come to
Cocospera, leaving thirteen others in Bacanuchi; and
these Pimas afterwards had the good fortune which I
shall relate at the end of this diary.
3. On the third the four soldiers, having confessed,
set out for Bacanuchi to join the other thirteen again;
and I set out for the west and for Nuestra Senora de
la Concepcion del Cabotca, following the father rector,
Juan Maria de Salvatierra; and after fifteen leagues'
journey I arrived after nightfall at the ranch of San
Simon y San Judas del Siboda.365
4. On the fourth they gave me three infants to bap-
tize; I provided myself with twenty other good pack-
animals; seven droves of mares were branded; and I
left orders for branding immediately afterwards the
thousand head of cattle contained in this ranch, which
I have dedicated to the aid of the new conversions
which may be founded.
5. On the fifth, after a thirteen leagues' journey, I
arrived near the rancheria named Aquimuri.
6. On the sixth, after going three leagues I arrived
in time to say mass at San Ambrosio del Busanic. where
I found more than five hundred persons who had as-
sembled, and after mass they gave me five infants and a
sick adult to baptize. We learned that Father Rec-
tor Juan Maria had passed through the neighboring
365 This is the first diary of an expedition by precisely this route.
276 MEMOIR OF PIMERIA ALTA [Vol.
pueblo of Tubutama. We killed one beef of the more
than eighty which they were tending for me here, with
four droves of mares; and as there was also wheat and
maize here belonging to the Church, they had ground
and provided for us four loads of flour for our journey.
7. On the seventh we set out for the pueblo of El
Tubutama and for the rancheria of Addi, where we
arrived after a fourteen leagues' journey. After the
first three leagues, at El Saric, they gave me six infants
to baptize, one afterwards on the journey at the ranch
of El Tubutama, and one in El Saric366 also, where
they were tending for me of eighty head of small stock,
wheat, maize, and beans, and where also they had pro-
vided for us some loads of flour for our journey.
8. On the eighth I set out from Addi, and, passing
through the rancheria of San Antonio del Uquitoa, and
through the incipient pueblo of San Diego del Pitquin,
after an eighteen leagues' journey I arrived at nightfall
at Nuestra Senora de la Concepcion del Cabotca,
where, with the very great charity of Father Rector
Juan Maria, I was received at the door of the little
church, with the picture of Our Lady of Loreto on
the altar, and by the soldiers, and by more than four
hundred Indians placed in a line, very much as in the
old Christian pueblos.
366 El Saric is apparently a mis-copy for Addii.
one] EUSEBIO FRANCISCO KINO, S.J. 277
CHAPTER VI. HAVING PERFORMED THIRTY-THREE
SOLEMN BAPTISMS AT LA CONCEPCION, AFTER GO-
ING FIFTY LEAGUES ALONG THE COAST OF THE
SEA OF CALIFORNIA WE ARRIVED AT THE
RANCHERIA AND RANCH OF SAN
MARZELO DEL SONOYDAG
MARCH 9, 1701. On the ninth of March, here at
Nuestra Senora de la Concepcion del Cabotca, Father
Juan Maria de Salvatierra and I solemnly baptized
thirty infants and three sick adults, whom for this
purpose the very friendly natives of this very large new-
pueblo gave us.367 During these three days we killed
three fat beeves and three sheep of the very fat large
and small stock which they were tending for me here.
They were taking care for me also of a good field of
wheat, and they had already cleared another piece of
ground to plant maize for the church and for the father
whom they were waiting for and desired to receive.
In the afternoon the packtrain set out with forty loads
of provisions and supplies. At nightfall came four
Indians sent by the captain of San Rafael del Actun, by
which we had to pass ; and although it was forty leagues
away, they came to meet and receive us with very
friendly messages from the natives there.
10. On the tenth we set out along the coast toward
the northwest, or between north and west, for San Ed-
uardo del Baypia,30 carrying with us the picture of
Our Lady of Loreto; and, overtaking the pack-train,
367 Father Barrillas, now old, had ceased to live permanently at Caborca,
but visited it from time to time (Manje, Luz de Tierra Incognita, libro ii,
98-99).
368 Anza in 177+ called the place "Baipia or Aribaipia, which the Indians
indifferently call it, and which in our language means little wells" (Diario,
entry for Jan. 23). Garces on the same day noted within a league of the
place three rancherias, the largest of which was Cuboitac (Diario). See
also Lumholtz (Ne<iv Trails in Mexico, 149-173) who went over the same
old trail in 1909, and gave a good description of Arivaipia.
278 MEMOIR OF PIMERIA ALTA [Vol.
we arrived at sunset, being welcomed very kindly by
more than three hundred Indians.
1 1. On the eleventh we all set out together with the
pack-train for San Luys Bertrando del Bacapa, and
after traversing seventeen leagues of very level and
pleasant road we arrived very late at night at a rather
small water-hole and batequi, or small well. Various
parts of this road were made so pleasant and beautiful
by virtue of roses and flowers of different colors, that it
seemed as if Nature had placed them there for the re-
ception of Our Lady of Loreto.369 Almost all day we
were praying and chanting various prayers and praises
of Our Lady in different languages-in Castilian, in
Latin, in Italian, and also in the Calif ornian language;
for the six natives of California, four large and two
small, whom the Father Rector Juan Maria had
brought with him, were so well indoctrinated and in-
structed in everything that they sang the prayers, since
the father rector had already arranged them for them
in pretty couplets, in this Californian language; and
we said with the Holy Psalmist, Cantabiles mihi erant
justificaciones tuas in coro peregrinaciones mece.370
12. On the twelfth, after a five leagues'371 journey,
we arrived at San Luys Bertrando del Bacapa, where
369 Manje gives a very different impression of this day's journey. He
gives the distance as fourteen leagues and says they spent the night without
water, "as a result of which the animals were already beside themselves for
thirst, for not since the morning of the day before had they drunk scarcely
anything, for which reason nine fled from us that night, and there is no
doubt that this was a day of the greatest difficulty, care, and affliction"
(Manje, op. cit., ioo). He wrote, it is true, that next morning they found
near by a well called Sauracan from which they scooped up handfuls of water
for the perishing animals. Salvatierra gives other details, op. cit., 140-141.
370 "Thy justifications were the subject of my song in the place of my
pilgrimage" (Psalm, cxviii, 54).
371 Manje says six leagues. Citing Herrera, Decada 4*, he opines that
Bacapa was passed through by Coronado's army (Manje, Luz de Tierra In-
cognita, libro ii, 101). He says that the distance of forty leagues from the
sea corresponds with that given by Herrera.
one] EUSEBIO FRANCISCO KINO, S.J. 279
there is very good water and good pasturage, and the
very loyal natives of these environs brought us the ten
pack-animals372 which the night before had run away
from us and been lost.
13. On the thirteenth the father rector, Juan Maria,
preached in Castilian to the soldiers, and in the Pima
language to the Pima natives. He went in person to
the wood near-by to cut with an ax a large tree with
which we set up a holy cross, the natives aiding us.
We sent ahead word to San Marcelo to give notice of
our coming, and back to bring the loads which yester-
day had remained behind.
14. On the fourteenth, setting out from San Luys
Bertrando del Bacapa, after a twelve373 leagues' jour-
ney we came before sunset to San Marcelo del Sonoy-
dag, having taken our siesta near a good watering-place.
The natives of San Marcelo came out a league to
meet us with a holy cross which they gave to the father
rector, receiving us with arches and crosses erected on
the roads, which they had cleared neatly, and with an
arbor prepared, and giving us an account not only of
the cattle here but also of the messages which some
months before I had sent to the Quiquimas and other
Indians at the mouth of the Rio Colorado and the pas-
sage to California, and of the friendly responses which
they sent, expressing the desire that we should come to
see them. Here at San Marcelo we found about two
hundred persons including various justices, governors,
372 Manje says that at Bacapa there were six permanent springs. The
village contained eighty naked persons. The site was modern Quitovac.
Anza writes, "It is one of the best of the Papagueria through having five
springs of water. . . This Quitobac the Jesuit Fathers called San Luis
de Bacapa, of which addition the inhabitants have no memory . . . but
they do preserve the name of San Luis" (Diario, Jan. 26, 177+) . Garces
went through the place in 1771, and was with Anza in 1774. See also Sal-
vatierra, op. cit., 142-143, and Lumholtz, op. cit., 170.
373 Manje gives the distance as fifteen leagues.
28o MEMOIR OF PIMERIA ALTA [Vol.
and captains who had come to see us from different and
even remote places ; and to all of them was preached the
Word of God, which was well received.374
15. On the fifteenth we rested in this good post of
San Marcelo, which has very good and abundant pas-
turage and water running in the little river, than which
there is no other within fifty leagues around. The cat-
tle, which consisted of sixty-three head,375 were round-
ed up ; and we killed two beeves, which were very fat
with much tallow and suet, and it was a great relief to
all and a great comfort to the father rector that in a
country so far inland we should find this refreshment.
We received letters from San Ygnacio, Matape, Hya-
qui, and in particular from Father Juan de Hugarte,
who had just come from Mexico to go, as he did go, to
California. His Reverence wrote that in an ancient
itinerary which he was carrying with him, it was said
that in these parts where we were penetrating, very
populous and very rich missions could be formed,
which afterwards could aid in maintaining other mis-
sions, less prosperous, in California.
CHAPTER VII. SETTING OUT FROM SAN MARCELO
DEL SONOYDAG TO THE WESTWARD, AFTER A
JOURNEY OF THIRTY-FIVE LEAGUES WE ARRIVE
AT THE HEAD OF THE SEA OF CALIFORNIA
IN THIRTY-ONE DEGREES LATITUDE
March 16, 1701. On the sixteenth of March, 1701,
we set out westward for the Sea of California, follow-
ing the little river of San Marcelo; and after travelling
eight376 leagues we arrived and halted at a canebrake
374 Manje tells of the rich soil here, and the fields of crops all under ir-
rigation from the good arroyo and many springs.
375 Manje says eighty head. While resting here messengers were sent to
the villages living nearer the sea, to get guides to show them the water holes.
376 Manje says ten leagues. The place where they stopped was called
Comaquidan. From this point messengers were sent to the Indians living
north of the Colorado (Manje, Luz de Tierra Incognita, libro ii, 102).
one] EUSEBIO FRANCISCO KINO, S.J. 281
with very good pasturage, water, and wood. As our
convoys and guides went the alcalde of San Marcelo
and a governor who knew very well the two languages,
Pima and Quiquima, and who the year before, being
sick, had been baptized by the name of Eusebio.
17. On the seventeenth we rested in this good stop-
ping-place of El Carrizal,377 waiting together for the
two fiscals from the sea whom we had summoned
through the alcalde of San Marzelo,378 to come as our
guides in our expedition to the Quiquimas of Califor-
nia, for one of them had already gone in the preceding
months with my message and some little gifts which I
had sent him from Nuestra Senora de los Dolores.
18. On the eighteenth, these fiscals and guides hav-
ing come with many people from the sea, and having
given us the very good news that the Quiquimas were
waiting for us anxiously and lovingly, and advising us
that this more direct and shorter road to the westward
was so sandy that the sumpters would travel with dif-
ficulty and be very poorly supplied with water and pas-
turage, it became doubtful whether we should make
our journey of about sixty leagues by the west, or go up
to the northwest, circling the very great sandy waste at
the head of the Sea of California, and ascending to the
Rio Grande and Rio Colorado by the circuit by which
I had already come in other times in the preceding
years, as has been told. It was determined that we
should travel by the shortest road, and that leading
most directly westward; and after a thirteen leagues'
journey we came to the rancheria called Sucoybutoba-
bia, where there were about two hundred souls.379 When
377 Carrizal, the name of this place. Salvatierra calls it La Anunciata.
378 Manje says they waited to give the messengers, mentioned above, time.
379 Manje says that he opposed the decision to take this route but yielded
282 MEMOIR OF PIMERIA ALTA [Vol.
we had spoken to them the Word of God they gave us
several persons to baptize, but we baptized only one
little girl and a very old Indian woman who was prob-
ably about one hundred and twenty years of age. The
water supply here as well as the pasturage was very
short, and it cost us much toil, and the personal labor of
both fathers, to deepen the wells to obtain the water
that the men and we might drink. After nightfall
about forty Indians from the sea came to see us and told
us that about here there was nothing but two large tanks
of rain-water shut in between the rocks of the large
mountain near-by and the ancient volcano of Santa
Clara.380
19. On the nineteenth we set out for the rancheria
and watering-place, or great tank, of El Basoitutgan,381
where there was good pasture also. We found about
one hundred persons, and afterwards many other natives
came, some with gifts; and we dispatched some little
gifts to the Quiquimas.
20. On the twentieth, Palm Sunday, having said the
two masses, with the benediction and distribution of
branches (for in honor of this day and yesterday, when
we arrived, we called this post San Joseph de Ra-
mos),382 we set out for the west; and after covering six
to the opinion of the Fathers. He gives the direction as southwest over stony
plains, and the distance as ten leagues. They camped in the bed of a dry
arroyo called Sicobuto bavia (Manje, Luz de Tierra Incognita, libro ii, 102).
380 The Santa Clara Mountain was the present Sierra del Pinacate.
In 1909-1910 Lumholtz made three trips from Quitovaquita and Carrizal
to the district, over almost precisely the three routes opened by Kino, whose
explorations in that region were unfortunately unknown to him. Most
of the places mentioned by Kino can be identified by Lumholtz's excellent
descriptions and map {op. cit., chaps. 13-14).
38i Manje gives this as Basotucan and gives the distance as eight leagues.
The water was in two tanks where the horses drank, after twenty-four hours
without it. The village was south of the Santa Clara mountain. Manje
gives the number as fifty persons. See Tinaja del Cuervo, on Lumholtz's
map. Salvatierra calls this place Ayodsudao, and the previous one Totonat.
382 Ramos means "palms" or "branches." Domingo de Ramos is Palm
Sunday.
one] EUSEBIO FRANCISCO KINO, S.J. 283
leagues of road, although level, and along weathered
rocks like slag383 which long ago had been thrown out
by this mountain or volcano of Santa Clara, which we
passed on our right or to the north, we arrived at an-
other tank of water shut in between rocks, with very lit-
tle pasturage; and ascending with Captain Juan Mateo
Manje to a neighboring little hill, we descried Califor-
nia very plainly, to the west and southwest, and after-
wards the soldiers also and all the men sighted it.38
21. On the twenty-first we went westward eight
leagues farther, leaving half the men and the loads in
this camp. We traveled almost all this day along very
sandy country and through very great sand-dunes, in
which our pack-animals traveled with difficulty. The
water supply which we found was three little springs
of somewhat brackish water.38 Almost all of us went
down on foot to the very beach of the sea, which was
little more than half a league away, whence the sailors,
especially, carried away a great quantity of all kinds of
pretty shells and snails. Afterwards the father rector
summoned the muleteers, with the loads and the horses
383 Temesquitate. See Salvatierra's vivid description, op. cit., 146.
384 Manje describes the journey as eight leagues over "mal Pais y Arca-
bucos y Zeborucos." They camped at EI Tupo near a tank of rain water
with the Santa Clara Mountain behind them. Manje describes the temes-
quitate of the last two days' march. He describes the volcanic features of
the Santa Clara Mountain and tells of its ascent by Kino on a former oc-
casion. It was nine leagues from the sea. See Tinaja de los Chivos on
Lumholtz's map. See also Lumholtz, op. cit., 205, 228. Salvatierra calls
this place Aibacusi and the next Duburcopota {op. cit., 146-149).
385 Manje gives the name of these springs as Cubo quasi vavia. They
were two leagues from the sea on the flats. Manje says they were in latitude
320 and where the shore ran northwest, without any bay, ilthough the maps
called for the Bay of Santa Clara. Where they were the Gulf seemed about
twelve leagues across, and it appeared to be about thirty-six leagues to the
place where the Gulf seemed to head. The missionaries concluded that this
was the fact but Manje was not convinced, and says "we had a friendly
dispute." Manje and Kino planned to try to cover the distance to the Colo-
rado in a day and a night, but they found it impossible for lack of water for
the horses, and were forced to return, leaving nine horses on the beach
(Manje, Luz de Tierra Incognita, libro ii, 105).
284 MEMOIR OF PIMERIA ALTA [Vol.
which had stayed at the preceding camp, because with
the three springs in this stopping-place there was suf-
ficient good pasturage. But the following day we found
that the waters of these three little springs had not
welled up in so great a quantity as we had expected,
although the necessary water did not fail us.
CHAPTER VIII. ON ACCOUNT OF FINDING A SAND-
DUNE MORE THAN SIXTY LEAGUES AROUND, SITU-
ATED AT THE HEAD OF THE SEA OF CALIFORNIA,
AND BECAUSE OUR PACK-ANIMALS WERE
GROWING TIRED, WE RETURNED, HAV-
ING TWICE SIGHTED CALIFORNIA
March 22, 1701. On the twenty-second at midday
I took the altitude of the sun with the astrolabe and
found that this gulf of California ended in thirty-one386
degrees latitude. Already, by other journeys I have
found that this Californian Gulf has at its head to the
northward a stretch of sand-dunes so large that it is
more than sixty leagues around, and it now became a
hindrance to our passing farther by this route, although
today, about two in the afternoon, our men and pack-
train arrived with the loads from the preceding camp.
This had been so without water that on the return it
was necessary for us to travel until midnight to reach
the camp of San Joseph de Ramos, and many of our
pack-animals were tired out, while some loads remained
on the road.
23. On the twenty-third we rested387 while those
loads were coming on.
386 Manje says that Santa Clara Mountain was near 320.
387 Kino and Manje differ here. Manje says they set out on the twenty-
third and traveled all day and part of the night of the twenty-third to reach
San Joseph de Ramos, eighteen leagues. Manje says they rested only on the
twenty-fourth, instead of on the twenty-third and twenty-fourth, as Kino says
(Manje, 106). From here Father Salvatierra sent a letter to Picolo over-
land by Indians but it never reached him.
one] EUSEBIO FRANCISCO KINO, S.J. 285
24. On the twenty-fourth, Holy Thursday, mass
was said, and many natives of these environs came to
see us, and also two governors from far inland whither
I had penetrated the year before, who begged us to go
in to their lands ; but as our sumpters were already very
much fatigued, we told them to come with us to San
Marzelo, where we were going to rest for a week.
These governors gave us even more detailed accounts
of how in the preceding months my messages and gifts
had penetrated to the Quiquimas, and how they were
waiting for us with very friendly anxiety.
25. On the twenty-fifth, Good Friday and the Day
of the Incarnation of our Lord, we came to El Car-
rizal3 8 near San Marzelo. Our pack-animals had be-
come very tired on this road, but they were reinvigorat-
ed, however, with the good pasturage of this post.
Many natives from various parts came to see us.
26. On the twenty-sixth we rested in this good camp.
I took the altitude of the sun with the astrolabe and
found that we were in thirty-one degrees and ten min-
utes. We made an arbor in which to celebrate Easter.38
27. On the twenty-seventh, Easter, the soldiers and
the other people confessed and received communion, and
the father rector preached to them. We made a little
sketch of this extremity of the sea of California.
28. We sent to the ranch of San Marzelo for a beef
and fresh meat, which came the following day.
29. On the twenty-ninth many Indians of the east
came to see us, and six of them agreed to go, and did
go, with us on another new little journey to the west-
ward, which the father rector and Captain Juan Mateo
388 The canebrake, ante, page 281.
389 At Carrizal they awaited the pack train, which reached there two days
behind, arriving on the twenty-seventh.
286 MEMOIR OF PIMERIA ALTA [Vol.
Manje and I made quickly with four servants from
Nuestra Senora de los Dolores, in latitude thirty-one
degrees and thirty-five minutes, to see whether by this
route we might find an entry and a passage to the Qui-
quimas and quite beyond them and round the head of
the sea of California.390
30. On the thirtieth we awaited our news from the
west, which, however, did not come.
31. On the thirty-first the father rector, Captain
Juan Mateo Manje, and I set out to the westward with
the six Pima guides from the east, and with eighteen
mules and three horses with six light loads. After
traversing thirteen391 leagues of level road we arrived
an hour before sunset at the stopping-place and water-
hole which they called Pitaqui, and which we after-
wards called La Petaca.392 From a little hill which we
ascended, taking with us the picture of Our Lady of
Loreto, we plainly sighted California and the great
mountain range which they call Sierra del Mescal,
and the other which they call Sierra Azul, as well
as the closing in of both lands, this New Spain and
California.393 At nightfall some natives came to see
us with their wives and little children, whom they gave
us to baptize after having heard the Word of God,
which we preached to them.
April i. On the first of April, we having sent an
Indian to summon the rest of the people of that dis-
390 Manje says they were caused to return by the guides telling of a water-
ing place north of Santa Clara. Salvatierra adds interesting items, op cit.,
149-154.
391 A journey of seventeen leagues (Manje), Pitaqui having been twenty-
four leagues from San Marcelo.
392 The sachel or trunk. A play on the word Pitaqui.
393 Manje says fourteen leagues northwest to three tanks of rain water.
They climbed another hill six leagues north of Santa Clara. Manje says they
could determine nothing from where they were. The tank was clearly that
now called Tinaja de los Papagoes. The peak was evidently Sierra
Hornaday or the crater just south of it. See Lumholtz, op. cit., 232.
one] EUSEBIO FRANCISCO KINO, S.J. 287
trict, at ten o'clock he brought two squads of Yuma,
Pima, and Cocomaricopa natives, with their governors,
who for the most part were of those whom I had seen
the year before at San Dionisio, about forty leagues
farther to the north, at the confluence of the Rio Colo-
rado and the Rio Grande; and they all told us that to
go inland as we desired to the Quiquimas of California,
there still lay before us thirty leagues, or three days'
journey, of stretches of sand such that they had neither
water nor pasturage, whereupon the father rector, Juan
Maria, determined that we should return, but we
planned that on another and more favorable occasion,
after the rainy season and the hot weather, I should
penetrate in higher latitude by way of the confluence of
the rivers and by San Dionisio (as I did enter in No-
vember) to the said Quiquimas. And this afternoon
we retraced half of the distance traversed the day
before, contenting ourselves meanwhile with having
seen so plainly the truth in regard to the land passage
to California, for, with this journey and that which I
made five months afterward to thirty-three and thirty-
two degrees of latitude, not the least doubt remained,
unless it were in the incorrect opinion of some disaffect-
ed persons.
