Page:Vol 2 History of Mexico by H H Bancroft.djvu/384

364 All was so unknown; great patches of untraversed earth spread out in the boundless blank plains; it was as easy for the credulous sixteenth-century men to believe one thing as another concerning those lands as concerning the unexplored sky or the dark bowels of the earth — to believe of all these places to be what they were told, whether by home sages or foreign savages. And it may not be the last time that these Spaniards awoke to disappointment, when they learned at Cihuatlan that the Indians had been telling stories to amuse them; that there was no Amazon island or other great wonder there awaiting them. Yet for a long time they continued to talk of these things, and in a measure to believe in them though they knew them to be false. Still, the determination of the commander was to go forward. Marching yet farther north they came to Colombo, in the province of Culiacan, where they remained for seven months. Fruitless explorations were sent out in divers directions; tracts of barren land inhabited by rude people offered little mducement for further efforts. The fading of the Amazon myth tended to lower the enthusiasm of the soldiers, but Guzman remained steadfast. It is even hinted that vague rumors of the later famous Seven Cities had reached his ears, and served to fire his mind, now weakened by hardships and disease. So impaired was his health that he had to be carried in a litter. Be this as it may, the march was renewed, now in an easterly direction over rough roads and across steep mountains.

But Guzman's star was sinking, and however much his efforts attempted to avert it, he was finally compelled to yield before nature's barriers. Confronted by the fact that to continue would entail the loss of his entire force by starvation, be returned to Culiacan, where the villa de San Miguel was established. Local authorities were appointed, and a number of soldiers