Latest / Journey of Alvar Nunez Cabeza de Vaca / 06 - Journey of Alvar Núñez Cabeza de Vaca by Alvar Núñez Cabeza de Vaca
Transcript
- 0:00Speaker 1: Section five of the Journey of Alvar Nunis Cabeesa Devaca
- 0:04Speaker 1: and his Companions from Florida to the Pacific, fifteen twenty eight,
- 0:10Speaker 1: fifteen thirty six. This is the LibriVox recording. All LibriVox
- 0:16Speaker 1: recordings are in the public domain. For more information or
- 0:20Speaker 1: to volunteer, please visit LibriVox dot org. Recording by sus Anderson,
- 0:28Speaker 1: The Journey of Alvar Nunius Cabeza Devaca and his Companions
- 0:33Speaker 1: from Florida to the Pacific, fifteen twenty eight, fifteen thirty six,
- 0:38Speaker 1: translated by Fanny Bandelier. Section five. Once in the hands
- 0:45Speaker 1: of this Indian Frigorore spoke to Esquivel, learning from him
- 0:49Speaker 1: what we have told here, and he entreated him to
- 0:52Speaker 1: go in his company towards Ponduco. But Esquivel refused, saying
- 0:57Speaker 1: he had heard from the monks that was in their rear,
- 1:01Speaker 1: and so he remained, while Figueroa went back to the
- 1:04Speaker 1: coast where he formerly had been. All this account Figaroa
- 1:09Speaker 1: gave after Eskueville's narrative, and thus from one to the
- 1:14Speaker 1: other it came to me through it the fate of
- 1:17Speaker 1: the whole fleet will be learned and known, and what
- 1:20Speaker 1: happened to everyone in particular. And he said furthermore that
- 1:25Speaker 1: if the Christians would go about there for some time,
- 1:28Speaker 1: they might possibly meet Esquivel, because he knew that he
- 1:33Speaker 1: had run away from the Indian with whom he was,
- 1:36Speaker 1: and gone to others called Mariames, who were their neighbors.
- 1:40Speaker 1: And as I have just said, he and the Asturian
- 1:43Speaker 1: wished to go to other Indians further on. But when
- 1:47Speaker 1: those with whom they were found it out, they beat
- 1:50Speaker 1: them severely, undressed the Asturian, and pierced one of his
- 1:54Speaker 1: arms with an arrow. At last, the Christians escaped through
- 1:58Speaker 1: flight and remained with the other Indians, whose slaves they
- 2:02Speaker 1: agreed to become. But although serving them, they were so
- 2:07Speaker 1: ill treated that no slaves nor men in any condition
- 2:11Speaker 1: of life were ever so abused. Not content with coughing
- 2:15Speaker 1: and beating them and pulling out their beards for mere pastime,
- 2:20Speaker 1: they killed three out of the six only because they
- 2:23Speaker 1: went from one lodge to another. These were Diego Dorantes, Valdivieso,
- 2:29Speaker 1: and Diego de Lvo. The three remaining ones expected to
- 2:34Speaker 1: meet the same fate in the end. To escape from
- 2:37Speaker 1: that life, Andres Dorantes fled to the Mariames, and they
- 2:41Speaker 1: were the ones with whom Esquivel had been. They told
- 2:45Speaker 1: him how Esquevel stayed with them, and how he fled
- 2:48Speaker 1: because a woman dreamt he would kill her son, and
- 2:52Speaker 1: the Indians pursued and kill him. They also showed andres
- 2:56Speaker 1: Dorantes his sword, his rosary, his prayer book, and other
- 3:00Speaker 1: of his It is a custom of theirs to kill
- 3:03Speaker 1: even their own children for the sake of dreams, and
- 3:07Speaker 1: the girls, when newly born, they throw away to be
- 3:10Speaker 1: eaten by dogs. The reason why they do it is
- 3:14Speaker 1: as they say that all the others of that country
- 3:17Speaker 1: are their enemies, with whom they are always at war,
- 3:21Speaker 1: and should they marry their daughters, they might multiply so
- 3:24Speaker 1: much as to be able to overcome them and reduce
- 3:28Speaker 1: them to slavery. Hence they prefer to kill the girls
- 3:31Speaker 1: rather than see them give birth to children who would
- 3:34Speaker 1: become their foes. We ask them why they did not
- 3:38Speaker 1: wed the girls among themselves. They replied, it was bad
- 3:42Speaker 1: to marry them to their own kin, and much better
- 3:45Speaker 1: to do away with their daughters than to leave them
- 3:47Speaker 1: to relatives or to enemies. This custom they have in
- 3:51Speaker 1: common with their neighbors, the Iguasses, and no other tribe
- 3:55Speaker 1: of that country has it. When they want to get married,
- 3:58Speaker 1: they buy their wives from their enemies. The price paid
- 4:02Speaker 1: for a woman is a bow, the best to be
- 4:05Speaker 1: had with two arrows, and if he has no bow,
- 4:09Speaker 1: he gives a net as much as a fathom in
- 4:11Speaker 1: width and one in length. They kill their own children
- 4:15Speaker 1: and buy those of strangers. Marriage only lasts as long
- 4:20Speaker 1: as they please, for a mere nothing, they break up wedlock.
