Such an

THE tale told by Cabeza de Vaca and companions*-of their wanderings through the southwest, attracted attention, but it was not necessary in order to stimulate Spanish advance towards the heart of North America. advance was already in progress since 1529, although it had not reached yet beyond southern Sonora. Confused rumors about a vast river flowing into the Pacific Ocean (Lower California was yet deemed an island) were gathered by Spanish outposts. That river was the Colorado of the West.t

The tribes of central Mexico knew nothing about the north, beyond that it

Alvar Nunez Cabeza de Vaca.

†The expedition of Nuno Beltran de Guzman, successor to Cortéz, began in 1529. Garcia del Pilar Relacion de la Entrada de Nuno de Guzman,' (Vol. II. of " Col. de Doe para la Hist. de Mexico," 1866, p. 248): "y mas de que salió ano de 29, tres dias antes de la Pascua de Navidad." The notice of the river is contained in the same volume on p. 303. gunda Relacion anonima de la Jornada de Nuno de Guzman.' It cannot have been any other than the Colorado, for the Spaniards had already discovered the Yaqui then.

Se

was inhabited by fierce and savage tribes, and that somewhere in that northern country they themselves had possibly originated. The great quadrupeds of our west were unknown to them. One author affirms that, in 1530, Nuno de Guzman, then ruler of New Spain, heard of seven towns, lying forty days north of New Mexico, and which were rich in gold and silver. That story, it is said, prompted him to undertake his famous expedition to Sinaloa, and occasioned the spread of Spanish arms beyond the Mayo river.‡

It should not be overlooked, that the story of the "seven cities," was in a measure of European origin. Even prior to Columbus, the tale of the island "Antilia" to which a Portuguese bishop fled with some Christians in the ninth century and where he founded seven settlements, circulated among cosmo

Castaneda Relation du voyage de Cibola, (Chap. i, pp. 1, 2, 3.) 'Segunda Relacion anonima,' (p. 303): "La demanda que llevábamas cuando salémos á descobrir este rio era las Siete Cibdades, porque el gobernador Nuno de Guzman tenia noticia dellas."

graphers.§ It was a church legend. The discovery of the Antilles established that the seven cities were not there, but the story was not forgotten, and the mainland appeared vast enough to harbor, in some unknown nook, remnants at least of the legendary towns. Public mind was, therefore, prepared to find them.

The stimulus given to Spanish enterprise by the relations of Cabeza de Vaca did not arise so much from the fact that they conveyed startling intelligence. But the adventurers confirmed, in a measure, beliefs previously entertained thoughts long harbored. Whether the fixed abodes which they had seen, still more considerable ones of which they had heard, lay in the very distant north or in some other direction, the fact of their existence sufficed. But above all, it was considered that among those few men who had suffered so much, and had acquired such intimate acquaintance with country and inhabitants, one at least might prove invaluable as guide to further exploration. Such thoughts at once pervaded the mind of Don Antonio de Mendoza, viceroy of New Spain, and one of the greatest administrators America ever possessed.

The three Spainards were unavailable. They returned to the mother country and Estevanico the negro, alone remained. Before however an expedition was started

the viceroy cautiously determined to reconnoiter the country, with smaller apparatus, less risk of lives and minor expenditure. No better scouts could the Spanish administrator secure than missionaries of the church. They were wont to risk everything, to penetrate everywhere, regardless of danger. For one who perished, many were eager to follow. Such men could be implicitly trusted; they harbored no afterthought beyond the crown of martyrdom, which was their most glorious reward.

In

Ere the negro could be associated with any enterprise, it was prudent to test the truth of his statements. 1538 two monks, Fray Pedro Nadal and Fray Juan de la Asuncion, traveled north as far as the Gila (or the Colorado ¶)

¶There exist but four notices of the trip, and they are very brief. The oldest one in my possession is from 1598. It is found in Fray

Gerónimo Mendieta, Historia Ecclesiastica Indiana' (Lib. iv, Chap. xi, pp. 399-400). It is quite confuse and looks suspicionsly like a copy of the report of Fray Marcos. Shorter, but very positive, is the notice given by Fray Juan Domingo Arricivita' Cronica Serafica y apostolica del Colegio de Propaganda fide de la Santa Cruz de Queretaro' (1792). He gives the names of the two friars and says they struck the river in 35° latitude, north, whereas Fray Marcos, who called it Rio de las Balsas, put it in 34°. The Gila flows, on an average, along the thirtythird parallel, and the error of one to two degrees is the usual one in determinations of latitude at those times. Arricivita (prólogo) says it was the Colorado of the west; but Fray Marcos never reached that stream. Still it is possible, and at all events the fathers discovered Arizona. Finally José Cortés Memorias sobre las Provincias del Norte de Nuneva Espana' (1799, MSS. fol., 87) mentions Fray Juan de la Asuncion.

river, but returned, being unable to cross it. They had started in January and came back the same year.* This was the discovery of Arizona.

Meanwhile, Don Antonio de Mendoza had cast his eyes upon another friar whom, he thought, would be specially fitted for an arduous task like the one

northern explorations implied. Fray Marcos of Nice, in the Duchy of Savoy, had acquired considerable experience in Peru, Quito and Guatemala. He resided in Mexico since several years and was highly esteemed.† To him the viceroy committed the enterprise, giving him as chief-guide, the negro Estevanico, and several Indians of the lower Pima tribe, who followed Cabeza de Vaca into northern Sinaloa. Those Indians had been brought to Mexico and taught the Spanish language on purpose that they might afterwards serve as interpreters

and introduction with unknown Indians.

