H 
The Colorado River 
“to the flats and shoals from whence the aforesaid fleet re¬ 
turned, it seemed to me, as to the rest, that we had the firm 
land before us, and that those shoals were so perilous and fear¬ 
ful that it was a thing to be considered whether with our skiffs 
we could enter in among them: and the pilots and the rest of 
the company would have had us do as Captain Ulloa did, and 
have returned back again.” But Alargon was not of a retreat¬ 
ing disposition; the fierce Colorado had now met its first con¬ 
queror. It must be remembered, for Ulloa’s sake, that there 
was not the same incentive for him to risk his ships and the 
lives of his men in an attempt to examine the shoals and cur¬ 
rents of this dangerous place. Alarcon was looking for and 
expecting to meet Coronado at any time. He knew that Cor¬ 
onado was depending on the supplies carried by the SaJi 
Gah'iel, and it would have been rank cowardice on the part of 
Alargon to have backed out at the first difficulty. But he had 
no intention of retiring from the contest, for he says: 
“ But because your Lordship commanded me that I should bring 
you the secret of that gulf, I resolved that although I had known 
I should have lost the ships, I would not have ceased for anything 
to have seen the head thereof, and therefore I commanded Nicolas 
Zamorano, Pilot Major, and Dominico del Gastello that each of them 
should take a boat, and lead in their hands, and run in among those 
shoals, to see if they could find out a channel whereby the ships 
might enter in ; to whom it seemed that the ships might sail up 
higher (although with great travail and danger), and in this sort I 
and he began to follow our way which they had taken, and within 
a short while after we found ourselves fast on the sands with all our 
three ships, in such sort that one could not help another, neither could 
the boats succour us because the current was so great that it was 
impossible for one of us to come to another. Whereupon we were 
in such great jeopardy that the deck of the Admiral was oftentimes 
under water ; and if a great surge of the sea had not come and 
driven our ship right up and gave her leave, as it were, to breathe 
awhile, we had there been drowned ; and likewise the other two 
ships found themselves in very great hazard, yet because they were 
lesser and drew less water their danger was not so great as ours. 
Now it pleased God upon the return of the flood that the ships 
