ez that are
of permanent value. The author gives the numbers of Pueblo Indians
officially converted during his time.

We come now to a book which, though small in compass, has had perhaps
greater circulation in languages other than Spanish, with the exception
of the _Destruycion de las Indias_ by the notorious Las Casas, than any
other. This is the work of Fray Alonso de Benavides, on New Mexico,
first published in 1630 under the misleading title of _Memorial que Fray
Juan de Santander de la Orden de San Francisco, Comisario General de
Indias, presenta a la Magestad Catolica del Rey don Felipe cuarto
nuestro Senor_, etc., Madrid, 1630. Benavides was custodian of the
Franciscan province of New Mexico for some time, and therefore had good
opportunity of knowing both the country and its natives. He gives a very
precise and clear enumeration of the groups of Pueblo Indians, locating
them where they had been found by Coronado ninety years before and
adding those which the latter had not visited, as well as giving the
number of villages of each group and the approximate number of people
therein contained. No writer on New Mexico up to this time had given
such a clear idea of its ethnography, so far as the location and the
distribution of the stocks are concerned. While somewhat brief on
manners and customs, Benavides is fuller and more explicit than any of
his predecessors, and informs us of features of importance which no
other author in earlier times mentioned. In short, his book is more
valuable for New Mexican ethnography than any other thus far known, and
it is not a matter of surprise, therefore, that it was translated into
several European languages. That the Rio Grande Pueblos receive an
abundant share of attention from Benavides is natural. We also obtain
from him some data, not elsewhere found, concerning the establishment
and fate of the missions, and the true relations of the Spaniards and
the natives are particularly well portrayed. Both the Apaches and the
Navajos also receive some attention, Benavides giving, among others, the
true reason for the hostility which the Apaches displayed since that
time against the Spanish settlements. It is a book without which the
study of the Pueblo Indians could not be satisfactory.

Where there is strong light there must of necessity be some shadow. In
the case of Benavides the shadow is found in the exaggerated number of
inhabitants attributed to the New Mexican Pueblos, exa