ers had penetrated half a hundred miles from the Atlantic coast.
The cities are forgotten to-day. The tribe which gave it a name proved
to be utter barbarians, eaters of raw meat, clad only in skins, without
gold, knowing nothing of the arts; Teton nomads, wandering through
Kansas. Yet each decade since witnesses a revival of a wonderful story
of the buried treasures of the Grand Quivira.

The myth originated in New Mexico in 1540. Antonio de Mendoza was the
viceroy of New Spain. Having practically conquered the New World, the
adventurers who formed his court, having no fighting to do with common
enemies, began to hack each other. Opportunely for the viceroy, Fra
Marcos discovered New Mexico and Arizona. Gathering the doughty
swordsmen together, Mendoza turned them over to the brilliant soldier
and explorer, Francisco Vasquez de Coronado, with strict orders to get
them as far from the viceroy as he could, and then lose them.

Coronado and his band were the first to see the Grand Canon of the
Colorado. In the latter weeks of 1540 they were in the town of Tiguex.
As they were less welcome than the modern tourists, who are now preyed
upon where these preyed, the natives sent them on to the pueblo of the
Pecos. Mendoza had sent Coronado into New Mexico on the strength of
the trimmings of the myth of the "Seven Cities of Cibola." The fabled
cities of gold proved to be peaceful settlements. Coronado attempted
to lose his cut-throats by having them settle in the country. A plains
Indian, captive among the Pecos, changed his plans, and led him to
undertake his wonderful march. The Pecos wished to get rid of the
guests, so they concocted a marvelous story of buried treasures, and
made the poor captive father it. To the gold-chasers the captive was
known as "The Turk," his head being shaven and adorned only with a
scalp-lock, a custom noticeable because of its variance from that of
the long-haired Pueblos.

"The Turk" told of a tribe of plainsmen who had a great store of the
yellow substance. They were called the Quivira. He would lead them to
the ancient Rockefellers. Coronado put him at the head of his band,
and followed him eastward over the plains. For months they plodded
after him, the Indian trying to lose Coronado, and that valiant warrior
endeavoring to obey orders to "shake" his band. About the middle of
what is now the Indian Territory, Coronado began to suspect that "The
Turk" was selling him a gold