The Sonora was followed nearly to its source before a pass was discovered. On the northern side of the mountains he found a stream—the Nexpa, he calls it—which may have been either the Santa Cruz or the San Pedro of modern maps. The party followed down this river valley until they reached the edge of the wilderness, where, as Friar Marcos had described it to them, they found Chichilticalli.[1]
Here the party camped for two days, which was as long as the general dared to delay, in order to rest the horses, who had begun to give out sometime before as a result of overloading, rough roads, and poor feed. The stock of provisions brought from Culiacan was already growing dangerously small, although the food supply had been eked out by the large cones or nuts of the pines of this country, which the soldiers found to be very good eating. The Indians who came to see him, told Coronado that the sea was ten days distant, and he expresses surprise, which Mr Bandelier has reëchoed, that Friar Marcos could have gone within sight of the sea from this part of the country.
Coronado entered the wilderness, the White Mountain Apache country of Arizona, on Saint John's eve, and in the quaint language of Hakluyt's translation of the general's letter, "to refresh our former travailes, the first dayes we founde no grasse, but worser way of mountaines and badde passages."[2] Coronado, following very nearly the line of the present road from Fort Apache to Gila river, proceeded until he came within sight of the first of the Seven Cities. The first few days of the march were very trying. The discouragement of the men increased with the difficulties of the way. The horses were tired, and the slow progress became slower, as horses and Indian carriers fell down and died. The corn was almost gone, and as a result of eating the fruits and herbs which they found along the way, a Spaniard and some of the servants were poisoned so badly that they died. The skull and horns of a great mountain goat, which were lying on the ground, filled the Europeans with wonder, but this was hardly a sign to inspire them with hopes of abundant food and gold. There were 30 leagues of this travailing before the party reached the borders of the inhabited country, where they found "fresh grass and many nutte and mulberrie trees."
The day following that on which they left the wilderness, the advance guard was met, in a peaceable manner, by four Indians. The Spaniards treated them most kindly, gave them beads and clothing, and "willed
- ↑ This "Red House," in the Nahuatl tongue, has been identified with the Casa Grande ruins in Arizona ever since the revival of interest in Coronado's journey, which followed the explorations in the southwestern portion of the United States during the second quarter of the present century. Bandolier's study of the descriptions given by those who saw the "Red House" in 1539 and 1540. however, shows conclusively that the conditions at Casa Grande do not meet the requirements for Chichilticalli. Bandelier objects to Casa Grande because it is white, although he admits that it may once have been covered with the reddish paint of the Indians. This would suit Mota Padilla's explanation that the place was named from a house there which was daubed over with colored earth—almagre, as the natives called it. This is the Indian term for red ocher. Bandelier thinks that Coronado reached the edge of the wilderness, the White Mountain Apache reservation in Arizona, by way of San Pedro river and Arivaypa creek. This requires the location of Chichiltioalli somewhere in the vicinity of the present Fort Grant, Arizona.
- ↑ Hakluyt, Voyages, vol. iii, p. 375, ed. 1600.
