Part 23

AT this juncture the officers prepared several memoirs to send to Spain, accusing the governor and making him odious to everybody. To lend a favourable colour to their own criminal acts, they wrote things that never happened and were entirely untrue. While the brigantine was being equipped for her voyage, the friends of the governor arranged with the carpenters to hollow a timber as big as a man's thigh, and three spans long, and place inside it a general act of accusation which the governor had addressed to His Majesty, and other important papers collected by his friends when he was arrested. This packet was taken and enveloped in a waxed cloth, and the piece of timber was fastened to the poop of the brigantine with six nails above and six below. The carpenters said that they had placed it there to strengthen the brigantine, and the secret was kept so well that nobody discovered it. The master carpenter told a sailor of it, so that when the vessel arrived in Spain the documents might be taken out. It had been arranged with the officers that the governor should be seen by his friends before he embarked, but neither Captain Salazar nor anybody saw him. One night, towards midnight, Alonso Cabrera, the supervisor, and Pedro Dorantes, his factor, accompanied by a large number of arquebusiers, presented themselves at the prison; and each arquebusier carried three lighted fuses in his hand, so as to make the number appear greater than it was. Then Alonso Cabrera and Pedro Dorantes entered the room in which he lay; they seized him by the arm and lifted him out of the bed with the chains round his feet; he was very ill, almost to death. They carried him in this state to the gate leading into the street, and when he saw the sky, which he had not seen till then, he entreated them to let him render thanks to God. When he rose from his knees, two soldiers took him under the arms and carried him on board the brigantine, for he was extremely weak and crippled. When he saw himself in the midst of these people, he said to them: "Sirs, be my witnesses that I appoint, as my deputy, Juan de Salazar de Espinosa, that he may govern this province instead of me, and in the name of His Majesty, maintaining order and justice till the King should have been pleased to make other dispositions." Hardly had he finished speaking than Garcia Vanegas, deputy treasurer, rushed upon him, dagger in hand, saying: "I do not recognise what you say; retract, or I will tear your soul from your body." The governor had, however, been advised not to say what he did, because they were determined to kill him, and these words might have occasioned a great disturbance among them, and the party of the King might have snatched him from the hands of the others, everybody being then in the street. Garcia Vanegas having withdrawn a little, the governor repeated the same words; then Garcia sprang with great fury on the governor, and placed a dagger to his temple, saying to him as before: "Withdraw what you have said, or I will tear your soul from your body." At the same moment he inflicted a slight wound on his temple, and pushed the people who were carrying the governor with so much violence that they fell with him, and one of them dropped his cap. After this they quickly raised him again, and carried him precipitately on board the brigantine. They closed the poop of the vessel with planks, put two chains on him which prevented him from moving; then they unmoored and descended the river.

Two days after the embarkation of the governor and the departure of the brigantine, Domingo de Irala, the accountant Philip de Caceres, and the factor Pedro Dorantes assembled their friends and attacked the house of Captain Salazar. They seized him and Pedro de Estopiñan Cabeza de Vaca, put them in irons, and sent them down the river to overtake the brigantine. These two officers were taken to Spain with him, and it is certain that if Captain Salazar had wished it the governor would not have been arrested, and still less would they have been able to take him out of the country and carry him to Castille; but, as he remained deputy governor, his conduct was not altogether frank. Cabeza de Vaca begged that two of his servants might be allowed to accompany him to prepare his food and attend upon him during the voyage. Accordingly they let the two servants go, not however to wait on him, but to row four hundred leagues on the river, for none could be found willing to do this work. They forced some of the people to come, others fled into the interior, and the property of such was confiscated and distributed among those that were pressed for the service. The officers did a very wrong thing during the voyage, and it was this: every two or three days they spread among their partisans and their friends a thousand calumnies against him, and finally said: "We have, as it is manifest, done you a great deal of good and acted for your advantage and that of the king, in consideration for this, sign this paper." In this way they filled four quires of paper with signatures, and during the voyage down the river composed their calumnious statements while these who had signed their names to the paper remained at Ascension, three hundred leagues up the river. It was upon this document that the charges brought against the governor were framed.

CHAPTER THE EIGHTY-FOURTH.

