The Quarterly of the Texas State Historical Association, Volume 3, July 1899 - April, 1900 Page: 235
294 p. : ill., maps ; 23 cm.View a full description of this periodical.
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Route of Cabeza de Vaca.
syllable was ,spelled tzi, zi, si, and ci, but in each instance the name
was used to designate the buffalo. Solis called the buffalo bull found
in Moctezuma's garden, "el Torro Mexicano" (the Mexican bull), but
describes it so it cannot be mistaken. ,So this name vacas or cibolos
always means the same wild cows, when applied to the animals, they
having been at a place so named, or a tribe so named having some
connection with them; as when Cabeza de Vaca called the people of
a town "los de las Vacas," or when the earliest priests called a tribe
Zibolos, or when Fray Fuentes called the animals cibolos, in speak-
ing of the game eaten by the Chichimecas.
'The name ,of the tribe Zibolos is slo written in Mota Pa.dilla's His-
tory, as well as in volume XXXI., folio 208, of the Archivo General
de la Nacion at Mexico, .and Prieto calls the buffalo skins "pielas de
sibolos," while 'Tello, in speaking of Fray Niza's imaginary cities,
writes it Tzibolo. In 1,750 Jos6 Vasquez Borrego still called them
vacas, but cibolo was used by Fray Fuentes in his manuscript of
1792, and he is followed by most of those writing the name at a later
date. And in the Diccionario Castellano, cibolo is defined "toro de
Mejico 6 mejicano," following Solis.
Now when either of these names is used by a Spanish writer we
understand the buffalo is meant, and confusion is avoided.
It seems the buffalo herds retired northward as the Spanish settle-
ments encroached upon their range, and finally they have become
almost extinct. Indeed, it is said the only wild herds known to exist
are about forty head in Sierra del Carmen in the northern part of
Coahuila and about the same number in Lost Park, Colorado, the
latter being protected by law from destruction by hunters.12
Prieto tells of the Spaniards going on from Nuevo Leon into the
department of Coahuila to trade with the Indians, exchanging cotton
and woolen textures flor sldns of sibolos, deer, and other animals, of
which they killed a great many ;'~ this being before the foundation
of NMonclova and probably before Martin Zavala's appointment as
governor in 1625, but over eighty years after Cabeza de Vaca passed
through the country, Jos6 Vasquez Borrego complains of the officers
in command of places in Coahulia in 1750 arming their soldiers with
'"This information as to the latter herd was given by C. E. Tillotson, of
M~Hanitou, Col.
"$Historia, etc., p. 81.235
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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/m1/248/: accessed May 5, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Texas State Historical Association.