The Quarterly of the Texas State Historical Association, Volume 10, July 1906 - April, 1907 Page: 270
ix, 354 p. : ill. ; 23 cm.View a full description of this periodical.
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270
Texas Historical Association Quarterly.
quiver in Sevilla; that the water came first to the knee, then to
the thigh, and for the length of some two lances, to the breast.
"without any danger." Whether the Frio, along here, will answer
to this, I can not say. Mr. Alexander Deussen, of the University
of Texas, who has been indefatigably patient in aiding me in
these studies, calls attention to the statement of Professor Robert
T. Hill in the Eighteenth Report of the United States 'Geological
Survey, page 208, in which occurs the following concerning the
Frio River, rather inland:-
"It is almost impossible for the traveler who has seen the con-
tinuation of this stream in the dry region of the Rio Grande Plain
to recognize in it the beautiful flowing river now before him. For-
ests of ash, pecan and elm fill the valley, while gigantic cypresses
border the water. If he should chance upon one of those water
holes, without having traced the continuity of the stream course,
he would believe that he stood upon the banks of a large and con-
tinuously flowing river. He would soon find, however, that after
flowing a short distance, the water would disappear, either by dis-
appearance into the bed of the gravel-filled stream-way or through
fissures in the solid underbed. These running water holes are con-
stant, and do not depend upon the local rains, but are supplied
by perennial springs draining the rocks underlying the plateau."
It seems quite probable that near such holes large villages would
be located, and that over one of these the Spaniards passed, feeling
very naturally that they had crossed a large stream with a "swift
current"; and since the bed is "gravel-filled" we may realize the
significance of Oviedo's phrase "without danger," as there was no
danger of miring. We can see, therefore, how the Frio might fill
all the conditions.
It was at the hundred ranchos just beyond this river that they
first found the rattles made of gourds, which latter the Indians
said floated down the rivers in time of floods.1 Cabeza is indefinite
about the time from here to the place where they first saw moun-
tains. Since he says that at the hundred ranchos they brought
them the next morning "every living soul of that village to be
touched by us and to have the cross made over them," and then
adds that "The next day we went on," we may infer a day's rest1Cabeza, 129.
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Texas State Historical Association. The Quarterly of the Texas State Historical Association, Volume 10, July 1906 - April, 1907, periodical, 1907; Austin, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth101040/m1/298/: accessed April 26, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Texas State Historical Association.