De Soto, Coronado, Cabrillo

De Soto, Coronado, Cabrillo: Explorers of the Northern Mystery is by David Lavender. The note headed About this book says the handbook describes the expeditions of three explorers, De Soto, Coronado and Cabrillo, and their adventures, their encounters with native inhabitants, and the consequences, good and ill, of their journeys. Under the heading About this book, the text says American history begins not with the English at Jamestown or the Pilgrims at Plymouth but with Spanish exploration of the border country from Florida to California in the 16th century.

A year-by-year list says that at nearby Guachoya De Soto sends out scout parties who find nothing but wilderness, and that De Soto dies and is succeeded by Moscoso. The text describes a system of crosses in which a small cross would signify that a northern city that sounded moderately important had been heard of, a medium-sized cross would proclaim a significant city, and a big one something truly superlative. The Essay on Sources says that if any of the leading conquistadores who march through these pages kept a running account of his adventures, the journal has been lost.