2. On the second we arrived at midday at El
Carizal, and at night-fall at San Marcelo, where the
adjutant and the soldiers were waiting for us with many
natives, and with many letters from Sonora, and from
various parts.
3. On the third Father Rector Juan Maria deter-
mined to return with the ten soldiers by way of La Con-
cepcion del Cabotca, through which we had come, and
I, because it was some time since I had seen the Pimeria
of the north and its Sobayporis, determined to return
to Nuestra Senora de los Dolores by the north and San
288 MEMOIR OF PIMERIA ALTA [Vol.
Xavier del Baac. The question then arose as to wheth-
er the father rector or I should carry the beloved pic-
ture of Our Lady of Loreto, and although I should have
been content to have the father rector carry that great
consolation with him, his Reverence determined that
we should draw lots by writing on two little papers
"north" and "south"; and as on drawing the little pa-
pers the one for the "north" fell to me, to me fell the
joy of carrying this great Lady of Loreto in the north
of this Pimeria of the Sobaiporis, she being our North
Star.
This afternoon the father rector set out with the ten
soldiers on his southerly route. I remained for some
small matters of business, and to await some replies
from the interior and for the building of a little church,
almost a chapel, of Nuestra Senora de Loreto, in which
I was able to say mass on three days. Although my
desire was to set out early the following day with Cap-
tain Juan Mateo Manje for San Xavier del Baac, so
many runners came from the Quiquimas by day and by
night that I had to wait three days. Thereby I left
very solid and well-established peace-agreements be-
tween these Pimas and those Quiquimas, who promised
that they would come to meet one another and to confer
in a very friendly way and in great numbers at a half-
way point, as was done, and that they would advise me
of everything at Nuestra Senora de los Dolores, in or-
der that by the Divine Grace I might penetrate to the
Quiquimas in the following autumn.
4. On the fourth the twelve small beams were cut
for the little church of Nuestra Senora de Loreto de
San Marcelo and its altar was made. The fiscal whom
I had sent with the runner of the night before came and
brought us news that the governor whom the father rec-
one] EUSEBIO FRANCISCO KINO, S.J. 289
tor had dispatched with messages to Loreto Concho
was returning from the Quiquimas, and that he was
bringing messages and gifts from the Yumas and Qui-
quimas.
5. Early on the fifth I dispatched another runner
to meet and bring quickly the above mentioned govern-
or. The first mass was said in the little new church
with the picture of Our Lady of Loreto placed on the
new altar. Orders were given to clear land to plant
maize which in sufficient quantity the captain of El
Comae had brought us from Tucubabia. At nightfall
the governor came bringing the messages and presents
from the Quiquimas, especially some blue shells from
the opposite coast, saying that with very friendly anxie-
ty they had been waiting for us, greatly desiring our
friendship, in order to be converted to our holy faith,
and being very much pleased with the messages and
little gifts which we had sent them on different occa-
sions, now from about here, from Nuestra Senora de los
Dolores in the preceding months, and from San Dion-
isio the past year. To reassure them I sent word that,
God helping me, I would come the next autumn to see
them ; and I determined to set out the day following for
the Sobayporis of the north.
394
CHAPTER IX. SETTING OUT FROM SAN MARCELO,
AFTER A FIFTY-THREE LEAGUES' JOURNEY WE AR-
RIVED AT SAN FRANCISCO XAVIER DEL BAAC
OF THE SOBAIPORIS. THE KINDNESS AND
GOOD CONDITION OF THE NATIVES
APRIL 6, 1701. On the sixth of April, having left
word that with the eight loads of provisions which had
been left over to us from this expedition they should
finish carefully roofing the little new church of Nues-
394 Manje omits nearly all the events of the three days spent at Sonoita.
290 MEMOIR OF PIMERIA ALTA [Vol.
tra Senora de Loreto, and that the natives should plant
very good fields for themselves also, I set out with Cap-
tain Juan Mateo Manje from San Marselo, by an east-
ward course, for San Raphael del Actum el Grande,
whence in the afternoon we went on to the watering-
place named Gubo.395
7. On the seventh, after a five leagues' journey we
arrived at the camp and rancheria of Nuestra Senora
de la Merced del Batqui,396 whose natives welcomed,
accompanied, and guided us lovingly. From here by a
southerly road I dispatched to Nuestra Senora de los
Dolores four servants, two muleteers, and two cow-
boys, with some mules of the pack-train and the most
exhausted of the pack-animals; and with the sixteen
best pack-animals, most of them mules, I continued my
journey to San Xavier del Baac. Traveling twelve
leagues farther for lack of a watering-place, after night-
fall we arrived at San Serafin del Actum El Chico,397
where not only for the people but also for our pack-
animals they had to bring us water in pots from a water-
hole at some distance. Today along the road they
gave me five infants to baptize, among them two new-
born twins who were somewhat weak.
Here we began to obtain some information in regard
to the many Pimas, both Sobaiporis and non-Sobai-
poris, who in the days preceding had gone out against
the hostile Hojomes, Janos, and Apaches, as I related
at the beginning of this account of this expedition, for
because the Senor governor of El Parral had called a
395 Thirteen leagues for the day. Manje does not mention San Rafael del
Actum el Grande.
396 From page 278 we learn that Batqui means "well." Manje says there
was a tank at Vatqui.
397 The Little, as distinguished from S. Rafael del Actum El Grande (the
Large).
one] EUSEBIO FRANCISCO KINO, S.J. 291
squadron of soldiers from this presidio of Sonora to
the Taraumares, the other soldiers availed themselves
of these Pimas against the enemies of this province.398
8. On the eighth, after a sixteen leagues' journey,
passing by three other rancherias, we arrived at that
of El Tupo, all these places also being very poorly sup-
plied with water, although the natives had already
planted their crops of maize, beans, and calabashes.399
9. On the ninth, after a ten leagues' journey, at two
in the afternoon we arrived at San Xavier del Baac.400
Some natives who were hunting and from afar saw us
coming on our journey, left the chase and came to meet
us and to welcome us with all friendliness and love.
We found that a few days before the governor and the
captain of this great rancheria or incipient pueblo of
San Xavier del Baac had gone out with many other
natives to war against the enemies of this province of
Sonora, the Hojomes, Apaches, and Janos.
10. On the tenth we rested here at San Xavier, giv-
ing various Christian instruction to the many natives
who were here. We saw the good field of wheat be-
longing to the church, the seventy head of sheep and
goats, and the cattle which had remained (for more
than two hundred had returned to San Luys on account
of the neglect of the few cowboys, especially when they
had gone to eat pitajayas). Much kindness was shown
us by these very excellent natives. They gave us many
of their provisions, many of their good fabrics and
398 Manje says they went eighteen leagues for the day, passing five
rancherios after leaving Vatqui, and camped at Guactun. Here the Indians
gave them red guacamaya feathers.
399 Manje says eighteen leagues to Rancheria del Tups, where there was
a good tank.
400 Manje says twelve leagues to Bac. Here they learned that half of the
men had gone with Escalante, at the call of Jironza, to avenge the death of
the five Pimas.
292 MEMOIR OF PIMERIA ALTA [Vol.
blankets of cotton, numerous baskets, buck-skins, and red
feathers of the many macaws which are raised here, etc.
This afternoon came the news of the victory which these
Pimas had won in their war against the enemy on the
very day when Our Lady of Loreto entered into these
their lands, as is told in the following chapter.
401
CHAPTER X. SETTING OUT FROM SAN XAVIER DEL
BAAC, AFTER TRAVELLING SIXTY LEAGUES SOUTH
WE ARRIVE AT NUESTRA SEnORA DE LOS DOLORES;
LETTERS FROM THE ROYAL JUSTICES AND MILI-
TARY LEADERS WHICH WE RECEIVE ON THE
WAY IN REGARD TO THE HAPPY VICTORY
OF THESE PIMAS OVER THE ENEMIES
OF THIS PROVINCE OF SONORA
ii. On the eleventh of April, taking our way toward
the south, after an eighteen leagues' journey we arrived
at San Cayetano.402
12. On the twelfth we came to San Luys, a ten
leagues' journey, passing at midday by San Gabriel de
Guebavi. In the ranch of San Luys we counted the
three hundred and forty cattle that were there.403 We
found that the soldiers of the presidio who seven days
before had passed by this ranch with the Indians of
Cocospera and of these environs had taken to the war
a few beeves and some of the sheep.
13. On the thirteenth we set out for Cocospera,
404
401 Manje omits the events of this day. For the importance of the
pitajaya, or sahuaro (cereus giganteus) to the Papagoes, see Lumholtz,
op. cit., chap. iv.
402 Manje gives the distance as twenty leagues. At San Cayetano they
slept in the house of adobe y terrado which the natives had built for the
minister they were awaiting.
403 Manje says they counted four hundred cattle and two hundred sheep
on the Guevavi ranch, and mentions the minister's house at San Luis de
Bacoancos.
404 Above San Luis they passed through four rancherias. Manje gives the
distance as fourteen leagues. At Cocospera the Indians were building a
one] EUSEBIO FRANCISCO KINO, SJ. 293
and two days afterward for Nuestra Senora de los Do-
lores,405 for I had been detained by the following letter
of the Senor alcalde mayor of this province, Don Ysi-
dro Ruiz de Abechuco, who, with the citizens of the
Real de San Juan and of the province of Sonora, also
had made an expedition to the north against the enemy.
His Honor on the fourteenth of April wrote me from
Guebavi the following excellent letter:
I have just arrived at this valley and pueblo of Guebavi, and
I have learned through the Pima natives that your Reverence
passed this way toward your home. Now I assure you that I
have regretted not having come a day sooner that we might
have the pleasure of seeing each other and I of speaking with all
this Pima nation. For at present they are assembled, because
they have just come back from having given the Apaches a good
beating, as they tell me; and I observe that the victory which
they have won is great, because there is no one who does not
come with a scalp-lock and as joyful as I am at having found
so suitable an occasion to welcome them all from the victory
which they bring, and to see them as friendly as if we had been
in communication with them all our lives. May God preserve
them in peace, and by means of them may we secure in the
province the quietude which it so much desired ; and may it be
for the service of God and the King.
I have had information also that the journey which your
Reverence has made in the company of the Very Reverend
Father Juan Maria Salvatierra has been one of great satisfac-
tion and pleasure, because the purpose which was desired, of dis-
church and a house, according to Kino's orders. Two days were spent here
to supervise and assist in the work. Here they learned that the Pimas and
soldiers had killed forty Apaches and captured twenty children in the last
campaign, without loss to the Spaniards. All the braves bore Apache scalps
and a scalp dance was held (Manje, Luz de Tierra Incognita, libro ii, 109).
405 On the sixteenth they went six leagues to Remedios, which was under
Kino's administration. They found the house and church well along, and
the house painted. The church when finished was to have three chapels and
a beautiful transept, of the best in Sonora. On the same day they went eight
leagues to Dolores, where they entered the temple to give thanks for the suc-
cessful journey. On this journey four hundred new Indians had been regis-
tered (Manje, Luz de Tierra Incognita, libro ii, 105-110).
294 MEMOIR OF PIMERIA ALTA [Vol.
covering a land route to California, has been accomplished.
This news has been a source of very great pleasure to me; and
therefore I shall appreciate it if your Reverence will inform me
if it is true. I shall set out day after tomorrow from this val-
ley, and I shall go by way of Cocospora,406 with God's favor,
toward Bacanuche, and so if anything occurs to your Reverence
in which I can serve you, you may command me with the cer-
tainty of my good will. All the citizens and companions who
come with me salute your Reverence and the very Reverend
Father Juan Maria very heartily, and all greatly rejoice at the
successful journey of your Reverence, in particular Captain
Simon Rodrigues Soto and Captain Recalde, who also are with
me in this valley and pueblo of Guebavi. But in order not to
trouble your Reverence I say no more, nor do I enlarge on
everything as I should wish. I set out with the citizens to fol-
low after and to aid the Pimas, but as I could not arrive in
time to fight with them against the Apaches, from Quiburi I re-
turned to this valley to see and to speak with these natives,
with whom I have been much pleased. All the natives salute
your Reverence, and in particular the governor of the ranch,
Eusevio, who said to me after this was closed that I should
salute your Reverence and advise you that all are returning
safe from their journey.407
Thus far General Ysidro Ruis de Abechuco. And
406 From Manje we learn that Ruiz de Abechuco, with his twenty men,
overtook Kino and Salvatierra at Cocospera (Manje, Luz de Tierra In-
c6gnita, libro ii, no).
407 Manje's last journey with the missionaries was the one made with
Kino and Salvatierra. In the nine (I find only eight) recounted in his itin-
eraries he and the fathers had travelled three thousand leagues, not counting
four campaigns against the Indians, and others to the Pimeria for other
purposes. They had listed of the Pimas alone twelve thousand souls, and
two thousand Yuma men corresponding to as many families. They had bap-
tized in these pueblos seven hundred. In these seven years the Pimas killed
six hundred and eighty enemies, not to count the captured children {Luz de
Tierra Incognita, libro ii, 110-112).
Add to this the campaigns made by the fifty soldiers of the Compania
Volante in the first seven years during which Jironza founded and ruled it.
More than thirty are noted in the book, autos of which were sent to the offi-
cials; not to mention monthly journeys to explore the frontiers and passes,
recover stolen goods, or convoy merchant trains or passengers {ibid., 112).
one] EUSEBIO FRANCISCO KINO, S.J. 295
immediately afterward comes the following letter
from the commander of the soldiers, Juan Bautista de
Escalante. It is as follow:
My dear Sir : The reason for my not having written these
lines before, on the occasion of having come into those Pima
lands, was a lack of paper. Nevertheless, being now upon this
frontier, I do not wish to neglect to inform your Reverence how
I went on the campaign which our beloved and loving Pimas
made against the enemies of our holy faith, in which it has gone
very well with us ; for our friends, three hundred and thirty-two
in number, set out with only the provisions which they could car-
ry in their bags. They persevered in the campaign in great
need and hunger, and succeeded in carrying out their intentions,
as His Divine Majesty granted us also; for, after having march-
ed some days we attacked a rancheria of Apaches, where seven-
teen of the enemy were killed, without any injury to us. We
captured sixteen persons, of whom the Pimas are taking twelve
and have sold us four, because I told them that whatever was
captured should belong to the captor, in order to rouse in them
a stronger desire to display valor. And such was the case, for
they, being many, captured fourteen, and we two. This has
been of great importance as a means of showing the opponents
of this new nation the falsehood and the error in which they
have been, unless it be that partisanship closes the eyes of
their reason.
But Divine Majesty, who always favors the truth, will open
the understanding and the eyes of those who have kept them
closed, by means of many another victory which I hope we shall
win, with the aid of the Pimas, as I see them each day. And if
there had been provisions we should have won not one good
victory but many. But they agreed to make another campaign.
For all this we ought to give thanks to God our Lord and also
to your Reverence, for, it is through you and your very Christian
zeal for the honor of God that we have such excellent friends as
are our Pimas. And so on my part I thank your paternal Rev-
erence and repeatedly for your good work in the service of God
and the King, and my companions do the same.
Now let me inform your Reverence that my departure from
that frontier was so very sudden that we all set out without any
296 MEMOIR OF PIMERIA ALTA [Vol.
provisions for the campaign except a few tortillas in our saddle-
bags, for which reason necessity obliged me to kill at San Luys
and at Guebavi two ewes and one wether. At the same time I
ordered sent from said ranch of San Luys a few cattle to Sonoi-
dag,408 which was the rendezvous of the Indians. And having
detained Captain Coro a day to kill two beeves, they asked me
to give them some, too, for which reason I killed eight, two for
myself and six for the Pimas, four cows and four horses, two
large and two small.
I give this information in such detail in order that your Rev-
erence may decide what seems best to you in the matter, for I
am ready to do whatever your paternal Reverence may deter-
mine concerning the payment of the amount of all this. In-
deed, besides repaying it, I thank you, for the great care of your
Reverence in having so many ranches in different parts is of
much assistance to us, as has been the case on this occasion. And
so I await the response of your paternal Reverence, to whom
may our Lord grant good health and a long life, that with your
holy zeal you may give us many new friends for the defense
of the holy Gospel. Presidio of Corodeguachi, April 13, 1701.
Juan Bautista de Escalante kisses the hand of your Reverence.
CHAPTER XI. VARIOUS OTHER LETTERS FROM THE
DIFFERENT MISSIONARY FATHERS, BOTH IN RE-
GARD TO THE ABOVE-MENTIONED JOURNEY TO
THE LAND PASSAGE TO CALIFORNIA, AND IN
REGARD TO THE VICTORY OF THESE
PIMAS OVER THE ENEMIES OF
THIS PROVINCE OF SONORA
The father rector, Juan Maria de Salvatierra, hav-
ing set out from San Marcelo by La Concepcion del
Cabotca and by San Ygnacio, and having arrived at
Cucurpe, on the fourteenth of April wrote me the fol-
lowing:
Having arrived at this pueblo of Cucurpe in safety, thanks
be to God and to His Most Holy Mother, I salute your Rev-
erence heartily. It is necessary for me to set out for the neigh-
408 Not the Sonoita near the Gulf, but another place by this name east of
the Santa Cruz River and north of Guebavi. There was a third Sonoita
south of Nogales.
one] EUSEBIO FRANCISCO KINO, SJ. 297
borhood of our coast and harbor, for my ignorance of every-
thing unsettles me. Father Melchor Bartiromo tells me that
your Reverence arrived yesterday afternoon at Cocospera with
Captain Juan Matheo Manje, and certainly I have rejoiced that
your Reverence's journey has turned out well. The sumpters
of your Reverence have all been delivered at Santa Maria
Magdalena to the drivers of the pack train. Words fail me
with which to thank your Reverence for so many and so great
toils undertaken in the honor of the Madonna of Discovery.
May she intercede with her most precious Son for the recom-
pense of all. Thus I shall write to the father provincial and to
the father visitor and to the rest.
On setting out from Cucurpe to return to California
his Reverence wrote me the following:
I congratulate your Reverence on the victory of the Pima
natives over the enemy, of which I hear, with my foot in the
stirrup at Cucurpe, when about to set out in all haste to Yaqui
to see if I can repair the many damages and relieve poor Cali-
fornia, made helpless through the loss, as they say, of two barks
which do not appear in any port. My beloved Father Eusevio,
now it is time for your Reverence to aid us with a good consign-
ment of flour, tallow, and suet, in skins, because I consider
these poor people in great need. If your Reverence could send
your pack-train to Matape with aid it would be of great impor-
tance at this time, and the father rector of Matape will send it
promptly to Hyaqui for the sail-boats. And, so, if your Rev-
erence can do it, I earnestly beseech you to write to the father
rector of Matape telling how many loads you can send and
when they can be in Matape, so that he may have ready every-
thing which goes to Hyaqui. Your Reverence will pardon one
molestation after another, for the occasion of so great a loss
forces me to it. And, finally, I beg that you will not forget
me in your prayers and holy sacrifices.
The father rector, Juan Maria de Salvatierra, having
arrived in California, on the sixteenth of May wrote me
the following from Loreto Concho:
I have received the news of your Reverence's return to your
holy mission, and I have rejoiced at the good success of the
Pima natives over the enemy and at the blue shells from the
298 MEMOIR OF PIMERIA ALTA [Vol.
Quiquimas. Your Reverence has a thousand benedictions from
all the fathers and seculars for your journey and for the dis-
covery, from the hill, at a distance, of the joining of New
California and New Spain. And much greater has been the
rejoicing to know that your Reverence has the means and the
desire to examine at close hand that which a distant vision
might misrepresent. I have just received a recent letter from the
father provincial, and in it I note that the California of your
Reverence is California efisienter,409 for your Reverence with
your aid will bring it about that California will be California ;
and so, your Reverence, take courage with your aid, for the one
who is effisienter 410 is this Pater et Mater Calif orniorum Lau-
retanorum.*11
Thus far Father Rector Juan Maria; and in the same
letter Father Francisco Maria Picolo adds the follow-
ing:
My beloved Father Eusevio Francisco Kino, I give your
Reverence a thousand congratulations for the discovery, so much
desired. May our Lord grant us the boon of seeing California
carry on trade with New Spain by land, for the relief of these
missions and for the good of so many souls. I shall rejoice if
your Reverence's health be perfect, and may you live for many
years to the glory of His Divine Majesty, etc.
The father visitor, Anttonio Leal, on the seventeenth
of April wrote me thus:
I have rejoiced greatly that your Reverence has now re-
turned from your journey, which has been made with hopes so
well-founded as to constitute certainty of the continuity of the
land. God willing, on another occasion the rest shall be ac-
complished, and even if on this occasion nothing more had been
accomplished than the peace-agreements of those nations the
trouble would have been well worth while. God will repay
your Reverence, as He is repaying you already, for soon came
the rejoicing over the victory of the Pimas and the booty which
they bring, which has caused very general jubilation. The
father rector, Juan Maria Salvatierra, is very grateful to your
*09 "Indeed." In his letter to Arteaga Salvatierra gives data concerning
his return to California (op. cit., 154-156).
41° "Efficient."
411 "Father and mother of the California Lorettines."
one] EUSEBIO FRANCISCO KINO, SJ. 299
Reverence for the good which you have done him in everything.
