winship] TRANSLATION OF CASTANEDA 473 



went with him ouce or twice, and saw some very large villages, which 

 he compared to Mexico and its environs. He had seen seven very 

 large towns which had streets of silver workers. It took forty days 

 to go there from his country, through a wilderness in which nothing 

 grew, except some very small plants about a span high. The way 

 they went was up through the country between the two seas, follow- 

 ing the northern direction. Acting ou this information, Nuiio de Guz- 

 man got together nearly 400 Spaniards and 20,000 friendly Indians of 

 New Spain, and, as he happened to be in Mexico, he crossed Tarasca, 

 which is in the province of Michoacan, so as to get into the region 

 which the Indian said was to be crossed toward the North sea, in this 

 way getting to the country which they were looking for, which was 

 already named "The Seven Cities." 1 He thought, from the forty days 

 of which the Tejo had spoken, that it would be found to be about 200 

 leagues, and that they would easily be able to cross the country. Omit- 

 ting several things that occurred ou this journey, as soon as they had 

 reached the province of Culiacan, where his government ended, and 

 where the New Kingdom of Galicia is now, they tried to cross the 

 country, but found the difficulties very great, because the mountain 

 chains which are near that sea are so rough that it was impossible, after 

 great labor, to find a passageway in that region. His whole army had 

 to stay in the district of Culiacan for so long on this account that some 

 rich men who were witli him, who had possessions in Mexico, changed 

 their minds, and every day became more anxious to return. Besides 

 this, Nuiio de Guzman received word that the Marquis of the Valley, 

 Don Fernando Cortes, had come from Spain with his new title, 3 and 

 with great favors and estates, and as Nuiio de Guzman had been a great 

 rival of his at the time he was president, 3 and had done much damage 

 to his property and to that of his friends, he feared that Don Fernando 

 Cortes would want to pay him back in the same way, or worse. So he 

 decided to establish the town of Culiacan there and to go back with 

 the other men, without doing anything more. After his return from 

 this expedition, he settled at Xalisco, where the city of Compostela is 

 situated, and at Tonala, which is called Guadalaxara, 4 and now this is 

 the New Kingdom of Galicia. The guide they had, who was called 

 Tejo, died about this time, and thus the name of these Seven Cities 

 and the search for them remains until now, siuce they have not been 

 discovered. 5 



'TheSegundaRelacion Anoniniade la Jornada que hizo Nuiio de Guzman, 1529, in Icazbelcota's Docu- 

 mentos para la Historia de Mexico, vol. ii, p. 303, also implies that the name of the " Seven Cities" had 

 already been given to the country which he was trying to discover. 



'-Marques del Valle de Oaxaca y Capitan General de la Nueva Espana y de la Costa del Stir. 

 Guzman had presided over the trial of Cortes, who was in Spain at the time, for the murder of his 

 first wife seven years previously (October, 1522). See Zaragoza's edition of Suarcz de Peralta'a Tra- 

 tado, p. 315. 



4 The name was changed in 1540. 



& The best discussion of the stories of the Seven Caves ancl the Seven Cities is in Bandolier's Con- 

 tributions, p. 9, ff. 



