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01 - Journey of Alvar Núñez Cabeza de Vaca by Alvar Núñez Cabeza de Vaca · Journey of Alvar Nunez Cabeza de Vaca

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Speaker 1: Introduction to the Journey of Alvar Nunius Cabesa Devaca and
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Speaker 1: his Companions from Florida to the Pacific fifteen twenty eight,
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Speaker 1: fifteen thirty six. This is a LibriVox recording. All LibriVox
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Speaker 1: recordings are in the public domain. For more information or
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Speaker 1: a volunteer, please visit LibriVox dot org. Recording by Sue Anderson,
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Speaker 1: The Journey of Alvar Nunius Cabsa Devaca and his Companions
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Speaker 1: from Florida to the Pacific fifteen twenty eight, fifteen thirty six,
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Speaker 1: translated by Fanny Bandelier. Introduction. This volume offers the original
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Speaker 1: narrative of the first white man to cross North America,
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Speaker 1: the remarkable journey of Alvar Nunius Cabsa Devaca Andres Dorantes,
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Speaker 1: Alonso del Castillo, Maldonado and the more Estevanico from Florida
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Speaker 1: to northwestern Mexico, Sonora and Sinaloa near the Pacific coast,
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Speaker 1: and dates the expeditions of Coronado and de Soto, whose
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Speaker 1: histories have already been published in The Trail Makers. Nevertheless,
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Speaker 1: it is proper to publish his narrative later compared with
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Speaker 1: either of them. The Journey of Cavesa Devaca and his
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Speaker 1: companions is an episode important, but an incident brought about
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Speaker 1: by a disastrous failure. This history describes the only and
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Speaker 1: comparatively meager results of the expedition undertaken by Panfilo de
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Speaker 1: Narvais in fifteen twenty seven, and an outcome which had
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Speaker 1: nothing more to do with Narvis and his ill conducted scheme.
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Speaker 1: Yet it is certain that the appearance of Cavesa Devaca
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Speaker 1: and his fellow sufferers at Culia Khan and their statements
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Speaker 1: directed the attention of the Spanish authorities at the young
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Speaker 1: city of Mexico to the north, more than the reports
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Speaker 1: about the Seven Cities and the raids which Nunio de
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Speaker 1: Gusman had made in that direction. Nevertheless, the importance of
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Speaker 1: the story of Cabasa Devaca must not be overestimated. A
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Speaker 1: perusal of the narrative shows that the forlorn wanderers were, not,
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Speaker 1: as it has long been admitted, the discoverers of New Mexico.
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Speaker 1: They never saw, nor do they claim to have seen,
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Speaker 1: any of the so called pueblos. They only heard of
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Speaker 1: them in a more or less confused manner. On the
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Speaker 1: other hand, more precise than their information on this point
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Speaker 1: is what they said about the plains their Indians, and
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Speaker 1: it seems above all doubt that the first knowledge of
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Speaker 1: the American bison or buffalo is due to their descriptions
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Speaker 1: on the minds of the Spanish occupants of Mexico, especially
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Speaker 1: on what may be called the floating population, fortunately large
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Speaker 1: at the time as everywhere in newly occupied countries. The
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Speaker 1: impression of the feat performed by the travelers and the
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Speaker 1: tale of their unequaled sufferings produced a much greater effect
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Speaker 1: than on the authorities. The people saw in their reports
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Speaker 1: and outlined for a possible advance into the unknown beyond.
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Speaker 1: The picture of the country to verse was in the
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Speaker 1: main not enticing, but the allusion to permanent settlements beyond
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Speaker 1: the unprepossessing plains was looked upon as full of promise.
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Speaker 1: The outcome was a moderate excitement among the adventuress and
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Speaker 1: the idol and this excitement was ably taken advantage of
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Speaker 1: by the Viceroy of New Spain, Don Antonio de Mendoza.
