After the naming of their officers,
Castaneda regrets that he has "forgotten the names of many good fellows.
It would be well if I could name some of them, so that it might be clearly
seen what cause I had for saying that they had on this expedition the most
brilliant company ever collected in the Indies to go in search of new
lands. But they were unfortunate in having a captain who left in New Spain
estates and a pretty wife, a noble and excellent lady, which were not the
least causes for what was to happen."
First Disappointment. Poor Coronado! The reader is thus prepared to throw
upon him the blame because similar treasures to those found by Cortes in
the land of Montezuma were not found in Arizona and New Mexico. In spite of
his having so many fine gentlemen in his official family, Coronado's
disappointments and disillusionments began early. As he reached the region
where the wilderness began - just past the Pima country - he felt
downhearted, "for, although the reports were very fine about what was
ahead, there was nobody who had seen it except the Indians who went with
the negro, and these had already been caught in some lies."
Meeting with Indians. When the expedition first came in contact with the
Indians of the desert region, the gallant members of the party must have
been a little scared, for, according to Castaneda: "Some Indians... during
the night... in a safe place yelled so that, although the men were ready
for anything, some were so excited that they put their saddles on hind-side
before; but these were the new fellows. When the veterans had mounted and
ridden round the camp, the Indians had fled."
Coronado Reaches Zuni. Coronado finally reached Cibola - the mythical - now
known to be Zuni, in New Mexico. Here he was not only disappointed because
he did not find the great treasure so long anticipated, but he was wounded.
Getting into converse with him, the Indians told him of the people who
lived round about, and among others, of those who dwelt in the province of
Tusayan. And here is what Castaneda tells us about the discovery by
Europeans of those whom we now know as the Hopi.
Castaneda's Account of their Experiences in the Canyon. "The General had
sent Don Pedro de Tovar to these villages with seventeen horsemen, and
three or four foot soldiers..Juan de Padilla, a Franciscan friar, who had
been a fighting man in his youth, went with them. When they reached the
region, they entered the country so quietly that nobody observed them,
because there were no settlements or farms between one village and another
and the people do not leave the villages except to go to their farms,
especially at this time, when they had heard that Cibola had been captured
by very fierce people, who traveled on animals who ate people.
