and "many other things as needful
for the enterprise wherein we went as the ship itself." At Sant Iago he
repaired his losses, took on stores and some members of his company,
and sailed for Aguaiauall, the seaport of San Miguel de Culiacan, where
Coronado was to turn his back on the outposts of civilisation. The
general had already gone when Alarcon arrived, but they expected to hold
communication with each other, if not actually to meet, farther on;
and it seems from this that they must have felt confidence in finding
a river by which Alarcon might sail into the interior. As early as 1531
there were vague reports of a large river, the mouth of which was closed
by the Amerinds living there by means of a huge cable stretched across
from side to side. There may also have been other rumours of a large
river besides the surmises of the Ulloa party. At any rate, Alarcon
and Coronado fully expected to be in touch much of the time. This
expectation appears absurd to us now when we understand the geography,
but there was nothing out of the way about the supposition at that
time. As it happened, the two divisions never met, nor were they able to
communicate even once. So far as rendering Coronado any assistance was
concerned, Alarcon might as well have been on the coast of Africa. The
farther they proceeded the farther apart they were, but Alarcon kept a
constant and faithful lookout for the other party the whole time, never
losing an opportunity to inquire its whereabouts.

Coronado had left a well-provisioned ship, the San Gabriel, at
Aguaiauall, for Alarcon to bring along. These supplies were for the use
of the army when the two parties should meet in the north from time to
time. Alarcon added the vessel to his fleet and proceeded along up
the coast, keeping as near the land as the water would permit, and
constantly on the lookout for signals from the other party, or for
Amerinds who might be able to give information concerning the position
of the general. Thus, at last, he came to the very head of the gulf
where Ulloa had wondered at the rush of waters and had turned away
without investigation. "And when we were come," he says, "to the flats
and shoals from whence the aforesaid fleet returned, it seemed to me, as
to the rest, that we had the firm land before us, and that those shoals
were so perilous and fearful that it was a thing to be considered
whether with our skiffs we could enter in among them: and the pilots and
the