Bobole Indians

This was one of the more important groups of Indians of northeastern Coahuila during the latter half of the seventeenth century. At times the Boboles (Babeles), who spoke a Coahuiltecan language, were in settlements on or near the Rio Grande in the present Eagle Pass area, and they also crossed into Texas to hunt bison in the southwestern part of the Edwards Plateau, particularly in the area of present Kinney and Edwards counties. Bobole males also accompanied various Spanish exploratory and military expeditions that crossed the Rio Grande into Texas. In 1665 about 300 Bobole warriors were with Fernando de Ascué when he penetrated southern Texas and decisively defeated the Cacaxtles. Later, in 1675, twenty-two Boboles were with the Bosque-Larios expedition, which crossed the Rio Grande near modern Eagle Pass. It is possible that the Boboles were the same people as the Bobidas on the list of tribes made by Juan Domínguez de Mendoza. This list was made when Domínguez was at the junction of the Colorado and Concho rivers east of the site of present San Angelo in 1684. If the two are identical, then the Boboles ranged much farther north in the western Edwards Plateau region than has been realized. Another Indian group with a similar name, Bobori, lived somewhere between Durango, Mexico, and Presidio, Texas, in 1693, but the relationship of these Boboris to the Boboles of northeastern Coahuila remains undetermined.