killed them) they drink their blood. Also if they find a root, called
Cardes,[42] they eat it to slack their thirst. This--namely, that they
drink blood--only happens because they cannot have any water, and that
they might peradventure die of thirst.
[42] Cardo, _i.e._, thistles.
These Carendies brought us daily their provision of fish and meat to our
camp, and did so for a fortnight, and they did only fail once to come to
us. So our captain, Peter Manchossa,[43] sent to them, the Carendies,
a judge, named Johan Pabon, with two foot-soldiers, for they were at a
distance of four miles from our camp. When they came near to them, they
were all three beaten black and blue, and were then sent back again
to our camp. Petrus Manchossa, our captain, hearing of this from the
judge's report (who for this cause raised a tumult about it in our
camp), sent Diego Manchossa, his own brother, against them with three
hundred foot-soldiers and thirty well-armed mounted men, of whom I also
was one, straightway charging us to kill or take prisoners all these
Indian Carendies and to take possession of their settlement. But when
we came near them there were now some four thousand men, for they had
assembled all their friends. And when we were about to attack them, they
defended themselves in such a way that we had that very day our hands
full. They also killed our commander, Diego Manchossa, and six noblemen.
Of our foot-soldiers and mounted men over twenty were slain, and on
their side about one thousand. Thus did they defend themselves valiantly
against us, so that indeed we felt it.
[43] Don Pedro de Mendoza.
The said Carendies[44] use for their defence hand-bows and tardes[45]
which are made in the shape of half-pikes, and the head of them is made
out of flint-stone, like a flash; they have also bullets made out of
stone with a long piece of string attached to them, of the size of our
leaden bullets at home in Germany.
[44] Quirandis.
[45] Darts.
They throw such bullets round the feet of a horse or a deer, causing it
to fall; it is also with these bullets that they killed our commander
and the noblemen, as I have seen it done myself, but the foot-soldiers
were killed by the aforesaid tardes.
Thus God Almighty graciously gave us the victory, and allowed us to
take possession of their place; but we did not take prisoner any of the
Indians, and their wives and children also fled away from the place
before we attacked them.[46] At this place of theirs we found nothing
but furrier-work made from marten or so-called otter; also much fish,
fish meal, and fish fat. There we remained three days and then returned
to our camp, leaving on the spot one hundred of our men, in order that
they might fish with the Indians' nets for the providing of our folk,
because there was there very good fishing.
[46] This fight with the Quirandis took place at a few miles' distance
from Buenos Ayres, on the banks of the river which since then is
called _de la Matanza_.
Every one received only six half-ounces of wheaten flour a day, and one
fish every third day. The fishing lasted for two months, and if one
would eat a fish over and above one's allowance, one had to go four
miles for it.
And when we returned again to our camp, our folk were divided into those
who were to be soldiers, and the others workers, so as to have all of
them employed. And a town was built there, and an earthern wall, half
a pike high, around it, and inside of it a strong house for our chief
captain. The town wall was three foot broad, but that which was built
to-day fell to pieces the day after, for the people had nothing to eat,
and were starved with hunger, so that they suffered great poverty, and
it became so bad that the horses could not go. Yea, finally, there was
such want and misery for hunger's sake, that there were neither rats,
nor mice, nor snakes to still the great dreadful hunger and unspeakable
poverty, and shoes and leather were resorted to for eating and
everything else.
It happened that three Spaniards stole a horse, and ate it secretly,
but when it was known, they were imprisoned and interrogated under the
torture. Whereupon, as soon as they admitted their guilt, they were
sentenced to death by the gallows, and all three were hanged.
Immediately afterwards, at night, three other Spaniards came to the
gallows to the three hanging men, and hacked off their thighs and pieces
of their flesh, and took them home to still their hunger.
A Spaniard also ate his brother, who died in the city of Bonas
Aeieres.[47]
[47] All this is exaggerated and incredible, though accepted as true
by the pseudo-poet, Barco Centenera, in his _Argentina_ poem.
Now our chief captain, Petrus Manchossa,[48] saw that he could not any
longer keep his men there, so he ordered and took counsel with his head
men that four little ships (called Parchkadienes[49]) should be made
ready, which must he rowed, and three more yet smaller ones, which are
called podell or patt.
