In the mean time Coronado, after marching in a northerly direction over the plains for thirty days, came to a large river, which was named for Saints Peter and Paul. All this time he and his men had lived entirely upon the flesh of bisons, and often had only their milk to drink. Sopete said there were villages farther down the river; and accordingly he followed the northern bank for three days or more in a northeasterly direction, until he came to one situated upon a branch of the great river. Journeying for four or five days more, he reached in succession six or seven other villages similarly situated, until he arrived at one which he was told was called Quivira.[1447] Here he heard of other villages still farther distant on the banks of a yet larger river called Teucarea. Great was Coronado’s disappointment at finding that Quivira, instead of being as he had been informed a city of stone houses of many stories, consisted only of a collection of straw-built huts, and that its people were the most barbarous of any that he had hitherto encountered. They ate their meat raw, like the Querechos and the Teyas, and were clad in tanned bison-skins, not having any cotton; but they cultivated maize. The Turk, who had for some time been conducted in chains with the rear-guard, was now interrogated as to his motives in so misrepresenting the nature of the country, and misleading the Spaniards. He replied that his own country lay beyond Quivira, and that the people of Cibola had begged him to lead the strangers astray upon the plains, so that they might perish by famine, as it was supposed that they relied upon maize for their food, and did not know how to chase the bison. One night he endeavored to stir up the people of Quivira to massacre the Spaniards; but being put upon their guard, the Spaniards strangled him, to the great delight of Sopete. No gold or silver was found in the country; but one of the chiefs wore a plate of copper suspended from his neck, by which he set great store. Coronado says that Quivira was nine hundred and fifty leagues distant from Mexico, and was situated in latitude 40°. The soil was rich and black, watered by many streams, and bore an abundance of grapes and plums.[1448] Here he remained for twenty-five days, sending out exploring parties in all directions, who found great difficulty in communicating with the natives, owing to the diversity of languages spoken by them, and the want of interpreters. It was now the latter part of July,[1449] and it was time to start to rejoin the army at Tiguex. So, after collecting a supply of maize for the journey, and erecting a cross with an inscription saying that Coronado had been there, he procured fresh guides, leaving Sopete in his home, and returned by the route he had come, as far as to the river named for Saints Peter and Paul. At that point, bending more towards the west, they reached the country where they had first fallen in with the Querechos, and had been turned from the direct course by the Turk; and in forty days they reached Cicuyé.
In the mean time, Arellano and the main portion of the force had been making preparations for passing the winter at Tiguex, and had been despatching parties in different directions to procure supplies of provisions. One under Francisco de Barrio-Nuevo was sent in a northerly direction up the river and visited two provinces, of which one, called Hemez, contained seven villages; the other, named Yuque-Yunque, two fine ones on the bank of the river, and four others strongly fortified and difficult of access in the mountains.[1450] Twenty leagues farther up the river was a large and powerful village called Braba, to which the Spaniards gave the name of Valladolid. It was built on both banks of a deep and rapid stream, which was crossed by a bridge of well-squared pine timber; and contained large rooms that could be heated, supported by huge pillars, superior to anything of the kind that had been seen in the country.[1451] Another expedition was sent down the river, as has been already related.
By this time some apprehension began to be felt for Coronado’s safety, as the time fixed for his return had expired and nothing had yet been heard from him. Accordingly Arellano started with a small party in search of him, and at Cicuyé he was attacked by the inhabitants, with whom he kept up a contest for four days. Tidings then came from the General; and, contenting himself with guarding the passes, Arellano waited there for his arrival. Coronado soon succeeded in re-establishing friendly relations, and continued on immediately to Tiguex. As soon as he reached that place he set about in earnest to pacify the whole province, and to persuade the inhabitants to return to their homes. The most strenuous exertions were made to procure a supply of clothing for the troops, who were in great distress for it, and to provide in every way for their comfort; so that Castañeda says, “Never was Spanish general in the Indies more beloved or better obeyed than he.” In the spring he promised his men that they should start again in search of the unknown countries, about which the Turk had set their imaginations on fire. The greater part were firm in the conviction that the natives were familiar with gold, despite their assurances to the contrary, and that they should find it in abundance. But it is plain from Coronado’s report that he did not share in this belief; and the sequel proved that others agreed with him. The region of Tiguex he found far too cold and too distant from the sea to make it a desirable situation for a colony.
About this time Tobar arrived with the reinforcements which, as we have seen, he had been ordered to bring from the valley of Suya. He had taken only the best soldiers, leaving many discontented and mutinous ones behind; and these arrived in the full expectation of finding the General already established in the rich countries about which the marvellous reports had reached them. But their disappointment was somewhat consoled when they learned that in the spring the whole army would start in the search of them. Tobar had brought despatches from the Viceroy, and private letters,—among them one informing Cardenas that he had fallen heir to his elder brother’s estate. Cardenas accordingly obtained leave to return to Mexico, and several others went with him. Castañeda says that many more would have been glad to do so, if they had not been restrained by fear of being accused of cowardice. This shows the divided feeling that prevailed. And soon trouble arose between the General, who studied only the welfare of the whole army, and certain of the officers, who selfishly looked more after the interests of their own men; so that some already began to talk of abandoning the expedition and returning to New Spain.
