Lastly, the navigator had
explored the recesses of the Californian Gulf, or Sea of Cortes, as,
in honour, of the great discoverer, it is with more propriety named by
the Spaniards; and he had ascertained that, instead of the outlet
before supposed to exist towards the north, this unknown ocean was
locked up within the arms of the mighty continent. These were
results that might have made the glory and satisfied the ambition of a
common man; but they are lost in the brilliant renown of the former
achievements of Cortes.
Notwithstanding the embarrassments of the Marquess of the
Valley, he still made new efforts to enlarge the limits of
discovery, and prepared to fit out another squadron of five vessels,
which he proposed to place under the command of a natural son, Don
Luis. But the viceroy Mendoza, whose imagination had been inflamed
by the reports of an itinerant monk respecting an El Dorado in the
north, claimed the right of discovery in that direction. Cortes
protested against this, as an unwarrantable interference with his
own powers. Other subjects of collision arose between them; till the
marquess, disgusted with this perpetual check on his authority and his
enterprises, applied for redress to Castile. He finally determined
to go there to support his claims in person, and to obtain, if
possible, renumeration for the heavy charges he had incurred by his
maritime expeditions, as well as for the spoliation of his property by
the Royal Audience, during his absence from the country; and,
lastly, to procure an assignment of his vassals on principles more
comformable to the original intentions of the grant.
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