Part 11

Then a fire was lit on shore with the best intention, but it was the cause of disaster to Heinrich Schetzen and his ship. The fire was made near a mill within gunshot of Kalles, and Schetzen sailed straight towards it, believing it to be the admiral's light, and when he had nearly reached it, he struck upon the rocks which stood there in the sea and had his ship shivered into a hundred thousand pieces, and in half a quarter of an hour men and goods had all perished. Twenty-two persons were drowned, only the steersman and skipper escaping death on a thick tree. Six trunks with gold and silver belonging to H. I. Majesty, and a large quantity of merchandise belonging to the merchants, were also lost.

Therefore I say to God be everlasting praise and thanks, because He has once again guided and protected me so mercifully, that I did not go on board that ship.

We afterwards remained for two days at Kalles, and departed thence on S. Andrea's[292] day for Antorff.[293] On this voyage we had very bad weather and dreadful tempests, so that the mariners said that for twenty years, or for so long a time as they had been at sea, they had never seen such heavy storms nor heard of any storms that had lasted so long.

[292] St. Andrew's.

[293] Antwerp.

When we came to England, into a port called Wydt,[294] all our yards and top-sails had been carried away. And if this voyage had lasted a little longer, not one of the twenty-four ships would have escaped, but for the special providence of our Lord God.

[294] Isle of Wight.

Moreover, on New Year's Day, 1554, and on the Holy Three Kings' Day, eight ships were miserably wrecked with men and goods--an awful sight indeed, for every man on board was drowned.

This happened between France and England. God Almighty be merciful to them all and to us, through Christ His eternal Son. Amen.

We remained four days in that port Wydt in England, and from there we sailed for Brabant, and came in four days to Armuia,[295] which is a town in Seeland,[296] where the great ships lie. It is seventy-four miles from Wydt, and from there we sailed to Antorff, which is twenty-four miles off, and arrived there on January the 26th, 1554.

[295] Armeven.

[296] Zeeland.

God be praised everlastingly, He who so mercifully gave me such a prosperous voyage.

Commentaries of Alvar Nuñez Cabeza de Vaca, governor of the Rio de la Plata.

CHAPTER THE FIRST.

_Of the Commentaries of Alvar Nuñez Cabeza de Vaca._

SINCE it pleased God to deliver Alvar Nuñez Cabeza de Vaca from captivity, and from the troubles that he underwent for ten years in Florida, he came to these kingdoms in the year of our Lord 1537, where he remained till the year 1540; in which year there came to this court of His Majesty some persons from the river La Plata to inform His Majesty of what had happened to the army which Don Pedro de Mendoza had taken there, and of the danger those were in who had survived, and to supplicate that His Majesty would be pleased to aid and succour them before they perished (as but few of them remained). And when His Majesty knew of it, he ordered that a certain arrangement and capitulation should be made with Alvar Nuñez Cabeza de Vaca, in order that he might go to their relief. This arrangement and capitulation was there effected, the said Cabeza de Vaca offering to go to their assistance, and undertaking to expend for that journey and relief, in horses, arms, apparel and provisions, as well as other things, eight thousand ducats. And in consideration of this treaty thus entered into, His Majesty favoured him with the governorship and general captaincy of that land and province, and with the title of Adelantado.[297] It pleased also His Majesty to grant to him the twelfth part of everything that was in that land and province, and of all that entered and went out of it, provided that the aforesaid Alvar Nuñez expended on that expedition the sum of eight thousand ducats as aforesaid. And so, in fulfilment of the agreement entered into with His Majesty, he started immediately for Seville in order to put the agreement into execution, and to make provision for the aforesaid assistance and armament. And to this effect he bought two vessels and a caravel, together with another that was in waiting for him at Canaria. One of these vessels was newly arrived from her first voyage and was of three hundred and fifty tons burden, and the other was of one hundred and fifty tons. He equipped these vessels very well and supplied them with plenty of commodities, and engaged pilots and sailors, and four hundred soldiers well trained to the use of arms, and such as were wanted for that relief; and all that volunteered for that expedition were provided with a double set of arms. In order to complete his purchases and supplies he remained there from the month of May till the end of September, when the ships were ready to sail. But the weather being unfavourable, he was detained in the city of Cadiz from the end of September till the 2nd of November, on which day he set sail and made his voyage, and in nine days arrived at the island of La Palma, where he disembarked with all his people, and remained there twenty-five days, waiting for a favourable wind to continue his voyage. At the end of this time he sailed towards Cape Verde. In this voyage the ship, the _Capitana_, made so much water that it rose to the height of ten spans in the hold of the vessel. Five hundred quintals of biscuits were damaged, and much oil was lost, besides other commodities. This accident caused them great trouble, and they kept at the pumps day and night till they arrived at the island of St. Iago (one of the Cape Verde Islands). Here they disembarked and landed the horses, in order that they might refresh themselves and rest from their fatigues, and because it was necessary to unload the vessel in order to stop the leak. And after she had been unloaded the master stopped the leak (for he was the best diver in Spain). They sailed from La Palma to Cape Verde in ten days, for they are 300 leagues apart. In this island the harbour is very bad because of the many sharp, sunken rocks that fray the cables attached to the anchors, and when they pull on them in order to raise the anchors these remain in the rocks. And for this reason the sailors have a saying that there are many rats in that harbour, which gnaw the cables asunder; and because of this, it is a very dangerous harbour for vessels stationed there in the event of a storm. This island is unhealthy and full of infections in the winter, so much so that the greater part of those who go ashore there die in a few days, soon after their arrival. The armada, however, remained there twenty-five days, during which not a single man died; and the inhabitants were much astonished at this, and took it as a great marvel. And the inhabitants gave them a good reception; and this island is very rich, and there are more doubloons in it than reales,[298] for those who traffic there for negroes were giving a doubloon for twenty reales.

