Page:The Coronado expedition, 1540-1542.djvu/357

 down, something like little skirts, reaching to the feet. Their houses are of mats made of reeds; the houses are round and small, so that there is hardly room inside for a man on his feet. The country is sandy where they live near together and where they plant. They raise corn, but not very much, and beans and melons, and they also live on game-rabbits, hares, and deer. They do not have sacrifices. This is between Culiacan and Cibola.

Cibola is a village of about 200 houses. They have two and three and four and five stories. The walls are about a hand-breadth thick; the sticks of timber are as large as the wrist, and round; for boards, they have very small bushes, with their leaves on, covered with a sort of greenish-colored mud; the walls are of dirt and mud, the doors of the houses are like the hatchways of ships. The houses are close together, each joined to the others. Outside of the houses they have some hothouses (or estufas) of dirt mud, where they take refuge from the cold in the winter — because this is very great, since it snows six months in the year. Some of these people wear cloaks of cotton and of the maguey (or Mexican aloe) and of tanned deer skin, and they wear shoes made of these skins, reaching up to the knees. They also make cloaks of the skins of hares and rabbits, with which they cover themselves. The women wear cloaks of the maguey, reaching down to the feet, with girdles; they wear their hair gathered about the ears like little wheels. They raise corn and beans and melons, which is all they need to live on, because it is a small tribe. The land where they plant is entirely sandy; the water is brackish; the country is very dry. They have some fowls, although not many. They do not know what sort of a thing fish is. There are seven villages in this province of Cibola within a space of 5 leagues; the largest may have about 200 houses and two others about 200, and the others somewhere between 60 or 50 and 30 houses.

It is 60 leagues from Cibola to the river and province of Tibex [Tiguex]. The first village is 40 leagues from Cibola, and is called Acuco. This village is on top of a very strong rock; it has about 200 houses, built in the same way as at Cibola, where they speak another language. It is 20 leagues from here to the river of Tignex. The river is almost as wide as that of Seville, although not so deep; it flows through a level country; the water is good; it contains some fish; it rises in the north. He who relates this, saw twelve villages within a certain distance of the river; others saw more, they say, up the river. Below, all the villages are small, except two that have about 200 houses. The walls of these houses are something like mud walls of dirt and sand, very rough; they are as thick as the breadth of a hand. The houses have two and three stories; the construction is like those at Cibola. The country is very cold. They have hot-houses, as in Cibola, and the river freezes so thick that loaded animals cross it, and it would be possible for carts to do so. They raise as much corn as they need,