338 CORONADO'S MARCH. 



Coronado's description of the region is as follows: "The province of 

 Quivira is 950 leagues (3,230 miles) from Mexico. The place I have 

 reached is the 40 of latitude. The earth is the best possible for all 

 kinds of productions of Spain, for while it is very strong and black, it 

 is very well watered by brooks, springs, and rivers. I found prunes 

 like those of Spain, some of which were black, also some excellent grapes 

 and mulberries."* 



Jaramillo, who accompanied Coronado to Quivira, speaking of this 

 region, says : " This country (Quivira) has a superb appearance, and 

 such that'l have not seen better in all of Spain, neither in Italy nor 

 France, nor in any other country where I have been in the service of 

 your Majesty. It is not a country of mountains ; there are only some 

 hills, some plains, and some streams of very tine water, (des ruis-seaux 

 de fort belle eau.) It satisfied me completely. I presume that it is very 

 fertile and favorable for the cultivation of all kinds of fruits."t 



In another portion of his Kelatious he mentions having crossed a 

 large river, to which they gave the name of " Saint Peter and Saint 

 Paul," which very probably was the Arkansas, and after traveling sev- 

 eral days farther north, they came to the province of Quivira, where 

 they learned that there was a still larger river farther on, to which they 

 gave the name of "Teucarea," and which I believe to have been the 

 Missouri.! 



Again, Castafieda says : " It is in this country (that of Quivira) that 

 the Espiritu Sancto, (Mississippi,) which Don Fernando de Soto discov- 

 ered in -Florida, takes its source. * * * * The course of this river 

 is so long, and it receives so many affluents, that it is of prodigious 

 length to where it debouches into the sea, and its fresh waters extend 

 far out after you have lost sight of the land." 



All the authors who have written on this subject seem to have 

 discredited Coronado's report that he explored northwardly as far as 

 the 40 of north latitude ; but not only do the reports of Castafieda and 

 Jaramillo bear him out in his statement, but the peculiar description of 

 the country as given by them all namely, that it was exceedingly rich ; 

 its soil blade; that it bore, spontaneously, grapes and prunes, (wild 

 plums;) was watered by many streams of pure water, &c.; and the cir- 

 cumstance of this kind of country not being found anywhere in the 

 probable direction of Coronado's route, except across the Arkansas 

 and on the headwaters of the Arkansas Elver; all this, together with 

 the allusion to a large river, the " Saint Peter and Saint Paul," (proba- 

 bly the Arkansas,) which they crossed before reaching Quivira, in lati- 



* Following the orders of your Majesty (Don Antonio de Meudof a,) I have observed the 

 best possible treatment toward the natives of this province, and of all others that I 

 have traversed. They have nothing to complain of me or my people. I sojourned 

 twenty-five days in the province of Qnivira, as rnuch to thoroughly explore the country 

 as to see if I could not find some further occasion to serve your Majesty, for the guides 

 whom I brought with me have spoken of provinces situated still farther on. That 

 which I have been able to learn is, that in all this country one can iind neither gold 

 nor any other metal. They spoke to me of small villages, whose inhabitants for the 

 most part do not cultivate the soil. They have huts of hides and of willows, and 

 change their places of abode with the vachex (buffaloes.) The tale they told me then 

 (that Quivira was a city of extraordinary buildings and full of gold) was false. In 

 inducing me to part with all my army to come to this country, the Indians thought 

 that the country being desert and without water, they would conduct us into places 

 where our horses and ourselves would die of hunger; that is what the guides have 

 confessed. They told that they had acted by the advice of the natives of these coun- 

 tries. (Corouado's Relations, Ternaux Compans, pp. 360, 361.) 



t Jaramillo's Relations, Ternaux Compans, p. 378. 



t Jaramillo's Relations, Teruaux Compans, pp. 375, 377. 



Castaueda's Relations, Teruaux Compans, p. 195. 



