CABECA DE VACA.
And now that Florida had been discovered, and the great South Sea added
to the possessions of the Spanish crown, it was thought it would be a
wise thing to settle as much of the New World as possible, so that when
all its treasures were found they would already be in the hands of the
Spaniards and there would be no trouble about it. And so many
expeditions were sent out from Spain. These expeditions always had two
objects in view. First, to get what gold and silver might be found in
America, and second, to find a short passage to the East. People had
never given up believing that there must be a short way of getting from
the eastern coast of America to India, and ship after ship was sent to
seek the strait which was supposed to lead across the continent. For,
important as the discovery of a new world seemed, it was considered
just as important to find a short way to the East, and when once the
passage was found, to sail through it with Spanish ships and make its
wealth a part of Spain. Very wonderful stories were told of the
countries in the East--of Cathay, and Mangi, and Cipango--which had been
visited by the great traveller, Marco Polo, and the man who could find
the shortest way thither, would, of all men, receive the highest honor
from the King of Spain. And so every one who sailed from Spain looked
first toward America and then beyond it to the East. And no wonder, for
these countries were richer than Mexico and Peru, more fertile than
Florida, and more beautiful than Fairyland itself. There was nothing in
the world that one might want that could not be found within the borders
of these lands. For ages and ages this kingdom had been ruled by the
great race of Kublai Khan, and these monarchs had no other thought than
to make their kingdom the most beautiful and glorious of the whole
earth. They had built great cities, and strong forts, and extensive
highways; it was said that within the Province of Mangi alone were
twelve thousand cities, all within a short distance of one another.
Chief of these cities was Quinsai, which covered a hundred miles of
ground. On one side of it was a river, and on another side a lake, and
through it flowed clear, winding streams spanned by twelve thousand
beautiful bridges, which were so lofty that ships passed under them with
ease. The streets were wide and bordered with palm trees, and fragrant
flowers bloomed all the year round in the gardens and parks. All the
dwellings were of marble, and the temples and palaces were ornamented
with precious stones. Warehouses of stone stood in different parts of
the city, filled with costly merchandise, silks and velvets, and cloth
of gold, and all manner of rare articles made of gold and silver and
mother-of-pearl, curiously and beautifully beaten and engraved. And
crystal fountains kept the air pure and fresh, and great birds with gold
and silver wings flew lazily from tree to tree, and one could not tell
whether the city was more beautiful by day, when the sun shone down
upon it and brightened the marble roofs and charming gardens, or by
night, when the moon and stars were reflected in the lakes and rivers,
and when the fountains glistened white in the moonlight, and the great
squares and lofty palaces were illumined with a million crystal lamps.
Most beautiful of all the palaces was that of the king, which stood in
the centre of the city on a hill overlooking all the country round. It
was so large that it covered ten acres, and its wide, lofty corridors,
beautified with groups of magnolia and palm, seemed like magnificent
avenues stretching from one palace to another.
Within the enclosure were groves of pine and oak and many rare trees,
and gardens filled with choicest flowers, and lakes on which swans
floated, and in whose waters rainbow-hued fishes darted hither and
thither. The palace itself was of the purest white marble, its roof was
wrought in gold and supported by hundreds of pillars of pure gold,
wonderfully adorned in azure arabesque, and having the capitals studded
with precious stones; and all the air was sweet with perfumed fountains,
and everywhere it was continual summer from the abundance of flowers and
the songs of birds.
And the king and all his people enjoyed their beautiful city as much as
possible, for they were so rich they had to work very little, and spent
the greater part of every day in pleasant amusements. At any hour one
might see pleasure parties on the lakes and rivers, which were always
covered with gilded boats, and barges with silken awnings, under which
tables were prepared for banquets. And everywhere through the city were
scattered inviting bowers, where the people sat when tired with walking,
and watched the long procession of elegant chariots, luxuriously fitted
up with cushions of silks and velvet and drawn by richly caparisoned
horses. And besides these every-day amusements there were a great many
days held sacred to the gods, when there were great feasts lasting ten
or twelve days, and when ten thousand guests were entertained at a
time.
And the health and comfort of the people were provided for as well as
their amusement, for there were elegant marble baths, and a number of
fine hospitals for the care of the sick, and a wonderful system of
lighting the houses and palaces, so that the night seemed almost turned
into day again, and a well-trained fire-department, always ready to act
at any moment, and in fact, everything that could be done to make the
people healthy and happy, and to protect their lives and property, was
done. And all the children went to school in the public parks and
gardens, for in that beautiful climate it never rained or was cold, and
so there was no need of school-houses, and the boys and girls studied
botany, and geology, and astronomy out of doors, and no doubt found it
very pleasant.
And Marco Polo, summing up his description of the wonderful place, says,
"And this city, for the excellence thereof, hath the name of the city of
Heaven; for in the world there is not the like, or a place in which are
found so many pleasures, that a man would think he were in Paradise."
