History of Utah, 1540-1886 - Brigham Young University

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EXPEDITION OF CARDENAS. 3
through a desert country until he discovered the river,
but from such high banks that he could not reach it.
It was the river called the Tizon, and it flowed from
the north-east toward the south-west. It seemed to
the Spaniards when they first descried it that they
were on mountains through which the river had cut
de suivre les rochers qui bordent la riviere, parce qu'on y manquaifc d'ean.
Jusque-la ils avaient 6t6 obliges chaque soir de s'avancer une lieue ou deux
dans l'inteneur pour en trouver. Quand ils eurent marche pendant trois ou
quatre jours, les guides leur d^clarerent qu'il etait impossible d'aller plus
loin, qu'on ne trouverait pas d'eau de quatre jours que quand les Indiens
;
passaient cette route, ils emraenaient avec eux des femmes chargers de calebasses
remplies d'eau, et qu'ils en enterraient une partie pour les retrouvei
an retour; que d'ailleurs ils parcouraient en un jour autant de chemin que
les Espagnols en deux. Cette riviere 6tait celle del Tizon. On arriva beaucoup
plus pres de sa source que de l'endroit oil Melchior Diaz et ses gens
l'avaient traversed, et Ton sut plus tard que les Indiens dont on avait parle
etaient de la meme nation que ceux que Diaz avait vus. Les Espagnols
revinrent done sur leurs pas, et cette expedition n'eut pas d'autre resultat.
Pendant la marche, ils arriverent a une cascade qui tombait d'un locher.
Les guides dirent que les cristaux blancs qui pendaient a l'entour 6taient du
sel. On en recueillit une quantity que l'on emporta, et qu'on distribua h
Cibola, oil Ton rendit compte par 6crit au general de tout ce que Ton avail
vu. Garci-Lopez avait eminent avec lui un certain P6dro de Sotoinayor, q\ir.
etait chroniqueur de l'expedition. Tous les villages de cette province sont
rested nos allies, mais on ne les a pas visited depuis, et l'on n'a tente" aucune
decouverte de ce cote\
As soon as Don Pedro de Tobar had fulfilled his mission, he returned and
gave the general an account of what he had seen. The latter immediately
ordered Don Garci-Lopez de Cardenas, and 12 other persons, to go and visit
that river; this officer was well received and politely treated by the Indians
of Tusayan, who furnished him with guides to continue his journey. Our
soldiers departed loaded with provisions, the Indians having notified them
that it was necessary to travel 20 days through a desert before entering any
inhabited country. After this 20 days' march, they arrived at that river
whose banks are of such a height that it seemed to them that they were three
or four leagues up in the air. The country is covered with low and stunted
pines, exposed to the north, and the cold is so violent that, although it was
summer, cne could hardly endure it. The Spaniards during three days
skirted those mountains, always in the hope of finding a descent to reach the
river, which from above appeared to be no more than a fathom in width, and
which, according to the Indians, was more than half a league wide; but all
their efforts were vain. Two or three days later, they arrived at a place
where the descent seemed easier; Captain Melgosa Juan Galeras and a
soldier who were the lightest men of the band, resolved to make an attempt.
They descended until those who had remained on the top had lost sight of
them. They returned at about four o'clock in the afternoon, saying they had
found so many difficulties that they could not reach the bottom; for, what
seemed easy from above was not at all so when approaching the water. They
added that they came down about one third of the descent, and that even
from there the river seemed very large. This statement confirmed what
the Indians had said. The three men affirmed that some rocks seen from
above and which appeared to he of the height of a man, were higher than
the tower of the cathedral of Seville. The Spaniards stopped following the
rocks that bordered the river on account of the lack of water. Until then,
they had been obliged to advance one or two leagues in the interior to find