Diary of Francisco Garcés
Exploratory Expedition, 1774
Note. The source used for the Spanish transcription of Garcés' 1774 diary did not include his entries for May, June, and July.
Saturday, May 21, 1774 -- In this pueblo I remained the 21st of May in company with a servant of the señor commander, who invited himself to stay. My purpose was to go to the Niforas Indians who have the red hematite with which most of these tribes paint themselves, a reason why they maintain friendship with them. I was not able to carry out my plan by a direct road, for the Opas and Pimas are at war with other Niforas near to themselves. But they advised me that I should go to Agua Caliente, whose Indians perhaps would carry the letter. And so I did, returning on the 22d and 23d of May by way of the same Opas as far as El Aricurittoac, and on the 24th as far as a village distant from Agua Caliente about a league and a half.
Here they raised insuperable objections to my going to the Niforas Indians. They said especially that it was impossible to go with the horse which I had because I would be so closely watched, but they persuaded me to give them the letter which I wished to send to the fathers of New Mexico, in order that it might be carried by two Jalchedunes Indians of the Colorado. I talked with these Jalchedunes and in the conversation, through the misunderstanding of the Pima interpreter, they said that there was a father on the Colorado River, who I thought might be some deserter from among soldiers of Monte Rey. They said that they were friendly with the Niforas and with the people of the Moqui. And since, on the other hand, these two Jalchedunes manifested great affection for me, and since for a long time I had wished to go to their lands, I decided to go in their company, leaving the servant of the señor commander in charge of the Pimas, because he would serve me rather as a burden than as an advantage, he being so timid and pusillanimous, and since I was carrying nothing to eat, for we went, indeed, trusting almost to providence.
This Spaniard and a little Indian whom the Yumas had given me started back with all felicity and well supplied by the Indians, and I on the 24th of May from the same place, which must be in the latitude 33° 15' more or less, set out at noon to the west-northwest, and traveled until eight o'clock at night, covering five leagues. In the first league I saw large patches of pasture.
Wednesday, May 25, 1774 -- On the 25th we started at half past four in the morning. Going in the same direction, at half past eleven I arrived at the sierra which I called San Venancio, having traveled six leagues. In order to get water at this place, which is in very large tinajas, it is necessary to labor to carry it to the place which can be reached by the animals. In the afternoon I traveled three leagues and a half in the same direction and halted in a cañada which is in sight of another sierra in a valley.
Thursday, May 26, 1774 -- On the 26th we set forth at half past four in the morning, and after traveling four and a half leagues in the same direction we arrived at a tank which is in a large sierra that runs to the west and which I called San Phelipe. This sierra has plentiful pasturage, although it is not near the watering place.
Friday, May 27, 1774 -- On the 27th we set forth at half past six in the morning, traveled two leagues to the west and northwest, and arrived at some wells called Espíritu Santo. Before reaching the place we passed near a cliff which looks like a castle, and saw another having the shape of a bell with some graceful carvings, and this is not the bell which we saw at the Yumas. After midday we set forth and traveled west and northwest until eleven o'clock at night, covering seven leagues. On the way there is pasturage but a complete lack of water. At a distance of two leagues and a half, when the sierra ends, one can see the Peñol Gigante of the Yumas rising in the south.
Saturday, May 28, 1774 -- On the 28th I set forth at four o'clock in the morning, and, traveling northwest, with some short turns to the west, I arrived at eleven o'clock in the forenoon at the beaches and the groves of the Colorado, halting at a very long and narrow lagoon where there were many huts of the Jalchedunes, who assembled in very joyful mood.
I have not made mention of the pleasure and willingness with which the two Jalchedunes served me on the way and the attention with which they cared for me, giving me of what they carried for their sustenance and saving the water so that I might not lack, the patience with which they beat the horse in order to hurry him up, and the care with which they made stops in order that I might eat. However, I believe that all this will be kept in mind by His Divine Majesty, and will cause Him to show His mercy with these people.
This day's march was seven leagues toward a sierra called San Hermenegildo. On the same day in the afternoon I traveled two leagues west-southwest-southwest to the house of the Indian chief, where assembled many Jalchedunes who lived down the river. The groves and beaches enter far to the southwest, and so it appears that these beaches are situated to the north-northeast of San Sebastían. Indeed, it may be true that even the Indians who sell it the corals or cuentas are not more than four days distant, although this is to be understood as referring to those of the Santa Anna River and others near to them. What is certain is that, keeping the Sierras Nevadas immediately at the left, they will guide travelers directly to the missions near Monte Rey, and that the branch which separates from the Colorado or some of those large rivers which come out to the coasts of Monte Rey may also be of much aid for such transit. I say this because, although there are sierras near the Colorado River, yet they are not of the greatest size and they have openings of great width.
