great powers; that Guzman, being an enemy of Cortes, was unwilling to return, and determined to colonize the province of Culiacan; that he established himself at Xalisco, since Campostelle, and at Tonala, afterwards Guadalaxara, which two provinces at a later period formed the kingdom of Galicia; that eight years afterwards he was thrown into prison by an envoy from Spain, the licentiate of La Torre, who put himself at the head of the government of the province, and after his death Don Antonio de Mendoça, viceroy of New Spain, appointed to succeed him Francisco Vasquez Coronado, a gentleman of Salamanca, who was established at Mexico; that at this period three Spaniards named Cabeça de Vaca, Dorantes and Castillo Maldonado, and a negro, who had been shipwrecked with the fleet which Pamphilo de Narvaez conducted to Florida, came to Mexico by the province of Culiacan, after having traversed the country from one sea to the other; that the new governor proceeding to Culiacan, carried with him the negro and three Franciscan friars; that when the governor arrived at the province of Culiacan, he sent forward for discovery, the three friars and the negro, and as the latter could make himself understood by the natives of the country through which he had passed, the friars sent him on in advance of them, accompanied by some Indians; that on his arrival at Cibola, upon being interrogated as to the end of his coming into their country, he said, he preceded some white men (sent by a powerful prince and) very learned in heavenly things which they came to teach, and the Indians thought he was the spy of some na

tion which wished to subjugate them. It was unaccountable to them that he should be from a country of white men who was himself black: he had besides asked for their wealth and their women, and it seemed to them hard to consent to it. They decided to kill him, which they did, without doing the least harm to those who accompanied him; upon which the friars very quickly retraced their steps. It was after this that the expedition was prepared for the discovery of Cibola, which is the chief subject of the relation of Pédro de Castañeda de Nagera. The City of Campostelle, the capital of New Galicia, a hundred leagues from Mexico, was the place from which the army was to set out for the expedition. Pedro de' Alarcon was to set out from Natividad, on the coast of the South sea, with two vessels, and then go to Xalisco and follow the army in its march along the coast. In the preface of the French editor, he says:

"I do not believe that any Spanish expedition has ever gone so far towards the northeast. Almost all those which took place afterwards, were directed towards the northwest. It is astonishing how little they profited by the indications given by Vasquez. I will cite only a single example of it. Alarcon discovered in 1539, that California was a presqu'île; and in 1732, that is to say, 200 years after, this point was still considered as uncertain."

It is time, however, to stop this digression from Cabeça de Vaca; the chief purpose of referring to the relation of Pédro de Castañeda, was to shew its confirmation of the statement of Cabeça de Vaca as to his arrival in Mexico, and the mode by which he got there; this has now been sufficiently done.

After the return of Cabeça de Vaca from Mexico, he remained in Spain till 1540, when he succeeded Don Pedro de Mendoça as Adelantado and governor of the La Plata, touching which country his Commentaries were published at Valladolid in 1555, and republished at Paris in 1837 by H. Ternaux, in his Collection of Voyages, Relations and Memoirs. It seems from his commentaries, that he was not much more happy in this than in his former enterprise. As to his true character there is not an agreement amongst writers. Some of his cotemporaries, at least, appear to have considered him arbitrary. Amongst the volumes republished in the collection of H. Ternaux-Compans, is one entitled,

"Histoire véritable d'un voyage curieux, fait par Ulrich Schmidel de Straubing, dans l'Amérique ou le nouveau Monde, par le Brésil, et le Rio de la Plata, depuis l'année 1534, jusqu'en 1554. Où l'on verra tout ce qu'il a souffert pendant ces dix-neuf ans, et la description des pays et des peuples extraordinaires qu'il a visités. Ouvrage écrit par lui-même, et puplié de nouveau après corrections des noms de villes, de pays et de rivières, par Levinus Hulsius," published at Nuremberg in 1599.

From the fortieth chapter of this volume of Schmidel, the following is extracted:

"Our commander had no consideration for any body, and wished that every thing should bend before him. The entire army, in general assembly, decided unanimously that it was necessary to arrest him, send him to the emperor and render an account to his imperial majesty of his fine qualities, of the manner in which he had treated us, and of every thing that had passed. Three of the principal offi

cers, to wit: the treasurer Alonso Cabrera, Don Francisco Mendoça and Grato Amiego, (Garcia Vanegas,) repaired to his house at the head of 200 soldiers and took possession of his person at a moment when he least expected it. This was in the month of April, on the day of Saint Mark in the year 1543. We kept him a prisoner for more than a year, until we had prepared and furnished with supplies a caravel, on board of which we sent him to Spain, with two officers. It was necessary to choose another chief to administer the country and command the army until we should receive orders from his majesty. Martin Dominique de Irala, who had already been governor, was then proclaimed general, for he was greatly loved by the troops."

The French editor in the preface prefixed by him to the edition of 1837, states that Cabeça de Vaca was acquitted, but he does not know what became of him after he recovered his liberty. He quotes from a writer who states that he died at Seville at a very advanced age, after having been put in the office of auditor in that city, but the editor adds that he does not know whether this is very exact.

CHAPTER VIII.

Of the period from 1527 to 1534.

After the loss of one of the vessels sent forth from England in 1527, and the unsuccessful termination of the voyage the same year from Spain under Narvaez, neither kingdom seems to have been disposed, in any short time, to send other expeditions to the Atlantic coast of North America. ern continent, the emperor somewhat altered his manner of proceeding; the change, in respect to the province of Coro, was most important.

Indeed, even on the south

"A. Dalfinger and G. Seyler, who were at Madrid, the agents of Welser, rich merchants of Augsbourg, obtained from Charles the Fifth, who had often borrowed money from them in moments of necessity, the cession of this province in favour of their masters, to make the conquest of it, at their expense, on the following conditions. They bound themselves to equip four vessels, to carry three hundred Spaniards, and to build two cities and three fortresses in the two years succeeding their arrival. They were, besides, to send to this country fifty German miners, to bring to perfection the extraction of the mineral. The emperor ceded to them all the territory between the province of Santa Martha and the cape of Maracapana, relinquished to them four fifths of his fifth of the gold and silver, and gave them in absolute property twelve square leagues of land, to take where they would. He permitted them, moreover, to