| Show y fste ftibtwe LMlAV "r :i £ 71 ' L i ti ' ii N ji t 4 APRIL 2 1939 SUNDAY v 7 V"' t ? S m X j8eW C e “ U 1 V t 4r- ‘ tcsC - 7k- - t ! 7 ! a t ''W 7 “hi n rn v c V By Ronald L Ives Conquisladores will march again across the fertile valleys arid decits of the great Southwest this year as Arizona and New Mexico celebrate the 400th anniversary of the coming of the first white man Cities and villages will do honor to the memory of the intrepid Fray Marcos de Niza Franciscan priest who led the first expedition to penetrate deep into the heart of the Indian country seeking the legendary Seven Cities of Cibola and their fabulous wealth But how many if any of these celebrators will remember to honor the black slave Esteban the Moor who broke trail for the friar and died at the gates of Hawikuh stronghold of the Zum? The Zum have not forgotten him For these and four centuries he has been remembered legends of his prowess are still fresh in Zum lore When Zum children go untales of this terrible Black bed to willingly Man speed their lagging footsteps and still their whimpered complaints tales were based on fact others were just good stones To this fabulous kingdom of the north Fray Marcos determined to go and accompanied by Esteban whose knowledge of Indian languages and customs proved most useful the good but sadly misinformed friar set out from Culiacan early in March of 1539 Northward into the unknown deserts toward the mythical kingdoms the cavalcade traveled losing members from sickness as it progressed How much of this “sickness” was due to fear — fear of the unknown or of the terrible monsters reputed to inhabit the lands — no one will ever know Gradually all the friars except Fray Marcos and many of the Indians deserted the party and when they reached the land of giant cacti and shifting sand with Esteban breaking trail and Fray Marcos trudging along behind THE Who was this legendary "bogeyman”? How true are the tales passed on by word of mouth through 20 generations? Hidden in the neglected pages of history we find the answer and find with it the weird and heroic tale of Esteban the slave whose life of wandering hardship violence and loyalty makes the wildest "blood and thunder" After 400 years the Zuni Indians still shudder when they hear the name of the terrible Moroccan invader the friar and his slave were the only foreigners in the party Esteban knowing the languages and customs went a day or sa ahead of the friar acting as a He told the wide eyed guide and prellragfcnt the of aborigines prowess of the great sorcerer collected presents of who followed behind ordered a house and beautiful women turquoises built for the friar and went along the trail to story seem tame by comparison TSTEBAN o was born somewhere m about 1500 sometime Nobody knows either the exact place or time He was slave — black a only In the party of Narvaez who sought to explore the unknown kingdoms north of Florida was Esteban “the Moor" who was finally marooned with a few others on "the Island of Misfortune" off what is now the coast of Louisiana Nothing more was heard of the 360 men of the expedition until in 536 three starvation thinned sunburned and exhausted Spaniards and one Negro in hardly better condition staggered into a slaving camp on the west coast of Mexico They were the only survivors of the Narvaez party — Alvar Nunez Cabeza de Vaca Andres Dorantes Alonzo del Castillo and Esteban the slave Mo-rocc- scout it out rPO tile £ the present Arizona desert the slave fame friar’s in early May of 1539 and inMl accounts can be found highly exaggerated but rccognizay accounts of his wanderings among Soon they were the tribes of the Gila Valley the Apaches land of the rugged going through — a land still so uncivilized that white men occasionally enter it and are heard of no more Lsleban’s knowledge of languages and customs and his reputation as a maker of powerful this magic got him and his party safely through hostile region and onto the high plains of New Mexico There he heard tales of the seven cities left messages for the friar who was still following behind and set forth to conquer live cities using as his weapons his reputation as a magician and his boundless self confidence Esteban being illiterate could not write his messages but had n ingenious code by which If he communicated with the friar Ins owner the reports of the country ahead were not very encouraging Esteban was to send a small cross If the news was only as big as a man’s hand he send to a was cross twice as big as a good man’ hand If however the new lands were "greater and better than New Spam he should send me a great cross " Healing of the seven cities Esteban became greatly excited and sent to Ins owner a cross Surely thought the good (hs hip'll as a man - hos- Indians these four learned the languages of the savages became famous medicine men and learned much of the country to the north of their trail from talcs and legends of their Naked exhausted hardly able to captors their native language these human derespcaic licts were taken before Melchior Diaz commander of Culiacan who fed them heard their remajkable tale of hardship and heroism and sent them south toward Mexico City Later when Gabea de Vaca returned to Spain Fstrban was given to Fray Marcos de Niza a Franciscan priest who would treat him kindly and feed him well New Spam as Mexico was called at the time was agog with tales of the Seven Cities of Cibola a land far to the north where gold was used for cooking pots and turquoises wete Some of the wild too common to be of value much seriously Arriving at one of the Zum pueblos probably old Hawikuh Esteban sent his gourd rattle carried by all medicine men Later the by messenger to their chief returned that it was the messenger saying rattle of an enemy medicine man and Esteban meant little to the proud Zum wasn't alarmed by this and went arrogantly to the pueblo gate demanding “gold and women" and informing all and sundry that he was the greatest medicine man in the world Probably the Zum head men said the Indian equivalent of “phooey" when they heard these claims Certainly in a few hours they became tired of the disturbance and sent warriors out to disperse the mob scattering some and capturing others including “the greatest medicine man in the world" who by this time had become just a 1 During their hungry wanderings among town to town in the pueblo country went Esteban and his party including a harem which he had accumulated in his travels At each pueblo he debanded "gold and women" perhaps adding with the demand the Indian Behind him trailed equivalent of "or else — Fray Marcos all of his wants cared for by the people of the cities Esteban had visited From the accounts of the ancient chroniclers we learn much about Fray Marcos and his wanderings but the details are never the same and we can never be in two accounts sure how much was said in fun and how ‘P'ROM - badly-scare- d Captured stripped of Negro deserted by most of his followers and betrayed by the rest Esteban now a prisoner in the pueblo was tortured by his captors accused of many crimes some of which he didn't commit and generally made uncomfortable Later he was killed by the Zum Thus did Esteban the Negro slave discoverer of Arizona and fust man fiom the Old World to visit the pueblos of New Mexico meet death as a common criminal ending the career of a man whose travels afoot through unexplored country have seldom been equaled in history his finery TTEARING of the death of his guide slave and faithful helper Fray Marcos stilled his fears and pushed on toward the fabled cities His followers became restive and many deSoon he began to meet the wounded serted survivors of Esteban's party who brought him tales of the battle and of the death of the Negro Soon the Indians plotted to kill the friar deciding that he in some way was responsible for the deaths of Esteban's companions The friar sensing trouble gave out many presents and informed all within hearing that God amj the Viceroy would punish the Zum With fear and trembling Fray Marcos visited one of the smaller cities learning that the "people are somewhat white they wear apparel and lie in beds their weapons are bows they have emeralds and other jewels although they esteem none so much as turquoise — ” and many other He things some of them decidedly not true named the country “The New Kingdom of ban Francisco" c I timed possession of it for Spam and made tracks for the lands of New Spain " traveling "with more fear than food Tray Marcos was laughed at in New Spain and his accounts containing some information and much misinformation were soon discredited Later after the return of the Coronado expedition sent to mvestigile the lands reported by the good fnar his lepoils were no longer believed at all But the Zum lemembet even to this daj the coming of the mighty Lstcban A I ‘Hu jo |
