THE STRANGE VOYAGE OF CABEZA DE VACA.
(A.D. 1528‒1533.)
These extracts are taken from “The Narrative of Cabeza de Vaca,
translated by Buckingham Smith,” Washington, 1851, pp. 30‒99.
See, also, Henry Kingsley’s “Tales of Old Travel.”
THE STRANGE VOYAGE OF CABEZA DE VACA.
I.――THE STRANGE VOYAGE.
[Alvar Nuñez Cabeza de Vaca sailed for Florida in June, 1527,
as treasurer of a Spanish _armada_, or armed fleet. In Cuba
they encountered a hurricane, which delayed them; but they at
last reached the coast of Florida in February, 1528, probably
landing at what is now called Charlotte Harbor. A portion of the
party left their ships, and marched into the interior, reaching
a region which they called Apalache, probably in what is now
Alabama. Then they were driven back to the seashore, amid great
hardships, losing one-third of their number before they reached
Aute, now the Bay of St. Mark’s. Near this they came to the sea;
and here the narrative begins.]
IT was a piteous and painful thing to witness the perplexity and
distress in which we were. At our arrival, we saw the little means
there were of our advancing farther: there was not anywhere to go,
and, if there had been, the people could not move forward, because the
greater part of them were sick, and there were few that could be of any
use....
The governor called them all to him, and of each by himself he asked
his advice what to do to get out of a country so miserable, and seek
elsewhere that remedy which could not here be found, a third part
of the people being very sick, and the number increasing every hour;
for we regarded it as certain that we should all become so, and out
of it we could only pass through death; which, from its coming in
such a place, was to us only the more terrible. These and many other
embarrassments considered, and entertaining many plans, we coincided
in one great project, extremely difficult to put in operation, and that
was, to build vessels in which we might go away. This to all appeared
impossible; for we knew not how to build, nor were there tools, nor
iron, nor forge, nor tow, nor resin, nor rigging; finally, no one thing
of so many that are necessary, nor any man who had a knowledge of their
manufacture. And, above all, there was nothing to eat the while they
were making, nor any knowledge in those who would have to perform the
labor. Reflecting on all this, we agreed to think of the subject with
more deliberation; and the discourse dropped for that day, each going
his way, commending our course to God, our Lord, that he should direct
it as would best serve him.
Illustration: CABEZA DE VACA BUILDING THE BOAT.
The next day, it was His will that one of the company should come,
saying that he could make some pipe out of wood, which, with deer-skins,
might be made into bellows; and, as we lived in a time when any thing
that had the semblance of relief appeared well, we told him to set
himself to work. We assented to the making of nails, saws, axes, and
other tools, of which there was such need, from the stirrups, spurs,
cross-bows, and the other things of iron that there were; and we said,
that, for support while the work was going on, we would make four
entries into Aute, with all the horses and men that were able to go;
and that every third day a horse should be killed, which should be
divided among those that had labored on the work of the boats, and
those that were sick. The forays were made with the people and horses
that were of any use, and in them were brought back as many as four
bushels of maize; but these were not got without quarrels and conflicts
with the Indians. We caused to be collected many palmettos for the
benefit of the woof or covering, twisting and preparing it for use in
the place of tow for the boats.
We commenced to build on the 4th, with the one only carpenter in
the company; and we proceeded with so great diligence, that, on the
twentieth day of September, five boats were finished, of twenty-two
cubits in length each, calked with the fibre of the palmetto. We
pitched them with a certain resin, which was made from pine-trees,
by a Greek named Don Theodoro; and from the same husk of the palmettos,
and from the tails and manes of the horses, we made ropes and rigging;
and from our shirts, sails; and from the savins[86] that grew there, we
made the oars that appeared to us to be requisite.
And such was the country in which our sins had cast us, that with very
great trouble we could find stone for ballast and anchors to the boats,
since in all of it we had not seen one. We flayed the horses, and took
off the skins of their legs entire, and tanned them, to make bottles in
which we might carry water.