[297] Governor of province on the frontiers and in newly-discovered countries.

[298] The meaning of this is that gold was more plentiful in the island of St. Iago than silver.

CHAPTER THE SECOND.

_How we departed from the island of Cabo Verde._

WHEN we had repaired the leak of the _Admiral_ ship, and purchased the necessary supplies, such as water, meat, and other things, we embarked and pursued our voyage and crossed the equinoctial line, and, continuing our navigation, the master took stock of the water that was on board the _Admiral_, and, out of a hundred barrels that had been stored, he found no more than three left, and four hundred men and thirty horses had to drink. And the governor, having seen the necessity we were in, ordered the ship to land; and they were in search of it three days, and the fourth day, one hour before dawn, a wonderful thing happened, and as it is not beyond our purpose, I will relate it. It happened, as the vessels were going towards land, they were on the point of striking some very high rocks, and nobody would have seen or been aware of them had not a cock began to crow which one of the soldiers had put on board at Cadiz, being desirous of listening to the music of the cock; during two months and a half, however, we had neither heard it nor known of its existence; and the soldier was grieved at its silence. That morning, however, the bird felt the land and began to crow, and its music woke all the people on the vessel, who saw the rocks an arrow-flight off, and shouted to let go the anchors, as we were drifting towards the rocks. And so they lowered the anchors, and this saved us, for had not the cock crowed our four hundred men and thirty horses would assuredly have been drowned; and we all thought it a miracle of God for us. And while we navigated more than one hundred leagues along the coast, the cock gave us his music every night, and so the armada arrived at an harbour which is called Cananea,[299] which lies beyond Cape Frio,[300] and is twenty-four degrees of elevation. It is a good harbour, and there are several islands at its entrance. The water is clear and eleven fathoms deep. Here the governor took possession in the name of His Majesty, and having done so, he left that harbour and passed over the river and the bay called San Francisco,[301] which is twenty-five leagues from Cananea, and thence the armada proceeded to the island of Santa Catalina, which is twenty-five leagues from the Rio de San Francisco, and they anchored at the island of Santa Catalina, after encountering many troubles and reverses on the voyage, arriving there on the 29th of March 1541. The island of Santa Catalina is barely in the twenty-eighth degree of latitude.

[299] Cananea, on the coast of the province San Paulo, Brazil, in lat. 25° 1′ S., long. 47° 51′ W.

