active 16th century Alvar Núñez Cabeza de Vaca

“ And on our side there fell ten Christians besides the wounded, whom we sent back to Noster Signora Desumsion; but we pursued the enemy with all our army to their place Froemiliere, whither Machkaria their chief had fled. But these Carios had fortified their place with three wooden stockades, like a wall. The wooden posts were as thick as a man in the middle part of his body, or even thicker, three fathoms high, and sunk into the earth the height of a man. ”

“ They reported to the governor how the Indians of the river assembled in great numbers with their canoes, and while our men were descending on the rafts, came out and attacked them with loud cries and beating of drums, shooting a storm of arrows at them. Two hundred canoes surrounded them at one time, trying to board and take possession of the rafts in order to kill the Spaniards. For fourteen days and nights they never ceased fighting, being exposed all that time to a constant fire of arrows, both from those on shore as well as those in the canoes. ”

“ ON the banks of this river Paraguai there is a nation of Indians named Agazes; it is a people most feared in all that country, for besides being valiant they are well practised in war and very treacherous. Under pretext of making a treaty of peace they ravaged other tribes, not sparing even their own relatives, wishing to make themselves masters in the land, so that nobody trusts them. They are men of great size and gigantic limbs; they lead piratical lives in their canoes on the river, landing to pillage and capture the Guaranís, who are their principal enemies. ”

“ Though sick to death, the people derived strength from their desire to return home. The perils and difficulties of this voyage were certainly not light, for the men were not strong enough to handle their arms to resist the enemy, or make use of an oar to help to steer the vessels; and had it not been for the culverins we carried, our trouble would have been greater. We drew the canoes of the Indians into the midst of the brigantines to protect them from the enemy’s attacks till we came to their homes, and for better security the governor distributed some Christians in the canoes. ”

“ The women do no other work except at harvest time, when they assist in gathering the maize, and garnering it. From that place the Indians begin to be idolaters; they worship idols made of wood; but, according to the reports brought to the governor, those farther inland have idols of gold and silver.
The governor tried, with kind words, to turn the natives of Los Reyes from idolatry, persuading them to burn their idols, and believe only in God, who created heaven and earth, man, the sea, fish, and every living creature, and that he whom they worshipped was the devil, who deceived them. ”

“ During all this navigation the governor provided food for all the people, Spaniards and Guaranís, and supplied them well with everything—fish in great abundance and game, so that they had more than they could eat. In this river there is a kind of wild pig that is constantly in the water, larger than ours in Spain; these animals are aquatic in their habits, remaining on land at night, while in the daytime they are always in the water, and when they see a person they plunge into the river and sink to the bottom, remaining a long time under water. ”

“ The Indians said they wore these plates in order that they might so glitter and dazzle the eyes of the enemy; and they went forth with loud cries and shouts, all as merry as possible. When the governor departed from the city he left word with Captain Salazar to use every effort to complete the caravel, which he had ordered to be built, and make it ready against his return, so that he might then send his report to Spain of all that had happened in his voyage of exploration. ”

“ These gave them, in exchange for their commodities, maize, manioc, and mandubis; these last are like hazel nuts or chufas, and grow near the ground [329] ; they also supplied them with bows and arrows. Two hundred canoes crossed the river together for this market, laden with all these things; and it was the finest thing in the world to see them cross. The celerity of their movements is such that they sometimes collide with one another, and all the merchandise falls into the water. ”

“ 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. ”

“ These habits of life, and their want of a fixed abode, rendered it impossible for the clergy to teach them the Christian religion, for the necessities of their lives prevented them from abandoning their nomadic habits, dependent as they were upon these for the means of procuring food; if, on the other hand, they were to be compelled to give up this mode of livelihood, they might die of hunger. Hence it would be lost labour to teach them, nor could the monks live with them, owing to the insecurity of remaining among a people so little to be trusted. ”

“ The governor left those Indians, and continued his navigation of the river all that day with a fair wind, arriving at sunset at certain settlements belonging to the same tribe of Indians on the river shore, near the water’s edge; but in order not to lose time, and favourable weather for the voyage, he passed on without stopping. These people are agriculturists, sowing maize and other roots, hunting and fishing a great deal, both fish and game being abundant. Men and women wear the skins of wild animals, except a few, who only cover their privities. ”

“ From the said place, Gienugia, to these Tapis the distance is one hundred and twenty-six miles. This nation of Tapis eat their enemies, have no other occupation but waging war, and when they have conquered their enemies, they bring them to their place as prisoners, with great solemnity, as they do here in Germany at the time of a marriage. And when they prepare to slaughter their captives they make a great ceremony. They give their prisoner all he wishes for or lusts after: women with whom he may have intercourse, and meals to his heart’s content, up to the hour that he has to die. ”

