CHAPTER V.

EARLY SPANISH MISSIONS AND MISSIONARIES.

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THE MOQUIS FRANCISCAN FRIARS-MISSIONS— FATHER EUSEBIO FRANCISCO KINO-NUESTRA SEÑORA DE LOS DOLORES-FATHER JUAN MARIA DE SALVATIERRA-SOBAIPURIS-GUEVAVI-TUMACACORI-SAN XAVIER DEL BACPIMA INDIANS-IMMACULATE CONCEPTIONST. ANDREW-SAN PEDRO Y SAN PABLO DE TUBUTAMA SARIC TUCUBABIA - SANTA MARIA DE SUAMCA COCOSPERA CASAS GRANDES SAN DIONISIO-JESUITS-FR. FELIPE SEGESSER-FR. JUAN BAPTISTA GRASSHOFFER FR. GASPAR STEIGER-FR. JOSE CARUCHO - FR. FRANCISCO PAVER - FR. IGNACIO KELLER FR. JACOB SEDELMAIRREVOLT OF PIMAS-FR. ALONZO ESPINOSAFR. IGNACIO PFEFFERKORN-FR. JIMENOFR. PEDRO RAFAEL DIAZ-TUCSON-SANTA BARBARA BUENA VISTA-CALABAZAS-FR. BARERA-EXPULSION OF JESUITS.

The first natives of Arizona to submit to Spanish authority were the Moquis, who occupied the territory which at that time was known as the province of Tusayan. These Indians had practically the same habits, customs and government as the Indians of Cibola. They were very intelligent and far advanced in civilization. Their houses were ordinarily three or four stories high, but some were seven stories. Of them, Casteñada says: "They cover their privy parts and all

the immodest parts with cloths made like a sort of table napkin, with fringed edges and a tassel at each corner, which they tie over the hips. They wear long robes of feathers and of the skins of hares and cotton blankets. The women

wear blankets, which they tie or knot over the left shoulder, leaving the right arm out. These serve to cover the body. They wear a neat, wellshaped outer garment of skin. They gather their hair over the two ears, making a frame which looks like an old-fashioned headdress."

"This country is in a valley between mountains in the form of isolated cliffs. They cultivate the corn, which does not grow very high, in patches. There are three or four large fat ears, having each eight hundred grains, on every stalk, growing upward from the ground, something not seen before in these parts. There are large numbers of bears in this province, and lions, wild-cats, deer and otter. There are very fine turquoises, although not so many as was reported. They collect the pine nuts each year, and store them up in advance. A man does not have more than one wife. There are estufas, or hot rooms, in the village, which are the courtyards or places where they gather for consultations. They do not have chiefs as in New Spain, but are ruled by a council of the oldest men. They have priests who preach to them, whom they call papas (elder brothers). (elder brothers). These are the elders. They go up on the highest roof of the village and preach to the village from there, like public criers, in the morning while the sun is rising, the whole village being silent and sitting in the galleries to listen. They tell them how they

are to live, and I believe that they give certain commandments for them to keep, for there is no drunkenness among them nor sodomy nor sacrifice, neither do they eat human flesh or steal, but they are usually at work. The estufas belong to the whole village. It is a sacrilege for the women to go into the estufas to sleep. They make the cross as a sign of peace. They burn their dead, and throw the implements used in their work into the fire with the bodies.'

As we shall see in the further progress of this work, they were great diplomats, intent upon preserving their independence as a tribe, bending their necks in submission to the religios when it was policy to do so, and renouncing the religion of the priests whenever a favorable opportunity presented itself. The records for eighty years after the expedition of Oñate, were destroyed by the revolution of the Pueblos, which occurred in 1680. During this time, the information which we have is only fragmentary, not only in reference to these Indians, but to those who inhabited the Gila, where the Franciscans were also endeavoring to bring the tribes under the control of the Church. As far as is known, there was never a permanent mission established among the Moquis, although priests were assigned to them from time to time, from whom they received religious instruction.

Bishop Salpointe, referring to the condition of the missions in New Mexico in 1626, says of the Moqui nation:

"This nation, as that of Zuni, from which it is separated by thirty leagues in the direction of the west, has a population of about 10,000 people

distributed in several villages. The inhabitants at first joyfully received the religios, and listened to their instructions. But here, as elsewhere, the sorcerers got alarmed on seeing the confidence placed in the missionaries by the Indians, and tried to destroy it by ridiculing it either publicly or privately in all their speeches. As a consequence of this, and perhaps at the instigation of the sorcerers themselves, a large number of Indians, either Christians or infidels, presented themselves to the priest who oftentimes spoke to them on the power of the cross, and showing him a young man born blind, made him this proposition: 'Padre, if your cross has as much power as you say, why do you not try to give by it his sight to this young man? If the trial proves successful, it will be for us the proof that what you say to us is the truth, and we will believe in your word.'

"The missionary thought it his duty to acccept the challenge and relied on the grace of God for the result of what he was about to try for His greater glory. Having prayed a short time on his knees before the cross, he applied it to the eyes of the boy, who, at once, was by it made able to see. Struck by the miracle, the Indians kept their word, and applied to the religios for instruction, and for admission to baptism, those who had remained as yet in the state of infidelity."

It is to be regretted that the worthy Bishop does not give us the name of the priest who performed this miracle, and its exact date.

Bancroft, in the History of Arizona and New Mexico, says: "At the beginning of the century

(the 17th) the Moquis, like the other pueblos, accepted Christianity, were often visited by the friars from the first, and probably were under resident missionaries almost continuously for eight years; yet of all this period we know only that Fra Francisco Porras, who worked long in this field, converting some 800 souls at Aguatuvi, was killed by poison at his post in 1633; that Governor Penalosa is said to have visited the pueblos in 1661-4; and that in 1680, four Franciscans were serving the five towns, or three missions. These were Jose Figueroa at San Bernardino de Aguatuvi; Jose Trujillo at San Bartolome de Jougopavi, with the visita of Moxainavi, and Jose Espeleta, with Agustin de Santa Maria, at San Francisco de Oraibe and Gualpi, all of whom lost their lives in the great revolt. From that time the valiant Moquis maintained their independence of all Spanish or Christian control. It is not clear that they sent their warriors to take part in the wars of 1680-96 in New Mexico, but they probably did so, and certainly afforded protection to fugitives from the other pueblos, the Tehuas and others, even building a new town adjoining those of the Moquis, in which part of the tribe lived from that period. In 1692, they had, like the other nations, professed their willingness to submit to Governor Vargas; but in the following years, no attempt to compel their submission is recorded. In 1700, however, fearing an invasion, they affected penitence, permitted a friar to baptize a few children, and negotiated in vain with the Spaniards for a treaty that should permit each nation to retain its own religion."