Sunday, May 29, 1774 -- On the 29th, starting at three o'clock in the afternoon and going north, I traveled two and a half leagues, and having passed a lagoon I halted at some ranchos which I called Santa Coleta. Those downstream and the other lagoon I called La Santísima Trinidad.
Monday, May 30, 1774 -- On the 30th I went out to the Colorado River, going a league and a half to the north. Afterward, going another league and a half to the northwest and west, I came to the famous fields and villages of San Antonio, which appeared to me the best favored for a mission of all that I have seen on the Colorado River.
Tuesday, May 31, 1774 -- On the 31st I traveled two leagues to the northeast, coming out to a dry lagoon where they were cutting and trampling a grain called equiesa, admirable for making atole and bread. Some people may laugh at these expressions, but if they had lived during recent years at Monte Rey they would know that they are the strict truth. The same day, traveling four leagues north-northwest, I arrived at the Lagunas de Santa Petronila, where there were a few Jalchedunes and four Yabipais or Niforas, who in dress, language, features, and other circumstances are Apaches, although they are hostile to them, according to what was said by the Pimas, who make it appear that the Moquis and Siurs are also enemies of the Apaches.
As soon as they saw me these Yabipais asked me for some awls with which to sew sandals with three fringes which they wear, but, telling them that I had none, I offered them the spurs and some scissors if they would take me to their land. To this they agreed, but the Jalchedunes, because of the bad condition of the horse, persuaded me not to go. Indeed, the lack of water and the great heat might make it somewhat risky although with respect to the Yabipais there was no risk whatever, for they are intimate friends of the Jalchedunes who have such frequent dealings that some of them speak familiarly in the language of these Niforas. However, the old man of the Yabipais gave me to understand that there was water on the road to his country. He said also that they did not plant there, but that they maintained themselves by hunting deer and wild sheep and on mescal. He told of many bands of people who were their friends, especially the Yumas whom all these people call Cutchanas, which is the same name by which they call themselves. When I asked this old man how many days' journey it was to those who make the colored blankets, he made five lines on the ground and gave me to understand that they were his friends. The advantage of the peace which these Niforas enjoy is due to the red hematite. The same benefit is enjoyed by the Moquinos because of the commerce in these blankets.
From this reply and that which he says later it appears to me that it is easy to make the mistake (for it is always easy when there is not a good interpreter) which is contained in the reports which I have given with respect to the distance from the Yumas of the junction and those higher up to the pueblos of New Mexico. It seems to me that the distance must be more than four days, and it must be that what they say of the four days' journey has reference to these Niforas or Cuilsniovrs or Naxi, for another name, or to the Soyopas, for they confuse the people of Moqui, the Niforas, and the neophytes of the fathers of New Mexico. There is a kind of people called Yabipais, although it is also true that they are distinguished by other names, because some are called Yabipais Guichi, others Yabipais Mogchi, others Yabipais Geecóche, and others Yabipais Apagueche, and still others who live on the same river higher up are called Yabipaya. The first are the Niforas. The second appear to be the people of Moqui, and the third those of the converted pueblos of New Mexico, for they called me Geecochi, and of these they gave me to understand that they had cows. The fourth I think are the Apaches who molest us, and the fifth the Soyopas from above.
The first of the month I spent in the same conversations with the Jalchedunes and Yabipais. The former said that there had arrived at their lands people from the northeast who wore ribbons on their heads and who had given them some little gifts. I then remembered the reports which had been given me by the Gileños, and I concluded that it would be useless to attempt to send the letter to New Mexico, but in order not to lose any opportunity I decided to leave the letter with an old Jalchedun, in order that he might send it at the first occasion, which, according to what they said, would be when the mesquite bean was ripe. I added to the letter for the fathers that now I would return as soon as possible, because I had written in it that I would await the reply, and that if there should be some neophytes I would go in company with them as far as the first mission if there was no objection.
Now that I had given up the plan which looked to New Mexico, seeing myself so high up on the beaches of the Colorado River, and knowing that would be well received by the Soyopas (for they had sent me a message when I was with the Yumas, saying that the father must pass by these lands and they would give him food) and since the Cuirsniurs also have knowledge of me, for I saw one of them in my other journey, I made a test to see if the Jalchedunes who refused to accompany me upstream lied through fear.