- 4:24Speaker 1: Dorantes remained only a few days with those Indians, and
- 4:28Speaker 1: then escaped. Castillo and Esperanico went inland to the Iguass.
- 4:33Speaker 1: All those people are archers and well built, although not
- 4:37Speaker 1: as tall as those we had left behind us, and
- 4:40Speaker 1: they have the nipple and lip perforated. Their principal food
- 4:44Speaker 1: are two or three kinds of roots, which they hunt
- 4:47Speaker 1: for all over the land. They are very unhealthy, inflating,
- 4:52Speaker 1: and it takes two days to roast them. Many are
- 4:56Speaker 1: very bitter, and with all that they are gathered with
- 4:59Speaker 1: dia difficulty. But those people are so much exposed to
- 5:03Speaker 1: starvation that these roots are to them indispensable, and they
- 5:08Speaker 1: walk two and three leagues to obtain them. Now and
- 5:12Speaker 1: then they kill deer, and at times get a fish.
- 5:15Speaker 1: But this is so little, and their hungers so great,
- 5:19Speaker 1: that they eat spiders and ant eggs, worms, lizards and salamanders,
- 5:24Speaker 1: and serpents, also vipers, the bite of which is deadly.
- 5:28Speaker 1: They swallow earth and wood and all they can get,
- 5:32Speaker 1: the dung of deer, and more things I do not mention,
- 5:36Speaker 1: and I verily believe from what I saw that if
- 5:40Speaker 1: there were any stones in the country, they would eat them.
- 5:42Speaker 1: Also they preserve the bones of the fish. They eat
- 5:46Speaker 1: of snakes and other animals to pulverize them, and eat
- 5:50Speaker 1: the powder. The men do not carry burdens or loads.
- 5:55Speaker 1: The women and old men have to do it, for
- 5:58Speaker 1: those are the people they least is. They have not
- 6:01Speaker 1: as much love for their children, as though spoken of before.
- 6:05Speaker 1: Some among them are given to unnatural vices. The women
- 6:09Speaker 1: are compelled to do very hard work, and in a
- 6:12Speaker 1: great many ways. For out of twenty four hours of
- 6:16Speaker 1: day and night, they get only six hours rest. They
- 6:21Speaker 1: spend most of the night in stirring the fire to
- 6:24Speaker 1: dry those roots which they eat, and at daybreak they
- 6:27Speaker 1: begin to dig and carry firewood and water to their
- 6:30Speaker 1: houses and attend to other necessary matters. Most of these
- 6:35Speaker 1: Indians are great thieves, for although very liberal towards each other,
- 6:40Speaker 1: as soon as one turns his head, his own son
- 6:44Speaker 1: or the father grabs what he can. They are great
- 6:47Speaker 1: liars and drunkards, and take something in order to become intoxicated.
