Spain, and he and Guzman
were at the point of the sword. Then shortly arrived from the north
(1536), after incredible wanderings between the Mississippi and the Rio
Grande, that man of wonderful endurance, Alvar Nunez Cabeza de Vaca,*
with his surviving companions, Dorantes, Maldonado, and Estevan. The
latter, a negro, was afterwards very prominent by his connection with
the fatal expedition sent out under the Friar Marcos to investigate the
north country. The negro, if not the other men, gave a highly colored
account of the lands they had traversed, and especially of what they
had heard, so that more fuel was added to the fire, and the desire to
explore the mysteries burned into execution. Cortes, harassed by his
numerous enemies in Mexico and Spain, determined on a new effort
to carry out his cherished plan of reaping further glories in the
fascinating regions of the north so full of possibilities. There
consequently sailed from Acapulco, July 8, 1539, a fleet of three
vessels under Francisco de Ulloa. Cortes was prevented by circumstances
from going with this expedition. After many difficulties Ulloa at length
found himself at the very head of the Sea of Cortes in shallow water.

* For a full account of the experiences of Alvar Nunez, see the
translation of Buckingham Smith. Also Bandolier, Contributions to the
History of the Southwestern Portions of the United States.

"And thus sailing [he writes] we always found more shallow water, and
the sea thick, black, and very muddy, and came at length into five
fathom water; and seeing this we determined to pass over to the land
which we had seen on the other side, and here likewise we found as
little depth or less, whereupon we rode all night in five fathom water,
and we perceived the sea to run with so great a rage into the land
that it was a thing much to be marveled at; and with the like fury it
returned back again with the ebb, during which time we found eleven
fathom water, and the flood and ebb continued from five to six hours.
The next day the captain and the pilot went up to the ship's top and saw
all the land full of sand in a great round compass and joining itself
with the other shore; and it was so low that whereas we were a league
from the same we could not discern it, and it seemed there was an inlet
of the mouths of certain lakes, whereby the sea went in and out. There
were divers opinions amongst us, and some thought that that current
entered into