In the chapter "Tovar and the Discovery of
the Grand Canyon," brief reference is made to the reconnaissance undertaken
by Fray Marcos de Niza, a Franciscan friar, to determine the truth of the
reports brought into Culiacan by Cabeza de Vaca.
This narrative of Fray
Marcos is taken, in the main, from George Parker Winship's introduction to
his translation of Castaneda's narrative, published in the fourteenth
annual report of the United States Bureau of Ethnology. This friar was born
in Nice, then a part of Savoy, and he came to America about the year 1531.
His contemporaries called him a Frenchman, though there is no evidence that
he was of French parentage. He was sent as one of the religious to
accompany Pizarro on his expedition to Peru, and was present at the trial
and execution of the native king, Atahualpa. From Peru, he returned to
Central America, and thence he returned on foot to Mexico. He was a man of
known bravery and character, and already was appointed to the office of
vice-commissary of his order. Thus Mendoza felt no hesitation at charging
him with the arduous mission of penetrating to the heart of what are now
Arizona and New Mexico, as far as the reported seven cities of Cibola, and
bringing back to his superiors a truthful account of what he saw. The
father provincial of the order, Fray Antonio de Ciudad Rodrigo, on August
26, 1539, certified to the high esteem in which Fray Marcos was held, and
stated that he was skilled in cosmography, and in the arts of the sea, as
well as in theology.
Mendoza Instructs Fray Marcos. Mendoza drew up for him a set of
instructions as to how he should proceed. These were very explicit as to
the good treatment the Indians were to receive at his hands, and required
him to make certain scientific observations with due care and thoroughness.
He was to leave letters at stated intervals, and also send back to the
viceroy reports of his progress, wherever possible. Coronado escorted him
as far as the new town of Culiacan, and on March 7, 1539, accompanied by a
lay brother, Onorato, he started on his trip.
Courage of Spaniards. When it is remembered that this journey of several
hundreds of miles was on foot, - for the rule of the Franciscans was that
all their members should travel afoot save in cases of extreme necessity, -
through a barren, almost waterless desert, roamed over, by warlike Indians,
the courage of the man is apparent. Yet he was not remarkable in this. The
history of Mexico and of all the Spanish colonies, as well as those of New
Mexico (which used to include Arizona), Texas, and California, abounds in
the names of men of equal courage and daring. On reaching Petatlan, Brother
Onorato fell sick, and Marcos had to leave him behind; thence alone, as far
as white men were concerned, he traveled to Cibola. Six Indian interpreters
and a large number of natives accompanied and followed him, and Stephen,
the negro, went ahead as his guide.
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