- 6:52Speaker 1: They are so accustomed to running that without resting or
- 6:56Speaker 1: getting tired, they run from morning till night in pursuit
- 7:00Speaker 1: of a deer and kill a great mani because they
- 7:03Speaker 1: follow until the game is worn out, sometimes catching it alive.
- 7:08Speaker 1: Their huts are of matting placed over four arches. They
- 7:12Speaker 1: carry them on their back and move every two or
- 7:15Speaker 1: three days. In quest of food. They plant nothing that
- 7:19Speaker 1: could be of any use. They are very merry people,
- 7:23Speaker 1: and even when famished, do not cease to dance and
- 7:26Speaker 1: celebrate their feasts and ceremonials. Their best times are when
- 7:31Speaker 1: the tunas prickly pears are ripe, because then they have
- 7:34Speaker 1: plenty to eat, and spend the time in dancing and
- 7:38Speaker 1: eating day and night. As long as these tunas last,
- 7:42Speaker 1: they squeeze and open them and set them to dry.
- 7:45Speaker 1: When dried, they are put in baskets like figs and
- 7:49Speaker 1: kept to be eaten on the way. The peelings they
- 7:52Speaker 1: grind and pulverized while with them it happened many times
- 7:57Speaker 1: that we were three or four days without food. Then,
- 8:01Speaker 1: in order to cheer us, they would tell us not
- 8:03Speaker 1: to despair, since we would have tunas very soon and
- 8:08Speaker 1: eat much and drink their juice and get big stomachs
- 8:11Speaker 1: and be merry, contented and without hunger. But from the
- 8:16Speaker 1: day they set it to the season of the tunas,
- 8:18Speaker 1: there would still elapse five or six months, and we
- 8:23Speaker 1: had to wait that long. When the time came and
- 8:27Speaker 1: we went to eat tunas, there were a great many
- 8:30Speaker 1: mosquitoes of three kinds, all very bad and troublesome, which
- 8:35Speaker 1: during most of the summer persecuted us. In order to
- 8:39Speaker 1: protect ourselves, we built all around our camps big fires
- 8:44Speaker 1: of damp and rotten wood that gave no flame but
- 8:48Speaker 1: much smoke, and this was the cause of further trouble
- 8:51Speaker 1: to us. For the whole night we did not do
- 8:54Speaker 1: anything but weep from the smoke that went to our eyes.
- 8:58Speaker 1: And the heat from the fires was so insufferable that
- 9:01Speaker 1: we would go to the shore for rest. And when
- 9:05Speaker 1: sometimes we were able to sleep. The Indians roused us
- 9:08Speaker 1: again with blows to go and kindle the fires. Those
- 9:12Speaker 1: from further inland have another remedy, just as bad and
- 9:16Speaker 1: even worse, which is to go about with a fire brand,
- 9:20Speaker 1: setting fire to the plains and timber, so as to
- 9:23Speaker 1: drive off the mosquitoes, and also to get lizards and
- 9:27Speaker 1: similar things which they eat to come out of the soil.
- 9:31Speaker 1: In the same manner, they kill deer, encircling them with fires,
- 9:35Speaker 1: and they do it also to deprive the animals of pasture,
- 9:39Speaker 1: compelling them to go for food where the Indians want
- 9:43Speaker 1: for never they build their abodes except where there are
- 9:46Speaker 1: wood and water, and sometimes load themselves with the requisites,
- 9:51Speaker 1: and go in quest of deer, which are found mostly
- 9:54Speaker 1: where there is neither water nor wood. On the very
- 9:59Speaker 1: day they are they kill deer and whatever else can
- 10:03Speaker 1: be had, and use all the water and wood to
- 10:05Speaker 1: cook their food with and build fires against the mosquitos.
- 10:10Speaker 1: They wait for another day to get something to take
- 10:12Speaker 1: along on the road, and when they leave they are
- 10:15Speaker 1: so badly bitten by mosquitos as to appear like lepers.
- 10:20Speaker 1: In this manner they satisfy their hunger twice or thrice
- 10:24Speaker 1: a year, and at such great sacrifice as I have told.
