A.D. 



1539- 



THE ENGLISH VOYAGES 



he dyeth. Where he continueth so quietly without 

 being bound, as though hee did something, wherein he 

 tooke great pleasure. And they say that hee is a 

 Saint, and doe worshippe him for that yeere, and sing 

 prayses, and Hymnes unto him, and afterward set up 

 his head with the rest in order within those windowes. 

 Also they sacrifice their prisoners, whom they burne in 

 another deeper ditch, and not with the foresayde cere- 

 monies. The Spanyards which are in Xalisco write, 

 that having good assistance, they hope that those people 

 will become Christians. The Countrey is very good and 

 fruitfull, and hath great store of good and wholesome 

 waters. 



A Letter of Francis Vazquez de Coronado, 

 Governour of Nueva Galicia, to the lord 

 Don Antonio de Mendofa, Viceroy of 

 Nueva Espanna. Dated in Saint Michael of 

 Culiacan the 8. of March, 1539. 



Of the hard passage from Saint Michael of Culiacan to 

 Topira. The description of that Province, and of 

 another neere unto the same, very rich in gold and 

 precious stones. The number of the people which 

 Vazquez caried with him in his journey thither ; and 

 how greatly Frier Marcus of Ni9a is honoured by the 

 Indians of Petatlan. 



Y the helpe of God I meane to set forward 

 from this City of S. Michael of Culiacan 

 toward Topira the 10. of April : neither 

 can I any sooner set forward, because the 

 powder and match which your Lordship 

 sendeth mee, cannot be brought thither 

 before that time, and I thinke it be now 

 in Compostella. Besides this, I am to passe many 

 leagues over mightie high mountaines, which reach up to 

 the skyes, and over a River, which at this present is so 

 bigge and swolne, that it can in no place be waded over. 



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