[300] Cape Frio is east of Rio de Janeiro, in lat. 23° 1′ S., long. 41° 58′ W., where the coast trends northward.

[301] The river, island, and bay of San Francisco in the province of Santa Catharina.

CHAPTER THE THIRD.

_Which treats of how the governor arrived with his armada at the island of Santa Catalina, in Brazil, and disembarked his troops there._

WHEN the governor had arrived with his army at the island of Santa Catalina, he ordered the disembarkation of all the people that he had brought with him, and the twenty-six horses, being all that had survived the sea voyage of the forty-six taken on board in Spain, in order that they might all recover on land from the hardships they had undergone in their long sea voyage, and that he might take command and inform himself of the native Indians of that land who might, perhaps, know how the Spaniards whom he had come to succour were circumstanced in the province of Rio de la Plata. And he gave the Indians to understand that he was sent by His Majesty to bring help, and he took possession of the land in the name and on behalf of His Majesty, and also of the harbour called Cananea, which is on the coast of Brazil, in twenty-five degrees, more or less. This harbour is fifty leagues from the island of Santa Catalina, and during all the time that the governor remained in that island he treated all the Indians, natives of that and other parts of the coast of Brazil (vassals of His Majesty) with great kindness. By these Indians he was informed that at fourteen leagues from the island, at the place called Mbiaça[302] there were two Franciscan monks, named Friar Bernardo, a native of Cordova, and Friar Alonzo Lebron, a native of Gran Canaria; and in a few days these monks came to where the governor and his people were, in great fear of the Indians, who sought to kill them, because certain of the dwellings of the Indians having been burned, these had in revenge killed two Christians living in that land. And the governor, well informed of all that had happened, did his best to appease the Indians, and gave refuge to the monks, and established peace among them; and he charged the monks to teach the Christian doctrine to the Indians of that land and island.

[302] Mbiazá; cf. _supra_, pp. 35 and 83.

CHAPTER THE FOURTH.

_How nine Christians came to the island._

AND the governor, in furtherance of his expedition to succour the Spaniards, in the month of May 1541, sent a caravel with Philip de Caceres, accountant of His Majesty, with orders to enter the river La Plata, and visit the colony founded there by Don Pedro de Mendoza, and called Buenos Ayres. And because the season of the year was winter, and the weather unfavourable to navigation, he was unable to enter that river, and returned to the island of San Catalina, where the governor was.[303] And about this time there arrived nine Spanish Christians, who came in a boat, having fled from the colony of Buenos Ayres because of the ill-treatment used towards them by the captains residing in the province; and from these Spaniards he obtained information of the state in which the Spaniards were who lived in that country. They told him that the colony of Buenos Ayres was inhabited and provided with people and commodities; and how Juan de Ayolas, whom Don Pedro de Mendoza had sent on an expedition of discovery into the interior, while returning from his discovery, and intending to take refuge in certain brigantines which he had left in the harbour, named by him Candelaria, in the river Paraguai, had been killed by a certain nation of Indians living on the same river, called Payaguás[304]; and all the Christians, with many other Indians whom he had brought with him from the interior of the country to carry the loads, belonging to the tribe of Chameses, were also slain; and that of all the Christians and Indians only one boy of the Chameses had escaped; and all this had happened because he (Juan de Ayolas) had not found in the said harbour of Candelaria the brigantines which he had left to be guarded till his return, according to the orders he had given a certain Domingo de Irala of the province of Biscay in Spain, whom he had left in the capacity of captain; who, before the return of Juan de Ayolas, had withdrawn and abandoned the harbour of Candelaria, so that Juan de Ayolas, not finding the brigantines as he had expected, had fallen a victim to the Indians, who had stripped and slain all his party because of the fault of the said Domingo de Irala, the Biscayan captain of the brigantines. They also told him that on the shore of the river Paraguai, one hundred and twenty leagues below the harbour of Candelaria, a colony had been formed which was called the town of Ascension,[305] having a good understanding and friendship with a tribe of Indians called Carios, and that most of the Spaniards in that province resided there. They further informed him that in the colony and harbour of Buenos Ayres, situated on the rio del Parana, there were seventy Christians, and the distance from that harbour to the city of the Ascension, on the Paraguai, was three hundred and fifty leagues, of very difficult navigation, up the river. Here, in the capacity of _locum tenens_ of the governor of the land and province, resided Domingo de Irala of Biscay, through whose fault happened the death of Juan de Ayolas, and all the Christians whom he had brought with him. They also told him that Domingo de Irala had gone from the town of the Ascension up the river Paraguai with certain brigantines and people, saying that he was going to search out and relieve Juan de Ayolas, and had entered a land, much troubled with rains and marshes, and because of this he had been unable to explore that land, and had returned with six Indian captives of the same tribe of Payaguás as those who had killed Juan de Ayolas and the Christians. From these prisoners he had obtained information and sure knowledge of the death of Juan de Ayolas and of the Christians, as well as from an Indian of the tribe of Chameses, named Gonzalo, who had escaped when his tribesmen and the Christians, whose loads they were carrying, were slain; who had lived ten years in captivity among those Payaguás. And Domingo de Irala had withdrawn from that country, having lost sixty men from sickness and fatigue. And they also told him that the officials of His Majesty, residing in that land and province, had done and were doing great wrongs to the Spaniards, colonists and conquerors, and to the Indian natives, vassals of His Majesty, and that there was much dissatisfaction and disgust. For this reason, and also because of the ill-treatment they had suffered from these captains, they had stolen a boat from the harbour of Buenos Ayres, and had taken to flight with the intention and determination to inform His Majesty of all that had passed in that land and province. To those nine Christians, who came naked, the governor gave clothing, and took them under his protection in order to bring them back with him to the province, for they were useful men, good sailors, and one of them was a pilot who knew the navigation of the river.