- 10:29Speaker 1: Having been with them, I can say that no toil
- 10:32Speaker 1: or suffering in this world comes near it. All over
- 10:36Speaker 1: this country there are a great many deer, fowl and
- 10:39Speaker 1: other animals, which I have before enumerated. Here also they
- 10:44Speaker 1: come up with cows. I have seen them thrice and
- 10:47Speaker 1: have eaten their meat. They appear to me the size
- 10:50Speaker 1: of those in Spain. Their horns are small, like those
- 10:53Speaker 1: of the Moorish cattle. The hair is very long, like
- 10:57Speaker 1: fine wool, and like a peajacket. Some are brownish and
- 11:01Speaker 1: others black. And to my taste, they have better and
- 11:05Speaker 1: more meat than those from here. Of the small hides,
- 11:08Speaker 1: the Indians make blankets to cover themselves with, and of
- 11:12Speaker 1: the taller ones they make shoes and targets. These cows
- 11:16Speaker 1: come from the north across the country further on to
- 11:19Speaker 1: the coast of Florida, and are found all over the
- 11:23Speaker 1: land for over four hundred leagues on this whole stretch,
- 11:27Speaker 1: through the valleys by which they come, people who live
- 11:30Speaker 1: there descend to subsist upon their flesh, and a great
- 11:34Speaker 1: quantity of hides are met with inland. When I had
- 11:38Speaker 1: been with the Christians, for six months waiting to execute
- 11:41Speaker 1: our plans. The Indians went for Tunas at a distance
- 11:45Speaker 1: of thirty leagues from there, and as we were about
- 11:48Speaker 1: to flee, the Indians began fighting among themselves over a woman,
- 11:53Speaker 1: and cuffed and struck and hurt each other, and in
- 11:57Speaker 1: great rage, each one took his lodge and went his
- 11:59Speaker 1: own way. So we Christians had to part, and in
- 12:03Speaker 1: no manner could we get together again until the year following.
- 12:08Speaker 1: During that time I fared very badly as well from
- 12:11Speaker 1: lack of food as from the abuse the Indians gave me.
- 12:15Speaker 1: So badly was I treated that I had to flee
- 12:18Speaker 1: three times from my masters, and they all went in
- 12:21Speaker 1: my pursuit ready to kill me. But God, our Lord,
- 12:25Speaker 1: in his infinite goodness, protected and saved my life. When
- 12:30Speaker 1: the time for the tunas came, we found each other
- 12:33Speaker 1: again on the same spot. We had already agreed to
- 12:36Speaker 1: escape and appointed a day for it. When on that
- 12:40Speaker 1: very day, the Indians separated us, sending each one to
- 12:43Speaker 1: a different place, And I told my companions that I
- 12:47Speaker 1: would wait for them at the tunas until full moon.
- 12:51Speaker 1: It was the first of September and the first day
- 12:53Speaker 1: of the new moon. And I told them that if
- 12:56Speaker 1: at the time set they did not appear, I would
- 13:00Speaker 1: go on alone without them. We parted, each one going
- 13:04Speaker 1: off with his Indians. I remained with mine until the
- 13:08Speaker 1: thirteenth of the moon, determined to escape to other Indians
- 13:12Speaker 1: as soon as the moon would be full. And on
- 13:16Speaker 1: that day there came to where I was andres Dorantes
- 13:19Speaker 1: and Estevaniko. They told me they had left Castillo with
- 13:24Speaker 1: other people near by called Anagados, and how they had
- 13:28Speaker 1: suffered many hardships and been lost. On the following day,