_How they gave arsenic three times to the governor during the voyage._

WHILE descending the river the officers ordered a certain Biscayan named Machin to prepare the food for the governor and then to pass it to Lope Duarte, one of the confederates of Domingo de Irala, and guilty, like the rest, of complicity in his arrest. He came from Spain as solicitor to Domingo de Irala and to attend to his affairs. While the governor journeyed in this fashion, arsenic was administered to him three times; but as an antidote against this poison he carried with him a bottle of oil and a piece of the horn of a unicorn. When he felt unwell he made use of these remedies; day and night his sufferings were great. But it pleased God that he escaped safely. He entreated the officers, Alonso Cabrera and Garcia Vanegas, to allow his own servants to cook for him, as he would take his meals from nobody else. To this they replied that he would have to take his food from whomsoever they chose; if he did not take it from the persons commissioned to give it him, he might die of hunger, it mattered little to them. He abstained from food several days, but hunger at length compelled him to take what they gave him. The insurgents had promised several persons to take them on board the caravel (afterwards destroyed) to Spain if they would support their faction and help them to arrest the governor and not oppose them. Two of these were Francisco de Paredes, a native of Burgos, and Friar Juan de Salazar, of the Order of Our Lady of Mercy. They carried as prisoners with them Luis de Miranda, Pedro Hernandez, Captain Salazar de Espinosa, and Pedro Vaca. Having descended the river to the island of San Gabriel, they would not allow either Francisco de Paredes or friar Juan de Salazar to remain on board, fearing lest these two persons should support the governor's cause in Spain, and give a true account of what had happened. For this reason they compelled them to re-embark on the brigantines that returned up the river to Ascension, although they had sold their houses and property for much less than they were worth when they were compelled to leave. This caused them to make such an outcry that it was pitiable to hear them. Here the servants of the governor, who had accompanied him thus far, rowing all the way, were obliged to leave him, a loss he felt more than anything he had yet endured; nor did they feel the separation less acutely. They remained two days at the island of San Gabriel, when some of them left for Ascension, and the others for Spain. The brigantine which bore the governor had eleven banks of rowers, and contained twenty-seven persons altogether.

They pursued their voyage down the river till they entered the sea, when a violent tempest arose. The brigantine became waterlogged, and all the provisions were spoilt; all that they managed to preserve was a little flour, some lard, fish, and a little water. They were all very near being drowned. The officers who had charge of the governor said that God had sent them this terrible tempest as a punishment for the wrongs and injustice they had made their prisoner suffer. They resolved, therefore, to take off his chains and let him out of prison. Alonso de Cabrera filed them asunder, Garcia Vanegas kissed his feet, though Cabeza de Vaca would not allow it. They said openly that God had sent them those four days' sufferings as a retribution for the wrongs they had done him. They acknowledged they had grievously wronged him, and that all their depositions were false; that the malice and jealousy they bore him prompted them to administer two thousand false oaths, and this because in three days he had discovered a country and a route, while those who had lived in the country for twelve years had not been able to accomplish it; and they implored his pardon, and that he would not inform His Majesty how they had arrested him. As soon as they had taken the chains off the governor the sea and wind subsided, and the tempest, which had lasted four days, calmed down. We navigated in the open sea for 2,500 leagues without having sight of land, and seeing nothing but water and sky. All the food we had was a flour-cake fried in a little lard, with a little water to drink. We were obliged to break off the planks of our vessel to make a fire to cook our cake. In this way, with infinite suffering, we arrived at the Azores, belonging to His most serene Majesty of Portugal, the voyage having lasted three months. We should not have suffered so severely from hunger had we touched on the Brazilian coast, or at the island of St. Domingo, in the Indies; but the officers dared not do this, for they felt guilty and dreaded being arrested and brought to justice as rebels against their king. On arriving at the Azores the officers in charge of the governor separated because of the dissensions they had had, and each went his own way; but first they tried to induce the justice of Angra to arrest the governor, so as to prevent him from giving information to His Majesty of the crimes and disorders they had committed. They alleged that when he passed Cape Verd he had pillaged the port and country. The judge having heard their deposition, told them to be gone, for his king would not allow himself to be robbed, and did not keep his ports in such a weak state of defence that anybody might dare to attack them. Having seen that, in spite of their malice, they could do nothing to detain him, they embarked, and arrived in Spain eight days before the governor, who was delayed by contrary winds. Being the first to present themselves at court, they gave out that Cabeza de Vaca had gone to the King of Portugal to inform him about those countries beyond the sea. A few days later the governor arrived at court. The night of his arrival all the guilty parties disappeared; they went straight to Madrid, where they hoped to find the court, as, in fact, they did. Meanwhile the Bishop of Cuenca, who presided over the council of the Indies,[361] died. This prelate would have punished the crimes and treason committed against His Majesty in that country. Some days afterwards the officers and the governor were released, on giving bail that they would not leave the jurisdiction of the court. Garcia de Vanegas, who was one of those who had arrested the governor, died a sudden, terrible death, his eyes having fallen out of his head, and he never declared the truth of what had passed. Alonso Cabrera, the supervisor, his accomplice, lost his reason, and in a fit of frenzy he killed his wife at Loxa. The friars who had taken part in the revolt and troubles also died suddenly, which seemed to show the small blame attaching to the governor in his conduct towards them. After keeping him eight years under arrest at court, he was set at liberty and acquitted. He was relieved of his governorship for divers reasons; for his enemies said that if he returned to punish the guilty, he would have occasioned more troubles and dissensions in that country. He therefore lost his appointment, besides other losses, without receiving any compensation for all the money he had spent in relieving the Spaniards, and in his voyage of discovery.

