"It Is Governed Like Cibola, By An Assembly Of The Oldest Men.
They have
their governors and generals.
This was where they obtained the information
about a large river, and that several days down the river there were some
people with very large bodies.
"As Don Pedro de Tovar was not commissioned to go farther, he returned from
there, and gave this information to the general, who dispatched Don Garcia
Lopez de Cardenas with about twelve companions to go to see this river. He
was well received when he reached Tusayan and was well entertained by the
natives, who gave him guides for his journey. They started from here loaded
with provisions, for they had to go through a desert country before
reaching the inhabited region, which the Indians said was more than twenty
days journey. After they had gone twenty days, they came to the banks of
the river, which seemed to be more than three or four leagues above the
stream which flowed between them. This country was elevated and full of
low, twisted pines, very cold, and lying open toward the north, so that,
this being the warm season, no one could live there on account of the cold.
They spent three days on this bank looking for a passage down to the river,
which looked from above as if the water was six feet across, although the
Indians said that it was half a league wide. It was impossible to descend,
for after these three days Captain Melgosa and one Juan Galeras and another
companion, who were the three lightest and most agile men, made an attempt
to go down at the least difficult place, and went down until those who were
above were unable to keep sight of them.
Enter page number
PreviousNext
Page 243 of 322
Words from 64464 to 64757
of 85893
