brigantine, Domingo de Irala, the accountant Philip de Caceres, and the
factor Pedro Dorantes assembled their friends and attacked the house of
Captain Salazar. They seized him and Pedro de Estopiñan Cabeza de
Vaca, put them in irons, and sent them down the river to overtake the
brigantine. These two officers were taken to Spain with him, and it is
certain that if Captain Salazar had wished it the governor would not
have been arrested, and still less would they have been able to take him
out of the country and carry him to Castille; but, as he remained deputy
governor, his conduct was not altogether frank. Cabeza de Vaca begged
that two of his servants might be allowed to accompany him to prepare
his food and attend upon him during the voyage. Accordingly they let the
two servants go, not however to wait on him, but to row four hundred
leagues on the river, for none could be found willing to do this work.
They forced some of the people to come, others fled into the interior,
and the property of such was confiscated and distributed among those
that were pressed for the service. The officers did a very wrong thing
during the voyage, and it was this: every two or three days they spread
among their partisans and their friends a thousand calumnies against
him, and finally said: "We have, as it is manifest, done you a great
deal of good and acted for your advantage and that of the king, in
consideration for this, sign this paper." In this way they filled four
quires of paper with signatures, and during the voyage down the river
composed their calumnious statements while these who had signed their
names to the paper remained at Ascension, three hundred leagues up the
river. It was upon this document that the charges brought against the
governor were framed.
CHAPTER THE EIGHTY-FOURTH.
_How they gave arsenic three times to the governor during the
voyage._
WHILE descending the river the officers ordered a certain Biscayan named
Machin to prepare the food for the governor and then to pass it to Lope
Duarte, one of the confederates of Domingo de Irala, and guilty, like
the rest, of complicity in his arrest. He came from Spain as solicitor
to Domingo de Irala and to attend to his affairs. While the governor
journeyed in this fashion, arsenic was administered to him three times;
but as an antidote against this poison he carried with him a bottle of
oil and a piece of the horn of a unicorn. When he felt unwell he made
use of these remedies; day and night his sufferings were great. But it
pleased God that he escaped safely. He entreated the officers, Alonso
Cabrera and Garcia Vanegas, to allow his own servants to cook for him,
as he would take his meals from nobody else. To this they replied that
he would have to take his food from whomsoever they chose; if he did not
take it from the persons commissioned to give it him, he might die of
hunger, it mattered little to them. He abstained from food several days,
but hunger at length compelled him to take what they gave him. The
insurgents had promised several persons to take them on board the
caravel (afterwards destroyed) to Spain if they would support their
faction and help them to arrest the governor and not oppose them. Two of
these were Francisco de Paredes, a native of Burgos, and Friar Juan de
Salazar, of the Order of Our Lady of Mercy. They carried as prisoners
with them Luis de Miranda, Pedro Hernandez, Captain Salazar de
Espinosa, and Pedro Vaca. Having descended the river to the island of
San Gabriel, they would not allow either Francisco de Paredes or friar
Juan de Salazar to remain on board, fearing lest these two persons
should support the governor's cause in Spain, and give a true account of
what had happened. For this reason they compelled them to re-embark on
the brigantines that returned up the river to Ascension, although they
had sold their houses and property for much less than they were worth
when they were compelled to leave. This caused them to make such an
outcry that it was pitiable to hear them. Here the servants of the
governor, who had accompanied him thus far, rowing all the way, were
obliged to leave him, a loss he felt more than anything he had yet
endured; nor did they feel the separation less acutely. They remained
two days at the island of San Gabriel, when some of them left for
Ascension, and the others for Spain. The brigantine which bore the
governor had eleven banks of rowers, and contained twenty-seven persons
altogether.
They pursued their voyage down the river till they entered the sea, when
a violent tempest arose. The brigantine became waterlogged, and all the
provisions were spoilt; all that they managed to preserve was a little
flour, some lard, fish, and a little water. They were all very near
being drowned. The officers who had charge of the governor said that God
had sent them this terrible tempest as a punishment for the wrongs and
injustice they had made their prisoner suffer. They resolved, therefore,
to take off his chains and let him out of prison. Alonso de Cabrera
filed them asunder, Garcia Vanegas kissed his feet, though Cabeza de
Vaca would not allow it. They said openly that God had sent them those
four days' sufferings as a retribution for the wrongs they had done him.