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Speaker 1: This high functionary, as sagacious as he was cautious, regarded
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Speaker 1: the real merits of Cabasa Devaca, who is the representative
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Speaker 1: figure in the whole episode with reserve. On February eleventh,
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Speaker 1: Old Style fifteen thirty seven, he wrote to the Empress
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Speaker 1: recommending Cabesa Devaca and Dorantes. The letter mentions Dorantes, but
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Speaker 1: it was Castillo who went to Spain with Cabasa Devaca,
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Speaker 1: recommending Cabsa Devaca and Dorantes to the benevolence of the Monarch.
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Speaker 1: In consideration of what they have done in it this
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Speaker 1: country and suffered, and their disposition to continue there and
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Speaker 1: hear wherever they may be sent, he does not seem
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Speaker 1: to attach more than a modest importance to the practical
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Speaker 1: results of their adventures. In that same letter, he states
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Speaker 1: that the wanderers had already made a report to him
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Speaker 1: on their journey, which report he had sent to the
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Speaker 1: Empress previously. It cannot be the one contained in Oviedo's
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Speaker 1: Historia General in natural the Indias edition of eighteen fifty,
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Speaker 1: Volume three, book thirty five, since the latter was directed
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Speaker 1: to the Audiencia of Santa Domingo. There is a fragment
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Speaker 1: of relacion attributed to Cabasa Devaca alone without date, in
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Speaker 1: volume fourteen of the Documentos in Editos de Indias. It
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Speaker 1: reads like a resume or condensation of the narrative presented
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Speaker 1: in this volume. This fragment terminates abruptly at the time
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Speaker 1: when a meeting of Cabasa, Devaca and Dorantes was being prepared.
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Speaker 1: It is entitled Relacion de cavesea Devaca tesrero cuefoe en
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Speaker 1: la Conquista and preceded by a truncated copy of the
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Speaker 1: directions which the King issued to Cabasa Devaca as factor
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Speaker 1: of the expedition. Whether this document, noticed in the index
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Speaker 1: under a very misleading title is perhaps the first report
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Speaker 1: mentioned in the letter of Mendoza from February fifteen thirty seven.
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Speaker 1: I am unable to decide thus far, but there are
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Speaker 1: some indications favoring the supposition. The influence which the return
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Speaker 1: and reports of Cabesa, Devaca and companions may have had
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Speaker 1: upon the subsequent enterprise of Ernando de Soto was, if
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Speaker 1: any but slight. The contract made with the latter by
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Speaker 1: the Crown on April twentieth, fifteen thirty seven. Documentos the Indias,
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Speaker 1: Volume twenty two, pages five thirty four to five forty six,
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Speaker 1: Capitolacion Keesitomoco Nando de Soto baraconquistar ipoblar des del Rio
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Speaker 1: de las palomas As de la Florida does not permit
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Speaker 1: any conclusion on this point. The first report of the
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Speaker 1: outcasts had probably reached Spain before that time, but on
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Speaker 1: August fifteenth of the same year, Cabesa Devaca was still
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Speaker 1: at Lisbon. The statements of other survivors of the expedition
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Speaker 1: of narvais mentioned at the close of our narrative as
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Speaker 1: having been met by Cabsa Devaca in Mexico and in Spain,
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Speaker 1: cannot have been very encouraging to a fresh attempt at
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Speaker 1: penetrating Florida. Still, Soto tried to enlist the services of
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Speaker 1: Cabsa Devaca, but failed. Of the biography of Cabsa Devaca,
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Speaker 1: only such portions are well known as related to his
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Speaker 1: career in America. It is also known that he was
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Speaker 1: born in Heres de la Frontera in Spain, and hence
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Speaker 1: was an Andalusian. His father, according to Oviedo, was Francisco
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Speaker 1: de Vera, son of the Spanish conqueror of the Canaries,
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Speaker 1: Pedro de Vera. His mother was Teresa Cavesea Devaca, a
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Speaker 1: native of Heres. Why he assumed the name of his
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Speaker 1: mother in place of his paternal appellative I am unable
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Speaker 1: to state. The family of Cabsa Devaca bore originally the
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Speaker 1: name Alaja. They were simple peasants until after the Battle
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Speaker 1: of Los Novas de Tolosa on July eleventh, twelve twelve,
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Speaker 1: which the kings of Castile, Aragon and Novara gained over
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Speaker 1: the Moors. A few days before the battle, a shepherd
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Speaker 1: by the name of Allaha offered to show the Christian
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Speaker 1: forces a path by which they might circumvent the mountain
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Speaker 1: passes held by the Moors. In strong force. To indicate it,
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Speaker 1: he placed at the entrance of the defile the skull
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Speaker 1: of a cow. In recompense for this eminent service, Martin Allaha,
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Speaker 1: until then a humble shepherd was ennobled, and he changed
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Speaker 1: his name into that of Cabeza Devaca, head of a cow,
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Speaker 1: literally in memory of the origin of his improved social condition.
