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The Journey of Coronado
CHAPTER VI.
Of how all the companies collected in Compostela and set off on the
journey in good order.
WHEN the viceroy, Don Antonio de Mendoza, had fixed & arranged
everything as we have related, and the companies and captaincies had
been arranged, he advanced a part of their salaries from the chest of
His Majesty to those in the army who were in greatest need. And as it
seemed to him that it would be rather hard for the friendly Indians
in the country if the army should start from Mexico, he ordered them
to assemble at the city of Compostela, the chief city in the New
Kingdom of Galicia, 110 leagues from Mexico, so that they could begin
their journey there with everything in good order. There is nothing
to tell about what happened on this trip, since they all finally
assembled at Compostela by shrove-tide, in the year [fifteen hundred
and] forty-one.
After the whole force had left Mexico, he ordered Don Pedro de
Alarcon to set sail with two ships that were in the port of La
Natividad on the South Sea coast, and go to the port of Xalisco to
take the baggage which the soldiers were unable to carry, and thence
to sail along the coast near the army, because he had understood from
the reports that they would have to go through the country near the
seacoast, & that we could find the harbors by means of the
rivers, and that the ships could always get news of the army, which
turned out afterward to be false, and so all this stuff was lost, or,
rather, those who owned it lost it, as will be told farther on. After
the viceroy had completed all his arrangements, he set off for
Compostela, accompanied by many noble and rich men. He kept the New
Year of [fifteen hundred and] forty-one at Pasquaro, which is the
chief place in the bishopric of Michoacan, and from there he crossed
the whole of New Spain, taking much pleasure in enjoying the
festivals and great receptions which were given him, till he reached
Compostela, which is, as I have said, 110 leagues. There he found the
whole company assembled, being well treated & entertained by
Christobal de Onate, who had the whole charge of that government for
the time being. He had had the management of it and was in command of
all that region when Francisco Vazquez was made governor.
All were very glad when he arrived, and he made an examination of the
company and found all those whom we have mentioned. He assigned the
captains to their companies, and after this was done, on the next
day, after they had all heard mass, captains and soldiers together,
the viceroy made them a very eloquent short speech, telling them of
the fidelity they owed to their general and showing them clearly the
benefits which this expedition might afford, from the conversation of
those peoples as well as in the profit of those who should conquer
the territory, and the advantage to His Majesty & the claim which
they would thus have on his favor and aid at all times. After he had
finished, they all, both captains and soldiers, gave him their oaths
upon the Gospels in a Missal that they would follow their general on
this expedition and would obey him in everything he commanded them,
which they faithfully performed, as will be seen. The next day after
this was done, the army started off with its colors flying. The
viceroy, Don Antonio, went with them for two days, and there he took
leave of them, returning to New Spain with his friends.
CHAPTER VII.
Of how the army reached Chiametla, the killing of the army-master,
and the other things that happened up to the arrival at
Culiacan.
AFTER the viceroy, Don Antonio, left them, the army continued its
march. As each one was obliged to transport his own baggage and all
did not know how to fasten the packs, and as the horses started off
fat and plump, they had a good deal of difficulty and labor during
the first few days, and many left many valuable things, giving them
to anyone who wanted them, in order to get rid of carrying them. In
the end necessity, which is all powerful, made them skillful, so that
one could see many gentlemen become carriers, and anybody who
despised this work was not considered a man.
With such labors, which they then thought severe, the army reached
Chiametla, where it was obliged to delay several days to procure
food. During this time the army-master, Lope de Samaniego, went off
with some soldiers to find food, and at one village a crossbowman
having entered it indiscreetly in pursuit of the enemies, they shot
him through the eye and it passed through his brain, so that he died
on the spot. They also shot five or six of his companions before
Diego Lopez, the alderman from Seville, since the commander was dead,
collected the men and sent word to the general. He put a guard in the
village and over the provisions. There was great confusion in the
army when this news became known. He was buried here. Several sorties
were made, by which food was obtained and several of the natives
taken prisoners. They hanged those who seemed to belong to the
district where the army-master was killed.
It seems that when the general, Francisco Vazquez, left Culiacan with
Friar Marcos to tell the viceroy, Don Antonio de Mendoza, the news,
as already related, he left orders for Captain Melchior Diaz and Juan
de Saldivar to start off with a dozen good men from Culiacan and
verify what Friar Marcos had seen and heard. They started and went as
far as Chichilticalli, which is where the wilderness begins, 220
leagues from Culiacan, & there they turned back, not finding
anything important. They reached Chiametla just as the army was ready
to leave, and reported to the general. Although they were kept
secret, the bad news leaked out, and there were some reports which,
although they were exaggerated, did not fail to give an indication of
what the facts were. Friar Marcos, noticing that some were feeling
disturbed, cleared away these clouds, promising that what they would
see should be good, and that he would place the army in a country
where their hands would be filled, & in this way he quieted them
so that they appeared well satisfied. From there the army marched to
Culiacan, making some detours into the country to seize provisions.
