Spanish Explorers in the Southern United States, 1528-1543. The Narrative of Alvar Nunez Cabeca de Vaca. The Narrative of the Expedition of Hernando De Soto by the Gentleman of Elvas

I very much wish that I possessed some knowledge of cosmography or geography, so as to render what I wish to say intelligible, and so that I could reckon up or measure the advan...

From the port of Espiritu Santo, where the Christians went on shore, to the province of Ocute, which may be a distance of four hundred leagues, a little more or less, the countr...

In some respects the journey of Alvar Nuñez Cabeza de Vaca and his three companions overland from coast to coast during the eight years from 1528 to 1536 is the most remarkable...

This account was all given by Figueroa, according to the relation he received from Esquivel, and from him through the others it came to me; whence may be seen and understood the...

From this place was another method of receiving us, as respects the pillage. Those who came out in the ways to bring us presents were not plundered; but on our coming into their...

The next day morning, many Indians came, and brought five persons who had cramps and were very unwell. They came that Castillo might cure them. Each offered his bow and arrows,...

Since giving this circumstantial account of events attending the voyage to Florida, the invasion, and our going out thence until the arrival in these realms, I desire to state w...

In the town of Patofa, the youth, whom the Governor brought with him for guide and interpreter, began to froth at the mouth, and threw himself on the ground as if he were posses...

On the third day of May,[256] the Governor set out from Cutifachiqui; and, it being discovered that the wish of the Cacica was to leave the Christians, if she could, giving them...

From the time the Governor arrived in Florida until he went from Mauilla, there died one hundred and two Christians, some of sickness, others by the hand of the Indians. Because...

On Wednesday, the third of March, in the year 1540, the Governor left Anhaica Apalache to seek Yupaha. He had ordered his men to go provided with maize for a march through sixty...

After Dorantes and Castillo returned to the island, they brought together the Christians, who were somewhat separated, and found them in all to be fourteen. As I have said, I wa...

The Governor rested in Coça twenty-five days. On Friday, the twentieth of August, he set out in quest of a province called Tascaluça, taking with him the cacique of Coça. The fi...

After Don Tristan de Arellano reached Tiguex, about the middle of July, in the year '42,[430] he had provisions collected for the coming winter. Captain Francisco de Barrionuevo...

After the Indians had told and shown these natives well what to do, they left us together and went back. Remembering the instruction, they began to treat us with the same awe an...

The day following, the Governor resolved to make an incursion to explore the land, and see what it might contain. With him went the commissary, the assessor, and myself, with fo...

The country where we came on shore to this town and region of Apalachen is for the most part level, the ground of sand and stiff earth. Throughout are immense trees and open woo...

The general started from the ravine with the guides that the Teyas had given him. He appointed the alderman Diego Lopez his army-master, and took with him the men who seemed to...

_Of how the army started from the town of Señora, leaving it inhabited, and how it reached Cibola, and of what happened to Captain Melchior Diaz on his expedition in search of t...

The Rio Grande being crossed, the Governor marched a league and a half, to a large town of Aquixo, which was abandoned before his arrival. Over a plain thirty Indians were seen...

The name of the Christian was Juan Ortiz, a native of Seville, and of noble parentage. He had been twelve years among the Indians, having gone into the country with Pánphilo de...

So soon as the Governor arrived in Guachoya, he ordered Juan de Añasco, with as many people as could go in the canoes, to ascend the river; for while they were coming from Anilc...

The Governor rested in Pacaha forty days, during which time the two caciques made him presents of fish, shawls, and skins, in great quantity, each striving to outdo the other in...

While the things already described were taking place, Cibola being at peace, the general, Francisco Vazquez, found out from the people of the province about the provinces that l...

In the town where the emeralds were presented to us the people gave Dorantes over six hundred open hearts of deer. They ever keep a good supply of them for food, and we called t...

On the seventeenth day[5] of June, in the year fifteen hundred and twenty-seven, the Governor Pánphilo de Narváez left the port of San Lúcar de Barrameda,[6] authorized and comm...

The morning having come, many natives arrived in canoes who asked us for the two that had remained in the boat. The Governor replied that he would give up the hostages when they...

As I have already related, it began to snow in that country just after they captured the village, and it snowed so much that for the next two months[392] it was impossible to do...

On the twenty-third day of September the Governor left Napetaca, and went to rest at a river, where two Indians brought him a deer from the cacique of Uzachil; and the next day,...

Two days after Lope de Oviedo left, the Indians who had Alonzo del Castillo and Andrés Dorantes, came to the place of which we had been told, to eat walnuts. These are ground wi...

