The Southwestern Historical Quarterly, Volume 47, July 1943 - April, 1944 Page: 435

Book Reviews

gratitude to George W. Littlefield and his wise counselors for
making possible the Littlefield Southern History Collection at
The University of Texas. Among the many benefactions of
this generous Texan none is more significant or important
than this assembling of a vast store of Southern historical
source material.
This is an interesting, informative, well-written biography.
The reader who is interested in the author's source material
will appreciate the numerous footnotes. The book is well in-
dexed, and the printing and binding show excellent craftsman-
ship. Harold Bugbee's realistic illustrations stimulate the
imagination and enhance the attractiveness of the volume.
C. STANLEY BANKS
San Antonio, Texas
The Seven Golden Cities. By Mabel Farnum. Milwaukee, Wis-
consin (The Bruce Publishing Company), 1943. Pp. xiii+
225. $2.75.
Greater interest in the early Spanish explorers of the South-
west has been inspired by the historical publications authorized
by the Coronade Cuarto Centennial Commission. Miss Farnum's
The Seven Golden Cities, one of the Science and Culture Series
edited by Reverend Joseph Husslein, S. J., St. Louis University,
attempts 'to make known and revered" the Franciscan vice-
commissary and father-provincial Fray Marcos de Niza, her-
ald of the Coronado explorations, and ". . . to promote the
noble cause of the missions to the Indians."
Miss Farnum states, in her "Acknowledgments," that her
narrative is based upon "all available sources, early and mod-
ern," including the "Reports of the Bureau of American Eth-
nology," the writings of George Parker Winship, Adolph
Bandelier, and Hammond and Rey, and the papers of Professor
Lansing B. Bloom of the University of New Mexico. Docu-
ments are cited to verify the main points of the story but Miss
Farnum selects as her medium the popular form, without
footnote references and highly dramatized to interest the gen-
eral reader, young and old. She does not present a satisfactory
solution of the Fray Marcos mystery to the scholar who may
be interested in the controversy over the veracity and motives

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