CHAPTER II.

NIZA AND CORONADO IN ARIZONA.

1539-1540.

THE DISCOVERERS VICEROY MENDOZA'S PLANS FRAY MARCOS DE NIZA AND THE NEGRO-JOURNEY TO THE NORTH-WONDERFUL REPORTS OF THE SEVEN CITIES-FATE OF ESTEVANICO, THE FIRST PIONEER OF ARIZONA -FRAY MARCOS IN SIGHT OF CIBOLA-NEW KINGDOM OF SAN FRANCISCO --NIZA'S REPORT-DISCUSSION OF THE ROUTE FROM SINALOA TO ZUÑI-A NEW FUROR-CORTÉS AND ULLOA-ALARCON ON THE RIO COLORADO, OR BUENA GUIA-FRANCISCO VASQUEZ DE CORONADO-A GRAND ARMY -DIAZ AND ZALDÍVAR-BIBLIOGRAPHY OF THE EXPEDITION-THE SONORA SETTLEMENT MELCHOR DIAZ-FROM SONCRA TO CIBOLA-1 HE ROUTE-CHICHILTICALE-MAP-IDENTITY OF CIBOLA AND ZUNI-CONQUEST OF GRANADA-THE FRIAR CURSED AND SENT HOME-TOBAR'S EXPEDITION TO TUSAYAN, OR THE MOQUI PUEBLOS CÁRDENAS VISITS THE CAÑON OF THE COLORADO.

THE glory of discovering this territory must be given to a negro and a Franciscan friar, who crossed the line into Arizona in 1539. So great was the interest taken by Viceroy Mendoza in the statements of Cabeza de Vaca respecting the populous towns of which he had heard on his way across the continent, that he at once planned an expedition, in 1537, buying the slave Estevanico and obtaining the services of his master Dorantes, as guides; but the project was temporarily abandoned, and no more is heard of Dorantes or Maldonado, Álvar Nuñez having gone to Europe.1

Late in 1538, however, with a view to exploration and conquest on a grander scale, and under a new policy, so far as treatment of the natives was concerned, it was arranged that Francisco Vasquez de Coronado,

1 Mendoza's letters to the king, 1537-40, in Pacheco, Col. Doc., ii. 206–7; Florida, Col. Doc., 136, 139; Ternaux-Compans, Voy., série i. tom. ix. p. 287.

the newly appointed governor of Nueva Galicia, should make a tour of inspection to the northern parts of his province, and there set on foot certain preliminary investigations by the aid of friars and liberated Indian slaves, subsequently devoting himself, should the results prove satisfactory, to the organization of a force for the proposed military expedition. Not much is known of several preparatory tours, intended mainly to inspire confidence in Spanish good faith and reform among the natives of northern Sinaloa; but one had a broader scope, and is fully recorded, being the one that involves the discovery of Arizona.

3

Fray Marcos de Niza, chief of the Franciscan band destined for the northern field, was an Italian, who had come to America in 1531, had gone with Pizarro tó Peru in 1532, served in Nicaragua, and come north with Pedro de Alvarado, being a man of prominence in his order, of ardent zeal for all new enterprises, and withal of lively imagination. Having received special instructions from the viceroy through Coronado in November 1538, Fray Marcos set out from San Miguel on the 7th of March, 1539, accompanied by another friar named Onorato, the negro Estevanico, and a band of natives from Culiacan. On the Petatlan Onorato fell ill, and was left behind; but Niza went on "as the holy spirit did guide" him, always kindly welcomed by the natives, but with no notable occurrence for some 25 or 30 leagues, except that he met Indians from the island where Cortés had been—

2 See Hist. North Mex. St., i. 72-3, note 3, for a few details.

3 For biog., see Vetancurt, Menologio Franciscano, 37 (p. 117–19 of ed. of 1871); Mendieta, Hist. Ecles., 674; Torquemada, Monarq. Ind., iii. 499-500; and Figueroa, Becerro General, MS., 41, where Fr. Marcos is said to have been the founder of the Fran. provincia of Lima. In the introd. to Velasco, Hist. Royaume de Quito, as pub. by Ternaux, also preface to Castañeda, Rel., v., he is said to have been the author of several works on the conquest and native races of Quito and Peru. In '40-3 he was provincial of his order in Mexico, though most of the time absent in the north, where he lost his health. He lived later in Jalapa, and died at Mexico in 1558. Niza is the proper Span. form of his name, that of the town Nice, the Italian form being Nizza. For a portrait-not stated to have been taken from an Arizona photograph of 1539— see Frost's Pict. Hist. Mex., 135.

