Vasco Núñez de Coronado

“ Thus Vasco Nuñez is left to reign alone; and every effort is made by him firmly to secure his government. While cementing his friends, he conciliates his enemies; above all he strives to deal justly by everybody, and with fair success. By caring for their comfort and exercising strict impartiality in the division of spoils, he wins the hearts of the fighting men. ”

“ They were the same who had known Cabeza de Vaca, and they had a high opinion of white men. They gave the Spaniards food and proved to them that it was much farther to the cities of the Missisippu than the Turk had said.
"By that time Coronado had himself begun to suspect that he should never find the golden bells of Quivira, but with the King and Doña Beatris behind him, there was nothing for him to do but go forward. He sent the army back to Tiguex, and, with thirty men and all the best horses, turned north in as straight a track as the land permitted, to the Turk's country. ”

“ A young and statesmanlike ruler, instead of a cruel and passionate old dotard, would have settled the Isthmus of Panama; and the humane and enlightened Vasco Nuñez, instead of the ruthless and illiterate Pizarro, would have been the conqueror of Peru. But this was not to be. Vasco Nuñez returned to Darien, from the coast of that mighty ocean which he had discovered, only to receive the tidings that old Pedrarias, with fifteen hundred men, was coming out from Spain to supersede him. ”

“ A considerable part of the rabble which followed Nuño de Guzman during the conquest of New Galicia went to Peru after their chief had been superseded by the Licentiate de la Torre, so that one town is said to have disappeared entirely from this cause; but among these there were few men of good birth and spirit. Mendoza had been able, at first, to accommodate and employ those who accompanied him from Spain, like Vazquez Coronado, "being chiefly young gentlemen." ”

“ Full of his new project, Balboa broached it to his counsellors without delay, but to his surprise they would not hear of it, neither would any person whatever in the colony. "No, no," they all exclaimed. "You shall not leave us, Vasco Nuñez. You are not alone our governor, but our guide and leader. You, only, are respected by the soldiers, feared by the savages, and we cannot do without you. Stay here with us you must ”

“ Vasco Nuñez was now the ally of the governor, whose jealousy was lost sight of in his desire to further the interests of his daughter’s future husband. Nuñez was authorised to build brigantines and to make the necessary preparations for an expedition of discovery on the Southern Sea. A town named Acla was founded at a point to the west of Darien, whence there was supposed to be the most convenient route across the mountains.{59} Here Nuñez commenced his operations, having two hundred men placed under his command and being aided by an advance from the treasury. ”

“ The army started on its return from Tiguex to Cibola and thence to Culiacan and Mexico early in the spring of 1542. The march was without interruption or diversion. As the soldiers reentered New Galicia and found themselves once more among settlements of their own race, beyond the reach of hostile natives, the ranks dwindled rapidly. The men stopped to rest and to recruit their strength at every opportunity, and it was only with the greatest difficulty that Coronado was able to keep together the semblance of a force with which to make his entry into the City of Mexico. ”

“ So Vasco Nuñez de Balboa, mistakenly supposing himself bound by the will of a dastard king, went meekly to the scaffold. With a firm step he ascended to the platform, without a tremor viewed the block on which he was to lose his head, and looked calmly on while the grim headsman made it ready. "Now haste," growled the man with the axe, "for there are others, and the sun is low in the sky." Then Balboa gave a start—remembering the others. ”

“ Enjoining Tubanamá to gather gold, and ever 383 remain true to the Spaniards, Balboa returned in triumph to Pocorosa's town, with a long train of enslaved captives. About this time Vasco Nuñez fell sick; and no wonder when we consider the strain on mind and body during the past four months. First in every action, bearing exposure and privation in common with the poorest soldier, with the responsibility of the adventure resting wholly on him, he was a fit subject for fever. ”

