indulgent with respect to style, bearing in mind that what they read is
a translation from the Spanish language in which I write.
I cannot terminate without giving my thanks to Mr. E. Delmar Morgan,
Honorary Secretary of the Hakluyt Society, for the active co-operation
he has afforded me in the preparation of this work.
LUIS L. DOMINGUEZ.
16, _Kensington Palace Gardens_,
_London, November_ 1890.
BIBLIOGRAPHY.
I.
ULRICH SCHMIDT.
ULRICH SCHMIDT'S voyage to the River Plate was published for the first
time, in a Collection of Voyages, edited by the booksellers, Sebastian
Franck and Sigismund Feyerabend, in the middle of the 16th century, at
Frankfort-on-Main. The title of this collection is:
"Warhafftige Beschreibunge aller theil der Welt, darinn nicht allein
etliche alte Landtschafften, Königreich, Provinzen, Insulen, auch
fürnehme Stedt und Märckte (so denn allen Welt-beschreibern bekant
seind), mit fleiss beschrieben werden, sondern auch sehr viel neuwe,
so zu vnsern zeiten zu Wasser durch vil sorgliche und vormals
vngebrauchte Schiffarten erfunden seyn, welche im andern disem
nachfolgenden Buch von Schiffarten genañt auss rechtem grundt der
Cosmography vnd Geometry erfunden, angezeigt werden. Dessgleichen
auch etwas von New gefundenen Welten, vnd aller darinn gelegenen
Völcker, ihrer Religion vnd Glaubens sachen, ihrem Regiment,
Pollicey, Gewerb, handtierung vnd andern gebreuchen mehr, etc.,
auss etlichen glaubwirdigen (fürnehmer Scribenten) Büchern mit
grosse mühe vnd arbeyt, etc.
"Durch Sebastian Franck von Wörd, zum ersten an tag geben, jetst
aber mit sondern fleiss auff ein neuwes vbersehen, vnd in ein
wolgeformtes Handtbuch verfasset. Anno MDLXVII."
The book of Schmidt appeared in the second part of this collection under
the following title:
"Warhafftige vnd liebliche Beschreibung etlicher fürnemen
Indianischen Landtschafften vnd Insulen, die vormals in keiner
Chronicken gedacht, vnd erstlich in der Schiffart Vlrici Schmidts
von Straubingen, mit grosser gefahr erkündigt, vnd von ihm selber
auffs fleissigst beschrieben vnd dargethan."
The next edition was published, in 1599, by de Bry in his great
collection known as _Grands et Petits Voyages_, which appeared in German
and Latin. The Latin title is:
"Collectiones Peregrinationum in Indiam Occidentalem et in Indiam
Orientalem 25 partibus comprehensæ a Theodoro, Joann Theodoro de
Bry, et à Math. Merian publicatæ. Francofurti et Oppenheimii, De Bry
et Merian, 1590, 1634. Americæ Pars VII.--_Schmidel_, Verissima et
jucundissima descriptio præcipuarum quarundam Indiæ regionum et
Insularum, quæ quidem nullis ante hæc tempora visæ cognitæque iam
primum ab Vlrico Fabro Straubingensi, multo cum periculo inuentæ
et ab eodem summa diligentia consignatæ fuerunt, ex germanico in
latinum sermonem conuersa, autore M. Gotardo Arthvs Dantiscano.
Illustrata verò pulcherrimis imaginibus, et in lucem emissa, studio
et opera Theodorici de Bry piæ memoriæ, relictæ viduæ et filiorum.
Anno Christi M.D.XCIX."
First edition, Frankfort, 1599; and second edition (three plates printed
in the text), 1625.
The title of the German abridged edition of de Bry's collection is:
"America, das ist Erfindung vnd Offenbahrung der Newen Weldt,
deroselbigen Völcker Gestalt, Sitten, Gebräuch, Policey vnd
Gottesdienst, in dreissig vornehmtste Schiffahrten kürtzlich vnd
ordentlich zusammen gefasset vnd mit seinen Marginalien vnd Register
erkläret: Durch M. Philippum Zieglerum von Würzburg, E.C. Vnd vber
die Vorigen mit vielen newen vnd nothwendigen Landtaffeln vnd
Kupfferstücken auffs schönste gezieret, vnd in Truck gegeben von
Johan-Theodoro de Bry, Buchhandlern vnd Bürgern zu Oppenheim.