They acknowledged they had grievously wronged him, and that all their
depositions were false; that the malice and jealousy they bore him
prompted them to administer two thousand false oaths, and this because
in three days he had discovered a country and a route, while those
who had lived in the country for twelve years had not been able to
accomplish it; and they implored his pardon, and that he would not
inform His Majesty how they had arrested him. As soon as they had taken
the chains off the governor the sea and wind subsided, and the tempest,
which had lasted four days, calmed down. We navigated in the open sea
for 2,500 leagues without having sight of land, and seeing nothing but
water and sky. All the food we had was a flour-cake fried in a little
lard, with a little water to drink. We were obliged to break off the
planks of our vessel to make a fire to cook our cake. In this way, with
infinite suffering, we arrived at the Azores, belonging to His most
serene Majesty of Portugal, the voyage having lasted three months. We
should not have suffered so severely from hunger had we touched on the
Brazilian coast, or at the island of St. Domingo, in the Indies; but
the officers dared not do this, for they felt guilty and dreaded being
arrested and brought to justice as rebels against their king. On
arriving at the Azores the officers in charge of the governor separated
because of the dissensions they had had, and each went his own way; but
first they tried to induce the justice of Angra to arrest the governor,
so as to prevent him from giving information to His Majesty of the
crimes and disorders they had committed. They alleged that when he
passed Cape Verd he had pillaged the port and country. The judge having
heard their deposition, told them to be gone, for his king would not
allow himself to be robbed, and did not keep his ports in such a weak
state of defence that anybody might dare to attack them. Having seen
that, in spite of their malice, they could do nothing to detain him,
they embarked, and arrived in Spain eight days before the governor, who
was delayed by contrary winds. Being the first to present themselves
at court, they gave out that Cabeza de Vaca had gone to the King of
Portugal to inform him about those countries beyond the sea. A few days
later the governor arrived at court. The night of his arrival all the
guilty parties disappeared; they went straight to Madrid, where they
hoped to find the court, as, in fact, they did. Meanwhile the Bishop of
Cuenca, who presided over the council of the Indies,[361] died. This
prelate would have punished the crimes and treason committed against
His Majesty in that country. Some days afterwards the officers and the
governor were released, on giving bail that they would not leave the
jurisdiction of the court. Garcia de Vanegas, who was one of those who
had arrested the governor, died a sudden, terrible death, his eyes
having fallen out of his head, and he never declared the truth of what
had passed. Alonso Cabrera, the supervisor, his accomplice, lost his
reason, and in a fit of frenzy he killed his wife at Loxa. The friars
who had taken part in the revolt and troubles also died suddenly, which
seemed to show the small blame attaching to the governor in his conduct
towards them. After keeping him eight years under arrest at court, he
was set at liberty and acquitted. He was relieved of his governorship
for divers reasons; for his enemies said that if he returned to punish
the guilty, he would have occasioned more troubles and dissensions in
that country. He therefore lost his appointment, besides other losses,
without receiving any compensation for all the money he had spent in
relieving the Spaniards, and in his voyage of discovery.
[361] This was a special council for the government of the Spanish
possessions in the Indies. It was called _Real Consejo de las
Indias_.
[Illustration: (decoration)]
Narrative of Hernando de Ribera.
IN the city of Ascension, which is by the river Paraguai, in the
province of Rio de la Plata, on the 3rd March, in the year of Our Lord,
1545, appeared before me, public notary, and the legal witnesses, being
in the church and monastery of Our Lady of Mercy, Redeemer of captives,
Captain Hernando de Ribera, conquistador in this province, and deposed
as follows: When Señor Alvar Nuñez Cabeza de Vaca, governor and
adelantado and captain-general in the name of His Majesty, of the
province of Rio de la Plata, was in the port of Los Reyes, whence he
started on his exploration last year (1543), he commissioned me to take
one brigantine, and a certain number of men, and explore up a certain
river called Ygatu, which is an arm of two great rivers, viz., the
Yacareati and the Yaiva, flowing, according to the reports of the
Indians, through the settlements of the interior; and I, Hernando de
Ribera, having arrived at some Indians called Xarayes, in consequence of
information received from them, left the brigantine in a safe haven, and
entered the interior of the country with forty men, in order to see and
examine it with my own eyes. And having pursued my journey past many
Indian settlements, and obtained from their inhabitants and other
natives who came to see me, full reports touching the land, I examined
and sifted these statements, in order to learn the truth, being
moreover, acquainted with the language of the Carios, and therefore able
to hold intercourse with those tribes.
