Latest / Journey of Alvar Nunez Cabeza de Vaca / 03 - Journey of Alvar Núñez Cabeza de Vaca by Alvar Núñez Cabeza de Vaca
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- 0:00Speaker 1: Section two of the Journey of Alvar Nunius Cabsa Devaca
- 0:04Speaker 1: and his Companions from Florida to the Pacific, fifteen twenty eight,
- 0:10Speaker 1: fifteen thirty six. This is a LibriVox recording. All LibriVox
- 0:15Speaker 1: recordings are in the public domain. For more information or
- 0:20Speaker 1: to volunteer, please visit LibriVox dot org. Recording by Sue Anderson,
- 0:27Speaker 1: The Journey of Alvar Nunius Cavesa Devaca and his Companions
- 0:32Speaker 1: from Florida to the Pacific, fifteen twenty eight, fifteen thirty six,
- 0:38Speaker 1: translated by Fanny Bandolier. Section two. On Saturday, the first
- 0:44Speaker 1: of May, the day on which all this had happened,
- 0:47Speaker 1: he ordered that they should give to each one of
- 0:50Speaker 1: those who had to go with him two pounds of
- 0:53Speaker 1: ship biscuit and one half pound of bacon. And thus
- 0:58Speaker 1: we set out upon our journey inland. The number of
- 1:01Speaker 1: people we took along was three hundred, among them the commissary,
- 1:05Speaker 1: Father Juan Swatis, another friar called Father Juan de Pallos,
- 1:10Speaker 1: and three priests, the officers, and forty horsemen. We marched
- 1:15Speaker 1: for fifteen days, living on the supplies we had taken
- 1:19Speaker 1: with us, without finding anything else to eat but palmettos
- 1:23Speaker 1: like those of Andalusia. In all this time we did
- 1:27Speaker 1: not meet a soul, nor did we see a house
- 1:31Speaker 1: or village, and finally reached a river, which we crossed
- 1:34Speaker 1: with much trouble by swimming and on rafts. It took
- 1:39Speaker 1: us a day to ford the river on account of
- 1:42Speaker 1: the swiftness of its current. When we got across, there
- 1:45Speaker 1: came towards us some two hundred Indians more or less.
- 1:49Speaker 1: The governor went to meet them, and after he talked
- 1:52Speaker 1: to them by signs, they acted in such a manner
- 1:55Speaker 1: that we were obliged to set upon them and seize
- 1:59Speaker 1: five or six, who took us to their houses about
- 2:02Speaker 1: half a league from there, where we found a large
- 2:06Speaker 1: quantity of corn ready for harvest. We gave infinite thanks
- 2:10Speaker 1: to our Lord for having helped us in such great need,
- 2:13Speaker 1: for as we were not used to such exposures, we
- 2:17Speaker 1: felt greatly exhausted and were very much weakened by hunger.
- 2:22Speaker 1: On the third day that we were at this place,
- 2:25Speaker 1: the purser, the inspector, the commissary, and myself jointly begged
- 2:30Speaker 1: the Governor to send out in search of a harbor,
- 2:33Speaker 1: as the Indians told us the sea was not very
- 2:35Speaker 1: far away. He forbade us to speak of it, saying
- 2:40Speaker 1: it was at a great distance. And I being the
- 2:43Speaker 1: one who most insisted, he bade me to go on
- 2:46Speaker 1: a journey of discovery and search of a port, and
- 2:50Speaker 1: said I should go on foot with forty people. So
- 2:53Speaker 1: the next day I started with the captain Alonzo del
- 2:56Speaker 1: Castillo and forty men of his company. At noon we
- 3:01Speaker 1: reached sandy patches that seemed to extend far inland for
- 3:05Speaker 1: about one and a half leagues. We walked, with the
- 3:09Speaker 1: water up to the knee and stepping on shells that
- 3:12Speaker 1: cut our feet badly. All this gave us much trouble
- 3:17Speaker 1: until we reached the river which we had crossed first,
- 3:20Speaker 1: and which emptied through the same inlet. And then, as
- 3:24Speaker 1: we were too ill provided for crossing it, we turned
- 3:27Speaker 1: back to camp and told the governor what we had
- 3:30Speaker 1: found and how it was necessary to ford the river
- 3:33Speaker 1: again at our first crossing, in order to explore the
- 3:37Speaker 1: inlet thoroughly and find out if there was a harbor.