He asks me to thank your Reverence, as I do once and again.
Thus far the father visitor. The Father Rector Mar-
cos de Loyola on the eighteenth of April wrote me the
following:
The father visitor has just communicated to me a letter of
your Reverence, written from Cocospora to Father Bartyromo
about the victory which the Pimas and the soldiers have won
over the hostile Jocomes and Janos, news very welcome to all,
and to me especially, for everything that your Reverence so
many times has asserted in regard to the Pimas has proved so
true that there can be no doubt that now the incredulous will
believe what your Reverence has proved so conclusively. Also,
he communicated to me the arrival of your Reverence from
your journey, so extended, and the great good which your Rev-
erences have done in those travels, and that you have succeeded
in finding the way to California. I do not know how to signify
to your Reverence how much I have rejoiced on account of this.
Already I have written to the father visitor that the great suc-
cess of the journey is due to your Reverence and to your many
praiseworthy toils, for your Reverence, with your apostolic en-
deavor, has been the first to penetrate those unknown lands,
and you are the one who is preparing those harvests, so that in
their time they may be gathered in with much fruit. For all
this a thousand thanks to your Reverence. I wish I were some-
thing in religion *12 so as to reward that which is so worthy of
reward, but God is He who must do that.
Thus far Father Rector Marcos de Loyola. The
Father Rector Manual Gonzales on the thirtieth of
May wrote me the following:
A thousand million congratulations I give to your Reverence;
no longer are proofs necessary for your Pimeria. A thousand
more the Senor alcalde mayor will give if they are asked of
him. Vale, mi Pater amantissime , vale, vale, et laetare, a
thousand million times and for all eternity; et ora pro me,
etc.413
il2I.e., held an office.
413 "Farewell, my most loving Father, farewell, a thousand million times
and for all eternity, be of good cheer and pray for me."
300 MEMOIR OF PIMERIA ALTA [Vol.
Father Oracio Polise, who during the three years past
was visitor of the missions of Sonora, who afterwards
received from Rome the rectorate of San Luys Porto-
li,414 and who has always been very sympathetic, loving,
and a great encourager and promoter of the new con-
versions, wrote me another letter of like tenor, and of
the things which were dictated to him by his great zeal
for so many souls as there are in this North America,
so extensive.
Father Geronimo Pistoya, who was visitor and rec-
tor of the College of Cinaloa, not only after the journey
but also during it, on the eleventh of February wrote
me this apostolic and holy consolation, as follows:
I give your Reverence sincere thanks for the great work you
have done in seeking out the scattered sheep, and those which
are outside the fold of the holy Gospel. God will recompense
your Reverence for it even in this life, and one of the compensa-
tions is the opposition which your Reverence has always met.
I do not deny that it is grievous and bitter to human nature,
but it is very glorious and sweet to the Divine.
Father Venzeslao Eumer,415 visitor of the Tarau-
mares, making known the great error of the English
General Drake, who falsely delineated California for
us as an island, apropos of what Father Rector Juan
Maria wrote to the Taraumeres, on the fifth of Septem-
ber wrote me the following very learned and very fer-
vent letter in Latin:416
May the event be blest, happy and joyous, may it redound to
414 Evidently a mis-copy for San Luis Potosi.
415 Stocklein {Neue Welt-Bott, theil ii, 85-86) prints a letter from P.
Wenceslau Eymer, of Bohemia, to R. P. Joannem Walt, in Bohemia, written
Jan. 8, 1696, from Papigotschyki, Tarahumara. For a sketch of Eymer see
Huonder, op. cit., 107.
416 Instead of giving the Latin in the text as in case of other Latin pas-
sages, the translation is given here, the Latin being put in the note. The
passage is as follows: "Quod bonum, felix, fortunatumque sit, et ad majorem
one] EUSEBIO FRANCISCO KINO, S.J. 301
the greater glory of God, to the honor of His Immaculate
Mother, to the extension of Holy Church, to the spread of our
orthodox faith, and to the salvation of souls that, under the
auspices of the queen of Loreto, by the apostolic sweat, and un-
tiring labor of Fathers Juan Maria and Francisco Eusebio,
California has been happily found to be part of the mainland.
Away now with British temerity, with her English Drake, and
let him keep silent who boasts that he has circumnavigated
California, as if, by a foolish fiction, California were the At-
lantis of the West. I congratulate Your Reverence, therefore,
and I ask God's most abundant blessings, fortified with which
you may wage relentless war on Californian idolatry, while we,
glorious with the palm, sing your victory.
Thus says Father Wenceslaus. I shall give, farther
on, letters from the superiors and from the province.
CHAPTER XII. LETTERS FROM OTHER SECULAR
GENTLEMEN AND MINISTERS OF HIS ROYAL MAJES-
TY IN REGARD TO THIS JOURNEY AND THE
PASSAGE TO CALIFORNIA, AND IN REGARD
TO THIS VICTORY OF THE PIMAS
Captain Juan Mateo Manje, who went with us on
this expedition, wrote a long account of it in which,
although he supports the statements of the fathers, yet,
on account of a bay417 which we saw from a distance
about three leagues farther to the west than the ridge
whence we returned, with the unanimous and unquali-
Dei Deiparaque sine labe concepts honorem, Ecclesia Sancta incremen-
tum, Fidei ortodoxa dilatacionem, animarumque Salutem eveniat, Cali-
fornia sub auspiciis Regina Lauretana, Sudore apostolico et labore indcfesso
P. P. Joannis Maria et Francisci Eusebii Continens feliciter inventa est.
Eat nunc cum suo Draco .4n%li[c)o et digitum ori imponat temeritas Britanica,
qua inani fabula in Atlante Californiarum Californium a se circumnaviga-
tam jactat. Gratulor igitur Reverentia Vestra, et uberrima Dei auxilia
precor, quibus munitus bcllum idolatria California indicat cruentum cum
Palma Victoriam aloriosi occinimus."
417 Manje distinctly says that, contrary to the maps and geographers, they
could find no bay near Santa Clara (Luz de Tierra Incognita, libro ii, 104.).
3o2 MEMOIR OF PIMERIA ALTA [Vol.
fied favorable opinion of the fathers, he placed in doubt
whether or not California had continental connection
with this land; but now, by the two expeditions which
I afterwards made to that bay, this doubt has been re-
moved, as shall be seen in the next book.
General Don Domingo Jironza Petris de Crussatt,
who has been twice governor of New Mexico and al-
calde mayor and captain of the presidio of this province
of Sonora, on the twenty-first of June wrote me the fol-
lowing:
Once and again I thank your Reverence for the greetings of
the excellent Pima natives, to whom I very heartily return greet-
ings, for, although I have measured the strength of the common
enemy, we are going to have tranquillity through that Pima
nation, and they are to be the fundamental base from which
to extend the seed of the Gospel through the long circuit of the
other nations. The credit is due to your Reverence for the
greatest watchfulness in your unwearying peregrinations, so
much for the service of God, who will give the reward for all.
I am still waiting for the blue shells which came from Cali-
fornia by a continental route found by the good endeavors of
your Reverence, who are worthy of receiving repeated thanks
and rewards from the superiors for undertakings so heroic, and
whenever opportunity offers I shall give to the Senor viceroy
and to the superior fathers account of everything.418
CHAPTER XIII. FOUR NEW MISSIONARY FATHERS
ENTER THIS PIMERIA
1701. As a result of the expedition of the father
visitor, Antonio Leal, which was made two years before
and which I narrate in the first part, and of the reports
of his Reverence and of other persons zealous for the
418 On the margin at this point in the original are directions to transfer
the remainder of this chapter to chapter viii of the next Book, where the
passages chronologically belong. They have been so transferred. See pages
325-327. post.
one] EUSEBIO FRANCISCO KINO, S.J. 303
service of God and the king, this year, 1701, the father
provincial, Francisco de Arteaga, sent us four new
fathers for this Pimeria; and, although the accustomed
obstacles and opposition did not fail, they came in
to the posts and new pueblos which were assigned to
them by the father visitor. They found the many do-
cile people, and cattle, crops, and harvests, and the be-
ginnings of houses and churches which his Reverence
had seen with his eyes, and they remained very well
content, with great hopes of establishing there in the
interior some very flourishing missions, as they said and
wrote to me and to other persons on different occasions.
The four fathers who entered were the following:
Father Juan de San Martin came to the three ran-
cherias or new pueblos of San Gabriel de Guebavi,
San Cayetano, and San Luys, which are about thirty
leagues to the northward of Nuestra Sefiora de los Dol-
ores. Father Francisco Gonzalvo went on farther to
San Francisco Xavier del Baac of the Sobayporis,
which is about sixty leagues from Nuestra Sefiora de
los Dolores.
To the west, to San Pedro and San Pablo del Tubu-
tama, which is twenty-five leagues from Nuestra Se-
fiora de los Dolores, and fifteen from San Ygnacio, went
Father Ygnacio de Yturmendi; and twenty-two leagues
farther inland, to Nuestra Sefiora de la Concepcion del
Cabotca, went Father Caspar de las Barillas.
In all places buildings were constructed, and very
good beginnings were made in spiritual and temporal
matters. In Guebavi in a few months we finished a
house and a church, small but neat, and we laid the
foundations of a church and a large house. Father
304 MEMOIR OF PIMERIA ALTA
Juan de San Martin, on going by San Ygnacio, on the
thirtieth of June wrote me the following letter:
Yesterday afternoon, on account of the rain, which was ex-
cessive, we did not set out from San Ygnacio for Hymeres, al-
though the loads and packs had already gone; and as nothing
happens by chance, so far as God is concerned, his Majesty dis-
posed my detention that I might receive your Reverence's letter
and learn from it the very great charity which your Reverence
does me, offering to assist me with all that is necessary for the
new pueblos where holy duty assigns me.419
Father Ygnacio de Yturmendi, from his new district
of San Pedro y San Pablo del Tubutama, on the eighth
of July wrote me thus :
God will reward your Reverence for the gift of the cattle,
sheep, goats, etc. ; the reward your Reverence will receive in
the next life, for your Reverence shows yourself a father to us
poor fathers. I have been very grateful for the many favors of
your Reverence.
Similarly, on account of the accustomed opposi-
tion of the common enemy, on the twenty-first of July
the father visitor, Antonio Leal, wrote me the follow-
ing:
Much comfort have I had in your Reverence's letter, and
because of those which the fathers have written to your Rev-
erence. Now God is moving against the hindrances of the
enemy; so I trust in his Majesty that he wills for your Rever-
ence these provocations, for your greater merit.
419 Bancroft (Arizona and New Mexico, 361) concludes that Arizona had
no "regular mission or resident Jesuit" in Kino's day. This passage shows
conclusively that he is mistaken. It is confirmed by other passages in the
writings of both Kino and Manje. See Bolton, Spanish Exploration in the
Southwest, 449, footnote 3, where Father Gonzalvo's name is by mistake
given as Gonzalez.
BOOK III. OF MY EXPEDITION OF TWO
HUNDRED LEAGUES TO THE QUIQUIMA
NATION OF UPPER CALIFORNIA, AND TO
THE VERY LARGE, VERY FERTILE, AND
VERY POPULOUS RIO COLORADO,
WHICH IS THE REAL AND TRUE
RIO DEL NORTE, 1701
420
CHAPTER I. LETTER OF THE FATHER RECTOR, JUAN
MARIA DE SALVATIERRA, IN REGARD TO THIS
EXPEDITION, WHICH I RECEIVE WHEN ON
THE POINT OF MOUNTING MY HORSE
TO UNDERTAKE IT
Pursuant to the plans which Father Rector Juan
Maria de Salvatierra and I had made in the previous
expedition of the past month of March, it was my de-
sire and determination to make this expedition in Octo-
ber, but as other occupations detained me some days,
meanwhile there came from California the letter of his
Reverence of September 10, dated at Loreto Concho.
It runs thus:
1 701. I receive your Reverence's letter dated July IO, with
much pleasure at seeing the beloved handwriting of your Rever-
420Manje adds interesting information here (op. cit., no-in). Jironza
had agreed, because of the varied opinions and maps, to send soldiers
to help the fathers settle the question of the land passage, and to see if a
certain mineral vein shown them by the Indians was of gold or quicksilver.
The soldiers were not sent because of a change in the military command,
General Jacinto Fuensaldana becoming commander of the Compania Volante
of Sonora, and Manje could not go because he was made alcalde mayor and
captain-general of Sonora, and was called out to punish the Apaches just as
the journey was begun. He adds that the missionaries went but left the
matter of the land passage still in doubt.
306 MEMOIR OF PIMERIA ALTA [Vol.
ence, so eager to go to see the beloved Quiquimas by the head
of the strait. God grant your Reverence all the strength which
I wish you, and that, with the patronage of the Madonna,
Conculcabit leonem ett Draconem ; 421 and so, good courage,
which perhaps your Reverence will receive on your passage.
We can not set out from here to meet your Reverence because
we are without the necessary mounts, through lack of a suitable
bark.422 I thank your Reverence sincerely for the ten loads
of flour from last year's harvest, delivered at Matape, and the
other ten to be delivered at Matape or Nacori, of the harvest
of this year, the first of the century. It is the first offering
which the Madonna has had, and as little or none can we ex-
pect from any other district, I pray your reverence that when
you can, and as early as possible, you will deliver it at Matape,
for we are much in need, not having had the aid of one real
from the King our Lord, and most of the soldiers having gone
to a little war which we have had with some priests of the
idols, which placed us in much danger. But our Lady has
aided us, and on the octave of Assumption they captured a prin-
cipal chief and beat him to death ; 423 the others made peace,
coming with crosses in their hands, and we have emerged from
that danger. And so, your Reverence, commend us in many
devotions to our Lady, that She may give strength to the six-
teen soldiers who remain to keep the circuit of more than fifty
leagues of land obedient. I will give an account to our father
of the great aid which your Reverence is giving us. And final-
ly, your Reverence, accept a thousand greetings from my Fath-
er Rector Juan Duarte 423a and Father Francisco Maria Picolo.
With this I close, commending myself to your holy prayers and
sacrifices. Loreto Concho.
October 18, 1701.
Thus far the father rector, Juan Maria de Salvatier-
ra.
421 "He will trample under foot the lion and the dragon" {Psalm xc, 13.
Conculcabis leonem, etc.) Kino varies the person of the verb to suit the
occasion.
422 That is, barks were lacking to transport the necessary horses across
the Gulf.
423 Apelotearon.
423a juan de rjgarte.
one] EUSEBIO FRANCISCO KINO, S.J. 307
CHAPTER II. MY DEPARTURE FROM NUESTRA SE-
NORA DE LOS DOLORES FOR THE QUIQUIMAS OF
CALIFORNIA, WHO ARE TWO HUNDRED LEAGUES
DISTANT, WITH TWELVE SERVANTS, AND MY
ARRIVAL AT SAN MARCELO, A JOURNEY OF
MORE THAN NINETY LEAGUES 42i
NOVEMBER 3, 1701. On November 3, 1701, having
dispatched five servants a day before with the relay of
horses and with two small loads, I set out early from
the pueblo of Nuestra Senora de los Dolores. I ar-
rived in time to say mass and have All Souls celebrated
at Nuestra Senora de los Remedios, and in the afternoon
I passed on to the third pueblo, that of Cocospora.
4. On the fourth, having said the mass of All Souls,
I arrived at midday at San Lazaro and spent the night
at San Jose Guebavi, passing by San Luys,425 where we
killed a beef that they might sow the wheat for the
Church; and I sent messages to the rancheria of Los
Reyes del Sonoydag, six leagues to the east, to Captain
Coro and his many people.
5. On the fifth, having said mass in the new and
very neat little church, which a little while before
Father Juan de San Martin had built (his Reverence
at this time had gone away to be treated) and which I
had ordered roofed and whitewashed, I set out to the
westward for San Ambrosio del Busanic, and, passing
by the borders of the new ranch of San Simon y San
Judas del Siboda, where there were about a thousand
424 So far as I know, no other diary of this journey has been found.
Heretofore our principal reliance has been Ortega, Apostolicos Afanes, 295-
301, which is a summary of this diary. Other brief accounts are given in
Bancroft, North Mexican States, vol. i, 497-499, Bancroft, Arizona and Ne<w
Mexico, 359; Venegas, Noticia de la California, vol. ii, 103-105; Alegre,
Historia de la Comp. de Jesus, vol. iii, 134.
425 San Luis Bacoancos, called San Luis de Babi by Ortega {Apostolicos
Afanes, 295).
308 MEMOIR OF PIMERIA ALTA [Vol.
cattle and seven droves of mares, with sufficient horses
and mules, all for the new missions which were being
founded, after a fifteen leagues' journey we camped for
the night at a good stopping-place, another Sonoydag,
six leagues before arriving at San Ambrosio del Bu-
sanic.
6. On the sixth, Sunday, I arrived in time to say
mass at San Ambrosio. We killed two beeves of this
small new ranch, which had eighty-six grown cattle and
forty-nine young ones, and three droves of mares, one
of which we took with us with our relay of horses to
San Marcelo, about fifty leagues farther in the interior.
7. On the seventh we dried some meat for the jour-
ney along the coast. We counted the droves and found
out what they had sown and gathered for us of maize
and wheat and beans.
8. On the eighth we set out for San Estanislao del
Ootcam,426 and having arrived after ten leagues' jour-
ney, we found that the governor of this rancheria had
gathered and was keeping for us more than ten loads of
maize which he had sown for us for the Church, with-
out having been asked to do so.
9. On the ninth, they having given us four infants to
baptize, we set out for Santa Ana del Anamic, where
we arrived after fifteen leagues' journey, an hour after
nightfall, by moonlight, some from San Estanislao ac-
companying us. The alcalde went ahead prompt-
ly to give notice of our coming, whereupon the govern-
or of Santa Ana provided for us a little house and an
arbor, and sundry of their eatables. When we had
spoken to them of the Word of God they all wished to
be baptized the following day, but I consented to bap-
tize only two infants.
10. On the tenth we continued our route to the
426
Miscalled Ooltan by Ortega (Apostolicos A fanes, page 296).
one] EUSEBIO FRANCISCO KINO, S.J. 309
westward. After a three leagues' journey we arrived
at the small tank, or little well, of Santa Sabina, for
afterwards we gave it this name, because on the return
I said here the first mass on the day of the glorious
saint, and it was the day on which the most glorious
apostle of all the Indies died in the East Indies. There
was not lacking here some one to sow the very evil
darnel that farther on there were no water-holes, trying
to induce us thereby to return thence, but a good In-
dian stranger, whom we made a fiscal and gave some
little gifts, told us that he would take us to a good
water-hole, although we should arrive at nightfall or a
little after, as we did arrive, in the moonlight and half
an hour after nightfall. The water-hole had abundant
good rain-water with good pasturage. To it as well as
to the near-by rancheria we gave the name of San
Martin,427 because the following day, day of the glori-
ous saint, I said his mass here.
1 1 . On the eleventh we set out for San Marcelo ; and
after a sixteen leagues' journey we arrived, also at night-
fall. A little before noon we passed by the rancheria
of San Rafael del Actun El Grande,428 where we found
that the captain of it had already set out with many
other Indians to look for maize, for here none had been
raised, on account of the scarcity of rain this year at the
time of their planting, for they have no water but that
of the rains. Today also many justices of various ran-
cherias accompanied us, and in San Marcelo we were
welcomed with all kindness by the natives, and by their
justices, as well as by the very excellent overseer of the
ranch, who had carried our messages with singular loy-
427 Ortega overlooked Santa Sabina and placed San Martin at three
leagues from Santa Ana.
428 "The Large." Compare San Serafin del Actum el Chico, ante, page
290. The routes between Santa Eulalia and San Rafael, as shown on my
map, are to some extent conjectural.
310 MEMOIR OF PIMERIA ALTA [Vol.
alty, and had brought about with very good manage-
ment the treaties between the Yumas and Quiquimas as
we had charged them during the preceding months, and
he and others gave us very good and very friendly
news of both nations.
We found the new little church of Nuestra Senora de
Loreto very well roofed and well whitewashed, and the
harvest of wheat and maize, and observed the good care
which they had taken of the cattle. We delivered to
them the drove of mares which for that purpose we
were bringing, and sent to San Ambrosio del Busanic
for sheep and goats also that they might be brought
hither, as was done.
CHAPTER III. WE SET OUT FROM SAN MARCELO,
AND AFTER A SIXTY LEAGUES' JOURNEY WE AR-
RIVE AT THE YUMAS, AND AT SAN DIONYSIO
AT THE CONFLUENCE OF THE RIO GRANDE
DE HYLA AND THE LARGE RIO COLORA-
DO, OR RIO DEL NORTE
NOVEMBER 12, 1701. On the twelfth of November
I despatched a courier to the Yumas and Quiquimas,
giving notice of our coming, and a few hours after-
ward they brought me some gifts from these nations,
consisting of seven curious balls, and blue shells from
the opposite coast of California, with very friendly mes-
sages which they had sent me during the weeks preced-
ing. We killed two fat beeves, and made a corral for
the horses, and one for the cattle; and I ordered a new
irrigation ditch opened, with which (as with ease might
be done) to bring the water to the door of the house
and at the same time to water a good field of wheat, and
the sowing which was made while we went on the ex-
pedition, and which on our return we found done.
13. On the thirteenth, they having given us four in-
one] EUSEBIO FRANCISCO KINO, S.J. 3"
f ants to baptize, we set out for Carrizal, where we found
many people, with a little new house which they had
prepared for me, and with new messages from the
Yumas and Quiquimas. And they gave me two infants
and five sick adults to baptize, the latter being in-
structed.
14. On the fourteenth we set out for the tank of La
Luna, twenty leagues' journey. We arrived by moon-
light half an hour after night fall, and although this
tank is between rocks so sharp that the horses could not
ascend to drink, we saw where on the return we could
open a way for them, and afterwards we did open it.
