Transcriber's Note: Every attempt has been made to replicate the
original as printed; therefore, numerous inconsistencies in spelling,
diacritical marks, etc., have not been reconciled. However, all
spelling changes listed in the Corrigenda have been made in this
etext.
WORKS ISSUED BY
The Hakluyt Society.
THE CONQUEST
OF
THE RIVER PLATE.
FIRST SERIES. NO. LXXXI-MDCCCXCI
THE CONQUEST
OF
THE RIVER PLATE
(1535-1555).
I.
VOYAGE OF ULRICH SCHMIDT TO THE RIVERS LA
PLATA AND PARAGUAI.
_FROM THE ORIGINAL GERMAN EDITION, 1567._
II.
THE COMMENTARIES OF ALVAR NUÑEZ CABEZA
DE VACA.
_FROM THE ORIGINAL SPANISH EDITION, 1555._
TRANSLATED FOR THE HAKLUYT SOCIETY.
With Notes and an Introduction,
BY
LUIS L. DOMINGUEZ,
MINISTER PLENIPOTENTIARY OF THE ARGENTINE REPUBLIC, CORRESPONDING MEMBER
OF THE ARGENTINE GEOGRAPHICAL INSTITUTE AND OF THE ROYAL SPANISH
ACADEMY OF HISTORY.
BURT FRANKLIN, PUBLISHER
NEW YORK, NEW YORK
Published by
BURT FRANKLIN
514 West 113th Street
New York 25, N. Y.
ORIGINALLY PUBLISHED BY THE HAKLUYT SOCIETY
REPRINTED BY PERMISSION
PRINTED IN THE U.S.A.
COUNCIL
OF
THE HAKLUYT SOCIETY.
CLEMENTS R. MARKHAM, Esq., C.B., F.R.S., President.
Major-General Sir HENRY RAWLINSON, K.C.B., D.C.L., LL.D., F.R.S.
Associé Étranger de L'Institut de France, Vice-President.
Lord ABERDARE, G.C.B., F.R.S., late Pres. R.G.S.
JOHN BARROW, Esq., F.R.S., F.S.A.
WALTER DE GRAY BIRCH, Esq., F.S.A.
Rear-Admiral LINDESAY BRINE.
ROBERT BROWN, Esq., M.A., Ph.D.
The Right Hon. Sir MOUNTSTUART E. GRANT DUFF, G.C.S.I.
ALBERT GRAY, Esq.
R. H. MAJOR, Esq., F.S.A.
E. A. PETHERICK, Esq.
Admiral Sir F. W. RICHARDS, K.C.B.
Lord ARTHUR RUSSELL.
ERNEST SATOW, Esq., C.M.G., Minister Resident in Uruguay.
S. W. SILVER, Esq.
COUTTS TROTTER, Esq.
Prof. E. B. TYLOR, D.C.L.
Sir CHARLES WILSON, R.E., K.C.B., K.C.M.G., F.R.S., D.C.L., and LL.D.
E. DELMAR MORGAN, Honorary Secretary.
TABLE OF CONTENTS.
PAGE
INTRODUCTION xiii
BIBLIOGRAPHY xli
VOYAGE OF ULRICH SCHMIDT 1
THE COMMENTARIES OF ALVAR NUÑEZ CABEZA DE VACA:--
CHAP. I.--Of the Commentaries of Alvar Nuñez Cabeza de Vaca 95
CHAP. II.--How we departed from the island of Cabo Verde 98
CHAP. III.--Which treats of how the governor arrived with his
armada at the island of Santa Catalina, in Brazil, and
disembarked his troops there 100
CHAP. IV.--How nine Christians came to the island 101
CHAP. V.--How the governor hastened his journey 104
CHAP. VI.--How the governor and his people advanced into the
interior 106
CHAP. VII.--Which treats of what happened to the governor
and his people in his journey, and of the nature of the land 108
CHAP. VIII.--Of the troubles that the governor and his people
underwent on their way, and of a kind of pine tree, and of the
fruits of that land 112
CHAP. IX.--How the governor and his people found themselves
starving, and appeased their hunger with worms from reeds 114
CHAP. X.--Of the fear the Indians had of the horses 117
CHAP. XI.--How the governor navigated the river Yguazú in
canoes, and how, in order to avoid a cataract of that river,
he carried the canoes one league by hand 119
CHAP. XII.--Which treats of the rafts that were made to carry
the sick 122
CHAP. XIII.--How the governor arrived at the Ascension, where
the Spaniards lived whom he had come to relieve 124
CHAP. XIV.--How the Spaniards, left behind through sickness, on
the river Pequiry, arrived at the town of Ascension 126
CHAP. XV.--How the governor, wishing to re-people Buenos
Ayres, sent reinforcements to those who had come there in
the ship '_Capitana_' 127
CHAP. XVI.--How the natives kill and eat their enemies 129
CHAP. XVII.--Of the peace which the governor concluded with
the Indian Agazes 131
CHAP. XVIII.--Of the complaints addressed to the governor by
the pobladores against the officers of His Majesty 134
CHAP. XIX.--How the governor received complaints against the
Indian Guaycurús 135
CHAP. XX.--How the governor informed himself concerning
the complaint 136
CHAP. XXI.--How the governor and his people crossed the
river, and how two Christians were drowned 139
CHAP. XXII.--How the spies, by order of the governor, went
in search of the Guaycurús 140
CHAP. XXIII.--How the governor, pursuing the enemy, was
informed that he was marching in front 142
CHAP. XXIV.--Of a panic among the Spaniards and Indians,
caused by a tiger 143
CHAP. XXV.--How the governor and his people overtook the
enemy 145
CHAP. XXVI.--How the governor pursued the enemy 147
CHAP. XXVII.--How the governor and all his people returned
to the town of Ascension 149
CHAP. XXVIII.--How the Indian Agazes broke the peace 150
CHAP. XXIX.--How the governor set at liberty one of the
captive Guaycurús, and sent him to summon his fellow tribesmen 152
CHAP. XXX.--How the Guaycurús came and submitted to His
Majesty 153