[361] This was a special council for the government of the Spanish possessions in the Indies. It was called _Real Consejo de las Indias_.

Narrative of Hernando de Ribera.

IN the city of Ascension, which is by the river Paraguai, in the province of Rio de la Plata, on the 3rd March, in the year of Our Lord, 1545, appeared before me, public notary, and the legal witnesses, being in the church and monastery of Our Lady of Mercy, Redeemer of captives, Captain Hernando de Ribera, conquistador in this province, and deposed as follows: When Señor Alvar Nuñez Cabeza de Vaca, governor and adelantado and captain-general in the name of His Majesty, of the province of Rio de la Plata, was in the port of Los Reyes, whence he started on his exploration last year (1543), he commissioned me to take one brigantine, and a certain number of men, and explore up a certain river called Ygatu, which is an arm of two great rivers, viz., the Yacareati and the Yaiva, flowing, according to the reports of the Indians, through the settlements of the interior; and I, Hernando de Ribera, having arrived at some Indians called Xarayes, in consequence of information received from them, left the brigantine in a safe haven, and entered the interior of the country with forty men, in order to see and examine it with my own eyes. And having pursued my journey past many Indian settlements, and obtained from their inhabitants and other natives who came to see me, full reports touching the land, I examined and sifted these statements, in order to learn the truth, being moreover, acquainted with the language of the Carios, and therefore able to hold intercourse with those tribes.

Juan Valderas, royal notary, whom I had with me at this time, wrote down and made a note of certain things relating to that discovery. Yet I would not tell him the whole truth concerning the riches and the settlements of the various tribes inhabiting those regions, lest he should write it in his report. And he, the said notary, did not know, nor did he fully understand the matter, for my intention was at that time to have communicated it directly to the governor, in order that he might forthwith proceed to the conquest of that land, as it beseemed the service of God and His Majesty.

After penetrating several days' journey into the interior, I was obliged to return to the port of Los Reyes, in compliance with orders sent me by the governor. And because I found him and all his people sick on my arrival, I had no opportunity of reporting my discovery, nor communicating all the information I had collected from the natives. A few days afterwards he was compelled to return to Ascension to save the lives of his people, and having again fallen sick a few days after his arrival in that city, he was arrested by the officers of His Majesty (as everybody knows), so that I was unable to make my statement.

