8o ACAPULCO. 



It was in the course of these expeditions that Hernando 

 de Grixalva discovered the coasts of California in 1534; but 

 Acapulco was already known to Cortez, as in some of the 

 letters which he wrote to Charles Quint he mentions the pearls 

 found on the coasts of Acapulco. In 1535 he embarked 

 with 400 Spaniards and 300 slaves, and explored the Gulf of 

 California, known afterwards as Sea of Cortez. It was during 

 this voyage that the new Vice-King, Antonio de Mendoza, 

 Avas sent to Mexico. 



Nevertheless, Cortez proceeded with his voyages of 

 discoveries in California, and for a long time nothing was 

 heard of him. News of his death reached Mexico. His wife, 

 Juana de Zuniga, sent an expedition for the purpose of ascer- 

 taining what truth there was in that report, which turned out 

 to be false. Cortez, after many perils, reached safely the 

 port of Acapulco. This is the first time that the name of 

 Acapulco is mentioned in the history of the conquest of 

 Mexico. Francisco de Ulloa, with instructions from Cortez 

 and at the expense of the latter, continued the voyage of 

 discovery, so well inaugurated by Cortez, and during a 

 navigation of two years, explored the coasts of the Gulf of 

 California up to Rio Colorado. 



As I said before Acapulco was a very important port and 

 remained so during the Spanish dominion, and is now quickly 

 recovering its importance. 



When the railway, in course of construction from Acapulco 

 to Mexico, will be concluded, it is probable that a large traffic 

 will take place between the two cities, and will greatly increase 

 the prosperity of the first. 



The State of Guerrero has given birth to the celebrated 

 General, Don Juan Alvarez, who entered Mexico with his 

 troops on the 15th of November, 1855, and occupied the 

 Presidential chair until the i ith of December of the same 

 year, when he renounced it, in favour of General Comonfort. 

 On the igth of December, General Juan Alvarez retired for 

 the south with his troops. 



Alvarez, a native of the State of Guerrero, and Comon- 

 fort, pronounced against the government of Santa Anna on 

 the 2ist of July, and contributed greatly to the fall of the 

 latter. He was victorious in many battles, and the end of it 

 was his entry in the capital, and his proclamation as President 

 of the Republic. But unaccustomed to the court, he soon had 

 enough of it, and returned with his followers, all volunteers, 

 to his farm house. 