CHAP. XXXI.--How the governor, after making peace with the
Guaycurús, delivered the prisoners to them 154
CHAP. XXXII.--How the Apirús came and made a treaty of
peace and submitted 156
CHAP. XXXIII.--Of the judgment passed on the Agazes by the
advice of the monks, captains, and other officers of His
Majesty 158
CHAP. XXXIV.--How the governor sent relief to Buenos Ayres 159
CHAP. XXXV.--How the three Spaniards and the Indians returned
from their reconnaissance 161
CHAP. XXXVI.--How wood was prepared for the construction
of two brigantines and one caravel 162
CHAP. XXXVII.--How the Indians came again and offered their
services 163
CHAP. XXXVIII.--How the settlement of Ascension was burned 166
CHAP. XXXIX.--How Domingo de Irala arrived 167
CHAP. XL.--What Gonzalo de Mendoza wrote 170
CHAP. XLI.--How the governor helped those who were with
Gonzalo de Mendoza 172
CHAP. XLII.--How four Christians died of their wounds
during this war 173
CHAP. XLIII.--How the friars took to flight 175
CHAP. XLIV.--How the governor took four hundred men on his
voyage of discovery 177
CHAP. XLV.--How the governor left part of the provisions he
had brought with him 179
CHAP. XLVI.--How he stopped to speak with the natives of
another port and land 180
CHAP. XLVII.--How he sent for an interpreter to treat with
the Payaguás 182
CHAP. XLVIII.--How the horses were embarked in the port 183
CHAP. XLIX.--How Juan de Ayolas entered the port where he
and his Christians were killed 185
CHAP. L.--How the interpreter and those who had promised to
come failed to do so 188
CHAP. LI.--How the Guaxarapos spoke with the governor 192
CHAP. LII.--How the Indians come and establish themselves on
the shore of the river 193
CHAP. LIII.--How they erected three crosses at the mouth of
the river Yguatú 196
CHAP. LIV.--How the Indians of the port of Los Reyes cultivate
the soil 199
CHAP. LV.--How the Indians of Garcia settled in this place 202
CHAP. LVI.--How they spoke with the Chaneses 203
CHAP. LVII.--How the governor sent to find out the Indians of
Garcia 204
CHAP. LVIII.--How the governor held a council with his officers
and informed them of what was passing 205
CHAP. LIX.--How the governor sent an expedition to the Xarayes 207
CHAP. LX.--How the interpreters came back from the Xarayes 212
CHAP. LXI.--How the governor decided on entering the country 215
CHAP. LXII.--How the governor arrived at the Rio Caliente 216
CHAP. LXIII.--How the governor sent to discover the house
which was further on 218
CHAP. LXIV.--How the interpreter returned from the Indian
habitation 219
CHAP. LXV.--How the governor and his people returned to the
port of Los Reyes 221
CHAP. LXVI.--How the Indians would have killed those who
remained at the port of Los Reyes 222
CHAP. LXVII.--How the governor sent Captain Mendoza in
search of provisions 223
CHAP. LXVIII.--How he sent a brigantine to discover the river
of the Xarayes with Captain de Ribera 225
CHAP. LXIX.--How Captain Francisco de Ribera returned from
his exploration 228
CHAP. LXX.--How Captain Francisco de Ribera reported of his
discovery 229
CHAP. LXXI.--How the governor sent for Gonzalo de Mendoza 233
CHAP. LXXII.--How Hernando de Ribera returned from his
exploration along the river 236
CHAP. LXXIII.--What befell the governor and his people in
the port of Los Reyes 237
CHAP. LXXIV.--How the governor, having arrived with his
people at the town of Ascension, was made a prisoner 239
CHAP. LXXV.--How the population assembled before the house
of Domingo de Irala 243
CHAP. LXXVI.--Of the tumults and disturbances that took
place in the country 245
CHAP. LXXVII.--How the governor was kept in prison 247
CHAP. LXXVIII.--How the insurgents ravaged the land and
took possession of the property of the inhabitants 249
CHAP. LXXIX.--How the monks left the country 250
CHAP. LXXX.--How they tortured those who were not on
their side 252
CHAP. LXXXI.--How they wished to kill a sheriff who had
made them a requisition 253
CHAP. LXXXII.--How the insurgents gave the Indians permission
to eat human flesh 254
CHAP. LXXXIII.--How the insurgents had to write to His
Majesty and send him a report 256
CHAP. LXXXIV.--How they gave arsenic three times to the
governor during the voyage 259
NARRATIVE OF HERNANDO DE RIBERA 263
INDEX 271
ILLUSTRATION.
Map of South America in the XVI Century.
CORRIGENDA.
Page 1, title, _for_ Von Straubingen, _read_ of Straubing.
" 15, line 27, _for_ lakes ix, _read_ lake six.
" 16, last line, _for_ salnaischo, _read_ saluaischo.
" 24, note, _for_ for mof, _read_ form of.
" 32, line 15, _for_ St. Catherine, _read_ Sta. Catharina.
" 43, note, _for_ Guaragos, _read_ Guarayos.
" 80, line 4, _for_ Schmiedel, _read_ Schmidt.
" 83, note, _for_ Uruguai, _read_ Uruguay.
" 106, line 18, _for_ Estropiñan, _read_ Estopiñan.
