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Show HISTORY JOURNEY TO CIBOLA 141 was a man of distinguished attainments, had accompanied Pizzaro in the conquest of Peru, and had been present at the death of Atahualpa. He was much beloved, not only by FRIAR MARCOS DE NIZA =the members of his order, but by all who knew him. Fray Marcos made a personal investigation of the expedition of Fray Juan de la Asuncion in order to satisfy himself of the truth of what the friar had published, determined to suffer any exposure by taking the lead, before any others should conclude to do it, and so he went as quickly as possible himself; and finding that the report and indications of the friar were true, he returned to Mexico and confirmed what the other had said.148 Fray Marcos came to America in 1531, and after his service with Pizarro in Peru, served in Nicaragua and accompanied Don Pedro Alvarado to the north. From 1540 to 1543 he was provincial of the Serafic order in New Spain. He lost his health through his strenuous service for the good of Christianity, and, having retired to Jalapa, later in the year 1558, died at the City of Mexico. At this time, 1538, Francisco Vasquez Coronado was the governor of New Galicia-Sinaloa. The viceroy, a very religious man,1*9 under the influence of the Fray Bartolomé de Las Casas,’ was time was included in the Duchy of Savoy. father accompanied at Caxamarca. returned to Mexico After remaining via Nicaragua and several years' the Isthmus (probably with Pedro Alvarado). His first work in New Spain seems to have been in Jalisco, where he officiated as missionary. He soon assumed a position of prominence among the regular clergy of his order in Mexico, to such an extent as to be elected Provincial in 1540, or after a residence of only a few years in the country. He had already written, according to his translator and detractor, Ternaux-Compans, and Quito, the accuracy of three works or reports on the which was strongly impugned Indians by of Peru reasons for the severity of Cortés in regard to the writings of theCortés. The monk, who never did him any harm, become plain, when we consider that Cortés claiming, as discoveries of his own, the countries which Fray Marcos was then visited in North America. The conqueror of Mexico, after his failures in California, shrunk from nothing, stooped to anything, that might re-establish his waning prestige. At all events the Provincial of the Franciscan Order in Mexico, Fray Antonio de Ciudad Rodrigo, issued to Fray Marcos the following testimonial, under date of August 29, 1539, after the latter’s return from his trip in quest of the Seven Cities: ‘I, the undersigned, ete., certify that it is true that I have despatched Fray Marcos of Nizza, a regular priest, pious, endowed with every virtue and utter devotion; that I have approved of him. I and my brothers, the Deputed Definers, whose advice I take in important and difficult cases, and that he was approved and acknowledged as capable of making this journey of oa see ered on ane. tion nowledge ccaamen in ge Nan of the qualities above mentioned, but also owing ek Wiastasae ini cosmography and ini iganaviga een oe appearance of Fray Marcos upon the scene of explorations in the Sacamhe so ee confusion sets in about events immediately following, and he, an ar ond oo the subject of misrepresentation for three centuries. It may bor Said, that for more than three hundred and thirty-three years Fray Marcos of Nizza has been the worst slandered known in history.’’ 148 Mendieta, Historia Ecclesiastica, lib. iv. man ¢ stica, lib. iv, cap. x, p. 398 et seq.; Bandelier, ar? Contributions, p. 90. men of the sixteenth century. He Columbus as a common was born in Seville in 1474. His soldier, in his first voyage to the Eight years later he was admitted by the Spanish conquerors and officials. to priest’s He returned to Spain to see if some means could not be had to stop this sort of oppression. Cardinal Ximenes listened to the complaints made by Las Casas and authorized a commission to reform the abuses. Las Casas was honored, for his exertions, with ete World. the title ‘*Protector General of the Indians.’’ He is accused of having been the first European to cause the introduction of negro slavery in the New World. He died at Madrid, in 1566, at the age of ninety-two. Prescott says of his character: ‘‘He was one of those, to whose gifted minds are revealed those glorious moral truths, which, like the lights of heaven, are fixed and the same forever; but which, though now familiar, were hidden from all but a few penetrating intellects by the general darkness of the time in which he lived. He was a reformer, and had the virtues and errors of a reformer. He was inspired by one glorious idea. This was the key to all his thoughts, all that he said and wrote, to every act of his long life. It was this which urged him to lift the voice of rebuke in the presence of princes, to brave the menaces of an infuriated populace, to cross seas, to traverse mountains and deserts, to incur the alienation of friends, the hostilities of enemies, to endure obloquy, insult and persecution. It was this, too, which made him reckless of obstacles, led him to count too confidently on the co-operation of others, animated his discussion, sharpened his invective, too often steeped his pen in the gall of personal vituperation, led him into gross exaggeration and overcoloring his statements and a blind credulity of evil that rendered him unsafe as a counsellor, and unsuccessful in the practical concerns of life. His motives were pure and elevated. But his manner of enforcing them was not always so commendable. Las Casas, in short, was a man. But, if he had the errors of humanity, he had virtues that rarely belong to it. The best commentary on his character is the estimation which he obtained from his sovereign. No measure of importance, relating to the Indians, was taken without his advice. He lived to see the fruits of his efforts in the amelioration of their condition, and in the popular admission of those great truths which it had been the object of his life to unfold. And who shall say how much of the successful 5 for the New tec: equipped orders, a memorable event, as he was the first person consecrated in that holy office in the New World. During his first years in the western world, he became very much impressed with the manner in which the natives were treated SS markable New World. He was educated at the University of Salamanca. In 1498 he completed his studies in law and divinity, took his degree of licentiate, and, in 1502, accompanied Oviedo in the most brilliant armada which had yet been <n as Fray = known of birth, nothing is known as yet of the career of this his appearance in the New World. This took place in the island of Santo Domingo with six other monks, and year following. He was present at the capture of the Atahualpa, he remained . Quito, has vol. i, p. 71. ee war-chief, and and States, ee in Peru On account of his origin, the friar, American : se a Peruvian was North ~ ‘Beyond the place ecclesiastic previous to 1531, when he went to thence to Peru in the mentioned, Howe, ea ae oa is never Hubert oni¥ whose other name Mareos of Nizza. 149 Bancroft, 150 Fray Bartolomé de las Casas, bishop of Chiapa, was one of the most re- eos e ba ee ena LEADING FACTS OF NEW MEXICAN = 140 |