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Yet Grijalva was much inclined to remain and build a town, and made choice of Alvaredo to carry a message to that effect to Velasquez, sending by him all the gold and other curiosities which had been procured, and all the sick.

And Alvaredo having been of opinion for settling a colony in New Spain, represented the affair to him in any way he thought proper, and gave him very bad impressions of the man who had served him so very successfully and faithfully, with such strict regard to the orders he had given.

His accommodations in the pueblo of Mexico will elsewhere be noticed. After the capture of the pueblo Alvaredo was sent southward with two hundred foot and forty horse to the province of Tututlepec on the Pacific. "When he arrived the lord of Tututlepec offered to quarter the Spaniards in his palace which was very magnificent."

Here the natives of a town, called Tavotulpale brought fish, and the other ships waited till Alvaredo came out. Beyond this they came to the mouth of another river, which they named Rio de las Banderas, or Flag-river, because the Indians waved large white cloths on long poles, like colours, as if inviting the Spaniards to land.

For three years he had led his little band through a primitive wilderness, fighting his way steadily through hosts of savage foes, and never yielding until the hand of death was laid upon his limbs. Fearing a fierce attack from the savages if they should learn that the "immortal" chief of the whites was dead, Alvaredo had him buried secretly outside the walls of the camp.

Soon after Alvaredo set out for Cuba, by the advice of his captains and pilots, Grijalva continued his exploration of the coast, which he sailed along in sight of the mountains of Tuspa, so named from a town in that neighbourhood. Proceeding onwards to the province of Panuco, they saw several towns on the shore, and a river which they named Decancas.

These were commanded by the captains Alvaredo, Montejo, and de Avila, and under chief command of Juan Grijalva, who was ordered by Velasquez to make what discoveries he could, but to form no settlement.

At some distance farther on they saw the great river of Guazacoallo, which they could not enter on account of bad weather. After this they had a view of the Snowy Islands of New Spain, which the soldiers named St Martin. Holding on their course, Alvaredo, having the headmost ship, entered a river called Papaloava, but which the Spaniards named Alvaredos river.

With the death of De Soto the work of the explorers was practically at an end. To the Indians who asked what had become of the Child of the Sun, Alvaredo answered that he had gone to heaven for a visit, but would soon return.

But the new-made grave was suspicious. The prowling Indians might dig it up and discover the noted form it held. To prevent this, Alvaredo had the body of De Soto dug up in the night, wrapped it in cloths filled with sand, and dropped it into the Mississippi, to whose bottom it immediately sank. Thus was the great river he had discovered made the famous explorer's final resting-place.