Seeing that the officers of His Majesty are about to return to Spain with the governor, and fearing that he may in the meanwhile die, or be removed to some other place where the report might not be delivered to him, and that His Majesty's service might in this way suffer loss, and the governor himself be prejudiced, and that I might be held blameworthy--taking all this, I say, into consideration, and for the discharge of my conscience, now I, in order to serve God and the King, and the governor in his name, desire to make a declaration of the said discovery, that His Majesty may know of it and the reports I obtained from the natives. I have therefore asked and required the notary to receive my statement, which is as follows:

"I, Captain Hernando de Ribera, say and declare that on the 20th of December last year (1543), I set out from the port of Los Reyes in the brigantine _El Golondrino_ ('The Swallow') with fifty-two men, in obedience to the governor's orders, and went on navigating the river Ygatu, which is an arm of the aforesaid two rivers Yacareati and Yaiva, and is very wide and voluminous; and on the sixth day I entered the parent stream of these two water-courses. According to the reports of the natives where I happened to land, these two rivers come from the interior of the country, the Yaiva most probably from the Sierras of Santa Martha. This river is wide and deep, and greater than the Yacareati, which according to the Indians, flows from the Peruvian Sierras; and between those two water-courses there is a wide expanse of land, and innumerable villages and tribes. According to the natives, the Yaiva and the Yacareati unite in the country of the Indians called Perobazanes, and there they separate again, and seventy leagues lower down they reunite.

"After navigating that river for seventeen days, I passed through the land of the Perobazanes, and arrived at another country, where the inhabitants are called Xarayes. These people are agriculturists, have a quantity of provisions, and rear geese, fowls, and other birds. They fish and hunt, and are a reasonable people, obeying their chief. Being in one of their settlements, consisting of about a thousand houses, and well received by their chief, Camire, I collected information concerning the settlements of the interior. In consequence of that information, I left the brigantine under the care of ten men, and taking a guide from the said Xarayes, advanced three days inland, till I reached the settlements of a tribe of Indians, called Urtueses, a good people, cultivating the soil like the Xarayes. From this place, I went on through an inhabited country, till I reached fourteen degrees twenty minutes going westwards.

"While staying in the settlements of the Urtueses and Aburuñes, many chiefs of tribes farther inland came and spoke with me, and brought feathers, like those of Peru, and metal plates in the rough. From them I also obtained information, questioning each individually concerning the settlements and tribes beyond. All these Indians told me that at ten days' march from there, towards the west-north-west, there were women inhabiting large villages, who possessed a large quantity of white and yellow metal, and all their domestic utensils and vessels were of this metal, and their chief was a woman. They are a warlike people, much feared by the Indians. Before reaching those female warriors it is necessary to pass a tribe of very small Indians, who make war upon the women, and also upon those Indians who gave the information. At a certain time of the year these women unite with their neighbours, and cohabit with them. And if the children born of this intercourse be girls, the mothers keep them; if they are boys, they send them as soon as they are weaned to their fathers. On the other side of the settlements of these women, bordering with them, there are very large villages and tribes of Indians. These statements they made of their own free will, without my asking them. They talked also of a large lake, which they call the House of the Sun, because they say the sun locks himself in there, and said that these women lived there between the flanks of Santa Martha and the lake on the west-north-west, and that beyond the settlements of those women were other large nations of black people. According to the description they gave, these negroes are eagle-faced, with pointed beards like the Moors. We asked them how they knew those people to be black, and they answered that their fathers had seen them and other tribes living in that neighbourhood had reported it. These people clothe themselves, and have houses of stone and earth; they are tall, and possess white and yellow metal in such abundance that they make use of no other material for their domestic utensils and vases, and all kinds of great vessels. We asked where those black people lived, and they pointed to the north-west, saying, that should we wish to go there, we might reach their settlements in fifteen days. And it seemed to me, judging from the indications given by the Indians, that those settlements lie in twelve degrees towards the north-west, between the sierras of Santa Martha and Marañon. They are a race of warriors fighting with bows and arrows. The same Indians also gave us to understand that between west-north-west and north-west, one quarter north, there are many tribes of Indians with such large settlements that it is a day's journey to pass from one end to the other; and all are rich in white and yellow metal, and wear clothes. They may be reached in a short time, always passing through inhabited country.

"Farther to the west there is a large lake, so wide that it is impossible to see from shore to shore, and by its side dwells a nation who wear clothes, and possess much metal and brilliant stones, which they work into the borders of their dress; and they find these stones in the lake. They have large villages, are agriculturists, and have stores of provisions, besides an abundance of geese and other birds. From the place where I was they said I might reach the lake and its settlements in fifteen days, always travelling through inhabited country, abounding in metal, and by good roads. They offered to show us the way thither when the floods subsided, though we were but few Christians, and the settlements we should have to pass were very large and populous.