I I I i' I 1 1· t I i ' , I j ! j l I ,
Coronado and La Gran Quivira, 1537-1544
85
assured the king would be raised by means of a more careful collection of debts, particularly a number of sums long overdue. For some unexplain- able reason, however, Dorantes did not carry out the plan of the viceroy, and the expedition came to naught.' Franciscans enter nortlzern country. The attempt to penetrate the unexplored countries to the north was now to be taken up by the fervent sons of Saint Francis. It seems that in the year 1538, Fray Antonio de Ciudad Rodrigo, Provincial of the Franciscans, sent Fray Juan de la Asuncion and Fray Pedro Nadal on a mission of exploration beyond Nueva Galicia "to convert new people." In company with a captain they appear to have penetrated beyond the farthest northern outpost on the western coast and continued to the north or northwest to a point where two roads forked. Here they followed the right hand (east) road for a distance, but were unable to proceed very far on account of the rugged . mountains. The captain and one of the friars, Nadal, perhaps, returned by the same road, while Fray Juan de la Asuncion, with two interpreters, followed the other road and succeeded in traveling about eight hundred miles in a general northern direction probably as far as the Gila River or the Lower Colorado. The missionary on his return reported that he had met numerous Indian tribes who wore clothes. had houses, and hunted large cows. He was told that on the banks of a _large river dwelt a people in enclosed villages and that from there many turquoise stones were brought. He declared that he had been received by the inhabitants as a messenger from heaven. In spite of the vagueness and contradictory nature of the data concerning this disputed preliminary reconnaissance, Bandelier declares it is his belief, after a careful investigation of the facts, "that the journey was really made, that Fray Juan de la Asuncion was the man who performed it, and that he reached as far north as the lower Gila, and perhaps the lower course of the Colorado of the West ... conse- quently there was a discovery of southern Arizona one year previous to that of New Mexico by Fray Marcos de Niza." 9 T/1-e explo1·ation of h ·ay illarcos de Ni:;a. This same year (1538) the viceroy appointed Coronado Governor of Nueva Galicia, subject to the approval of the king. Mendoza was determined to discover what lay
' I ,
I.
1 Mendoza to the King, December 10
1 I 537 1 Docummlos /11edilos, II, 206-207;
Ternaux-Compans, Voyages, IX, 287 . 9 Bandelier, Co11trib11tio11s, Io 1. For a detailed and critical account of this dis- puted expedition, read pages 79-105 of the work cited.
Powered by FlippingBook