During this time, some went gathering shell-fish in the coves and
creeks of the sea, at which the Indians twice attacked them, and killed
ten of our men in sight of the camp, without our being able to afford
them succor. We found them traversed from side to side by the arrows;
and, although some had on good armor, it did not afford sufficient
protection against the nice and powerful archery, of which I have
spoken before.... Before we embarked, there died, without enumerating
those destroyed by the Indians, more than forty men, of disease and
hunger. By the 22d of the month of September, the horses had been
consumed, one only remaining; and on that day we embarked in the
following order,――in the boat of the governor there went forty-nine
men; in another, which he gave to the controller and the commissary,
went others as many. The third he gave to Capt. Alonzo del Castillo
and Andres Dorantes, with forty-eight men; and another he gave to
two captains, Tellez and Beñalosa, with forty-seven men. The last he
gave to the assessor and me, with forty-nine men. After the provision
and clothes had been taken in, there remained not over a span of the
gunwales[87] above the water; and, more than this, we went so crowded,
we could not move. So much can necessity do, which drove us to hazard
our lives in this manner, running into a sea so turbulent, with not a
single one that went there having a knowledge of navigation.
The haven we left has for its name La Baya de Cavallos.[88] We
passed waist-deep in water through sounds for seven days, without
seeing any point of the coast; and at the close of them we came to an
island near the land. My boat went first; and from her we saw Indians
coming in five canoes, which they abandoned, and left in our hands. The
other boats, seeing us go towards them, passed ahead, and stopped at
some houses on the island, where we found many mullet and mullet-roes
dried,――a great relief to the distress in which we were. After taking
these, we went on, and, two leagues thence, we discovered a strait
the island makes with the land, which we named San Miguel, from having
passed through it on his day.[89]
Having come out, we went to the coast, where, with the five canoes
I had taken from the Indians, we somewhat improved the boats, making
waist-boards, and securing them so that the sides rose two palms
above the waters. With this we turned to travel along the coast in
the direction of the River Palmas, every day increasing our hunger and
thirst; for the provisions were very scant, and getting near their end,
and the water was gone, because the bottles we made from the legs of
the horses soon rotted, and were useless. Sometimes we entered coves
and creeks that lay far in, and found them all shallow and dangerous.
Thus we travelled thirty days among them, where we sometimes found
Indian fishermen, a poor and miserable people.
At the end of this time, while the want of water was extreme, going
near the coast at night, we heard the approach of a canoe; and as we
saw it we waited its arrival: but it would not meet us, and, although
we called, it would not return, nor wait for us. As the night was dark,
we did not follow it, but kept on our way. When the sun rose, we saw
a small island, and went to it, to see if we could find water: but our
labor was vain; for it had none. Being there at anchor, a heavy storm
overtook us, that detained us six days, without our daring to go to sea:
and, as it was now five days in which we had not drunk, our thirst was
so excessive, that it put us to the extremity of drinking salt water;
and some of the men so greatly crazed themselves by it, that directly
we had four of them to die. I state this thus briefly, because I do not
believe there is any necessity for particularly relating the sufferings
and toils in which we found ourselves; for considering the place we
were in, and the little hope we had of relief, every one may conceive
much of what would have passed there.
Although the storm had not ceased, and we found that our thirst
increased, and the water killed us, we resolved to commend ourselves to
God our Lord, and venture the peril of the sea, [rather] than await the
certainty of death which thirst imposed. Accordingly, we went out by
the way in which we had seen the canoe the night we came there. On this
day, we ourselves were many times overwhelmed by the waves, and in such
jeopardy, that there was not one who did not suppose his death certain.
I return thanks to our Lord, that, in the greatest dangers, he should
have shown us his favor; for at sunset we doubled a point made by the
sand, and found great calm and shelter.
So we sailed that day until the middle of the afternoon, when my boat,
which was first, discovered a point made by the land, and, against a
cape opposite, a broad river passed. I anchored by a little island
which forms the point, to await the arrival of the other boats. The
governor did not choose to come up, but entered a bay near by, in which
were a great many islets. We came together there, and took fresh water
from the sea; for the stream entered it impetuously.[90] To parch some
of the corn we had brought with us, since we had eaten it raw for two
days past, we went on the island; but, as we found no wood, we agreed
to go to the river behind the point, which was one league off. We were
unable to get there by any efforts, so violent was the current on the
way, which drove us from the land while we contended, and strove to
gain it. The north wind, which came from the shore, began to blow so
strongly, that it drove us to sea without our being able to overcome it.
