CORONADO'S WANDERINGS

From His Letter to Mendoza AFTER Spain conquered Mexico stories began to filter through to the conquerors about seven great Indian cities 600 miles to the north. The first expedition to discover these regions consisted of 400 Spaniards and 20,000 Indians under the leadership of Nuno de Guzman. It came to naught and its leader was superseded by Coronado, who presently set out on an expedition of his own.

Meanwhile he had heard of de Vaca's wanderings through the immense territory to the north, and had sent Fray Marcos on a preliminary investigation, who came back with an exaggerated story of having looked down from a hill upon a city larger than Mexico. It turned out to be a little village of two hundred souls.

Coronado started with a force of 300 Spaniards and 800 Indians, accompanied by Fray Marcos, and is supposed to have reached a point as far north as the present boundary between Kansas and Nebraska.

THE 22d of the month of April last past I departed from the province of Culiacan withpart of the army, and in such order as I mentioned unto your lordship, and according to the success I assured myself, by all likelihood that I shall not bring all my army together in this enterprise : because the troubles have been so great and the want of victuals, that I think all this year will not be sufficient to perform this enterprise, and if it should be performed in so short a time, it would be to the great loss of our people. For as I wrote unto your lordship, I was fourscore days in traveling to Culiacan, in all which time I and those gentlemen my companions which were horsemen, carried on our backs, and on our horses, a little victual, so that from henceforward we carried none other needful apparel with us, that was above a pound weight.

Thirty leagues before we arrived at the place which the father provincial told us so well of in his relation, I sent Melchior Diaz before with fifteen horses, giving him order to make but one day's journey of two, because he might examine all things, against my arrival: who traveled four days' journey through exceedingly rough mountains where he found neither victuals, nor people, nor information of any things, saving that he found two or three poor little villages, containing 20 or 30 cottages apiece, and by the inhabitants thereof he understood that from thence forward there were nothing but exceedingly rough mountains which ran very far, utterly disinhabited and void of people. And because it was labor lost, I would not write unto your lordship thereof.

It grieved the whole company, that a thing so highly commended, and whereof the father had made so great brags, should be found so contrary, and it made them suspect that all the rest would fall out in like sort. Which when I perceived I sought to encourage them the best I could, telling them that your lordship always was of opinion, that this voyage was a thing cast away, and that we should fix our cogitation upon those seven cities, and other provinces, whereof we had knowledge: that there should be the end of our enterprise : and with this resolution and purpose we all marched cheerfully through a very bad way which was not passable but one by one, or else we must force out with pioneers the path which we found, wherewith the soldiers were not a little offended, finding all that the friar had said to be quite contrary: for among other things which the father said and affirmed, this was one, that the way was plain and good, and that there was but one small hill of half a league in length. And yet in truth there are mountains which although the way were well mended could not be passed without great danger of breaking the horses' necks : and the way was such, that of the cattle which our lordship sent us for the provision of our army we lost a great part in the voyage through the roughness of the rocks. The lambs and sheep lost their hoofs in the way.

At length I arrived at the valley of the people called Caracones, the 26 day of the month of May: and from Culiacan until I came thither, I could not help myself, save only with a great quantity of bread of maize : for seeing the maize in the fields were not yet ripe, I was constrained to leave them all behind me. In this valley of the Caracones we found more store of people than in any other part of the country which we had passed, and great store of tillage. But I understood that there was store thereof in another valley called the Lords valley, which I would not disturb with force, but sent thither Melchior Diaz with wares of exchange to procure some, and to give the said maize to the Indians our friends which we brought with us, and to some others that had lost their cattle in the way, and were not able to carry their victuals so far which they brought from Culiacan. It pleased God that we got some small quantity of maize with this traffic, whereby certain Indians were relieved and some Spaniards.

And by that time that we were come to this valley of the Caracones, some ten or twelve of our horses were dead through weariness: for being overcharged with great burdens, and having but little meat, they could not endure the travail. Likewise some of our negroes and some of our Indians died here ; which was no small want unto us for the performance of our enterprise.