Gedruct zu Franckfurt am Mayn, durch Nicolaum Hoffmann.
Anno MDCXVII."
In 1598 Levinus Hulsius had begun to publish his great collection of
voyages, entitled:
"Sammlung von 26 schiffahrten in verschiedene fremde Länder durch
Lev. Hulsium und einige andere aus dem Holländischen ins Deutsche
übersetz und mit allerhand Anmerkungen versehen."
Frankfort, Nurnberg, Oppenheim and Hanover,
1598 to 1660.
Schmidt's voyage appeared in this collection, in 1599, under this title:
"Warhafftige Historien Einer Wunderbaren Schiffart, welche Vlrich
Schmidel von Straubing, von _anno_ 1534 biss _anno_ 1554, _in
Americam_ oder Newenwelt bey _Brasilia_ und _Rio della Plata_
gethan. Was er in diesen Neuntsehen Jahren aussgestanden vnd was
für seltsame Wunderbare Länder vnd Leuter gesehen: durch ermelten
Schmidel selbs beschrieben, an jetst aber an Tag geben mit
Verbesserung vnd Corrigierung der Stätt, Länder vnd Flussnamen,
dessgleichen mit einer nothwendigen Landtaffel, Figuren vnd anderer
mehr Erklerung, gezieret Durch Levinvm Hulsivm. _Noribergæ, Impensis
L. H._ 1599."
This book was reprinted by Hulsius in 1602 at Nurnberg, and in 1612 at
Frankfort-on-Main.
There are 16 plates in the British Museum copy, but the map and two
plates are missing. In this edition, dedicated to Johann Philip, Bishop
of Bamberg, the following epilogue occurs: "And so after the lapse of
twenty years, through the special grace and providence of Almighty God,
I have returned to the place whence I set out; but meanwhiles I have in
my peregrination of these Indian nations experienced no little danger to
body and life, great hunger and misery, care and anxiety, sufficiently
made known and set forth in this historical narrative. I say therefore
let praise, honour and thanks be given to Almighty God who has helped
me to come back once more so happily to the place whence I full twenty
years before had started."
And in the Latin edition of this same collection, a new version of
Schmidt's book was published under this title:
"Vera historia admirandæ cujusdam navigationis quam Huldericus
Schmidel, Straubiugensis, ab anno 1534 usque ad annum 1554 in
Americam vel novum mundum justa Brasiliam et Rio della Plata
confecit, quid per hoce annos 19 sustinuerit, quam varias et quam
mirandas regiones at homines viderit. Ab ipso Schmidelio Germanice
descripta: nunc vero, emendatis et correctis urbium, regionum et
fluminum, nominibus, Adjecta etiam tabula geographica, figuris et
aliis notationibus quibusdam in hanc formam reducta. Noribergæ,
1599. Impensis Levini Hulsii." 4to.
In 1707 a Dutch translation was published at Leyden in the collection of
the bookseller Van der Aa, entitled:
"Naaukeurige versameling der gedenk-waardigste Reysen na Oost en
West-Indien, mitsgaders andere Gewesten gedaan; Zedert Jaarhet 1535
tot 1541, _Te Leyden, door Pieter van der Aa_, 1706-7." Fol. and
small 8vo.
Schmidt's voyage appears in vol. 48 of the smaller edition under this
title:
"Gedenkwaardige Scheeps-Togten na Rio de la Plata in't Zuyderdeel
van America, en Verscheydene andere voorname Americaanische
Landschoppen, verrigt onder der Spaanschen Admiraal Pedro de
Mendoza, Anno 1535, en de Volgende Jaren.... Bescheven door Ulrich
Schmidt van Straubingen.... Nu aldeerst uyt't Hoogduytsch vertaald."