Half a league out we sounded, and found, that, with thirty fathoms, we
could not get the bottom; but we could not be satisfied that the river
was not the cause of our failure to reach it.
Toiling in this manner to fetch the land, we navigated two days, and
at the end of the time, a little while before the sun rose, we saw
many smokes along the shore. While attempting to reach them, we found
ourselves in three fathoms of water; and, it being dark, we dared
not come to land; for, as we had seen so many smokes, we thought some
danger might surprise us, and the obscurity leave us at a loss what to
do. So we determined to wait until the morning. When it came, the boats
had all lost sight of each other. I found myself in thirty fathoms; and,
keeping my course until the hour of vespers, I observed two boats, and,
as I drew near to them, I found that the first I approached was that
of the governor, who asked me what I thought we should do. I told him
we ought to join that boat which went in the advance, and by no means
to leave her; and, the three being together, that we should keep on our
way to where God should be pleased to direct us. He answered me, saying
it could not be done, because the boat was far to sea, and he wished
to reach the shore; that, if I wished to follow him, I should order
the persons of my boat to take the oars, and work, as it was only by
strength of arm that the land could be gained.
He was advised to this course by a captain he had with him named
Pantoja, who told him, that, if he did not fetch the land that day,
in six days more they would not reach it; and in that time they must
inevitably famish. I, seeing his will, took my oar; and the same did
all who were in my boat, to obey it. We rowed until near sunset; but,
as the governor carried in his boat the healthiest men there were among
the whole, we could not by any means hold with or follow her. Seeing
this, I asked him to give me a rope from his boat, that I might be
enabled to keep up with him; but he answered me that he would do no
little,[91] if they, as they were, should be able to reach the land
that night. I said to him, that, since he saw the little strength we
had to follow him and do what he had commanded, he should tell me what
he would that I should do. He answered me, that it was no longer a
time in which one should command another, but that each should do what
he thought best to save his own life; that he so intended to act; and,
saying this, he departed with his boat. As I could not follow him,
I steered to the other boat at sea, which waited for me; and, having
come up with her, I found her to be the one commanded by the captains
Beñalosa and Tellez.
Thus we continued in company, eating a daily ration of half a handful
of raw maize, until the end of four days, when we lost sight of each
other in a storm; and such was the weather, that it was only by divine
favor that we did not all go down. Because of the winter and its
inclemency, the many days we had suffered hunger, and the heavy beating
of the waves, the people began the next day to despair in such a manner,
that, when the sun went down, all who were in my boat were fallen one
on another, so near to death, that there were few among them in a state
of sensibility. Among them all at this time there were not five men on
their feet; and, when the night came, there were left only the master
and myself who could work the boat. At the second hour of the night,
he said to me that I must take charge of her, for that he was in such
condition he believed that night he should die. So I took the paddle;
and after midnight I went to see if the master was alive, and he said
to me that he was better, and that he would take the charge until day.
I declare that in that hour I would have more willingly died than seen
so many people before me in such condition. After the master took the
direction of the boat, I lay down a little while, but without repose;
for nothing at that time was farther from me than sleep.
Near the dawn of day, it seemed to me that I heard the tumbling of the
sea; for, as the coast was low, it roared loudly. Surprised at this,
I called to the master, who answered me that he believed we were near
the land. We sounded, and found ourselves in seven fathoms. He thought
we should keep the sea until sunrise; and accordingly I took an oar,
and pulled on the side of the land until we were a league distant; and
we then gave her stern to the sea. Near the shore, a wave took us that
knocked the boat out of the water to the distance of the throw of a
crowbar; and by the violence of the blow nearly all of the people who
were in her like dead were roused to consciousness. Finding themselves
near the shore, they began to move on hands and feet, and crawled to
land in some ravines. There we made fire, parching some of the maize we
brought with us, and where we found rain-water. From the warmth of the
fire the people recovered their faculties, and began somewhat to exert
themselves.[92] The day on which we arrived here was the 6th of
November.
II.――CABEZA DE VACA SAVED BY INDIANS.
AFTER the people had eaten, I ordered Lope de Oviedo, who had more
strength, and was stouter, than any of the rest, to go to some trees
that were near, and, having climbed into one of them, to survey the
country in which we were, and endeavor to get some knowledge of it.
