406 THE CORONADO EXPEDITION, 1540-1542 [eth.anh.14 



tians. The white men asked them where they lived and whether they 

 possessed any fields sown with corn, and gave each of them little caps 

 for themselves and for their companions. Alarcon did his best to induce 

 some of his men to go to Cibola with a message to Coronado, but all 

 refused except one negro slave, who did not at all want to go. The 

 plan had to be given up, and the party returned to the ships. It had 

 taken fifteen days and a half to ascend the river, but they descended 

 with the swift current in two and a half. The men who had remained 

 in the ships were asked to undertake the mission of opening communi- 

 cation with Coronado, but proved as unwilling as the others. 



Much against the will of his subordinates, Alarcou determined to 

 make a second trip up the river, hoping to obtain further iuformation 

 which might enable him to fulfill the purposes of his voyage. He took 

 "three boats filled with wares of exchange, with corne and other seedes, 

 hennes aud cockes of Castille." Starting September 14, he found the 

 Indians as friendly as before, ami ascended the river, as he judged, 

 about 85 leagues, which may have taken him to the point where the 

 canyons begin. A cross was erected to inform Coronado, in case an 

 expedition from Cibola should reach this part of the river, 1 that he had 

 tried to fulfill his duty, but nothing more was accomplished. 2 



While Alarcon was exploring the river, one of the ships was careened 

 and repaired, and everything made ready for the return voyage. A 

 chapel was built on the shore in honor of Nuestra Seiiora de Buena- 

 guia, and the river was named the Buenaguia, out of regard for the 

 viceroy, who carried this as his device. 



The voyage back to Col i ma in New Spain was uneventful. 



THE JOURNEY OF MELCHIOR DIAZ 



In September, 1540, seventy or eighty of the weakest and least reli- 

 able men in Coronado's army remained at the town of San Hiero- 

 niino, in the valley of Corazones or Hearts. Melchior Diaz was placed 

 in command of the settlement, with orders to maintain this post and 

 protect the road between Cibola and New Spain, and also to attempt to 

 find some means of communicating with the fleet under Alarcou. After 

 he had established everything in the town as satisfactorily as possible, 

 Diaz selected twenty-five of these men to accompany him on an ex- 

 ploring expedition to the seacoast. He started before the end of Sep- 

 tember, going into the rough country west of Corazones valley, and 

 finding only a few naked, weak-spirited Indians, who had come, as he 

 understood, from the land ou the farther side of the water, i. e., Lower 



■See I last; da's account of tin' finding of similar message by the party under 1 Ha / 



2 Tbeaccount oi'tbis trip in Herrera (dec. VI, lib. ix, cap. \v, ed. 1 7 "J8 ) is as follows : " Haviendollegado 

 a ciertas Montanas, adonde el Rio si- estrecbaba mucho, supo, que \ n Encautador andaba preguntando 



pord le bavia de pasar, 3 haviendo entendido, qne por el Rio, pitso desde vna Ribera a la otra algunaa 



Canas, que debian de ser hecbicadas ; perolas Barcas pasavon sin dano; y haviendo Uegado mm arriba, 

 preguntando por cosas de la Tierra, para entender, si descubrii ia alguna noticia tie Francisco Vazquez 

 do Cornado. . . . Viendo Alarcon, quo no hallaba lo que deseaba, i qne havia Bubido por aquel Rio 

 85 Leguas, determin6 de bolver." . . . 