[48] Pedro de Mendoza.
[49] Brigantines.
And when these seven little vessels were ready and equipped, our
chief captain ordered all the people to assemble, and sent George
Lauchstein[50] with three hundred and fifty armed men up the river
Paranau in order to find out the Indians and so obtain victual and
provisions. But as soon as the Indians were aware of us, they wrought
us the most abominable piece of knavery, by burning and destroying all
their victual and provisions and their villages, and then all took to
flight; in consequence whereof we had nothing to eat but three ounces
of bread a day. One half of our people died during this voyage through
hunger, therefore we had to return again to the said place, where was
our chief captain.
[50] George Lujan.
Petrus Manchossa desired to have a relation from George Lauchstein, our
commander, as to the circumstances of our voyage, why so few of them had
returned, since they had only been absent for five months. To whom our
commander answered thus: the people died for hunger, since the Indians
burnt all the provisions, and then took to flight, as has been related
before.
After all this we remained still another month together in great poverty
in the town of Bonas Aeieres, until the ships were prepared.
At this time the Indians came in great power and force, as many as
twenty-three thousand men, against us and our town Bonas Aeieres. There
were four nations of them, namely, Carendies, Zechurias, Zechuas, and
Diembus.[51] They all meant to go about to destroy us all. But God
Almighty preserved the greater part of us, therefore praise and thanks
be to Him always and everlastingly, for on our side not more than about
thirty men, including commanders and ensign, were slain.
[51] Quirandis, Charúas, and Timbus.
And when they first came to our town, Bonas Aeieres, and attacked us,
some of them tried to storm the place, others shot fiery arrows at our
houses, which, being covered with straw (only the house of our chief
captain, covered with tiles, excepted), were set on fire, and so the
whole town was burnt down. Their arrows are made out of cane, and carry
fire on their points.
They have also a kind of wood, out of which they also make arrows,
which, being lighted and shot off, do not extinguish, but also set fire
to all houses made out of straw.
Moreover they burnt down four great ships which were half-a-mile distant
from us on the river. The people who were there, and who had no guns,
hearing such great tumult of the Indians, fled out of these four ships
into three others which were not far from these, and did contain cannon.
But seeing the four ships burning that were lighted by the Indians,
the Christians set themselves on defence and fired at the Indians, who
becoming aware of this, and hearing the firing, soon departed from
thence and left the Christians alone. All this happened on St. John's
Day, Anno 1535.
All this having thus happened, our people had to return into the ships
again, and Petrus Manchossa,[52] our chief captain, gave the command to
Johann Eyollas,[53] and put him in his place to be our commander and
rule us. But when Eyollas mustered the people, he found no more than
five hundred and sixty men who were yet alive, out of two thousand five
hundred, the others being dead and having been starved for hunger. God
Almighty be gracious and merciful to them and to us. Amen.
[52] Don Pedro de Mendoza.
[53] Juan de Ayolas.
Johann Eyollas, our commander, now ordered eight small ships,
Parchkadienes and Podells, to be made ready, and took with him on these
ships four hundred men out of the five hundred and sixty, leaving the
others, namely, one hundred and sixty men, in the four great ships to
guard them, and he gave them a commander, named Johann Romero, and left
them victual for one year, so that each soldier might have four ounces
of bread or flour daily; he who wanted more was at liberty to find it.
When all this had been done and arranged as here described, Johann
Eyollas[53] and the four hundred men sailed with the Parchkadienes and
the Podells[54] up the river Paranau, and Petrus Manchossa,[52] our chief
captain, sailed with us, and in two months' time we reached the Indians,
at a distance of eighty-four miles. These people are called Tyembus[55];
they wear on either nostril a small star, made out of white and blue
stones. The men are tall of stature and erect, but the women, on the
contrary, young and old, are very deformed, having all the lower part of
their faces scratched, and always bloody. These people have nothing else
to eat, and have all their lives through lived upon nothing else but
fish and meat. They are reckoned to be fifteen thousand strong, or more.
And when we came to about four miles' distance from this people they
took notice of us, and came to meet us in sign of peace, with over four
hundred canoes, in each of which were sixteen men.
[54] Brigantines and boats.