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Speaker 1: Several of his descendants held comparatively high positions, among them
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Speaker 1: Don Pero Fernandez Cabeza Devaca, elected Grand Master of the
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Speaker 1: Order of Knights of Saint James in thirteen eighty three.
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Speaker 1: The career of Alvar Nunis Cavesa Devaca in America was
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Speaker 1: particularly unfortunate. After the disastrous termination of Narvaz's expedition and
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Speaker 1: his almost miraculous return to Spain, he obtained, as a
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Speaker 1: reward for his sufferings, the position of governor of the
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Speaker 1: settlements on the La Plata River, vacant since the death
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Speaker 1: of Pedro de Mendosa. Reaching his post in fifteen forty one,
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Speaker 1: he soon became the object of sinister intrigues on the
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Speaker 1: part of his subordinates. The animosity against him broke out
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Speaker 1: in fifteen forty three in open revolt. He was seized
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Speaker 1: and sent to Spain as a prisoner. His mild captivity
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Speaker 1: there lasted eight years. It is asserted that he lived
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Speaker 1: in severe to an advanced age and occupied up to
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Speaker 1: his demise, the date of which I have not yet
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Speaker 1: been able to find an honorable and fairly lucrative position.
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Speaker 1: Concerning the conduct of Cabeza Devaca as governor on the
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Speaker 1: La Plata or Parana, the opinions of eyewitnesses are divided.
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Speaker 1: Some speak in his favor, Others, like the German ulric
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Speaker 1: or Huldric Schmiedel of Straubing, accused him of haughty demeanor
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Speaker 1: towards his men and cruelty Oviedo, who knew him personally
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Speaker 1: and conversed with him on the matter, is noncommittal. It
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Speaker 1: seems likely that Cabeesa Devaca was an honest and well
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Speaker 1: intentioned man, and he may have been a good subaltern,
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Speaker 1: but unfit for superior command. Hence he proved a failure
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Speaker 1: as soon as raised to a position beyond the scope
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Speaker 1: of his abilities. Of the three companions of Cabasa Devaca,
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Speaker 1: little is known. Andres Dorantes, who had been a captain
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Speaker 1: with Narvais, was the son of Pablo Dorantes, a native
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Speaker 1: of Hibra. Leon Castilla Maldonado was from Salamanca and the
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Speaker 1: son of doctor Castillo Ildonza Maldonado. He is said to
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Speaker 1: have remained in Spain, whereas Dorantes stayed in Mexico and
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Speaker 1: entered in fifteen thirty eight into an agreement with the
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Speaker 1: Viceroy for a journey of exploration to the north or
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Speaker 1: sing the law. It was never carried out. Lastly, the
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Speaker 1: quotes Negro A Stevanico was an Arab more from the
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Speaker 1: town of Azamor on the Atlantic coast of Morocco. It
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Speaker 1: is therefore not unlikely that he was not a Negro
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Speaker 1: proper but from one or other of the tribes of
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Speaker 1: the desert. His subsequent fate is well known. As guide
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Speaker 1: and advanced scout of Father Marcos of Nisa. He became
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Speaker 1: the victim of his own imprudence or lack of understanding
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Speaker 1: of the differences in customs and beliefs between Indian tribes
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Speaker 1: far distant from each other. It is well known that
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Speaker 1: Cabsa Devaca wrote two principal works, both of which were
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Speaker 1: published at Via delid in fifteen fifty five by Francisco
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Speaker 1: Fernandez de Cordova. The first one of these two books
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Speaker 1: is a second issue of the one translated here. The
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Speaker 1: other gives an account of his vicissitudes in Paraguay and
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Speaker 1: what is now the Argentine Republic, and bears the title
