THE OLD SANTA FE TRAIL by COLONEL HENRY INMAN (best fiction novels of all time .TXT) 📕

Humane And Treated the Indians Kindly, In contradistinction To

De Soto, Who Was The Most Inhuman Of All The Early Spanish Explorers.

Introduction

He Was Of The Same School As Pizarro And Cortez; Possessing Their

Daring Valour, Their Contempt Of Danger, And Their Tenacity Of Purpose,

As Well As Their Cruelty And Avarice.  De Soto Made Treaties With

The Indians Which He Constantly Violated, And Murdered the Misguided

Creatures Without Mercy.  During The Retreat Of Moscoso'S Weakened

Command Down The Arkansas River, The Hot Springs Of Arkansas

Were Discovered.  His Historian Writes:

 

 

 

          And When They Saw The Foaming Fountain, They Thought

          It Was The Long-Searched-For "Fountain Of Youth," Reported

          By Fame To Exist Somewhere In the Country, But Ten Of The

          Soldiers Dying From Excessive Drinking, They Were Soon

          Convinced of Their Error.

 

 

 

After These Intrepid Explorers The Restless Coronado Appears On

The Old Trail.  In the Third Volume Of Hakluyt'S _Voyages_, Published

In London, 1600, Coronado'S Historian Thus Describes The Great Plains

Of Kansas And Colorado, The Bison, And A Tornado:--

 

 

 

          From Cicuye They Went To Quivira, Which After Their Account

          Is Almost Three Hundred leagues Distant, Through Mighty

          Plains, And Sandy Heaths So Smooth And Wearisome, And Bare

          Of Wood That They Made Heaps Of Ox-Dung, For Want Of Stones

          And Trees, That They Might Not Lose Themselves At Their

          Return: For Three Horses Were Lost On That Plain, And One

          Spaniard Which Went From His Company On Hunting. . . .

          All That Way Of Plains Are As Full Of Crooked-Back Oxen As

          The Mountain Serrena In spain Is Of Sheep, But There Is

          No Such People As Keep Those Cattle. . . .  They Were A

          Great Succour For The Hunger And The Want Of Bread, Which

          Our Party Stood In need of. . . .

 

 

 

          One Day It Rained in that Plain A Great Shower Of Hail,

          As Big As Oranges, Which Caused many Tears, Weakness

          And Bowes.

 

 

 

          These Oxen Are Of The Bigness And Colour Of Our Bulls,

          But Their Bones Are Not So Great.  They Have A Great Bunch

          Upon Their Fore-Shoulder, And More Hair On Their Fore Part

          Than On Their Hinder Part, And It Is Like Wool.  They Have

          As It Were An Horse-Mane Upon Their Backbone, And Much Hair

          And Very Long From Their Knees Downward.  They Have Great

          Tufts Of Hair Hanging Down On Their Foreheads, And It

          Seemeth They Have Beards Because Of The Great Store Of Hair

          Hanging Down At Their Chins And Throats.

Introduction

The Males Have

          Very Long Tails, And A Great Knob Or Flock At The End,

          So That In some Respects They Resemble The Lion, And In some

          Other The Camel.  They Push With Their Horns, They Run,

          They Overtake And Kill An Horse When They Are In their

          Rage And Anger.  Finally It Is A Foul And Fierce Beast Of

          Countenance And Form Of Body.  The Horses Fled from Them,

          Either Because Of Their Deformed shape, Or Else Because

          They Had Never Before Seen Them.

 

 

 

"The Number," Continues The Historian, "Was Incredible."  When The

Soldiers, In their Excitement For The Chase, Began To Kill Them,

They Rushed together In such Masses That Hundreds Were Literally

Crushed to Death.  At One Place There Was A Great Ravine; They Jumped

Into It In their Efforts To Escape From The Hunters, And So Terrible

Was The Slaughter As They Tumbled over The Precipice That The

Depression Was Completely Filled up, Their Carcasses Forming a Bridge,

Over Which The Remainder Passed with Ease.

 

 

 

The Next Recorded expedition Across The Plains Via The Old Trail

Was Also By The Spaniards From Santa Fe, Eastwardly, In the Year 1716,

"For The Purpose Of Establishing a Military Post In the Upper

Mississippi Valley As A Barrier To The Further Encroachments Of

The French In that Direction."  An Account Of This Expedition Is Found

In _Memoires Historiques Sur La Louisiane_, Published in paris In 1858,

But Never Translated in its Entirety.  The Author, Lieutenant Dumont

Of The French Army, Was One Of A Party Ascending The Arkansas River

In Search Of A Supposed mass Of Emeralds.  The Narrative Relates:

