so these Indians were useful as interpreters and enabled Fra Marcos to hold conversations with the natives along the route as far as the Gila river. His route lay within easy reach of the seacoast, and about twenty-five or thirty leagues northwest from the Rio del Fuerte, as the Petatlan river is called to-day, the explorer was in the country of the Mayos and probably beyond the mouth of the river of that name, where he met the Indians of the Gulf of California, who wore many conch shells suspended from their necks in which there used to be pearls, and, to quote his own words: "When I showed them a pearl which I had taken along, they said there were some of these on those islands, but I did not see any.

An uninhabited country for four days separated the point where he met these islanders from the next Indian tribe, who were greatly surprised to see him, and called him "the man from the Sky," or "from Heaven."

Bandelier thinks this is the expanse between the northern end of the Valley of Bacuachi and the upper course of the San Pedro river in Southern Arizona. Mountain fastnesses, not treeless, but rugged and wild, separate the site of Mututicachi from the present Palominas or Ochoaville on the San Pedro in Arizona.

Estevan had been sent forward from Vacapa, now called Metapa, in Central Sonora, with instructions to proceed to the north fifty or sixty leagues, and then either to return in person or await the arrival of de Niza. These instructions he disobeyed. Bancroft thinks his route was through the Pima Villages near Tucson. Bande

lier fixes it as crossing the San Pedro river at about the town of Ochoaville, aforementioned, and from thence across the Apache Reservation to the Zuni Villages or towns.

Estevan, however, provided well for the journey of his chief, erecting at stated intervals, sheds for his accommodation. He was accompanied by a large number of Indians and a number of squaws who were given to him by the several tribes.

"It was, therefore, on the last day of May, 1539, that Fra Marcos, when within two or three days' journey of Cibola, according to the statements of his guides, was surprised at meeting one of the Indians who had gone thither with the negro. The man was on his return, and that return was a precipitate flight. He brought sad tidings. Estevan had reached Cibola, but the people of that place had killed him, with many of his escort, and the survivors were fleeing for their lives."

The effect of these tidings was such that the Indians refused to accompany the monk any further, but were finally persuaded to accompany him a day's journey from Cibola through the distribution of presents which he carried along to be given to the citizens of Cibola. Here they encountered two more fugitives "whose bleeding bodies and frightened faces alone told the woeful tale of the dangers from which they had escaped."

It took Fra Marcos some time to induce them to accompany him any further. Finally two of the number agreed to conduct him to a high hill

from which he could see the town of Ahacus, which is identified as that of Hawikuh, a pueblo occupied by the Zunis until 1670, when the Apaches compelled its abandonment. This city de Niza reported to be a well built city with houses of from two to four stories high, laid out in regular streets and squares, with a population as large as that of the city of Mexico at that time.

Having taken possession of the country by building a monument here and there in the name of his Emperor, he returned in hot haste to Culiacan from whence he gave his report of all he had seen and heard: The country of the Yaquis and the Pimas: "An agricultural, potterymaking people, who dressed in cotton and prepared skins, and wore flashy ornaments. They occupied villages on the upper Yaqui, and irrigated by means of artificial canals. The houses were large sized adobes, and the center of the village was frequently occupied by a particularly solid and extensive structure, the walls of which were perforated with loopholes. Thither the inhabitants retreated in case of attack."

Also a description of the people and the lands of the Sonora River and San Pedro Valley; the people of Cibola and of the kingdom of Totontiac, where were houses eleven stories high, built of stone and lime, and where the people dressed in garments of cotton and wool.

CHAPTER III.

EARLY SPANISH EXPLORATIONS (Continued).

NUÑO DE GUZMAN-EXPEDITION ABANDONED ANTONIO DE MENDOZA-SEVEN CITIES OF CIBOLA-FRANCISCO VASQUEZ DE CORONADO CAPTAIN MELCHIOR DIAZ-CHICHILTECALECORAZONES (URES) OR THE VILLAGE OF THE HEARTS FIGHT WITH INDIANS - GARCIA LOPEZ DE CARDENAS-HERNANDO DE ALVARADO HERNANDO DE ALARCON-COLORADO RIVER-RIO DEL TISON-GULF OF CALIFORNIA -DEATH OF MELCHIOR DIAZ-DON PEDRO DE TOVAR-GRAND CANYON QUIVIRA ROUTE OF CORONADO-RETURN OF CORONADO.

In the year 1530, Nuño de Guzman, who was President of New Spain, had in his possession an Indian, a native of the Valley of Oxitipar, who was called Tejo by the Spaniards. This Indian said he was the son of a trader who was dead, and that when he was a boy his father had gone into the back country with fine feathers to trade for ornaments, and that when he came back, he brought a large amount of gold and silver, of which there was a large amount in that country. He went with him once or twice, and saw some very large villages which compared with Mexico and its environs. He had seen seven large towns which had streets of silver workers. It took thirty days to go there from his country, through a wilderness in which nothing grew except some very small plants about a span high.

Upon this information Nuño de Guzman gathered an army of 400 Spaniards and 20,000 of the friendly Indians of New Spain, and prepared to explore the country which was already named "The Seven Cities."

They went as far as the province of Culiacan where his government ended, and where the New Kingdom of Galicia then was, but on account of the difficulties encountered in crossing the mountains, and the discouragement of many of the capitalists interested in the expedition, and also on account of political intrigues, this expedition was abandoned.

Six years later, Cabeza de Vaca, and his companions, came to Culiacan. They gave Antonio de Mendoza, who had succeeded to the office of Viceroy in New Spain, an extended account of some of the "powerful villages, four and five stories high, of which they had heard a great deal in the countries they had crossed, and other things very different from what turned out to be the truth."

Upon this information, the expedition of Friar Marcos de Niza was organized, and, as we have seen, reached the country wherein was located the Seven Cities of Cibola, one of which he saw from a distance. Upon the return of Friar Marcos, he gave a most glowing account of the country through which he had passed, much of which was hearsay evidence and greatly exaggerated. The country was described as populous and easy of access, the people, probably the Pima Indians, from hearsay evidence, were said to have gold in plenty out of which they manufactured their