HISTORY OF CALIFORNIA. 11 



fertile, and afford good pasture for cattle; but the 

 remainder of the region between the maritime and 

 the Colorado ranges of mountains is a barren waste 

 of sand. 



CHAPTER II. 



DISCOVERY OF CALIFORNIA. 



The first exploration of the Pacific coasts of North 

 America was made by the Spaniards, in the sixteenth 

 century. After Hernando Cortes had completed the 

 conquest of Mexico, he commenced exploring the ad- 

 joining seas and countries ; no doubt, with the hope 

 of discovering lands richer than those which he had 

 conquered, and which would afford new fields for the 

 exercise of his daring enterprise and undaunted per- 

 severance. He employed vessels in surveying the 

 coasts of the Mexican Gulf, and of the Atlantic more 

 northerly. Vessels were built upon the Pacific coast 

 for like purposes, two of which as early as 1526, 

 were sent to the East Indies. 



The first expedition of the Spaniards, sent along 

 the western coast of Mexico, was conducted by Pedro 

 Nunez de Maldonado, an officer under Cortes. He 

 sailed from the mouth of the Zacatula River, in July, 

 1528, and was six months engaged in surveying the 

 shores from his starting-place to the mouth of the 

 Santiago River, a hundred leagues farther north-west. 

 The territory he visited was then called Xalisco, and 

 inhabited by fierce tribes of men who had never been 



