Stephen was to send back by the Indians a cross,
the size of which would indicate the importance of what he had learned.
Within four days messengers returned with a great cross the height of a
man, significant of great and important discoveries.
One of the Indians told the friar that thirty days' journey from the point
they had reached was a populous country called Cibola, in which were seven
great cities under one lord, peopled by a civilized nation that dwelt in
large houses well built of stone and lime, some of them several stories in
height. The entrances to the principal houses were richly wrought with
turquoise, which was there in great abundance. Farther on they had been
told were other provinces, each of them much greater than that of the
seven cities.
Two days after Easter, 1539, Fray Marcos set out on the track of his
pioneer, eager to reach the land of wonders and riches of which he had
been told. Doubtless there rose in his mind dreams of a second Mexico or
Peru. The land through which lay his route was strange and picturesque.
Here were fertile valleys, watered by streams and walled in by mountains;
there were narrow canons through which ran rapid streams, with rock-walls
hundreds of feet high and cut into strange forms of turrets and towers.
Pages:
103
104
105
106
107
108
109
110
111
112
113
114
115
116
117
118
119
120
121
122
123
124
125
126
127