The original manuscript of Castañeda is not known to exist, the Winship translation being that of a manuscript copy made at Seville in 1596. This copy, which is now in the Lenox branch of the New York Public Library, was first translated into French by Henri Ternaux-Compans, who found it in the Uguina collection in Paris and published it in Volume IX. of his Voyages (Paris, 1838).
In addition to Castañeda's narration there are several letters and reports that shed important light on the route traversed by the expedition, the aborigines encountered, and other noteworthy details which the student should consult. These are as follows:
1. The Relation by Fray Marcos of his entrada during the preceding year (1539), Coronado following the same route as far as the first of the Seven Cities of Cibola with Marcos as both guide and spiritual adviser. A brief bibliography of this narration is given in a note on p. 290.
2. A letter from the viceroy, Don Antonio de Mendoza, to the King, dated Jacona (Mexico), April 17, 1540, in which is set forth the progress of Coronado's expedition from Culiacan, and containing extracts from a report by Melchior Diaz, who had been sent forward in November, 1539, to explore the route from Culiacan to Chichilticalli, in the valley of the present Gila River, Arizona, for the purpose of verifying the reports of Fray Marcos. This letter appears in the Documentos Inéditos de Indias, II. 356, and in English in Winship's memoir in the Fourteenth Annual Report of the Bureau of Ethnology, p. 547, as well as in his Journey of Coronado, p. 149.
3. An important and extended letter from Coronado to Mendoza, written at Granada (as Coronado called Hawikuh, the first of the Seven Cities of Cibola), August 3, 1540. This letter appears in Italian in Ramusio's Terzo Volume delle Navigationi et Viaggi (ed. 1556), fol. 359, translated by Hakluyt, Voyages, IX. 145-169 (ed. 1904); reprinted in Old South Leaflets, Gen. Ser., No. 20. A translation from Ramusio into English appears in both of Mr. Winship's works on the expedition. It should perhaps here be mentioned that the Hakluyt translations of the Coronado documents, at least, are so unreliable as to warrant careful use.
4. The Traslado de las Nuevas, an anonymous "Copy of the Reports and Descriptions that have been received regarding the Discovery of a City which is called Cibola, situated in the New Country." This important document was written evidently by a member of the expedition while the Spaniards were at Cibola. It appears in Spanish in the Documentos Inéditos de Indias, XIX. 529, from which it was translated into English by Mr. Winship and printed in each of his memoirs.
5. The important letter of Coronado to the King, dated Tiguex (the present Bernalillo, New Mexico), October 20, 1541, after the return of the expedition from Quivira. Printed in the Documentos Inéditos de Indias, III. 363; XIII. 261; in French in Ternaux-Compans' Voyages, IX. 355; translated into English by Mr. Winship and printed in each of his memoirs, as well as in American History Leaflets, No. 13.
6. The Relación Postrera de Síbola, y de mas de Cuatrocientas Leguas Adelante (the "Latest Account of Cibola, and of more than Four Hundred Leagues Beyond"). This important anonymous account, written apparently in New Mexico in 1541 by one of the Franciscans who accompanied the expedition, was published, both in Spanish and in English, for the first time, in Mr. Winship's Coronado Expedition (Fourteenth Annual Report of the Bureau of Ethnology, pp. 566-571). In his Journey of Coronado only the translation appears (pp. 190-196).
7. The anonymous Relación del Suceso, an "Account of what happened on the Journey which Francisco Vazquez made to discover Cibola." First printed, in Spanish, in Buckingham Smith's Colección de Varios Documentos para la Historia de la Florida (1857), I. 147; it appears also, under the erroneous date 1531, in the Documentos Inéditos de Indias, XIV. 318, whereas the account was written apparently in 1541 or early in 1542. An English translation appears in each of Mr. Winship's works, and also in American History Leaflets, No. 13.
8. "Account given by Captain Juan Jaramillo of the Journey which he made to the New Country, on which Francisco Vazquez Coronado was the General." Next to Castañeda's narration this is the most important document pertaining to the expedition, inasmuch as it contains many references to directions, distances, streams, etc., that are not noted in the other accounts. The Jaramillo narration was written long after the events transpired, and is based on the keen memory of the writer. It is printed in Spanish in Buckingham Smith's Coleccion, I. 154, and in the Documentos Inéditos, XIV. 304. A French translation is given by Ternaux-Compans, IX. 364, and an English translation in both of Mr. Winship's works.