Advancing still further, he sent a negro and some indians to see and report to him on their return, while he followed them slowly. Some of these indians returned, and informed him that they had reached Cibola, but had been badly treated, and the negro killed. Nicia, on his return, wrote his account which is, in many respects, exaggerated and fabulous; it gave rise, however, to an expedition under Vasques de Coronado, in 1540. Coronado was greatly disappointed, and freely gives the lie to the accounts of Nicia. He went as far as the cities of Cibola, which he described as consisting of five small towns, of five hundred houses each, well-built of stone, He heard of populous provinces to the north, and of cities on a great salt lake, to the northwest, where there was an abundance of gold. The lake was probably the Pacific Ocean. It is remarkable that nearly all the tribes on the Atlantic slope had a vague notion of the Pacific, and supposed it to be at a short distance from them. He returned with the intention of making another expedition, but which he never accomplished. The towns which he saw, were, no doubt, near the Gila, and south of that river, while the great province of Cibola lay to the north between that river and the Colorado. The unfavorable report of Coronado, and the failure of Cortez in his northern explorations, had the effect, no doubt, of discouraging further discoveries in this direction. No further attempts were made to explore the country for nearly forty years. In the mean time, the Spanish settlements had advanced from Guadelahara to New Biscay, and the valley of St. Bartholomew, or Chiwawa. In the year 1583, a well prepared exploring expedition was set on foot, under the command of Antonio de Espejo. It proceeded north to the Conchas and Pasaguetas, numerous tribes, who had no previous knowledge of the christians. Their course was along the Conchas.