Juan Valderas, royal notary, whom I had with me at this time, wrote down
and made a note of certain things relating to that discovery. Yet I
would not tell him the whole truth concerning the riches and the
settlements of the various tribes inhabiting those regions, lest he
should write it in his report. And he, the said notary, did not know,
nor did he fully understand the matter, for my intention was at that
time to have communicated it directly to the governor, in order that he
might forthwith proceed to the conquest of that land, as it beseemed the
service of God and His Majesty.
After penetrating several days' journey into the interior, I was obliged
to return to the port of Los Reyes, in compliance with orders sent me
by the governor. And because I found him and all his people sick
on my arrival, I had no opportunity of reporting my discovery, nor
communicating all the information I had collected from the natives. A
few days afterwards he was compelled to return to Ascension to save the
lives of his people, and having again fallen sick a few days after his
arrival in that city, he was arrested by the officers of His Majesty (as
everybody knows), so that I was unable to make my statement.
Seeing that the officers of His Majesty are about to return to Spain
with the governor, and fearing that he may in the meanwhile die, or be
removed to some other place where the report might not be delivered
to him, and that His Majesty's service might in this way suffer loss,
and the governor himself be prejudiced, and that I might be held
blameworthy--taking all this, I say, into consideration, and for the
discharge of my conscience, now I, in order to serve God and the King,
and the governor in his name, desire to make a declaration of the said
discovery, that His Majesty may know of it and the reports I obtained
from the natives. I have therefore asked and required the notary to
receive my statement, which is as follows:
"I, Captain Hernando de Ribera, say and declare that on the 20th of
December last year (1543), I set out from the port of Los Reyes in
the brigantine _El Golondrino_ ('The Swallow') with fifty-two men, in
obedience to the governor's orders, and went on navigating the river
Ygatu, which is an arm of the aforesaid two rivers Yacareati and Yaiva,
and is very wide and voluminous; and on the sixth day I entered the
parent stream of these two water-courses. According to the reports of
the natives where I happened to land, these two rivers come from the
interior of the country, the Yaiva most probably from the Sierras
of Santa Martha. This river is wide and deep, and greater than the
Yacareati, which according to the Indians, flows from the Peruvian
Sierras; and between those two water-courses there is a wide expanse
of land, and innumerable villages and tribes. According to the natives,
the Yaiva and the Yacareati unite in the country of the Indians called
Perobazanes, and there they separate again, and seventy leagues lower
down they reunite.
"After navigating that river for seventeen days, I passed through the
land of the Perobazanes, and arrived at another country, where the
inhabitants are called Xarayes. These people are agriculturists, have
a quantity of provisions, and rear geese, fowls, and other birds. They
fish and hunt, and are a reasonable people, obeying their chief. Being
in one of their settlements, consisting of about a thousand houses, and
well received by their chief, Camire, I collected information concerning
the settlements of the interior. In consequence of that information, I
left the brigantine under the care of ten men, and taking a guide
from the said Xarayes, advanced three days inland, till I reached the
settlements of a tribe of Indians, called Urtueses, a good people,
cultivating the soil like the Xarayes. From this place, I went on
through an inhabited country, till I reached fourteen degrees twenty
minutes going westwards.
