Part 7

It happened that they found a populous nation of Indians, who had plenty of Turkish corn, manioc, and other roots. But the Spaniards durst not show themselves, but returned to us, and told it to our chief captain. He was very desirous to have gone into that country, but was hindered by waters[161] that he could not proceed. He therefore ordered a ship to be furnished, wherein he put eighty men, and gave us Ernando Rieffere[162] for our captain, and sent us up the river Paraboe to discover the nation named Scherues,[163] and ordered that we should go two days' journey into the interior of the country and no farther, and then report to him of that land and its inhabitants.

[161] Floods.

[162] Hernando de Ribera.

[163] Xarayes; cf. Hernando de Ribera's narrative, _infra_.

So departing, on the first day we came on the other side of the country to a people named Surukusis, who live in an island[164] which is thirty miles wide, and encompassed by the river Paraboe; they eat manioc, maize, manduis, padades, mandepore, parpii, Bachkeku, and other roots; also fish and meat. The men and women are like the above-mentioned Surukusis in face and figure. We remained one day among them, and the second day we set off again. Ten canoes of these Indians accompanied us and showed us our way, and twice a day they hunted wild beasts and fished to supply us with food. After six days' journey we came to a people called Achkeres. They are very numerous, men and women, are big and tall, the like whereof were not to be seen in the whole Riodellaplata. These Achkeres are three miles distance from the aforesaid Surukusis; they have nothing to eat but fish and meat; the women have their privities covered. Among these Achkeres[165] we remained one day, and then the above-mentioned Surukusis returned with their ten canoes to their village. Afterwards our commander, Ernando Riefere[166] asked the Achkeres to show us the way to the Scherues, and they were willing to do so, and came with eight canoes out of their place with us, and twice every day fished and hunted, so that we should have plenty to eat. The reason why they are called Achkeres, is as follows.

[164] This island was called Isla del Paraiso (Paradise Island) by the Spaniards. The Indians living there were the Itatis.

[165] _Yacaré_ is the name, in the Guaraní language, of the amphibious animals similar to the crocodile, to which Schmidt alludes hereafter. But there never was a tribe of that name; perhaps it was the name of a cacique.

[166] Hernando de Ribera.

Achkarus is a fish which has a hard skin all over, so that it cannot be wounded with a knife, nor can one shoot it with an Indian dart. It is a big fish, which does great harm to other fishes. Its eggs, which it lays at about two or three paces from the water's edge, have the taste of musk and are good for eating; the tail is the best part, though the whole fish is harmless; it lives always in the water. In our Germany that fish is reckoned to be noxious and even venomous, and is called a crocodile. And it is said, that if one looks at that fish, and even more, if the fish breathes upon any one, that person must by all means die; which is not according to truth, for man must also die without that, and nothing is more certain.

Further it is said that if such a fish is found in a well, there is no other means to kill it than to show it a mirror, in order that it may look at itself therein; it must then die from the sight of its own atrocious face.

But all these sayings are fables, and nothing else, for I should have died a hundred times if it had been true, having caught and eaten over three thousand of these fishes myself, and I would not have written so much about this fish if I had not had such good reason for it.

The ninth day after our departure we came to the Scherues,[167] who are reckoned to be thirty-six miles distant from the Achkeres. This nation is very populous, but these were not the genuine people among whom the king lives. These Scherues to whom we now came wear a moustache, and have a wooden ring in the tips of their ears, and the ear is folded round the wooden ring in a wonderful manner. The men have also a large blue crystal in their lips of the shape and size of a draughtsman. And they are painted blue on their bodies from the head to the knees so as to give them the appearance of wearing breeches.

[167] Xarayos. These and the Itatis were the Indians living near the island of Paraiso, on the left bank of the river Paraguai. According to the best authorities the right name for this tribe is _Guarayos_.

