The Coronado Expedition, 1540-1542.: Excerpted from the Fourteenth Annual Report of the Bureau of Ethnology to the Secretary of the Smithsonian Institution, 1892-1893, Part 1.Winship, George Parker
History
The Coronado Expedition, 1540-1542.: Excerpted from the Fourteenth Annual Report of the Bureau of Ethnology to the Secretary of the Smithsonian Institution, 1892-1893, Part 1.
Winship, George Parker
Coronado, Francisco Vásquez de, 1510-1554; Southwest, New -- Description and travel
The general, as has been said, started to continue his journey from
the valley of Culiacan somewhat lightly equipped, taking with him
the friars, since none of them wished to stay behind with the army.
After they had gone three days, a regular friar who could say mass,
named Friar Antonio Victoria, broke his leg, and they brought him
back from the camp to have it doctored. He stayed with the army
after this, which was no slight consolation for all. The general
and his force crossed the country without trouble, as they found
everything peaceful, because the Indians knew Friar Marcos and some
of the others who had been with Melchior Diaz when he went with
Juan de Saldibar to investigate. After the general had crossed the
inhabited region and came to Chichilticalli, where the wilderness
begins, and saw nothing favorable, he could not help feeling somewhat
downhearted, for, although the reports were very fine about what
was ahead, there was nobody who had seen it except the Indians who
went with the negro, and these had already been caught in some lies.
Besides all this, he was much affected by seeing that the fame of
Chichilticalli was summed up in one tumble-down house without any
roof, although it appeared to have been a strong place at some former
time when it was inhabited, and it was very plain that it had been
built by a civilized and warlike race of strangers who had come from
a distance. This building was made of red earth. From here they went
on through the wilderness, and in fifteen days came to a river about
8 leagues from Cibola, which they called Red river,[120] because
its waters were muddy and reddish. In this river they found mullets
like those of Spain. The first Indians from that country were seen
here—two of them, who ran away to give the news. During [p483] the
night following the next day, about 2 leagues from the village, some
Indians in a safe place yelled so that, although the men were ready
for anything, some were so excited that they put their saddles on
hind-side before; but these were the new fellows. When the veterans
had mounted and ridden round the camp, the Indians fled. None of them
could be caught because they knew the country.
The next day they entered the settled country in good order, and when
they saw the first village, which was Cibola, such were the curses
that some hurled at Friar Marcos that I pray God may protect him from
them.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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