15. On the fifteenth we set out for the tank of Agua
Escondida. We took a siesta halfway, where there was
good pasturage, and at two in the afternoon, after a ten
leagues' journey, we arrived at the tank, which we
found somewhat scant. We therefore determined to set
out as quickly as possible to arrive on the following
day so much the earlier at the good tank of La Tinaja,
and having set out at nightfall, a good shower came
upon us which, however, by the darkness made us lose
the way; notwithstanding, we found it afterwards when
the storm cleared, and, breaking our sleep a little, we
got up very early in the morning, and,
16. On the sixteenth, traveling five leagues more, we
said mass at a good stopping-place with water and pas-
turage. We breakfasted, and passing by the tank of La
Tinaja, after a fifteen leagues' journey we arrived early
at the Rio Grande de Hyla, and at its first rancheria
of San Pedro, where the Yuma and Pima natives,
mingled, welcomed us with all love, although with
scarcity of provisions, for this year at the best time for
planting rain had failed them. We found the courier
and other justices who had come before, and also very
312 MEMOIR OF PIMERIA ALTA [Vol.
good news of the Quiquimas, who were anxiously wait-
ing for us.429
17. On the seventeenth we set out from San Pedro
westward, for San Dionisio, a great rancheria at the
confluence of the Rio Grande de Hyla and the very
large Rio Colorado; and, having crossed the Rio
Grande on horseback by the only ford which it had in
that vicinity, with a following of more than two hun-
dred Yumas and Pimas from San Pedro, at nightfall
we arrived in safety at San Dionisio, where also they
received us with great affection.
CHAPTER IV. SETTING OUT FROM SAN DIONISIO,
AND FROM THE CONFLUENCE OF THE RIVERS COL-
ORADO AND HYLA, AFTER A FIFTY LEAGUES'
JOURNEY WE ARRIVED AT THE QUIQUIMA
NATION OF CALIFORNIA ALTA
November 18, 1701. On November the eighteenth,
having said mass and crossed the Rio Grande again,
and taking a southwest course, or between south and
west, a road which up to this time we had never trav-
eled or entered, we set out directly by most level roads
toward the Quiquimas of this California Alta, in thirty-
three degrees latitude, and rounded the head of the sea,
which lay to the south of us, about three hundred Yuma
and Pima Indians, mingled, small and great, accom-
panying us from San Pedro and San Dionysio. They
went in these great numbers on this occasion because,
they having told me that the Quiquimas had an abun-
dance of provisions, maize, beans, pumpkins, etc., and
they being that year very short of provisions, I said to
them that I was now going to the Quiquimas, and would
barter for, and buy, and give them provisions, beans,
429 Ortega omits all details of the journey from November n to this
point (Apostolicos A fanes, 296).
one] EUSEBIO FRANCISCO KINO, S.J. 313
maize, etc., as I did; and all returned well loaded with
all kinds of provisions. Having traveled about thir-
teen leagues through very level country, seeing to the
eastward the very great sandy beach of the head of the
Sea of California, and to the westward the banks of the
very large volumed Rio Colorado, near-by, we arrived
at sunset at the new rancheria, still of Yumas, which
must have had about five hundred souls, and which we
named Santa Ysabel, because the day following I said
there the mass of the glorious saint. All the people,
although they were rather poor, welcomed us with all
friendship and affability, and even late at night we sent
to advise the Quiquimas, now near-by, of our coming
to their rancherias.
19. On the nineteenth we set out for the first ran-
cheria, and having arrived at midday we were received
with all kindness, with many of their provisions, maize,
beans, and various kinds of pumpkins, etc., things which
in the six days preceding we had not been able to pro-
cure. So great was the affection of these natives that
with these provisions they came more than two leagues
to meet and to welcome us. While we alighted to receive
the food, and to reciprocate with some little gifts and
trifles, and to make them a talk on Christian doctrine,
and on the purposes of our coming, etc., the only Span-
ish servant who came in our company, on seeing so
great a number of so many new people was so terrified
that, without our noticing it until a quarter of an hour
after mounting our horses again, fled from us to the rear
through fright, leaving us very disconsolate and very
apprehensive lest he should go to give some false ill
news that some great disaster had happened to us; and
although immediately I dispatched in his pursuit the
two best boys in the party, who came on the best mounts,
314 MEMOIR OF PIMERIA ALTA [Vol.
they could not overtake him. This caused me to send
letters by couriers by other and shorter roads, as had
happened on other occasions, when they took us for
dead, though the celestial favors of our Lord preserved
us in a pleasant life of prosperous successes in these new
conversions.
In this first rancheria of these Quiquimas, with the
messages and little gifts which we had sent them during
the months preceding, they received us with much
friendship, asking us that we should remain some days
with them. We remained that day and half of the day
following, and to this rancheria we gave the name of
San Feliz de Balois, because here I said the mass of
the glorious saint. Through the interpreters whom we
brought in our following we made them some talks
on our holy faith, which were well received by the na-
tives. Very many people were present from all the
surrounding country, and to their principal chiefs we
gave justices' staves, and to the principal one of all the
nation we gave a captain's staff. We made a decent
little house or bower in a pleasant field of maize, which
they had just gathered, for here begin very fertile lands,
well cultivated, and very good pasturage.
The natives greatly wondered at many of our things,
for they had never seen nor heard of them. They won-
dered much at the vestment in which mass is said, and at
its curious sort of embroidery representing spring, and
its skillfully woven flowers of different beautiful colors;
and they would ask us to keep it on so that those who
continually came to visit us might have the pleasure of
seeing it. Also, it was a matter of much astonishment to
them to see our pack-animals and mounts, for they had
never seen horses or mules or heard of them. And
when the Yumas and Pimas who came with us said to
one] EUSEBIO FRANCISCO KINO, SJ. 315
them that our horses could run faster than the most
fleet-footed natives, they did not believe it, and it was
necessary to put it to the test. Thereupon a cowboy
from Nuestra Senora de los Dolores saddled a horse
and seven or eight of the most fleet-footed Quiquima
runners set out, and although the cowboy at first pur-
posely let them get a little ahead, and they were very
gleeful thereat, he afterwards left them far behind and
very much astonished and amazed.
This afternoon the Coanopa430 nation came also, from
the north and from the northwest, with many provi-
sions, maize, beans, pumpkins, and various other gifts,
greatly desiring our trade, our friendship, and our holy
faith, as a result of the message which these days and
months past they had received.
20. On the twentieth we set out from San Feliz,
continuing our course to the southwest, down the river,
to go to see the many other rancherias of the Quiquima
nation, and to cross this very large Rio Grande, or Rio
del Norte, more than five hundred souls accompanying
us, Quiquimas, Yumas, and Pimas. After a five leagues'
journey we arrived at the crossing, where the two banks
were crowded with people. All of them at once brought
us abundant provisions, and they made us a decent little
house on this side; for we determined to cross the river
the following day, God willing. The people on the
other bank and from the west swam across to this one
on the east, bringing us their provisions in their bas-
kets,431 which were so large that each would hold a
fanega and more of maize or beans. And they made
them float on the water of the quiet, gentle river, after
430 Ortega omits mention of this tribe here {Apostolicos A fanes, 298).
They were the Cocopa, apparently.
431 Coritas. Ortega calls them bateas, a word meaning troughs (Apos-
tdlicos A fanes, 298).
316 MEMOIR OF PIMERIA ALTA [Vol.
the fashion of and in imitation of little canoes. All
these Quiquima natives showed themselves most affec-
tionate toward us, in particular their most friendly cap-
tain, especially in opening for us some good, and
straight, and short roads through the thickets of the
abundant and very dense woods, which were on these
most fertile banks.
CHAPTER V. I CROSSED THE VERY LARGE VOL-
UMED RIO COLORADO, OR RIO DEL NORTE, ON A
RAFT, WITH A SERVANT, AND PENETRATED TO
THE WESTWARD THREE LEAGUES, THROUGH
MANY RANCHERIAS AND THROUGH VERY
FERTILE AND PLEASANT CHAMPAIGNS
NOVEMBER 21, 1701. On November the twenty- first,
day of the Presentation of most holy Mary, our Lady,
almost at midday, having in the morning carried some
long and dry timbers from the little wood very near by,
the same captain of the Quiquimas greatly aiding us
personally therein, and lashing them together very se-
curely and making a good raft with some ropes of esmi-
quilpa which we had brought for this purpose, we
crossed in it this very large volumed Rio Colorado,
which is probably about two hundred varas wide, and
did not touch the bottom except at the two banks. We
intended to take two or three horses over, also, but
when they put the first horse in the river at a bad place,
where he was mired, he was frightened, and we left
him with the rest, and only the governor of Nuestra
Senora de los Dolores crossed with me, in company
with the many Quiquimas, the captain of the Quiquima
nation aiding them in keeping the raft afloat. In order
that I might not wet my feet, I accepted the large bas-
ket in which they wished me to cross, and placing it and
fastening it upon the raft, I seated myself in it and
one] EUSEBIO FRANCISCO KINO, S.J. 317
crossed very comfortably and very pleasantly, without
the least risk, taking with me only my breviary, some
trifles, and a blanket in which to sleep, and afterwards
some branches of broom weed which I wrapped up in
my bandana to serve me as a pillow.
As we crossed the river many more people came to
us and there were dances and entertainments after their
fashion. I preached to them through an interpreter,
here and on the road, and in the afternoon, when, after
about three leagues' journey, we arrived at the house of
the captain of the nation.432 In all parts the word of
God and the Christian doctrine were well received.
All the road was full of small but very continuous
rancherias, with very many people, very affable, very
well featured, and somewhat whiter than the rest of the
Indians. All this road was through a veritable cham-
paign of most fertile lands, of most beautiful corn-
fields very well cultivated with abundant crops of
maize, beans, and pumpkins, and with very large dry-
ing-places for the drying of pumpkins, for this kind
lasts them afterwards all the year.
When, two hours before sunset, we arrived at the
rancheria and house of the captain, the captain of the
neighboring Cutgana433 nation came also to see us, with
a great following of people from the north and from
the west, and with various gifts, and in particular with
many blue shells from the opposite coast of California,
and from the other or South Sea, giving us very de-
tailed information in regard to them, and saying that
they were not more than eight or ten days' journey to
the westward, and that the Sea of California ended a
day's journey farther to the south than where we were,
432 Ortega (Apostolicos A fanes, 298) says, "house of the Quiquima cap-
tain."
433 Ortega says Cuteana (Apostolicos A fanes, 298).
318 MEMOIR OF PIMERIA ALTA [Vol.
this very large volumed Rio Colorado and two others
emptying at its head. I asked them also about every-
thing farther on, particularly toward the west and
south, and by what way a road could be found to go at
the proper time to trade with the other fathers and
Spaniards of Loreto Concho, in twenty-six degrees lat-
itude, for, according to a fair estimate they could not now
be more than one hundred and twenty-five leagues from
these our districts where we were. The captain of
these Quiquimas called for me and brought an Indian
of the new Hogiopa434 nation, which is the one that
comes next towards the south; and he having given us
some account of his new people and of some stopping-
places on the road which led to this presidio, I sent
friendly messages to all those natives, saying that, God
willing, on another occasion I should try to go also to
those their lands. Besides, I sent them some messages in
regard to Christian doctrine, and said that the purpose
of our expeditions was the salvation of their souls, etc.
And we left partially established some general peace-
agreements among the Yumas, Pimas, Quiquimas, Cut-
ganes, Hogiopas, and other nations, in order that all in
their time might be very friendly and good Christians.
I slept in a little house which they had made me, and
almost all night they kept talking among themselves
in regard to their very earnest desire to embrace our
friendship and our holy faith.
434 Ortega {Apostolicos A fanes, 298) renders this Ojiopas. The Cocopa,
one of the principal Yuman tribes on the lower Colorado. Kino is evidently
the only one who calls them by this name, as it is not given in Hodge's
synonymy (Handbook, vol. i, 318). In 1605 they lived in nine villages five
leagues above the mouth of the Colorado, in Lower California.
one] EUSEBIO FRANCISCO KINO, S.J. 319
CHAPTER VI. HAVING SEEN THE LAND-PASSAGE
TO CALIFORNIA, WE TURN BACK FOR NUESTRA
SEftORA DE LOS DOLORES. THEY GIVE US IN-
FANTS TO BAPTIZE, AND WE ARRIVE IN
SAFETY AT SAN MARCELO
November 22, 1701. Having left a variety of good
advice for these natives, the Quiquimas and Cutganes,
and a letter for the father rector, Juan Maria de Salva-
tierra, which the captain of the Quiquimas charged
himself with carrying as much farther south as he
could, I determined to turn back for my district of
Nuestra Senora de los Dolores. First, so as not to be
lacking in its administration. Secondly, because I was
uneasy about the Spaniard who had turned back on the
way. Thirdly, because now, thanks to our Lord, al-
ready this much disputed but now very certain land
route to California had been discovered, for the sea did
not ascend to this latitude of thirty-two degrees and its
head ended ten leagues farther to the south and south-
west.
We returned, then, through these many rancherias,
and continuous pleasant champaigns of La Presenta-
cion, for we gave them this name because of having dis-
covered them the day of the Presentation of our Lady.
They gave me two very sick infants to baptize, one of
whom was called Thyrso Gonzalez, and the other Fran-
cisco Xavier Eusebio.
In all these pleasant and continuous rancherias there
were all this morning many parties and dances, and
songs and feasts, with a representation, or dialogue,
and, as it were, a little comedy, by the very friendly na-
tives, to the great joy of all. In these festivities we
spent all the morning, and I came as far as the river,
which I crossed on the raft used the day before, the cap-
320 MEMOIR OF PIMERIA ALTA [Vol.
tain of the Quiquimas and the captain of the Cutganes
with many other people towing it over. I came in time
to say mass at our booth, as a thank-offering for so
many celestial favors of our Lord, of most holy Mary,
and of San Francisco Xavier. In the afternoon I re-
turned to San Feliz, with more than two hundred
Pimas and Yumas; and although we all carried as
many provisions as we could, so abundant were the
maize and the beans and the pumpkins, dried and fresh,
which the very friendly Quiquimas gave us, that the
more than two hundred Pimas and Yumas could not
load and carry it all.
23. On the twenty-third I arrived at the confluence
of the rivers and at San Dionisio.
24, 25, and 26. On the twenty-fourth we arrived at
San Pedro of the Yumas; on the twenty-fifth at Agua
Escondida; on the twenty-sixth at midday at the tank
of La Luna,435 where all the afternoon we opened an im-
passable road through very sharp stones and rocks
where animals had never been able to ascend to drink
water, so that today all ascended to drink. And after-
wards, an hour before sunset and in the night, we trav-
elled five leagues more, so that the horses might have
good pasturage.
435 Apparently modern Tinaja del Tule, but possibly Tinajas del Cerro
de la Cabeza Prieta. The former are described and pictured by Lumholtz
{op. cit., 237, 240), and the latter by the Boundary Commission as fol-
lows: "About one-fourth of a mile east of the summit of the Cerro de la
Cabeza Prieta, in a deep, rocky canon, are a number of natural tanks, worn
in the rocks and filled by the rains. These tanks when full contain about
5,000 gallons of water, all of which is seldom exhausted, by evaporation
alone, before another rain fills them. These tanks are known as the
'Tinajas del Cerro de la Cabeza Prieta,' but were never much used by
travelers, as they were off the road." Their place has been taken by the
Tule Wells, dug after i860 in the Tule Mountains about six miles to the
southeast. Report of the Boundary Commission (Washington, 1898), part ii,
25.
one] EUSEBIO FRANCISCO KINO, SJ. 321
27. On the twenty-seventh, having risen very early,
after thirteen leagues of good road we arrived before
midday in time to say mass, eat, and take a siesta at
Carrizal, and in the afternoon, after eight leagues more,
at San Marcelo del Sonoydag, where we found our re-
lay of horses, and the lost Spaniard, who confessed that
he had turned back and fled from fear of so many new
and unknown people, who had come to meet us among
the Quiquimas, for he was afraid that, being so nu-
merous, they would do us some harm, but we attributed
it all436 to the accustomed celestial favors of our Lord,
who always shelters us better than all human forces,
giving us always the paternal aid and encouragement of
His very divine and most merciful power.
28. On the twenty-eighth we rested at San Marcelo.
We killed fresh fat meat, sowed more wheat, besides
what was sown for the Church, and in the little church
of Nuestra Senora de Loreto we taught this afternoon
the Christian doctrine and the prayers, as in the old
Christian pueblos.
29. On the twenty-ninth when we wished to set out
we found that some horses were missing and we stayed
another day.
30. On the thirtieth, having left good messages and
some little gifts for the Quiquimas, and having bap-
tized the governor of San Marcelo, who was sick, we
set out almost at midday for San Rafael del Actun.
DECEMBER i, 1701. On December first we arrived
at the new well or tank which the natives had opened
for us that it might afford sufficient water for the horses
also; and on account of the mass of the glorious saint
which I said here we named it Well of Santa Sabina.
2. On the second we arrived at San Estanislao del
436 /. e., our safety.
322 MEMOIR OF PIMERIA ALTA [Vol.
Ootcam.
3. On the third at San Ambrosio del Busanic.
4. On the fourth at the little ranch of Santa Bar-
bara.
5. On the fifth at the ranch of the new mission of
San Simon y San Judas del Siboda.
6. On the sixth we rested.
7-8. On the seventh we arrived at Nuestra Senora
de los Remedios, and on the eighth at Nuestra Senora
de los Dolores.
CHAPTER VII. ACCOUNTS OF THIS EXPEDITION
ARE GIVEN TO VARIOUS PERSONS, IN PARTICU-
LAR TO THE FATHER VISITOR, ANTONIO
LEAL, IN THE FOLLOWING LETTER
I have just arrived in safety, thanks be to the Lord,
from my peregrination or expedition by terra firma to
California, and in going and return, in one month and
five days, from November 3 to December 8, I have
traveled four hundred-odd leagues. I reached a point
thirty leagues distant from California, and crossed the
Rio Grande de Hyla, and the very large Rio Colorado,
or Rio del Norte, on a raft, at latitude thirty-two de-
grees.
Through this expedition, thanks to His Divine Maj-
esty, and through other talks, or messages, and little
gifts which I had sent them the year before, and on
several other occasions, there remain reduced to our
friendship and with the desire to receive our holy
faith, the Quiquima, Cutgana, and other nations, with
more than ten thousand souls, who have very rich and
very fertile lands. They gave me great quantities of
their provisions, and so much of their maize, beans, and
pumpkins, that I could not use nor load it nor carry it
with us, neither I and my servants nor the more than
one] EUSEBIO FRANCISCO KINO, S.J. 323
two hundred Pimas and Yumas who went with me to
the said Quiquimas.
From there I wrote to Father Rector Juan Maria de
Salvatierra at Loreto Concho a letter which the same
captain of the Quiquimas charged himself with carry-
ing farther inland toward the south. I bring with me
not a few blue shells from the opposite coast of Cali-
fornia which these Quiquimas gave me, with the de-
tailed information that the said opposite coast and the
sea of the south, by which the China ship is accustomed
to come every year, is not more than seven or eight
days' journey from the stopping-places or rancherias by
which I went in this expedition.
Therefore, by the Divine Grace, in His time the com-
merce of the said China ships with this kingdom of
Nueva Biscaya may be opened, to avoid the very cir-
cuitous and costly transportation of the very many goods
which it carries to Acapulco by sea and from Acapulco
to Mexico, and from Mexico to this Nueva Biscaya and
the provinces of Sonora and Cinaloa, etc., by land, mat-
ters concerning which, as the Senor Marques de Buena
Vista intimated to me in Mexico, there has been a dis-
cussion in the Royal Council.
And at the same time, through this port which can
be provided for the above mentioned galleon from
China, the lives of many of its sailors who every year
are accustomed to fall sick and die from the painful dis-
ease of scurvy can be saved, since with fresh food they
are easily cured and freed from this evil, for the disease
originates from dried and salty foods which are dried
and salty and stale from their long voyage.
To the above mentioned Quiquima nation succeeds
the new Hogiopa nation. Now that some of them have
come to see me, although they speak a different lan-
guage, through the Christian talks and messages which
324 MEMOIR OF PIMERIA ALTA [Vol.
I have sent on to them beforehand, with the favor of the
Lord, on the next occasion I shall have the road and
way to them wide open and, through them, very far in-
land, and toward Loreto Concho, where live Father
Rector Juan Maria de Salvatierra, and the two other
fathers with the sixteen soldiers, for I consider that I
was not more than one hundred and twenty-five leagues,
more or less, from their reverences. And as from these
things might result the conversion and salvation of very
many souls and important service to both majesties, I
commend it all strongly to the holy sacrifices of your
Reverence, whose life may our Lord preserve as I de-
sire. Nuestra Senora de los Dolores, December 8,
1 70 1. Your Reverence's obedient servant,
Eusebio Francisco Kino.
chapter viii. letters from three father
RECTORS IN REPLY TO THE NEWS IN MY LET-
TERS IN REGARD TO THIS MY EXPEDITION
The father rector, Adamo Gilg, on December fif-
teenth wrote me the following:
I thank your Reverence for the very great pleasure which
you gave me with the report and account of your apostolic
journey and happy return Ex transitu Felici Maris Rubri.
Felix omen pro Terra Promissiones Patrum Calif orniensium.
Faxit Deus ut novus rex FVispanice nostris conatibus faveatl 437
The wars so kindled in Europe on account of a handful of land
will perhaps not allow much thought in regard to the progress
of the faith.
