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



winter, taking an active part in all the preparations for the expedition 

 "which he was to command. After the linal review in Compostela, he 

 was placed in command of the army, with the title of captain-general. 



THE DEPARTURE OF THE EXPEDITION 



Monday, February 23, 1540, the army which was to conquer the 

 Seven Cities of Cibola started on its northward march from Com- 

 postela.' For SO leagues the march was along the " much-used roads" 

 which followed the coast up to Culiacan. 2 



Everyone was eager to reach the wonderful regions which, were to 

 be their destination, but it was impossible to make rapid progress. 

 The cattle could not be hurried, while the baggage animals and the car- 

 riers were so heavily laden with equipments and provisions that it was 

 necessary to allow them to take their own time. Several days were 

 lost at the Centizpac river, across which the cattle had to be trans- 



1 Before the end of the month Mendoza wrote a letter to the King, in which he gave a detailed 

 account of the preparations he had made to insure the success of the expedition, and of the departure 

 of the army. This letter is not known to exist. 



2 This march from Compostela to Culiacan, according to the letter which Coronado wrote from 

 Granada-Zuiii on August 3, occupied eighty days. The same letter gives April 22 as the date when 

 Curonado left Culiacan, alter stopping for several days in that town, and this date is corroborated by 

 another account, the Traslado de las Nuevas. April 22 is only sixty days after February 23, the date 

 of the departure, which is fixed almost beyond question by the legal formalities of the Testimonio of 

 February 21- 26. We have only Iiamusio's Italian text of Coronado's August 3 letter, so that it is 

 easy to suspect that a slip on the part of the translator causes the trouble. But to complicate mat- 

 ters, eighty days previous to April 22 is about the 1st of February. Mota Padilla, who used material 

 of great value in his Historia de la Nueva Galicia, says that the army marched from Compostela '* el 

 1° de Febrero del aiio de 1540." CastaQeda does not give much help, merely stating that the whole 

 force was assembled at Compostela by "el dia de carnes tollendas," the carnival preceding Shrove 

 tide, which in 1540 fell on February 10, Easter being March 28. Mendoza, who had spent the New 

 Tear's season at Pasquaro, the seat of the bishopric of Michoacan, did not hasten his journey across 

 the country, and we know only that the whole force had assembled before he arrived at Compostela. 

 At least a fortnight would have been necessary for completing the organization of the force, and for 

 collecting and arranging all the supplies. 



Another combination of dates makes it hard to decide how rapidly the army marched. Mendoza 

 was at Compostela February 26. He presumably started on his return to Mexico very soon after that 

 date. He went down the coast to Colima, where he was detained by an attack of fever for some days. 

 Thence he proceeded to Jacona, where he wrote a letter to the King, April 17, 3540. March 20 Men- 

 doza received the report of MelehiorDiaz, who had spent the preceding winter in the country through 

 which Friar Marcos had traveled, trying to verify the friar's report. Diaz, and Saldivar his lieuten- 

 ant, on their return from the north, met the army at Chiametla as it was about to resume its march, 

 after a few days' delay. Diaz stopped at Chiametla, while Saldivar carried the report to the viceroy, 

 and he must have traveled very rapidly to deliver his packets on March 20, when Mendoza bad left 

 Colima, although he probably had not arrived at Jacona. 



Everything points to the very slow progress of the force, hampered by the long baggage and pro- 

 vision trains. Castafieda says that they reached Culiacan just before Easter, March 28, less than 

 thirty-live days after February 23. Here Coronado stopped for a fortnights entertainment and rest, 

 according to Castafieda, who was present. Mota Padilla says that the army stayed here a month, and 

 this agrees with Castaneda's statement that the main body started a fortnight later than theirgeneral. 



The attempt to arrange an itinerary of the expedition is perplexing, and has not been made easier by 

 modern students. Professor Haynes, in his Early Explorations of New Mexico {Winsor's Narra- 

 tive and Critical History, vol. ii, p. 481), following Bandolier's statement on page 26 of his Docu- 

 mentary History of Zuui, says that the start from Compostela was made "in the last days of Febru- 

 ary, 1540." Mr Bandelier, however, who has given much more time to the study of everything 

 connected with this expedition than has been possible for any other investigator, in his latest work — 

 The Gilded Man, p. 164 — adopts the date which is given by Mota Padilla. The best and the safest 

 way out of this tangle in chronology is gained by accepting the three specific dates, February 23 — 

 or possibly 24 — Easter, and April 22, disregarding every statement about the number of days inter- 

 vening. 