“ THE riparian chiefs, and those inhabiting the vicinity of the Paraguai, near the town of the Ascension, vassals of His Majesty, came and presented themselves before the governor, and complained of a tribe of Indians that dwelt near their borders. These Indians are great warriors, and valiant men, who live on venison, butter, honey, fish, and wild boar, eating nothing besides, neither they nor their wives and children. They go daily to the chase for it is their only occupation. ”

“ These are very lofty and vigorous trees, yielding a fruit one palm and a half in length and as thick as three fingers. The people ate much of it, and the inside is as sweet as honey. It does not differ the least from that kind which is brought into Spain from other countries, except that it is much larger and rougher to the taste, because it is uncultivated. There are eighty of these trees united together on the bank of the Paraguai. In these parts of the river there was an abundance of wild fruit, which the Spaniards and Indians ate. ”

“ The first guide we had taken had assured us that on the fifth day we should find provisions and reach an inhabited country with plenty of commodities. Having put faith in these promises, both Christians and Indians had improvidently consumed all they brought with them, though every man had been supplied with two arrobas of flour. The governor had, in their opinion, to consider that there were barely six days’ provisions left, and at the end of that time there would be nothing for the people to eat. ”

“ That barbarous Indians are treacherous; that when they slay their enemies they will tear them to pieces and burn them, is beyond dispute. But that they will eat their flesh is a slander and a despicable falsehood founded on interested motives. I have yet to find the man who will tell me in good faith he has seen the Indians eat human flesh. Schmidt does not say it, nor does Alvar Nuñez, nor any other of the historians of America, though all repeat the tale ”

“ CHAPTER THE SIXTEENTH. How the natives kill and eat their enemies.
SOON after the arrival of the governor at the Ascension the natives and conquistadores brought serious charges against the officers of His Majesty. Alvar Nuñez therefore ordered all the native subjects of the king to assemble, and in the presence of the monks and clergy told them he had been sent to protect them, and that they should come to the knowledge of God and accept Christianity at the hands of the monks and clergy who had come as the ministers of God, and should subject themselves to His Majesty. ”

“ Their delight and joy consist in making war. They drink and eat enormously, are full day and night; they are also fond of dancing, and lead such an Epicurean life that it is not possible to describe it. It is a fierce, ambitious, and arrogant people; they make wine of Turkish corn, becoming as drunk upon it as if they were drinking the best of wines. They speak the same language as the Carios, with only a very slight difference.
[269] Tapis, writes here Schmidt, and this is the Guaraní name of the tribes south of Brazil, as was given by Father Anchieta and others contemporary to the conquest. ”

“ When the chiefs were pacified, all the people came together, without anyone having been killed. When all were re-united, the governor ordered that henceforth the Indians should pass to the rear, and the Spaniards should march in front, the cavalry being in advance of all, so that the Indians might see with what goodwill the Spaniards marched against the enemy, and lay aside any fears they might still have left; for the Spaniards in that province depended entirely upon the Indians for their means of subsistence, and without this would have had to abandon it altogether. ”

“ All were elegantly attired with parrots’ feathers, and aprons of white beads to cover their nakedness. They placed the Spaniards in their midst, and led them into the village, at the entrance to which large numbers of women and children were waiting for them. The women all had their privities covered, and many of them wore wide cotton dresses, this material being in use among them under the name of tipoes.
When the Spaniards had entered the village they came to where the chief of the Xarayes was. He was surrounded by three hundred Indians of very good appearance, mostly elderly men. ”

“ 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. ”

“ And when the Carios, who had formerly been our friends, perceived that we Christians were disunited, and had such false and treacherous hearts one towards another, they were not at all pleased, for they thought that every realm that is divided in itself and cannot agree must be destroyed. ”

“ 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 ”

“ From that time they continually came at night, made incursions on the lagoon to see if they might capture any Christians or Indians fishing there, so as to prevent their fishing; for they declared the land was theirs and that the Christians had no right to fish there; that we must leave the country, otherwise they would kill us. The governor sent to try and appease them, and to tell them to keep the peace they had made, and restore the Christian and Indian captives they had taken, promising in such case to treat them as friends, but that if they refused, he would act against them as enemies. ”

“ 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. ”

“ Their women are allowed the right of delivering a prisoner who has fallen into their hands, so that he shall neither be killed nor enslaved, and if he choose to remain among them, he is treated as one of their own people. These women have certainly more liberty than that bestowed on our women in Spain by Queen Isabella, our Sovereign Lady. The governor and his people, being tired of pursuing the enemy, returned to camp, and having assembled his army, began his march towards Ascension, followed by the Guaycurús a great distance, arms in hand ”

“ Azara is one of the few who deny that the country was inhabited by a multitude of various nations, as many writers have asserted, and nevertheless enumerates and describes no less than thirty-two nations and more than fifty tribes. I maintain there was only one nation, the Guaraní; and in the province of La Plata, described by Alvar Nuñez and by Schmidt, the Guaranís were divided into twenty-one tribes, who differed only in their habits, or their arms, or in the nature of the country inhabited by them. ”