_How the Governor left Chiaha, and, having run a hazard of falling by the hands of the Indians, at Acoste, escaped by his address: what occurred to him on the route, and how he...

On Wednesday, the nineteenth day of June, the Governor entered Pacaha,[284] and took quarters in the town where the cacique was accustomed to reside. It was enclosed and very la...

The general, as has been said, started to continue his journey from the valley of Culiacan somewhat lightly equipped, taking with him the friars, since none of them wished to st...

So soon as the Christians arrived in Aminoya, the Governor commanded the chains to be collected which every one brought along for Indians, the iron in shot, and what was in the...

On Monday, the sixth day of March, of the year 1542 of the Christian era, the Governor set out from Autiamque to seek Nilco, which the Indians said was nigh the River Grande, wi...

_How the Governor arrived at Caliquen, and thence, taking the cacique with him, came to Napetaca, where the Indians, attempting to rescue him, had many of their number killed an...

On Saturday,[35] first of May, the date of this occurrence, the Governor ordered to each man going with him, two pounds of biscuit and half a pound of bacon; and thus victualled...

It has been related how the general reached Tiguex,[389] where he found Don Garcia Lopez de Cardenas and Hernando de Alvarado, and how he sent the latter back to Cicuye, where h...

The haven we left bears the name of Bahía de Caballos.[67] We passed waist deep in water through sounds without seeing any sign of the coast, and at the close of the seventh day...

The army started from Cicuye, leaving the village at peace and, as it seemed, contented, and under obligations to maintain the friendship because their governor and captain had...

When what had been determined on was proclaimed in the camp, many were greatly disheartened. They considered the voyage by sea to be very hazardous, because of their poor subsis...

Leaving these Indians, we went to the dwellings of numerous others. From this place began another novel custom, which is, that while the people received us very well, those who...

The next morning[62] we left Aute, and travelled all day before coming to the place I had visited. The journey was extremely arduous. There were not horses enough to carry the s...

The Governor tarried a month in the province of Cayas. In this time the horses fattened and throve more than they had done at other places in a longer time, in consequence of th...

Tiguex is a province with twelve villages on the banks of a large, mighty river; some villages on one side and some on the other.[476] It is a spacious valley two leagues wide,...

The day before the Christians left Aminoya, it was determined to dismiss the men and women that were serving, with the exception of some hundred slaves, more or less, put on boa...

Half a league before coming to the sea, the Christians cast anchor, in order to take rest for a time, as they were weary from rowing. They were disheartened also, many days havi...

Before I proceed to speak of the plains, with the cows and settlements and tribes there, it seems to me that it will be well for the reader to know how large the settlements wer...

Three days having gone by since some maize had been sought after, and but little found in comparison with the great want there was of it, the Governor became obliged to move at...

The Governor, conscious that the hour approached in which he should depart this life, commanded that all the King's officers should be called before him, the captains and the pr...

The four Christians being gone, after a few days such cold and tempestuous weather succeeded that the Indians could not pull up roots, the cane weirs in which they took fish no...

The Governor informed himself of the country in every direction. He ascertained that toward the west there was a thin population, and to the southeast were great towns, principa...

The Governor set out from Nondacao for Soacatino, and on the fifth day came to a province called Aays.[314] The inhabitants had never heard of the Christians. So soon as they ob...

Chichilticalli is so called because the friars found a house at this place which was formerly inhabited by people who separated from Cibola. It was made of colored or reddish ea...

While they were making these discoveries, some Indians came to Cibola from a village which was seventy leagues east of this province, called Cicuye. Among them was a captain who...

Some were glad of the death of Don Hernando de Soto, holding it certain that Luys de Moscoso, who was given to leading a gay life, preferred to see himself at ease in a land of...

My silence was not without mystery and dissimulation when, in Chapter 7 of the second part of this book, I spoke of the plains and of the things of which I will give a detailed...

We have spoken of the settlements of high houses which are situated in what seems to be the most level and open part of the mountains, since it is 150 leagues across before ente...

Five days having elapsed, Andrés Dorantes and Alonzo del Castillo arrived with those who had been sent after them. They brought more than six hundred persons of that community,...

We have already said that the people of Tiguex and of all the provinces on the banks of that river were all alike, having the same ways of living and the same customs. It will n...

When the general, Francisco Vasquez, saw that everything was now quiet, and that his schemes had gone as he wished, he ordered that everything should be ready to start on the re...

After parting with those we left weeping,[156] we went with the others to their houses and were hospitably received by the people in them. They brought their children to us that...