Thus far the father rector of this mission and rectorate
of San Francisco Xavier, comparing this my expedition
and journey and my having been able to cross the Rio
Colorado and the Sea of California at its head to the
437 "From the successful passage of the Red Sea [we take] a happy omen
for the promised land of the California fathers. May God grant that the
new king of Spain will favor our endeavors." Philip V became King of
Spain in 1700.
one] EUSEBIO FRANCISCO KINO, S.J. 325
crossing of the Red Sea, for some cosmographers have
named this Sea of California the Red Sea.
But extremely, and more than all others, with His
ardent apostolic holy zeal for the good of souls, was
Father Rector Juan Maria de Salvatierra rejoiced,
with the other fathers of California, and the soldiers.
Most gladly would his Reverence give this news to our
Father General Thyrso Gonzalez, thanking me pro-
fusely for my labors, for he is pleased to call them
"glorious," and encourages me, as always, to continue
in so profitable an enterprise and so worthy of our holy
Institute as the seeking of souls for Heaven and the
conquering of the difficulties of the accustomed ob-
stacles, opposition, etc.
Equally rejoiced at the news was the father rector of
Oposura, Manual Gonzalez, for a little afterward his
Reverence wrote me that he would be glad to go with
me on another expedition, so that together we might go
even further, and if it were possible, even to where the
fathers of California were, in Loreto Concho. And we
did make this expedition, which is related in the fol-
lowing book and year, 1702.
General Jacinto de Fuenzaldana,438 the present cap-
tain for life of the flying company of this province,
spoke of the very great joy which he had felt in hearing
that so fortunately we had crossed over the very large
and populous Rio Colorado, making it possible to aid at
closer range the new conversions of California, and he
offered to cooperate in discoveries so blessed, in so far
as he should be needed.439
438 The passages forming the remainder of this chapter were originally
placed in the previous Book ii, Chapter 12, page 302. On the margin of
this paragraph in the original are the words "To be placed in entrada of
November."
439 See footnote 420, which states that Kino had to go to the Colorado alone
because of the change of commanders.
326 MEMOIR OF PIMERIA ALTA [Vol.
General Juan Fernandes de la Fuente,440 captain of
the Presidio of Janos and alcalde mayor of Casas
Grandes, on the thirty-first of August wrote me the fol-
lowing:
I thank your Reverence for the news of your peregrinations,
made with the sole purpose of reducing to our holy faith and
to the royal obedience so great a number of souls as you have
discovered in your journeys so remote, and opening the light of
the Gospel to so great a number of heathen, who hitherto were
blind in their idolatries. And you alone have tried, with the
Christian and Catholic zeal of an apostolic minister, in imita-
tion of San Francisco Xavier, to draw them with your ex-
emplary life and doctrine to the true knowledge. May God
give you very perfect health and His Divine aid, that in all
you may see your great work rewarded, and that you may
easily succeed in coming to join in the Californias with our
reverend fathers Juan Maria de Salvatierra and Francisco
Maria Picolo, and all those poor people to whom the knowl-
edge that they can transport and trade by land with more
security than by sea will be of great comfort, for this will be a
great thing. And all will be due to your Reverence, who, I
hope, will have from God and from his most holy Mother the
assistance and rewards of glory and honor which your Lord-
ship so deserves.
No one more than I desires for you all good fortune, and I
wish I were nearer in order to serve your Reverence in what-
ever way might be in my power, for it is only my duty, from
my great obligation. I have no doubt that opposition will be
forthcoming, and that there will be many to oppose the good
work of your Reverence, because the Devil is laying up against
you that which he is losing, and must seek means to ruin your
Reverence. In regard to the Pimas, I have noted much loy-
alty in them, and with time and good teaching they will be
very perfect Christians and loyal vassals of his Majesty. And
since they are steadfast in peace and friendship for us we may
promise ourselves very good fortune and may hope that by means
440 Note in the original : "After expedition VI, of November." See page
302.
one] EUSEBIO FRANCISCO KINO, S.J. 327
of them will be discovered many nations and lands of those
which your Reverence has found.
Thus far, with many other things besides, General
Juan Fernandez de la Fuente. And now at the end of
May, 1705, just when I am writing this chapter441
(finding myself with a thousand occupations, what with
the construction of churches and with the coming of
very many natives from the north and from the west
and from the northwest from a distance of more than
one hundred and seventy leagues, as I shall say in the
proper place) I receive the following very zealous and
very affectionate letter from the Senor oidor and fiscal
of his royal Majesty in the Royal Audiencia of Guada-
lajara, Don Joseph de Miranda Villa Ysan, dated the
thirty-first of March :
May God our Lord bring reapers to aid in so abundant a
harvest. The hopes that your Reverence may make a journey
to Mexico have comforted me greatly. I imagine I see you
there already, as on the former occasion, like a lightning-
flash, quick and refulgent, but without destruction, although
this you effect in the campaign against the Devil under the
banners of his wretched heathendom, which God has just
snatched from his claws in those provinces, for there is where
we can say with David, on account of your Reverence, Ascen-
siones in corde suo disposuit in loco ubi posuisti.442 So I ex-
pressed it, when, seeing your Reverence in the character of
first commissioner to California, I read it and saw you appoint-
ed champion and associate of my well beloved Father Juan
Maria de Salvatierra for the undertaking.443 But God dis-
poses that you do not go from those provinces, perhaps because
from there, without losing that renown, you are gaining souls
441 This was formerly in Book II, Chapter 12. See ante, pa>,e 302.
442 "In his heart he hath disposed to ascend by steps in the place where
Thou has set him" (Psalm lxxxiii, 6, 7). Kino, quoting from memory', uses in
loco ubi posuisti instead of the scriptural in loco quern posuit "in the place
which he hath set."
443 The reference is to the appointment of Kino as companion of Salva-
tierra to go to California in 1697.
328 MEMOIR OF PIMERIA ALTA
for California by means of the well-founded information in re-
gard to the route to it by land. Moreover, the first office of
General Don Jasinto may have failed,444 perhaps, because God
disposed that he be a co-worker with your Reverence in these
newest conversions. Those who command in any of those
parts will incline their operations and thoughts especially to this,
and they would make easier the accomplishment of so high a
purpose, because the truth of the legal maxim, Singula, qua
non possent, collecta iuuant 445 would be seen divinely mani-
fested. But the pity is that the sower of darnel even in the
rooted crops more frequently exemplifies the opposite maxim,
Singuli qui non possent, collecti impediunt.446
Thus far the Senor oidor fiscal of his royal Majesty,
Don Joseph de Miranda y Villaysan.
444 The reference is to General Jacinto de Fuensaldana.
445 "What individual things can not do separately united they help." For
iuuant read modern juvant.
446 "What individual men can not do, united they impede."
BOOK IV. EXPEDITION OF TWO HUNDRED
LEAGUES IN THE YEAR 1702, WITH THE
VERY MINUTE NEW EXPLORATION OF
THE VERY CERTAIN AND VERY EVI-
DENT PASSAGE BY LAND TO CALI-
FORNIA, WHICH IS SEEN TO BE NOT
AN ISLAND, BUT A PENINSULA
CHAPTER I. DOUBTS AND CONTROVERSIES WHICH
FOR SO MANY YEARS HAVE EXISTED IN REGARD
TO WHETHER CALIFORNIA IS CONTINEN-
TAL, OR TERRA FIRMA, CONTINUOUS
WITH THIS NEW SPAIN "7
1702. Some of the ancient cosmographers, although
with some imperfections, delineated California as a
peninsula, or an isthmus, but after the English pirate
and pilot, Francis Drake, sailed on these seas, and in the
bay of San Bernabe, near the cape of San Lucas of Cal-
ifornia, robbed the China ship or the Philippines gal-
leon, called Santa Ana,448 he, seeing then the many cur-
rents of the Gulf of California, concluded and pro-
claimed as a certain thingthatthis Californian Gulf and
sea had communication with the North Sea, and that by
the former sea California was separated from all this
terra firma of New Spain; and he delineated it as sur-
rounded with seas and as an island (which would have
been the greatest in the world), and he sketched, but
also incorrectly, the rivers of Coral and El Tizon and
447 This chapter throws interesting light on the genesis of Kino's ideas
regarding California geography.
448 Kino is mistaken here. It was Cavendish who plundered the Santa
Ana.
330 MEMOIR OF PIMERIA ALTA
Anguchi, or Buena Guia, as issuing and emptying into
the said Sea of California at thirty-three, thirty-four,
and thirty-five degrees of latitude, the fact being that,
as with all certainty in various expeditions we have dis-
covered, this Californian Gulf does not come up to
thirty-two degrees. Therefore Drake on his return to
his country misled all Europe, and almost all the cos-
mographers and geographers of Italy, Germany, and
France, etc., delineated California as an island.449
In the celebrated University of Ingolstadt, of Ba-
varia, there was printed in my time a very finely execu-
ted general map of all the terrestrial world by my
father master of mathematics, Father Adamo Aygent-
ler,450 who afterwards died most gloriously in the voy-
age of Father Jutorchete 451 for the missions of the Great
China, when already near Goa-tn conspectu Goa,452
says the narrative. That map, which I brought with
me to the Indies and even to these new conversions,
with its little treatise and instruction or explanation, for
it is cosmographical, geographical, horological and
horographical, nautical and geometrical, etc., depicts
California very correctly not as an island, but as a
449 For Drake's voyage see W. S. W. Vaux, The World encompassed by
Sir Francis Drake, being his next Voyage to that to Nombre de Dios (Lon-
don, 1854). As to Drake's theories, suffice it here to say that many views
attributed to Drake were fables for which he was not responsible. See Ban-
croft, chapter on "The Northern Mystery," in his History of the Northwest
Coast, vol. i, chap. 2.
450Aigenler, Adam, 1635-1673, praeses. Tabvla geographicohorologa uni-
versalis, problematis cosmographicis, astronomicis, geographicis, gnomonicis,
geometricis illustrata, et vna cvm succincta methodo qvasltbet mappas geo-
graphicas delineandi. Publico certamini proposita . . . Praeside Adamo
Aigenler . . . defendente Joanne Francisco Stavdhamer . . . Ingol-
stadii, typis Ionnis Ostermayri, 1668. 1 p. 1, 38, (32) p. fold, map, diagr.
18cm. Appended: "Tabula latitudinum et longitudinum nova avthore R.
P. loan, Bapt. Ricciolio . . . lib. 9 Geographic Reformats c. 4."
451 Stocklein lists in his Rerum Memorabilium neither Aygentler nor
Jutorchete.
452"In sight of Goa."
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A later Version of Kino's Map of Pimeria Alta
EUSEBIO FRANCISCO KINO, SJ. 333
peninsula. I studied the mathematical sciences in the
University of Ingolstadt and in that of Freiburg, and I
taught them afterwards according to our routine,453 and
by order of my superiors had to teach and lecture on
them in public, so that in the fourth year of theology I
took orders as a priest. But, although I discussed
various mathematical sciences with his Lordship the
Duke of Bavaria, who rules today, and with his Lord-
ship his father, when their highnesses both together, in
the year 1676, came from his Electoral Court of Mu-
nich454 to see that great fortification, city, and univer-
sity of Ingolstadt, and our greatest college of that city
and province of Bavaria in Upper Germany,and was in-
vited to give courses in these sciences, arts, and occupa-
tions there in Europe, yet I was always more inclined
and I urged with the higher officials in Rome that I
should come rather to teach the Christian doctrines and
evangelical truths of our holy Catholic faith to these
poor heathen, so much in need, that by us they might be
saved and might help us to praise our most merciful
God through all eternity.
In this belief that California was a peninsula and not
an island I came to these West Indies, and when I ar-
rived at Mexico I was assigned by the Father Pro-
vincial Bernardo Pardo as missionary and royal cos-
mographer455 of California, and, trying to emerge from
the doubts which attended these matters, I changed my
position; first, because I read the account of the Ade-
lantado of New Mexico, Don Juan de Onate, who, set-
ting out from the villa of Santa Fe of New Mexico and
travelling about one hundred leagues to the westward,
453 Pro rutiis de los nuestros.
454 Ferdinand was Elector of Bavaria from 1651 to 1679; Maximilian Em-
manuel from 1679 to 1726.
455 This passage indicates the intelligence with which Kino went about
the task of cosmographer of the California expedition.
334 MEMOIR OF PIMERIA ALTA [Vol.
came to the Moquis, and, as the account says, to the sea,
and this in latitude thirty-seven degrees. Second, be-
cause other accounts by others said the same thing.
Third, because many other maps, and the principal
modern cosmographers of Germany, Flanders, Italy,
and France, etc., said the same, and that California was
an island;456 and I made copies of these very great new
maps from the palace of Mexico, borrowing and taking
them for this purpose to the Colegio Maximo of San
Pedro y San Pablo.457 Fourth, because the many cur-
rents from north to south which I experienced in the
voyages which I made in the Gulf of California were so
continuous and at times so strong that it seemed as if
the sea communicated with that of the north, and in-
clined me to the opinion that California was an island;
and as such I sketched it in some of my maps.
But now already, thanks to His Divine Majesty, with
various expeditions, and three in particular, of one hun-
dred and fifty, one hundred and seventy, and two hundred
leagues, which I have made from here to the north of
Nuestra Sefiora de los Dolores, I have discovered with
all minute certainty and evidence, with mariner's com-
pass and astrolabe in my hands, that California is not an
island but a peninsula, or isthmus, and that in thirty-
two degrees of latitude there is a passage by land to
California, and that only to about that point comes the
456 A Dutch map published in 1624-1625 (Bancroft, North Mexican States,
vol. i, 169); Briggs, map of 1625, and Hondiu's map of 1628 (Richman,
California under Spain and Mexico, 1535-1847, 380) all show California as
an island. D'Aoity's map of 1637 (Bancroft, North Mexican States, vol. i,
176), however, shows that the insular theory was not accepted by all. Har-
ris's map of 1705, based on explorations along the California coast (Ban-
croft, ibid., 196-197) shows California as an island.
457 The church of the Colegio Maximo was dedicated in 1603, and at that
time was the most sumptuous in Mexico (Bancroft, History of Mexico, vol.
iii, 118; Alegre, Historia de la Compania de Jesus en Nueva-Espana, vol.
i, 408).
one] EUSEBIO FRANCISCO KINO, SJ. 335
head of the Sea of California, the large volumed rivers
which in the following chapters will be mentioned
emptying into the head.
CHAPTER II. THE EXPEDITION OF TWO HUNDRED
AND MORE LEAGUES IS UNDERTAKEN WITH FA-
THER RECTOR MANUEL GONZALEZ TO THE QUIQUI-
MAS, FROM THE FIFTH OF FEBRUARY TO THE
MIDDLE OF APRIL, 1702, AND AFTER THE
FIRST NINETY LEAGUES' JOURNEY WE
ARRIVE AT SAN MARCELO DEL
SONOYDAG 458
1702. Having received the desired report of my
preceding expeditions, the father rector of Oposura,
Manuel Gonzalez, who was visitor of these missions of
Cinoloa and Sonora when fifteen years ago these new
spiritual and temporal conquests and the new conver-
sions of this Pimeria, etc., were begun, his Reverence,
who was in poor health, was inspired to come to be an
eye-witness of so many souls, so many rivers, and so
large a country, etc., and, advising the present father
visitor, Antonio Leal, and me, on the thirty-first of Jan-
uary his Reverence came from Oposura and Cumupas
to Nuestra Senora de los Dolores, with his servants, and
with fifty mules, and with other things very useful for
the expedition, which was made as the following daily
account will state.459
FEBRUARY 5, 1702. On the fifth of February we set
out from Nuestra Senora de los Dolores, Father
458 So far as I am aware no other diary of this journey has thus far been
found. Brief accounts are given in Bancroft, North Mexican States, vol. i,
500; Bancroft, Arizona and Neiu Mexico, 359; Ortega, Apostolicos A fanes,
301-309 ("from Kino's letter" Bancroft erroneously remarks) ; Alegre, His-
toria, vol. iii, 134-135; Venegas, Noticia de la California, vol. ii, 105-106.
All come from Kino's Ms. directly or indirectly.
459 Father Ortega's account, the fullest thus far extant, dismisses in thirteen
lines the subject matter of this chapter and the next.
336 MEMOIR OF PIMERIA ALTA [Vol.
Rector Manuel Gonzalez with his equipment, and I
with twelve servants, a few additional loads, and eighty
horses and mules.
6-7. On the sixth we left Nuestra Senora de los
Remedios, and after ten leagues' journey we reached
the neighborhood of the ranch of San Simon y San Ju-
das del Siboda, where there were more than a thousand
cattle and seven droves of mares belonging to the new
conversions, and, arriving early the following day, we
supplied ourselves with meat, fresh and dried.
8. On the eighth, after twelve leagues' journey, we
arrived at Santa Barbara, where another little ranch
was begun for these roads to the land passage to Cali-
fornia Alta.
9. On the ninth we set out for San Ambrosio del
Busanic, the natives having given us three infants to
baptize.
10. On the tenth, on arriving very early at San Am-
brosio, we found more than twenty justices, governors,
and captains from the interior, who, travelling more
than fifty leagues, had come out to meet us and welcome
us. I talked to them in regard to the mysteries of our
holy faith, and in regard to the purpose of our expedi-
tion; and as here also they were keeping for me cattle,
sheep and goats, and some droves of horses, we killed
three beeves for the people460 and for the journey.
11. On the eleventh we set out for San Estanislao
del Ootcam, where we found more than three hundred
souls, most of them from the interior, who also had
come to meet us. They gave us two infants to baptize
and performed for us some friendly dances and enter-
tainments. Father Rector Manuel Gonzales was very
460 I.e., for the natives.
one] EUSEBIO FRANCISCO KINO, SJ. 337
much pleased to see these natives so jovial and so af-
fable, and he pondered not a little on the great pity that
natives so friendly had not, like the others near by, the
necessary missionary fathers whom they requested, for
already they had very good crops of maize, not only for
themselves but also for the Church, and had provided
for us a medium sized earth-covered adobe church, with
its altar, in which with decency we, Father Rector
Manuel Gonzales and I, said mass the day following
Sunday, Septuagesima.
12. On the twelfth we set out for the tank of Santa
Eulalia, day of that Saint, and having taken from San
Estanislao sufficient provisions for the journey along
the coast, I ordered another small ranch begun in Santa
Eulalia, also.
13. On the thirteenth, the day on which was cele-
brated the day of this saint, we set out from the tank of
Santa Eulalia, and, saying the mass of the saint, after
ten leagues' journey we arrived at the tank which
Father Rector Gonzales named Tank of San Vicente.
14. On the fourteenth, passing by the tank and well
of Santa Sabina, after sixteen leagues' journey we ar-
rived at the tanks of San Martin.
15. On the fifteenth we arrived at midday at San
Rafael del Actun. Its natives sent to meet us with
crosses and welcomed us with arches and crosses placed
along the roads, and with all hospitality in the way of
provisions. They gave us two little brothers to baptize,
of whom one was named Manuel and the other Eu-
sebio. Traveling today fourteen leagues, in the after-
noon we arrived at San Marcelo del Sonoydag, being
welcomed with all love by the more than two hundred
natives who were here.
338 MEMOIR OF PIMERIA ALTA [Vol.
CHAPTER III. SETTING OUT FROM SAN MARCELO
DEL SONOYDAG, AFTER MORE THAN SIXTY
LEAGUES' JOURNEY WE ARRIVED AT SAN
DIONISIO AND AT THE VERY LARGE RIO
COLORADO OF THE YUMAS
FEBRUARY 16, 17, 18, 1702. We rested on February
the sixteenth, seventeenth, and eighteenth at the ranch
and rancheria or pueblo and very good post of San
Marcelo, where we killed three fat beeves and a sheep
for the journey, and where we taught the Christian doc-
trine and the prayers every day. They gave us two in-
fants to baptize, and we performed a marriage cere-
mony in facie Ecclesia.i<sx
19. On the nineteenth, Sexagesima Sunday, we went
from San Marcelo to Carrizal.
20. On the twentieth, the friendly natives having
given us three infants and a sick adult to baptize, we set
out, and after about fifteen leagues' journey we arrived
near the tank of La Luna.
21. On the twenty-first, passing near this tank, and
letting the horses drink, we arrived at the plains and
the pastures near Agua Escondida.
22. On the twenty-second we set out directly for the
tank of La Tinaja, and reached it after twelve leagues
of very level and straight road.
23 and 24. On the twenty-third and twenty-fourth
we were detained by a great cloud-burst, which much
increased the stream of that tank, and we saw that it
passed by some very sightly rocks which appeared to be
very fine tanks made by hand and with very great art,
and it seemed to the father rector that this tank with
much reason should be named Aguaje de los Alquives
*G1 "Before the Church."
462 Watering-place of the Tanks.
462
one] EUSEBIO FRANCISCO KINO, SJ. 339
Today and on the two following days we saw to the
westward in the afternoon the comet which was in the
constellation of Aquarius.463
25. On the twenty-fifth, after six leagues' journey,
we arrived at the Rio Grande, or Hila, and at its ran-
cheria of San Pablo of the Yumas, who had provided
for us a little house in which to live and say mass. They
received us with arches and crosses placed on the road;
and the father rector distributed among them almost a
tierce of sugar and other gifts.
26-27. On tne twenty-sixth we set out for the Rio
Colorado. After going four leagues we arrived at the
opening where it may be said California Alta begins,464
because its meridian passes through the middle of the
head of the Sea of California. As a rain-storm again
threatened, we halted near there, and the natives
brought us, from various parts, quantities of very fine
fresh fish and other gifts, today as well as the following
day, when we were detained by the rain.
28. On the twenty-eighth we set out for San Di-
onisio and the confluence of the rivers.
463 According to Galle there were two comets in 1702, the 6rst being visi-
ble in February and March, and in southerly regions only. The second was
discovered on April 20. The former is evidently the one mentioned by Kino
as visible in Arizona. According to Professor R. T. Crawford, no orbit has
been computed for this comet.
