Editing Francisco Vázquez de Coronado (section)

====Querechos and Teyas====
Vázquez de Coronado found a community of people he called [[Querechos]]. The Querechos were not awed or impressed by the Spanish, their weapons, and their "big dogs" (horses). "They did nothing unusual when they saw our army, except to come out of their tents to look at us, after which they came to talk to the advance guard, and asked who we were."<ref>Winship, 65</ref> As Vázquez de Coronado described them, the Querechos were nomads, following the buffalo herds on the plains. The Querechos were numerous. Chroniclers mentioned one settlement of two hundred tipis—which implies a population of more than one thousand people living together for at least part of the year. Authorities agree that the Querechos (Becquerel's) were [[Apache]] Indians.<ref>Riley, Carroll L., ''Rio del Norte'', Salt Lake City: U of Utah Press, 1995, 190</ref>

Vázquez de Coronado left the Querechos behind and continued southeast in the direction in which the Turk told him that Quivira was located. He and his army descended off the tabletop of the Llano Estacado into the [[Caprock Escarpment|caprock]] canyon country. He soon met with another group of Indians, the [[Teyas]], enemies of the Querechos.

The Teyas, like the Querechos, were numerous and buffalo hunters, although they had additional resources. The canyons they inhabited had trees and flowing streams and they grew or foraged for beans, but not corn. The Spanish, however, did note the presence of mulberries, roses, grapes, walnuts, and plums.<ref>Winship, 70</ref>

An intriguing event was Vázquez de Coronado's meeting among the Teyas an old blind bearded man who said that he had met many days before "four others like us". He was probably talking about [[Cabeza de Vaca]], who with Esteban and two other Spanish survivors of the Narváez expedition to Florida made his way across southern Texas six years before Vázquez de Coronado.<ref>Winship, 232</ref>

Scholars differ in their opinions as to which historical Indian group were the Teyas. A plurality believe they were [[Caddoan]] speakers and related to the Wichita.<ref>Flint, Richard. ''No Settlement, No Conquest'', Albuquerque: U of NM Press, 2008, 157. For a contrary view, see Riley, 191–192</ref> The place where Vázquez de Coronado found the Teyas has also been debated. The mystery may have been cleared up—to the satisfaction of some—by the discovery of a likely Vázquez de Coronado campsite. While Vázquez de Coronado was in the canyon country, his army suffered one of the violent climatic events so common on the plains. "A tempest came up one afternoon with a very high wind and hail ... The hail broke many tents and tattered many helmets, and wounded many of the horses, and broke all the crockery of the army, and the gourds which was no small loss."<ref>Winship, 69–70</ref>

In 1993, Jimmy Owens found crossbow points in [[Blanco Canyon]] in [[Crosby County, Texas|Crosby County]], [[Texas]], near the town of [[Floydada, Texas|Floydada]] in [[Floyd County, Texas|Floyd County]]. Archaeologists subsequently searched the site and found pottery sherds, more than forty crossbow points, and dozens of horseshoe nails of Spanish manufacture, plus a Mexican-style stone blade. This find strengthens the evidence that Vázquez de Coronado found the Teyas in Blanco Canyon.<ref>Flint, Richard and Flint, Shirley Cushing, eds. ''The Coronado Expedition to Tierra Nueva''. Niwot, CO: U Press of CO, 1997, 372–375</ref>