368 THE CORONADO EXPEDITION, 1540-1542 [eth.ann.h 



the tacts, and that the accusations were made before anyone knew how 

 little basis there was for the stories which were the cause of the whole 

 trouble. Without trying to clear the character of Cortes, it is possible 

 to suggest the answer to the most evident reply to his accusations — 

 that he never published the stories which he says he received from the 

 Indians. Cortes certainly did persist iu his endeavors to explore the 

 country lying about the head of the Gulf of California. If he ever 

 heard from the Indians anything concerning the Cibola region — which 

 is doubtful, partly because Cortes himself complains that if Mendoza 

 had not interfered with the efficiency of his expeditions, he would have 

 secured this information — it would still have been the best policy for 

 Cortes to keep the knowledge to himself, so that possible rivals might 

 remain ignorant of it until he had perfected his own plans. It may be 

 questioned how long such secrecy would have been possible, but we 

 know how successfully the Spanish authorities managed to keep from 

 the rest of the world the correct and complete cartographical informa- 

 tion as to what was being accomplished iu the New World, throughout 

 the period of exploration and conquest. 



The truce — it can hardly be called a friendship — between Mendoza 

 and Cortes, which prevailed during the first years of the viceroy's admin- 

 istration, could not last long. Mendoza, as soon as he was fairly set- 

 tled in his position in New Spain, 1 asked the King for a license to make 

 explorations. Cortes still looked on every rival in the work of extend- 

 ing this portion of the Spanish world as an interloper, even though he 

 must have recognized that his prestige at the court and in the New 

 World was rapidly lessening. The distrust with which each of the two 

 regarded the other increased the trouble which was inevitable so soon 

 as the viceroy, urged on by the audiencia, undertook to execute the 

 royal orders which instructed him to investigate the extent of the 

 estates held by Cortes, and to enumerate the Indians held to service by 

 the conqueror. Bad feeling was inevitable, and the squabbles over 

 forms of address and of precedence, which Suarez de Peralta records, 

 were only a few of many things which reveal the relations of the two 

 leading men in New Spain. 



liable coninigo . . . 6 yo le di noticia de esta dicha tierra y descubriniiento de ella, porque tenia 

 determinacion de enviarlo en mis navios en prosegaimiento y conquista de la dicha costa y tierra, porq ue 

 parescia que ae le entendia algo de cosas de navegacion : el eual dicho fraile lo comunic6 con el dicho 

 visorey, y con su licencia diz que fue por tierra en demanda de la lnisma costa y tierra que yo liabia 

 descubierto, y que era y es de nii conquista ; y despues que volvio el dicho fraile ha publicado que diz 

 que llego a Tista de la dicha tierra; lo cual yo niego haber el visto ni descubierto, antes lo que el dicho 

 l'raih- retiere haber visto, lo ha dicho y dice por sola la relacion que yo le habia hecho de la noticia que 

 tenia de los indios de la dicha tierra de Santa Cruz que yo truje, porque todo lo que el dicho fraile se 

 dice que refiere, es lo lnisnio que los dichos indios a mi me dijeron ; y en haberse en esto adelantado el 

 dicho Fray Marcos tingienuo y refiriendo lo que no sabe ni vi6, no hizo cosa nueva, porque otras 

 muchas voces loha hecho y lo tiene por costumbre como es notorio en las provincias del Peru y Guate- 

 mala, y se dan! de ello informacion bastante luego en esta corte, siendo necesario." 



lr The request occurs in the earliest letters from the viceroy, and is repeated in that of December 

 10, 1537. This privilege was withdrawn from all governors in the colonies by one of the New Laws of 

 1543. (Icazbalceta, Col. Hist. Mexico, ii, 204.) The ill success of Coronado's efforts did not weaken 

 Mendoza's desire to enlarge his territory, for he begs his agent in Spain, Juan de Aguilar, to secure 

 for him a fresh grant of the privilege in a later letter. (Pacheco y Cardenas, Doc. de Indias, vol. iii, 

 p. 506; B.Smith, Florida, p. 7.) 