- 3:41Speaker 1: The next day he sent a captain called Valenzuela with
- 3:45Speaker 1: sixty footmen and six horsemen to cross the river and
- 3:49Speaker 1: follow its course to the sea in search of a port.
- 3:53Speaker 1: After two days he came back reporting that he had
- 3:56Speaker 1: discovered the inlet, which was a shallow bay with water
- 4:00Speaker 1: to the knees, but he had had there no harbor.
- 4:03Speaker 1: He saw five or six canoes crossing from one side
- 4:06Speaker 1: to the other, with Indians who wore many feathered bushes.
- 4:11Speaker 1: Hearing this, we left the next day, always in quest
- 4:15Speaker 1: of the province called Appalachian by the Indians, taking as
- 4:19Speaker 1: guides those whom we had captured, and marched until the
- 4:23Speaker 1: seventeenth of June, without finding an Indian who would dare
- 4:27Speaker 1: to wait for us. Finally, there came to us a
- 4:30Speaker 1: chief whom an Indian carried on his shoulders. He wore
- 4:34Speaker 1: a painted deer skin, and many people followed him, and
- 4:38Speaker 1: he was preceded by many players on flutes made of reeds.
- 4:42Speaker 1: He came to the place where the governor was and
- 4:45Speaker 1: stayed an hour. We gave him to understand by signs
- 4:49Speaker 1: that our aim was to reach Appalachian, But from his
- 4:52Speaker 1: gestures it seemed to us that he was an enemy
- 4:55Speaker 1: of the Appalachian people, and that he would go and
- 4:58Speaker 1: help us against them. We gave him beads and little
- 5:02Speaker 1: bells and other trinkets, while he presented the governor with
- 5:05Speaker 1: the hide he wore. Then he turned back and we
- 5:09Speaker 1: followed him. That night we reached a broad and deep river,
- 5:14Speaker 1: the current of which was very strong, and as we
- 5:17Speaker 1: did not dare to cross it, we built a canoe
- 5:20Speaker 1: out of rafts and were a whole day in getting across.
- 5:24Speaker 1: If the Indians had wished to oppose us, they could
- 5:27Speaker 1: have easily impeded our passage, for even with their help
- 5:31Speaker 1: we had much trouble. One horseman, whose name was Juan Velaskis,
- 5:36Speaker 1: a native of Koyar, not willing to wait, rode into
- 5:41Speaker 1: the stream, and the strong current swept him from the horse,
- 5:45Speaker 1: and he took hold of the reins and was drowned
- 5:49Speaker 1: with the animal. The Indians of that chief, whose name
- 5:52Speaker 1: was Dulchachellen, discovered the horse and told us that we
- 5:56Speaker 1: would find him lower down the stream. So they went
- 6:00Speaker 1: after the man, and his death caused us much grief,
- 6:04Speaker 1: since until then we had not lost anybody. The horse
- 6:08Speaker 1: made a supper for many on that night beyond there,
- 6:12Speaker 1: and on the following day we reached the chief's village,
- 6:15Speaker 1: whither he sent us corn. That same night, as they
- 6:19Speaker 1: went for water, an arrow was shot at one of
- 6:22Speaker 1: the Christians, but God willed that he was not hurt.