" 107, line 4, _for_ Estropiñan, _read_ Estopiñan.
INTRODUCTION.
I HAVE the pleasure to present to the Hakluyt Society, in the
accompanying volume, the first two historians who wrote on the conquest
of the Rio de la Plata, which took place in the reign of Charles V, King
of Spain and Emperor of Germany.
The first of these was a German, a native of Straubing, in Bavaria,
whose name was Ulrich Schmidt. The second was a Spaniard, native of
Jerez de la Frontera in Andalusia, named Alvar Nuñez, better known by
the surname which he took from his mother, Doña Teresa Cabeza de Vaca.
This Alvar Nuñez was a grandson of Don Pedro Vera, who, in the time of
Ferdinand and Isabella the Catholics, undertook to conquer the Canary
Islands at his own cost. As his means, however, were insufficient for so
great an enterprise, he borrowed money of a Moorish banker upon pledge.
The security given by this inhuman father consisted of his two sons, the
younger of whom was the father of Alvar Nuñez; and this transaction,
characteristic of a soldier in those semi-barbarous times, seemed to
presage the singular adventures in which the son of the latter was
destined to take part.
Of the German's lineage nothing is known. I believe him to have been an
obscure individual, servant or agent, like the modern _commis voyageurs_
or commercial travellers, for one of the wealthy houses of commerce
established at Seville in the time of the Emperor, and concerning which
I shall have something to say by-and-by.
Both the German adventurer as well as the Andalusian cavalier gave their
names to the narratives of what happened to them in America, in the two
books published together in the present volume.
* * * * *
Twelve years after the discovery of the river Plate in 1516, by Juan
Diaz de Solis, two Spanish expeditions explored its shores. One of these
had been sent out by the Emperor to India, under the orders of Sebastian
Cabot, and the other, under the command of the pilot Diego Garcia, to
take possession of that river. Cabot altered his course and went up the
Paraná till he arrived at the Rio Paraguai in 1527, and Garcia made the
same voyage the following year. Both these navigators shortly afterwards
returned to Spain, having only left a small colony at Sancti Spiritus,
in the neighbourhood of the present city of Rosario, which was soon
transferred to Iguape, on the Atlantic coast, very near the limit fixed,
by the treaty of Tordesillas in 1494, between the possessions of Spain
and Portugal.
When Cabot returned to Spain in 1530, and told of the pieces of silver
he had seen among the Indians of the Chaco, the King of Portugal sent
Martin Affonso de Souza to establish himself in the extreme south of his
possessions in Brazil; and this Portuguese captain, after examining
the coast of the ocean as far as the entrance of the Rio de la Plata,
founded at the close of the year 1531, in the island of San Vicente, the
first regular colony on that coast where now stands the little city of
Santos.
The vicinity of these two rival colonies--the much smaller Spanish one
of Iguape, and the stronger Portuguese one in San Vicente--endangered
the peaceful and tranquil possession of those lands; and for this
reason the Spanish Government resolved on sending immediately a formal
expedition which should permanently occupy the north of the territory
belonging to it, according to the above-mentioned treaty, on that coast.
This expedition was placed under the orders of the first Adelantado
and Captain-General of the province of Rio de la Plata, Don Pedro de
Mendoza.
With him sailed a ship belonging to some Flemish merchants established
in Seville, and in this vessel went their servant, or agent, one Ulrich
Schmidt, a native of Bavaria, whom the Spaniards called Schmidel, a
name which was Latinized, according to the custom of that time, into
Uldericus Faber.
This Bavarian remained in the province of the Rio de la Plata some
twenty years, taking an active, though obscure, part in the events of
the Spanish conquest of that part of America. In December 1552, he
returned to his native country, visiting Seville in September of the
following year, and Antwerp in January 1554. Thirteen years afterwards
there appeared in Germany, in a collection of voyages published at
Frankfort-on-Maine by Sebastian Franck, a narrative of Schmidt's voyage
under the following title:
"Warhafftige und liebliche Beschreibung etlicher fürnemen Indianischen
Landschafften und Insulen, die vormals in keiner Chronicken gedacht, und
erstlich in der schiffart Ulrici Schmidts von Straubingen, mit grosser
gefahr erkündigt, und von ihm selber auffs fleissigst beschrieben und
dargethan."
This is the book translated into English, for the first time, from
the original German, and now published by the Hakluyt Society. It is
unnecessary for me to say that the translation is not my work.
The historical period embraced by the voyage of Schmidt extends from
1535 to 1552, and refers to the governorship of Don Pedro de Mendoza,
of his successor, Alvar Nuñez Cabeza de Vaca, and to the principal part
taken in the events of that period by Captain Domingo Martinez de Irala,
under whose orders the author of the narrative continually served.
Irala, actuated by personal ambition, defeated the plans of Mendoza,
deserted Buenos Ayres, abandoned his second in command in the Chaco,
occasioning his death and that of all those who had accompanied him
across that great desert to the confines of Peru, and, when the
second Adelantado, Alvar Nuñez, arrived, opposed him by intrigues and
conspiracy till he contrived to depose and send him in chains to Spain,
under the insidious and calumnious accusation of having committed all
sorts of crimes.
Alvar Nuñez, after waiting judgment for eight years, was acquitted, and
recompensed by the king, and to justify himself before the world he
published a narrative of the events that had happened to him during his
term of office, viz., from 1541 to 1544.
This record, the first published on the conquest of the Rio de la Plata
and Paraguai, appeared in Valladolid in 1555, under the general title
"_Relacion y Comentarios de Alvar Nuñez Cabeza de Vaca, de lo acaecido
en las dos jornadas que hizo à las Indias_." The _Relacion_ refers to
his adventures in Florida, and was first published in 1542,[1] while
the _Comentarios_ appeared as a second part of the new edition of
his voyages under the title just mentioned. This is the second book
contained in the present volume.
