16 HISTORY OF CALIFORNIA. 



officers of the viceroy. The fate of the remaining 

 vessel is uncertain. Some of the writers of that day. 

 asserting that he continued his voyage as far north as 

 the 30° of latitude, and returned safely to Mexico; 

 while one asserts that nothing more was heard of him 

 after the return of the vessel he senl back. 



In the mean time, the two friars and the Moor 

 penetrated a considerable distance into the interior of 

 the continent, and sent home glowing accounts of rich 

 and delightful countries which they said they had dis- 

 covered. The inhabitants had, at first, been hostile, 

 and had killed the Moor ; but in the end submitted to 

 the authority of the King of Spain. Mendoza, be- 

 lieving the accounts of the friars to be strictly true, 

 prepared an expedition for the conquest of the coun- 

 tries they described. Disputes with the different 

 Spanish chieftains occupied some months, at the end 

 of which Cortes returned to Spain, in disgust. Men- 

 doza despatched two bodies of troops, one by land, 

 the other by sea, to reconnoitre the newly discovered 

 land, and clear the way for conquest. The marine 

 expedition was undertaken by two ships, under the 

 command of Fernando de Alarcon, who sailed from 

 Santiago on the 9th of May, 1540, and proceeding 

 north-west along the coast, he reached the head of the 

 California Gulf, in August of the same year. There 

 he discovered the river now called the Colorado. 

 The stream was ascended to the distance of eighty 

 leagues, by Alarcon and some of his men, in boats ; 

 but all their inquiries were unsatisfactorily answered, 

 and it was determined to return to Mexico. The ves- 

 sels returned safely before the end of the year. 



The land forces sent, at the same time, to the north- 

 west, were composed of infantry and cavalry, and 



