winship] NIZA AND ESTEVAN 355 



also, the loss of the similar instructions which Coronado must have 

 received when he started on his journey in the following February. 1 



Friar Marcos, accompanied by a lay brother, Friar Onorato, accord- 

 ing to Mendoza's "premiere lettre," left Culiacan on March 7, 1539. 

 Coronado, now acting as governor of New (ialicia, had escorted them 

 as far as this town and had assured a quiet journey for a part of the 

 way beyond by sending in advance six Indians, natives of this region, 

 who had been "kept at Mexico to become proficient in the Spanish 

 language and attached to the ways of the Christians." 2 The friars 

 proceeded to Petatlan, where Friar Onorato fell sick, so that it was 

 necessary to leave him behind. During the rest of the journey, Friar 

 Marcos was the only white man in the party, which consisted of the 

 negro Estevan, the Indian interpreters, and a large body of natives who 

 followed him from the different villages near which he passed. The 

 friar continued his journey to " Vacapa," which Mr Bandelier identi- 

 fies with the Budeve settlement of Matapa in central Sonora, where he 

 arrived two days before Passion Sunday, which in 1539 fell on March 23. 3 

 At this place he waited until April 6, in order to send to the seacoast 

 and summon some Indians, from whom he hoped to secure further 

 information about the pearl islands of which Cabeza de Yaca had 

 heard. 



The negro Estevan had been ordered by the viceroy to obey Friar 

 Marcos in everything, under pain of serious punishment. While the friar 

 was waiting at Vacapa, he sent the negro toward the north, instruct- 

 ing him to proceed 50 or 60 leagues and see if he could find anything 

 which might help them in their search. If he found any signs of a 

 rich and populous country, it was agreed that he was not to advance 

 farther, but should return to meet the friar, or else wait where he heard 

 the good news, sending some Indian messengers back to the friar, with 

 a white cross the size of the palm of his hand. If the news was very 

 promising, the cross was to be twice this size, and if the country about 

 which he heard promised to be larger and better than New Spain, a 

 cross still larger than this was to be sent back. Castaneda preserves 

 a story that Estevan was sent ahead, not only to explore and pacify 

 the country, but also because he did not get on well with his superior, 

 who objected to his eagerness in collecting the turquoises and other 

 things which the natives prized and to the moral effect of his relations 

 with the women who followed him from the tribes which they met on 

 their way. Friar Marcos says nothing about this in his narrative, but 

 he had different and much more important ends to accomplish by his 

 report, compared with those of CastaiSeda, who may easily have gathered 

 the gossip from some native. 



•The instructions given to Friar Marcos have been translated l>y Bandelier in his Contributions, 

 p. 109. The best account of Friar Marcos and 1j is explorations is given in that volume. 



^Herrera, Historia General, dec. vi, lib. vii, eap.vii. 



3 Bandelier, in hia Contributions, p. 122, says this was ''about the middle of April," but his chro- 

 nology at this point must be at fault. 