464 They were now at the pass through the Gila Range. His assertion
concerning the meridian was essentially correct.
340 MEMOIR OF PIMERIA ALTA [Vol.
CHAPTER IV. SETTING OUT FROM SAN DIONISIO
AND THE CONFLUENCE OF THE RIO COLORADO
AND THE RIO GRANDE, AFTER FIFTY LEAGUES'
JOURNEY TO THE SOUTHWEST WE ARRIVED AT
THE QUIQUIMA AND CUTGANA NATIONS,
AND AT THE MOUTH OF THE
ABOVE-MENTIONED RIVERS 465
March i, 1702. On March first, Ash Wednesday,
having said mass and given ashes to all our servants,
and having viewed deliberately and with great pleasure
the very pleasant confluence of the rivers, Father Rec-
tor Manuel Gonzales said that one might well come
from Mexico to see it on account of its very sightly
groves, its copious and peaceful waters, fertile lands,
etc. We set out for the southwest, or between the south
and the west, a course well-known to be toward Cali-
fornia, and even on this road we found a great number
of affable Yumas, in particular at the great rancheria
of Santa Ysabel.
2. On the second, passing on, and leaving at the
right the rancherias of San Felis and La Presentacion
and the crossing where in the preceding month of No-
vember I had passed the Rio Colorado on a raft, and its
very rich lands, we arrived at the rancheria of San
Rodesindo,466 where many Quiquimas awaited us with
many of their provisions. They gave us in abundance
maize, beans, dried pumpkins, fish, etc., and we in re-
turn gave them some of our trifles and little gifts, teach-
ing them the Word of God and Christian doctrine,
through interpreters, which was very well received.
3. On the third we rested and arranged for the de-
scent to the very disemboguement of these rivers in the
465 At this point Ortega's account becomes fairly full and satisfactory
{Apostolicos A fanes, 301).
466 Ortega does not note that they had now passed the place where Kino
had previously crossed the river.
one] EUSEBIO FRANCISCO KINO, SJ. 341
sea. Many natives came to see us from various parts,
invited by the captain of the Quiquimas and by the cap-
tain of the Cutganes. And because the sick infant,
Thyrso Gonzales, whom I had baptized in the preced-
ing November, was now very well, fine, and fat, his
mother, and very many other mothers also, brought me
their infants and gave them to me, begging me to bap-
tize them too, although I put them off for a better
season. Father Rector Manuel Gonzales with his
great charity gave to these very friendly natives even
his own shirts, white handkerchiefs, generous handfuls
of chocolate, and the shoes which he wore.
Latitude thirty-one and a half degrees. At mid-
day we took the altitude of the sun with the astrolabe,
and found it to be fifty-two degrees, which, adding to it
the six and a half of south declination of that day, made
fifty-eight degrees and a half. The complement of
ninety degrees is thirty-one degrees and a half, and this
was the altitude of the pole or geographical latitude in
which we found ourselves.467
4-5. On the fourth we arrived at the rancherias of
San Casimiro.468 On the fifth we descended to the
bayous of the sea directly to the southward, finding in
all these very many natives, Quiquimas, Cutganes, and
Hogiopas,469 who had come from the west and from the
southwest, great affability and love and affection. We
inquired about various nations, and about various hills,
and about all the rivers of the west, and, besides, about
the very large Rio Colorado which, joined with the Rio
Grande or Rio de Hila, empties into the head of the
467 This is what Kino says. The complement of ninety degree is zero.
He means that the complement of 58 Va", to make 90°, is 3iV2°-
468 Ortega {Apostolicos A fanes, 302) says that on the fourth they
went directly south to San Casimiro, but the diary says that it was on the
fifth that they went directly south.
469 The Cocopas.
342 MEMOIR OF PIMERIA ALTA [Vol.
Sea of California on the west side. Near there also
empty the Rio Azul, which comes from the north, and
the Rio Amarillo, which comes from the northwest, as
the Rio Colorado from the northeast and the Rio
Grande, or Rio de Hila, from the east, as may be seen
in the maps of this treatise.470
5. On the fifth in the afternoon we gave four jus-
tice's staffs, with good teachings, to those who had come
from the west, and they brought us so much fish that we
could no longer accept it.
6. On the sixth we made all possible efforts to cross
the Rio Colorado, but the many bogs hindered our at-
tempt, because it had rained these days.
7. On the seventh Father Rector Manuel Gonzales
descended to the very mouth and to the sea by a west-
ward course, and I, having collected information for us
concerning all these natives of the west, and sent my
messages ahead to those on the other bank of the river,
descended in the afternoon, having been detained by the
continuous messages which they were sending me.471
8. On the eighth more than three hundred souls
from the other bank of the very large volumed Rio
Colorado having come to see us, swimming across,
small and great, with many of their provisions, and
with blue shells from the opposite coast, urged us to
cross over to see their good lands and the rest of their
numerous and amiable people. But, as the illness and
painful flux of the father rector troubled him more and
more each day, we determined not to cross, and con-
soled the natives with good words, saying that, God
willing, we would try to comply with their friendly de-
470 From this passage it is inferred that Kino prepared a map for this
treatise which differs from his published map of 1705.
471 Ortega omits the details of this paragraph.
one] EUSEBIO FRANCISCO KINO, SJ. 343
sires on another occasion, and, sending them away with
various gifts, we returned to San Casimiro.472
9. On the ninth, so much were we moved by the
petitions and desires of the natives on the other bank of
the river, and so great was our desire to cross to see the
Rio Amarillo, and even to cross to the Sea of the West,
or sea of the opposite coast, or South Sea, since some
assured us that it was not more than eight or nine days
distant, and since they brought us some little pots, and
other gifts which before had been brought from the op-
posite coast, I determined to descend another time to
the mouth and with the natives to cross the Rio Colo-
rado, and for this purpose we provided ourselves with
the necessary provisions and with the best horses, etc.
10. On the tenth we descended again473 to the
mouth, taking and joining many dry poles to make a
very great raft on which to cross the very large volumed
and very wide Rio Colorado and Rio Grande de Hila
and Rio Azul, which in the estuary all made a body of
peaceful waters. At this the natives all now greatly
rejoiced, in particular those on the west bank, who
again had come to meet us in large numbers, great and
small. But as his painful flux troubled the father rec-
tor seriously, and as we found very difficult the
crossing of the horses, because of the enormous bogs
on the banks of the very large volumed river, we deter-
mined to defer this crossing for another and more op-
portune occasion, and again we consoled the natives as
best we could, passing the night with them at the estu-
ary, where the open sea came very near to our beds.
This night the father rector's saddle horse was lost, but
472 Ortega does not note the return to San Casimiro, except by implication.
473 Ortega {Apostolicos A fanes, 302) is confused regarding this second
descent to the mouth and Bancroft omits it entirely.
344 MEMOIR OF PIMERIA ALTA [Vol.
the natives found it, tied it up, and gave it grass and a
pot of water, and came to tell us to come for it.
ii. On the eleventh I said the mass of Santa Fran-
cisca Romana. The sun rose over the head of the Sea
of California, proof most evident that we were now in
California; and, besides, we saw most plainly more
than thirty leagues of continuous land to the south, and
as many more to the west, and as many more to the
north, without the least sign of any sea except that
which lay to the eastward of us.
CHAPTER V. HAVING GONE BEYOND AND LEFT
THE SEA OF CALIFORNIA TO THE EASTWARD,
AND HAVING ENTERED ABOUT TWENTY-FIVE
LEAGUES FARTHER THAN IN THE PRECEDING
JOURNEYS474 INLAND, WE TURNED BACK TO
OUR MISSIONS AND THE PROVINCE OF
SONORA; AND AFTER GOING MORE
THAN ONE HUNDRED AND TEN
LEAGUES, WE ARRIVED AT
SAN MARCELO
MARCH 12, 1702. Being on the point of returning
to Sonora, doubt arose as to whether we should return
by the same route which we had taken to go to Cali-
fornia, or by another, a new and straighter road, di-
rectly to the east, in order to come out at San Marcelo
by the great sandy beach, round which it was sixty
leagues; for, although some said that this road could
not be traveled for lack of water and pasturage, we
knew that on that sandy beach the Pimas of San Mar-
celo and the Quiquimas had assembled the year before
when they had made their peace-agreements; and some
persons told us that in that beach there was a canebrake
with sufficient water and pasturage. Therefore, on
March 12 we set out on the new road, but having trav-
elled about eighteen leagues over most difficult sand
474 This statement gives a clue to the place of the crossing made by Kino
in the previous journey.
one] EUSEBIO FRANCISCO KINO, S.J. 345
dunes and with continuous, violent, and most pestif-
erous wind, during the whole day we found neither a
drop of water nor the least bit of pasturage. And al-
though in the afternoon we found some people, they
themselves were going about as if lost and seeking
water, but without finding it; [13, 14] and after passing
a very toilsome night, we found ourselves obliged, with
much more trouble, to return the following day, March
13, to San Casimiro, and to the Colorado River, where
the friendly Quiquima natives relieved us with a re-
freshment of their own provisions, although our relay
was not able to arrive until the next day, March i4.47S
15. On the fifteenth we set out up the river toward
Santa Ysabel and San Dionisio, through which we had
come, and at the camp of Los Sauzes a Coanopa over-
took us with provisions which the Coanopas sent us.
17, 19, 20, 21. On the seventeenth we arrived at San
Pablo of the Yumas; on the eighteenth at the Alquives;
on the nineteenth at the plains of El Agua Escondida;
on the twentieth at the tank of La Luna; and on the
twenty-first at Carrizal. On setting out from the camp,
Father Rector Manuel Gonzales said to me that al-
though it was not well to believe in dreams, he could
not deny that a dream, or what was apparently a dream
which he had had that night, kept him very much con-
soled in the midst of his ills, attacks, pains, and fatigues.
It was that it had been represented to his Reverence
that he and I, although with very much toil yet with
equal joy, were crossing, at the mouth of the Colorado
River, some very extensive and beautiful plains, one of
which was called San Joachin.476
475 Father Francisco Garces in 1771 made his way across the sand
dunes from the Colorado to Sonoita, and so did Lumholtz in 1910 (Bolton,
"The Early Explorations of Father Garces on the Pacific Slope," in The
Pacific Ocean in History, 328; Lumholtz, New Trails in Mexico, chap. 16).
476 This interesting detail is omitted by Ortega and all others.
346 MEMOIR OF PIMERIA ALTA [Vol.
22. On our setting out on the twenty-second from
Carrizal, the natives besought me insistently to baptize
for them two sick women, which I did; and we arrived
at San Marcelo, where we rested. During the three
days we killed three fat beeves and two sheep; and
taught the Christian doctrine, said mass in the new,
neat, and well whitewashed little church or chapel of
Nuestra Senora de Loreto, and did all in our power to
relieve the illness of Father Rector Manuel Gonzales.
CHAPTER VI. LEAVING SAN MARCELO, AFTER
ABOUT SEVENTY LEAGUES' JOURNEY WE AR-
RIVED AT THE NEW PUEBLO OF EL TUBUTAMA
The only grief, though a very deep one, which we
suffered, was that Father Rector Manuel Gonzales,
who, since leaving his college and his mission of Opo-
sura, and even some months before, had been very ill of
flux, was now so debilitated and exhausted from it that
it was necessary henceforth to carry his Reverence on a
litter on the shoulders of the natives. But they did it
with great care and with much charity and love, as if
they all were old Christians, sending through the
stretch of more than seventy leagues of this extensive
coast to search for and bring the most robust natives of
these at times somewhat unpeopled places, until we ar-
rived at San Estanislao, San Ambrosio del Busanic. and
finally at the new pueblo of El Tubutama, where lived
Father Ygnacio de Yturmendi, who, advised of our
coming, with his great charity came in person some
leagues to meet us, bringing some of his children and
some refreshments of provisions, etc., although already
three days before, at the tank of Santa Sabina, Father
Rector Manuel Gonzales had been so debilitated and
so nearly unconscious that, since his Reverence had
one] EUSEBIO FRANCISCO KINO, SJ. 347
asked me, I had had to administer the sacrament to
him, giving him communion as viaticum.
From El Tubutama, and even before reaching there,
we sent promptly to bring from Nuestra Senora de los
Dolores, Cucurpe, the Valle de Sonora, and Oposura,
persons skilled in curing, with all possible remedies for
so painful an illness. But about ten days afterward
His Divine Majesty saw fit to take His great servant,
very fervid worker in the vineyard of the Lord, and
very zealous minister for the greater glory of God and
for the good of souls, to Himself and to the heavenly
rest which he had so deserved by his talents, his works
so heroic, and his learning and his religious truths so
exalted, as other better pens will be able to relate in a
very long letter of edification.477
CHAPTER VII. MANY OTHER THINGS RELATING TO
THIS ABOVE-MENTIONED JOURNEY INLAND CAN
BE DRAWN FROM THE LONG LETTER WHICH I
WROTE TO THE FATHER VISITOR, WITH THE
CERTIFICATION OF THE SEnOR ALCALDE MAY-
OR MADE IN ORDER THAT I MIGHT GO TO
MEXICO. DIVIDED INTO SIX CHAPTERS,478
IT IS AS FOLLOWS
My Father Visitor Antonio Leal, Pax Christi:
I have just arrived in safety, thank God, from the jour-
ney inland to the Quiquimas of California, at this house
of your Reverence and of Our Lady of Sorrows.
And I again thank your Reverence very much for
your last greatly esteemed letter, which I received
477 Bancroft (North Mexican States, 500) says that Father Gonzalez died
at San Ignacio. I do not know where he gets this information. Ortega
{Apostolicos A fanes, 303) implies that he died at Tubutama and Alegre
(Historia, vol. iii, 135) distinctly says so. These pages confirm that view.
478 In all probability it was not so divided originally, but was cut into
chapters for incorporation in this book.
348 MEMOIR OF PIMERIA ALTA [Vol.
on setting out from this district for that journey on
February 5, in the very agreeable company of my
Father Rector Manuel Gonzalez, in which letter your
Reverence said for our great comfort in all things that
this journey inland was going to bring it about, that, by
divine grace, these extensive nations of this mainland
to the northwest, north, and west should all be con-
verted to our holy Faith. May his divine Majesty so
grant it.
On the second of this month of April, on the return
from the journey inland, at San Estanislao del Ootcam,
forty-seven leagues from here, I received a letter from
Father Ygnacio de Yturmendi, written at the pueblo of
El Tubutama, in which his Reverence told me that on
account of its having been rumored as certain that
Father Manuel Gonzales and I and our people had
been drowned in the Rio Grande,479 the masses and suf-
frages, as they are called in our Society, already had
been said for us. But, thanks to his divine Majesty,
without experiencing any dangers of this sort, travelling
safely by these coasts, our way and course being almost
always to the northwest, between north and west, on
March 1 , after a journey of one hundred and sixty leagues
from here, we arrived in time to keep Ash Wednesday
in California, at the confluence of the two large rivers,
the Rio Grande de Hila and the Rio Grande del Colo-
rado. And although in this journey inland we did not
cross these rivers, on account of the bogs and the spring
rains, we descended to their mouth, a journey of more
than forty leagues to the southwest, or between south
and west. And there came to see us, swimming across
the river in different parts, about four thousand very
479 Ortega at this point states that on April 2 Kino wrote to his superior
to dispel those stories, but by hasty reading he confused the letter received
on April 2 with the present one written on April 8 (Apostolicos A fanes, 304).
one] EUSEBIO FRANCISCO KINO, S.J. 349
affable, docile, and friendly Indians -Yumas, Coano
pas, Cutganes, and Quiquimas-with much affection
bringing us of their provisions, consisting of maize,
beans, pumpkins, and fish, in abundance.
And in this journey inland, as in my preceding one
of the past month of November, they received the word
of God with so much appreciation that they gave me
many infants to baptize. Of the two little ones whom I
had baptized in the preceding journey inland, this time
the mother of one, called Thyrso Gonzales, brought him
to me, for, having recovered, he was fat and healthy.
Many other mothers also brought me their children,
asking me to baptize them, but I did not baptize them,
nor many adults who in these journeys after the talks on
Christian doctrine which I made them asked me for
holy baptism; for I told them that instruction was first
necessary. Therefore eight of these adults, among them
the principal men, have now come with me to be in-
structed here during this Holy Week and Easter, some
of them travelling for this purpose more than two hun-
dred leagues.
Although in going and returning he was very ill of
his painful flux and hemorrhoids, Father Rector Man-
uel Gonzales, with the great charity which was charac-
teristic of him gave those poor natives many gifts, and
even a great part of his own clothing and undergar-
ments, etc. When on March 8 his Reverence descended
and arrived first at the estuary, very early in the morn-
ing, at twilight, there came to see his Reverence, swim-
ming across, more than two hundred Indians great and
small, and they soon brought him many of their eatables
as a present, with much friendliness and affection. His
Reverence is convalescing at the pueblo of El Tubu-
tama.
350 MEMOIR OF PIMERIA ALTA [Vol.
From this estuary and in different places we learned
and even saw that there were two other large rivers
which emptied at the head of this Sea of California.
One, which comes from the north, the natives called
Rio Azul, and the other, which comes from the north-
west, they called the Rio Amarillo. Also, we learned
and saw that the very large volumed Colorado River,
a few leagues below its confluence with the Rio Grande
or Rio de Hila, divides again into very large branches,
and with them makes a great island more than fifty
leagues around with very fertile lands and very good
plains.480
In this journey inland we have been very much aided
by the good equipment and the excellent servants which
Father Rector Manuel Gonzales took, by the capable
guides and interpreters, Pimas and Yumas, and also by
the various ranches of cattle, sheep, goats, and horses
which we have found in various parts of this district,
in particular at San Marcelo del Sonoydag, ninety
leagues from here, where, going and returning, we
killed eight of the more than one hundred head of fat
beeves which they are caring for, with plantings and
crops of wheat and maize, and with their little white-
washed adobe church of Nuestra Senora de Loreto,
whence it will be easy to send on more cattle, sheep,
goats, and horses to California, for the natives are so
loyal that, some of our horses having been lost and hav-
ing remained on the Rio Grande on the preceding jour-
ney inland, I have now found them, because they had
480 Ortega includes this information about Rio Azul and Rio Amarillo,
but Bancroft omits it. Ortega concludes that the Azul and the Amarillo
must join the Colorado, instead of flowing into the Gulf, since between the
Yaqui and the Colorado on the one side and San Lucas and the Colorado
on the other no large river enters the Gulf {Apostolicos A fanes, 304).
one] EUSEBIO FRANCISCO KINO, S.J. 351
caught and taken care of them for me with all affec-
tion.481
CHAPTER VIII. COGENT REASONS AND CLEAR AR-
GUMENTS WHICH ESTABLISH THE CERTAINTY
OF THE LAND PASSAGE TO CALIFORNIA
In case there should be some incredulous persons or
someone ignorant of it, the continuity of these lands
with California would be rendered certain and proved
by the seven following convincing reasons or argu-
ments:
1 st. Because thus I saw it on October 9, 1698, from
the neighboring high mountain of Santa Clara.482 And
again in March of the past year, 1701, we saw this con-
nection and passage by land to California, in the com-
pany of Father Rector Juan Maria de Salvatierra, for
his Reverence came with ten soldiers and other persons
to see this demonstrated, since some had contradicted
us.483
2d. Because in four other journeys inland which I
have made, travelling fifty leagues to the northwest of
481 Ortega is puzzled by the conflict of evidence as to whether the Rio
Azul is a branch of the Gila or of the Colorado. He thinks it certain that
the Rio Amarillo flows into the Colorado and not into the Gulf. It is not
clear to him why Kino should say that the Colorado entered the Gulf at
3^/2°, since in his journey with Salvatierra they were in the sand-dunes at
32V20 and were still thirty leagues from the mouth of the Colorado, and since
Consag found the Colorado mouth at 330. He can not understand how Kino
reached the Colorado mouth by going west (on his last day's journey) since
he had elsewhere said that it flowed south into the Gulf. It is difficult to
understand how Kino saw the sun rise over thirty leagues of sea, when the
Gulf runs north and south, and is not thirty leagues wide. He is puzzled
to know why Kino did not mention the islands discovered by Consag, and
suggests that they may have been formed by the Colorado in the ensuing
forty-five years. He remarks that explorers usually record their results too
briefly, and take too little time to make proper observations {Apostolicos
A fanes, 305-307)-
482 See ante page 187.
483 See ante, pages 282-283.
352 MEMOIR OF PIMERIA ALTA [Vol.
the said hill of Santa Clara, which is near to and to the
eastward of the arm and head of the Sea of California,
and afterwards in going ten leagues484 more to the west-
ward, along the Rio Grande, to where it unites with the
Colorado River, and from this confluence forty leagues
more to the southwest, along the same Colorado River
to its mouth, no Sea of California has been found or
seen, for it does not rise higher than barely to the lati-
tude of thirty-two degrees. Hence it is plainly to be
inferred that Drake, besides many other modern cos-
mographers, in their various printed maps, with notable
discredit to cosmography, deceive themselves as well as
others, by extending this sea, or arm, or strait of the
Sea of California from thirty-two to forty-six degrees,
making it thereby an island, and the largest in the
world, whereas it is not an island but a peninsula.
3d. Because in this journey inland when I was say-
ing mass on March 1 1 485 at the above-mentioned mouth
of the Colorado River, in company with Father Rector
Manuel Gonzales, the sun rose above more than thirty
leagues of sea, at the head of this Californian arm or
gulf. At the same time, from the same estuary we saw-
to the westward thirty leagues more of continuous land,
as many more to the south and southwest, and many
more to the north, northwest, and northeast. There-
fore, this sea does not extend to the north.
4th. Because the natives nearest to that estuary, Qui-
quimas as well as Cutganes and Coanopas, both this
time and on other occasions, gave us various blue shells
which are found only on the opposite coast and on the
other, or South Sea, where the ship from China comes.