[303] Schmidt gives a false account of this; cf. _supra_, p. 35.

[304] Cf. _supra_, p. 27.

[305] In the original Spanish version the city of Asuncion is always written _Ascension_.

CHAPTER THE FIFTH.

_How the governor hastened his journey._

HAVING listened to the statement of those nine Christians, the governor thought that, in order to succour as speedily as possible the Spaniards residing in the town of the Ascension, as well as those in the port of Buenos Ayres, he would discover a road by _terra firma_ from the island, and so make his way to those parts already mentioned where the Christians were, and that he would send the vessels round by sea to Buenos Ayres. He therefore, against the will and opinion of the accountant Philip de Caceres, and of the pilot Antonio Lopez, who advised that they should all go together to Buenos Ayres, sent from the island of St. Catalina, Pedro Dorantes (the factor) to explore a road by land into the interior of the country where formerly many vassals of the King of Portugal had been killed by the native Indians. This Pedro Dorantes, by order of the governor, started with one hundred Spaniards, and some Indians who acted as guides; and at the end of three months and a half he returned to the island of St. Catalina, where the governor was awaiting him, and this, among other things, was what he reported: having crossed great sierras, and mountains, and much desert country, he had arrived at a place called "el Campo" (the plain), where the country began to be inhabited, and that the natives of the island had told him that the route he had taken was the safest to enter that country. He had followed a river called the Ytabucú,[306] which is opposite the point of the island at eighteen or twenty leagues from the harbour. When the governor knew of this, he sent immediately to reconnoitre the country watered by this river, through which he decided to make his journey; and having done this, he determined to enter the country by that route, in order to explore a region that had never before been seen, and carry relief, in the shortest possible time, to the Spaniards in that province. Having thus decided upon his plans, he told the friars, Bernardo de Armenta and Alonzo Lebron his companion, to remain in the island of St. Catalina and instruct the native Indians in the Christian doctrine, directing and confirming those already baptized. But these monks declined to obey, assigning as a pretext that they wished to accompany the governor, in order to establish themselves in the town of the Ascension, where the Spaniards were whom he was going to relieve.

[306] Or Itapucu. This river rises in the coast range, and falls into the ocean south of San Francisco.

CHAPTER THE SIXTH.

_How the governor and his people advanced into the interior._