- 13:32Speaker 1: our Indians moved towards where Castillo was and were going
- 13:36Speaker 1: to join those who kept him, making friends with them,
- 13:40Speaker 1: as until then they had been at war. So we
- 13:43Speaker 1: got Castillo also. During all the time we ate tunas,
- 13:47Speaker 1: we felt thirsty. To allay our thirst, we drank the
- 13:50Speaker 1: juice of the fruit, pouring it first into a pit
- 13:53Speaker 1: which we dug in the soil, and when that was full,
- 13:57Speaker 1: we drank the satisfaction the Indians with that way out
- 14:01Speaker 1: of lack of vessels. The juice is sweet and has
- 14:04Speaker 1: the color of must There are many kinds of tunas,
- 14:07Speaker 1: and some very good ones, although to me all tasted
- 14:11Speaker 1: well alike hunger, never leaving me time to select or
- 14:15Speaker 1: stop to think which ones were better. Most of the
- 14:18Speaker 1: people drink rain water that collects here and there, for
- 14:22Speaker 1: as they never have a fixed abode, they know no
- 14:24Speaker 1: springs nor established watering places. Although there are rivers all
- 14:30Speaker 1: over the land, are vast and handsome pastures with good
- 14:34Speaker 1: grass for cattle, and it strikes me the soil would
- 14:37Speaker 1: be very fertile were the country inhabited and improved by
- 14:41Speaker 1: reasonable people. We saw no mountains as long as we
- 14:44Speaker 1: were in this country. These Indians told us that further
- 14:48Speaker 1: on there were others called Kamones who live nearer the coast,
- 14:52Speaker 1: and that they were those who killed all the people
- 14:55Speaker 1: that came in the barge of Penelosa, and telles they
- 14:59Speaker 1: had been so emaciated and feeble that when being killed,
- 15:03Speaker 1: they offered no resistance. So the Indians finished with all
- 15:07Speaker 1: of them and showed us some of their clothes and weapons,
- 15:10Speaker 1: and said the barge was still there stranded. This is
- 15:14Speaker 1: the fifth of the missing ones. That of the governor
- 15:17Speaker 1: we already said had been swept out into the sea.
- 15:20Speaker 1: The one of the purser and the monks was seen
- 15:22Speaker 1: stranded on the beach, and Esquivel told us of their
- 15:26Speaker 1: end of the two in which Castillo I and Dorantes
- 15:30Speaker 1: were I have told how they sank close to the
- 15:33Speaker 1: isle of ill fate. Two days after moving, we recommended
- 15:38Speaker 1: ourselves to God, our Lord, and fled, hoping that although
- 15:43Speaker 1: it was late in the season and the fruits of
- 15:45Speaker 1: the tunas were giving out, by remaining in the field
- 15:48Speaker 1: we might still get over a good portion of the land.
- 15:52Speaker 1: As we proceeded that day in great fear lest the
- 15:55Speaker 1: Indians would follow us, we descried smoke, and going to
- 16:00Speaker 1: towards it, reached the place after sundown, where we found
- 16:03Speaker 1: an Indian, who, when he saw us coming, did not wait,
- 16:07Speaker 1: but ran away. We sent the Negro after him, and
- 16:11Speaker 1: as the Indians saw him approach alone, he waited. The
- 16:15Speaker 1: Negro told him that we were going in search of
- 16:18Speaker 1: the people that had raised the smoke. He answered that
- 16:21Speaker 1: the dwellings were near by and that he would guide us,
- 16:25Speaker 1: and we followed. He hurried ahead to tell of our coming.
