wrasH.p] EVENTS OF 1538-1539 381 



Torre, as governor of New Galicia. Coronado's answer shows plainly 

 that he intentionally refused to commit himself when so many things 

 were uncertain, and when nothing was definitely known about the 

 country of which Cabeza de Vaca had heard. Mendoza may have sug 

 gested his appointment at an earlier date, but the King apparently 

 waited until he learned of De la Torre's untimely death before approv- 

 ing the selection. The confirmation was signed April 18, 1530, and at 

 the same time Coronado was appointed to take the residencia of his 

 predecessor. The King agreed to allow the new governor a salary of 

 1,000 ducats from the royal treasure chests and 1,500 more from the 

 province, with the proviso that the royal revenues were not to be held 

 responsible for this latter sum in case New Galicia proved too poor to 

 yield so large an amount. Coronado probably went at once to his 

 province when he received the notice of his nomination, for he was in 

 Guadalajara on November 19, 1538, where he approved the selection of 

 judges and magistrates for the ensuing year by the city of Compostela, 

 which had held its election before his arrival. At the same time he 

 appointed the judges for Guadalajara. 



Coronado probably spent the winter of 1538-39 in New Galicia, 

 arranging the administration and other affairs of his government. He 

 entertained Friar Marcos, when the latter passed through his province 

 in the spring of 1539, and accompanied the friar as far as Culiacan, the 

 northernmost of the Spanish settlements. Here he provided the friar 

 with Indians, provisions, and other things necessary for the journey to 

 the Seven Cities. Later in the spring, the governor returned to Gua- 

 dalajara, and devoted considerable attention to the improvement and 

 extension of this city, so that it was able to claim and obtain from the 

 King a coat of arms and the title of "city" during the following sum- 

 mer. 1 He was again here on January 9, 1540, when he promulgated 

 the royal order, dated December 20, 1538, which decreed that inasmuch 

 as it was reported that, the cities in the Indies were not built with suf- 

 ficient permanency, the houses being of wood and thatched with straw, 

 so that fires and conflagrations were of frequent occurrence, therefore 

 no settler should thereafter build a house of any material except stone, 

 brick, or unbaked brick, and the houses should be built after the fash- 

 ion of those in Spain, so that they might be permanent, and an adorn- 

 ment to the cities. Between these dates it is very likely that Coronado 

 may have made some attempt to explore the mountainous regions 

 north of the province, as Castafieda says, although his evidence is by 

 no means conclusive. 



About midsummer of 1539, Friar Marcos came back from Cibola. 

 Coronado met him as he passed through New Galicia, and together they 

 returned to Mexico to tell the viceroy what the friar had seen and 

 heard. Coronado remained at the capital during the autumn and early 



'The grant, dated at Madrid, November 8, 1539, is given in Tello's Fragmento (Icazbalceta'B Doc. 

 Hist. Mexico, vol. ii, p. 371). 



