hernando de alarcón, sent by the viceroy mendoza—an enemy of cortés—on a 1540 expedition to verify cortés's discoveries, referred to the inhospitable lands as "california", after the imaginary island in "las sergas", discussed above. there is no question about hernando de alarcón's use of the term, nor about his allusion to "las sergas", but there is question as to whether this is the first use of the name to refer to those lands and whether he intended the name as mockery. alarcón provides a clear link from the literary, imaginary california to the real place, but his usage cannot be proven to be the actual origin, in that the name might predate him.