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185 introduction A great distance separated even the northernmost fringes of nueva Galicia from the presumed affluent centers of population that came to be known as cíbola. that much was apparent from the reports delivered by Álvar núñez cabeza de vaca and his companions in 1536. thus, for the expedition’s organizers, keeping a large group bound for cíbola supplied with food, clothing, armaments , and other materials without despoiling the native people along the way would be daunting. And doing so would be crucial if the viceroy was to adhere to his commitment “not [to] inflict injury on or [exercise] force against the indians. . . . they are not to take anything they may possess from them against their will.” 1 the difficulty of supply could be greatly lessened, however , if the expedition could be reprovisioned by sea. Hence, when mendoza dispatched fray marcos de niza northward late in 1538, it was not only to verify the existence of populous and prosperous settlements. He also instructed the friar “to ascertain whether there is knowledge of the seacoast.” 2 the friar, for his part, as he trekked northward, dutifully sought to learn about the coast and to determine from time to time his distance from it. He was dismayed at one point to find himself “deviat[ing] from the coast and my instruction was not to distance myself from it.” 3 At eastertime 1539 marcos was in vacapa, as he reported, “forty leagues . . . to the sea,” a distance that did not please him. 4 marcos’s official report suggested that the route to cíbola diverged increasingly from the Gulf of california as it proceeded north. nevertheless, some persons, perhaps including the viceroy, got the impression that cíbola itself might be near or even on the coast. for instance, a witness in Habana in 1539 stated that cíbola “is on the coast of the [mar] del sur.” 5 it was with such a possibility in mind that in 1540 mendoza commissioned Hernando de Alarcón, a close associate and member of his personal guard, to rendezvous by sea with the coronado expedition. 6 As was made abundantly clear in instructions to him for a proposed second voyage the following year, Alarcón’s principal mission was to carry goods and provisions to the expedition. 7 many years later, pedro de castañeda de nájera put it this way: “Alarcón was to depart with two navíos which were in the port of navidad on the costa del sur and travel to the port of Jalisco, in order to carry the clothing the men-at-arms could not take [with them].” 8 According to Bernal Díaz del castillo, writing during the same decade as castañeda de nájera, Alarcón also carried hardware, some artillery pieces, gunpowder, crossbows, and arms and armor of all sorts, as well as olive oil and hardtack. 9 Although his first responsibility was to deliver such supplies, Alarcón seems, from his own report, to have been powerfully drawn to reconnaissance of the territory inland from the head of the Gulf of california. As we mention in regard to other narrative documents of the coronado expedition, geographical and topographical descriptions are Narrative of Alarcón’s Voyage, 1540 History Library, museum of new mexico, santa fe ramusio, Terzo volume delle navigationi et viaggi, 1556, fols. 363r–370v Document 15 186 DocuMent 15 minor aspects of Alarcón’s report. At center stage are the native people whom he and his party met as they ascended the colorado river. the large, wealthy reinos of cabeza de vaca’s and fray marcos’s relaciones were his goal. in the process of his search, however, Alarcón recorded detailed observations of the natives he encountered. many of these are in harmony with reports of nineteenth- and twentieth-century ethnologists who worked among the yuman peoples of the same area, likely descendants of those met by the Alarcón party. Alarcón’s report suggests that he had frequent and relatively easy communication with many of the native people he met. Given the common reliance on hand signs and the difficulty inherent in translating abstract words such as “God” from castellano (spanish) to the native languages, the completeness of this communication is highly suspect. Among the many things revealed by the record of Alarcón’s voyage are the rapid, long-distance communication and even intervisitation that were commonplace among the peoples of tierra...

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