The land forces sent, at the same time, to the north-west, were composed of infantry and cavalry, and commanded by Francisco Vasquez de Coronado, who had been appointed governor of New Gallicia, in place of Nuno de Guzman. The party left Culiacan on the 22d of April, 1540, and took their way north, following the course described by the friars. They found the route which had been represented as easy, almost impassable. They made their way over mountains, and deserts, and rivers, and, in July, they reached the country called Cibola by the natives, but found it a half cultivated region, thinly inhabited by a people destitute of the wealth and civilization they had been represented as possessing. What had been represented as seven great cities, were seven small towns, rudely built. A few turquoises and some gold and silver supposed to be good, constituted the amount of what had been termed immense quantities of jewels, gold and silver. The Spaniards took possession of the country and wanted to remain and settle there. But Vasquez refused to acquiesce; and after naming one of the towns he visited, Granada, he started for the north-west, in search of other countries. The region called Cibola by the inhabitants, which Vasquez visited, is the territory now called Sonora, and is situated about the head waters of the Rivers Yaqui and Gila, east of the upper portion of the Gulf of California. The movements of the Spaniards after leaving Cibola, in August, 1540, have been the subject of very vague and contradictory accounts. All that is certain is, that the greater part of the force soon returned to Mexico, and that Vasquez, with the remainder, wandered through the interior for nearly two years longer, when, being disappointed in his expectations, he returned to Mexico in 1542. In the spring of 1542, two vessels were placed under the command of Juan Roderiguez Cabrillo, a Portuguese navigator of great reputation. The two vessels sailed from Navidad, a small port in Xalisco, in June, 1542. They rounded Cape San Lucas, and proceeded north-west, along the coast, as far as the 38th degree of latitude, when he was driven back, and took refuge in a harbor of one of the San Barbara islands. There Cabrillo died and the command devolved on Bartolome Ferrelo. Ferrelo was a zealous and determined man, and he resolved to proceed with the expedition. He sailed towards the north, and on the 26th of February, reached a promontory near the 41st parallel of latitude, which he named Stormy Cape. On the 1st of March, the ships reached the 44th parallel, but they were again driven south; and the men being almost worn out, Ferrelo resolved to go back to Mexico. He arrived at Navidad on the 14th of April, 1543. The promontory called Stormy Cape by Ferrelo, was the most northern portion of California visited by that navigator, and it is probably the same which is now called Cape Mendocino.