          There Was More Than Half A League To Traverse To Gain The

          Other Bank Of The River, And Our People Were No Sooner

          Arrived than They Found There A Party Of Missouris, Sent To

          M. De La Harpe By M. De Bienville, Then Commandant General

          At Louisiana, To Deliver Orders To The Former.  Consequently

          They Gave The Signal Order, And Our Other Two Canoes Having

          Crossed the River, The Savages Gave To Our Commandant The

          Letters Of M. De Bienville, In which He Informed him That

          The Spaniards Had Sent Out A Detachment From New Mexico

          To Go To The Missouris And To Establish A Post In that

          Country. . . .  The Success Of This Expedition Was Very

          Calamitous To The Spaniards.  Their Caravan Was Composed of

          Fifteen Hundred people, Men, Women And Soldiers, Having

          With Them A Jacobin For A Chaplain, And Bringing also A

          Great Number Of Horses And Cattle, According To The Custom

          Of That Nation To Forget Nothing That Might Be Necessary For

          A Settlement.  Their Design Was To Destroy The Missouris,

          And To Seize Upon Their Country, And With This Intention

          They Had Resolved to Go First To The Osages, A Neighbouring

          Nation, Enemies Of The Missouris, To Form An Alliance With

          Them, And To Engage Them In their Behalf For The Execution

          Of Their Plan. 

Introduction

Perhaps The Map Which Guided them Was Not

          Correct, Or They Had Not Exactly Followed it, For It Chanced

          That Instead Of Going To The Osages Whom They Sought, They

          Fell, Without Knowing It, Into A Village Of The Missouris,

          Where The Spanish Commander, Presenting Himself To The Great

          Chief And Offering Him The Calumet, Made Him Understand

          Through An Interpreter, Believing Himself To Be Speaking

          To The Osage Chief, That They Were Enemies Of The Missouris,

          That They Had Come To Destroy Them, To Make Their Women

          And Children Slaves And To Take Possession Of Their Country.

          He Begged the Chief To Be Willing To Form An Alliance

          With Them, Against A Nation Whom The Osages Regarded as

          Their Enemy, And To Second Them In this Enterprise, Promising

          To Recompense Them Liberally For The Service Rendered,

          And Always To Be Their Friend In the Future.  Upon This

          Discourse The Missouri Chief Understood Perfectly Well

          The Mistake.  He Dissimulated and Thanked the Spaniard For

          The Confidence He Had In his Nation; He Consented to Form

          An Alliance With Them Against The Missouris, And To Join

          Them With All His Forces To Destroy Them; But He Represented

          That His People Were Not Armed, And That They Dared not

          Expose Themselves Without Arms In such An Enterprise.

          Deceived by So Favourable A Reception, The Spaniards Fell

          Into The Trap Laid For Them.  They Received with Due

          Ceremony, In the Little Camp They Had Formed on Their

          Arrival, The Calumet Which The Great Chief Of The Missouris

          Presented to The Spanish Commander.  The Alliance For War

          Was Sworn To By Both Parties; They Agreed upon A Day For

          The Execution Of The Plan Which They Meditated, And The

          Spaniards Furnished the Savages With All The Munitions Which

          They Thought Were Needed.  After The Ceremony Both Parties

          Gave Themselves Up Equally To Joy And Good Cheer.  At The

          End Of Three Days Two Thousand Savages Were Armed and In

          The Midst Of Dances And Amusements; Each Party Thought

          Nothing But The Execution Of Its Design.  It Was The Evening

          Before Their Departure Upon Their Concerted expedition,

          And The Spaniards Had Retired to Their Camps As Usual,

          When The Great Chief Of The Missouris, Having assembled

          His Warriors, Declared to Them His Intentions And Exhorted

          Them To Deal Treacherously With These Strangers Who Were Come

          To Their Home Only With The Design Of Destroying Them.

          At Daybreak The Savages Divided into Several Bands, Fell On

          The Spaniards, Who Expected nothing Of The Kind, And In

          Less Than A Quarter Of An Hour All The Caravan Were Murdered.

          No One Escaped from The Massacre Except The Chaplain, Whom

          The Barbarians Saved because Of His Dress; At The Same Time

          They Took Possession Of All The Merchandise And Other

          Effects Which They Found In their Camp.  The Spaniards Had

          Brought With Them, As I Have Said, A Certain Number Of Horses,

          And As The Savages Were Ignorant Of The Use Of These Animals,

          They Took Pleasure In making The Jacobin Whom They Had Saved,

          And Who Had Become Their Slave, Mount Them.  The Priest Gave

          Them This Amusement Almost Every Day For The Five Or Six

          Months That He Remained with Them In their Village, Without

          Any Of Them Daring To Imitate Him.

Introduction

.  Tired at Last Of His

          Slavery, And Regarding The Lack Of Daring In these Barbarians

          As A Means Of Providence To Regain His Liberty, He Made

          Secretly All The Provisions Possible For Him To Make,

          And Which He Believed necessary To His Plan.  At Last,

          Having Chosen The Best Horse And Having Mounted him,

          After Performing Several Of His Exploits Before The Savages,

          And While They Were All Occupied with His Manoeuvres,

          He Spurred up And