He did as I bade him, and made out that we were on an island. He saw
that the ground was pawed up in the manner that the land is wont to be
where cattle range; and hence it appeared to him that this should be
the country of Christians, and thus he reported to us. I ordered him
to return to examine much more particularly, and see if there were
any roads in it that were worn, and without going far, because of the
danger there might be. He went, and, coming to a path, he took it for
the distance of half a league, and found some huts without any tenants,
for the Indians had gone into the woods. He took from them an earthen
pot, a little dog, some few mullets, and thus returned. It appearing to
us that he was long absent, we sent two others, that they should look
and see what might have befallen him.
They met him near by, and saw that three Indians with bows and
arrows followed, and were calling to him; and he, in the same way,
was beckoning them on. Thus they arrived where we were; the Indians
remaining a little way back, seated on the same bank. Half an hour
after, they were supported by fifty other Indian bowmen, whom, whether
large or not, our fears made giants. They stopped near us with the
three first. It were idle to think that there were any among us who
could make defence; for it would have been difficult to find six that
could raise themselves from the ground. The assessor and I went and
called them, and they came to us. We endeavored the best we could to
recommend ourselves to their favor, and secure their good-will. We gave
them beads and hawk-bells; and each one of them gave me an arrow, which
is a pledge of friendship. They told us by signs that they would return
in the morning, and bring us something to eat, as at that time they had
nothing.
The next day at sunrise, the time the Indians had appointed, they
came as they had promised, and brought us a large quantity of fish,
and certain roots that are eaten by them, of the size of walnuts, some
a little larger, others a little smaller, the greater part of them got
from under the water, and with much labor. In the evening they returned,
and brought us more fish, and some of the roots. They sent their women
and children to look at us, who returned rich with the hawk-bells and
beads that we gave them; and they came afterward on other days in the
same way. As we found that we had been provisioned with fish, roots,
water, and other things for which we asked, we determined to embark
again, and pursue our course. We dug out our boat from the sand in
which it was buried; and it became necessary that we should all strip
ourselves, and go through great exertion to launch her, for we were
in such state, that things very much lighter sufficed to make us much
labor.
Thus embarked, at the distance of two cross-bow shots in the sea we
shipped a wave that wet us all. As we were naked, and the cold was very
great, the oars loosened in our hands; and the next blow the sea struck
us capsized the boat. The assessor and two others held fast to her
for preservation; but it happened to be for far otherwise, as the boat
carried them over, and they drowned under her. As the surf near the
shore was very high, a single roll of the sea threw the remainder into
the waves, and half drowned us on the shore of the island, without our
losing any more than the boat had taken under. Those of us who survived
escaped naked as we were born, losing all that we had; and, although
the whole was of little value, at that time it was worth much.
As it was then in the month of November, the cold severe, and our
bodies so emaciated that the bones might have been counted with little
difficulty, we had become perfect figures of death. For myself, I can
say, that, from the month of May past, I had not eaten other thing than
maize, and sometimes I found myself obliged to eat it unparched; for,
although the horses were slaughtered while the boats were being built,
I never could eat of them, and I did not eat fish ten times. I state
this to avoid giving excuses, and that every one may judge in what
condition we were. After all these misfortunes, there came a north wind
upon us, from which we were nearer to death than life. Thanks be to our
Lord, that, looking among the brands that we had used there, we found
sparks from which we made great fires. And thus we were asking mercy of
him, and pardon for our transgressions, shedding many tears, and each
regretting, not his own fate alone, but that of his comrades about him.
At sunset, the Indians, thinking that we had not gone, came to seek us,
and bring us food; but when they saw us thus, in a plight so different
from what it was formerly, and so extraordinary, they were alarmed, and
turned back. I went toward them, and called to them; and they returned
much frightened. I gave them to understand by signs how that our boat
had sunk, and three of our number been drowned. There, before them,
they saw two of the departed; and those that remained were near joining
them. The Indians, at sight of the disaster that had befallen us, and
our state of suffering and melancholy destitution, sat down amongst
us; and from the sorrow and pity they felt for us, they all began to
lament, and so earnestly, that they might have been heard at a distance;
and they continued so doing more than half an hour. It was strange
to see these men, so wild and untaught, howling like brutes over our
misfortunes. It caused in me, as in others, an increase of feeling, and
a livelier sense of our calamity.