"While staying in the settlements of the Urtueses and Aburuñes, many
chiefs of tribes farther inland came and spoke with me, and brought
feathers, like those of Peru, and metal plates in the rough. From them I
also obtained information, questioning each individually concerning the
settlements and tribes beyond. All these Indians told me that at ten
days' march from there, towards the west-north-west, there were women
inhabiting large villages, who possessed a large quantity of white and
yellow metal, and all their domestic utensils and vessels were of this
metal, and their chief was a woman. They are a warlike people, much
feared by the Indians. Before reaching those female warriors it is
necessary to pass a tribe of very small Indians, who make war upon
the women, and also upon those Indians who gave the information. At a
certain time of the year these women unite with their neighbours, and
cohabit with them. And if the children born of this intercourse be
girls, the mothers keep them; if they are boys, they send them as
soon as they are weaned to their fathers. On the other side of the
settlements of these women, bordering with them, there are very large
villages and tribes of Indians. These statements they made of their own
free will, without my asking them. They talked also of a large lake,
which they call the House of the Sun, because they say the sun locks
himself in there, and said that these women lived there between the
flanks of Santa Martha and the lake on the west-north-west, and that
beyond the settlements of those women were other large nations of black
people. According to the description they gave, these negroes are
eagle-faced, with pointed beards like the Moors. We asked them how they
knew those people to be black, and they answered that their fathers had
seen them and other tribes living in that neighbourhood had reported
it. These people clothe themselves, and have houses of stone and earth;
they are tall, and possess white and yellow metal in such abundance
that they make use of no other material for their domestic utensils and
vases, and all kinds of great vessels. We asked where those black people
lived, and they pointed to the north-west, saying, that should we wish
to go there, we might reach their settlements in fifteen days. And it
seemed to me, judging from the indications given by the Indians, that
those settlements lie in twelve degrees towards the north-west, between
the sierras of Santa Martha and Marañon. They are a race of warriors
fighting with bows and arrows. The same Indians also gave us to
understand that between west-north-west and north-west, one quarter
north, there are many tribes of Indians with such large settlements that
it is a day's journey to pass from one end to the other; and all are
rich in white and yellow metal, and wear clothes. They may be reached in
a short time, always passing through inhabited country.
"Farther to the west there is a large lake, so wide that it is
impossible to see from shore to shore, and by its side dwells a nation
who wear clothes, and possess much metal and brilliant stones, which
they work into the borders of their dress; and they find these stones in
the lake. They have large villages, are agriculturists, and have stores
of provisions, besides an abundance of geese and other birds. From the
place where I was they said I might reach the lake and its settlements
in fifteen days, always travelling through inhabited country, abounding
in metal, and by good roads. They offered to show us the way thither
when the floods subsided, though we were but few Christians, and the
settlements we should have to pass were very large and populous.
"I also formally declare that the Indians showed me by signs that in
the direction west, one quarter south-west, there are large towns, with
houses built of earth, inhabited by a good people, clothed, very rich,
and possessing plenty of metal. They rear a large number of great
sheep, using these for agriculture and transport. I asked if those
people were far off, and they answered that the route thither lay
through a thickly inhabited country, and that it was not far. Among
those people they said there were other Christians, and great waterless
deserts of sand. We asked them how they knew there were Christians on
that side, and they answered, that in times gone by the Indians living
in that neighbourhood had been heard to say that as they were passing
the desert they met many white people, clothed, with beards, and they
had certain animals with them (evidently, according to their showing,
horses), and riders on their backs, and that owing to the want of water
they had returned, and many had died on the way. The Indians thought
they had come from the other side of the desert. They showed us also, by
signs, that in the direction west, one quarter south, there were high
mountains, and an uninhabited country. Having heard that there were
people dwelling beyond those deserts, the Indians had attempted to pass
that way, but were unable to proceed, because they died of hunger
and thirst. We asked them how they came to learn all this, and they
answered, that all the Indians of this country communicated with
one another, and it had been related how those Indians had seen the
Christians and their horses crossing the desert. They said, too, that
on the south-west skirt of those mountains there were many large
settlements, and people rich in metal; and beyond these again lay the
salt water and the great ships. We asked them if those settlements were
ruled by separate chiefs, and they answered, that there was only one
chief who ruled all the towns, and was obeyed by all. I further declare,
that in order to verify their statements I questioned each of them
separately for a day and a night, and they always repeated the same
story without any variation whatever."
The above statement was made by Hernando de Ribera, who said and
declared that he had received it with all clearness, faithfully and
loyally, without fraud and deceit; and in order that all credit and
faith should be given to it, and that there should not be the slightest
doubt concerning it, or any portion thereof, he said he would swear to
the truth of it, and he swore in the name of God and Santa Maria, and on
the four sacred gospels, upon which he placed his right hand, a missal
being held open for that purpose by the reverend father, Francisco
Gonzalez Paniagua, at the very place where the sacred gospels are
written, and on the sign of the cross, like this: ✠ [Maltese cross],
where he also placed his right hand to testify that the aforesaid
statement, according to the form and manner of it, was given, said, and
declared by the Indian chiefs of the aforesaid land, and by other aged
men whom he had diligently examined and interrogated in order to learn
the truth, and have a clear understanding of the interior of the
country.
