192 THE STORY OF A BIRD LOVER 



shanties clustered about, were the only ones in 

 sight. The journey from here was made by 

 wagon, for my destination was a point some 

 seventy miles away, known as Riverside, on the 

 Gila River. The first stage of this ride ended 

 at a town called Florence, the county seat of 

 Pinal County, situated on the same river, and 

 some thirty miles from the railway. 



After his memorable journey across the southern 

 part of what is now the United States, Cabe9a de 

 Vaca, when he ultimately arrived in the city of 

 Mexico, described to the astonished Spaniards, as 

 the consummation of all the wonders of his pro- 

 longed wanderings, El Dorado, a mighty city, the 

 roofs and walls of whose houses, seen by him 

 only from a great distance, he believed to be of 

 pure gold. Even at the point from which he 

 viewed them, not being allowed to go nearer, he 

 was impressed, not only with the magnificence 

 of the material, but with the proportions of the 

 great structures. So vivid was the picture he 

 painted and so enticing to the cupidity of the 

 adventurous followers of Cortez that, as is well 

 known, while Alvar Nunez would not consent to 

 lead them to the place where he had seen this 

 miracle, yet his only comrade in the long journey, 

 save the natives who guided him, Esteban el Negro, 

 undertook to pilot a band of these indomitable 

 discoverers and rapacious marauders to the point 



