Page:The gilded man (El Dorado) and other pictures of the Spanish occupancy of America.djvu/212

198 received by the Moquis, who supplied him with guides and provisions, and after twenty days' journey through a perfectly desolate region, he came to the vicinity of the stream he was seeking.

I say purposely near and in sight of it, but not on its shore, for "its banks were so high that they seemed to be raised three or four leagues into the air. The country is covered with little stunted fir-trees, is exposed to the north, and is so cold that although it was summer we could hardly bear it. The Spaniards followed these mountains for three days in the hope of finding a passage down to the river, which, appearing from above not more than a fathom in width, had, according to the Indians, a breadth of half a league. But it was impossible. Two or three days later they believed they had found a place where the descent seemed easier, and Captain Melgosa, Juan Galera, and a soldier . . . determined to make the effort. They went so far that they were lost from sight. Toward four o'clock in the afternoon they returned." They had been obliged to give up the attempt after they had climbed down about a third of the depth; but the river appeared very large to them, and "some rocks, which seemed from above to be hardly the size of a man, really exceeded in height the tower of the Cathedral of Seville." Finding that the banks of the river were destitute of water, the Spaniards gave up further efforts in that direction. They returned to Zuni. and neither the Moqui nor the countries farther west of there were visited again by them while Coronado and his men continued in New Mexico.

In this description of Casteñeda's it is easy to