But the women are painted otherwise, blue from the breast to the privities, and so artistically, that one could not soon find a painter to do it so well. They are absolutely naked, and are beautiful after their manner, and also commit transgressions in the dark.

Among these Scherues we remained one day, and afterwards in three days' journey we came to a king, who lives at fourteen miles distance, and whose people are also called Scherues. His country is only four miles wide, but he has also a settlement on the river Paraboe.

There we left our ship with twelve Spaniards to watch it, that we might use it for our defence on our return. We also ordered these Scherues dwelling there to hold friendly intercourse with the Christians, which they also did.

We remained thus two days in this place, and prepared ourselves for travel, and took all that was wanted and passed over the river Paraboe,[168] and so came to the King who lives there himself.

[168] Paraguai.

And when we were approaching near and were about one mile off, the King of the Scherues came forth to meet us with twelve thousand men, or even more, on a heath, yet in a friendly and peaceable manner. The path they followed was eight feet broad, and was covered entirely with flowers and herbs up to their place, and made so clean that not so much as any little stone, stick, or straw appeared. The King was also accompanied by his musicians, whose instruments resemble our hoboys. His Royal Majesty had also ordered that deer and other wild beasts should be hunted on both sides of the way; so that they caught about thirty deer and twenty ostriches, and it was indeed an agreeable thing to see; and when we came to their place, the King appointed a house to accommodate every two Christians, and our captain with his servants were taken into the Royal House, and I was not very far from the King's house. Then the King of the Scherues[169] and his subjects resolved to treat us Christians well, and to give us all our necessaries. And the King also held a Court in his own way, like the greatest lord in the country.

[169] Xarayos.

At dinner the musicians must play whenever it is his pleasure. Then the men and the most beautiful women must dance before him, and such a dance is to us Christians quite wonderful, so much so that looking upon them one could think of nothing else. These people are like the Scherues, of whom we spoke before.

Their wives make mantles from cotton very subtle, almost like satin, on which they embroider several figures, as deer, ostriches, Indian sheep, or what else they can. In these mantles they sleep when it is cold, or they sit upon them, or use them at their pleasure. These women are very fair and venerous, very amiable, and very hot too, as it seemed to me.

There we remained four days. Meanwhile, the King asked our commander what were our wishes, and whither we intended to go; and our commander replied he was seeking for gold and silver. The King gave him a silver crown, which weighed one and a half mark nearly, and a bar of gold, a span and a half in length and half a span broad; also a bracelet, _i.e._, a half-harness, and many other things in silver, and then said to our commander: He had no more gold or silver, and that these things were the spoils which in time past he had won in war from the Amazons.

And when he came to speak of the Amazons, and gave us to understand of their great riches, we were very glad to learn of it. And our commander presently asked the King if we could come to them by water; and how far it was to these Amazons.

The King answered we could not reach them by water, but would have to go by land, and travel during two whole months. Thereupon we decided to go to these Amazons, as will be related hereafter.

These women, the Amazons, have only one breast, and the men come to their wives only three or four times in the year; and if the woman, being in child by her husband, bring forth a male child, she sends that boy away to his father.

But if it be a girl, she keepeth it with her, and seareth the right breast, in order that it may grow no more. The reason for this is, that they may be more fit to handle their weapons and bows, for they are war-like women, making continual war against their enemies.

These women inhabit an island surrounded by water, and a large island it is too; and there is no access to it but by canoes. But in this island the Amazons have neither gold nor silver, though they are reported to have great riches in the _terra firma_ where the men live. It is a very great nation, and is said to have a King whose name appears to be Iegnis, and they told us where he lived.

Now, our commander, Ernando Rieffere,[170] desired the said King of the Scherues[171] to place at our disposal some of his subjects to carry our plunder and to show us the way, because he intended to enter the interior of the country, and to seek out those above-mentioned Amazons. The King was willing to do so, but he said that at this time of the year the land would be under water, and therefore travelling there would not do at this season. We would not, however, believe his words, but were urgent to have his Indians. He therefore gave our commander for his person twenty men to carry his plunder and victual, and to each of us he gave five Indians to serve us and carry our necessaries, for we would have to go eight days' journey without finding an Indian.