Their cries having ceased, I talked with the Christians, and said, that,
if it appeared well to them, I would beg these Indians to take us to
their houses. Some who had been in New Spain said that we ought not to
think of it; for, if we should do so, they would sacrifice us to their
idols. But seeing no better course, and that any other led to nearer
and more certain death, I disregarded what was said, and besought the
Indians to take us to their dwellings. They signified that it would
give them great delight, and that we should tarry a little, that we
might do what we asked. Presently, thirty of them loaded themselves
with wood, and started for their houses, which were far off, and we
remained with the others until near night, when, holding us up, they
carried us with all haste. Because of the extreme coldness of the
weather, lest any one should die or fail by the way, they caused four
or five large fires to be placed at intervals; and at each one of them
they warmed us, and, when they saw that we had regained some strength
and warmth, they took us to the next so swiftly that they hardly
permitted us to put our feet to the ground. In this manner, we went
as far as their habitations, where we found that they had made a house
for us with many fires in it. An hour after our arrival, they began to
dance, and hold great rejoicing, which lasted all night, although for
us there was no joy, appetite, or sleep, awaiting the time they should
make us victims. In the morning, they again gave us fish and roots, and
showed us such hospitality, that we were re-assured, and lost somewhat
the fear of the sacrifice.[93]
III.――CABEZA DE VACA’S CAPTIVITY.
[The eighty men taken by the Indians were soon reduced by death
to fifteen. These were made slaves, and were severely treated.]
I WAS obliged to remain with the people of the island more than a
year; and because of the hard work they put upon me, and their harsh
treatment, I determined to flee from them, and go to those of Charruco,
who inhabit the forests and country of the main; for the life I led
was insupportable. Beside much other labor, I had to get out roots from
below the water, and from among the cane where it grew in the ground.
From this employment I had my fingers so worn, that, did a straw but
touch them, it would draw blood. Many of the canes were broken, so that
they often tore my flesh; and I had to go in the midst of them with
only the clothing on me I have mentioned.
Accordingly, I put myself to work to get over to the other Indians;
and afterward, while I was with them, affairs changed for me somewhat
more favorably. I set myself to trafficking, and strove to turn my
employment to profit in the ways I could best contrive; and by this
means I got from the Indians food and good treatment. They would beg me
to go from one part to another for things of which they have need; for,
in consequence of continual hostilities, they cannot travel the country,
nor make many exchanges. With my merchandise and trade I went into the
interior as far as I pleased; and I travelled along the coast forty or
fifty leagues. The chief of my wares was pieces of sea-snails and their
cones, conches, that are used for cutting,[94] and a fruit like a bean,
of the highest value among them, which they use as a medicine, and
employ in their dances and festivities. There are sea-beads also, and
other articles. Such were what I carried into the interior; and, in
barter for them, I brought back skins, ochre, with which they rub and
color their faces, and flint for arrow-points, cement and hard canes,
of which to make arrows, and tassels that are made of the hair of deer,
ornamented, and dyed red.
This occupation suited me well; for the travel gave me liberty to
go where I wished. I was not obliged to work, and was not a slave.
Wherever I went, I received fair treatment; and the Indians gave me to
eat for the sake of my commodities. My leading object, while journeying
in this business, was to find out the way by which I should have to go
forward; and I became well known to the inhabitants. They were pleased
when they saw me, and I had brought for them what they wanted; and
those that did not know me sought and desired my acquaintance for my
reputation. The hardships that I underwent in this it were long to
tell, as well of peril and privation, as of storms and cold. Many of
them found me in the wilderness and alone; but I came forth from them
all, by the great mercy of God our Lord. Because of them, I ceased to
pursue the business in winter; for it is a season in which the natives
themselves retire to their villages and huts, sluggish, and incapable
of exertion.