[1] This part has been translated into English by Buckingham Smith,
and published in Washington in 1851.
The _Voyage_ of Ulrich Schmidt, and the _Commentaries_ of Alvar Nuñez,
are, as it were, the flint and steel which, when struck together,
produce light.
The work of Schmidt, which in nearly all its details is in manifest
contradiction to that of Alvar Nuñez, was published twelve years after
the _Commentaries_, and was apparently written expressly to refute them,
taking up the defence of Domingo de Irala, who is the principal figure
of the picture, and whose seditious and immoral conduct had been
denounced by Alvar Nuñez. The Hakluyt Society, in bringing together
these two contemporary records of the Spanish conquest, leaves the
reader to pass his own judgment on the issues raised.
This Society had published in 1874 another narrative, similar to that of
Ulrich Schmidt, relating to the same historical period, the voyage of
Hans Stade, also a German adventurer, who visited the southern coast of
Brazil shortly after the sedition against Alvar Nuñez Cabeza de Vaca
in Paraguai. Though edited with notes and explanations by the gallant
Captain, afterwards Sir Richard Burton,[2] these have not thrown
the necessary light to show the motive of Stade's voyage, nor other
circumstances essential to form a clear and precise idea how this other
German adventurer is entitled to a place in the history of the Province
of the Rio de la Plata as well as in that of the conquest of Brazil.
[2] Sir Richard Burton died in Trieste on the 20th October last, while
holding the office of H.B.M. Consul.
When Alvar Nuñez returned a prisoner to Spain, the king appointed
another Adelantado to replace him and continue the Spanish colonisation
from which he had been so violently severed. This new governor of the
Rio de la Plata was Don Juan de Sanabria, who died before starting on
the voyage, and only after many difficulties his son, Don Diego, sailed
from San Lucar de Barrameda in 1549 with three ships. In one of these
Hans Stade embarked, on conditions identical with those under which
Ulrich Schmidt had gone to America with Don Pedro de Mendoza. The armada
of Sanabria was dispersed on the voyage; its chief arrived at the
Antilles, and only two of the ships reached their destination.
Sanabria, just like Alvar Nuñez, bore the king's orders to establish
himself in the ports of the Atlantic coast, in proximity with the
Portuguese colony of San Vicente, to take possession of the island of
Santa Catalina, to found in its neighbourhood a colony on the border
of the sea, in order to penetrate thence by land, crossing the whole
province of Guaira, or Paraná, till he arrived at Paraguai.
The enterprise of Sanabria was, however, very unfortunate. The
colonists, when their resources failed them, divided. A considerable
number took refuge in the colony of San Vicente, impelled by necessity,
and seduced by the Portuguese governor, Thomé de Souza. Hans Stade went
with these, and as he understood something of gunnery, abandoned the
Spaniards, and entered the Portuguese service as an artilleryman, when
his chiefs and companions returned to Spanish territory and founded the
colony of San Francisco, in 26° 20′ of south latitude.
The first seventeen chapters of Stade's book refer to his stay in
the province of Sanabria; the remainder to the time he passed in San
Vicente, and his captivity among the Tupis who inhabited the surrounding
country.
These three books are, as it were, fragments of the history of the first
few years of the conquest of one part of South America. The series,
arranged chronologically, is as follows:--
1. _The Voyage of Ulrich Schmidt_, from 1534 to 1554;
2. _The Commentaries of Alvar Nuñez_, from 1541 to 1544;
3. _The Captivity of Hans Stade_, from 1547 to 1554.
The special merit of these three works is that their authors were
eye-witnesses and actors in the events they narrate.
* * * * *
It has seemed to me interesting and necessary to add to this volume an
ethnographical map, which shows what were the indigenous tribes which
occupied the country described by Schmidt, and the places in which the
Guaraní family lived in that part of the province of Rio de la Plata,
colonised in those days by the Spaniards. This map also shows, for
the first time in the history of cartography, the demarcation of this
same province entrusted by the King of Spain to his Adelantados, or
governors, and the route opened by Alvar Nuñez Cabeza de Vaca on his
journey from the island of Santa Catalina to Asuncion, on the Paraguai.
* * * * *
The name of Rio de la Plata, given by the King of Spain to a territory
so vast, and differing so widely now from what it was at the time of
the conquest, creates some confusion and uncertainty in the mind of
the reader of the events of that period. This can only be removed by
a map which shows clearly what territories were held by the Spanish
and Portuguese by virtue of the treaty of Tordesillas. Those who are
cognisant of it are but few in number. When speaking or writing of the
conquest of America, it is generally believed that the only title upon
which were based the conquests of Spain and Portugal was the famous
Papal Bull of partition of the Ocean, of 1493. Few modern authors take
into consideration that this Bull was amended, upon the petition of the
King of Portugal, by the above-mentioned treaty, signed by both Powers
in 1494, augmenting the portion assigned to the Portuguese in the
partition made between them of the continent of America. The arc of
meridian fixed by this treaty as a dividing line, which gave rise,
owing to the ignorance of that age, to so many diplomatic congresses
and interminable controversies, may now be traced by any student of
elementary mathematics. This line is shown on the accompanying map, and
runs along the meridian of 47° 32′ 56″ west of Greenwich. The coast of
the South American continent between the equator and the vicinity of the
Tropic of Capricorn describes a great curve, closed on the west by the
aforesaid dividing line, which enters the sea a little south of San
Vicente, or Santos. West of this line were the Spanish possessions. A
clear understanding on this point removes the confusion occurring at the
present day, when the situation of affairs has undergone so marked a
change, and explains how it is that Don Pedro de Mendoza, Alvar Nuñez,
and Hans Stade remained at points of the coast called of Brazil,
mentioned by those travellers; and how Alvar Nuñez, without leaving the
province under his jurisdiction and command, marched through Spanish
territory, from Santa Catalina, across the whole of Guaira, or province
of Paraná, to Asuncion on the Paraguai. The name "Brazil", or "tierra
del Brasil", at that time referred only to the part of the continent
producing the dyewood so-called. Nearly two centuries later the
Portuguese advanced towards the south, and the name "Brazil" then
covered the new possessions they were acquiring, thus introducing the
confusion to which I have referred.