[170] Hernando de Ribera.

[171] Xarayos. All that precedes about the Amazons is a ridiculous tale which Schmidt could not have heard from any of those poor Indians, who had not the slightest idea about the Scythian mythology or the ancient fables from which this passage of his book is taken, after the fashion for the wonderful, prevalent at this period. The source of this story in the New World is the voyage made in 1540-41 by the Spanish officer, Orellana, who was the first to navigate the great river called _of the Amazons_, on account of his having related that he met on its banks a tribe of women warriors.

Afterwards we came to a certain nation called Siberis, who resemble the Scherues in their language and in other respects. We advanced for eight whole days and nights in water up to the knees, and sometimes as high as the waist; nor could we by any means come out of it. When we wished to make a fire, we heaped big fagot-sticks one on another, and made a fire thereon; and it happened several times that as we were about to cook our meat, both the pot in which we had our food and the fire fell into the water, and then we had to remain without eating. We also could not find any rest either by day or night, because of the small flies, against which we could do nothing.

We therefore asked these Siberis if there were any more water, and they said we would have to wade four more days in the water, and afterwards would have to travel five other days by land; and at length we should come to a people named Orthuses,[172] and they gave us to understand that we were too few in number, and therefore we had better return. But this we would not do for the Scherues sake, for we thought rather of sending them back to their town who were accompanying us. But the said Scherues refused to go, because the King had ordered them not to leave us, but to serve us until we came again out of that country.

[172] Urtuesses; cf. Hernando de Ribera's narrative, _infra_.

The aforesaid Siberis then gave us ten men, who, together with the Scherues, should show us the way to the aforesaid Orthuses; so we went along for another seven days through water up to the waist or the knee; this water was quite as hot as if it had been heated on the fire, and we were compelled to drink it, for want of any other water. Some might suppose that it was a flowing water, but this was not so, for at that time rain had fallen so heavily that the whole land was inundated, for it is a flat land; how we suffered from the effects of this water shall be told hereafter.

Thus on the ninth day, between ten and eleven before noon, we came to the place of the Orthuses, and by midday we arrived in the centre of the village, where the chief's house stands.

But at that very time there was a great mortality among the Orthuses, caused by famine, for they had nothing to eat, the locusts or grasshoppers having twice eaten and destroyed all the corn and the fruits of their trees. When we Christians saw this, and heard how things were going there, we became frightened, and could not remain long in the land, because we also had not much to eat. So our commander asked their chief how many days' journey we yet had to the Amazons, and he said we must yet travel one full month to reach them, and besides, all the land was full of water, as it indeed appeared.

Now the chief of the Orthuses presented our commander with four Pleynisch[173] of gold, and four silver rings which they wear on the arm; but the Indians wear the plates on their foreheads for ornaments, as our nobles do their gold chains on their necks. For all this, our commander gave the chief of the Indians a hatchet, knives, paternosters, scissors, and other things which are made at Nuremberg. We would have wished more from them, but we durst not ask it, for we Christians were not numerous enough, and therefore had to beware of them. The Indians, on the contrary, were very numerous, and their town so large, that I had hitherto never seen in the whole of India so many people together, nor such a big place, although I have been far and wide. The mortality among the Indians, dying from hunger, certainly was our good luck, for otherwise we Christians might not perhaps have escaped with our lives.

[173] Plates.

When we again returned to the aforesaid Siberis, we were ill-provided with victual, for they had nothing to eat but a tree called a palm, and cardes,[174] and other roots which grow underground. And when we came to the Scherues, our people were half dead for sickness, because of the water and the poverty that we had to undergo during this journey, for we never came out of the water for thirty days and nights together, and we were always constrained to drink of that impure water.

