Govenor Don Juan de Onate's diary account of his travels into North Eastern New Mexico and the Texas Panhandle in 1601.....a brutal trek it was with destruction of native peoples along the way................and a vivid first hand account of the multitudes of Bison and Elk the Expedtion encountered

Faithful and true account of the events which took place in the expedition made by  Governor Don Juande Onate, in the name of his Majesty, from these first settlements of New Mexico, toward the north, in the year of 1601



ONATE'S FIRST HAND ACCOUNT OF THE BISON AND ELK ENCOUNTERED
"They were so tame that nearly always, unless they were chased or frightenedthey remained quiet and did not flee. (CATTLE BEING THE WILD BISON)"

 Oñate was born in the New Spain city of Zacatecas to Spanish-Basque colonists and silver mine owners.  In 1595 he was ordered by King Philip II to colonize the northern frontier of New Spain. His stated objective was to spread Roman Catholicism and establish new missions. He began the expedition in 1598, fording the Rio Grande (Río del Norte) at the present-day Ciudad Juárez–El Paso crossing in late April. On April 30, 1598, he claimed all of New Mexico beyond the river for Spain.

That summer his party continued up the Rio Grande to present-day northern New Mexico, where he encamped among the Pueblo Indians. He founded the province of Santa Fé de Nuevo México and became the province's first governor.

Oñate soon gained a reputation as a stern ruler of both the Spanish colonists and the indigenous people. In October of 1598, a skirmish erupted when Oñate's occupying Spanish military demanded supplies from the Acoma tribe—demanding things essential to the Acoma surviving the winter. The Acoma resisted and 13 Spaniards were killed, amongst them Don Juan Oñate’s nephew. In 1599, Oñate retaliated; his soldiers killed 800 villagers. They enslaved the remaining 500 women and children, and by Don Juan’s decree, they amputated the left foot of every Acoma man over the age of twenty-five. Eighty men had their left foot amputated.

Proceeding on the day of the Glorious Levite and Martyr,San Lorenzo, God was pleased that we should begin to see those most monstrous cattle called cibola. Although they were very fleet of foot, on this day four or five of the bulls were killed, which caused great rejoicing. On the following day,continuing our journey, we now saw great droves of bulls and cows, and from there on the multitude which we saw was so great that it might be considered a falsehood by one who had not seen them, for, according to the judgment of all of us who were in any army, nearly every day and wher-
ever we went as many cattle came out as are to be found in the largest ranches of New Spain."


  Onate found an encampment of people Oñate called Escanjaques. He estimated the population at more than 5,000 living in 600 hundred houses.The Escanjaques lived in round houses as large as ninety feet in diameter and covered with tanned buffalo hides. They were hunters, according to Onate, depending upon the buffalo for their subsistence and planting no crops.In 1601, Oñate, undertook a large expedition to the Great Plains. There were 130 Spanish soldiers and 12 Franciscan priests. Just like the expedition conquest to South America conquering the Aztecs], a retinue of 130 Indian soldiers and servants, and 350 horses and mules Oñate journeyed across the plains eastward from New Mexico in a renewed search for Quivira. As had Coronado, he encountered Apaches in what is now the Texas Panhandle. He proceeded eastward following the Canadian River into Oklahoma. Leaving the river behind in a sandy area where his ox carts could not pass, he went cross country, and the land became greener, with more water and groves of walnut and oak trees.

"The flesh of these cat-tle is very good, and very much better than that of our cows.In general they are very fat, especially the cows, and almostall have a great deal of tallow. By experience we noted that they do not become angry like our cattle, and are never dangerous."

 " All these cattle are of one color, namely brown, and itwas a great marvel to see a white bull in such a multitude.Their form is so frightful that one can only infer that theyare, a mixture of different animals. The bulls and the cows alike are humped, the curvature extending the whole length of the back and even over the shoulders. And although the entire body is covered with wool, on the hump, from the middle of the body to the head, the breast, and the forelegs,

to just above the knee, the wool is much thicker, and so fine and soft that it could be spun and woven like that of the Castilian sheep."

"It is a very savage animal, and is in-comparably larger than our cattle, although it looks small
because of its short legs. Its hide is of the thickness of that of our cattle, and the native Indians are so expert in dressing the hides that they convert them into clothing."--INTERESTING
THAT HE DESCRIBES THE BISON AS SAVAGE, BUT NOT DANGEROUS--
BLOGGER RICK

"This riveris thickly covered on all sides with these cattle and with an-other not less wonderful, consisting of deer which are as large as large horses. They travel in droves of two and three
hundred and their deformity causes one to wonder whether they are deer or some other animal."

  "  Having travelled to reach this place one hundred andeleven leagues, it became necessary to leave the river, asthere appeared ahead some sand dunes ; and turning from the east to the north, we travelled up a small stream until we discovered the great plains covered with innumerable
cattle. We found constantly better roads and better land."

   The viceroy rather contemptuously remarks that besides buffalo he saw ""naught else but some birds and animals,  particularly some deer out of all proportion in size""(ELK).