32 BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY [bull. 73 
been given by PetM- Marytr, 1 Gomara, 2 Oviedo,' and Herrera, 4 and 
in more recent times by Navarrete, 5 Henry Harrisse, 6 John Gilmary 
Shea, 7 and Woodbury Lowery. 8 That of Shea is based largely on 
original manuscripts, and, as it contains all of the essential facts, I 
will quote it in full. 
In 1520 Lucas Vasquez de Ayllon, one of the auditors of the Island of St. Domingo, 
though possessed of wealth, honors, and domestic felicity, aspired to the glory of 
discovering some new land, and making it the seat of a prosperous colony. Having 
secured the necessary license, he despatched a caravel under the command of Fran- 
cisco Gordillo, with directions to sail northward through the Bahamas, and thence 
strike the shore of the continent. Gordillo set out on his exploration, and near the 
Island of Lucayoneque, one of the Lucayuelos, descried another caravel. His pilot, 
Alonzo Fernandez Sotil, proceeded toward it in a boat, and soon recognized it as a 
caravel commanded by a kinsman of his, Pedro de Quexos, fitted out in part, though 
not avowedly, by Juan Ortiz de Matienzo, an auditor associated with Ayllon in the 
judiciary. This caravel was returning from an unsuccessful cruise among the Bahamas 
for Caribs — the object of the expedition being to capture Indians in order to sell them 
as slaves. On ascertaining the object of Gordillo's voyage, Quexos proposed that 
they should continue the exploration together. After a sail of eight or nine days, in 
which they ran little more than a hundred leagues, they reached the coast of the 
continent at the mouth of a considerable river, to which they gave the name of St. 
John the Baptist, from the fact that they touched the coast on the day set apart to 
honor the Precursor of Christ. The year was 1521, and the point reached was, accord- 
ing to the estimate of the explorers, in latitude 33° 30'. 
Boats put off from the caravels and landed some twenty men on the shore; and 
while the ships endeavored to enter the river, these men were surrounded by Indians, 
whose good-will they gained by presents. 
Some days later, Gordillo formally took possession of the country in the name of 
Ayllon, and of his associate Diego Caballero, and of the King, as Quexos did also in 
the name of his employers on Sunday, June 30, 1521. Crosses were cut on the trunks 
of trees to mark the Spanish occupancy. 
Although Ayllon had charged Gordillo to cultivate friendly relations with the 
Indians of any new land he might discover, Gordillo joined with Quexos in seizing 
some seventy of the natives, with whom they sailed away, without any attempt to 
make an exploration of the coast. 
On the return of the vessel to Santo Domingo, Ayllon condemned his captain's 
act; and the matter was brought before a commission, presided over by Diego Colum- 
bus, for the consideration of some important affairs. The Indians were declared free, 
and it was ordered that they should be restored to their native land at the earliest 
possible moment. Meanwhile they were to remain in the hands of Ayllon and Ma- 
tienzo. 7 
Another account of this expedition is given by Peter Martyr, 1 
from whom Gomara and nearly all subsequent writers copied it. 
i Peter Martyr, De Orbe Novo,n, pp. 255-271. 
J Gomara, Hist, de las Indias, p. 32 
3 Ovicdo, Hist. Gen. ,m, pp. 624-633. 
• Herrera, Hist. Gen., i, pp. 259-261. 
' Navarrete,Col.,m,pp. 69-74. 
« Harrisse, Disc, of N. Amer., pp. 198-213 
' In Winsor, Narr. and Crit. Hist. Amer., ii, pp. 238-241. 
e Lowery, Span. Settl., 1513-1561, pp. 153-157, 160-168. 
