Kansas. Finding no riches or empire, Bonilla
pressed onward into what is now Nebraska.
There he was stabbed to death after an argu-
ment with Gutiérrez de Humaña, who took
command. Several Indian servants, including
Jusepe, fled the reckless expedition and
returned westward. On the way Jusepe was
captured by the Apache. Hearing that there
were Spaniards in New Mexico, he escaped
and made his way to Oñate’s settlement.
One of Oñate’s earlier orders had been to
find Bonilla and arrest him. Deciding to post-
pone a manhunt for Gutiérrez de Humaña,
Bonilla’s murderer, Oñate immediately put
Jusepe to work as an interpreter and guide on
buffalo-hunting forays.
OÑATE AS EXPLORER
Oñate left San Juan on October 6 seeking a for-
tune to shore up support for his venture, both
in government circles and among his own
colonists, many of whom were already disillu-
sioned. Oñate usually portrayed the colony
positively in reports to his superior, New
Spain’s viceroy Gaspar de Zuñiga y Acevedo,
the marquis de Monterrey (who would spon-
sor Sebastian Vizcaíno’s voyage up the Califor-
nia coast in 1602). Oñate wrote in a letter to
the viceroy that the grumbling settlers “in
anger at not finding bars of silver on the
ground and resentful because I did not allow
them to abuse the natives either in their per-
sons or property, became dissatisfied with the
land, or rather with me.”
Like Coronado, Oñate mistakenly believed
that landlocked New Mexico could be sup-
plied by sea. He and a company of men rode
southwest, looking for the Pacific Ocean.
With the exception of a tense reception by
the people of Acoma pueblo, Oñate’s group
was welcomed by Indian tribes along the
way. His scouts reached central Arizona
before Oñate decided to return to San Juan
for the winter and plan a future expedition to
the “South Sea,” the name then used by
Spaniards for the Pacific. En route, they
watered their horses near a huge sandstone
bluff decorated with ancient Anasazi carv-
ings of animals, birds, and designs. The
Spanish called the rock El Morro (the
Promontory). While camped at El Morro,
near the present-day town of Ramah, New
Mexico, Oñate learned that most of a relief
troop riding from San Juan to join him had
been massacred at Acoma.
Oñate rushed back to San Juan and
organized an assault on the seemingly
impregnable pueblo. By mounting a diver-New Mexico and the Gulf Coast B 135