Editing Juan de Oñate (section)

=== Escanjaque people ===
[[Jusepe Gutierrez|Jusepe]] probably led the Oñate party on the same route he had taken on the [[Umana and Leyba expedition]] six years earlier. They found an encampment of native people that Oñate called the [[Escanjaque Indians|Escanjaques]]. He estimated the population at more than 5,000 living in 600 houses.<ref>Bolton, 257</ref>  The Escanjaques lived in round houses as large as {{convert|90|ft|m}} in diameter and covered with tanned [[buffalo robe]]s. They were hunters, according to Oñate, depending upon the buffalo for their subsistence and planting no crops.

The Escanjaques told Oñate that [[Etzanoa]], a large city of their enemies, the [[Rayado Indians]], was located only about twenty miles away. It seems possible that the Escanjaques had gathered together in large numbers either out of fear of the Rayados or to undertake a war against them. They attempted to enlist the assistance of the Spanish and their firearms, alleging that the Rayados were responsible for the deaths of Humana and Leyva a few years before.

The Escanjaques guided Oñate to a large river a few miles away and he became the first European to describe the [[tallgrass prairie]]. He spoke of fertile land, much better than that through which he had previously passed, and pastures "''so good that in many places the grass was high enough to conceal a horse.''"<ref>Bolton, 253</ref>  He found and tasted a fruit of good flavor, possibly the [[Asimina triloba|pawpaw]].