And all the other countries ruled by the great Khan were as rich as
Mangi. In Armenia were tens of thousands of beautiful cities filled with
works of art, and out in the open country were wonderful hot springs
which cured all manner of diseases, and on the top of one of the high
mountains Noah's ark still rested. And Cathay also held many rich towns.
Among them, Cambalu, where the king had a marble palace with a roof of
gold, as in Quinsai. And here, ten thousand soldiers guarded the palace,
and the royal stables, wherein stood five thousand elephants. Great
public roads led out from Cambalu to all the other cities in the empire,
and along these roads were stationed post-houses where the king's
messengers could find rest and refreshment, and where there were elegant
apartments in which the king himself might rest when on his journey
through the empire. All the king's errands were done by swift
messengers, who ran from one post-house to another. These messengers
wore belts from which hung gold and silver bells, and as soon as one
station was reached, the letters and messages were given to another
messenger and carried on to the next station, and so on, the tinkling of
the bells notifying the waiting messenger to be in readiness. And so,
not a moment was lost; the messengers ran swiftly over the fine roads,
scarcely noticing, in their haste, the beautiful scenery or the many
works of art that adorned the way, which led through deep, shady
forests, and wide, pleasant meadows, and over the numerous rivers and
canals, spanned by lofty bridges built of rare stone and costly marble,
and ornamented with rows of polished columns and great stone lions, and
curiously graven images of gods, and men, and animals.
The roads extended from one great city to another, joining the most
distant places together, and the Khan spent a summer in one place and a
winter in another, and every city tried to outshine the rest. In the
summer months the Khan spent much of his time in his palace at Ciandu,
which was as magnificent as Cambalu. Here the palace extended over
sixteen miles, and ten thousand white horses stood in the king's
stables.
All this country was guarded by soldiers, who were like the sands of the
sea for number, and the great generals were held in such esteem by the
king that they were allowed to live in the most magnificent style. They
all sat in golden chairs, and rode on milk-white horses, and travelled
in gorgeous chariots, or in beautiful barges with silk and velvet
awnings to keep off the heat of the sun. And so mighty was the Khan, and
so great were his generals, that all the other countries round were very
glad to live peaceably, and try in every way to please such a powerful
monarch. The riches of this country were beyond description; mountains
of turquoises reached to the clouds; the lakes were full of pearls;
everywhere were gold and silver mines; the rivers sparkled with gold,
and the valleys were rich in diamonds. And everywhere, too, there was an
abundance of choice fruits and nuts, and rare spices which grew in the
gardens all the year round, so there was no lack of them summer or
winter. And the people dressed in the richest stuffs, silk and velvet,
and cloth of gold, embroidered with pearls and turquoises and diamonds.
And in Cipango, too, which lay east of Mangi, out in the sea, could be
found the same magnificence. Here were palaces and temples, with roofs
covered with golden plates and floors paved with gold and silver, and
here also the people were rich and prosperous and happy.
And when the news of all this wealth reached Europe it was at once
determined to seek those far lands, and, if possible, to bring the gold
and pearls and diamonds to Spain and France, and other European
countries, and many expeditions were sent out; but none of them ever
reached Cathay, for all the American Continent and the great Pacific
Ocean lay in the way, and the short passage to the East was never seen
except in the dreams of some daring adventurers. But it was years and
years before men gave up searching for it. France and Spain sent many
men to look for it, and if they did not find Cathay they at least found
many curious and wonderful things in America, and so it came about,
after a while, that America itself was pretty well known, and many
attempts were made to settle it. Spain tried very hard to establish her
colonies in the New World, and expedition after expedition was sent
across the sea. With one of these expeditions sailed Cabeca de Vaca, a
Spanish nobleman, and his account of the trials and misfortunes of the
settlers shows how very difficult it was to establish a Spanish colony
in America.
The expedition was commanded by Narvaez, who landed his men at Tampa
Bay, two days before Easter, 1528. They immediately determined to leave
the coast and go into the interior of the country in search of gold,
although De Vaca tried very hard to persuade the captain to remain near
the ships. But here the Indians were not friendly, and the country
farther away was said to be rich in gold; and so a short time after
landing, a part of them started off to find the gold region which the
Indians said was up in the Appalachian Mountains. But they found
travelling through this strange country very hard work. Soon after their
arrival at Tampa Bay they had angered the Indians by burning the bodies
of some chiefs that they had found in a little village, and the natives
now tried in every way to show their hatred. They refused to act as
guides, and the Spaniards had to toil through swamps and rivers and
forests, often losing their way and always in danger of attack from the
Indians. At length their food gave out, and then they had to depend upon
the fruit that could be found, and so at last, when they reached the
little Indian village of Apalachen, they were quite heart-sick, and glad
to find shelter and rest. They found no one in the village excepting
women and children; all the men had fled to the woods. The village was
built in the midst of a great swamp, and although it held some maize and
other provisions, they soon found there was no gold there, and that all
their long journey had been in vain. And then, too, the Indians kept
lurking around, and not only attacked them and burned the wigwams in
which they were living, but made it very unsafe for the Spaniards to
leave shelter at all. A man could not lead his horse to water without
being in danger of death, and as this kept growing worse and worse, they
decided to leave Apalachen and go back to the sea. But many days and
nights passed, and the sea seemed as far off as ever. They were without
food, and had to depend upon getting maize from the Indians, and as this
could only be done by force, many battles were fought and many lives
were lost, and besides this trouble many fell sick and died from
starvation and hardship. But, hard as it was to go on, it would have
been harder still to remain, for that would mean certain death at the
hands of the Indians; so they toiled on, discouraged and hopeless, and
at the end of fifteen days found themselves at last at the sea-coast.