- 6:26Speaker 1: The day after we left this place without any of
- 6:29Speaker 1: the natives having appeared, because all had fled. But further
- 6:33Speaker 1: on some Indians were seen, who showed signs of hostility,
- 6:37Speaker 1: and although we called them, they would neither come back
- 6:41Speaker 1: nor wait, but withdrew and followed in our rear. The
- 6:45Speaker 1: governor placed a few horsemen in ambush near the trail, who,
- 6:49Speaker 1: as they the Indians passed, surprised them and took three
- 6:54Speaker 1: or four Indians, whom we kept as guides. Thereafter. They
- 6:58Speaker 1: led us into a country difficult to traverse and strange
- 7:02Speaker 1: to look at, for it had very great forests, the
- 7:07Speaker 1: trees being wonderfully tall, and so many of them fallen
- 7:11Speaker 1: that they obstructed our way, so that we had to
- 7:14Speaker 1: make long detours, and with great trouble. Of the trees standing,
- 7:19Speaker 1: many were rent from top to bottom by thunderbolts, which
- 7:23Speaker 1: strike very often in that country where storms and tempests
- 7:27Speaker 1: are always frequent. With such efforts, we traveled until the
- 7:32Speaker 1: day after Saint John's Day, when we came in sight
- 7:35Speaker 1: of Appalachian, without having been noticed by the Indians of
- 7:39Speaker 1: the land. We gave many thanks to God for being
- 7:43Speaker 1: so near it, believing what we had been told about
- 7:46Speaker 1: the country to be true, and that now our sufferings
- 7:50Speaker 1: would come to an end. After the long and weary
- 7:53Speaker 1: march over bad trails. We had also suffered greatly from hunger,
- 7:58Speaker 1: for although we found occasionally, most of the time we
- 8:02Speaker 1: marched seven or eight leagues without any and many there
- 8:06Speaker 1: were among us who, besides suffering great fatigue and hunger,
- 8:11Speaker 1: had their backs covered with wounds from the weight of
- 8:14Speaker 1: the armor and other things they had to carry as
- 8:17Speaker 1: occasion required. But to find ourselves at last where we
- 8:22Speaker 1: wished to be, and where we had been assured so
- 8:26Speaker 1: much food and gold would be, had made us forget
- 8:30Speaker 1: a great deal of our hardships and weariness. Once in
- 8:35Speaker 1: side of Appalachian, the governor commanded me to enter the
- 8:38Speaker 1: village with nine horsemen and fifty foot so the inspector
- 8:43Speaker 1: and I undertook this. Upon penetrating into the village, we
- 8:48Speaker 1: found only women and boys. The men were not there
- 8:51Speaker 1: at the time, but soon while we were walking about,
- 8:55Speaker 1: they came and began to fight, shooting arrows at us.
- 9:00Speaker 1: They killed the inspector's horse, but finally fled and left us.
- 9:05Speaker 1: We found there plenty of ripe maize ready to be gathered,
- 9:08Speaker 1: and much dry corn already housed. We also found many
- 9:13Speaker 1: deer skins, and among them mantles made of thread and
- 9:16Speaker 1: of poor quality, with which the women cover parts of
- 9:20Speaker 1: their bodies. They had many vessels for grinding maize. The
- 9:24Speaker 1: village contained forty small and low houses, reared in sheltered
- 9:29Speaker 1: places out of fear of the great storms that continuously
- 9:32Speaker 1: occur in the country. The buildings are of straw, and
- 9:36Speaker 1: they are surrounded by dense timber, tall trees and numerous
- 9:41Speaker 1: water pools, where there are so many fallen trees and
- 9:45Speaker 1: of such size as to greatly obstruct and impeded circulation.
- 9:51Speaker 1: The country between our landing place and the village and
- 9:54Speaker 1: country of Appalachian is mostly level. The soil is sand
- 9:59Speaker 1: and earth. All throughout it. There are very large trees
- 10:03Speaker 1: and open forests containing nut trees, laurels, and others of
- 10:07Speaker 1: the kind called resinous cedar, juniper, water oak, pines, oak,
- 10:13Speaker 1: and low palmetto like those of Castilla. Everywhere there are
- 10:17Speaker 1: many lagoons, large and small, some very difficult to cross,
- 10:23Speaker 1: partly because they are so deep, partly because they are
- 10:26Speaker 1: covered with fallen trees. Their bottom is sandy, and in
- 10:30Speaker 1: the province of Appalachian the lagoons are much larger than
- 10:34Speaker 1: those we found previously. There is much maize in this province,
- 10:38Speaker 1: and the houses are scattered all over the country, as
- 10:42Speaker 1: much as those of the helves. The animals we saw
- 10:45Speaker 1: there were three kinds of deer, rabbits and hares, bears
- 10:50Speaker 1: and lions, and other wild beasts. Among them. One that
- 10:55Speaker 1: carries its young in a pouch on its belly as
- 10:57Speaker 1: long as the young are small, until they are able
- 11:00Speaker 1: to look for their sustenance, and even then when they
- 11:04Speaker 1: are out after food and people come, the mother does
- 11:07Speaker 1: not move until her little ones are in the pouch again.
- 11:11Speaker 1: The country is very cold, it has good pasture for cattle.