- 16:29Speaker 1: At sunset, we came in sight of the lodges, and
- 16:33Speaker 1: two crossbow shots before reaching them, we met four Indians
- 16:37Speaker 1: waiting for us, and they received us well. We told
- 16:41Speaker 1: them in the language of the Mariames that we had
- 16:43Speaker 1: come to see them. They appeared to be pleased with
- 16:46Speaker 1: our company, and took us to their homes. They lodged
- 16:50Speaker 1: Dorantes and the Negro at the house of a medicine man,
- 16:53Speaker 1: and me and Castillo at that of another. These Indians
- 16:57Speaker 1: speak another language and are called up Avares. They were
- 17:01Speaker 1: those who used to fetch bows to ours and barter
- 17:05Speaker 1: with them. And although of another nation and speech, they
- 17:09Speaker 1: understand the idiom of those with whom we formerly were,
- 17:12Speaker 1: and had arrived there on that very day with their lodges. Forthwith,
- 17:17Speaker 1: they offered us many tunas because they had heard of
- 17:20Speaker 1: us and of how we cured, and of the miracles
- 17:23Speaker 1: our Lord worked through us. And surely, even if there
- 17:27Speaker 1: had been no other tokens, it was wonderful how He
- 17:31Speaker 1: prepared the way for us through a country so scantily inhabited,
- 17:35Speaker 1: causing us to meet people where for a long time
- 17:38Speaker 1: there had been none, saving us from so many dangers,
- 17:42Speaker 1: not permitting us to be killed, maintaining us through starvation
- 17:46Speaker 1: and distress, and moving the hearts of the people to
- 17:49Speaker 1: treat us well. As we shall tell further on, on
- 17:54Speaker 1: the night we arrived there, some Indians came to Castillo,
- 17:57Speaker 1: complaining that their heads felt very so and begging him
- 18:01Speaker 1: for relief. As soon as he had made the sign
- 18:04Speaker 1: of the Cross over them and recommended them to God,
- 18:08Speaker 1: at that very moment, the Indians said that all the
- 18:10Speaker 1: pain was gone. They went back to their abodes and
- 18:14Speaker 1: brought us many tunas and a piece of venison something
- 18:17Speaker 1: we did not know any more what it was. And
- 18:21Speaker 1: as the news spread that same night, there came many
- 18:24Speaker 1: other sick people for him to cure, and each brought
- 18:27Speaker 1: a piece of venison, and so many there were that
- 18:31Speaker 1: we did not know where to store the meat. We
- 18:34Speaker 1: thanked God for his daily increasing mercy and kindness, and
- 18:38Speaker 1: after they were all well, they began to dance and
- 18:42Speaker 1: celebrate and feast until sunrise of the day following. They
- 18:46Speaker 1: celebrated our coming for three days, at the end of
- 18:49Speaker 1: which we asked them about the land, further on the people,
- 18:53Speaker 1: and the food that there might be obtained. They replied
- 18:57Speaker 1: there was plenty of tunas all through that country, but
- 19:00Speaker 1: that the season was over and nobody there because all
- 19:04Speaker 1: had gone to their abodes after gathering tunas. Also that
- 19:08Speaker 1: the country was very cold, and very few hides in it.
- 19:13Speaker 1: Hearing this, and as winter and cold weather were setting in,
- 19:16Speaker 1: we determined to spend it with those Indians. Five days
- 19:20Speaker 1: after our arrival, they left to get more tunas at
- 19:23Speaker 1: a place where people of a different nation and language lived. And,
- 19:28Speaker 1: having traveled five days, suffering greatly from hunger, as on
- 19:33Speaker 1: the way there were neither tunas nor any kind of fruit,
- 19:36Speaker 1: we came to a river where we pitched our lodges.
- 19:40Speaker 1: As soon as we were settled, we went out to
- 19:43Speaker 1: hunt for the fruit of certain trees, which are like
- 19:46Speaker 1: spring bittervetch or robus. And as through all that country
- 19:50Speaker 1: there are no trails, I lost too much time in
- 19:54Speaker 1: hunting for them. The people returned without me, and starting
- 19:58Speaker 1: to rejoin them, that night I went astray and got lost.
- 20:02Speaker 1: It pleased God to let me find a burning tree
- 20:05Speaker 1: by the fire of which I spent that very cold night,
- 20:09Speaker 1: and in the morning loaded myself with wood, took two
- 20:13Speaker 1: burning sticks, and continued my journey. Thus I went on
- 20:17Speaker 1: for five days, always with my fire brands and load
- 20:21Speaker 1: of wood, so that in case the fire went out
- 20:24Speaker 1: where there was no timber, as in many parts there
- 20:27Speaker 1: is none, I always would have wherewith to make other
- 20:30Speaker 1: torches and not be without firewood. It was my only
- 20:34Speaker 1: protection against the cold, for I went as naked as
- 20:38Speaker 1: a new born child for the night. I used the
- 20:41Speaker 1: following artifice. I went to the brush in the timber
- 20:45Speaker 1: near the rivers, and stopped in it every evening before sunset.