Pueblo de Petatean in the original, as printed; possibly not on the Rio Petatlan (the Sinaloa).

California-half a league from the main, and they told him of 30 other inhabited islands beyond, and of pearls. Then after four days' journey through an uninhabited tract, he came to a people who had never heard of Christians, who called him Sayota, or 'man from heaven,' and who knew of large settlements in a valley four or five days inland, where cotton was used for clothing, and gold for implements and ornaments. For three days his way led him through the country of this people, till he came to Vacapa, a settlement of good size and plenty of food, 40 leagues from the sea.

At Vacapa Niza remained some nine days, sending messengers to the coast, who brought back tidings of the pearl islands-now 34 in number and cowhide shields. Here he met natives from the east, known as 'pintados,' who had something to say of the 'seven cities.' And from here he sent the negro ahead to explore the way, and after four days Estevanico sent back such glowing reports of what he had heard about Cíbola, with its seven great towns and stone buildings and turquoises, that even the credulous fraile hesitated to credit them. About the 6th of April, with two islanders and three 'pintados' added to his company, he left Vacapa, and in three days came to the people who had given the negro his information about Cibola, and who now gave the good friar his fill of marvels. Pressing on for five days-possibly including the previous three through a well-settled country, they came to a pleasant and well-watered settlement near the borders of a desert. Between Vacapa and this place without much doubt they had crossed what is now the southern bound of Arizona.5

5 Vacapa, or S. Luis, was a ranchería from 12 to 191. southward of Sonoita, or S. Marcelo, visited by Kino and Mange in 1699-1701, and shown on Kino's map. See Hist. North Mex. St., i. 72–5, 271, 495, 499; Mange, Hist. Pimería, 327; Apost. Afanes, 273-4, 282-5. Mange notes the place as the one passed by Coronado's (Niza's) exped., as described by Herrera. Padre Garcés, Diario y Derrotero, 365, in 1777 says: El pueblo de Bacapá que cita se halla hoy en la Papaguería con nombre de Quitobopeapa, en lenqua pima quiere decir; en Bac quiere decir tule, conque en Quitobape dice tule chiquito. Evidently there is typographic confusion here; but Vacapa may have been Quitobac. This name of Vacapa is, of course, an important point in following Niza's route.

The

The desert having been crossed in four days, the route lay for five days through a fertile, irrigated valley, with many settlements of superior and friendly Indians. This may be reasonably regarded as the Gila valley in the region of the Pima villages. Here the friar understood that the coast turned abruptly westward, which means simply that the natives described the ocean as much farther off than the gulf coast had been in the south; but he says he went in person and saw that such was the case, which was hardly possible. These people knew of Cibola, wore turquoises, and in some cases cotton, and they told of woollen garments woven in Totonteac from the fur of a small animal. In one of the rancherías was met a native of Cíbola, who gave much information about its seven towns, Ahacus being the largest-exaggerated though in a sense tolerably accurate descriptions of the since well-known Pueblo towns. He also told of other towns and provinces. Many others confirmed and supplemented the reports all along the way; turquoises and hides and other articles from Cíbola were plentiful; and the negro, whose zeal kept him far in advance with his native attendants, sent back the most encouraging messages. For three days more they travelled in this valley or a similar one; and then, on the 9th

identity is not certain, as these rancherías were sometimes moved long distances. If Niza went so far west he must have turned eastward later, for from that Vacapa he could not have travelled 5 or 8 days northward in a settled country to the borders of a desert. Whipple's location, Pac. R. R. Repts, iii. 104, of V. in the region of Magdalena, as hitherto favored by me, Hist. North Mex. St., i. 72-5, making the pleasant, well-watered settlement near the desert in the Tucson region, would be much more convenient; but the general features are clear enough, and nothing more can be hoped for.

Y así fuí en demanda della y ví claramente que en los 35 vuelve al Oueste, de que no menos alegría tuve que de la buena nueva de la tierra.' Niza, Descub., 339. Of course the lat. 35° was all wrong. We shall find a similar statement about the westward trend in Coronado's narrative, but more clearly explained by the statement that here the gulf ended. If Niza continued N. w. from the Sonoita region to the Gila, and thence up that river, a visit to the head of the gulf, if possible, must still be regarded as very improbable.

South-east of Cibola was the kingdom of Marata, with many large towns, though weakened by wars with Cibola; another in the same direction was Totonteac, the most populous and richest of all; and another, Acus (distinct from Ahacus, which was only a town), in a direction not stated. These references were clearly to the N. Mex. Pueblo towns toward or on the Rio Grande.