MODKHN IM KIU.OS. (>l 



from the Plains Indians, called by the Spaniards the 

 Turk, told of a still more wonderful country, Quivira. 

 In the spring a division of the army started to visit 

 this country with Turk as a guide. They soon came to 

 open country where there were vast herds of buffalo 

 and Indians following them with skin tents and dogs 

 that transported their property. After weeks of travel 

 Turk was discredited and another Indian led them to 

 some unimportant villages of agricultural Indians. The 

 distances and directions would have brought them to 

 the neighborhood of eastern Kansas. The Indians 

 may have been Pawnee or Omaha. 



After a stay of twenty-five days they returned to the 

 Rio Grande where they spent the winter. Coronado 

 fell from his horse and was seriously hurt. A council 

 decided upon an immediate return to Mexico and all 

 went gladly except two monks who chose to remain 

 behind and preach but who perished at the hands of 

 the natives. The expectations of those who had organ- 

 ized the expedition had been great. They had been 

 looking for another Mexico or Peru with great cities 

 and great wealth. Nothing seemed to have resulted 

 from the expedition worth the labor and expense in- 

 volved. 



The Conquest. 



It was forty years later, in 1580, that Francisco 

 Sanchez Chamuscado accompanied three Franciscan 

 missionaries up the Rio Grande to New Mexico and left 