* * * * *
_The Voyage of Schmidt_ went through several editions, all incorrect,
and rendered more so by the so-called elucidations and notes by their
early editors. It was translated and published in Latin, English,
Spanish, and other languages. These translations, however, were not
made directly from the German, in which it was written, and thus the
inaccuracies contained in the original were increased as they were
turned into other idioms by persons who had no knowledge of the history,
nor the slightest notion of the language spoken by the natives of
America.
The first translation was done into Latin by Professor Gotard Arthus,
for Theodore de Bry's _Collection of Voyages_, 1597; and when Levinus
Hulsius prepared his collection, in 1599, he found so many defects in
it, that, instead of adopting it, he preferred translating it afresh.
This version, in which there are many alterations and suppressions of
the original text, must in justice be described as not less defective
than the preceding one, without, however, being quite so bad. The Latin
version of Hulsius served for the subsequent translations into modern
languages--for instance, for that inserted by Purchas in his _Pilgrims_.
From the same collection of Hulsius the work of Schmidt was translated
from Latin into Spanish by Dr. Andreas Gonzalez de Barcia, and published
with his insignificant and incorrect notes in Madrid, 1737, in his
_Coleccion de Historiadores Primitivos de las Indias Occidentales_. This
is the version reproduced at Buenos Ayres a century later by Don Pedro
de Angelis, compiler and editor of the manuscripts of the Argentine
canon, Don Saturnino Segurola.
The translation now published by the Hakluyt Society, done directly from
the original German, has the merit of presenting the work genuine and
entire as it left the author's hands. And as he was led into many errors
of fact, proper names, geography, and chronology, the Society has
done me the honour to ask me to explain them by notes and this brief
Introduction.
* * * * *
The expedition of Don Pedro de Mendoza to the Rio de la Plata, and all
the events referred to by Ulrich Schmidt, belong to the epoch of Charles
V, Emperor of Germany and King of Spain. Although he was the son of a
Spanish prince, this monarch was born at Ghent, and had been educated
by Flemings. His ministers, his counsellors, the bankers who supplied
him with the funds for his wars, were Flemings. Great was the favour
enjoyed in Spain and Portugal by those very wealthy bankers and
merchants, Fugger and Welzer of Augsburg, and Erasmus Schetzen of
Antwerp. The first two had opened branches of their business at Seville,
the centre at that time of trade with America, and the third had done
the same at Lisbon, the metropolis of the Portuguese colonies in the
Indies. The house of Erasmus Schetzen, as Hans Stade tells us, had sugar
factories in the recently colonised captaincy of San Vicente, since
converted into the province of San Pablo. One of his agents, Peter
Rosel, had established himself there, and had acquired, in the name of
Erasmus, the great factory established by the grantee, Captain-Major
Martin Affonso de Souza, together with other partners.[3] Charles V had
made a gift of the whole province of Caracas to the bankers Welzer, and
the affairs of the Fuggers were so vast that the family name was adopted
into the Castilian vernacular as _fucar_, explained by the dictionary of
the language to signify a person of great wealth.
[3] Fray Gaspar da Madre de Deos, _Memorias para a historia da
Capitania de S. Vicente_, 1797.
Charles V had inaugurated his reign by showing his partiality for the
Flemings, by whom he was surrounded, bestowing on the Baron de la
Bresa, his counsellor and majordomo mayor, the first contract for the
exclusive privilege of introducing negro slaves into the West Indies,
against the advice of his Spanish counsellors, who rejected the project
of the famous protector of the Indians, Bartholomé de las Casas.[4]
These favours shown to the Flemings gave rise to that picturesque phrase
of Pedro Martyr de Anghiera, that the Flemings had gone with Charles V
to Spain to destroy the vine after having gathered the vintage.[5]
[4] Antonio de Herrera, _Historia General de los Hechos de los
Castellanos, etc._, Década 2, Libro 2, cap. 20; Quintana, _Vida de
las Casas_.
[5] P. Martyr, _Opus Epistolarum_, carta 703.
This explains how the Spanish Government, exclusive and jealous of all
foreign interference in its affairs in the Indies, allowed Germans and
Flemings, with their vessels, their merchandise, and their men, to take
part in such considerable numbers in the expedition of Don Pedro de
Mendoza. The Flemings were at that time as much Charles's subjects as
the Spaniards, and the owners of the ships in which Schmidt and his
countrymen sailed, were bankers--allies and favourites of the young
Emperor.
It appears that Schmidt was not enlisted among the soldiers of Mendoza,
but came as an _employé_ of the house of Welzer and Niedhart, who owned
the vessel which took him. Its factor was the Fleming Heinrich Paine,
and it was manned by eighty Germans. The cargo was destined to exchange
for the silver which Sebastian Cabot, after his recent voyage of
discovery, had made it believed in Spain, abounded among the Indians he
had encountered on the Paraguai. The Rio de Solis then took the name of
Rio de la Plata, and it was this magic word that raised the desires of
so many in Spain to take part in the expedition of Don Pedro de Mendoza,
that it was necessary to close the lists of applicants and hasten the
departure of the armada, in order to calm the fever of emigration which
prevailed on this occasion among persons desirous of making their
fortunes rapidly. This expedition, as the historian Fernandez de Oviedo,
who saw it sail from Seville, expressed it, "was a company fit to make a
goodly show in Cæsar's army and in any part of the world."