- 11:15Speaker 1: There are birds of many kinds in large numbers, geese, ducks,
- 11:21Speaker 1: wild ducks, muscovie ducks, ibis, small white herons, egrets, herons,
- 11:27Speaker 1: and partridges. We saw many falcons, marsh hawks, sparrow hawks,
- 11:33Speaker 1: pigeon hawks, and many other birds. Two hours after we
- 11:38Speaker 1: arrived at Appalachian, the Indians that had fled came back peaceably,
- 11:43Speaker 1: begging us to give back to them their women and children,
- 11:46Speaker 1: which we did. The governor, however, kept with him one
- 11:50Speaker 1: of their Kasekees, at which they became so angry as
- 11:54Speaker 1: to attack us. The following day. They did it so
- 11:57Speaker 1: swiftly and with so much audacity as to set fire
- 12:01Speaker 1: to the lodges we occupied. But when we sallied forth,
- 12:05Speaker 1: they fled to the lagoons near by, on account of
- 12:08Speaker 1: which and of the big corn patches, we could not
- 12:12Speaker 1: do them any harm beyond killing one Indian. The day after,
- 12:17Speaker 1: indians from a village on the other side came and
- 12:21Speaker 1: attacked us in the same manner, escaping in the same
- 12:24Speaker 1: way with the loss of a single man. We remained
- 12:28Speaker 1: at this village for twenty five days, making three excursions.
- 12:32Speaker 1: During the time. We found the country very thinly inhabited
- 12:36Speaker 1: and difficult to march through, owing to bad places, timber,
- 12:41Speaker 1: and lagoons. We inquired of the kaske whom we had retained,
- 12:45Speaker 1: and of the other Indians with us, who were neighbors
- 12:49Speaker 1: and enemies of them, about the condition and settlements of
- 12:52Speaker 1: the land, the quality of its people, about supplies, and
- 12:56Speaker 1: everything else. They answered each one for himself, that Appalachian
- 13:02Speaker 1: was the largest town of all, that further in less
- 13:06Speaker 1: people were met with, who were very much poorer than
- 13:09Speaker 1: those here, and that the country was thinly settled, the
- 13:13Speaker 1: inhabitants greatly scattered, and also that further inland, big lakes,
- 13:19Speaker 1: dense forests, great deserts, and wastes were met with. Then
- 13:26Speaker 1: we asked about the land to the south, its villages
- 13:29Speaker 1: and resources. They said that in that direction, and nine
- 13:33Speaker 1: days marched towards the sea was a village called Aote,
- 13:37Speaker 1: where the Indians had plenty of corn, and also beans
- 13:40Speaker 1: and melons, And that being so near the sea, they
- 13:44Speaker 1: obtained fish, and that those were their friends, seeing how
- 13:49Speaker 1: poor the country was, taking into account the unfavorable reports
- 13:53Speaker 1: about its population and everything else, And that the Indians
- 13:57Speaker 1: made constant war upon us, wounding men and horses whenever
- 14:02Speaker 1: they went for water by shooting arrows at us, which
- 14:05Speaker 1: they could do from the lagoons where we could not
- 14:07Speaker 1: reach them, And that they had killed a chief of
- 14:11Speaker 1: Tescoco called Don Pedro, whom the commissary had taken along
- 14:15Speaker 1: with him. We agreed to depart and go in search
- 14:19Speaker 1: of the sea and of the village of Aute, which
- 14:23Speaker 1: they had mentioned, and so we left, arriving there five
- 14:28Speaker 1: days After the first day, we traveled across lagoons and
- 14:32Speaker 1: trails without seeing a single Indian. On the second day, however,
- 14:37Speaker 1: we reached a lake very difficult to cross, the water
- 14:40Speaker 1: reaching to the chest, and there were a great many
- 14:44Speaker 1: fallen trees. Once in the middle of it, a number
- 14:48Speaker 1: of Indians assailed us from behind trees that concealed them
- 14:51Speaker 1: from our sight, while others were on fallen trees, and
- 14:56Speaker 1: they began to shower arrows upon us, so that many
- 14:59Speaker 1: men and horses were wounded, and before we could get
- 15:03Speaker 1: out of the lagoon, our guide was captured by them.
- 15:06Speaker 1: After we had got out, they pressed us very hard,
- 15:10Speaker 1: intending to cut us off, and it was useless to
- 15:14Speaker 1: turn upon them, for they would hide in the lake,
- 15:17Speaker 1: and from there wound both men and horses. So the
- 15:21Speaker 1: governor ordered the horsemen to dismount and attack them on foot.
