“The people the Spanish call Apaches are treacherous. Several years ago we sent a few people to see if they would like to trade with us, but only one man came back, after they made him watch them torture the other Jumanos to death. They told him, “We take what we want!” Sabeata puffed on the council stone pipe and then passed it on. Thirty elders of several groups of Indians sat in council with him under the hackberry groves of what is now known as Midland Draw. A group of Hasanai (later known as Caddo, Waco, and Wichita Indians) were present, along with representatives from several groups of his fellow Jumano Indians – a group had come from Gran Quivira (near Albuquerque), another from along the Concho River (near San Angelo), and another group from La Junta del Rios (modern Presidio.) The year was 1650. Sabeata was in his thirties. In the future he would become the best known of all Jumanos. For the last five years his family had been collecting horses that had strayed from the Spanish settlers in Northern Mexico. They had taken the horses to the marshes of what is now Balmorhea and learned to work them, ride them, and breed them. (In 1680 when the Pueblos of Northern New Mexico revolted against Spanish rule and chased them away for over a decade, Sabeata’s horse trading skills would introduce the horses left behind (and their progeny) to many more Indians. Captain Mendoza saw Sabeata’s horse herd numbering in the hundreds at Horsehead Crossing in 1684. Some researchers believe he went north, as far as the Black Hills of South Dakota, trading horses as he went.) “We are meeting here, as you know, because the Apaches attacked our trade meeting at the Big Spring last year, and it has been five years since we have held our trade meetings further north in the deep red canyons (modern Palo Duro) as a result of their continued incursions. I have brought much of the wealth of my family on this trip. Recently we attacked the Apaches, and because we had horses and they did not, we dealt a great blow to them.” He looked around the council of elders. “We all need the horse. We can hunt and fight much better than ever before because of the horse. I am sure the Apaches will soon be getting horses, too. They trade with the Pueblo Indians in the mountains north of Gran Quivira, but the Spanish dominate the Pueblos. The Pueblos have begun to resist and have begun to trade metal and other Spanish goods to the Apaches. The Pueblos have not been able to steal any horses, not yet.” “The Spanish are enslaving our cousins to the south, forcing some of them to work deep in the ground digging up shiny rocks that make the Spanish crazy – crazy for more shiny rocks. The Spanish are lunatics! You can not eat rocks! Their robed priests condemn any Indian’s beliefs and have whipped anyone under their control who was caught praying in their Indian way. Luckily, the Spanish travel like blind people, fearful, slow, and cautious. Our tribesmen at what the Spanish call La Junta del Rios are farmers, and they live in fear of the slave raiders.” Sabeata received his pipe, it having completed the circle. He cleaned it carefully, depositing the ash into the small council fire, then putting it away in a soft pouch of otter fur he had gotten from the Hasinai at a trade meeting several years before. “Our horses are very important. We expect to make trades that are advantageous to us. We are going to take much of what you trade to us to a Spaniard who wishes to create metal arrowheads and knives for us. This Spaniard has joined us because he was banished by his people. Some other Spaniard that was born from where they originally came from took his farm from him and when he fought back, he was condemned to death. We will bring back many knives like this one,” and Sabeata pulled his knife for all to see. “Metal knives stays sharp a long time, and can be sharpened again easily.” “He also has many small mirrors – see, you can see yourself –not only are mirrors great to use to help us look handsome, but look! “ Sabeata held a mirror up and wiggled it. Immediately a light flickered from the top of the hill above the draw. “It is a great signaling tool – different series of flashes can mean different things. A scout can stay hidden and send a message without an enemy seeing it. I have been able to see a mirror flash from distance that a man can run in a hand’s span of sun (time can be measured by holding a fist up to the sun and counting how many fists above the horizon the sun is.)” (Such signaling by mirrors was in use as late as the Mexican Revolution in the 1910s. “Avisadores” (some of whom were descendants of Jumanos) kept Mexican revolutionaries apprised of U.S. Army patrols along the Rio Grande.) “Tonight we will have storytellers and a dance. Our buffalo hunters will bring the choicest cuts of meat – and something else, a treat – something the Spanish call azucar (sugar). For those who wish to learn some Spanish words we have two people who spent several years as slaves. This afternoon our best riders will give a demonstration of all that you can do from horseback. Some of our young men also wish to hold a competition – running races, shooting arrows, and other skills. Who knows, you may win some of their knives, mirrors, and other Spanish goods, but they will not bet their horses.” Later Sabeata checked the stores of trade goods. Spanish goods were only a part of it. Jumano arrowshafts made of seepwillow were known among many people, even the giant coastal dwellers (Karankawa Indians). Jumanos cultivated seepwillow for the trade, cutting older plants to the ground so very straight and unbranched sprouts shot thickly upward. The Jumanos also had fine cotton garments of many colors, and from their cousins far to the south they had bundles of brightly colored parrot feathers. From other traders they had abalone mother-of-pearl shells from the Pacific Ocean that made beautiful necklace pendants. The list was extensive, for the Jumanos traders were known for hundreds of miles. This trade fair may not have happened in Midland Draw in 1650, but Sabeata almost surely made such a speech at some time! As a Llano Estacado chauvinist, I prefer to believe it happened on our home turf!
Posted on: Mon, 31 Mar 2014 18:53:27 +0000
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