312 COEONADO'S MARCH. 



sounded with the marvels of discoveries to such an extent that in a few 

 days three hundred Spaniards and eight hundred Indians were assem- 

 bled for the enterprise. Among the former were a great many gentle- 

 men of good family, and probably there never had been an expedition 

 ill which there was such a large proportion of persons of noble birth. 

 Francisco Yasquez de Coronado, the governor of New Galicia, was pro- 

 claimed captain general, because he was the author of the discovery, 

 and the Viceroy Mendo^a did all he could to foster the enterprise. 



Believing that if the army marched from the city of Mexico in a body 

 the Indian allies would i)rol)ably suffer, the viceroy appointed the town 

 of Compostella, capital of New Galicia, one hundred and ten leagues 

 from Mexico, as the place, and Shrove Tuesday, 1540,* the time of ren- 

 dezvous. The troops having left Mexico, he ordered Don Pedro d' Alar- 

 con to tiepart for La Nativitad, on the coasts of the " Southern Sea," and 

 with two vessels to go to Jalisco to take the supplies which the soldiers 

 could not transport. After performing that duty he was to follow the 

 march of the army along the coast, for it was believed, according to the 

 then received accounts, that the army would never be distant from the 

 vessels, and would always be in easy communication with them by 

 means of the rivers.t 



All these dispositions having been made, the viceroy departed for 

 Compostella with a large body of gentlefolks. Everywhere he was re- 

 ceived with great eclatj and when he reached Compostella he found the 

 army well lodged and entertained by Christoval d'Ouate, captain general 

 of that country. 



He reviewed the troops, by whom he was received with great rejoic- 

 ing, and the next day after mass harangued them. He told them of 

 their duties and of the advantageous result that this conquest would 

 produce, not only on their fortunes, but by the conversion of the nations 

 they would conquer, as well as for the service of his Majesty, who on 

 his side i)romised them his bounty and additional favors. Finally he 

 caused every one to be sworn on a missal containing the Holy Evangels 

 not to abandon their general and to obey all his commands. 



The next day the army with banners flying took up the line of march. 

 For two days the viceroy accompanied it, and then returned to Mexico. 

 No sooner, however, had the viceroj' left the army than it began to ex- 

 perience all the hardships incident to a wild, mountainous country. The 

 baggage had to be transported on horses, and, as many soldiers had 

 never been accustomed to load them, they made sorry work of it. The 

 consequence was that a great deal of their baggage was abandoned, and 

 in order to get along at all many a gentleman had to become a mule- 

 teer, and they who shirked from this necessary labor were regarded by 

 their companions as lacking spirit. 



Coronado arriving at Cliiametta with his army, met at that point 

 Captains Melchior Diaz and Juan de Saldibar, who with a dozen reso- 

 lute men, by Coronado's orders, had explored the country as far as Chi- 

 chilticale, which is on the border of the desert and two hundred leagues 

 from Culiacan.| These officers gaxe in secret to the general such a dole- 



* Castaueda's Relations, Teruaux Compaus, p. 24. Castaiieda says 1541, but, as Ter- 

 naiix Compans has remarked iu a note, he evidently must have made a mistake, for the 

 letter of the viceroy to the Emperor Charles V, reporting the organization and xirogress 

 of the expedition, hears date April 17, 1540. 



t According to " Los Tres Siglos de Mexico, torn. I, Mexico, 1836," p. 129, "Meudoga 

 dispatched Alarcou, with t^vvo ships, to observe the coast as far as the 36th degree of. 

 latitude, with instructions to make frequent embarkations and to join the army at that 

 height." 



t Castaneda gives in one place two hundred leagues as the distance ; and in another, 

 two hundred and twenty leagues. See his Kel. Ternaux Comi^aus' Col., pj). 12, 29. 



