Cabeza de Vaca
Spanish America
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2.b Parting With the Ships
Translated by Fanny Bandelier

The next day, which was the 1st of May, the Governor took aside the commissary, the purser, the inspector, myself, a sailor called Bartolomé Fernandez and a notary by the name of Jeronimo de Albaniz, and told us that he had in mind to penetrate inland, while the vessels should follow the coast as far as the harbor; since the pilots said and believed that, if they went in the direction of the Palms they would reach it soon. On this he asked us to give our opinions.

I replied that it seemed to me in no manner advisable to forsake the ships until they were in a safe port, held and occupied by us. I told him to consider that the pilots were at a loss, disagreeing among themselves, undecided as to what course to pursue. Moreover, the horses would not be with us in case we needed them, and, furthermore, we had no interpreter to make ourselves understood by the natives; hence we could have no parley with them. Neither did we know what to expect from the land we were entering, having no knowledge of what it was, what it might contain and by what kind of people it was inhabited, nor in what part of it we were; finally, that we had not the supplies required for penetrating into an unknown country, for of the stores left in the ships not more than one pound of biscuit and one of bacon could be given as rations to each man for the journey, so that, in my opinion, we should re-embark and sail in quest of a land and harbor better adapted to settlement, since the country which we had seen was the most deserted and the poorest ever found in those parts.

The commissary was of the contrary saying, that we should not embark, but follow the coast in search of a harbor, as the pilots asserted that the way to Panuco was not more than ten or fifteen leagues distant and that by following along the coast it was impossible to miss it, since the coast bent inland for twelve leagues. The first ones who came there should wait for the others. As to embarking, he said it would be to tempt God, after all the vicissitudes of storms, losses of men and vessels and hardships we had suffered since leaving Spain, and until we came to that place. So his advice would be to move along the coast as far as the harbor, while the vessels with the other men would follow to the same port.

To all the others this seemed to be the best, except to the notary, who said that before leaving the ships they should be put into a harbor well known, safe and in a settled country, after which we might go inland and do as we liked.

The Governor clung to his own idea and to the suggestions of the others.

Seeing his determination, I required him, on the part of Your Majesty, not to forsake the vessels until they were in a secure port, and I asked the notary present to testify to what I said. The Governor replied that he approved the opinion of the other officials and of the commissary; that I had no authority for making such demands, and he asked the notary to give him a certified statement as to how, there not being in the country the means for supporting a settlement, nor any harbor for the ships, he broke up the village he had founded, and went in search of the port and of a better land. So he forthwith ordered the people who were to go with him to get ready, providing themselves with what was necessary for the journey. After this he turned to me, and told me in the presence of all who were there that, since I so much opposed the expedition into the interior and was afraid of it, I should take charge of the vessels and men remaining, and, in case I reached the port before him, I should settle there. This I declined.

After the meeting was over he, on that same evening, saying that it seemed to him as if he could not trust anybody, sent me word that he begged me to take charge of that part of the expedition, and as, in spite of his insistency, I declined, he asked for the reasons of my refusal, I then told him that I refused to accept, because I felt sure he would never see the ships again, or be seen by their crews any more; that, seeing how utterly unprepared he was for moving inland, I preferred to share the risk with him and his people, and suffer what they would have to suffer, rather than take charge of the vessels and thus give occasion for saying that I opposed the journey and remained out of fear, which would place my honor in jeopardy. So that I would much rather expose of my life than, under these circumstances, my good name.

Seeing that he could not change my determination, he had others approach me about it with entreaties. But I gave the same answer to them as to him, and he finally provided for his lieutenant to take command of the vessels, an alcalde named Caravallo.

On Saturday, the 1st of May, the day on which all this had happened, he ordered that they should give to each one of those who had to go with him, two pounds of ship-biscuit and one-half pound of bacon, and thus we set out upon our journey inland. The number of people we took along was three hundred, among them the commissary, Father Juan Xuarez, another friar called Father Juan de Palos and three priests, the officers, and forty horsemen. We marched for fifteen days, living on the supplies we had taken with us, without finding anything else to eat but palmettos like those of Andalusia. In all this time we did not meet a soul, nor did we see a house or village, and finally reached a river, which we crossed with much trouble, by swimming and on rafts. It took us a day to ford the river on account of the swiftness of its current. When we got across, there came towards us some two hundred Indians, more or less; the Governor went to meet them, and after he talked to them by signs they acted in such a manner that we were obliged to set upon them and seize five or six, who took us to their houses, about half a league from there, where we found a large quantity of corn ready for harvest. We gave infinite thanks to our Lord for having helped us in such great need, for, as we were not used to such exposures, we felt greatly exhausted, and were much weakened by hunger.

On the third day that we were at this place the purser, the inspector, the commissary and myself jointly begged the Governor to send out in search of a harbor, as the Indians told us the sea was not very far away. He forbade us to speak of it, saying it was at a great distance, and I being the one who most insisted, he bade me to go on a journey of discovery and search of a port, and said I should go on foot with forty people. So the next day I started with the Captain Alonso del Castillo and forty men of his company. At noon we reached sandy patches that seemed to extend far inland. For about one and a half leagues we walked, with the water up to the knee, and stepping on shells that cut our feet badly. All this gave us much trouble, until we reached the river which we had crossed first, and which emptied through the same inlet, and then, as we were too ill-provided for crossing it, we turned back to camp and told the Governor what we had found and how it was necessary to ford the river again at our first crossing in order to explore the inlet thoroughly and find out if there was a harbor.

The next day he sent a captain called Valenzuela with sixty footmen and six horsemen to cross the river and follow its course to the sea in search of a port. After two days he came back, reporting that he had discovered the inlet, which was a shallow bay, with water to the knees, but it had there no harbor. He saw five or six canoes crossing from one side to the other, with Indians who wore many feather bushes.

Hearing this, we left the next day, always in quest of the province called Apalachen by the Indians, taking as guides those whom we had captured, and marched until the 17th of June without finding an Indian who would dare to wait for us. Finally there came to us a chief, whom an Indian carried on his shoulders. He wore a painted deerskin, and many people followed him, and he was preceded by many players on flutes made of reeds. He came the place where the Governor was and stayed an hour. We gave him to understand by signs that our aim was to reach Apalachen, but from his gestures it seemed to us that he was an enemy of the Apalachen people and that he would go and help us against them. We gave him beads and little bells and other trinkets, while he presented the Governor with the hide he wore. Then he turned back and we followed him.

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