The first edition in the Spanish language of the book of Schmidt
appeared in the first volume of the collection entitled: _Historiadores
primitivos de las Indias Occidentales, que juntó, tradujo en parte,
y sacó á luz, ilustrados con eruditas notas y copiosos indices, Don
Andreas Gonzalez de Barcia_. 3 vol., fol., Madrid, 1749. It is entitled:
"Historia y descubrimiento del Rio de la Plata y Paraguay."
(Translated from the Latin edition of Hulsius.)
This version of Barcia was reprinted, with all his notes, in the third
volume of the _Coleccion de obras y documentos relativos á la Historia
antigua y moderna de las provincias del Rio de la Plata, ilustrados con
notas y disertaciones_, by Pedro de Angelis.--Buenos Aires, 1835-37. 6
vols., fol. The title of Schmidt's book in this collection is:
"Viaje al Rio de la Plata y Paraguay, por Ulderico Schmidel," 1836.
A French translation of the Latin edition of Hulsius was published
in 1837 in the collection entitled _Voyages, Relations et Mémoires
originaux pour servir à l'histoire de la découverte de l'Amérique,
publiés pour la première fois en français_, par H.
Ternaux-Compans.--Paris, 1837-41, 20 vols., 8vo.
The work of Schmidt is in the first volume, under this title:
"Histoire véritable d'un voyage curieux fait par Ulrich Schmidel, de
Straubing, dans l'Amérique ou le Nouveau Monde, par le Brésil, et le
Rio de la Plata, depuis l'année 1534 jusqu'en 1554, ou l'on verra
tout ce qu'il a souffert pendant ces dix-neuf ans, et la description
des pays et des peuples extraordinaires qu'il a visités. Ouvrage
écrit par lui-même, et publié de nouveau après corrections des noms
de villes, de pays et de rivières."
II.
ALVAR NUÑEZ CABEZA DE VACA.
THE first edition of this important narrative of the Adelantado Alvar
Nuñez was published at Valladolid in 1555, in one small 4to. volume,
together with his account of his travels and shipwrecks in Florida,
which had been edited some years before. The general title of this book
is:
"La relacion y comentarios del gobernador Alvar Nuñez Cabeça de
Vaca, de lo acaecido en las dos jornadas que hizo á las Indias."
Valladolid, 1555. 1 vol. Small 4to.
The second part of this book is entitled:
"Comentarios de Alvar Nuñez Cabeza de Vaca, por Pedro Hernandez,
escribano del Adelantado."
The second edition of the _Comentarios_ is in the second volume of
_Historiadores Primitivos_, by Barcia. Madrid, 1749.
The third edition is in the _Biblioteca de Autores Españoles_, by
Rivadeneyra, vol. 22. Madrid, 1863.
Ternaux-Compans published a translation into French in the third volume
of his _Voyages et Relations_. Paris, 1837-41.
L. L. D.
THE MAP.
The dividing line between Spanish and Portuguese territories in the
accompanying map differs only in one-and-a-half or two degrees of
longitude from that drawn by M. Adolpho de Varnhagen in his _Historia
Geral do Brazil_. The question about the present boundary of those
territories has been settled by modern treaties.
It must also be remarked that the boundaries of the ancient _Province
of Rio de la Plata_, in 1534, were very soon modified by the Spanish
Government, who did the same thing by the four other Provinces into
which the Continent of South America south of the equator was divided
in that year.
L. L. D.
[Illustration: SOUTH AMERICA IN THE XVI CENTURY.
An ethnographical map.
Showing also the boundary line between the Colonies of Spain and
Portugal, in accordance with the Treaty signed at Tordesillas in 1494,
the route of Alvar Nuñez Cabeza de Vaca, and the places inhabited by
the Guaraní Tribes mentioned by Ulrich Schmidt in his Voyage.
drawn
by
LUIS L. DOMINGUEZ.
LONDON 1890.]
