Editing Juan de Oñate (section)

=== Rayado people ===
Near the river, Oñate's expedition party and their numerous Escanjaque guides saw three or four hundred Rayados on a hill. The Rayados advanced, throwing dirt into the air as a sign that they were ready for war. Oñate quickly indicated that he did not wish to fight and made peace with this group of Rayados, who proved to be friendly and generous. Oñate liked the Rayados more than he did the Escanjaques.  They were "''united, peaceful, and settled.''"  They showed deference to their [[tribal|chief]], named Caratax, whom Oñate detained as a guide and hostage, although "''treating him well.''"<ref>Vehik, Susan C. "Wichita Culture History," ''Plains Anthropologist'', Vol. 37, No. 141, 1992, 327</ref>

Caratax led Oñate and the Escanjaques across the river to [[Etzanoa]], a settlement on the eastern bank, one or two miles from the river. The settlement was deserted, the inhabitants having fled. It contained "''about twelve hundred houses, all established along the bank of another good-sized river which flowed into the large one [the Arkansas].... the settlement of the Rayados seemed typical of those seen by Coronado in Quivira in the 1540s. The homesteads were dispersed; the houses round, thatched with grass, large enough to sleep ten persons each, and surrounded by large granaries to store the corn, beans, and squash they grew in their fields."'' With difficulty Oñate restrained the Escanjaques from looting the town and sent them home.

The next day the Oñate expedition proceeded onward for another eight miles through heavily populated territory, although without seeing many Rayados. At this point, the Spaniards' courage deserted them. There were obviously many Rayados nearby and soon Oñate's men were warned that the Rayados were assembling an army. Discretion seemed the better part of valor.  Oñate estimated that three hundred Spanish soldiers would be needed to confront the Rayados, and he turned his soldiers around to return to New Mexico.