The Governor sent Don Carlos with the ships, in company with Doña Ysabel, to tarry for him at Havana, a port in the eastern end of the island, one hundred and eighty leagues fro...

One might well have complained when in the last chapter I passed in silence over the exploits of Captain Juan Gallego with his twenty companions. I will relate them in the prese...

During the siege of Tiguex the general decided to go to Cicuye and take the governor with him, in order to give him his liberty and to promise them that he would give Whiskers h...

From the port of Espiritu Santo, where the Governor was, he sent the chief castellan, with fifty cavalry and thirty or forty infantry, to the province of Paracoxi, to observe th...

In the year 1530 Nuño de Guzman, who was President of New Spain,[336] had in his possession an Indian, a native of the valley or valleys of Oxitipar, who was called Tejo by the...

At sunrise the next day, the time the Indians appointed, they came according to their promise, and brought us a large quantity of fish with certain roots, some a little larger t...

While the army was resting in this ravine, as we have related, a tempest came up one afternoon with a very high wind and hail, and in a very short space of time a great quantity...

The _alcalde mayor_ knew of the expedition, and, hearing of our return, he immediately left that night and came to where we were. He wept with us, giving praises to God our Lord...

Two days being spent while we tarried, we resolved to go in search of the maize. We did not wish to follow the path leading to where the cattle are, because it is towards the no...

When we had rested two months in Mexico, I desired to return to these kingdoms;[216] and being about to embark in the month of October, a storm came on, capsizing the ship, and...

Quivira is to the west[526] of those ravines, in the midst of the country, somewhat nearer the mountains toward the sea, for the country is level as far as Quivira, and there th...

Petlatlan is a settlement of houses covered with a sort of mats made of plants. These are collected into villages, extending along a river from the mountains to the sea.[446] Th...

Before our departure, the Governor deprived Nuño de Tobár of the rank of captain-general, and conferred it on a resident of Cuba, Vasco Porcallo de Figueroa, which caused the ve...

On an island of which I have spoken, they wished to make us physicians without examination or inquiring for diplomas. They cure by blowing upon the sick, and with that breath an...

We have already related how Captain Melchior Diaz crossed the Firebrand River [Rio Colorado] on rafts, in order to continue his discoveries farther in that direction. About the...

When the six months were over, I had to spend with the Christians to put in execution the plan we had concerted, the Indians went after prickly pears, the place at which they gr...

After the winter[538] was over, the return to Quivira was announced, and the men began to prepare the things needed. Since nothing in this life is at the disposition of men, but...

Leaving astern, as we might say, the settlements that had been discovered in the new land, of which, as I have said, the seven villages of Cibola were the first to be seen and t...

From Naguatex, where the Governor was, he sent a message to the cacique, that, should he come to serve and obey him, he would pardon the past; and if he did not, he would go to...

After Don Hernando had obtained the concession, a fidalgo[229] arrived at Court from the Indias, Cabeça de Vaca by name, who had been in Florida with Narvaez; and he stated how...

The city of Santiago consists of about eighty spacious and well-contrived dwellings. Some are built of stone and lime, covered with tiles: the greater part have the sides of boa...

Culiacan is the last place in the New Kingdom of Galicia, and was the first settlement made by Nuño de Guzman when he conquered this kingdom.[441] It is 210 leagues west of Mexi...

The day the Governor left Aguacay he went to sleep near a small town, subject to the lord of that province. He set the encampment very nigh a salt lake,[308] and that afternoon...

I desire to enumerate the natives and tongues that exist from those of Malhado to the farthest Cuchendados there are. Two languages are found in the island; the people of one ar...

From the Island of Malhado to this land, all the Indians whom we saw have the custom from the time in which their wives find themselves pregnant, of not sleeping with them until...

On Wednesday,[277] the fifteenth day of March, in the year 1541, eight days having passed since the Governor had been living on a plain, half a league from the place where he wi...

That same night of our arrival, some Indians came to Castillo and told him that they had great pain in the head, begging him to cure them. After he made over them the sign of th...

So soon as the advance and the rear of the force were come up, the Governor commanded that all the best armed should dismount, of which he made four squadrons of footmen. The In...

The natives, finding they had gained a victory, took so great encouragement that they proceeded to attack the brigantines, which they had not dared to before. They first came up...

We have already said that when the general started from Cibola, he left orders for Don Tristan de Arellano to start twenty days later. He did so as soon as he saw that the men w...

Wheresoever the people dug along the shore they found fresh water. The jars being filled, and the procession concluded, they embarked; and, going ever in sight of land, they nav...

