|
Main
- books.jibble.org
My Books
- IRC Hacks
Misc. Articles
- Meaning of Jibble
- M4 Su Doku
- Computer Scrapbooking
- Setting up Java
- Bootable Java
- Cookies in Java
- Dynamic Graphs
- Social Shakespeare
External Links
- Paul Mutton
- Jibble Photo Gallery
- Jibble Forums
- Google Landmarks
- Jibble Shop
- Free Books
- Intershot Ltd
|
books.jibble.org
Previous Page
| Next Page
Page 46
I would haue sent your lordshippe with this dispatch many musters of
things which are in this countrey: but the way is so long and rough,
that it is hard for me to doe so; neuerthelesse I send you twelue
small mantles, such as the people of the countrey are woont to weare,
and a certaine garment also, which seemeth vnto me to bee well made: I
kept the same, because it seemed to mee to bee excellent well wrought,
because I beleeue that no man euer sawe any needle worke in these
Indies, except it were since the Spaniards inhabited the same. I send
your Lordshippe also two clothes painted with the beasts of this
countrey, although as I haue sayde, the picture bee very rudely done,
because the painter spent but one day in drawing of the same. I haue
seene other pictures on the walles of the houses of this citie with
farre better proportion, and better made.
I send your honour one Oxe-hide, certaine Turqueses, and two earerings
of the same, and fifteene combes of the Indians, and certain tablets
set with these Turqueses, and two small baskets made of wicker,
whereof the Indians haue great store. I send your lordship also two
rolles which the women in these parts are woont to weare on their
heads when they fetch water from their welles, as wee vse to doe in
Spaine. And one of these Indian women with one of these rolles on her
head, will carie a pitcher of water without touching the same with her
hand vp a lather. I send you also a muster of the weapons wherewith
these people are woont to fight, a buckler, a mace, a bowe, and
certaine arrowes, among which are two with points of bones, the like
whereof, as these conquerours say, haue neuer beene seene.
[1] From Coronado's letter to Mendoza, dated August 3, 1540,
Mendoza being Viceroy of Mexico, by whom Coronado had been sent
out. Coronado's expedition was a great disappointment to all
concerned in it, inasmuch as it resulted in failure to find the
fabled "seven cities of Cibola." He had 300 Spaniards with him and
800 Indians. Instead of finding great towns, as promised by Marcos
and others, he discovered only a poor village of 200 people,
situated on a rocky eminence. The expedition, however, in spite of
this failure, remains one of the most important exploring
expeditions ever undertaken in America. Opinions differ as to how
far north Coronado went, some maintaining that he reached a point
north of the boundary line between Kansas and Nebraska. His letter
was printed by Hakluyt in Volume III of his "Voyages," and may be
found in the "Old South Leaflets." Mr. Thwaites says of the
expedition:
"Disappointed, but still hoping to find the country of gold,
Coronado's gallant little army, frequently thinned by death and
desertion, for three years beat up and down the southwestern
wilderness: now thirsting in the deserts, now penned up in
gloomy canons, now crawling over pathless mountains, suffering
the horrors of starvation and of despair, but following this
will-o'-the-wisp with a melancholy perseverance seldom seen in
man save when searching for some mysterious treasure. Coronado
apparently twice crossed the State of Kansas. 'Through mighty
plains and sandy heaths,' says the chronicler of the expedition,
'smooth and wearisome and bare of wood. All that way the plains
are as full of crookback oxen (buffaloes) as the mountain Serena
in Spain is of sheep. They were a great succor for the hunger
and want of bread which our people stood in. One day it rained
in that plain a great shower of hail as big as oranges, which
caused many tears, weaknesses, and vows.' The wanderer ventured
as far as the Missouri, and would have gone still farther
eastward but for his inability to cross the swollen river.
Cooperating parties explored the upper valleys of the Rio Grande
and Gila, ascended the Colorado for two hundred and forty miles
above its mouth, and visited the Grand Canon of the same river.
Coronado at last returned, satisfied that he had been victimized
by the idle tales of travelers. He was rewarded with contumely
and lost his place as governor of New Galicia; but his romantic
march stands in history as one of the most remarkable exploring
expeditions of modern times."
Francisco Vasquez de Coronado was born at Salamanca, in Spain,
about 1500, and died in Mexico some time after 1542. He is believed
to have gone to Mexico in 1535 with Mendoza, the viceroy, who, in
1539, made him governor of a province.
[2] Marcos is here referred to.
Previous Page
| Next Page
|
|