[Illustration: (leaf decoration)]
A true and agreeable description of some principal Indian
lands and islands, which have not been recorded in
former chronicles, but have now been first
explored amid great danger during
the voyage of ULRICH SCHMIDT
of Straubing, and most
carefully described
by him.
[Illustration: (insect decoration)]
[Illustration: (floral vine decoration)]
A true and agreeable description of some principal Indian
lands and islands, which have not been recorded in
former chronicles, but have now been first
explored amid great danger during
the voyage of ULRICH SCHMIDT
OF STRAUBING, and most
carefully described
by him.
IN the first place, when setting forth from Antorff,[12] I came in
fourteen days to Hispania, to a town called Calles,[13] to which one
reckons four hundred miles by sea. I saw before that town a balena, or
whale, thirty-five paces long, out of which thirty tuns--of the capacity
of herring tuns--of fat had been extracted.
[12] Antwerp.
[13] Cadiz.
Near the said town of Calles there were fourteen great ships, well
provided with all ammunitions and necessaries, which intended to voyage
to Riodellaplata[14] in India. Also there were two thousand five
hundred Spaniards and one hundred and fifty Germans, Netherlanders, and
Saxons.[15] And our chief captain was called Petrus Manchossa.[16]
[14] Rio de la Plata.
[15] Antonio de Herrera (_Historia General de los Hechos de los
Castellanos en las Islas y Tierra Firme del Mar Oceano_, Madrid,
1601-1616, viii, 5), who is the official authority, says that Don
Pedro de Mendoza's expedition was composed of 800 men, very good and
distinguished people, and eleven ships. Others state that there were
1,500 and 1,700 men. Schmidt alone states the number as 2,650. By his
contract with the Government, Mendoza was bound to take with him one
thousand men in two voyages.
[16] Don Pedro de Mendoza.
Among these fourteen ships, one belonged to Messrs. Sebastian Neidhart
and Jacob Welser, from Nürnberg, who had sent their factor, Heinrich
Paeime, with merchandise to Riodellaplata. With these and others, as
Germans and Netherlanders, about eighty men, armed with arquebuses and
muskets, I went to Riodellaplata.
As we were now come there,[17] we set out from Sibylla[18] with the said
gentlemen and the chief captain, in the aforesaid year, on the day of
S. Bartholomew, and came to a town in Spain called S. Lucas[19] which is
twenty miles' distance from Sibylla. There we were compelled, on account
of much blustering winds, to stay till the first of September of the
year before-named (1534).
[17] _i.e._, to Spain.
[18] Seville.
[19] San Lucar.
And when we departed from there we fell in with three islands, which lie
near to one another, the first of which is called Demerieff, the other
Kumero, the third Palman,[20] and from the town of S. Lucas to these
islands there is a space of about twenty miles.[21] At these islands the
ships parted company. These islands belong to their Imperial Majesties,
and are inhabited only by Spaniards, with their wives and children. And
there sugar is made. We came with three ships to Palman, and remained
there for four weeks, replenishing our store of victual.
[20] Teneriffe, Gomera, and Palma, three of the Canary Islands.
[21] From San Lucar to the Canary Islands there are about 500 English
miles.
But afterwards our chief captain, Petrus Manchossa, being at a distance
of eight to nine miles from us, and having commanded us to make sail, we
having on board our ship our captain's cousin, Jörg Manchossa,[22]
who had fallen in love with the daughter of a burgher of Palma, and
inasmuch as we were going to leave on the following day, the said Jörg
Manchossa went ashore that very night, at twelve o'clock, with twelve of
his good companions, and brought secretly with them, out of the island
Palma, the said burgher's daughter and her maid-servant, with all their
clothes and jewels, and money also, and came aboard again, but secretly,
to the intent that neither our captain, nor the aforesaid agent, nor
anybody else on the ship might know aught about it; only the watch saw
them, for it was about midnight. And as we were intending to depart
from there in the morning, and were only about two or three miles away,
a mighty wind sprang up, so that we needs must turn back to the same
harbour, where we were lying before. When we there cast anchor, our
captain, the aforesaid Heinrich Paine, would go aland in a small vessel,
which is called pat or podell (_bote_). And as he went, and was about
to land, there were awaiting him more than thirty men, armed with
arquebuses, spears, and halberds with the intention of taking him, the
said Heinrich Paine. At the same time one of his crew besought him not
to land, but to return to the ship, which advice the captain would have
gladly followed, but that he could not, seeing that the men on land
had come too near to him in another little ship, which they had in
readiness; however, he escaped at length in another ship which was near
the land. When the armed men saw that the others did not fire upon, nor
could take the captain Heinrich Paine, they caused the town of Palma to
sound the alarm, swiftly loaded two great guns, and fired four shots at
our ship (which lay not far off from the land). With the first shot they
breached our earthen pot, which was on the poop and full of fresh water,
whereby five or six pails of water were lost. Secondly, they shot in
pieces also the mizzen, that is, the hindmost mast nearest the stern.
