ande were assigned
almost until the middle of the nineteenth century, have become
scattered; the destruction of the archives at the great Franciscan
convent in the City of Mexico in 1857, though not complete, resulted in
the dispersion of those which were not burned or torn, and the
whereabouts of these remnants are but imperfectly known. The documentary
history of the Rio Grande Pueblos, therefore, can be only tentative at
present, but it is given in the hope that it will incite further
activity with the view of increasing and correcting the data thus far
obtained.

* * * * *

The report of Cabeza de Vaca, commonly designated as his "Naufragios,"
is as yet the earliest printed source known with reference to the Rio
Grande Pueblos, concerning whom it imparts some vague information. The
briefness and vagueness of that information calls for no adverse
criticism, for Cabeza de Vaca plainly states that he writes of these
people from hearsay and that his information was obtained near the mouth
of the Rio Pecos in western Texas. What he afterward learned in Sonora
with respect to sedentary Indians in the north is hardly connected with
the Rio Grande region. The same may be the case with the information
obtained by Nuno de Guzman in 1530 and alluded to by Castaneda. That
Nuno de Guzman had gained some information concerning the Pueblos seems
certain, but everything points to the Zuni region as the one mentioned
by his informant. The same is true of the reports of Fray Marcos de
Nizza and Melchor Diaz, which clearly apply to the Zuni Pueblos, the
most easterly settlement of sedentary Indians alluded to being the
Queres pueblo of Acoma. It is to the chroniclers of the expedition of
Coronado, therefore, that we must look for the earliest definite
information concerning the Rio Grande valley and its inhabitants.

It must be borne in mind that the expedition of Coronado was not a mere
exploration. What was expected of its leader, and indeed peremptorily
demanded, was a permanent settlement of the country. Coronado and his
men were not to return to Mexico except in individual cases. The Viceroy
Mendoza wanted to get rid of them. Whether Coronado was a party to the
secret of this plan is doubtful; the indications are that he was not,
whereas Fray Marcos of Nizza certainly was, and perhaps was its original
promoter.

The printed sources on Coronado's march may be divided into two
chronologically dis