HISTORY OF CALIFORNIA. 



13 



the command of Hernando Grijalva and Diego Be- 

 cerra, in search of the other. These ships sailed on 

 the 30th of September, 1533, but were soon sepa 

 rated. Grijalva discovered the islands of St. Thomas, 

 as he called them a group of islands about fifty 

 leagues from the coast. He remained there till the 

 following spring, and then returned home. Becerra 

 proceeded north-westward ; but his crew mutinied, 

 and he was murdered by Fortuno Ximenes. The 

 mutineers, under Ximenes, then steered directly west 

 from the main land, and soon reached a coast not 

 known to them before. They landed, and soon after 

 Ximenes and nineteen men were killed by the na 

 tives. The rest of the men carried the vessel over 

 to Xalisco, where she was seize4 by Nuno de Guz 

 man. 



Soon after these unlucky expeditions, Nuno de 

 Guzman sent out several exploring parties in a north 

 erly direction, one of which traced the western shore 

 as far as the mouth of the Colorado, and brought back 

 accounts of a rich and populous country and splendid 

 cities in the interior. When Cortes became acquainted 

 with the seizure of his vessels, a dispute arose be 

 tween him and Nuno de Guzman, which almost led to 

 a battle between their forces. But no action oc 

 curred, and Cortes, having heard of the newly disco 

 vered country, which was said to abound in the finest 

 pearls, embarked at Chiametla, with a portion of his 

 men, and set sail for the new land of promise. On 

 the 3d of May, 1535, the day of the Invention of the 

 Holy Cross, according to the Roman Catholic Calen 

 dar, Cortes arrived in the bay where Ximenes and 

 his fellow-mutineers had met their fate in the previous 

 year. In honor of the day, the place was called 



2 