I was in this country nearly six years,[95] alone among the
Indians, and naked like them. The reason why I remained so long
was, that I might take with me from the island the Christian Lope de
Oviedo. De Alaniz, his companion, who had been left with him by Alonzo
del Castillo, Andres Dorantes, and the rest, died soon after their
departure; and, to get the survivor out from there, I went over to
the island every year, and entreated him that we should go, in the way
we could best contrive, in quest of Christians. He put me off every
year, saying that in the next coming we would go. At last I got him
off, crossing him over the bay, and over four rivers there are in the
coast, as he could not swim. In this way we went on with some Indians,
until coming to a bay a league in width, and everywhere deep. From its
appearance, we supposed it to be that which they call Espiritu Santo.
We met some Indians on the other side of it, who came to visit ours;
and they told us that beyond them there were three men like us, and
gave their names. And we asked them for the others; and they told us
that they were all dead of cold and hunger; that the Indians farther
on, of whom they were, had for their diversion killed Diego Dorantes,
Valdevieso, and Diego de Huelva, because they left one house for
another; and that other Indians, their neighbors, with whom Captain
Dorantes now was, had, in consequence of a dream, killed Esquivel and
Mendez. We asked them how the living were situated; and they answered
us that they were very ill used; for that the boys and some of the
Indian men were very idle, and of cruelty gave them severe kicks, cuffs,
and blows with sticks, and that such was the life they led among them.
We desired to be informed of the country ahead, and of the subsistence
in it; and they said there was nothing in it to eat, and [it] was
thin of people, who suffered of cold, having no skins or other thing
to cover them. They told us, also, if we wished to see those three
Christians, two days from that time the Indians who had them would come
to eat walnuts a league from there, on the margin of that river; and,
that we might know what they had told us of the ill usage to be true,
they slapped my companion, and beat him with a stick, and I was not
left without my portion. They frequently threw fragments of mud at us;
and every day they put their arrows to our hearts, saying that they
were inclined to kill us in the way they had destroyed our friends.
Lope Oviedo, my comrade, in fear, said that he wished to go back with
the women who had crossed the bay with us, the men having remained some
distance behind. I contended strongly with him against his returning,
and I urged many objections; but in no way could I keep him. So he went
back, and I remained alone with those savages.
IV.――THE INDIANS OF THE GULF OF MEXICO.
THESE are the most watchful in danger of any people I have ever seen.
If they fear an enemy, they are awake the night long, with each a bow
by his side, and a dozen arrows. He that sleeps tries his bow; and, if
it is not strung, he gives the turn necessary to the cord. They often
come out from their houses, bending to the ground in such manner, that
they cannot be seen, and look and watch on all sides to catch every
object. If they perceive any thing about, they are all in the bushes
with their bows and arrows, and there they remain until day, running
from place to place where it is useful to be, or where they think their
enemies are. When the light has come, they unbend their bows until they
go out to hunt. The strings are of the sinews of deer.
The method they have of fighting is lying low to the earth; and,
whilst they shoot, they move about, speaking, and leaping from one
point to another, screening themselves from the shafts of their
enemies. So effectual is this manœuvring, that they can receive very
little injury from cross-bow or arquebuse;[96] but they rather scoff at
them: for these arms are of little value employed in open field, where
the Indians go loosely. They are proper for defiles, and in water:
everywhere else the horses will be found the most effective, and are
what the natives universally fear. Whosoever would fight against them
must be cautious to show no weakness or desire for any thing that is
theirs; and, whilst war exists, they must be treated with the utmost
severity; for, if they discover any timidity or covetousness, they are
a race that well discern the opportunities for vengeance, and gather
strength from the fear of their adversaries. When they use arrows in
battle, and exhaust their store, each returns by his own way without
the one party following the other, although the one be many and the
other few; for such is their custom. Oftentimes their bodies are
traversed from side to side by arrows; and they do not die of the
wounds, but soon become well, unless the entrails or the heart be
struck.
I believe they see and hear better, and have keener senses, than any
people there are in the world. They are great in the endurance of
hunger, thirst, and cold, as if they were made for these more than
others by habit and nature. Thus much I have wished to say beyond the
gratification of that desire which men have to learn the customs and
manners of each other, that those who hereafter at some time find
themselves amongst these people may be intelligent in their usages and
artifice, the value of which they will not find inconsiderable in such
event.
V.――CABEZA DE VACA’S ESCAPE.
[After getting away from his first captors, he came among
Indians who thought that he and his comrades must have come from
heaven, because of their superior knowledge. He thus describes
them.]