After he had obtained this information, other Indians of different
settlements came to see him, especially of a large village, called
Uretabere. He went one day's march in their territory, and collected
information wherever he went, and all the statements agreed. He
declared, moreover, under the sanctity of his oath, that there was no
exaggeration or imagination in anything he had said, nothing but the
truth, without fraud or reservation whatsoever. He also declared that
the Indians assured him that the river Yacareati has a fall from a high
mountain.
This he certifies to be true, so help him God, and if it be otherwise
may he pay dear in this world with his body, and in the next with his
soul. This oath having been read out to him, he said: "I swear it,
Amen."
The aforesaid captain asked and required me to testify to this
statement, as much for his peace of mind as to serve as evidence for
the aforesaid governor, and to preserve his rights; the following
being witnesses: the aforesaid reverend father Paniagua; Sebastian de
Valdivieso, valet of the said governor; Gaspar de Hortigosa and Juan
de Hoces, citizens of Cordoba, all of whom have signed their names as
follows: Francisco Gonzalez Paniagua, Sebastian de Valdivieso, Juan de
Hoces, Hernando de Ribera, Gaspar de Hortigosa.
Done before me, Pedro Hernandez, notary.
[Illustration: (decoration)]
INDEX,
A.
Abacoten, Indian chief, 132
Abangobi, Indian chief, 111
Abipones, Indian tribe, xxxvi, 16
Abrego, Diego de, quarrels with Francisco de Mendoza, 78 _seq._;
his name also written Abreu and Abriego, 79;
his cousins marry Irala's daughters, 79 _seq._
Aburuñes, 266
Achkere. _See_ Aracaré
Achkeres, why so called, 42;
no tribe of that name, _ib._
Acosta, Diego de, 240
----, Gonzalo de, 122
----, author of "History of the Indies" referred to, 66
Acuña, Hector de, 207
Adelantado, the title, xv, 35, 96
Agazes, Indian tribe (Aygais), xxxvi, 16, 18;
their war with the Spaniards, 18 _seq._;
their place, 19, 22, 23, 54, 131;
their treatment of captives, _ib._;
their wars, 131 _seq._;
peace with, 132 _seq._;
peace broken by, 150 _seq._; 153;
judgment passed on, 158, 238;
expedition to punish, 239
Alabos, Indian chief, 132
Alcalde Mayor, 158
Algarroba, the seed of the carob-tree, 18
All Saints' Eve, 33, 165
Almenza, Martin de, 136, 137, 159
_Almirante_ (Almiranda), a Spanish title, 89
Alvar Nunez. _See_ Cabeza de Vaca
Amazon, xxxiii
Amazons, xxxix, riches of, 45;
reports concerning, 45 _seq._;
island inhabited by, 46, _note_, _ib._;
their king's name, _ib._; 48
America, partition of, xxi;
trade with, xxiv;
general language of, xxxiii
_Amida._ _See_ Sheep
_Amne._ _See_ Sheep
Anchieta, the missionary, xxxiii
Andalusia, 5
Andes, Cordillera of, xxxiii, xxxvi
Andrada, Francisco d', 159, 251
Angelis, Don Pedro de, editor of Schmidt's voyage referred to, xxiii
Anghiera, Pedro Martyr de, xxv
Angra, justice of, 261
Añiriri, Indian chief, 107
Anta, _or_ Tapir. _See_ Sheep
Antilles, sea of the, xxxiii
Antorff. _See_ Antwerp
Ants, red and black, 200;
antidote against stings of, _ib._
Antwerp, xv, xxiv, 1, 81, 88, 91
Anzures, Pero, Gobernacion of, 65;
sent to conquer Chunchos, 73, _note_
Aracaré (Achkere), Indian chief, 37, 160;
his treachery, 161 _seq._, 163;
executed by Spaniards, 164
Argentina, pampas of, xxxiii
_Argentina_, poem, 10
Arianicosies, Indian tribe, 223, 224, 226, 233
Armenta, Bernardo de, a Franciscan friar, 100, 105, 116, 136, 159, 175;
leaves the country, 250
Armeven (Armuia), 91
Aroaz, Juan de, notary, 108
Arquebusiers, 107, 177
_Arroba_, a Spanish weight, 195
Arrows made of cane, 11
Artaneses, Indian tribe, 212
Arthus, Prof. Gotard, xxii
Arumaya river, 73
Ascension. _See_ Asuncion
Asher, J., his essay on "Hulsius's Voyages" referred to, xxx
Assumption, Feast of the, 22
Asuelles. _See_ Anzures