And they gave us this time some little pots which short-
484 This gives a clue to the distance of San Pedro from the junction.
485 See ante, page 344.
one] EUSEBIO FRANCISCO KINO, S.J. 353
ly before they had brought from that opposite coast,
travelling ten leagues486 from the west by continuous
land.
5th. Because these natives and others who came to
see us from far to the southwest gave us various reports
of the fathers of our Company, telling us that they wore
our costumes and vestments, and that they lived down
there to the southward with the other Spaniards at Lo-
reto Concho, where the Guimies and Edues, or Lai-
mones Indians obtained their food, and where Father
Rector Juan Maria de Salvatierra and others were.
And I having purposely asked them if those Guimies
and Edues Indians down there planted maize, and
what foods they lived on, they answered us that they
did not plant maize nor beans, etc., but that their food
was game, the deer, the hare, the mountain goat, the
pitajaya, the tuna, the mescal, and other wild fruits,
and that the Indians to the westward had blue shells,
all being things and reports which it was plain to me
were true, since I was there and lived with those In-
dians seventeen years ago.
6th. Because now in this journey inland and on
other occasions I have found various things -little trees,
fruit, incense, etc. -all species which are peculiar to
California alone, and samples of which I bring, to cele-
brate with the incense, by the favor of heaven, this
Easter and Holy Week, and to place five good grains
of incense in the Paschal candle. Moreover, near this
estuary we already have found some words of the
Guimia language which I learned there, while mission-
ary and rector of that mission of California, although
unworthy, in the two trienniums of Fathers Provincial
486 This clearly should be ten days instead of ten leagues, as is made clear
by the entry for March 9.
354 MEMOIR OF PIMERIA ALTA [Vol.
Bernardo Pardo and Luys del Canto, from the year
1 68 1 tothatof 1685.487
7th. Because the ancient maps with good reason
showed California as a peninsula and not as an island,
as well as some modern ones, among them the universal
map of my Father master of mathematics in the Uni-
versity of Ingolstadt, which is in my possession. He
dedicated it to our Father San Ygnacio and to San
Francisco Xavier, with this inscription: de Universo
Terrarum Orbe Opime Meritis.488
And if some hostile and obstinate persons should
maintain that some Quiquima Indians say that farther
west the sea still extends to the northwest, these Qui-
quimas speak of the other sea, on the opposite coast,
and not of this our Sea of California, of which, as some
call it Red Sea, we may say, because we have found this
passage, Aparuit terra arida, et in Mart Rubra via
sine inpedimento48* as says the Church on August 8,
on the day of the saints who have the Gospel : Euntes in
mundum universum. Predicate Evangelium omni
creaturce.490
487 See ante, pages 37-38, 106.
488 <<To the well deserving of the whole world." This reference is to
Aygentler's map.
489 "Dry land appeared, and in the Red Sea a way without hindrance"
(Wisdom, xix, 7). A literal quotation except for collocation. The original
is Terra arida aparuit.
49° "Go ye into all the world and preach the Gospel unto every creature"
(Mark, xvi, 15).
one] EUSEBIO FRANCISCO KINO, S.J. 355
CHAPTER IX. LETTERS FROM IMPORTANT PERSON-
AGES IN REGARD TO THESE NEW CONVERSIONS,
WHICH I RECEIVED ON MY RETURN FROM
THIS JOURNEY INLAND
And just as in regard to all this, that most welcome
letter of Your Reverence has been a very great consola-
tion to me, likewise very refreshing and inspiring are
various holy letters which yesterday, day of Our Lady
of Sorrows, and the day before yesterday, I found and
received at the pueblo of San Ygnacio. Two are from
our father general, Thyrso Gonzales, two others
from Father Provincial Francisco de Arteaga, others
from other prominent fathers in Mexico, and others from
other zealous fathers who, with their apostolic zeal, de-
sired to come to these new spiritual and temporal con-
quests and conversions. One letter from our father
general, dated May 15 of the past year 1701, begins
with these words:
With great comfort to myself I have read a letter of your
Reverence, dated March 17, in which you tell me of the condi-
tion of those missions, and how gloriously the laborers of his
divine Majesty are working in them. May He fill them with
consolation and spiritual gifts. Already, on other occasions, I
have charged the Father Provincial, and I now charge him
anew, to watch over those missions with all care, sending work-
ers to carry on that which has been begun with so great fervor
and success, etc.
The second letter from our father general ends with
these words:
My Father, your Reverence is working there as an apostle,
and since upon the works of such our Lord has vouchsafed His
holy benediction, may His Majesty continue it for His own
great glory, for the good of His souls, for our own consolation,
and as a great crown for your Reverence, whom God pre-
serve many years.
356 MEMOIR OF PIMERIA ALTA [Vol.
The father provincial, Francisco de Arteaga, on the
twenty-seventh of last September writes :
I have received your Reverence's letter in which you inform
me of the new journey inland in company with the Father
Rector Juan Maria de Salvatierra, and I have rejoiced in what
you have discovered, thanking your Reverence for the work, all
of which has been effected by your good zeal; and I hope that
by means of it that Pimeria will at once assume the state and
condition which I have so much desired, for it will contribute
to the welfare of those poor souls, and to the credit of our
Company as well, because those missions, once established, will
become the support of California.
In the second letter, dated November 20, and in his
own hand, his Reverence speaks thus:
For the sake of the consolation which your Reverence will
receive, I inform you that the Father Procurator, Bernardo
Rolandegui, advises me that the king our Lord, may God pre-
serve him, has granted six thousand pesos for California,491 and
that more shall be granted when it is needed. May the Lord
increase it, and give your Reverence good health and strength,
in order that all those missions may be promoted as I desire.
The father secretary, Pedro Ygnacio de Loyola, on
September 27 writes thus:
Fortunate your Reverence that you have such a field in which
to exercise your holy zeal ; and if perchance our Lord continue
for us over here the desiderare,492 we do not consider him un-
der obligations for the posse,493 for gladly I shall deprive my-
self of such happiness if God shall be better served in those
lands by others than by me.
Father Rector Ambrosio Oddon, on October 9 writes
that with a land route to California the easier com-
491 Early in 1702 three royal cedulas favoring California arrived in New
Spain. Two, addressed to the Audiencia and the Bishop of Guadalajara,
ordered the California missions encouraged by all means. The third, to the
viceroy-archbishop, Juan de Ortega Montafiez, ordered six thousand pesos a
year given to the California missions, a report made on California, and that,
if possible, two alms destined for the mainland be transferred to California
(Alegre, Historia, vol. iii, 133).
492 "To desire."
493 "To be able." •
one] EUSEBIO FRANCISCO KINO, S.J. 357
munication will be a great convenience and will carry
with it still greater advantages, especially when our
Lord shall dispose that the intervening nations shall
be reduced.
All of which, my most beloved father visitor, An-
tonio Leal, I place at your Reverence's holy considera-
tion, in order that with your paternal holy zeal you
may aid us in securing help for so many souls and for
so many nations, in particular because, thanks be to the
Lord, there are already in this Pimeria some temporal
means very conducive to this end, as your Reverence
saw in your journey inland, although now there is much
more.
CHAPTER X. TEMPORAL MEANS FOR THESE NEW
CONVERSIONS AND FOR THE TOTAL REDUCTION
OF THIS NORTH AMERICA, WHICH HITH-
ERTO HAS BEEN UNKNOWN
I. First, there are already many cattle, sheep and
goats, and horses; for, although in the past year I have
given more than seven hundred cattle to the four fath-
ers who entered this Pimeria,404 I have for the other
new conversions and missions which by the favor of
heaven it may be desired to establish, more than three
thousand five hundred more cattle; and some of them
are already far inland, ninety leagues from here,495 and
by the divine grace they can pass with ease to the Cali-
fornias, Upper and Lower, as a certain important per-
son is pleased to name them, the latter being in twenty-
six and the former in thirty and more degrees of lati-
tude.
II. There are in this very fertile and rich Pimeria,
which already has five missions with five fathers,
494 See the four mentioned, ante, page 303.
405 Those at Sonoita, for example.
358 MEMOIR OF PIMERIA ALTA [Vol.
many fields of wheat, maize, beans, etc. ; and it produces
all sorts of vegetables, garden products, and fruit trees,
as in Europe. There are already vines for Castilian
wine for the missions, a watermill, pack trains, fields,
oxen, lands, level roads, beautiful rivers, abundant pas-
turage, good timbers for buildings, and mineral lands.
III. Of these new nations almost all are composed
of industrious, docile, affable, and very friendly In-
dians; and only in some remote parts are there some
Indians somewhat more barbarous and uncivilized, be-
cause of never having seen civilized people in all their
lives.
IV. The temperature of these lands, which extend
from thirty degrees of latitude to thirty-one, thirty-two,
thirty-three, thirty-four, etc., is similar to that of Mex-
ico and the better part of Europe, without excessive
heat or excessive cold.
V. With these means and with these new conver-
sions it will be possible to trade by sea and land with
other near-by and remote provinces, nations, and king-
doms, with Sonora, Hyaqui, Cinaloa, Culiacan, with
all New Galicia, with New Biscay, with Moqui, with
New Mexico, which will be able to come to join hands
with these provinces of Sonora, and even with New
France.
CHAPTER XI. ADVANTAGES WHICH MAY RESULT
FROM THESE NEW CONVERSIONS TO THE BEN-
EFIT OF ALL THIS UNKNOWN NORTH AMERICA
I. First, with these new conversions the Catholic
dominion of the royal crown of our very Catholic mon-
arch Philip V, God preserve him, and our holy Roman
Catholic Faith, will be extended.
II. Very extensive new lands, nations, rivers, seas,
and people of this North America which hitherto have
been unknown will be discovered and won; and, be-
one] EUSEBIO FRANCISCO KINO, S.J. 359
sides, thereby these Christian provinces will be more
protected, safer, and more quiet.
III. Thereby will be removed the great errors and
falsehoods imposed upon us by those who have delin-
eated this North America with feigned things which
do not exist, such as a crowned king whom they carried
on a golden litter; a lake of quicksilver, and another
of gold; a walled city with towers, etc.; the Kingdom
of Axa; the pearls, amber, and corals of the Rio del
Tizon, the Rio del Coral, and the Rio de Aganguchi,
which they represent as emptying into this sea of Cali-
fornia in thirty-five or thirty-six degrees, although this
sea does not extend to that latitude; likewise the error
of the Seven Cities, which some represent. Although at
present they do not exist, ten years ago we saw some great
houses at different places near the Rio Grande, whose
structures, now fallen, indicate that they did exist a long
time ago; and it is very possible that from them issued
the people of Monte Suma, when they went to found
the great City of Mexico.
IV. Since Father Mariano reprehends with reason
those feigned grandeurs and riches, in particular when
they wish to attribute them to the account of the Ade-
lantado of New Mexico, Don Juan de Ofiate,496 we
shall be able to make drawings and true cosmographic
maps of all these new lands and nations, of this passage
by land to California, as well as of the very large vol-
umed, fertile, and very populous rivers which empty
into the head of this sea, and of the harbors and bays
of the opposite coast and Sea of the South, of Gran
Quivira, of Gran Teguayo, and of the neighboring
496 See Zarate Salmeron's account of the Ofiate expedition, in Bolton, Span-
ish Exploration in the Southwest, 1542-1706, 208-280. This account Zarate
based on the diary of Francisco de Escobar, which contains fabulous tales
which Zarate refrained from repeating. Of the still unpublished Escobar diary
I have a copy.
360 MEMOIR OF PIMERIA ALTA [Vol.
Apacheria, Moqui, etc. And as your Reverence, in
the journey inland made two years ago with Senor
Lieutenant Juan Mateo Manje, Father Francisco Gon-
zalvo, and me, which in going and returning was more
than two hundred leagues, found these Pima nations,
with some Opas and Cocomaricopas, already reduced
to our friendship, so now the Yumas, Coanopas, Cut-
ganes, Quiquimas, and many others to the north, north-
west, and west are reduced, in this terra flrma as well
as in the neighboring California Alta; all of which
lands combined are as large as all of Europe, and of the
same climate and temperature.
Moreover, by the north, northeast, and east, can be
found a road to Europe shorter by half than the one
which we now use by way of Mexico and Vera Cruz;
as also by the northwest and west one shall be able to
go in time by land even very near to Japan, Great
China, and Tartary; for the Strait of Anian, which
authors place with such a variety of opinions, probably
has no more foundation in fact than had this arm of the
sea with which for us they incorrectly delineated Cali-
fornia as an island. That route to Japan and Great
China can be found by way of Cape Mendozino, and
by the land of Yesso,497 and by the land which they
call Tierra de la Compania, which by divine grace,
with apostolic missionaries can become Land of the
Company of Jesus.
497 From the middle of the seventeenth century a body of land lying north
of Japan was known as Yeco, Yezo, or Jeso Land. In 1643 an expedition
of the Dutch East India Company sailed past Jeso and discovered two of the
Kuril Islands. One of these, designated as Company Land, was believed to
be a part of the American coast. In regard to these lands there was much
confusion for a century. After this, as a result of two expeditions sent out
by Russia, "Alaska takes the place of Terra de Jeso on the maps; Company
Land, State Island, and Gama Land are three of the Kuril Islands, but on
some charts they still retain their old names" (Golder, Russian Expansion on
the Pacific, 1641-1850, 130-131).
one] EUSEBIO FRANCISCO KINO, S.J. 361
V. The China ship can have a port of call, as you
have so much desired, on the opposite coast of Cali-
fornia, where the many sick with scurvy which it is
accustomed to bring will find relief. And it can have
trade, very profitable for all, with the provinces of this
Kingdom of New Biscay, for they told me seventeen
years ago when I sailed in the Chinese ship from Matan-
chel to Acapulco that for a sheep they gladly gave an
ivory tusk or a piece of China linen, which is usually
forty varas long and which it is the custom to sell for a
dollar a vara, because of the heavy freight charges en-
tailed in carrying it by land from Mexico to these
provinces of Sonora. And almost the same is true with
respect to the other goods of this very rich Philippine
galleon.
VI. We shall comply with what so Christianlike
and so earnestly is charged upon us by the very Catholic
cedula of May [i]4, 1686, which the Royal Audiencia
of Guadalajara gave me, inserted in a royal provision,
when I was passing through that city on my return
from California and coming to these new conversions.
In that royal cedula his royal Majesty commands that
with respect to the most essential point of the new con-
versions effort shall be made to make all haste possible
as in a matter of chief concern to his royal Majesty, and
a matter of conscience to him, just as to those of us who
live nearest, and that the necessary expenses be not
spared, because his royal Majesty recognizes that for
all that is spent in those causes, so merciful, our Lord
always returns to his royal crown very abundant and
well known increase,498 which are the words of the royal
cedula. And, indeed, we very plainly see that at the
very same time that his royal Majesty, Don Carlos II,
498 The cedula is printed in this work, ante, page 108.
362 MEMOIR OF PIMERIA ALTA [Vol.
God preserve him, incurred the very great expense of
the three ships for the conversion of California through
Admiral Don Ysidro de Atondo y Antillon, there were
discovered very near to and opposite said conquest and
conversion the great riches and mines of the mining
camps which are commonly called Los Frayles, Ala-
mos, and Guadalupe;499 and the day of our Lady of
Sorrows, day before yesterday, when I received the
news of the six thousand pesos which his royal Majesty
Philip V, God preserve him, gave to the new conver-
sions of California, they gave me certain news of the
treasure and rich mines which have just been discov-
ered near here at Quisuani,500 Aygame, San Cosme, etc.,
and very near to the new conversion or mission of San
Francisco Xavier of the Pimas Cocomacaques of Pi-
meria Baxa.
VII. In this way even with very great good fortune
and profit to ourselves, by divine grace, we will bring
it about that, so many souls being converted, fiat unus
pastor, et unum ovile,501 and that all will help us to
praise our most merciful God through all the blessed
Eternity. All of which I commend very affectionately
to the holy sacrifices and to the paternal, holy protec-
tion of your Reverence, whose life may our Lord pre-
serve as I desire. Nuestra Senora de los Dolores, April
8, 1702. Your Reverence's humble servant and subject.
Eusebio Francisco Kino.
And because some persons were of the opinion that it
would be expedient that I should accompany this long
letter with some certificate of the royal justice and that
I should go to Mexico, the following was given me.
499 These places are south of the Mayo River, near latitude 27°.
500 That Quisuani was attracting attention is evidenced by the fact that
Manje, now alcalde mayor, was there at this time, as is shown on page 363,
post.
501 "And let there be one shepherd and one fold" (Compare John, x, 16:
et fiet unum ovile, et unus pastor).
one] EUSEBIO FRANCISCO KINO, SJ. 363
CHAPTER XII. CERTIFICATE OF THE SEfrOR AL-
CALDE MAYOR OF THIS PROVINCE, JUAN MATEO
MANJE, IN REGARD TO THE LETTER AND REPORT
OF FOUR SHEETS TO THE FATHER VISITOR,
ANTONIO LEAL; AND IN REGARD TO THE
JOURNEY INLAND AND THE LAND
ROUTE TO CALIFORNIA
"In this mining camp of Nuestra Senora del Socorro
de Quisuani, on the fifteenth day of the month of May,
1702, I, Captain Juan Matheo Manxe, alcalde mayor
and captain in war in this province of Sonora and its
jurisdictions for his Majesty, certify and attest in so far
as I ought and is in my power, and so far as there is
authority in law, that the relation in the letter and the
above signature are those of the Reverend Father Eu-
zevio Francisco Kino, of the Company of Jesus, first
minister and missionary of the pueblo of Nuestra Se-
nora de los Dolores of the Pima nation, whom I have
known for nine years in this region, for I have accom-
panied him on various explorations and journeys inland
which I have made with his Reverence, travelling in
each of them more than two hundred or three hundred
leagues, which together make the aggregate of three
thousand one hundred leagues which I have travelled
with his Reverence in these explorations, as more fully
appears in the daily itineraries and relations which the
Father, on his part, as well as I have made. In this
work, on some occasions I bore the commission of dep-
uty alcalde mayor and captain in war, and on others
that of commander of some soldiers and citizens, the
former being some of those in charge of Don Domingo
Jironsa Petris de Crusate, and the citizens going at the
cost and maintenance of the said Father.
"And I know as an eye-witness that he has brought
about the progress in the reduction to obedience to his
364 MEMOIR OF PIMERIA ALTA [Vol.
Majesty of the said Pima nation, which is composed
of more than sixteen thousand persons, enumerated by
my hand, settled on very good rich rivers and fertile
lands of arable soil, where there have been newly found-
ed four missions, besides the first one, whose lands bor-
der on the arm of the Sea of California, which I have
reached and seen at three distinct places, in various alti-
tudes of the north pole. In that of twenty-eight de-
grees I have seen and accurately observed with mathe-
matical instruments that the said arm is not more than
twenty-six leagues wide, and at the latitude of thirty-
two degrees only twenty leagues wide, while in that of
thirty-one degrees,501" where I saw it the last time, it has
only the inconsiderable width of twelve leagues. These
measurements and observations testify that the farther
one follows the said arm of the sea to the northwest,
the narrower it becomes. And in order to find out if
it ended higher up to the northwest, the said Father
Euzevio Fransisco Kino set out on the journey inland
to which reference is made; and his Reverence in-
formed me with candor that he was at the head of the
said arm of the sea and saw that the land of Pimeria
joined with California, asserting confidently that it is a
peninsula. As to his Reverence's statement to the ef-
fect that he is a founder of ranches of cattle, sheep and
goats, and horses, I am an eye-witness to the fact, from
having seen them. As to the rest, in regard to the
riches and the crowned king and the other things with
which he concluded, I have not witnessed them and
therefore cannot certify to them here with the verisim-
ilitude which the case requires; but I do assert confi-
dently that the relation is by a zealous minister to whom
entire credit has been given, as I stated above. And in
5°1(* Evidently the latitudes are interchanged here through some error.
one] EUSEBIO FRANCISCO KINO, S.J. 365
order that it may receive the credence which it de-
serves, I have given the present on petition of the said
reverend father, officiating as receiving judge, with the
assisting witnesses, there being no public or royal no-
tary. It is written on common paper, for stamped
paper is not in fashion here, paper being furnished by
the ordinary justice of the mines and provinces. Attest.
Juan Matheo Manje."
"Witnesses : JOSEPH HORTEGAS CHUMAZERO.
Nicolas de la Torre."
chapter xiii. other letters from different
persons in regard to this journey inland
and to the land route to california
Many persons, especially those well disposed to these
new spiritual and temporal conquests and conversions,
wrote of the great satisfaction which they had received
from the reports of this long journey inland, and their
very sympathetic letters were very edifying, being so
zealous in the service of God and the King; while oth-
ers less well disposed emphasized their doubts and ob-
jected that still, perhaps, there might be this or that
difficulty.
The Senor alcalde mayor, and Generals Don Jacinto
de Fuen Saldana and Juan Fernandez de la Fuente,
and others, soon manifested very clearly their very
good and Catholic zeal. The father visitor, Antonio
Leal, on April 15 wrote me the following:
I received one letter from your Reverence, but the others
which your Reverence mentions have not come. It was re-
ceived with pleasure as great as my depression had been before
its arrival because of the bad news which had been current to
the effect that your Reverence had been drowned, in conse-
quence of which I had already said the masses. May God
preserve your Reverence for us many years. I greatly rejoice
that certainty in regard to the mainland has now been estab-
366 MEMOIR OF PIMERIA ALTA [Vol.
lished, as your Reverence writes, although this impediment of
the river is very considerable.
It is a busy day, and there is time only to give your Rev-
erence Easter greetings. May you spend it happily.