[55] Timbus.
Such a skiff is made out of a single tree, eighty feet long and three
feet wide, and must be rowed as the fishermen's boats in Germany, only
that the oars are not bound with iron.
When we met them on the water, our commander, Johann Eyollas, presented
the chief of the Tyembus Indians, Zchera Wassu,[56] with a shirt, a red
cap, a hatchet, and several other things. After this, Zchera Wassu went
with us to their place, and gave us there fish and meat in abundance.
[56] Chera Guazú.
But if this said journey of ours had lasted ten more days, we would
all have died of hunger, for even without that, fifty men out of four
hundred who came in the ships had already died on this journey. But in
this danger God mercifully helped us, be He praised and thanked for it.
In this said place we abode four years, but our chief captain, Petrus
Manchossa,[57] who was full of infirmities, and was unable to move his
hands or his feet, and who had spent during this voyage forty thousand
ducats of his own in cash, could not remain any longer with us, and he
sailed off in two small Parchkadienes to Bonas Aeieres to the four great
ships, and took two of them with fifty men and sailed for Hispania. But
when he was come nearly half-way, the hand of the Almighty so smote him
that he died miserably. May God be merciful to him!
[57] Pedro de Mendoza.
But before his departure he had promised us to send two other ships
to Riodellaplata, as soon as he himself or the ships should arrive in
Spain, and this was faithfully laid down in his will. Accordingly, when
the two ships arrived in Spain, and the councillors of His Imperial
Majesty were informed of this, they speedily, in the name of His
Majesty, sent two ships with people, provisions, and merchandise, and
all necessaries, to Riodellaplata.
The commander of these two ships was called Alvanzo Gabrero,[58] who
brought with him also about two hundred Spaniards and provisions for two
years. He arrived at Bonas Aeieres (where the two other ships had been
left) in the year 1539, with one hundred and sixty men.
[58] Alonso Cabrera.
The said commander, Alvanzo Gabrero, having come to the island Thiembus,
to our chief, Johann Eyollas,[59] they ordered a ship to be sent to
Spain, according to the will and order of the councillors of His
Imperial Majesty, in order to report to them how all things were
situated there in that country.
[59] Juan de Ayolas.
Then Johann Eyollas, our chief captain, held a council with Alvanzo
Gabrero and Martin Domingo Eyolla,[60] and some other of his officers,
and it was resolved to muster the men. And this being done, it was found
that, together with those who had come from Spain, there were five
hundred and fifty men. Of these they took four hundred men to
themselves, leaving the other one hundred and fifty men at Thiembus,
because there were not enough ships. They gave these men a commander,
named Carolus Doberim,[61] who had been for some time page of His
Imperial Majesty.
[60] Domingo Martinez de Irala.
[61] Carlos Dubrin.
After this had been resolved, they sailed with these four hundred men
in eight small Parchkadienes up the river Paranau, in order to seek
out another river, called Parabor,[62] where the Carios live, who have
Turkish corn and a root named Mandeochade,[63] and other roots such
as padades[64] and mandeoch parpie, mandioch mandapore, etc. The root
padades resembles an apple, and has the same taste. Mandeoch parpie
have the taste of chestnuts. Wine is made from mandepore,[65] and the
Indians drink it. These Carios have fish and meat and great sheep,
as big as mules. They also have wild boar, ostriches, and other wild
beasts; also very many hens and geese.
[62] Paraguai.
[63] Manioc.
[64] Yams, or sweet potatoes.
[65] Mandioca or algarroba.
So then departing from the haven of Bonesperanso[66] with the said eight
Parchkadienes vessels, we reached the first day, after a voyage of four
miles, a nation called Curanda,[67] who abstain from fish and meat, and
number over twelve thousand men, all of whom are fit for war. These
people resemble the Thiembus spoken of before; they have little stones
on their noses, and the men are tall, but the women are hideous; young
as well as old have their faces scratched and always bloody. They are
clothed like the Thiembus, from the navel to the knee with a small
cotton cloth, as was described before. These Indians have great plenty
of otter skins; also many canoes or skiffs. They liberally parted
with us their fish, meat, and skins. We gave them in exchange glasses,
paternosters, looking-glasses, combs, knives, and fish-hooks. We
remained there two days, and then they gave us two Carios who were their
captives, to show us the way, and help us with the language.