They were two leagues from the town of Culiacan at Easter vespers,
when the inhabitants came out to welcome their governor and begged
him not to enter the town till the day after Easter.
CHAPTER VIII.
Of how the army entered the town of Culiacan and the reception it
received, and other things which happened before the
departure.
WHEN the day after Easter came, the army started in the morning to go
to the town, and, as they approached, the inhabitants of the town
came out on to an open plain with foot and horse drawn up in ranks as
if for a battle, and having its seven bronze pieces of artillery in
position, making a show of defending their town. Some of our soldiers
were with them. Our army drew up in the same way and began a skirmish
with them, and after the artillery on both sides had been fired they
were driven back, just as if the town had been taken by force of
arms, which was a pleasant demonstration of welcome, except for the
artilleryman who lost a hand by a shot, from having ordered them to
fire before he had finished drawing out the ramrod.
After the town was taken, the army was well lodged and entertained by
the townspeople, who, as they were all very well-to-do people, took
all the gentlemen and people of quality who were with the army into
their own apartments, although they had lodgings prepared for them
all just outside the town. Some of the townspeople were not ill
repaid for this hospitality, because all had started with fine
clothes and accoutrements, & as they had to carry provisions on
their animals after this, they were obliged to leave their fine
stuff, so that many preferred giving it to their hosts instead of
risking it on the sea by putting it in the ship that had followed the
army along the coast to take the extra baggage, as I have said. After
they arrived and were being entertained in the town, the general, by
order of the viceroy Don Antonio, left Fernandarias de Saabedra,
uncle of Hernandarias de Saabedra, count of Castellar, formerly mayor
of Seville, as his lieutenant and captain in this town. The army
rested here several days, because the inhabitants had gathered a good
stock of provisions that year and each one shared his stock very
gladly with his guests from our army. They not only had plenty to eat
here, but they also had plenty to take away with them, so that when
the departure came they started off with more than six hundred loaded
animals, besides the friendly Indians and the servants -- more than a
thousand persons. After a fortnight had passed, the general started
ahead with about fifty horsemen and a few foot soldiers and most of
the Indian allies, leaving the army, which was to follow him a
fortnight later, with Don Tristan de Arellano in command as his
lieutenant.
At this time, before his departure, a pretty sort of thing happened
to the general, which I will tell for what it is worth. A young
soldier named Trugillo [Truxillo] pretended that he had seen a vision
while he was bathing in the river. Feigning that he did not want to,
he was brought before the general, whom he gave to understand that
the devil had told him that if he would kill the general, he could
marry his wife, Dona Beatris, and would receive great wealth and
other very fine things. Friar Marcos de Niza preached several sermons
on this, laying it all to the fact that the devil was jealous of the
good which must result from this journey and so wished to break it up
in this way. It did not end here, but the friars who were in the
expedition wrote to their monasteries about it, and this was the
reason the pulpits of Mexico proclaimed strange rumors about this
affair.
The general ordered Truxillo to stay in that town and not to go on
the expedition, which was what he was after when he made up that
falsehood, judging from what afterward appeared to be the truth. The
general started off with the force already described to continue his
journey, and the army followed him, as will be related.
CHAPTER IX.
Of how the army started from Culiacan and the arrival of the general
at Cibola and of the army at Senora and of other things that
happened.
THE general, as has been said, started to continue his journey from
the valley of Culiacan somewhat lightly equipped, taking with him the
friars, since none of them wished to stay behind with the army. After
they had gone three days, a regular friar who could say mass, named
Friar Antonio Victoria, broke his leg, and they brought him back from
the camp to have it doctored. He stayed with the army after this,
which was no slight consolation for all. The general and his force
crossed the country without trouble, as they found everything
peaceful, because the Indians knew Friar Marcos and some of the
others who had been with Melchior Diaz when he went with Juan de
Saldivar to investigate.
After the general had crossed the inhabited region and came to
Chichilticalli, where the wilderness begins, and saw nothing
favorable, he could not help feeling somewhat downhearted, for,
although the reports were very fine about what there was ahead, there
was nobody who had seen it except the Indians who went with the
negro, and these had already been caught in some lies. Besides all
this, he was much affected by seeing that the fame of Chichilticalli
was summed up in one tumble-down house without any roof, although it
appeared to have been a strong place at some former time when it was
inhabited, and it was very plain that it had been built by a
civilized and warlike race of strangers who had come from a distance.
