324 coRON ado's march. 



Mexico in the be^uning of April, 1542. He returned by the way of 

 Cibola and Chichiltieale, as he had come. At length, after skirmishing 

 with the Indians, in which a number of their men and horses were killed, 

 the army reached Culiacan. From this place Coronado 'departed for the 

 city of Mexico, to make his report to the viceroy, only about one hun- 

 dred of his army continuing with him, " Castaueda says' he was badly 

 received by the viceroy, who nevertheless gave him a discharge; yet he 

 lost his, reputation and soon after his government of K ew Galicia also."* 

 Thus ended this great expedition, which for extent in distance trav- 

 eled, duration in time,Aextending from the spring of 1540 to the summer 

 of 1542, or more than two years, and the multiplicity of its cooperating 

 branch explorations, equaled, if it did not exceed, any land exijedition 

 that has been undertaken in modern times. 



Having given a general account of the routes pursued by Coronado 

 and his army and of the track of the transport vessels under Alar- 

 con, I will now proceed to fix definitely, so far as I have been enabled, 

 the position of the several important places mentioned by Castaiieda 

 and other chroniclers. 



The first important point after leaving the city of Mexico is Compos- 

 tella, where the army rendezvoused preparatory to its setting out on its 

 expedition. This point reached, the army, in an organized condition, 

 took up its line of march along the foot of the west base of the Sierra 

 Nevada in the direction, west of north, as far as Sonora, on the Sonora 

 Eiver ; from this place its course was most in'obably more directly 

 towards Chichiltieale, or northerly, through the mountains, as far as 

 the plains of the lower portion of the Eio Santa Cruz, over which it 

 continued its march to Chichiltieale. 



The towns of Compostella, Culiacan, Cinaloa, and Sonora, points of 

 the routes, are laid down from the " military map of the United States," 

 recently issued from the office of the Chief of Engineers United States 

 War Department. The other i)oints are laid down from data obtained 

 as follows: Chiametla, from "American Atlas, by Mr. Thomas Jeffreys, 

 London, A. D. 1775;" Petatlan,30 leagues north of Culiacan accordiug 

 to Castaiieda,t and four days' journey accordiug to Jaramillo.f 



With regard to the position of the town of Corazones, it is difficult, on 

 account of the vagueness of the narratives of Jaramillo and Coronado, to 

 fix it. Jaramillo speaks of it as having been situated about five days' 

 journey northwardly from the Yaquemi Eiver, and conveys the idea 

 that it" was near or on the Eio Sonora.§ Castaiieda says, " in the lower 

 part of the valley of Sonora is that of the Corazones, inhabited by 

 Spaniards." II Again, "Don Tristan decided to found and colonize a 

 town called San Hieronimo de los Corazones ; but seeing that it could not 

 prosper in this valley, he transferred it to a place called Senora, 



*CastauecTa's Relations, Teruaux Compaus, p. 227. Gomora says, " It grieved Don 

 Antonio de Mendoga very mncli that the army returned home, for he had spent about 

 three-score thousand pesos of gold in tlie enterprise and owed a great part thereof still. 

 Many sought to have dwelt there, but Francisco Vasquez de Coronado, Avho was rich 

 and lately married a fair wife, would not consent, saying that they could not maintain 

 nor defend themselves in so i)oor a country and so far from succor. They traveled 

 about 900 leagues in this country." (The rest of the voyage to Acuco, Tiguex, Cicuic, 

 and Quivira, from the General History of the West Indies, by Francis Loi)ez de Gomora, 

 as quoted by Hakluyt, vol. iii.) 



t Castaiieda's Eolations, Ternaux Compans, p. 223. 



t Jaramillo's Relations, p. 365. 



^ Jaramillo's Relations, Ternaux Compans, p. 366. 



II Castaiieda's Relations, p. 157. 