But it was not Tampa Bay, and no Spanish ships appeared in sight on
which they might embark and sail back to Spain again. And the men, quite
worn out, laid down on the sands in despair, and doubted if they should
ever see their homes and friends again.
But after a little while their courage came back, and they tried to
think of some way of getting back to the ships or of reaching some
Spanish settlement. It was impossible to think of travelling by land,
and at length they decided that they would have to make boats and put
out to sea with them. But how hard it seemed to undertake boat-making
without tools and materials! It was thought impossible at first to do
more than make some large rafts, but by and by they discovered that
their spurs and cross-bows and stirrups could be beaten out into nails
and axes and saws and other tools, and that cordage could be made from
the manes and tails of the horses, and that the seams could be caulked
with palmetto fibre and pitched with pine rosin; and, in fact, with time
and patience, they managed to build five very good boats, living in the
meantime on horse flesh and shell-fish and the maize which they could
get from the Indians. When at last they were ready to start, forty of
the men had already died of sickness and hunger besides those that had
been killed by the Indians. They kept along the coast for some weeks,
hoping to reach a Spanish settlement on the western coast of the Gulf
of Mexico, but they could not find this place, and as it was not safe to
land anywhere else on account of the Indians, they had a most wretched
voyage, suffering from cold and hunger and drenched with rain, and
finally separated from one another by a fearful storm which drove the
boats far apart.
De Vaca's boat was thrown upon an island, and so hard was it to get it
off again into the sea that the men had to take off their clothing and
wade into the water to dig the boat out of the sand, and in doing this
many of them lost their lives; for no sooner did the boat touch the
water than it was upset in the surf, and not only were some of the men
drowned, but everything in the boat was lost, and De Vaca and his
friends found themselves on this strange island with no boat or food or
clothing. But, as it happened, the Indians on this island were kind and
pitiful. They built fires to warm the sufferers and gave them food, and
when after a few days, they were joined by some men from the other
boats, they found that their sufferings had been no worse than their
friends', for all had met with the same hard fate. They stayed here
many months, and one after another of the company died, until only De
Vaca and three others were left.
These four remained many years among the Indians, wandering from one
tribe to another, always trying to hear of some Spanish settlement where
they might meet friends. Sometimes the Indians were kind to them, but
oftener they were treated very cruelly. Several times it happened that
they were taken captive and held as slaves, and then their lives would
have been most miserable, had it not been that the Indians grew to
respect them because they knew so many things that they themselves were
ignorant of. De Vaca and his companions really thought that they had the
power of curing disease by making the sign of the cross, or repeating
_pater nosters_, and, as in some cases the sick got well, the Indians
grew to reverence the white men and hold them in great esteem. But De
Vaca and his friends could not grow fond enough of the Indians to be
willing to remain among them. Their thoughts were always with the land
of their birth, and so they pushed on through the unknown country,
living on roots and nuts and the fruit of the prickly pear, suffering
from the cold and heat, from which they had no clothing to protect them,
and always in danger of death from hostile Indians. In this way they
travelled through forests and swamps, across prairies and deserts, over
mountains and rivers, for six years, and at last their courage was
rewarded. They came one day to the sea, and they found there a Spanish
settlement. Their countrymen, who had come there for gold and emeralds,
received them with great kindness, and listened with wonder to the story
of their wanderings. De Vaca learned that they were now on the coast of
the Gulf of California, and that they had travelled from Tampa Bay,
through the country bordering on the Gulf of Mexico, and through Mexico
itself to the sea coast on the other side, having passed over more
territory in North America than any other travellers had yet done.
De Vaca and his three friends returned to Spain as speedily as possible,
where they were received as heroes of adventure, whose romantic story
passed from place to place, and instead of discouraging others, only
made them the more eager to visit those strange lands themselves, for
every one felt sure that if he had been in De Vaca's place he would
surely have discovered the gold and silver and precious stones that were
supposed to be hidden away in the everglades of Florida, or in the
mountains of Apalachen, or in the rivers and valleys of Mexico.