[174] Thistles.

So we remained among the Scherues, where the King lives, for four days, and they treated us very well, and waited on us diligently, and the King ordered his subjects to give us all things necessary.

On this journey each of us plundered nearly two hundred ducats' worth of Indian cotton mantles and silver, having secretly bartered these for knives, paternosters,[175] scissors, and looking-glasses.

[175] Rosaries.

After all this we again went down the river to our chief commander, Albernunzo Cabessa de Bacha,[176] and when we arrived, he ordered us on our lives not to come out of the ships, and he came also in person to us and ordered our commander, Ernando Rieffere,[177] to be cast into prison, and took from us soldiers all that we had brought with us from the country; and finally, he would have hanged our commander, Ernando Rieffere, on a tree. But when we heard of this, we being still in the Bergentin,[178] raised a great tumult along with other good friends who were on shore, against our chief commander, Albernunzo Cabessa de Bacha, demanding that he should set our commander, Ernando Rieffere, free, and restore to us all of that which he had taken away, otherwise we should take measures accordingly. Seeing such an uproar and our wrathful indignation, he was very glad indeed to let our commander go free, and to restore to us all he had taken away, giving us fair words that we might be pacified; how it fared with him afterwards shall presently be told.

[176] Alvar Nuñez Cabeza de Vaca.

[177] Hernando de Ribera.

[178] Brigantine.

All this having occurred, and peace being established, he desired our commander, Ernando Rieffere, and us to give him a report on the country we had been to; and explain how it happened that we had remained so long absent; and we gave him an answer wherewith he was well satisfied. That he had received us so badly and taken our things away, was the result of our not having obeyed his mandate; for he had only ordered us to go as far as the Scherues,[179] and four days' journey inland, and then to return and report to him; we on the contrary had gone for eighteen days beyond the country of the Scherues.

[179] Xarayos.

Now our chief commander, after the report we had made of it, would have marched with all his people to that country to which we had just been; but we soldiers would not agree thereto, especially at this very time when the country was quite under water.

Moreover, most of the people were very feeble and ill, besides which our chief commander, Albernunzo Cabessa de Bacha, commanded no great respect or favour among the soldiers, for he was a man who had never held a command nor any important post whatsoever.

So we remained for two months among the aforesaid Siberis (Surukusis?), during which time our chief commander got a fever, which made him very ill--it would have been no great loss had he died at this time, for he really commanded no great respect among us.

In this country of the Surukusis I did not find a single Indian who was forty or fifty years of age, nor have I ever in my life experienced a more unhealthy country; for it lies under the tropic, _i.e._, there where the sun is at the highest; it is as unhealthy as Sancte Thome.[180]

[180] The island of San Thomé, off the west coast of Africa.

Being among the Surukusis, I saw the constellation of Ursa Major, of which we had lost sight when we passed the island of S. Augo.[181]

[181] St. Iago, one of the Cape Verd islands, cf. _supra_, p. 4. Hulsius observes that in the tropic of Capricorn, in which Surukusis is situated, the elevation of the pole is 22½°, and the constellation of Ursa Major would be visible here at its highest elevation in the sky for several hours. The author's remark that he lost sight of this constellation at the island of St. Iago is, according to the same commentator, wholly erroneous. This island is in N. lat. 15°; the declination of the star α Ursæ Majoris, the northernmost of the group, is 62° 20′ 2″. It would therefore appear on the horizon in S. lat. 27° 40′, or 2,560 miles south of St. Iago.

Now our commander-in-chief ordered, in spite of his illness, one hundred and fifty Christians and two thousand Indian Carios to go with four Bergentin ships,[182] four miles distance to the island of the Surukusis, and commanded them to slay all these Surukusis or to take them prisoners, and that they should principally destroy all persons from forty to fifty years of age. The way these Surukusis had previously entertained us has already been declared,[183] and how we rewarded and thanked them will now appear. God knows that we did them wrong.