“ Neither so bold as Vasco Nuñez, nor so cunning as Pedrarias, nor so cruel as Pizarro, nor so learned as Espinosa, he was a man of deeper and broader experience than any one of them, with a more evenly balanced mind, a cooler, sounder judgment, not always a warrant for greater success than with a more senseless recklessness, but on the whole much safer as a colleague, and more reliable as a friend. He was not a man easily diverted by hollow schemes, however brilliant or high-soaring ”

“ Of the invariable poor but noble family, a native of Jerez de los Caballeros, Vasco Nuñez was reared in the service of Pedro Puertocarrero, the deaf lord of Moguer. Drawn with the crowd to the New World, upon the abrupt termination of the voyage of Bastidas, he obtained a repartimiento of Indians, and applied himself to agriculture at Salvatierra, 325 a town of Española. Becoming embarrassed by debts, and disgusted with the plodding life of a farmer, he determined to try fortune in the new colony of Alonso de Ojeda. ”

“ Here the army camped in the remains of a village which Nuño de Guzman had established. The settlers had been driven away by a pestilence caught from the Indians, and by the fierce onslaught of the natives who came down upon them from the surrounding mountains. The food supply of Coronado's force was beginning to fail, and as the tribes hereabout were still in rebellion, it became necessary to send a force into the mountains to obtain provisions. ”

“ In the following August, Coronado was legally recognized as a citizen of the City of Mexico, where he was one of three witnesses chosen to testify to the formal recognition by Cortes of the royal order which permitted De Soto to explore and conquer Florida. [11] A month later. September 7, 1538, the representative of De Soto, Alvaro de Sanjurjo, summoned Coronado himself to recognize and promise obedience to the same royal order, "as governor, as the said Sanjurjo declared him to be, of New Galicia." ”

“ NEW AMBITION
"Did you have a good time on your trip with Harlan and his father?" asked Lieutenant Barretas of Vasco.
"To be sure I did," was the answer. "I am not likely ever to forget the sights I have seen in this journey through our country."
"I hope you thanked your American friends for the pleasure you have enjoyed."
"I did, father."
"Our people are much indebted to the Americans for the prosperity into which we have come. I have some more good news to tell you now."
"What is it?" asked Vasco, his face aglow with eager anticipation. ”

“ Melchior Diaz was sent late in 1539 to retrace Fray Marcos’s route and report on his story; and an expedition under Coronado left Compostela for the “Seven Cities” in February 1540. This expedition consisted of a provision train and droves of live-stock; several hundred friendly Indians, Spanish footmen, and more than 250 horsemen. Coronado, with a part of this force, captured the “Seven Cities.” The fabled wealth, however, was not there. In the autumn (1540) Coronado was joined by the rest of his army. ”

“ Give us again Vasco Nuñez as a leader, for he alone can pacify the Indians; he alone knows the secrets of the land."
The jealous and irritable Pedrarias was greatly incensed by the sneers and reproaches of Balboa's friends. "So they want that rebel and that assassin to lead them against Dobaybe? Inasmuch as there could not be another expedition so likely to be defeated as one against that province, thither shall he go—and may the devil catch him by the way, say I."
This the crafty old governor said to himself, by-the-way, and not to others ”

“ Down went one Apache; then the horse of another fell to reeling and crouching in a sickly way; then a charge of half a dozen broke to right and left in irresolute prancings. At sight of this friendly work Coronado drew a fresh breath of courage, and executed his greatest feat yet of horsemanship and swordsmanship. Spurring after and then past one of the wheeling braves, he swept his sabre across the fellow's bare throat with a drawing stroke, and half detached the scowling, furious, frightened head from the body. ”

“ During this time the general endeavored to pacify scveral villages in the neighborhood which were not well disposed, and to make peace with the people at Tiguex. He tried also to procure some of the cloth of the country, because the soldiers were almost naked and poorly clothed, full of lice, which they were unable to get rid of or avoid. The general, Francisco Vazquez Coronado, had been beloved and obeyed by his captains and soldiers as heartily as any of those who have ever started out in the Indies. ”