* For a biography of Fray Marcos compare Mendieta Historia Ecclesiastica Indiana' (pp. 400, 541, etc.) Fray Juan de Torquemada Los veinte i un libros rituales i Monarchia Indiana' (second edition, 1723, Vol. III, pp. 499–500). Fray Augustin Vetancurt Menologio franciscano' (Reprint of 1871, pp. 117-119). Compare also my Historical Introduction to Studies Among the Sedentary Aborigines of New Mexico' (p. 7, note 3). He died at Mexico on the twenty-fifth of March, 1558.

Fray Marcos de Nizza 'Relation' (in 'Cibola' appendix, p. 206). Antonio de Men. doza ('Lettre, etc.,' Idem p. 288). 'Historia General' (Dec. vi, Lib. vii, Chap. vii, p. 155), "seis Indios de aquella Tierra, que eran Escla. vos, i dió el visorrei al P. Fr. Marcos para su compania, que les havia tenito en Mexico, para que se hiciesen ladinos, i tomasen amor á las cosas de los Christianos."

Elaborate instructions were issued to the Francisan monk in writing, those instructions speak highly in favor of the viceroy's perspicacity and tact. As an evidence I merely refer to the following sentences:

You shall always seek to travel with the greatest possible safety, to inform yourself of whether the natives are at war with each other. You shall avoid

giving them any occasion to harm your person, lest it might compel to proceed against, and to punish them, in which case, in place of doing them good and enlightening them, the contrary would arise.

You will take the greatest care to note the strength of the people, if they are numerous or not, if they live scattered or together, the appearance of the country, its fertility, climate trees, plants, wild animals, the nature of the soil, if dry or traversed by rivers and whether those rivers are large or small, the stones and metals which that soil contains. If you can secure samples of all these objects, bring them along, or send them, in order that His Majesty may become thoroughly informed.‡

Thus instructed-confirmed subse

quently by a formal power and authorization of Fray Antonio de Ciudad Rodrigo, Franciscan provincial, (which document bears date: Mexico, August 27 [old style], 1539), Fray Marcos left San Miguel de Culiacan (Sinaloa) on the 7-19 of March 1539. His companions were a lay brother of the Franciscan order called Onorato, the negro Estevanico, and a number of well-trained Indians.|| The negro was instructed by the viceroy, "to obey you in all matters as if you were myself. Should he fail to do it, he would render himself liable to

Don Antonio de Mendoza 'Instruction donnee, an pere Marcos de Niza' ('Cibola,' p. 251). Herrera Hist. General' (Vol. II, p. 156).

Fray Antonio de Ciudadrodrigo Attestation' ('Cibola,' p. 254). Marcos of Nizza • Relation' (p, 256),

Here he resolved to send the negro ahead with directions to explore the country north of it for fifty or sixty leagues (135 to 162 miles). "I convened with him that if he learned of populous, rich, and extensive countries he should not advance any farther, but return in person or dispatch me some Indians with a token which we had agreed upon. In case that country was of ordinary size, he was to send a white cross of a hand's length, if more important the cross was to be twice that size, and if it was larger than New Spain the sign was a large cross."* Estévanico left in the afternoon of" Passion Sunday,† and very soon Fray Marcos received a message from him in the shape of a cross or crucifix as high as a man. The Indians who carried it urged the priest to start after the negro at once, since the latter "had found people who spoke to him of a country, the biggest in the world, and he had with him Indians who had been there." One of these came to Vacapa with the others, and the substance of his tale was, that thirty days' march from the place where Estévan remained (about two journeys north of Vacapa) the first town of a country called Cibola was to be found. He further said that “In this first province there are seven cities, very large ones, who all belong to one sovereign. There are large houses whose terrace walls are of masonry, the smallest are

*Relation' (p. 260).

† Idem (p. 260) "le dimanche de la Passion après diner." Easter fell that year on the nineteenth of April, therefore Passion-Sunday on the fifth.

one story high with a terrace, there are others of two and three stories, and that of the ruler has four well-arranged floors. At the doors of the principal houses there are many ornaments of turquoises, which stones are quite common in that country."‡

Fray Marcos was anxious to leave at once, still he had to wait yet for the seturn of messengers which he had dispatched to the coast. When these came they brought him shields of cowhides," very large, and some of the coast people accompanied them. They were very poor, belonging evidently to the tribe of Guaymas, a branch of the "Seris." §

Idem (p. 261) Hist. General' (pp. 156–157). ¶The " Guaymas' were a branch of the "Seris" and spoke a dialect of their language. Orozco Geografia' (p. 354). The Seris occupied, in the early part of the seventeenth century, the coast of Sonora from Guaymas north. Their savagery and ferocity are well known. Compare P. Ribas 'Hist. de los Triumphos de nuestra Santa Fee' (Lib. vi, Chap. i, p. 359). es sobremanera bozal, sin pueblos, sin casas, ni sementeras."

66

Compare Relation' (p. 263-266) with the (Lib. vi, Chap. xviii, p. 392). It is the only statements of Ribas Hist. de los Triumphos' valley in Sonora that could correspond to the I have examined description of Fray Marcos.

it closely, under the auspices of the archaelogical institute, as far south of the line as Babiácora and am convinced that the friar took this route. This is further proven by the well established fact that, the next year, he led Coronado and his forces up the Sonora valley. Castaneda (Cibola,' pp. 44, 157, 158, etc.). Juan Jaramillo (Relation, etc.'" 'Cibola' pendix, p. 367). Castaneda says that when Coronado went from Culiacan to Cibola (by way of Sonora) all the Indians on the line of march knew Fray Marcos (p. 40). That the Opatas were, and still are, the inhabitants of the valley is a well known fact which requires no further proof.

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