- 20:50Speaker 1: Then I scratched a hole in the ground and threw
- 20:53Speaker 1: in it much firewood from the numerous trees. I also
- 20:56Speaker 1: picked up dry wood that had fallen, and built around
- 20:59Speaker 1: the hole four fires crosswise, being very careful to stir
- 21:04Speaker 1: them from time to time. Of the long grass that
- 21:07Speaker 1: grows there, I made bundles with which I covered myself
- 21:11Speaker 1: in that hole, and so was protected from the night cold.
- 21:15Speaker 1: But one night fire fell on the straw with which
- 21:18Speaker 1: I was covered, and while I was asleep in the hole,
- 21:21Speaker 1: it began to burn so rapidly that although I hurried
- 21:25Speaker 1: out as quick as possible, I still have marks on
- 21:28Speaker 1: my hair from this dangerous accident. During all that time
- 21:32Speaker 1: I did not eat a mouthful, nor could I find
- 21:35Speaker 1: anything to eat, and my feet, being bare bled a
- 21:39Speaker 1: great deal. God had mercy upon me that in all
- 21:43Speaker 1: this time there was no norther. Otherwise I could not
- 21:47Speaker 1: have survived. At the end of five days, I reached
- 21:51Speaker 1: the shores of a river, and there met my Indians.
- 21:55Speaker 1: They as well as the Christians, had given me up
- 21:57Speaker 1: for dead, thinking that perhaps some snow had bidden me.
- 22:01Speaker 1: They all were greatly pleased to see me, the Christians especially,
- 22:05Speaker 1: and told me that thus far they had wandered about
- 22:08Speaker 1: famishing and therefore had not hunted for me, and that
- 22:11Speaker 1: night they gave me of their tunas. On the next
- 22:14Speaker 1: day we left and went where we found a great
- 22:17Speaker 1: many of that fruit, with which all appeased their hunger,
- 22:20Speaker 1: and we gave many thanks to our Lord, whose help
- 22:23Speaker 1: to us never failed. Early the next day many Indians
- 22:28Speaker 1: came and brought five people who were paralyzed and very ill,
- 22:32Speaker 1: and they came for Castillo to cure them. Every one
- 22:36Speaker 1: of the patients offered him his bow and arrows, which
- 22:40Speaker 1: he accepted, and by sunset he made the sign of
- 22:43Speaker 1: the Cross over each of the sick, recommending them to God,
- 22:47Speaker 1: our Lord, and we all prayed to him as well
- 22:50Speaker 1: as we could to restore them to health, and he,
- 22:54Speaker 1: seeing there was no other way of getting those people
- 22:57Speaker 1: to help us, so that we might be saved from
- 23:00Speaker 1: our miserable existence had mercy upon us, and in the
- 23:05Speaker 1: morning all woke up well and hearty, and went away
- 23:08Speaker 1: in such good health as if they never had had
- 23:11Speaker 1: any ailment whatever. This caused them great admiration and moved
- 23:17Speaker 1: us to thanks to our Lord, and to greater faith
- 23:20Speaker 1: in his goodness, and the hope that he would save us,
- 23:24Speaker 1: guiding us to where we could serve him. For myself,
- 23:27Speaker 1: I may say that I always had full faith in
- 23:30Speaker 1: his mercy, and that he would liberate me from captivity,
- 23:34Speaker 1: and always told my companions. So when the Indians had
- 23:39Speaker 1: gone and taken along those recently cured, we removed to
- 23:42Speaker 1: others that were eating tunas also called cultalchuches and malcones,
- 23:48Speaker 1: which speak a different language. And with them were others
- 23:51Speaker 1: called Coaios and Susolus, and on another side those called Ataios,
- 23:57Speaker 1: who were at war with the Suslus and exchanging aeroshots
- 24:01Speaker 1: with them every day. Nothing was talked about in this
- 24:05Speaker 1: whole country but the wonderful cures which God our Lord
- 24:09Speaker 1: performed through us. And so they came from many places
- 24:12Speaker 1: to be cured. And after having been with us two days,
- 24:17Speaker 1: some Indians of the soussoulis begged Castile to go and
- 24:20Speaker 1: attend to a man who had been wounded, as well
