From Here Vizcaino Sailed Northwest To Cape
Corrientes, Thence Northerly To The Islands Of San Juan De Mazatlan.
From Mazatlan He Bore West-Northwest Across The Gulf Of California And
Landed In A Large Bay Which He Named San Felipe, Afterwards Known As The
Bay Of Cerralbo.
From here he went to La Paz bay, which he so named
because of the peaceful character of the Indians, who received him
hospitably with presents of fish, game, and fruits.
This was, it is
supposed, the place where Jimenez, the discoverer of California, lost
his life in 1533, and where Cortez planted his ill-fated colony two
years later. In entering the bay, the flagship ran on a shoal, and they
were obliged to cut away her masts and lighten her of her cargo of
provisions, a great part of which was wet and lost. Here Vizcaino landed
and built a stockade fort, and leaving the dismantled flagship and the
married men of his company under command of his lieutenant, Figueroa, he
sailed on October 3rd, with the San Jose and the lancha and eighty men
to explore the gulf. He encountered severe storms which separated his
vessels, and not having proper discipline among his men, had trouble
with the Indians of the coast, during which nineteen men were lost by
the overturning of the ship's long boat. He turned back to La Paz, where
his men, disheartened by the storms and the loss of their comrades,
demanded to be returned to New Spain. His stock of provisions was
running low, and putting the disaffected on the flagship and the lancha,
he sent them back, and with the San Jose and forty of the more
adventurous of the men, again sailed, on October 28th, for the
headwaters of the gulf. For sixty-six days he battled against strong
north winds, and only succeeded in reaching latitude twenty-nine; then
yielding to the demands of his men, he sailed for the port of the Isles
of Mazatlan.
The results of the expedition did not add to Vizcaino's reputation, but
he made a most glowing report of his discoveries. He told of a land
double the extent of New Spain and in situation much preferable; its
seas abounding in pearls of excellent quality and in fish of all kinds,
in quantity greater than was contained in any other discovered sea;
while in the interior of the land, some twenty days' journey to the
northwest, were people who lived in towns, wore clothes, had gold and
silver ornaments, cloaks of cotton, maize and provisions, fowls of the
country (turkeys), and of Castile (chickens); thus the Indians told him
- not only in one place but in many. He desired permission to make
another voyage, and as the late expedition had exhausted his own
resources, asked that he be granted thirty-five thousand dollars from
the royal treasury and outfitting for his ships. These advances he
agreed to repay from the first gain received by him during the voyage.
He also asked, on behalf of those who accompanied him, that the
countries brought by him into subjection to the crown be given to them
encomienda for five lives[3]; that they be made gentlemen and granted
all the favors, exemptions, and liberties that other gentlemen enjoy,
not only in the provinces of the Indies but also in Spain.
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