When near Cibola, he, in disobedience of the orders given him, sent
messengers to the city bearing his gourd, and saying that he came to treat
for peace and to cure the sick. The chief to whom the gourd was presented,
on observing the bells, cast it angrily to the ground, exclaiming,--
"I know not those people; their bells are not of our fashion; tell them to
return at once, or not a man of them will be left alive."
In despite of this hostile message, the vain-glorious negro went on. He
and his company were not permitted to enter the city, but were given a
house outside of it, and here they were stripped of all their possessions
and refused food and drink. The next morning they left the house, where
they were quickly surrounded and attacked by a great number of the
townspeople, all of them being killed except the two Indians who had
brought the news to Fray Marcos.
Why they were treated in this manner is not known. They seem to have been
looked on as spies or enemies. But it is interesting that the legend of
the killing of a Black Mexican still lingers in a pueblo of the Zuni
Indians, though three centuries and a half have since then elapsed.
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