winship] EXPEDITION OF DE SOTO 371 



documents concerning the litigation, so far as they have been printed. 1 

 Petitions, testimony, narratives of explorations and discoveries, acts 

 taking possession of new lands, notifications and decisions, appeals 

 and countercharges, were filed and referred, each claimant watching his 

 rivals so closely and objecting to their claims so strenuously that the 

 fiscal, Villalobos, in his report on the case, May 25, 1540, gives as one of 

 the most conclusive reasons in favor of the advice which he offers to the 

 Council, that each of the parties has clearly proved that none of the 

 others have any right to claim a share in the newly discovered region 

 by virtue of any grants, licenses, or achievements whatsoever. 



Of the various claimants, the representative of the adelautado Her- 

 nando De Soto offered perhaps the best argument. The territory 

 granted to De Soto extended on the west to the Rio de las Palmas, and 

 this grant was the same as that previously made to Narvaez. The dis- 

 covery had grown out of the expedition of Narvaez, to whose rights 

 De Soto had succeeded, through the reports which Cabeza de Vaca 

 carried to New Spain. The newly discovered region was evidently 

 inland, and this fact disposed of the two prominent rivals, Cortes and 

 Alvarado. The adelautado had expended large sums in preparing for 

 this undertaking — a claim advanced with equal vigor by all the par- 

 ties, and usually supported by specific accounts, which unfortunately 

 are not printed — and it was only right that he should be given every 

 opportunity to reap the full advantage from these outlays. Most impor- 

 tant of all was the fact that De Soto was already in the country north 

 of the gulf, in command of a large and well equipped force, and pre- 

 sumably on his way toward the region about which they were disputing. 

 Because De Soto was there, urged his representative with strong and 

 persistent emphasis, all other exploring expeditions ought to be kept 

 away. It was clearly probable that great and notorious scandals would 

 ensue unless this was guarded against, just as had happened in Peru. 

 If this precaution was not taken, and two expeditions representing 

 conflicting interests should be allowed to come together in the country 

 beyond the reach of the royal restraint, many lives would inevitably be 

 lost and great damage be done to the Spaniards, and to the souls of 

 the Indians as well, while the enlargement of the royal patrimony 

 would be hindered. 2 



Cortes reached Spain some time in April, 1540, 3 and was able to direct 

 his case in person for much of the time. He urged the priority of his 



•These documents till 108 pages in volume xv of the Pacheco y Cardenas Docunientos de Indias. 

 At least one other document presented in the case, the Capitulacion . . . que hizo Ayllon, is 

 printed elsewhere in the same Coleccioii. This, also, does not include the two long memorials which 

 Cortes succeeded in presenting to the King in person. 



2 This much feared conjunction came very near to being realized. A comparison of the various plot- 

 tings of the routes De Soto and Coronado may have followed and of their respective itineraries shows 

 that the two parties could not have been far apart in the present Oklahoma or Indian territory, or 

 perhaps north of that region. This evidence is confirmed by the story of the Indian woman, related 

 by Castafieda. Dr J. G. Shea, in Winsor's Narrative and Critical History, vol. ii, p. 292, states that 

 Coronado heard of his countryman De Soto, and sent a letter to him. This is almost certainly a 

 mistake, which probably originated in a misinterpretation of a statement made by Jaramillo. 



3 See his Carta in Doc. Ined. Espaha, vol. civ, p. 491. 



