476 THE CORONADO EXPEDITION, 1540-1542 [bth.ash.14 



Chapter -1, of how the noble Bon Antonio tie Mendoza made an expedi- 

 tion to discover Cibola. 



After Francisco Vazquez Goronado had sent Friar Marcos of Nice 

 aud Lis party on the search already related, he was engaged in Culia- 

 can about some business that related to his government, when be heard 

 an account of a province called Topira, 1 which was to the north, of the 

 country of Culiacan. He started to explore this region with several 

 of the conquerors and some friendly Indians, but he did not get very 

 far, because the mountain chains which they had to cross were very 

 difficult. He returned without finding the least signs of a good coun- 

 try, and when he got back, he found the friars who had just arrived, 

 and who told such great things about what the negro Stephen had dis- 

 covered and what they had heard from the Indians; and other things 

 they had heard about the South sea and islands and other riches, that, 

 without stopping for anything, the governor set off at once for the City 

 of Mexico, taking Friar Marcos with him, to tell the viceroy about it. 

 He made the things seem more important by not talking about them 

 to anyone except his particular friends, under promise of the greatest 

 secrecy, until after he had reached Mexico and seen Don Antonio de 

 Mendoza. Then he began to announce that they had really found the 

 Seven Cities, which Nuiio de Guzman had tried to find, and for the con- 

 quest of which he had collected a force. The noble viceroy arranged 

 with the friars of the order of Saint Francis so that Friar Marcos was 

 made father provincial, as a result of which the pulpits of that order 

 were filled with such accouuts of marvels and wonders that more than 

 300 Spaniards and about 800 natives of New Spain collected in a 

 few days. 2 There were so many men of such high quality among the 

 Spaniards, that such a noble body was never collected in the Indies, 

 nor so many men of quality in such a small body, there being 300 men. 

 Francisco Vazquez Goronado, governor of New Galicia, was captain- 

 general, because he had been the author of it all. The good viceroy 

 Don Antonio did this because at this time Francisco Vazquez was his 

 closest and most intimate friend, and because he considered him to be 

 wise, skillful, and intelligent, besides being a gentleman. Had he paid 

 more attention and regard to the position in which he was placed and 

 the charge over which he was placed, and less to the estates he left 

 behind in New Spain, or, at least, more to the honor he had and might 

 secure from having such gentlemen under his command, things would 

 not have turned out as they did. When this narrative is ended, it 

 will be seen that he did not know how to keep his position nor the 

 government that he held. 



' Bandolier (Contributions, p. 1(14) Bays this was Topia, in Durango, a locality since noted for its 

 rit-b mines. 



« Mcita Padilla, xxii, 2, p. Ill : " Determin6 el virey lograr la ocasion de la mucha gente noble que habia 

 en Mexico, que como corcho sobro el agua reposado, seandaba sintenerque hacer ni en queocuparse, 

 todns atenidos a que el virey les hiciese algunas niereedes, y & que los vecinosde Mexico les susten- 

 tasen & sua mesas-, y asi, le fue facil aprestar mas de trescientos hombres, los mas de & caballo, por- 

 que ya se criaban nmchos; dic-les & treinta pesos y prometioles repartimientos en la tierra que 86 

 poblase, y mas cuando se afirmaba baber un cerro de plata y otras niiuas." 