Don Pedro de Mendoza began by establishing himself in the port of Los
Patos, at the southern extremity of the island of Santa Catalina, which
was included in his jurisdiction, as may be seen on the accompanying
map. He then passed to the Rio de la Plata, and, on the 11th June 1535,
laid the foundations of the city of Santa Maria de Buenos Aires. Soon
afterwards he nominated as his second in command his intimate friend,
Juan de Ayolas, and sent him with a detachment to explore the Rio
Paraná, and open a road by means of this river to the Pacific Ocean,
which was the advance or front limit of his province.
The brigantines, or little feluccas in which the explorer Ayolas set
forth, were under the orders of the Biscayan, Domingo Martinez de Irala,
and in his company went Schmidt, but it is unknown in what character.
In his book he acquaints us with the events that happened to that
expedition, and all those in which he took part, almost always in the
company of his captain, Irala, with whose fortunes he linked his own
from the beginning. Our only authority for this statement is the
adventurer himself who has given his name to the book. I know of no
document mentioning Schmidt, nor is he noticed by the chronicler
Francisco Lopez de Gomara, by his successor, Antonio de Herrera, in his
history of the Indies, or by Ruy Diaz de Guzman, himself born on the
Paraguai, a grandson of Domingo Martinez de Irala, or, finally, by Alvar
Nuñez in his _Commentaries_.
Schmidt relates that he was present at the foundation of Buenos Aires
and its desertion six years afterwards, by order of Irala, who possessed
himself of the command after the deaths of Don Pedro de Mendoza and his
lieutenant Ayolas. Schmidt was also present at the events which took
place during the governorship of the second Adelantado, Alvar Nuñez
Cabeza de Vaca, from 1541 to 1544. He assisted at his violent overthrow
and deportation under the direction of Irala, made all the journeys of
exploration which, starting from Asuncion, ascended the Rio Paraguai to
Matto Grosso, and explored all the country of the Cheriguanos, now known
by the name of Moxos and Chiquitos, to the confines of Peru. He remained
with Irala till the arrival on the Atlantic coast of the expedition of
the Adelantado Sanabria, with whom Hans Stade sailed to America.
At the end of twenty years of travels and strange adventures, of combats
with Indians, of anarchy, poverty, and disorder among the conquerors of
Paraguai, when Domingo de Irala, by force of audacity and machiavelism,
had definitely possessed himself of the government of this unfortunate
colony, obtaining, a short while afterwards, the royal title of
Governor, his faithful and inseparable companion Schmidt received a
letter from the banker Niedhart, transmitted to him from Seville by the
agent there of the wealthy Fugger, in which he begged him to return to
Antwerp. Schmidt obtained leave of absence from his chief, set out on
his journey, with six deserters and twenty of his Indian slaves, by the
rivers Paraguai and Paraná to the river Iguazú, and thence crossed the
province of Guaira by the route opened by Alvar Nuñez, arriving at the
Portuguese colony of San Vicente. Here he met with the agent of Erasmus
Schetzen, who gave him a passage to Lisbon in a vessel belonging to
his principal, which was laden with a cargo of sugar and brazil wood.
Schmidt landed at Antwerp on the 25th January 1554, as I have already
said.
Hans Stade was a prisoner of the Tapiis, or Tupis, in the immediate
vicinity of San Vicente, when Schmidt passed that way on his homeward
journey, and only succeeded in obtaining his liberty one year later,
embarking at Rio de Janeiro on one of the French ships which trafficked
with the Indians occupying that magnificent bay. His adventures during
his captivity were published at Marburg in 1557. It is very strange,
therefore, that Schmidt should not make the slightest mention of his
countryman, though he also was acquainted with Peter Rosel, agent of
Erasmus Schetzen, in the Portuguese colony. It would seem most natural
that they should have spoken on the misfortunes that had befallen Stade,
and on the various fruitless efforts made to rescue him from captivity,
and as to the means to be employed in order to restore him to his
country. Not a word of all this do we find in Schmidt's narrative.
* * * * *
The voyage of Ulrich Schmidt to the Rio de la Plata was published, as we
have seen, at Frankfort-on-Maine in 1567, in the collection of Sebastian
Franck, wherein also appeared for the second time that of Stade, side by
side with his countryman Schmidt's. This proves the interest taken in
these narratives of travel in those days of theological controversies
and religious wars, when the French Protestants were trying to set foot
in Brazil, while Villegaignon, under the protection of Coligny, was
taking possession of the port of Rio de Janeiro, one year after the
abdication of Charles V and the accession to the throne of the sombre
Philip II, whose tyranny became very soon insupportable in the Low
Countries, which fell under his dominion by inheritance from his
father.
The publication of these travels answered to the propaganda against
Spain and the religious principles her soldiers were taking to the
New World. The work of Stade had been written by Dr. Johann Dryandri,
Professor of the University of Marburg, the centre of the ideas of
Luther. That of Schmidt was adopted and published by his countryman,
Sebastian Franck, who was a vehement Anabaptist, and by the Flemings de
Bry and his friend Hulsius, one of the most active advocates of Church
Reform, expelled from Ghent, his native place, by decree of the King of
Spain during the most critical period of the struggle maintained by the
Flemings for their national independence and their religious beliefs.[6]
[6] J. Asher, _Bibliographical Essay on the Collection of Voyages and
Travels edited and printed by Levinus Hulsius_.
