1603.] VIZCAINO RETURNS TO MEXICO. 93 



service ; the weather was stormy, the cold was severe, the pro- 

 visions were nearly exhausted ; and, as the small vessel did not 

 appear, the commander, with the assent of his officers, resolved to 

 direct his course towards Mexico. He did so, and arrived at 

 Acapulco on the 21st of March. 



The fragata, or small vessel, also reached Mexico about the same 

 time, having, however, lost, by sickness, her commander, Martin de 

 Aguilar, her pilot, Flores, and the greater part of her crew. Tor- 

 quemada's account of her voyage, after parting with Vizcaino's 

 ship, is short, and by no means clear ; but the circumstances therein 

 related have attracted so much attention, that a translation of it 

 should be here presented. The historian says, — 



" The fragata parted from the capitana, [Vizcaino's ship,] and, 

 supposing that she had gone onward, sailed in pursuit of her. 

 Being in the latitude of 41 degrees, the wind began to blow from 

 the south-west ; and the fragata, being unable to withstand the 

 waves on her beam, ran before the wind, until she found* shelter 

 under the land, and anchored near Cape Mendocino, behind a great 

 rock, where she remained until the gale had passed over. When 

 the wind had become less violent, they continued their voyage close 

 along the shore ; and, on the 19th of January, the pilot, Antonio 

 Flores, found that they were in the latitude of 43 degrees, where 

 the land formed a cape or point, which was named Cape Blanco. 

 From that point, the coast begins to turn to the north-west ; and 

 near it was discovered a rapid and abundant river, with ash-trees, 

 willows, brambles, and other trees of Castile, on its banks, which 

 they endeavored to enter, but could not, from the force of the 

 current. Ensign Martin de Aguilar, the commander, and Antonio 

 Flores, the pilot, seeing that they had already reached a higher 

 latitude than had been ordered by the viceroy, in his instructions, 

 that the capitana did not appear, and that the number of the sick 

 was great, agreed to return to Acapulco ; and they did so, as I 

 shall hereafter show. It is supposed that this river is the one 

 leading to a great city, which was discovered by the Dutch when 

 they were driven thither by storms, and that it is the Strait of 

 Anian, through which the ship passed, in sailing from the North 

 Sea to the South Sea ; and that the city called Quivira is in 

 those parts ; and that this is the region referred to in the account 

 which his majesty read, and which induced him to order this 

 expedition." 



This account of the discovery of a great river, near the 43d 