[66] Buena Esperanza, also called Corpus Christi, was the name given
by Don Pedro de Mendoza, says Herrera, to the settlement founded by
him four old Spanish leagues below the abandoned fort of Sebastian
Cabot.
[67] Coronda.
Sailing further we came afterwards to another people called
Gulgaises,[68] who number forty thousand men of war and abstain from
fish and meat. These have also two little stars on their noses; they are
situated thirty miles from the Curandas,[69] and speak the same language
as the Thiembus[70] and Curandas. They dwell on a lake six miles long
and four miles wide, on the left side of the river Paranau.[71] We
stayed four days among them, and these men imparted to us of their
poverty and we did the like by them.
[68] Guaicurús.
[69] Quirandis.
[70] Timbús.
[71] Paraná.
From thence we sailed further, and during eighteen days we did not find
any people; then we came to a river flowing inland. And there we found a
great multitude of people, called Machkuerendas.[72] These eat nothing
but fish and a little meat, number over eighteen thousand men of war,
and have many canoes or skiffs.
[72] Perhaps _Mocoretás_. But the Indians living in those parts were
the Agazes and Abipones. The Timbus and Corondas were the same folk.
They received us well, after their manner, sharing with us of their
poverty; they live on the other side, _i.e._, the right side of the
Paranaw, speak a different language from the former, wear also two
little stars (stones) on their nose, are tall and of a good proportion;
but their women are as hideous as those before spoken of; and they are
distant sixty-seven miles from the Gulgaises.[73]
[73] Guaicurús.
After having lived among them for four days, we found on the land a
marvellous great and monstrous snake five and twenty foot long, and
as thick as a man, black and yellow in colour, which we fired at and
killed. The Indians marvelled much at seeing such a snake, for they
never before had seen such a large one. This snake, so they told us, had
done much harm to them, for when they were bathing this snake was also
in the water and it would coil its tail around one of them, taking him
under water and devouring him there, so that oftentimes the Indians did
not know what had become of him. I myself carefully measured the length
and thickness of this snake, which the Indians cut up in pieces and
carried home with them, and having boiled and roasted it, did afterwards
eat thereof.
From thence we sailed up the river Paranaw for four days' journey, and
came to a people called Zchemiaisch Saluaischo,[74] who are small and
thick set, and eat nothing but fish and honey. These people, both men
and women, young and old, go about absolutely naked as they came into
the world, so that they have neither linen nor anything else to cover
their privities.
[74] It is impossible even to guess at what the author means by these
words, which are not _Guaraní_.
They make war against the Machkuerendas. The flesh they eat consists
of deer, wild swine, ostriches, and rabbits, which resemble rats, but
without tails. This people is at a distance of sixteen miles from the
Machkuerendas, and we made that journey in four days. We only passed the
night among them, for they themselves had nothing to eat. They are just
like our highwaymen or street-robbers at home.
They dwell about twenty miles away from the water, to the intent that
their enemies might not easily fall upon them. But at this time they
had come to the water five days before we did, in order to fish and
to provide themselves because they were about to make war against the
Machkuerendas. They number two thousand men.
We departed thence and came to a people called Mapennis,[75] who number
ten thousand men. These people dwell scattered here and there in that
country, extending for the space of forty miles either way. Yet they can
all be gathered together either on land or water in two days time. They
had more canoes or skiffs than any other people we had seen hitherto,
and in one such canoe they can carry as many as twenty persons.
[75] Mepenes.
This people received us on the river in a hostile and war-like manner,
with five hundred canoes, but with little profit to themselves from us,
for we slew a goodly number of them with our guns, they having never in
their lives before seen either a gun or a Christian.
But when we came to their houses, we could prevail nothing against them,
seeing that they were a whole mile distant from the river Paranon[76]
where our ships lay; and all their villages were surrounded with deep
water from the lake, so that we could do them no harm, nor take anything
from them, except that we took two hundred and fifty canoes, which we
burnt and destroyed. Neither did we dare to go too far from our ships,
for we feared that they might attack the ships from another side,
therefore we returned. The Mapennis only fight upon the water, and
are distant from the Zchemias Saluaischo, from whom we last came,
ninety-five miles.