WE left these, and travelled through so many sorts of people, of such
diverse languages, that the memory fails to recall them. They ever
plundered each other; and those that lost, like those that gained, were
fully content. We drew so many followers after us, that we had not use
for their services. While on our way through these vales, each of the
Indians carried a club three palms in length, and kept himself on the
alert. On raising a hare, which are abundant, they surround it directly;
and numerous clubs are thrown at it, and with a precision astonishing
to see. In this way they cause it to run from one to another; so that,
according to my thinking, it is the most pleasing sport that can be
conceived of, as oftentimes the animal runs into the hand. So many
of them did they give us, that at night, when we stopped, each one of
us had eight or ten back-loads. Those who had bows were not with us,
but dispersed about the ridge in quest of deer; and, when they came
at night, they brought five or six for each of us, besides birds, the
quail, and other game. Indeed, all that they found or killed they put
before us, without themselves daring to take any thing until we had
blessed it, though they should be dying of hunger; for they had so
established the custom since marching with us.
The women carried many mats, of which the men made us houses, each of
us having a separate one with all his attendants. After these were put
up, we ordered the deer and hares to be roasted, with the rest that had
been taken. This was soon done by means of certain ovens made for the
purpose. We took a little of each; and the remainder we gave to the
principal personages that came with us, directing them to divide them
among the rest. Every one brought his portion to us, that we should
give it our benediction; for not until then dared they to eat of it.
Frequently we were accompanied by three or four thousand persons; and
as we had to breathe upon and sanctify the food and drink for each, and
give them permission to do the many things they would come to ask, it
may be seen how great to us were the trouble and annoyance. The women
first brought us the pears, spiders, worms, and whatever else they
could gather; for, even if they were famishing, they would eat nothing
unless we gave it to them.
In company with these we crossed a great river coming from the north;
and, passing over some plains thirty leagues in extent, we found many
persons who came from a great distance to receive us; and they met us
on the road over which we had to travel, and received us in the manner
of those we had left....
We told them to conduct us toward the north; and they answered us as
they had done before, saying, that, in that direction, there were no
people, except afar off; that there was nothing to eat, nor could water
be found. Notwithstanding all this, we persisted, and said that in that
course we desired to go; and they still tried to excuse themselves in
the best manner possible. At this we became offended: and one night
I went out to sleep in the woods, apart from them; but they directly
went to where I was, and remained there all night without sleeping, and
in great fear, talking to me, and telling me how terrified they were,
beseeching us to be no longer angry, and that though they knew they
should die on the way, they would nevertheless lead us in the direction
we desired to go.
Whilst we still feigned to be displeased, that their fright might not
leave them, there happened a remarkable circumstance, which was, that
on this same day many of them became ill, and the next day eight men
died. Abroad in the country wheresoever this became known, there was
such dread, that it seemed as if the inhabitants at sight of us would
die of fear. They besought us that we would not remain angered, nor
require that many of them should die. They believed that we caused
their death by only willing it; when in truth it gave us so much pain
that it could not be greater; for, beyond the loss of them that died,
we feared they might all die, or abandon us out of fear, and all other
people thenceforward should do the same, seeing what had come to these.
We prayed to God our Lord, that he would relieve them; and thenceforth
all those that were sick began to get better....
From that place onward there was another usage, that those who knew
of our approach did not come out to receive us on the roads, as the
others had done, but we found them in their houses, and others they had
made for our reception. They were all seated with their faces turned
to the wall, their heads down, and the hair brought before their eyes,
and their property placed in a heap in the middle of their houses. From
this place forward they began to give us many blankets of skin, and
they had nothing that they did not give to us. They have the finest
persons of any that we saw, and of the greatest activity and strength,
and [were those] who best understood us, and intelligently answered
our inquiries. We called them _los de las vacas_, the cow nation, because
most of the cattle that are killed are destroyed in their neighborhood;
and along up that river over fifty leagues they kill great numbers.
[Cabeza de Vaca crossed the Mississippi, or passed its mouth,
many years before De Soto reached it. Having finally arrived
at the city of Mexico, he was sent home to Europe, and reached
Lisbon Aug. 15, 1537. His later adventures will be found in
Southey’s Hist. of Brazil, chap. V.]