[182] Brigantines.

[183] Cf. _supra_, p. 42.

When, therefore, we arrived at their town unawares, they came out of their houses with bows and arrows to meet us peaceably. But a tumult arising between the Carios and the Surukusis, we Christians fired at them and killed very many, and having made more than two thousand prisoners, men, women, boys, and girls, we afterwards burnt down their town, and took all they possessed that could be carried away, as in such violent assaults is usual; then we turned back again to our commander, Albernunzo Cabessa de Bacha, who was very well pleased with our deeds.

But our people being for the most part feeble and ill-affected towards our chief commander, the latter could not do anything with them, so he ordered a ship to be prepared, and we all went down the river Paraboe,[184] and came to Noster Signora desumsion,[185] where we had left the other Christians. There our chief commander fell sick again of a fever, and kept indoors fourteen days together. It was, however, more out of pride than out of weakness, for he did not please the people; but showed himself unseemly towards them more than it behoved a lord or commander who would govern a country; for such a man should always give good counsel to everyone alike whatever their rank or station, and always be good-hearted to all. Also it seems well that such an one should so behave himself as he would like to appear to others, and should be wiser and cleverer than those whom he commands. For it is very bad and shameful that anyone should try to advance more in honours than in wisdom. And nobody should boast himself of his high position, despising others, like the vain and arrogant Thrasus[186] in Terentius, who thinks that every commander is appointed for the sake of the men, and not the soldiers nominated for the commander's sake.

[184] Paraguai.

[185] The town of La Asuncion.

[186] Thraso, the soldier in Terence's play of _The Eunuch_. A German translation of this comedy, with a commentary by Hans Nythart, was printed at Ulm in 1486.

But here there has been no regard as to persons, but our commander has in all things only followed his arrogant and vain inspiration.

Thereupon it was resolved by all, noble man and commoner, to meet in council, with a view to take prisoner this chief commander, Albernunzo Cabessa de Bacha, and to send him to H. I. Majesty, and to report to His Majesty about his nice virtue, and how he had behaved towards us, and how, according to his reason, he had governed; and other things besides.

According to the resolution come to, these three gentlemen, namely, the treasurer or judge, the clerk or master of the toll or custom, and the secretary ordained by H. I. Majesty, whose names were Albernunzo Gabrero, Don Francisco Manchossa, Garze Hannego, Philippo de Gastra,[187] etc., taking with them two hundred soldiers, went to his lodging, and arrested our commander-in-chief, Albernunzo Cabessa de Bacha, when he least expected it. And this happened on St. Mark's Day, Anno 1543.[188] They held prisoner the said Albernunzo Cabessa de Bacha for a whole year, until a ship called a Carrabella,[189] provided with victual and a crew, had been prepared. And on board this ship the often-mentioned Cabessa de Bacha, with two other officers on behalf of H. I. Majesty, were conveyed to Spain.

[187] Alonzo Cabrera, Francisco de Mendoza, Garcia Vanegas, and Felipe Caceres.

[188] This conspiracy against Alvar Nuñez was the work of Domingo Martinez de Irala to get possession of the Government, in which he succeeded. Schmidt avows himself an accomplice, and this explains his unjust charges against the Adelantado, Alvar Nuñez Cabeza de Vaca, who was the most honest and capable governor that this unfortunate colony had in early times. The imprisonment took place on the 25th of April 1544, and lasted one year, during which Alvar Nuñez suffered the most horrible treatment from his wicked enemies.

[189] Caravel.

After that we had to elect another who should rule and govern the country until H. I. Majesty had time to designate one himself. And we held it for good, as it was the meaning and the will of the community, to nominate as chief Domingo Eijollas,[190] not only because he had formerly governed the country, but especially because most of the soldiers were satisfied with him.

[190] Domingo Martinez de Irala.