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Speaker 1: of Commentarios de alvar Nuniz Caveesa Devaca a de Lantado
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Speaker 1: Ego Bernardo del Rio de la Plata. The print from
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Speaker 1: fifteen fifty five is the earliest known of the Commentarios
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Speaker 1: of the now Frajios here translated an earlier issue has
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Speaker 1: been found. Only two copies of it are known, one
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Speaker 1: which is perfect is at the Lenox branch of the
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Speaker 1: Public Library of New York. The other somewhat damaged at
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Speaker 1: the British Museum. This oldest print of the now Frajios
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Speaker 1: is from fifteen forty two and was published at Zamora.
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Speaker 1: Its text has been followed exclusively in this translation. The
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Speaker 1: reduced photographic reproductions of the title pages of both editions
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Speaker 1: and of the colophon of the first edition give an
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Speaker 1: idea of the appearance of both of these books, the
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Speaker 1: extreme rarity of which makes it difficult for the general
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Speaker 1: reader to see them. Both are small quartos. The fifteen
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Speaker 1: forty two edition has no headings for the chapters, and
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Speaker 1: this has been followed here. Ouvievo, who gives the text
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Speaker 1: in full of the letter handed to the Audiencia of
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Speaker 1: Santa Domingo Bikabsa, Devaca and Castillo when they touched that
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Speaker 1: port on their return to Spain in fifteen thirty seven,
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Speaker 1: has used the fifteen forty two print for comparison with
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Speaker 1: that letter. The second edition appeared two years before his death,
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Speaker 1: which occurred in fifteen fifty seven, but it is manifest
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Speaker 1: that he did not use it. Comparing the Letter to
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Speaker 1: the Audiensia with the Book of Cabsa Devaca Oviedo inclines
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Speaker 1: in favor of the former, he remarks, but in a
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Speaker 1: certain way, I hold the report of the three to
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Speaker 1: be good and more clear than the other one, which
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Speaker 1: a single man made and has had printed, et cetera.
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Speaker 1: But Cabeza Devaca was one of the three who framed
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Speaker 1: the letter to the Audiencia, and this document is merely
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Speaker 1: a more concise narration than his book, and does not,
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Speaker 1: on important points conflict with it. The latter was written
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Speaker 1: in Spain when the author had leisure to recollect and
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Speaker 1: to write in a footnote. I have alluded to the
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Speaker 1: statement made in the book about little bags filled with silver,
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Speaker 1: which Oviedo says contained only mica. This, however, he distinctly
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Speaker 1: attributes to a misprint, not to a misstatement by the author.
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Speaker 1: On the whole, the difference between the two documents is
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Speaker 1: so slight that there has been no occasion to publish
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Speaker 1: the Letter to the Ariensia. Also, Ovievo mentions Andres Dorantes
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Speaker 1: among the signers of the letter, which was, as he states,
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Speaker 1: sent to the Ariensia at Santo Domingo from Havana. Cabesa
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Speaker 1: Devaca affirms Dorantes remained at Vera Cruz and thence went
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Speaker 1: back to Mexico. This is fully established by the communications
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Speaker 1: of the Viceroy Mendoza. Notwithstanding hereress he returned to Spain
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Speaker 1: with his companions. The objection may be removed, however, by supposing,
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Speaker 1: as is very likely, that the letter was written in
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Speaker 1: Mexico when the three were still together. A very serious
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Speaker 1: objection to the credibility of the three narratives, however, arises
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Speaker 1: from the fact that all are based upon recollections only,
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Speaker 1: and not upon journals or field notes of any kind.
