_How seven brigantines were built, and the Christians took their
departure from Aminoya._
So soon as the Christians arrived in Aminoya, the Governor commanded
the chains to be collected which every one brought along for Indians,
the iron in shot, and what was in the camp. He ordered a furnace
to be set up for making spikes, and likewise timber to be cut down
for the brigantines. A Portuguese, of Ceuta, had learned to saw
lumber while a captive in Fez; and saws had been brought for that
purpose, with which he taught others, who assisted him. A Genoese,
whom God had been pleased to spare (as without him we could not have
gone away, there being not another person who knew how to construct
vessels), built the brigantines with the help of four or five
Biscayan carpenters, who hewed the plank and ribs for him; and two
calkers, one a Genoese, the other a Sardinian, closed them up with
the oakum, got from a plant like hemp, called enequen, of which I
have before spoken; but from its scarcity the flax of the country
was likewise used, as well as the ravellings of shawls. The cooper
sickened to the point of death, and there was not another workman;
but God was pleased to give him health, and notwithstanding he was
very thin, and unfit to labor, fifteen days before the vessels
sailed, he had made for each of them two of the half-hogsheads
sailors call quartos, four of them holding a pipe of water.
The Indians of a province called Tagoanate, two days' journey up the
river, likewise those of Anilco and Guachoya, and other neighboring
people, seeing the vessels were building, thought, as their places of
concealment were by the water's side, that it was the purpose to come
in quest of them; and because the Governor had asked for shawls, as
necessary out of which to make sails, they came often, and brought
many, as likewise a great deal of fish.
Of a verity, it did appear that God chose to favor the Christians
in their extreme need, disposing the Indians to bring the garments;
otherwise, there had been no way but to go and fetch them. Then the
town where they were, as soon as the winter should set in, would
become so surrounded by water, and isolated, that no one could travel
from it by land farther than a league, or a league and a half, when
the horses could no longer be used. Without them we were unable to
contend, the Indians being so numerous; besides, man to man on foot,
whether in the water or on dry ground, they were superior, being more
skilful and active, and the conditions of the country more favorable
to the practice of their warfare.
They also brought us ropes; and the cables needed were made from the
bark of the mulberry-trees. Anchors were made of stirrups, for which
others of wood were substituted. In March, more than a month having
passed since rain fell, the river became so enlarged that it reached
Nilco, nine leagues off; and the Indians said, that on the opposite
side it also extended an equal distance over the country.
The ground whereon the town stood was higher, and where the going was
best, the water reached to the stirrups. Rafts were made of trees,
upon which were placed many boughs, whereon the horses stood; and
in the houses were like arrangements; yet, even this not proving
sufficient, the people ascended into the lofts; and when they went
out of the houses it was in canoes, or, if on horseback, they went in
places where the earth was highest.
Such was our situation for two months, in which time the river did
not fall, and no work could be done. The natives, coming in canoes,
did not cease to visit the brigantines. The Governor, fearing they
would attack him in that time, ordered one of those coming to the
town to be secretly seized, and kept until the rest were gone; which
being done, he directed that the prisoner should be tortured, in
order to draw out from him any plotting of treason that might exist.
The captive said, that the caciques of Nilco, Guachoya, Taguanate,
and others, in all some twenty, had determined to come upon him,
with a great body of people. Three days before they should do so,
the better to veil their evil purpose and perfidy, they were to
send a present of fish; and on the day itself, another present was
to be sent in advance of them, by some Indians, who, with others in
the conspiracy, that were serving, should set fire to the houses,
after getting possession of the lances placed near the doors of the
dwellings, when the caciques, with all their people, being concealed
in the thicket nigh the town, on seeing the flame, should hasten to
make an end of them.
The Governor ordered the Indian to be put in a chain; and on the
day that was stated, thirty men having come with fish, he commanded
their right hands to be cut off, sending word by them to the cacique
of Guachoya, whose they were, that he and his might come when they
pleased, he desired nothing better, but they should learn that they
could not think of a thing that he did not know their thought before
them. At this they were all greatly terrified; the caciques of Nilco
and Taguanate came to make excuses, and a few days after came the
cacique of Guachoya, with a principal Indian, his vassal, stating
that he had certain information of an agreement between the caciques
of Nilco and Taguanate to come and give the Christians battle.
So soon as some Indians arrived from Nilco, the Governor questioned
them, and they confirming what was said, he delivered them at once to
the principal Indian of Guachoya, who took them out of the town and
killed them. The next day came others from Taguanate, who likewise
having confessed, the Governor commanded that their right hands and
their noses should be cut off, and he sent them to the cacique. With
this procedure the people of Guachoya were well satisfied, and often
came with presents of shawls and fish, and of hogs, which were the
breeding of some sows lost there the year before. Having persuaded
the Governor to send people to Taguanate, so soon as the waters fell,
they brought canoes, in which infantry went down [up] the river, and
a captain proceeded by land with cavalry; and having guided them
until they came to Taguanate,[324] the Christians assaulted the
town, took many men and women, and shawls, which, with what they had
already, sufficed for their want.
[324] This province was on White River, and the town was probably
in the southern part of Monroe County, Arkansas, possibly at
Indian Bay.
In the month of June the brigantines were finished, and the Indians
having stated that the river rose but once in the year, which was
with the melting of snow, that had already passed, it being now
summer, and a long time since rain had fallen, God was pleased that
the water should come up to the town, where the vessels were, whence
they floated into the river; for had they been taken over ground,
there would have been danger of tearing open the bottoms, thereby
entirely wrecking them, the planks being thin, and the spikes made
short for the lack of iron.
In the time that the Christians were there, the people of Aminoya
came to offer their service, being compelled by hunger to beg some
ears of that corn which had been taken from them. As the country was
fertile, they were accustomed to subsist on maize; and as all that
they possessed had been seized, and the population was numerous, they
could not exist. Those who came to the town were weak, and so lean
that they had not flesh on their bones, and many died near by, of
clear hunger and debility. The Governor ordered, under pain of heavy
punishments, that maize should not be given to them; still, when it
was seen that they were willing to work, and that the hogs had a
plenty, the men, pitying their misery and destitution, would share
their grain with them; so that when the time arrived for departure,
there was not enough left to answer for what was needed. That which
remained was put into the brigantines and the great canoes, which
were tied together in couples. Twenty-two horses were taken on board,
being the best there were in the camp; the flesh of the rest was
jerked, as was also that of the hogs that remained. On the second day
of July, of the year one thousand five hundred and forty-three, we
took our departure from Aminoya.