In those times there existed no periodical press or newspaper. The
Spanish Government did not expose to the criticism of the world its
colonial policy; silence was its inviolable rule. Availing himself of
the right of his own defence, the Adelantado, Alvar Nuñez Cabeza de
Vaca, deposed and accused by Irala and his party, had published, as
we have seen, the narrative of his Government of the Rio de la Plata.
Immediately afterwards there appeared in Germany the book of Ulrich
Schmidt, containing the charges against Alvar Nuñez and the defence
of the conduct of his enemy. These conquerors of Paraguai accused one
another of disgraceful immorality and incapacity for the enterprize
entrusted to them by the King. Ambition, as we gather from these
books, overcame in them all feelings of honour and duty; and violence,
sedition, perfidy, and bloodshed, were the means by which they sought
to attain their ends.
The publication of these recriminations in Protestant Europe, which
looked on with fear at the growth of the power of Spain by her conquests
in the Indies, was a natural incentive to those who groaned under
her yoke. Having no periodical press, they availed themselves of the
narratives of voyages, which were awakening curiosity with respect to
countries that had fallen under her dominion. Everything for them was
new and wonderful. The unknown races, their primitive customs, their
savage life, their nakedness, their arms and food, the virgin nature and
splendid vegetation of the tropics, the fruits and new animals, the
game and fish, differing from those in the old world, all excited the
imagination, and, at the same time, opened a vast field for censure, and
for inciting the multitude against the enemy who was taking possession
with such admirable ease of the new lands which raised the enthusiasm of
the first discoverer to such a pitch that he believed they had contained
the earthly Paradise.
How could they help devouring with avidity "the veritable historie
and description of a country belonging to the wild, naked, savage,
man-eating people", narrated by Hans Stade, who had been their captive?
How could they fail to be interested in "the true and agreeable
description of some Indian lands and islands which have not been
recorded in former chronicles", by one who, like Schmidt, had first
explored them "amid great danger"?
It seems to me impossible that in the class of people to which Schmidt
and Stade belonged, there should have been found men capable of writing
narratives, though of scant literary merit. The art of writing was very
uncommon in the middle of the sixteenth century. We know by whom Stade's
work was prepared; but we have not the same information with regard to
that of Schmidt, though there can be no doubt that both were written,
not by those who appear as their authors, but by more learned persons,
enemies to the Spanish Government,[7] upon data recorded, badly or well,
by the adventurers themselves, and from what they heard from their
travelling companions.
[7] Navarrete, _Coleccion de los Viajes y descubrimientos que hicieron
por mar los Españoles desde fines del Siglo XV_. Introduccion;
Ilustracion 9.
The memory cannot retain for a long time names, and especially foreign
names, and details of events happening in the midst of grave anxieties
and dangers. For this reason Schmidt and Stade, who could not have taken
notes at the time, ran into such great errors, that it is impossible
to correct them with accuracy. The Castilian language is difficult to
pronounce for men of Northern Europe, and much more is this the case
with the Guaraní, which abounds with vowels and inarticulate sounds,
with an accent at times guttural, at others nasal, or both combined. The
Spanish Jesuit missionaries found themselves obliged to invent signs to
represent these sounds. Nevertheless, there are words which, although
pronounced in accordance with these signs, are now unintelligible to the
natives.
It seems to me beyond all doubt that Guaraní was the general language of
the whole of America to the east of the Cordillera of the Andes, from
the sea of the Antilles to the extreme south of the continent. There
were various dialects, as might be expected in a language without a
literature, spoken by tribes living apart and hostile to one another.
Traces of it occur north of the Amazon, as well as in the pampas of
Argentina, and especially in Paraguai and in Guaira, the chief centre
of the race in the days of the Spanish conquest. In Paraguai and its
immediate vicinity the tongue spoken is nearly as pure as in the time
of the Spanish missionaries Anchieta and Ruiz de Montoya, who wrote the
vocabulary, and tried to adapt the language to grammatical principles
and rules.
* * * * *
In the numerous notes I have placed at the foot of the pages, I have
corrected the errors of Guaraní nomenclature committed by Schmidt,
whenever they bear some resemblance to the true names of tribes and
places referred to. Some errors were noticed by L. Hulsius (or Hulse) in
1599, who indicated those of well-known places and names, which in the
first German edition appeared disfigured. For instance, "Demerieffe"
for "Tenerife", and "Petrus Manchossa" for "Don Pedro de Mendoza". But
neither Hulsius nor the other editors could correct them accurately,
because they did not know a single word of the language of the natives,
nor of that of their Spanish conquerors. These errors are still greater
in the Latin version from which the Spanish and other translations were
made.
The errors of Schmidt went so far in names of persons that he did not
write correctly those of his chiefs, not even that of Domingo Martinez
de Irala, under whose immediate orders he served for twenty years.
Schmidt repeatedly insists on naming him Martino Domingo de Eyollas.
Another of his chiefs was Alvar Nuñez Cabeza de Vaca, whom he always
names Abernunzo Cabessa de Bacha. The most curious thing is, that the
editors who attempted to correct these errors, were not free from
similar faults; even M. Camus,[8] who, in correcting that of Cabeza
de Vaca, rendered it by Alvare Nugnez Cabera di Vacha; and M. Ternaux
Compans, who supposed the settlement named "Duechkamin" by Schmidt,
to be Tucuman,[9] because he did not know that neither the city nor
the province of this name were founded at the moment to which he is
referring.
[8] _Mémoire sur la Collection des Grands et Petits Voyages_, par A.
G. Camus, 1802.
[9] _Voyages, Relations et Mémoires originaux pour servir à l'histoire
de la découverte de l'Amérique, etc._, vol. v.