- 24:24Speaker 1: as to others that were sick, and among whom they
- 24:27Speaker 1: said was one on the point of death. Castillo was
- 24:31Speaker 1: very timid, especially in difficult and dangerous cases, and always
- 24:36Speaker 1: afraid that his sins might interfere and prevent the cures
- 24:40Speaker 1: from being effective. Therefore, the Indians told me to go
- 24:44Speaker 1: and perform the cure. They liked me, remembering that I
- 24:48Speaker 1: had relieved them while they were out gathering nuts, for
- 24:51Speaker 1: which they had given us nuts and hides. This had
- 24:55Speaker 1: happened at the time I was coming to join the Christians,
- 24:58Speaker 1: so I had to go, and Dorantes and Istevanico went
- 25:02Speaker 1: with me. When I came close to their ranches, I
- 25:05Speaker 1: saw that the dying man we had been called to
- 25:07Speaker 1: cure was dead, for there were many people around him weeping,
- 25:12Speaker 1: and his lodge was torn down, which is a sign
- 25:15Speaker 1: that the owner has died. I found the Indian with
- 25:18Speaker 1: eyes upturned, without pulse, and with all the marks of lifelessness,
- 25:23Speaker 1: at least so it seemed to me, and Dorantes said
- 25:26Speaker 1: the same. I removed a mat with which he was covered,
- 25:30Speaker 1: and as best I could, prayed to our Lord to
- 25:33Speaker 1: restore his health, as well as that of all the
- 25:36Speaker 1: others who might be in need of it. And after
- 25:39Speaker 1: having made the sign of the cross and breathed on
- 25:41Speaker 1: him many times, they brought his bow and presented it
- 25:45Speaker 1: to me and a basket of ground tunas, and took
- 25:49Speaker 1: me to many others who were suffering from vertigo. They
- 25:53Speaker 1: gave me two more baskets of tuna's, which I left
- 25:56Speaker 1: to the Indians that had come with us. Then we
- 25:59Speaker 1: returned to our quarters. Our Indians to whom I had
- 26:02Speaker 1: given the tunas, remained there, and at night returned, telling
- 26:07Speaker 1: that the dead man whom I attended to in their presence,
- 26:11Speaker 1: had resuscitated, rising from his bed, had walked about, eaten
- 26:17Speaker 1: and talked to them, and that all those treated by
- 26:20Speaker 1: me were well and in very good spirits. This caused
- 26:24Speaker 1: great surprise and awe, and all over the land nothing
- 26:28Speaker 1: else was spoken of all who heard. It came to
- 26:31Speaker 1: us that we might cure them and blest their children.
- 26:34Speaker 1: And when the Indians in our company, who were the Quitalchuches,
- 26:38Speaker 1: had to return to their country, before parting, they offered
- 26:42Speaker 1: us all the tunas they had for their journey, not
- 26:45Speaker 1: keeping a single one, and gave us flintstones as long
- 26:49Speaker 1: as one and a half palms with which they cut,
- 26:53Speaker 1: and that are greatly prized among them. They begged us
- 26:56Speaker 1: to remember them and pray to God to keep them
- 26:59Speaker 1: always healthy, which we promised to do, And so they
- 27:02Speaker 1: left the happiest people upon earth, having given us the
- 27:07Speaker 1: very best they had. We remained with the Abbavades Indians
- 27:11Speaker 1: for eight months, according to our reckoning of the moons.
- 27:14Speaker 1: During that time they came for us from many places
- 27:18Speaker 1: and said that verily we were children of the sun.
- 27:21Speaker 1: Until then, Doranthes and the Negro had not made any cures.
- 27:25Speaker 1: But we found ourselves so pressed by the Indians coming
- 27:28Speaker 1: from all sides, that all of us had to become medicine.
- 27:32Speaker 1: Men I was the most daring and reckless of all
- 27:35Speaker 1: in undertaking cures. We never treated any one that did
- 27:39Speaker 1: not afterwards say he was well. And they had such
- 27:43Speaker 1: confidence in our skill as to believe that none of
- 27:46Speaker 1: them would die as long as we were among them.
- 27:50Speaker 1: End of Section five.