16 



MEXICO, CENTEAL AMEEICA, WEST INDIES. 



civilisation at tlieir disposai, have tlie courage to follow the route opened by Cortes. 

 After his time none of the Spanish conquerors took the trouble of occupying this 

 wilderness. They were satisfied with the reduction of Yucatan, the conquest of 

 which, nevertheless, occupied fully fifteen years, from 1527 to 1542. 



Although the less wealthy and less densely peopled north-western regions had 

 fewer attractions for the invaders than the southern provinces, expeditions were 

 despatched in that direction also. Vessels, whose sails and equipment had been 

 conveyed from Vera Cruz across the Mexican plateau, coasted the seaboard towards 

 the Gulf of California, the entrance of which was reached by a squadron under 



Fig. 7.— FiEST MEXICA2Î Itlneeaeies, 1517 to 1550. 

 Scale 1 : 30,000,000. 



yiUaJnPq^ 



■'Sâav 



114* 



West oF rir-eenw^rl. 



G20 Miles. 



Cortes in the year 1533. To the great captain this burning region owes its very 

 name of calida Jornax (hot furnace), afterwards corrupted to California. 



In 1539, Francisco de Ulloa penetrated into the inner waters of the " Vermil- 

 lion Sea," so named either from the red sea-weed abounding in some of the inlets, 

 or, according to Pinart, more probably from the deep red colour of the sands 

 lining its shores. The following year Alarcon completed the exploration of the 

 gulf, and even penetrated 85 " leagues " up the Eiver Buena-Guia, afterwards re- 

 named the Rio Colorado. 



]n 1542, Cabrillo, rounding the headland of Cape St. Lucas at the extremity 

 of the Californian peninsula, sailed northwards along the Pacific coast, to a pro- 

 montory supposed to be the present Cape Mendocino, beyond 40^^ IN", lat. 



On the mainland, Nuiiez Cabeza de Vaca, escaping from the perils of a daring 

 march across the Floridas, reached Mexico from the north in 1536. Between 