This building was made of red earth. From here they went on through
the wilderness, and in fifteen days came to a river about eight
leagues from Cibola, which they called Red River, because its waters
were muddy and reddish. In this river they found mullets like those
of Spain. The first Indians from that country were seen here -- two
of them, who ran away to give the news. During the night following
the next day, about two leagues from the village, some Indians in a
safe place yelled so that, although the men were ready for anything,
some were so excited that they put their saddles on hind-side before;
but these were the new fellows. When the veterans had mounted and
ridden round the camp, the Indians fled. None of them could be caught
because they knew the country.
The next day they entered the settled country in good order, and when
they saw the first village, which was Cibola, such were the curses
that some hurled at Friar Marcos that I pray to God He may protect
him from them.
It is a little, crowded village, looking as if it had been crumpled
all up together. There are ranch houses in New Spain which make a
better appearance at a distance. It is a village of about 200
warriors, is three and four stories high, with the houses small and
having only a few rooms, and without a courtyard. One yard serves for
each section. The people of the whole district had collected here,
for there are seven villages in the province, and some of the others
are even larger and stronger than Cibola. These folk waited for the
army, drawn up by divisions in front of the village. When they
refused to have peace on the terms the interpreters extended to them,
but appeared defiant, the Santiago was given, and they were at once
put to flight. The Spaniards then attacked the village, which was
taken with not a little difficulty, since they held the narrow and
crooked entrance. During the attack they knocked the general down
with a large stone, and would have killed him but for Don Garcia
Lopez de Cardenas and Hernando de Alvarado, who threw themselves
above him and drew him away, receiving the blows of the stones, which
were not few. But the first fury of the Spaniards could not be
resisted, and in less than an hour they entered the village and
captured it. They discovered food there, which was the thing they
were most in need of. After this the whole province was at peace.
The army which had stayed with Don Tristan de Arellano started to
follow their general, all loaded with provisions, with lances on
their shoulders, and all on foot, so as to have the horses loaded.
With no slight labor from day to day, they reached a province which
Cabeza de Vaca had named Corazones [Hearts], because the people here
offered him many hearts of animals. He founded a town here and name
it San Hieronimo de los Corazones [Saint Jerome of the Hearts]. After
it had been started, it was seen that it could not be kept up here,
and so it was afterward transferred to a valley which had been called
Senora. The Spaniards call it Senora, and so it will be known by this
name.
From here a force went down the river to the seacoast to find the
harbor and to find out about the ships. Don Rodrigo Maldonado, who
was captain of those who went in search of the ships, did not find
them, but he brought back with him an Indian so large and tall that
the best man in the army reached only to his chest. It was said that
other Indians were even taller on that coast. After the rains ceased
the army went on to where the town of Senora was afterward located,
because there were provisions in that region, so that they were able
to wait there for orders from the general.
About the middle of the month of October Captains Melchior Diaz and
Juan Gallego came from Cibola, Juan Gallego on his way to New Spain
and Melchior Diaz to stay in the new town of Hearts, in command of
the men who remained there. He was to go along the coast in search of
ships.
CHAPTER X.
How the army started from Senora, & how it reached Cibola, &
of what happened to Captain Melchior Diaz and how he discovered the
Tison (Firebrand) River.
AFTER Melchior Diaz and Juan Gallego had arrived in the town of
Senora, it was announced that the army was to depart for Cibola; that
Melchior Diaz was to remain in charge of that town with 80 men; that
Juan Gallego was going to New Spain with messages for the viceroy,
and that Friar Marcos was going back with him, because he did not
think it was safe for him to stay in Cibola, seeing that his report
had turned out to be entirely false, because the kingdoms that he had
told about had not been found, nor the populous cities, nor the
wealth of gold, nor the precious stones which he had reported, nor
the fine clothes, nor other things that had been proclaimed from the
pulpits. When this had been announced, those who were to remain were
selected and the rest loaded their provisions and set off in good
order about the middle of September on the way to Cibola, following
their general.
Don Tristan de Arellano stayed in this new town with the weakest men,
and from this time on there was nothing but mutinies and strife,
because after the army had gone Captain Melchior Diaz took 25 of the
most efficient men, leaving in his place one Diego de Alcaraz, a man
unfitted to have people under his command. He took guides and went
toward the north & west in search of the seacoast. After going
about 150 leagues, they came to a province of exceedingly tall and
strong men -- like giants. They are naked and live in large straw
cabins built under ground like smoke houses, with only the straw roof
over ground. They enter these at one end and come out at the other.