I rested myself two days in Chichilticale, and to have done well I should have stayed longer, in respect that here we found our horses so tired : but because we wanted victuals, we had no leisure to rest any longer : I entered the confines of the desert country on Saint John's eve, and to refresh our former travail, the first days we found no grass, but worsen way of mountains and bad passages, than we had passed already: and the horses being tired, were greatly molested therewith : so that in this last desert we lost more horses than we had lost before: and some of my Indians which were our friends died, and one Spaniard whose name was Spinosa; and two negroes, which died with eating certain herbs for lack of victuals.

But after we had passed these thirty leagues, we found fresh rivers, and grass like that of Castile, and especially of that sort which we call Scaramoio, many nut trees and mulberry trees, but the nut trees differ from those of Spain in the leaf: and there was flax, but chiefly near the banks of a certain river which therefore we called El Rio del Lino, that is say, the river of flax: we found no Indians at all for a day's travel, but afterward four Indians came out unto us in peaceable manner, saying that they were sent even to that desert place to signify unto us that we were welcome, and that the next day all the people would come out to meet us on the way with victuals : and the master of the field gave them a cross, willing them to signify to those of their city that they should not fear, and they should rather let the people stay in their houses, because I came only in the name of His Majesty to defend and aid them.

And this done I sent the master of the field to search whether there were any bad passage which the Indians might keep against us, and that he should take and defend it until the next day that I should come thither. So he went, and found in the way a very bad passage, where we might have sustained very great harm : wherefore there he seated himself with his company that were with him: and that very night the Indians came to take that passage and defend it, and finding it taken, they assaulted our men there, and as they tell me, they assaulted them like valiant men ; although in the end they retired and fled away; for the master of the field was watchful, and was in order with his company : the Indians in token of retreat sounded on a certain small trumpet, and did no hurt among the Spaniards. The very same night the master of the field certified me hereof. Where upon the next day in the best order that I could I de. parted in so great want of victual, that I thought that if we should stay one day longer without food, we should all perish for hunger, especially the Indians, for among us all we had not two bushels of corn: wherefore it behooved me to prick forward without delay. The Indians here and there made fires, and were answered again afar off as orderly as we for our lives could have done, to give their fellows understanding, how we marched and where we arrived....

In the mean space I arrived with all the rest of the horsemen, and footmen, and found in the fields a great sort of the Indians which began to shoot at us with their arrows: and because I would obey your will and the command of the Marquis, I would not let my people charge them, forbidding my company, which entreated me that they might set upon them, in any wise to provoke them, saying that that which the enemies did was nothing, and that it was not meet to set upon so few people. On the other side the Indians perceiving that we stirred not, took great stomach and courage unto them: insomuch that they came hard to our horse's heels to shoot at us with their arrows. Whereupon seeing that it was now time to stay no longer, and that the friars also were of the same opinion, I set upon them without any danger: for suddenly they fled part to the city which was near and well fortified, and other into the field, which way they could shift: and some of the Indians were slain, and more had been if I would have suffered them to have been pursued.

But considering that hereof we might reap but small profit, because the Indians that were without, were few, and those which were retired into the city, with them which stayed within at the first were many, where victuals were whereof we had so great need, I assembled my people, and divided them as I thought best to assault the city, and I compassed it about: and because the famine which we sustained suffered no delay, myself with certain of these gentlemen and soldiers put ourselves on foot, and commanded that the crossbows and harquebusiers should give the assault, and should beat the enemies from the walls, that they might not hurt us, and I assaulted the walls on one side, where they told me there was a scaling ladder set up, and that there was one gate: but the crossbowmen suddenly broke the strings of their bows, and the harquebusiers did nothing at all: for they came thither so weak and feeble, that scarcely they could stand on their feet: and by this means the people that were aloft on the walls to defend the town were no way hindered from doing us all the mischief they could: so that twice they struck me to the ground with infinite number of great stones, which they cast down: and if I had not been defended with an excellent good headpiece which I wore, I think it had gone hard with me: nevertheless my company took me up with two small wounds in the face, and an arrow sticking in my foot, and many blows with stones on my arms and legs, and thus I went out of the battle very weak. I think that if Don Garcias Lopez de Cardenas the second time that they struck me to the ground had not succored me with striding over me like a good knight, I had been in far greater danger than I was. But it pleased God that the Indians yielded themselves unto us, and that this city was taken : and such store of maize was found therein, as our necessity required.