Thus far the father visitor. The father rector of
Matape, Marcos Antonio Kappus, wrote me the same,
that is, that his Reverence had chanted requiem masses
for Father Rector Manuel Gonzales and me, because
of the rumor which had been current that we with all
our people had been killed. Father Rector Juan Maria
de Salvatierra, although the long relation of this jour-
ney inland which I sent to his Reverence was lost, wrote
me two very tender and sympathetic letters in regard
to the matter. The first, dated September 21, was in
these words:
Your Reverence's letter dated April 17 I received on June
22, after having passed two months of great hunger, altogether
lacking bread and tortillas, and being reduced to lean meat, be-
cause of the drought, as a consequence of which I am very
thin. The launch San Xavier, for now no other boat is left to
us, was absent, so that I could not answer your Reverence's
letter. But God consoled us in the midst of our toils, for
the launch having arrived, since coming with the southwest
winds from Hyaqui she was able to make this bay, landed at
La Concepcion, and the last time she put in there seeking
water the Indians searched out for them a river which empties
into the sea and which is next to the bay, in the point between
it and Las Virgenes. They entered the river with the sea
canoe, secured their water supply, and returned with the good
news, which we did not believe could be true, because no river
had been found since Cortes entered. God grant that we may
go there, though it is impossible at present, because there is no
vessel, and no news of Father Francisco Maria Picolo, except
that by the end of May he had collected nothing.
If the father does not arrive within the next twenty days
we shall look for him no longer, as we have only the little
launch, which for five years has not been thoroughly careened.
one] EUSEBIO FRANCISCO KINO, S.J. 367
In such distress as we are in, for our necessities are extreme,
your Reverence can understand the gratitude we feel toward
you for the constancy which you manifest in aiding us, and
God will recompense your Reverence therefor. We have also
been engaged in a troublesome war in the direction of the moun-
tains,502 but it now appears that matters are being righted. I
appreciate very much also the flour with which your Reverence
has aided us; and I say salva nos, perimus?03 for this time we
are perishing in very truth, especially since we have lost the
great benefactor, Father Manuel Gonzales, whose death is
glorious and to be much envied by the sons of the Company.
Since his death none but your Reverence remains, and so again
I say perimus.50* May the will of God be done in everything;
and accept, your Reverence, warm greetings from Father Juan
de Ugarte. With this I close, commending myself to your holy
prayers and holy sacrifices. September 21, 1702. Your Rev-
erence's servant in Christ.
Juan Maria de Salvatierra.
His Reverence adds the following:
I dispatch this on the nineteenth of October, and still we know
nothing of Father Francisco Maria Piccolo, having received
no consignment of supplies, and being utterly at sea. Live
Jesus! live Mary! It is more than a year since I have seen the
handwriting of the father visitor of Sonora, and I do not know
why, unless the letters are lost; nor have I received the rela-
tion which your Reverence mentions, though I desire it, as I
rejoice in the compendious reports of your glorious toils in that
last journey inland.
Thus far Father Rector Juan Maria in his letter of
this year. Soon I shall insert the one which his Rever-
ence wrote me the following year, touching the contin-
uance of these journeys inland until we should meet
in California. But as in the autumn of this year and
502 This rebellion in California is described by Alegre, Historia, vol. iii,
133.
503 "Save us; we perish" (Compare Matthew, viii, 25; Domine, salva
nos ; perimus !)
504 «we perish."
368 MEMOIR OF PIMERIA ALTA [Vol.
the following spring my journeys inland were prevent-
ed, I applied myself here to the building of two good
churches in my second and third pueblos, Nuestra Se-
nora de los Remedios and Cocospera, both of which
were finished happily, thank God, and were dedicated
in the middle of January, 1704, as shall be related in the
proper place. The zealous, holy letter of Father Rec-
tor Juan Maria de Salvatierra dated March 3, 1703, to
the effect that because the disputed passage was and is so
certain that no opposition should be made thereto, al-
though God orders what is for the best, is as follows:
I received your Reverence's letter, accompanied by the map
of the discovery of the landlocked strait, which has been so much
disputed that I have been no little depressed. But all things
for the glory of God have begun thus. Hence there is no rea-
son to be discouraged, but rather to try well to arrange with the
superiors for another journey, by which this truth shall be ascer-
tained, this time with evidence. Your Reverence has already
gone far, in order now, once for all, to remove this doubt from
everybody. But you have still to plan for the rest, and all
the means and proper arrangements to go provided with flour,
maize, pinole, and all the other little regalements which you
know to be conducive to success, in order to succeed once for
all with God's work, and not be compelled to return only to
argue more and more. Finally, your Reverence sees how im-
portant it is that you consult in regard to the necessary means
with some person informed relative to the matter of taking or
not some armed men, so as to be able to stay with them one or
two months at a place where the animals may recuperate,
without fear that the Indians will make way with the food.
This done, the host of new map makers will be silenced, but
they are not going to be silenced until they are completely done
for.
I very much appreciate your Reverence's charity in aiding
us, especially in such abundance, in sending the ten loaded
mules to Hyaqui, a distance so great that you shame me,
seeing how much you do for these your missions, while I am so
one] EUSEBIO FRANCISCO KINO, SJ. 369
useless that I can serve you in nothing except molestations and
burdens. Accept, your Reverence, hearty greetings from all
the fathers, grateful for your Reverence's goods and for your
great charity, by means of which they will eat good bread. May
God recompense your Reverence for it a thousand and mil-
lions of times. With this I close, commending myself to your
prayers and holy sacrifices. Loreto Concho, March 3, 1703.
Your Reverence's servant in Christ.505
Juan Maria de Salvatierra.
As I did not bring it about with this letter, either,
that I should be permitted to go to continue a discovery
so much desired, because it was said that I should be
needed in my districts, etc., I continued with more ap-
plication and with all care in the building of my two
churches; and God willed that many natives should
come from distant lands and nations to see me.
505 Ortega alludes to this letter in discussing Kino's work, on page 306
of the Apostolicos Afanes.
BOOK V. THE COMING OF INDIANS FROM
REMOTE PARTS WITH MESSAGES FROM
VERY DISTANT NATIONS BORDERING ON
CALIFORNIA ALTA AND LIVING ON
THE LAND ROUTE TO IT, ALL OF
WHOM ASK FOR FATHERS AND HOLY
BAPTISM. EFFORTS ARE MADE
TO GO TO MEXICO TO SOLICIT
THE COMING OF THE NEC-
ESSARY FATHERS
CHAPTER I. THE GOVERNOR OF SAN MARCELO DEL
SONOYDAG, WITH OTHER JUSTICES, COMES NINE-
TY LEAGUES' JOURNEY TO NUESTRA SEnORA
DE LOS DOLORES TO SOLICIT FATHERS
AND HOLY BAPTISM FOR HIS PIMA
PEOPLE AND FOR THE YUMA AND
QUIQUIMA NATIONS
With the last journey inland, made in the past months
of February, March, and April, of which I wrote in
Book IV, preceding, the nations through whom Father
Rector Manual Gonzales and I passed remained very
well disposed to our holy faith, for they recognized
that our long journeys were for the eternal salvation of
all those people, especially as they knew that one fath-
er had given up his life,506 and that the Quiquimas of
California Alta, as well as the Yumas and others, had
sent various messengers and runners with crosses sixty,
seventy, and one hundred and more leagues to San
506 The reference is to the death of Father Gonzalez on his return from
the Colorado River.
EUSEBIO FRANCISCO KINO, S.J. 371
Marcelo del Sonoydag to ask the governor of that
incipient pueblo to come to Nuestra Senora de los Do-
lores to seek fathers and holy baptism. Therefore, in
August of this year, 1702, the governor of San Marcelo,
with other justices and other heathen, came with some
crosses to Nuestra Senora de los Dolores; and all asked
me for the necessary fathers and holy baptism for them-
selves, for the Yuma and Quiquima nations, and for
the others near-by. And when I said to the governor
and the rest that it would be well for them to go to the
Valley of Sonora to ask Father Visitor Antonio Leal for
that great boon for their souls and those of the other
nations, and that I would furnish them guides, inter-
preters, and a letter to his Reverence, they insinuated
to me that they would be glad if I could go with them.
Thereupon, leaving other tasks, I set out with those
poor souls,507 and in three days we arrived at the pueblo
of Guepaca,508 after having passed through the valley
and pueblo of the Real de Opodepe. Here one of the
heathen in our following fell seriously ill, whereupon,
catechising him, I baptized him and named him An-
tonio, in the charitable house of Sefior Lieutenant An-
tonio Fernandez Villanueva y Ron. Arriving at the
Valley of Sonora and its pueblo of Guepaca, we were
welcomed with all kindness by the father visitor, An-
tonio Leal; and when the poor natives gave his Rever-
ence the crosses and the messages of the very distant
Yumas and Quiquimas, he comforted the poor Indians,
saying that with all haste possible he would try to secure
for them the fathers necessary for the eternal salvation
of those who were asking it. With this consolation and
507 Ortega summarizes this passage (Apostolicos A fanes, 308-309).
508 Huepaca (Guepaca) is on the Rio de Sonora about thirty miles south
of Arizpe.
372 MEMOIR OF PIMERIA ALTA [Vol.
with good hopes, we returned to Nuestra Senora de los
Dolores; and the governor and the other justices re-
turned to San Marzelo, sending the favorable responses
to the Yumas and the Quiquimas.
CHAPTER II. HAPPY DEATH OF A RECENTLY
BAPTIZED INDIAN
Having returned from the Valley of Sonora to this
pueblo of Nuestra Senora de los Dolores by another and
somewhat shorter road, we learned that Antonio, he
who had recently been sick and baptized, had died in
Opodepe. I wrote the news of his death and of our
arrival to the father visitor, and his Reverence, on Sep-
tember 5, wrote me the following letter:
I have felt great pleasure at seeing how our Lord has repaid
at once the steps which the deceased Antonio took for the salva-
tion of his people and himself, which I trust in God he has at-
tained to and secured. I judge that it will be necessary to
report it to the people of his nation, so that they will not sup-
pose that we have detained him or that he has been killed, etc.
I gave this news not only to the neighboring but also
to distant people, and to the relatives of the deceased,
informing them in regard to the great blessing which
one who before dying becomes a Christian by means of
holy baptism receives. And not only did no one grieve
at his death, but it was a comfort to them; and always
with more anxiety the natives of this country of the
northwest as well as the others in various other parts
have asked and continue to ask for the blessing of eter-
nal salvation for their souls, and for their bodies as
well, for by means of holy baptism in due time they can
obtain a glorious resurrection, never afterwards having
to fear death, or to have any other illness, or toil, or
misfortune.
one] EUSEBIO FRANCISCO KINO, S.J. 373
CHAPTER III. OF TWO OTHER JOURNEYS INLAND
WHICH I MADE TO THE WEST AND NORTH,
LOOKING TO THE SPIRITUAL AND TEMPO-
RAL WELFARE OF THE POOR NATIVES 509
It had been some time since I had seen the children
of the west and of the Soba nation, or the Sovaipuris
of the north and of San Xavier del Bac; therefore I
went in to work on the two churches of San Ambrocio
del Busanic and Santa Gertrudes del Saric,510 and began
the large church of La Consepsion del Caborca, to the
westward, and to look after its cattle, crops, and har-
vests of wheat and maize which they were tending for
the fathers whom they hoped to receive. Also I went
in as far as San Marzelo, whence, by the captain of
El Comae, I sent wheat to sow at the Colorado River
and in the Yuma and Quiquima nations, grain and seed
which had never been seen or known there, to see if it
would yield there as well as in those other fertile new
lands; and it did yield and does yield very well. Af-
terwards I began also the very large church of San
Xavier del Bac, among the Sovaipuris, distant about
sixty leagues to the north of Nuestra Senora de los
Dolores. And in all places there was a very rich and
plentiful harvest of souls, so ripe that I as well as some
other persons, zealous for the advancement of these new
conquests and conversions, were of the opinion that it
would be well if I should go to Mexico to try to secure
the fathers so necessary for the salvation of so many
souls.
On my return from these my peregrinations, I gave
an account of them to the father visitor, Antonio Leal,
509 This chapter is summarized by Ortega in Apostolicos A fanes, 309.
510 Mis-printed as "Sayre" by Ortega, ibid., 309.
374 MEMOIR OF PIMERIA ALTA [Vol.
and on November 3 his Reverence wrote me the follow-
ing:
I thank your Reverence heartily for the great work which
you are doing for the welfare of those poor souls. God will
repay it. For the reports of supplies, crops, churches, sick
people, etc., for everything, your Reverence will receive your
reward in heaven. And I thank you also for the greetings of
the children, and beg your Reverence that when you have an
opportunity you will return them.
CHAPTER IV. LETTERS FROM THE FATHER VISI-
TOR AND FROM THE SEftOR ALCALDE MAYOR
IN REGARD TO THE STATE OF THIS PIMERIA
The father visitor, Antonio Leal, in his letter to
which I have just referred, continues with these words :
Regarding your going to Mexico at this time, your Rever-
ence will see that it will be better to await the coming of the
new government, which must soon be here, for in the natural
course of events it can be delayed but little longer, even though
it or news of it do not come in the mail boat, but in the
store ships instead. Moreover, fathers having been asked, as I
have asked them, of the father provincial, we shall see in the
first letters that come what his Reverence replies, although the
difficulty will be in the matter of the alms. But I have no
doubt that, with the reports, your Reverence will secure them,
because talking face to face with the Senor viceroy is very dif-
ferent from writing. But the government, or news of it, can
be very little delayed. As to the children who wish to come
hither, your Reverence will please deter the poor people from
coming so far, telling them that you have already written to me,
that I thank them for their good aspirations, but that they must
wait a little, and that God will console them, bringing fathers,
etc.
In another letter which his Reverence wrote me three
weeks later, he concludes with these words:
Please do me the favor, your Reverence, to commend me to
Captain Coro (whose Christian name was and is Antonio
Leal), and to all the natives who have come from the interior
one] EUSEBIO FRANCISCO KINO, SJ. 375
and are there, consoling them with the hope which I entertain
that God will aid them with fathers. And I pray Him to
keep your Reverence for me, etc.
The Senor alcalde mayor of the province of Sonora,
Juan Mateo Manje, who had been lieutenant of this
Pimeria, wrote me, almost at the same time as the fa-
ther visitor, as follows:
I note from the last letter the good state of Pimeria, and the
docility of the natives. For this I congratulate myself, because
of the interest and the part which I have had in the mainte-
nance of that Pimeria, and because the ardent desires of your
Reverence and myself are being fulfilled, and because of the
pacification, which is due very largely to your great merit.
And may God our Lord grant that in the future we may all
succeed in a purpose directed to the welfare of those natives
and to their eternal salvation, and that Infernal Chaos may be
thwarted in his diabolical plans, and in the hindrances which
he brings in his train ; and may he go to dwell in the caverns
of hell.
Thus far the very Catholic Senor alcalde mayor.
CHAPTER V. THERE IS DISCUSSION OF MY GOING
TO MEXICO TO OBTAIN AND BRING FATHERS FOR
THESE HARVESTS OF SOULS, SO EXTENSIVE AND
SO RIPE, IN THIS PIMERIA AND IN OTHER
NEIGHBORING NATIONS
The great lack of missionary fathers in these new
conversions caused me and many other persons to con-
sider whether I should go to Mexico to secure and
bring the necessary fathers, especially because certain
hopes had been current that in this autumn the pro-
curators, Father Rolandegui and Father Veia, who had
gone to Rome,511 would arrive and that they would
bring from Europe a numerous mission of zealous fa-
ther workers. I reported this to the father visitor, An-
511 It was these men who carried part I of Kino's Favores Celestiales to
Rome. See ante, page 227.
376 MEMOIR OF PIMERIA ALTA [Vol.
tonio Leal, by word of mouth and in writing, and soon
his Reverence and many others became thoroughly con-
vinced that I should go to Mexico.
And after having thanked me by word of mouth in
Guepaca for my good intention, his Reverence wrote
me a long letter, that I might show it to the new father
visitor, of the new government, which was expected
very soon, containing very strong arguments with which
he demonstrated how very expedient it was that I should
go to Mexico to speak face to face with the father pro-
vincial and the Senor viceroy, in order to obtain and
bring the fathers and workers necessary for so ripe a
harvest of so many souls that very anxiously were ask-
ing holy baptism, in this extensive Pimeria as well as
in the surrounding nations, especially since his royal
Majesty had already granted eight alms for eight fa-
thers and eight missions in this Pimeria. Many other
persons also considered it very important that I should
go to Mexico for the above-stated end of obtaining and
bringing missionary fathers. Nevertheless, I did not
go to Mexico for the reasons which the next chapter
will tell.
CHAPTER VI. MANY OTHERS, AND I ALSO, WERE OF
THE OPINION, PARTICULARLY BECAUSE NEITHER
THE NEW GOVERNMENT NOR THE MISSION OF
EUROPEAN FATHERS HAD ARRIVED, THAT MY
GOING TO MEXICO WAS NOT NECESSARY
Since the very notorious and injurious wars of all
Europe prevented the usual vessels of the Spanish fleet
from coming on time to this New Spain, neither could
the new government of our Company come on time, nor
the father procurators who had gone to Rome, nor the
mission of missionary fathers which already had been
granted and equipped in Seville. Consequently we
one] EUSEBIO FRANCISCO KINO, S.J. 377
changed our minds about my going to Mexico,512 and I
tried to continue to advance things here as much as
possible, in these three pueblos which I had under my
charge, as well as in the other new pueblos farther in,
to the north, northwest, and west, which were being
prosperously founded. And in particular I tried to
accomplish another long journey inland of more than
three hundred, or about three hundred and twenty-five
leagues, until by land I should reach Loreto Concho,
where lived the reverend fathers of California, Father
Juan Maria Salvatierra, and the rest of the gentlemen,
soldiers and citizens, etc. This all involved going one
hundred and sixty leagues northwest to the Yumas and
the Rio Grande, one hundred 513 more west to the Colora-
do River, and forty or fifty more southwest to the mouth
of the said Colorado River and to the Quiquimas, as
has been done in the past months with Father Rector
Manuel Gonzales, and afterwards down that part of the
way which alone remained, about one hundred and twen-
ty-five leagues to the southwest, now on California soil
and west of the Sea of the said California. This would
have been a very easy task, and commerce by land with
California would have been established, together with
the conversion of many souls ; but the heaven-appointed
time must not have arrived, for my going, or expedi-
tion, or journey by land to California, Upper and Low-
er, was prevented, and I therefore tried to apply myself
to other ministries and functions, likewise of our insti-
tute.
512 Ortega's explanation of Kino's not going to Mexico is based on this
passage: "Mas la consideration de hallarse en guerra Europa, suspendidas
las Flotas, y detenidas las Missiones, hizo juzgar, que este viaje no podria
producir el deseado efecto, y que quizd la ausencia del Padre ocasionaria
mayor es danos y atrassos" {Apostolicos, A fanes, 309).
513 Evidently a mis-copy for 10. In the Ms. the distances here are all
given in Arabic numerals.
378 MEMOIR OF PIMERIA ALTA [Vol.
CHAPTER VII. THE BUILDING OF TWO GOOD SPA-
CIOUS CHURCHES IN THE SECOND AND THIRD
PUEBLOS OF MY ADMINISTRATION IN
THIS PIMERIA
Because my going to Mexico, as well as to California,
had been prevented, I applied myself to building with
all possible efficacy and speed, so as to have this work
more advanced, the two churches on which small be-
ginnings had been made during the first five years of
my entrance upon these new conversions, in my second
and third pueblos of Nuestra Senora de los Dolores.
And when the father visitor, Antonio Leal, saw this
church of Nuestra Senora de los Dolores, he said it was
one of the best that he had seen in all the missions.
Nevertheless, the other new ones which I undertook in
the following months turned out even better, for they
have transepts, etc. And in a little more than a year
they were finished and were dedicated in the same week,
in the middle of January, 1704, as shall be stated in its
proper place.514 After having commended all things
to his divine Majesty and to our great patron of the
new conversions, the glorious apostle of the Indies,
San Francisco Xavier, besides Jesus and Mary most
holy, with their celestial favors, which, though un-
worthy, I am writing, I tried to have in the three pue-
blos of my administration (which are first, Nuestra
Senora de Los Dolores, second, Nuestra Senora de los
Remedios, and third, Santiago de Cocospora) sufficient
provisions of maize, wheat, cattle, and clothing, or shop
goods, such as cloth, sack cloth, blankets, and other
fabrics, which are the currency that best serves in these
new lands for the laborers, master carpenters, consta-
bles, military commanders, captains, and fiscals.
514 See volume ii, page 81.
one] EUSEBIO FRANCISCO KINO, S.J. 379
In these months and the following I ordered the
necessary wood cut for the pine framework, sills, floor-
ing, etc. I went to the interior and brought more than
seven hundred dollars' worth of clothing, tools and
heavy ware and from other places I obtained more
than three thousand dollars' worth, which shortly and
with ease were paid for with the goods, provisions, and
cattle of the three rich districts. I invited some men
from the frontier515 for the work on these buildings,
and there came far and away more than I had asked
for; and very especially, for entire months, the many
inhabitants of the great new pueblo of San Francisco
Xavier del Bac, which is sixty leagues distant to the
north, worked and built on the three pueblos of this
place and of my administration. In this way many
adobes were made in the two pueblos of Nuestra Se-
nora de los Remedios and Santiago de Cocospora; and
high and strong walls were made for two large and
good churches, with their two spacious chapels, which
form transepts, with good and pleasing arches. The
timbers were brought from the neighboring mountains
and pineries, and the two good buildings were roofed,
and provided with cupolas, small lanterns, etc. I man-
aged almost all the year to go nearly every week
through the three pueblos, looking after both spiritual
and temporal things, and the rebuilding of the two
above-mentioned new churches.
515 He means Indians from the frontier.
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