Cortes Again Set Sail,
And Came To The River Now Called _Rio De San Pedro Y San Paulo_, Where The
Ships Were Separated By A Tempest.
One was driven to the bay of Santa Cruz,
another to the river of Guajaval, and the third was stranded on the coast
near Xalisco, whence the crew went overland to Mexico.
After waiting a
long while for his other two ships, Cortes made sail, and entered into the
gulf of California, otherwise called _Mar Vermejo_, or the Vermilion Sea,
and by some, the sea of Cortes. Having penetrated 50 leagues within that
gulf, he espied a ship riding at an anchor, and, on his approach towards
her, had nearly been lost, if he had not received assistance from that
other ship. Having repaired his own ship, he departed from thence with
both ships; and, having procured provisions at a very dear rate, at St
Michael de Culiacan, he went to the harbour of Santa Cruz, where he
received information that Don Antonio de Mendoca had arrived from Spain as
Viceroy of Mexico. He therefore left Francis de Ulloa with the command of
his ships, ordering him to proceed on discoveries; and going to Acapulco,
he received a messenger from Don Antonio de Mendoca, the new viceroy,
certifying his arrival, and the assumption of his authority. Mendoca
likewise sent him the copy of a letter from Francis Pizarro, stating that
Mango, the Inca of Peru, had risen in arms, and assailed the city of Cusco
with 100,000 fighting men, having slain his brother, John Pizarro, and
above 400 Spaniards, with 200 horses; and that he himself, and the Spanish
dominions in Peru, were in imminent danger, unless speedily and
effectually assisted.
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