Great Plains Studies, Center for
Date of this Version
Spring 2004
Citation
Great Plains Quarterly Vol. 24, No. 2, Spring 2004, pp. 135.
Abstract
Although this book promises to examine the Indians who lived in West Texas between the late sixteenth century to the end of the 1700s, most of the work-and the main original contribution the author makes-deals with two Spanish expeditions of exploration that occurred in the late seventeenth century. The author, an ethnohistorian, has provided a new translation of the 1675 expedition of Fernando del Bosque and Fr. Juan Larios, which left the northern Mexican town of Monclova in April, crossed the Rio Grande, and entered the Edwards Plateau before returning to its point of origin in June. In addition to the excellent translation, the author also provides commentary, pointing out modern place-names and discussing the many small Indian groups-mainly Coahuiltecans- the expedition encountered.
The author also provides a new translation of the diary of the expedition of Juan Dominguez de Mendoza and Fr. Nicolas Lopez, which left El Paso in December 1683, traveled east to the Colorado River of Texas-between the mouths of the Concho and the San Sababefore returning to El Paso in July 1684. Although Herbert Eugene Bolton had previously published translations of the diaries of both expeditions, the fresh translations and new annotations (which reflect a century of new scholarship) are particularly valuable. The author also includes another version of Mendoza's travel diary which she discovered at the University of New Mexico containing a radically different viewpoint from the previously published diary. The new diary, which Wade assumes was written by Mendoza, downplays the perfidy of the Jumano chief, Juan Sabeata, and refers to the problems the commander experienced with his own Spanish troops, which led Mendoza to sentence two of his compatriots to death.
Although the rest of the book examines Spanish relations with the Apaches of Texas during the eighteenth century, the author offers little new information not already supplied by previous historians such as William Dunn and Elizabeth John. This work's main contribution, therefore, is the translation of the various diaries of the Spanish exploratory expeditions into Texas during the late seventeenth century.
Comments
Copyright 2004 by the Center for Great Plains Studies, University of Nebraska-Lincoln