- 15:26Speaker 1: The purser dismounted also, and our people attacked them again.
- 15:31Speaker 1: They fled to a lagoon, and we succeeded in holding
- 15:34Speaker 1: the trail. In this fight, some of our people were wounded.
- 15:38Speaker 1: In spite of their good armor. There were men that
- 15:41Speaker 1: day who swore they had seen two oak trees, each
- 15:45Speaker 1: as thick as the calf of a leg, shot through
- 15:48Speaker 1: and through by arrows, which is not surprising if we
- 15:52Speaker 1: consider the force and dexterity with which they shoot. I
- 15:56Speaker 1: myself saw an arrow that had penetrated the base of
- 15:59Speaker 1: a poplar tree for half a foot in length. All
- 16:03Speaker 1: the many Indians from Florida we saw were archers, and
- 16:07Speaker 1: being very tall and naked, at a distance, they appeared giants.
- 16:13Speaker 1: Those people are wonderfully built, very gaunt, and of great
- 16:17Speaker 1: strength and agility. Their bows are as thick as an arm,
- 16:21Speaker 1: from eleven to twelve spans long, shooting an arrow at
- 16:25Speaker 1: two hundred paces with unerring aim. From that crossing we
- 16:30Speaker 1: went to another similar one a league away, but while
- 16:34Speaker 1: it was half a league in length, it was also
- 16:37Speaker 1: much more difficult. There we crossed without opposition, for the Indians,
- 16:42Speaker 1: having spent all their arrows at the first place, had
- 16:45Speaker 1: nothing wherewith they would dare attack us. The next day,
- 16:49Speaker 1: while crossing a similar place, I saw the tracks of
- 16:52Speaker 1: people who went ahead of us, and I notified the governor,
- 16:56Speaker 1: who was in the rear, so that although the Indians
- 16:59Speaker 1: turned upon us. As we were on our guard, they
- 17:02Speaker 1: could do us no harm. Once on open ground, they
- 17:06Speaker 1: pursued us. Still. We attacked them twice, killing two while
- 17:11Speaker 1: they wounded me and two or three other Christians, and
- 17:14Speaker 1: entered the forest again, where we could no longer injure them.
- 17:19Speaker 1: In this manner, we marched for eight days without meeting
- 17:22Speaker 1: any more natives, until one league from the site to
- 17:26Speaker 1: which I said we were going there. As we were
- 17:29Speaker 1: marching along, indians crept up unseen and fell upon our rear.
- 17:34Speaker 1: A boy belonging to a nobleman called Aveaneda, who was
- 17:38Speaker 1: in the rear guard, gave the alarm. Aveyaneda turned back
- 17:42Speaker 1: to assist, and the Indians hit him with an arrow
- 17:45Speaker 1: on the edge of the quiras, piercing his neck nearly
- 17:48Speaker 1: through and through, so that he died on the spot,
- 17:52Speaker 1: and we carried him to aute. It took us nine
- 17:56Speaker 1: days from Appalachian to the place where we stopped, and
- 17:59Speaker 1: then we found that all the people had left and
- 18:02Speaker 1: the lodges were burnt, but there was plenty of maize, squash,
- 18:07Speaker 1: and beans, all nearly ripe and ready for harvest. We
- 18:11Speaker 1: rested there for two days. After this the governor entreated
- 18:16Speaker 1: me to go in search of the sea, as the
- 18:18Speaker 1: Indians said it was so near by, and we had,
- 18:21Speaker 1: on this march already suspected its proximity from a great
- 18:26Speaker 1: river to which we had given the name of the
- 18:28Speaker 1: Rio de la Magdalena. I left on the following day
- 18:32Speaker 1: in search of it, accompanied by the commissary, the captain Castillo,
- 18:37Speaker 1: andres Dorantes, seven horsemen and fifty foot We marched until sunset,
- 18:43Speaker 1: reaching an inlet or arm of the sea, where we
- 18:46Speaker 1: found plenty of oysters, on which the people feasted, and
- 18:50Speaker 1: we gave many thanks to God for bringing us there.
- 18:54Speaker 1: The next day I sent twenty men to reconnoiter the
- 18:57Speaker 1: coast and explore it, who returned on the day following
- 19:00Speaker 1: at nightfall, saying that these inlets and bays were very
- 19:04Speaker 1: large and went so far inland as greatly to impede
- 19:08Speaker 1: our investigations, and that the coast was still at a
- 19:12Speaker 1: great distance. Hearing this, and considering how ill prepared we
- 19:17Speaker 1: were for the task, I returned to where the governor was.