Thirdly, they shot in the waist of the ship a big hole whereby a man was
struck and killed. But with the fourth shot they missed us.
[22] Jorge de Mendoza. No known document mentions this Jorge de
Mendoza, nor the rape alluded to by Schmidt. It is not likely that a
relative of the chief of the expedition should have been on board a
Flemish ship which was not under his immediate command.
There was also another captain, whose ship was lying by our side, and
who intended to sail for Nova Hispania, in Mechseckheim[23]; he was on
shore with one hundred and fifty men, who, when he knew of our quarrel,
made peace between us and those of the town, on condition that Jörg
Manchossa[24] and the burgher's daughter and her maid-servant should
certainly be delivered into their hands.
[23] Mexico.
[24] Jorge de Mendoza.
Then the stadthalter, and the judge, our captain, and the captain
spoken of above, came aboard our ship, intending to make prisoners Jörg
Manchossa and his paramour.[25] Thereupon he answered them that she was
his wife, and she did not show herself in another light and they soon
got married; the father, however, was very sorry and anxious, and our
ship was through them badly treated by the firing at it. After all this,
we left Jörg Manchossa and his wife ashore, for our captain would not
have them any longer on board his ship.
[25] In orig.: "Bulschafft," lit. love intrigue.
Now we again made ready our ship, and sailed to an island or land, the
name whereof is S. Jacob, or, in Spanish, Sancte Augo (Santiago); there
is a town belonging to the King of Portugal; the Portuguese entertain
that town, and the Blackamoors are their subjects: this town is at a
distance of three hundred miles from the said Island Palman, from which
we sailed.[26] We remained there five days, and again furnished our
ship with new and fresh victual, as bread, meat, water, and all that
necessity demands at sea. The whole fleet, namely, fourteen ships, were
now once more together. We then went again to sea and sailed for two
whole months, and then arrived at an island wherein there was nothing
else than birds, in such quantities that we killed them with sticks.
Here we lay three days. This island is entirely uninhabited; it is in
length and breadth about six miles either way, and is distant from the
above-mentioned island, _S. Augo_, whence we sailed, fifteen hundred
miles. In this sea there are flying-fishes and other marvellous great
fishes of the balena kind, and great fishes called _schaubhut_, for that
they wear on their heads a large trencher, with which they may become
dangerous in fighting with other fishes; it is a wondrous great and evil
fish. There are also other fishes which have on their backs a knife of
whalebone, and are called in the Spanish tongue _Peschespate_,[27] and
furthermore, other fishes which have on their backs a saw of whalebone,
and are also evil fishes; their name is _Peschedeferre_,[28] and also
there are several other rare fishes whose form, size, and other features
I cannot at this time describe.
[26] All distances given by Schmidt are erroneous, and it is
astonishing that Don Felix de Azara, a geographer, should have written
to the contrary. By the distance given in miles between Palma, one of
the Canary Islands, and St. Iago, one of the Cape Verd Islands, it may
be seen that Schmidt's miles are more properly _Castilian leagues_ of
17½ in a geographical degree, the legal measure of distance in his
time.
[27] Peje-espada, or sword-fish.
[28] Peces-sierras.
