350 THE CORONADO EXPEDITION, 1540-1542 [eth.ann.14 



riences, but the story contained little to arouse the eager interest of 

 tbe colonists in New Spain, whose minds had been stirred by the 

 accounts winch came from Peru telling of the untold wealth of the 

 Incas. A few things, however, had been seen and heard by the wan- 

 derers which suggested the possibility of lands worth conquering. "A 

 copper hawks-bell, thick and large, iigured with a face," had been given 

 to Cabeza de Vaca, soon after lie started on his journey toward Mexico. 

 The natives who gave this to him said that they had received it from 

 other Indians, -'who had brought it from the north, where there was 

 much copper, which was highly esteemed." After the travelers had 

 crossed the Eio Grande, they showed this bell to some other Indians, 

 who said that " there were many plates of this same metal buried in 

 the ground in the place whence it had come, and that it was a thing 

 which they esteemed highly, and that there were fixed habitations 

 where it came from." ' This was all the treasure which Cabeza de Vaca 

 could say that he had seen. He had heard, however, of a better region 

 than any he saw, for the Indians told him "that there are pearls and 

 great riches on the coast of the South sea (the Pacific), and all the 

 best and most opulent countries are near there." We may be sure that 

 none of this was omitted whenever he told the Spanish colonists the 

 story of the years of his residence in Texas and of the months of his 

 journey across northern Mexico. 2 



THE GOVERNORS OF NEW SPAIN, 1530-1537 



Don Antonio de Mendoza, "the good viceroy," had been at the head 

 of the government of New Spain for two years when Cabeza de Vaca 

 arrived in Mexico. The effects of his careful and intelligent adminis- 

 tration were already beginning to appear in the increasing prosperity 

 of the province and the improved condition of the colonists and of 

 their lands. The authority of the viceroy was ample and extensive, 

 although he was limited to some extent by the audiencia, the members of 

 which had administered the government of the province since the retire- 

 ment of Cortes. The viceroy was the president of this court, which had 

 resumed more strictly judicial functions after his arrival, and he was 

 officially advised by his instructions from the King to consult with his 

 fellow members on all matters of importance. 



Nutio de Guzman departed for New Spain in 1528, and became the 

 head of the first audiencia. Within a year he had made himself so 

 deservedly unpopular that when he heard that Cortes was coming back 

 to Mexico from Spain, with the new title of marquis and fresh grants 

 of power from the King, he thought it best to get out of the way of his 

 rival. Without relinquishing the title to his position in the capital 



1 See Buckingham Smith's translation of Cabeza de Vaoa's Narrative, p. 150. 



2 The effect of the stories told by Cabeza de Vaca, and later by Friar Marcos, is considered in a paper 

 printed in the Proceedings of the American Historical Association at Washington, 1894, " Why Coro- 

 nado went to New Mexico in 1540." 