- 19:21Speaker 1: We found him sick, together with many others. The night
- 19:25Speaker 1: before Indians had made an attack, putting them in great stress.
- 19:29Speaker 1: Owing to their enfeebled condition. The Indians had also killed
- 19:34Speaker 1: one of their horses. I reported upon my journey and
- 19:37Speaker 1: on the bad condition of the country. That day we
- 19:41Speaker 1: remained there. On the next day we left aute and
- 19:46Speaker 1: marched all day to the spot I had visited on
- 19:49Speaker 1: my last exploration. Our march was extremely difficult, for neither
- 19:54Speaker 1: had we horses enough to carry the sick, nor did
- 19:57Speaker 1: we know how to relieve them. They became worse every day,
- 20:01Speaker 1: and our sufferings were afflicting. There it became manifest how
- 20:06Speaker 1: few resources we had for going further, and even in
- 20:10Speaker 1: case we had been provided, we did not know where
- 20:14Speaker 1: to go. Our men were mostly sick and too much
- 20:17Speaker 1: out of condition to be of any use. Whatever I
- 20:21Speaker 1: refrain from making a long story of it, anyone can
- 20:25Speaker 1: imagine what might be experienced in a land so strange
- 20:29Speaker 1: and so utterly without resources of any kind, either for
- 20:33Speaker 1: stay or for an escape. Nevertheless, since the surest aid
- 20:39Speaker 1: was God our lord, and since we never doubted of it,
- 20:43Speaker 1: something happened that put us in a worse plight. Yet
- 20:47Speaker 1: most of the horsemen began to leave in secret, hoping
- 20:51Speaker 1: thus to save themselves, forsaking the governor and the sick,
- 20:55Speaker 1: who were helpless still, as among them were many of
- 20:59Speaker 1: good families and of rank, they would not suffer this
- 21:04Speaker 1: to happen unbeknown to the Governor and Your Majesty's officials,
- 21:08Speaker 1: so that when we remonstrated, showing at what an unseasonable
- 21:12Speaker 1: time they were leaving their captain and the sick, and
- 21:16Speaker 1: above all forsaking Your Majesty's service, they concluded to stay
- 21:21Speaker 1: and share the fate of all, without abandoning one another.
- 21:26Speaker 1: The Governor thereupon called them to his presence altogether, and
- 21:31Speaker 1: each one in particular, asking their opinion about this dismal country,
- 21:36Speaker 1: so as to be able to get out of it
- 21:38Speaker 1: and seek relief, for in that land there was none.
- 21:43Speaker 1: One third of our people were dangerously ill, getting worse hourly,
- 21:48Speaker 1: and we felt sure of meeting the same fate, with
- 21:51Speaker 1: death as our only prospect, which in such a country
- 21:55Speaker 1: was much worse. Yet, and considering these and many other
- 21:59Speaker 1: inner conveniences, and that we had tried many expedients, we
- 22:04Speaker 1: finally resorted to a very difficult one, which was to
- 22:10Speaker 1: build some craft in which to leave the land. It
- 22:14Speaker 1: seemed impossible, as none of us knew how to construct ships,
- 22:19Speaker 1: we had no tools, no iron, no smithry, no oakum,
- 22:25Speaker 1: no pitch, no tackling. Finally, nothing of what was indispensable.
- 22:31Speaker 1: Neither was there anybody to instruct us in shipbuilding. And
- 22:35Speaker 1: above all, there was nothing to eat while the work
- 22:39Speaker 1: was going on for those who would have to perform
- 22:42Speaker 1: the task. Considering all this, we agreed to think it over.
- 22:48Speaker 1: Our parley ceased for that day, and everyone went off,
- 22:52Speaker 1: leaving it to God, our lord, to put him on
- 22:55Speaker 1: the right road according to his pleasure. The next day,
- 23:01Speaker 1: God provided that one of the men should come, saying
- 23:05Speaker 1: that he would make wooden flues and bellows of deer skin.
- 23:09Speaker 1: And as we were in such a state that anything
- 23:12Speaker 1: appearing like relief seemed acceptable, we told him to go
- 23:16Speaker 1: to work, and agreed to make of our stirrups, spurs,
- 23:21Speaker 1: crossbows and other iron implements the nails, saws and hatchets,
- 23:28Speaker 1: and other tools we so greatly needed for our purpose.