When the winter was over, Coronado ordered preparations to be made to start for Quivira, on the way to the unknown countries. But fate had ordained a different termination for his enterprise. On a holiday, while he was amusing himself by tilting at the ring with Maldonado, Coronado’s saddle-girths broke, and he fell to the ground, where he received a blow on the head from Maldonado’s horse, which nearly cost him his life. A long illness followed, during which Cardenas suddenly returned in haste from Suya, with the news that he had found that post broken up and the inhabitants massacred. It seems that the discontented element left behind by Tobar,—pretending that they had been abandoned, and that the route for New Spain had left them on one side,—had deserted Alcarraz and the sick men under his charge, and had fled to Culiacan. Upon this the natives became insubordinate, and one night made an attack upon the enfeebled force with poisoned arrows, killing a number of them. The rest escaped on foot to Corazones, whose people, always friendly to the Spaniards, aided them on their way to Culiacan, where they, as well as the mutineers, were found by Gallegos not long afterward, when he arrived there with reinforcements.
The news of this calamity was so afflicting to Coronado that he grew worse, or, as Castañeda intimates, feigned to do so, as he had allowed himself to give way to the influence of superstitious terrors. In his youth the prediction had been made that he would become lord of a distant land, and that he would lose his life there by a fall. This now seemed to him to be in the way of accomplishment, and he longed to return to die with his wife and children. The surgeon had kept him informed of the discontent that prevailed among a portion of his force, and he accordingly took secret counsel with certain of the officers, in which it was agreed that they should persuade their men to present a petition, praying that they might be allowed to return to New Spain. A council of war was then held, at which the conclusion was reached that the country was neither sufficiently rich nor populous to make it worth the holding. Coronado thereupon issued the necessary orders for the return march. Some of the officers, however, repented of their decision, and asked the General to give them sixty picked men, with which to maintain themselves until reinforcements should be sent by the Viceroy; or for him to take that number of men for his escort, and leave the command of the expedition to some other person. But the army would not listen to either of these propositions, as they had no inclination to make the trial of any new commander. The consequence was that the zeal and affection of some of the officers for their chief disappeared, though that of the men still held firm.
It was in the early part of April, 1542, that the army began its return march to New Spain. Two of the missionaries remained behind, in the hope of making proselytes of the natives. One of them, a lay brother named Luis, remained at Cicuyé; the other, Juan de Padilla, who had led the charge at Tusayan, continued on to Quivira with some native converts; where, in the words of Castañeda, he speedily “received the martyr’s crown.” To better insure the safety of the priests, Coronado ordered his men to set at liberty their native slaves, and then started for Cibola. On the journey thither the horses, which thus far had kept in excellent condition, began to die in great numbers. The army accordingly rested a while there before entering upon the desert lying between that place and Chichilticalli; and some Christianized Indians from Mexico remained behind at Cibola, where they were found by Antonio de Espejo, forty-one years afterward, in 1583.[1452]
The crossing of the desert was uneventful, and two days after they reached Chichilticalli, Gallegos arrived there from the Viceroy with reinforcements of men and munitions of war. Great was his dismay at finding the army on its way back, and all the splendid visions dissipated that the Turk had conjured up. Those of the officers who had offered to remain and hold the country until the Viceroy’s commands should be received, now renewed their proposition; but the soldiers refused to return, and clamored to be led back to New Spain. Coronado found himself powerless to constrain them, even if he possessed the inclination to do so; nor was his authority sufficient to enable him to inflict any punishment upon the deserters who had abandoned Alcarraz at Suya. During the march, Castañeda says that Coronado kept up the fiction of being ill, and only allowed his intimates access to his person. The natives, seeing that the country was being abandoned by the Spaniards, kept up a succession of hostile encounters, in which several of the force perished. As provisions began to fail, the army hastened on to Petatlan, thirty leagues from Culiacan, the seat of Coronado’s government. All the bonds of discipline had now become relaxed, and even his authority there as governor was not sufficient to reinforce it; but by begging his friends to use their influence with the men, he was able to bring about one hundred of the force back with himself to Mexico. Here he was received but coolly by the Viceroy, Mendoza; his reputation was gone, and soon after he was deprived of his position as Governor of New Gallicia.
Such was the end of an expedition which, as General Simpson says, “for extent in distance travelled, duration in time, and the multiplicity of its co-operating expeditions, equalled, if it did not exceed, any land expedition that has been undertaken in modern times.”[1453]
