their 8-year survival journey, in 1542 and included information about Estevanico. It was reprinted again in 1555. It was the first published book to describe the peoples, wildlife, flora and fauna of inland North America, and the first to describe the American bison. In the Relación, Cabeza de Vaca said Estevanico often went in advance of the other three survivors because Estevanico had learned some parts of the indigenous language. Expedition to New Mexico In Mexico City, the four survivors told stories of wealthy indigenous tribes to the north, which created a stir among Spaniards in Mexico. When the three Spaniards declined to lead an expedition to the north, Antonio de Mendoza, the Viceroy of New Spain, commissioned Fray Marcos de Niza to lead an expedition north in search of the fabled Seven Cities of Cibola. Estevanico was instructed to serve as a guide for the expedition. In a letter to Charles V, Mendoza wrote "I retained a negro who had come with Dorantes". According to a contemporary source, Mendoza either purchased Estevanico or received him as a gift from Dorantes. On 7 March 1539, the expedition left from Culiacán, the northernmost Spanish settlement in Nueva Galicia. Estevanico traveled ahead of the main party with a group of Sonoran Indians and a quantity of trade goods. As before, he assumed the role of a medicine man, wearing bells and feathers on his arms and ankles and carrying a gourd rattle decorated with strings of bells and two feathers. He was instructed by Fray Marcos to communicate by sending back crosses to the main party, with the size of the cross indicating the importance of his discoveries. One day, a cross arrived that was as tall as a person and the messengers said that Estevanico had heard reports of seven large and wealthy cities in a land to the north called Cíbola. The advance party proceeded to the north in search of Cíbola despite instructions from Fray Marcos to wait for him. Death accounts When Estevanico was within a day's journey of Cíbola, he sent a messenger ahead to announce his arrival. When informed of Estevanico's impending visit, the chief of the first village angrily ordered the messenger to leave and threatened to kill anyone who came back. Estevanico seemed unconcerned by these threats and proceeded to Cíbola. When the party arrived, the villagers took their trade goods and held them