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Speaker 1: It was, of course impossible for the outcasts, shifted and
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Speaker 1: shifting from tribe to tribe, to keep any written record
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Speaker 1: of their trip. Many of their descriptions are not therefore
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Speaker 1: expected to be fully accurate. At the end of the
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Speaker 1: eight years of constant misfortune and suffering, memory clings most
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Speaker 1: to personal vicissitudes, and the narrative of these does not
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Speaker 1: appear exaggerated. The descriptions of the countries traversed, superficial as
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Speaker 1: they must be, still leave some recognizable data, and so
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Speaker 1: do the descriptions of plants and animals. It is acknowledged
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Speaker 1: that through Kabasa Devaka, the first knowledge of the buffalo
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Speaker 1: reached Europe, and his description of the hunchbacked cows. While
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Speaker 1: very brief, is quite accurate. Descriptions of customs and habits
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Speaker 1: of Indian tribes or bands, especially of such as lived
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Speaker 1: east of the Rio Grande, must of course be accepted
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Speaker 1: with proper reserve. Still, many may yet prove to be
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Speaker 1: of ethnologic value. The general picture of the condition of
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Speaker 1: these tribes is very likely to be exact, while on
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Speaker 1: the other hand, many details are probably misstated through having
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Speaker 1: been misunderstood or superficially observed. It might be worth while
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Speaker 1: to make a special study of these ethnographic data and
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Speaker 1: compare them with whatever material of the kind has been
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Speaker 1: placed on record by subsequent explorers and narrators. In the
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Speaker 1: statements regarding the faith cures which the travelers claim to
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Speaker 1: have performed, and to which they attribute the success of
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Speaker 1: their desperate attempt to cross the continent, there is truth
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Speaker 1: as well as honest delusion, And in medicine itself bases
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Speaker 1: largely upon conceptions of the kind, and empirical hypnotism plays
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Speaker 1: a part in the performances of their medicine. Men Cabasa
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Speaker 1: Devaka unconsciously and by distinct methods, imitated the Indian Shamans,
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Speaker 1: and probably succeeded in at least many cases, since the
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Speaker 1: procedure was new and striking. That they attributed their success
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Speaker 1: to the direct aid of divine power was in strict
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Speaker 1: accordance with the spirit of the times, and by no
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Speaker 1: means to their discredit. On the contrary, there is a
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Speaker 1: commendable modesty in their disclaimer of merits of their own.
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Speaker 1: It should also not be forgotten that men, in their
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Speaker 1: exceptional situation, without reasonable hope of salvation, relentlessly persecuted by
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Speaker 1: misfortune and the worst hardships for many years, have their
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Speaker 1: imagination finally raised to the highest pitch, and exaggerations and
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Speaker 1: misconceptions become therefore excusable. There is no doubt that they
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Speaker 1: sincerely believe their own statements. Not only the times must
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Speaker 1: be taken into account when judgment is passed, but also
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Speaker 1: the violent strain under which they labored for such a
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Speaker 1: long period. In regard to the route followed by the outcasts,
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Speaker 1: there are but few ascertained points. Opinions vary so much
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Speaker 1: that I shall not attempt to trace the course of
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Speaker 1: their wanderings, except by referring to the sketch map appended.
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Speaker 1: The root traced is a mere suggestion of possible approximations
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Speaker 1: as stated on it. It will certainly be modified by
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Speaker 1: the results of investigations in the countries themselves, which I
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Speaker 1: have not been and am not able to carry on myself.