[76] Paraná.
From thence we sailed in eight days to a river called the Parabor[77]
which we ascended and found there a numerous people named
Kueremagbas,[78] having nothing to eat but fish and meat and St. John's
bread,[79] or the herb fenugreek, from which also they make wine.[80]
This people was very kind to us, and gave us every thing of which we
were in need. They are very tall, both men and women.
[77] Paraguai.
[78] These Indians are the Mbaiás.
[79] Algarroba, the seed of the carob tree.
[80] The vegetable from which they made wine was not the fenugreek,
but the carrot-bean (Prosopis dulcis mimosa).
The men pierce a little hole in their nose, in which they insert for
ornament a small parrot's feather. The women have long blue stripes on
their cheeks which remain all their lives through, and their privities
are covered with a small piece of cotton cloth from the navel to the
knees. From the Mapennis[81] to these Kueremagbas are forty miles; we
remained three days among them.
[81] Mepenes.
Departing thence we came to another people called Aygais,[82] who
also live on fish and meat. They are tall and erect. The women are
nice-looking, painted, and have their privities covered in the same
manner as explained before.
[82] Agazes.
When we came to them, they put themselves on their defence, and wished
to make war against us by not allowing us to pass through. Finding this
to be the case, and that there was no help for it, we put our trust in
God, and then made our preparations to attack them by land and water;
we fought them and killed a great number--fifteen of our men also being
slain. God be merciful to them.
These Aygais are the best warriors that can be found on the water, but
they are not so good at fighting on land. Before fighting, they caused
their wives and children to flee to a place of safety, and concealed
their provisions and other things. What happened to them at the last you
will presently hear. Their place is near a river called Jepedij,[83] on
the other side of the Parabor. It takes its source in the mountains of
Peru, near a town named Duechkamin.[84] From the Kueremagbas to the
Aygais there are thirty miles.
[83] Ipiti, the name of this river, signifies "red" in the Guaraní
language; hence the Spaniards called it Rio Bermejo (Red River).
[84] Neither at the time of Schmidt, nor afterwards, was there at the
head of the Bermejo a people called Duechkamin. This may, perhaps,
refer to Tomina, because, though this town is not situated within
the system of the river Bermejo, it is not far from it, and this
circumstance may have led Schmidt into error. M. Ternaux says in his
_Collection_ that this town can be no other than Tucuman, but this
proves his incompetency in this matter, as Tucuman was founded many
years after Schmidt's voyage to the River Plate.
Departing from these Aygais we came to a people named Carios, fifty
miles distant from the Aygais. There, by God's grace, we found plenty
of Turkish corn and mandeochade, padades, mandeochparpij, mandepore,
manduris, wacheku, etc. They have also fish and meat, deer, wild boar,
ostriches, Indian sheep, rabbits, hens and geese, also plenty of honey,
of which they make wine; and there is much cotton in the land.
These Carios have a large country, nearly three hundred miles in length
and breadth; they are men of short stature, and more able to endure work
and labour than the other natives.
The men have a little hole in their lips in which they put yellow
crystals, called in their language Parabor,[85] two spans long and of
the thickness of a quill or reed.
[85] _Parabor._ In Barcia's Spanish translation this word thus written
by Schmidt was changed into _tembetá_, which was the one used by the
Tapijs (Tupis). Both are Guaraní words, and they represent the same
thing; but _parabog_, or rather _paraog_, is more picturesque and
accurate. It means a cover in various colours.
This people, men and women, young and old, go completely naked as God
created them. Among these Indians, the father sells his daughter, the
husband his wife if she does not please him, and the brother sells or
exchanges his sister. A woman costs a shirt or a bread knife, or a small
hoe, or some other thing of that kind.
These Carios also eat man's flesh if they can get it. For when they make
prisoners in war, male or female, they fatten them as we do swine in
Germany. But if the woman be somewhat young and good-looking, they keep
her for a year or so, and if during that time she does not live after
their desires, they put her to death and eat her, making a solemn
banquet[86] of it, and oftentimes this is combined with a marriage. Only
old persons are put to work until they die.
[86] In orig.: "Pancket."