“ Popular as was the expedition to the Seven Cities, there was a little opposition to the undertaking. When it became evident that a large force was about to leave the country, some of those who were to remain behind complained that all New Spain was being depopulated, and that no one would be left to defend the country in case of an Indian uprising. When Mendoza reached Compostela, by the middle of February, 1540, Coronado asked him to make an official investigation of these complaints. ”

“ After this, Vasco Nuñez made friends in the usual manner, first conquering and then negotiating with" the several chiefs or caciques whose territories came in his way. He explored the Gulf of San Miguel, finding much wealth of pearls in the region, and returned to Darien by a route which crossed the isthmus considerably farther to the north, reaching his colony on the 29th of January, 1514, having been absent nearly five months. "His men at Darien received him with exultation, and he lost no time in sending his news, 'such signal and new news,' ... ”

“ I do not blame those inquisitive persons who, perchance with good intentions, have many times troubled me not a little with their requests that I clear up for them some doubts which they have had about different things that have been commonly related concerning the events and occurrences that took place during the expedition to Cibola, or the New Land, which the good viceroy—may he be with God in His glory [2] —Don Antonio de Mendoza, ordered and arranged, and on which he sent Francisco Vazquez de Coronado as captain-general. ”

“ From one farmhouse to another they rode, dragging forth women and girls to be looked at like cattle. Many a tall, black-browed hussy would have been content to go away with Vasco Preez (such was his unchristian name) , but he was not willing to do right by any of them.
"They were returning home from one of these expeditions when they passed a lowly house beside the road with no fence around it. But before the house a girl stood on the grass, with her kapje in her hand, to see the six big men ride by. ”

“ The water-sellers, with their little carts drawn [24] by wobegone-looking donkeys, were always an object of interest to Vasco. He felt that it would be almost as much fun to ride about on a water-cart all day as to be a soldier.
Among the buildings within Vasco's vision as he sat in the plaza was the Cabildo, or town hall, which is the Independence Hall of Panama, for here was signed the Declaration of Independence from Spain. Naturally the place is an object of much reverence to the natives. ”

“ Winning for the project a few staunch friends, Vasco Nuñez selected with great care one hundred and ninety men. [IX-1] More could have been taken, but he had determined on a rapid march of discovery rather than pacification and occupation. Hence he preferred only tried men, those inured to fatigue, men resolute and reckless, with heart and head hard, and sinews of steel. He also provided from among his captives and the neighboring nations one thousand natives, to serve as warriors and beasts of burden. ”

“ And he who journeys across the Plains till he reaches the Sangre del Cristo Mountains or the blue Sierra Mojadas enters a land made famous by the exploits of Coronado, De Vaca and perhaps of the great Montezuma himself.
In the year 1540, Francisco Vasquez de Coronado was sent by the Spanish viceroy of Mexico to explore the regions to the north. Those mountain-peaks, dim and shadowy in the distance and seeming to recede as they were approached, had ever been an alluring sight to the gold-seeking Spaniards. ”

“ If the Spaniards would make war upon him, his downfall would enrich them and would deliver friendly natives from incessant anxiety. Nothing would be easier, they said through their interpreters, than for you to help us, and we will act as your guides. Vasco encouraged their hopes and sent them away satisfied. In exchange for their presents he gave them some iron hatchets, which they prize more than heaps of gold. For as they have no money––that source of all evils––they do not need gold. The owner of one single hatchet feels himself richer than Crassus. ”

“ Then he took the Spaniards to the place where they obtained the pearls, and made his people gather them, and remain at peace. Notwithstanding all this the captain without conscience gave away as slaves all the men and all the women whom he brought away from the Rich Island.' The statement may be taken with allowance as from a man smarting under wrong; and it is not a little amusing to see how suddenly tender becomes the conscience of the ingenuous Vasco, who never stole anything from the natives, or burned their houses, or made them slaves! ”