More than a hundred persons, old and young, sleep in one cabin. When
they carry anything, they can take a load of more than three or four
hundred-weight on their heads. Once when our men wished to fetch a
log for the fire, and six men were unable to carry it, one of these
Indians is reported to have come and raised it in his arms, put it on
his head alone, and carried it very easily. They eat bread cooked in
the ashes, as big as the large two-pound loaves of Castile. On
account of the great cold, they carry a firebrand (tison) in the hand
when they go from one place to another, with which they warm the
other hand and the body as well, & in this way they keep shifting
it every now and then. On this account the large river which is in
the country was called Rio del Tison [Firebrand River]. It is a very
great river and is more than two leagues wide at its mouth; here it
is half a league across. Here the captain heard that there had been
ships at a point three days down toward the sea. When he reached the
place where the ships had been, which was more than fifteen leagues
up the river from the mouth of the harbor, they found written on a
tree: "Alarcon reached this place; there are letters at the foot of
this tree." He dug up the letters and learned from them how long
Alarcon had waited for news of the army and that he had gone back
with the ships to New Spain, because he was unable to proceed
farther, since this sea was a bay, which was formed by the Isle of
the Marquis, which is called California, and it was explained that
California was not an island, but a point of the mainland forming the
other side of that gulf.
After he had seen this, the captain turned back to go up the river,
without going down to the sea to find a ford by which to cross to the
other side, so as to follow the other bank. After they had gone five
or six days, it seemed to them as if they could cross on rafts. For
this purpose they called together a large number of the natives, who
were waiting for a favorable opportunity to make an attack on our
men, and when they saw that the strangers wanted to cross, they
helped make the rafts with all zeal & diligence, so as to catch
them in this way on the water and drown them or else so divide them
that they could not help one another. While the rafts were being
made, a soldier who had been out around the camp saw a large number
of armed men go across to a mountain, where they were waiting till
the soldiers should cross the river. He reported this, and an Indian
was quietly shut up, in order to find out the truth, and when they
tortured him he told all the arrangements that had been made. These
were, that when our men were crossing and part of them had got over
and part were on the river and part were waiting to cross, those who
were on the rafts should drown those they were taking across and the
rest of their force should make an attack on both sides of the river.
If they had had as much discretion and courage as they had strength
and power, the attempt would have succeeded.
When he knew their plan, the captain had the Indian who had confessed
the affair killed secretly, and that night he was thrown into the
river with a weight, so that the Indians would not suspect that they
found out. The next day they noticed that our men suspected them, and
so they made an attack, shooting showers of arrows, but when the
horses began to catch up with them and the lances wounded them
without mercy and the musketeers likewise made good shots, they had
to leave the plain and take to the mountain, until not a man of them
was to be seen. The force then came back and crossed all right, the
Indian allies and the Spaniards going across on the rafts and the
horses swimming alongside the rafts, where we will leave them to
continue their journey.
To relate how the army that was on its way to Cibola got on:
Everything went along in good shape, since the general had left
everything peaceful, because he wished the people in that region to
be contented and without fear and willing to do what they were
ordered. In a province called Vacapan there was a large quantity of
prickly pears, of which the natives make a great deal of preserves.
They gave this preserve away freely, and as the men of the army ate
much of it, they all fell sick with a headache and fever, so that the
natives might have done much harm to the force if they had wished.
This lasted regularly twenty-four hours. After this they continued
their march until they reached Chichilticalli. The men in the advance
guard saw a flock of sheep one day after leaving this place. I myself
saw and followed them. They had extremely large bodies and longwool;
their horns were very thick and large, and when they run they throw
back their heads and put their horns on the ridge of their back. They
are used to the rough country, so that we could not catch them and
had to leave them.
Three days after we entered the wilderness we found a horn on the
bank of a river that flows in the bottom of a very steep, deep gully,
which the general had noticed and left there for his army to see, for
it was six feet long and as thick at the base as a man's thigh. It
seemed to be more like the horn of a goat than of any other animal.
It was something worth seeing. The army proceeded and was about a
day's march from Cibola when a very cold tornado came up in the
afternoon, followed by a great fall of snow, which was a bad
combination for the carriers. The army went on till it reached some
caves in a rocky ridge, late in the evening. The Indian allies who
were from New Spain, and for the most part from warm countries, were
in great danger. They felt the coldness of that day so much that it
was hard work the next day taking care of them, for they suffered
much pain and had to be carried on the horses, the soldiers walking.
After this labor the army reached Cibola, where their general was
waiting for them, with their quarters all ready, and here they were
reunited, except some captains and men who had gone off to discover
other provinces.
The Journey of
Coronado continued
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