From Panico to the great city of Mestitam (Mexico), there are sixty leagues, and as many leagues from each to the port of Vera Cruz, which is where the embarkations take place f...

Everything already related had happened when Don Tristan de Arellano reached Cibola from Señora. Soon after he arrived, the general, who had received notice of a province contai...

When the viceroy Don Antonio de Mendoza had fixed and arranged everything as we have related, and the companies and captaincies had been arranged, he advanced a part of their sa...

As soon as these Indians went back, all those of that province who were friendly to the Christians, and had heard of us, came to visit us, bringing beads and feathers. We comman...

The tempest having passed off from the beach where the brigantines were riding, the people went on shore. With mattocks they dug holes there, into which the water having flowed,...

The Governor, in view of the determination and furious answer of the cacique, thought to soothe him with soft words; to which he made no answer, but, with great haughtiness and...

It seemed, indeed, as if the arrival in the valley of Culiacan had ended the labors of this journey, partly because the general was governor there and partly because it was inha...

We have already stated in the last chapter that Don Garcia Lopez de Cardenas came back from Suya in flight, having found that country risen in rebellion. He told how and why tha...

When the day after Easter came, the army started in the morning to go to the town and, as they approached, the inhabitants of the town came out on to an open plain with foot and...

From the time the Christians left the River Grande, to come by sea from Florida to the River of Panico, were fifty-two days. On the tenth day of September, of the year 1543, the...

At the end of the first part of this book, we told how Francisco Vazquez Coronado, when he got back from Quivira, gave orders to winter at Tiguex, in order to return, when the w...

After Estevan had left the friars, he thought he could get all the reputation and honor himself, and that if he should discover those settlements with such famous high houses, a...

Eight years after Nuño de Guzman made this expedition, he was put in prison by a juez de residencia, named the licentiate Diego de la Torre, who came from Spain with sufficient...

After the viceroy Don Antonio left them, the army continued its march. As each one was obliged to transport his own baggage and all did not know how to fasten the packs, and as...

From the town of Ucita the Governor sent the chief castellan, Baltasar de Gallegos, into the country, with forty horsemen and eighty footmen, to procure an Indian if possible. I...

This day I saw a native with an article of traffic I knew was not one we had bestowed; and asking whence it came, I was told by signs that it had been given by men like ourselve...

When the viceroy, Don Antonio de Mendoza, saw what a noble company had come together, and the spirit and good will with which they had all presented themselves, knowing the wort...

They are the most watchful in danger of any people I ever knew. If they fear an enemy they are awake the night long, each with a bow at his side and a dozen arrows. He that woul...

After Francisco Vazquez Coronado had sent Friar Marcos of Nice and his party on the search already related, he was engaged in Culiacan about some business that related to his go...

After the people had eaten, I ordered Lope de Oviedo, who had more strength and was stouter than any of the rest, to go to some trees that were near by, and climbing into one of...

The second day after we had moved, we commended ourselves to God and set forth with speed, trusting, for all the lateness of the season and that the prickly pears were about end...

When we saw sure signs of Christians, and heard how near we were to them, we gave thanks to God our Lord for having chosen to bring us out of a captivity so melancholy and wretc...

At this time, the Governor arrived with a brigantine bought in Trinidad, and brought with him a pilot named Miruelo, who was employed because he said he knew the position of the...

On the same day[21] the comptroller, Alonzo Enrriquez, landed on an island in the bay. He called to the Indians, who came and remained with him some time; and in barter gave him...

After eating the dogs, it seemed to us we had some strength to go forward; and so commending ourselves to God our Lord, that He would guide us, we took our leave of the Indians....

Hernando de Soto was the son of an esquire of Xeréz de Badajóz, and went to the Indias of the Ocean Sea, belonging to Castile, at the time Pedrárias Dávila was the Governor. He...

The Portuguese left Elvas the 15th day of January, and came to Seville on the vespers of Saint Sebastian.[232] They went to the residence of the Governor; and entering the court...

In the month of April, of the year 1538 of the Christian era, the Adelantado delivered the vessels to their several captains, took for himself a new ship, fast of sail, and gave...

When we came in view of Apalachen, the Governor ordered that I should take nine cavalry with fifty infantry and enter the town. Accordingly the assessor[48] and I assailed it; a...

[201] See the note on Guzman in the Castañeda relation. The narrative is here slightly confused, as the town at which they first heard of Christians was the one in which they we...

leaving it inhabited, and how it reached Cibola, and of what happened to Captain Melchior Diaz on his Expedition in Search of the Ships and how he discovered the Tison (Firebran...