Afterwards we sailed from this island to another, named Riogenea,[29] at
a distance of five hundred miles from the former, belonging to the King
of Portugal; this is the island Riogenea in India, and the Indians
are called Toppis.[30] We lay there about fourteen days. There Petrus
Manchossa,[31] our chief captain, ordered Hans Ossorig,[32] as his sworn
brother, to take the command over us in his stead, forasmuch as he was
always melancholy, weak, and ill. But he, Hans Ossorig, very soon was
belied and ill-spoken of to Petrus Manchossa, his sworn brother, even
as though he had in his mind to cause a mutiny among the people against
Petrus Manchossa, the chief captain. Thereupon he, Petrus Manchossa,
ordered four other captains, named Johann Eyollas, Johan Salleisser,
Jörg Luchsam,[33] and Lazarum Salvaischo,[34] that the aforesaid Johan
Ossorig should be killed with a dagger or otherwise put to death, and
should be exposed in the midst of the place as a traitor; and besides
he ordered and proclaimed to the effect that no one should dare to pity
Ossorig, for that he himself, whoever he might be, would meet with no
better fate. Yet Ossorig was treated wrongly, God Almighty knows it, and
may He be merciful to him, for he was a pious, fair-dealing, and valiant
warrior, and kept well all the warriors.
[29] The discoverers were Spaniards, and this is proved by the name
_Rio de Henero_, as the word _Enero_ was spelt in the sixteenth
century. The _h_ was at the time aspirated (especially by the natives
of Andalusia), and hence the name became corrupted into _Jenero_,
changed afterwards into _Janeiro_ by the Portuguese.
[30] Tupys.
[31] Don Pedro de Mendoza.
[32] Juan Osorio.
[33] Juan de Ayolas, Juan Salazar, and Jorge Lujan.
[34] If this name is rightly spelt, it may be one of the Flemish
who took part in the expedition. In Barcia's Spanish translation,
Salvaischo is interpreted as Salazar; but there is no mention in any
document of a Lazaro Salazar.
From there we sailed to Riodellaplata, and came into a river[35] called
Paranau Wassu,[36] which is in width at its mouth, where one leaves the
sea,[37] twenty-four miles. And from Riogenea to this river there is the
space of five hundred miles. There we came to a haven, the name whereof
is S. Gabriel, and there, in the said river Paranau, we anchored the
fourteen ships.
[35] In orig.: "süss fliessend wasser."
[36] Parana Guazú.
[37] Between Cape Santa Maria and Cape San Antonio there are 188
English geographical miles.
As we were constrained to ride at a gunshot's distance from shore with
the great ships, our chief captain, Petrus Manchossa[38] ordered to
set the people ashore in the small ships, which are for that purpose
intended, and are, therefore, called pat or podel.
[38] Don Pedro de Mendoza.
So by the grace of God we arrived at Riodellaplata, Anno 1535, and found
there an Indian place inhabited by about two thousand people, named
Zechurias,[39] who have nothing to eat but fish and meat. These, on
our arrival did leave the place, and fled away with their wives and
children, so that we could not find them. This Indian people go quite
naked, the women having only their privities covered, from the navel to
the knees, with a small piece of cotton cloth.
[39] Charúas.
Now the captain, Petrus Manchossa, commanded to bring the people into
the ships again, and to convey them to the other side of the Paranau,
where it is not broader than eight miles.[40]
[40] From the Island of San Gabriel to the place where Buenos Ayres
was founded there are 29 English miles.
There we built a new town and called it _Bonas Aeieres_, that is, in
German, _Guter Wind_.
We also brought from Hispania on board the fourteen ships seventy-two
horses and mares.
Here, also, we found a place inhabited by Indian folk, named
Carendies,[41] numbering about three thousand people, including wives
and children, and they were clothed in the same way as the Zechurias,
from the navel to the knees. They brought us fish and meat to eat. These
Carendies have no houses, but wander about, as do the Gipsies with us at
home, and in summer they oftentimes travel upwards of thirty miles on
dry land without finding a single drop of water to drink.
[41] Quirandis.