- 23:33Speaker 1: In order to obtain food while the work proposed was
- 23:36Speaker 1: in progress, we determined upon four successive raids in Dauta
- 23:41Speaker 1: with all the horses and men that were fit for service,
- 23:45Speaker 1: and that on every third day a horse should be killed,
- 23:48Speaker 1: and the meat distributed among those who worked at the
- 23:51Speaker 1: barges and among the sick. The raids were executed with
- 23:55Speaker 1: such people and horses as were able, and they brought
- 23:59Speaker 1: as many as four hundred fanegas of maize, although not
- 24:03Speaker 1: without armed opposition from the Indians. We gathered plenty of palmettos,
- 24:08Speaker 1: using their fiber and husk, twisting and preparing it in
- 24:12Speaker 1: place of oakum for the barges. The work on these
- 24:16Speaker 1: was done by the only carpenter we had, and progressed
- 24:19Speaker 1: so rapidly that beginning on the fourth day of August,
- 24:24Speaker 1: on the twentieth day of the month of September, five
- 24:28Speaker 1: barges of twenty two elbow lengths each were ready cocked
- 24:33Speaker 1: with palmetto oakum and tarred with pitch, which a Greek
- 24:37Speaker 1: called Don Teodoro made from certain pines. Of the husk
- 24:42Speaker 1: of palmettos, and of the tails and manes of the horses,
- 24:45Speaker 1: we made ropes and tackles. Of our shirts, sails, and
- 24:50Speaker 1: of the junipers that grew there we made the oars
- 24:54Speaker 1: which we thought were necessary. And such was the stress
- 24:57Speaker 1: in which our sins had placed us, that only with
- 25:00Speaker 1: very great trouble could we find stones for ballast and
- 25:04Speaker 1: anchors of the barges, for we had not seen a
- 25:07Speaker 1: stone in the whole country. We flayed the legs of
- 25:11Speaker 1: the horses and tanned the skin to make leather pouches
- 25:14Speaker 1: for carrying water. During that time, some of the party
- 25:18Speaker 1: went to the coves and inlets for sea food, and
- 25:21Speaker 1: the Indians surprised them twice, killing ten of our men
- 25:25Speaker 1: in plain view of the camp, without our being able
- 25:28Speaker 1: to prevent it. We found them shot through and through
- 25:32Speaker 1: with arrows, for although several wore good armor, it was
- 25:36Speaker 1: not sufficient to protect them, since, as I said before,
- 25:41Speaker 1: they shot their arrows with such force and precision. According
- 25:45Speaker 1: to the sworn statements of our pilots, we had traveled
- 25:48Speaker 1: from the bay to which we gave the name of
- 25:50Speaker 1: the Cross, to this place two hundred and eighty leagues
- 25:55Speaker 1: more or less. In all these parts we sought no
- 25:59Speaker 1: mountains nor heard of any and before embarking we had
- 26:03Speaker 1: lost over forty men through sickness and hunger, besides those
- 26:07Speaker 1: killed by the Indians. On the twenty second day of
- 26:11Speaker 1: the month of September, we had eaten up all the
- 26:14Speaker 1: horses but one. We embarked in the following order. In
- 26:19Speaker 1: the barge of the governor there were forty nine men,
- 26:23Speaker 1: and as many in the one entrusted to the purser
- 26:26Speaker 1: and the commissary. The third barge he placed in charge
- 26:30Speaker 1: of Captain Alonzo del Castillo and of Andres Dorantes, with
- 26:34Speaker 1: forty eight men. In another he placed two captains named
- 26:39Speaker 1: Teles and Penalosa, with forty seven men. The last one
- 26:44Speaker 1: he gave to the inspector and to me, with forty
- 26:47Speaker 1: nine men, And after clothing and supplies were put on board,
- 26:52Speaker 1: the sides of the barges only rose half a foot
- 26:55Speaker 1: above the water. Besides, we were so crowded as to
- 26:59Speaker 1: be unas to stir. So great is the power of
- 27:04Speaker 1: need that it brought us to venture out into a
- 27:07Speaker 1: troublesome sea in this manner, and without any one among
- 27:12Speaker 1: us having the least knowledge of the art of navigation
- 27:18Speaker 1: and of Section two