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Speaker 1: It seems, however, that the overland journey of the four
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Speaker 1: began at some point west of the Mississippi, and that
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Speaker 1: they successively traversed the state of Texas and the northern
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Speaker 1: part of the Mexican Republic into central Sonora. It is
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Speaker 1: not likely they touched New Mexico, and they certainly never
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Speaker 1: saw the New Mexican pueblos, but heard of them in Sonora.
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Speaker 1: Cabesa Devaca therefore but confirmed the few vague notions extant
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Speaker 1: at his time about the sedentary Indians of New Mexico,
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Speaker 1: but was not the real discoverer of that country. The
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Speaker 1: bibliography of the book of Cabesa Devaca is soon told.
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Speaker 1: In addition to the two issues often mentioned, the first
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Speaker 1: edition from fifteen forty two and the second of fifteen
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Speaker 1: fifty five, there are two more Spanish publications of it known.
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Speaker 1: The earliest is in volume two of the collection by
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Speaker 1: Andres Gonzales Barcia Estoriades Primitivos. The Indias seventeen forty nine.
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Speaker 1: Its title is now Frajos Irrelacion de la Jornada geiso
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Speaker 1: a la florido con panfilo de Narvais. The other is
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Speaker 1: found in volume two of the Estoriadores Primitivos the Indias
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Speaker 1: by Enrique de Vedia. The title of this, the text
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Speaker 1: of which was taken from the edition of fifteen fifty five,
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Speaker 1: reads now Frajos delvar nunis gabeesa Devaca I Relacion de
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Speaker 1: la Jornada queiso a la florida cornela de Lanzaro banfilo
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Speaker 1: de Narvais. It is well known that the two volumes
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Speaker 1: of Vedia's reprints of older narratives and histories touching upon
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Speaker 1: America form a part of the voluminous collection entitled Bibliotheca
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Speaker 1: del Torres Espanoles, published at Madrid, and that the two
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Speaker 1: volumes of Vedia were printed in eighteen fifty two. An
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Speaker 1: Italian version is contained in volume two of the celebrated
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Speaker 1: collection of Travels and Voyages by Jean Baptista Ramusio de
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Speaker 1: Le Navigacione Viaggi fifteen fifty six. Venice of English translations
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Speaker 1: there have appeared thus far three in Samuel Purkis His Jilgrimage, London,
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Speaker 1: sixteen twenty five, sixteen twenty six, Volume nine, Relation of
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Speaker 1: the Fleet in India, whereof Pamphilus Narvaez was governor. The
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Speaker 1: narrative of Alvar Nunis Cabsa Devaca, translated by Buckingham Smith, Washington,
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Speaker 1: eighteen fifty one. This translation is justly prized. A second
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Speaker 1: edition of it appeared in New York in eighteen seventy one,
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Speaker 1: edited by the late John Gilmary Shay. Finally, there is
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Speaker 1: a paraphrase of the book in Tales of Old Travels,
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Speaker 1: narrated by H. Kingsley, London, eighteen sixty nine. In the
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Speaker 1: French language there is the well known translation by Andre
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Speaker 1: Dernan compin date of publication eighteen thirty seven. A word
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Speaker 1: yet touching the translation here given. The narrative of Cabesa
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Speaker 1: Devaka is very difficult to translate, for the reason that
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Speaker 1: the criticism by Ouvievo about its lack of clearness is
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Speaker 1: too well founded. Many parts of chapters and also whole chapters,
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Speaker 1: are so confused that it is impossible to follow the
23:12
Speaker 1: original more than remotely, and paraphrasing had to be resorted
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Speaker 1: to Even then, in several instances the meaning remains, possibly
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Speaker 1: somewhat obscure. It is as if the author, in consequence
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Speaker 1: of long isolation and constant intercourse with people of another speech,
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Speaker 1: had lost touch with his native tongue. There is less
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Speaker 1: of this in his later work, The Commentarios, written after
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Speaker 1: a number of years of uninterrupted intercourse with his countrymen.
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Speaker 1: Signed Adolph F. Bandelier, New York City, March twenty eighth,
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Speaker 1: nineteen o five. End of introduction,