I believe that in my notes I have removed all these blunders, leaving
some of them as they are, because they are incomprehensible and have no
importance for history or geography.
In all this, and in chronology, the work of Schmidt is extremely
defective, so much so, that I am unable to understand how the Spanish
geographer Azara, recommending the merits of this adventurer, should
have affirmed the following enormity in his _Voyages dans l'Amérique
Méridionale_:--"Je fais grand cas de ce petit ouvrage, à cause de son
impartialité et de l'exactitude des distances et des situations, choses
en quoi personne ne l'égale."[10] I do not accept this judgment, and in
my notes and observations the reader will see if I have good reason for
differing from Azara, whose merits I recognise, as I also know his grave
faults.
[10] _Voyages dans l'Amérique Méridionale_, par Don Felix Azara;
Paris, 1809; Introduction, p. 20.
Azara is one of the few who deny that the country was inhabited by
a multitude of various nations, as many writers have asserted, and
nevertheless enumerates and describes no less than thirty-two nations
and more than fifty tribes. I maintain there was only one nation, the
Guaraní; and in the province of La Plata, described by Alvar Nuñez
and by Schmidt, the Guaranís were divided into twenty-one tribes, who
differed only in their habits, or their arms, or in the nature of
the country inhabited by them. These are the tribes entered on my
ethnographical map. The others, mentioned by the writers in question,
would be merely unimportant groups, designated by the name of their
chief, or by some nickname applied to them by their neighbours or
enemies. The tribes I record are the following: Quîrandís, Chanás,
Charuas, Yarós, Arechanés, Minhuános, Timbús, Tobas, Mocobís or Mbocoys,
Abipones, Agaces, Mepenes, Mbaiás, Payaguás, Guaicurús, Cheriguanos,
Xarayos, Itatines, Guatós, Cariyós, Tapiis; all these are Guaranís. I do
not treat of the other principal tribes, situated in the interior of the
country between Paraná and the Andes, because they do not concern the
narratives of Schmidt and Alvar Nuñez.
* * * * *
To the errors of Schmidt in nomenclature and distances must be added
others of fact, doubtless more important. These also are rectified
in the notes, which the reader will find in the corresponding place.
In these, however, I have not touched on the subject of cannibalism
attributed to the natives, because this deserves separate treatment
here.
I believe there is not a single author of history and travel, at the
time of the conquest of America, who has not admitted the assertion,
and repeated it, that the natives were _anthropophagi_. Even the name
_cannibals_ was invented in the early years of the conquest. When
Christopher Columbus established himself in Hayti, he asked the feeble,
unarmed, and hospitable Indians he found there, for some information
concerning other islands and their inhabitants, and they informed him
that further on there were perverse men who made war upon them to rob
and enslave them. These Indians of Hayti gave the name of _Carib_ and
_Caniba_ to the islands inhabited by their enemies, called _Caribes_.
Columbus says, in the unique autograph document that is known concerning
his first voyage of discovery,[11] that these Indians are held in all
the islands to be very fierce, and that they eat _live flesh_ (_carne
viva_). He considers them, however, on the whole, equal to the others.
This is the first origin of the tale of cannibalism, for the letter of
Columbus, in which this statement is made, was immediately translated
into Latin and published at Rome, and in this translation the Spanish
words, _comer carne viva_, were interpreted by the Latin phrase, _carne
humana vescuntur_. Long afterwards (from 1527 to 1559) the celebrated
Bartholomé de las Casas wrote his _Historia de las Indias_, in which
he gave an abstract of the journal of Columbus' first voyage. In his
summary, Las Casas relates what Columbus says, amplifying, correcting,
or abridging, as he found convenient; and there the great discoverer
appears repeatedly speaking of Indians who ate human flesh.
[11] Letter of the Admiral Christopher Columbus to Luis de Santángel,
Contador Mayor de los Reyes Catholicos. (Navarrete _Coleccion de
Viages_, tomo i, p. 167.) An identical letter was addressed by
Columbus to the Contador Rafael Sanchez.
This alteration of the text of the letter of Columbus was repeated by
the conquistadores and missionaries to justify the enslaving of
the Indians and the horrible cruelty with which they were treated,
commending in this way their perils and their labours in the military
and spiritual conquest.
Cannibalism, under its name of _Anthropophagy_, originated with the
fable of Polyphemus, and I am convinced that it is a calumny spread
abroad from the time of Saint Jerome, when this brutality was attributed
to the Scotch, down to the present day, when it is asserted that there
are cannibals in Oceania and Africa.
I do not say this in defence of the Indians, but for the honour of
human nature, not so bad as the creative genius of poets and authors of
fiction have supposed it to be. That barbarous Indians are treacherous;
that when they slay their enemies they will tear them to pieces and burn
them, is beyond dispute. But that they will eat their flesh is a slander
and a despicable falsehood founded on interested motives. I have yet to
find the man who will tell me in good faith he has seen the Indians eat
human flesh. Schmidt does not say it, nor does Alvar Nuñez, nor any
other of the historians of America, though all repeat the tale; and
there are some who, even at the present day, believe that the Fuegians,
those unhappy savages of the extreme south of the continent, are
cannibals.
In my new historical work, shortly to be given to the press, I shall
treat of this interesting subject more at large; for the present I limit
myself to the denial of a deed which I could only credit were I to see
it with my own eyes.
These tales of cannibals and of Amazons, of giants and of pygmies, met
with by certain travellers in unknown countries, are the brilliant
spangles wherewith to dazzle the eyes of the vulgar anxious for marvels,
and disposed to believe that in other parts there are men with tails,
and women warriors who live without men, and monsters which have only
existed in mythology and in fable.
* * * * *