The Quarterly of the Texas State Historical Association, Volume 3, July 1899 - April, 1900 Page: 135
294 p. : ill., maps ; 23 cm.View a full description of this periodical.
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Route of Cabeza de Vaca.
135
brought them."' So there were at least two rivers there, and the
junction of the Rio Grande and Rio Salado, near the town of Car-
rizo, meets this description. The Salado and its affluents drain
nearly one-half of the state of Coahuila and a considerable portion
of Nuevo Leon and Tamaulipas, in many of the valleys of which
territory the Indians had these gourds when the Spaniards first
came among them. The Mexicans used them as canteens as late
as 1850, and still use them in some places.
Another coincidence there is the general abundance of mesquite,
bearing the beans from which the flour Cabeza mentions was made;
and all round on both sides of the rivers are still to be found the
mortars or holes in the rocks in which they were ground.
The description of the route of Cabeza and his companions from
the prickly pear range, where the reference stake E was set to the
Aguapoquita Creek and to the ranch of Concepcion, and thence
across the prairie to Charcos, is sufficiently plain; and from there
to the one hundred houses, where they got the mezquite flour, em-
braces all the time they spent with the Avavares, in the most dense
jungles and prickly pear thickets, where the thorns to refresh
Cabeza's memory not only made him think of the crown of thorns
worn by his Savior, but so impressed him that he did not forget
them when writing to the Emperor Charles V.
The place of one hundred houses, where he got the mesquite flour,
was the last before crossing the river. It was, perhaps, at the place
called Charco del Tule, or el Tule, and must have been known to
Cabeza in his peddling days, as it is within four leagues of both the
flint rocks and the beds of red ocher. And it is less than five leagues
from the Jamaica crossing, which suits the description given by
Cabeza, and will now be assumed to be where he crossed the river.
So let a reference stake marked F be set on the left margin of the
Bravo here at this Jamaica crossing, to designate the place where
Cabeza and his comrades crossed in the early part of 1536.62
As the count of the months spent with the Avavares was by
moons, and anxiety to reach a land of Christians may have made
each moon seem two, no certain day for the crossing of the Bravo
6eNaufragios, Cap. XXVII.
6s The mouth of Beletio is three miles above Jamaica crossing. The
flint rock is a mile above there. The ochre is there in several places, both
red and yellow.
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Texas State Historical Association. The Quarterly of the Texas State Historical Association, Volume 3, July 1899 - April, 1900, periodical, 1900; Austin, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth101015/m1/143/: accessed April 19, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Texas State Historical Association.