Alvar Nunez Cabeza de Vaca and three companions, the first Europeans to penetrate the
interior of Texas, were members of the ill-fated Panfilo de Narviez expedition from Cuba
to Florida in 1527. The 242 Spaniards, stranded there, constructed five frail boats in
which they attempted to sail along the coast to Mexico. The boats were destroyed by a
storm in November, 1528, and all the explorers perished except De Vaca and three others.
After nearly six years of servitude to the Indians and two years of wandering across
strange lands the four survivors arrived on May 13, 1536, at Culiacan, the northern
outpost of New Spain near the Gulf of California. After preparing a report of his
adventures at Mexico City, De Vaca left for Spain to seek royal favor and a commission to
lead an exploring expedition into the country he had visited. He landed at Lisbon on
August 9, 1537, and went directly to the Court of Spain, where he learned that the
commission he sought had been granted already to Hernando de Soto. Excerpts from De Vaca's
account of the shipwreck and of his return to the Spanish Court follow.
(for the full text of the story go to "The Journey
of Alvar Nuñez Cabeza De Vaca")
I. CABEZA DE VACA SHIPWRECKED ON THE TEXAS COAST
From Buckingham Smith (trans.), The narrative of Altar Nunez Cabeza de Vaca (New
York, 1871), 61-77.
. . . Thus we continued in company, eatinga daily allowance of half a handful
of raw maize, until the end of four days, when we lost sight of each other in a storm; .
Because of winter and its inclemency, the many days we had suffered hunger, and the heavy
beating of the waves, the people began next day to despair in such a manner that when the
sun sank, all who were in my boat were fallen one on another, so near to death that there
were few among them in a state of sensibility. Of the whole number at this time not five
men were on their feet; and when the night came, only the master and myself were left, who
could work the boat. Two hours after dark he said to me that I must take charge of her as
he was in such condition he believed he should die that night. . .
Near the dawn of day, it seemed to me I heard the tumbling of the sea; for as the coast
was low, it roared loudly. Surprised at this, I called to the master, who answered me that
he believed we were near the land.
Near the shore a wave took us, that knocked the boat out of water the distance of the
throw of a crowbar, and from the violence with which she struck, nearly all the people who
were in her like dead, were roused to consciousness. Finding themselves near the shore,
they began to move on hands and feet, crawling to land into some ravines. There we made
fire, parched some of the maize we brought, and found some rain water. From the warmth of
the fire the people recovered their faculties, and began somewhat to exert themselves. The
day on which we arrived was the sixth of November [1528].
After the people had eaten, I ordered Lope de Oviedo, who had more strength and was
stouter than any of the rest, to go to some trees that were near by, and climbing into one
of them to look about and try to gain some knowledge of the country. He did as I bade, and
made out that we were on an island.
[He] found some huts, without tenants, they having gone into the woods. He took from
these an earthen pot, a little dog, some few mullets, and returned.
. . . Three Indians with bows and arrows followed and were calling to him, while he, in
the same way, was beckoning them on. Thus he arrived where we were, the natives remaining
a little way back, seated on the shore. Half an hour after, they were supported by one
hundred other Indian bowmen, who if they were not large, our fears made giants of them.
They stopped near us with the first three. It were idle to think that any among us could
make defence; for it would have been difficult to find six that could rise from the
ground. The Assessor and I went out and called to them, and they came to us. We endeavored
the best we could to encourage them and secure their favor. We gave them beads and
hawkbells, and each of them gave me an arrow, which is a pledge of friendship. They told
us by signs that they would return in the morning and bring us something to eat, as at
that time they had nothing.
At sunrise the next day, the time the Indians appointed, they came according to their
promise, and brought us a large quantity of fish with certain root some a little larger
than walnuts, other a trifle smaller, the part got from under the water and with much
labor. In the evening they returned and brought us more fish and roots. They sent their
women and children to look at us, who went back rich with the hawk-bells and beads given
them, and they came afterwards on other days, returning as before. Finding that we had
provision, fish, roots, water and other things we asked for, we determined to embark again
and pursue our course. Having dug out our boat from the sand in which it was buried, it
became necessary that we should strip, and go through great exertion to launch her, we
being in such a state that things very much lighter sufficed to make us great labor.
Thus embarked, at the distance of two cross-bow shots in the sea we shipped a wave that
entirely wet us. As we were naked, and the cold was very great, the oars loosened in our
hands, and the next blow the sea struck us, capsized the boat. The Assessor and two others
. . . were drowned under her. As the surf near the shore was very high, a single roll of
the sea threw the rest into the waves. . . . The survivors escaped naked as they were
born, with the loss of all they had; and although the whole was of little value, at that
time it was worth much, as we were then in November, the cold was severe, and our bodies
were so emaciated the bones might be counted with little difficulty, having become the
perfect figures of death.
At sunset, the Indians thinking that we had not gone, came to seek us and bring us
food; . . . [and] seeing no better course, and that any other led to a nearer and more
certain death, I disregarded what was said, and be-sought the Indians to take us to their
dwellings. They signified that it would give them delight, and that we should tarry little
that they might do what we asked.
Because of the extreme coldness of the weather, lest any one should die or fail by the
way, they caused four or five very large fires to be placed at intervals, and at each they
warmed us; and when they saw that we had regained some heat and strength, they took us to
their habitations, where we found that they had made a house for us with many fires in it.
Captains Andres Dorantes and Alonzo del Castillo [having come up with all the persons
of their boat]
. . .were surprised at seeing us in the condition we were, and very much pained at having
nothing to give us, as they had brought no other clothes than what they had on.
Thus together again, they related that on the fifth day of that month, their boat had
capsized a league and a half from there, and they escaped without losing anything. We all
agreed to refit their boat, that those of us might go in her who had vigor sufficient and
disposition to do so, and the rest should remain until they be-came well enough to go, as
they best might, along the coast until God our Lord should be pleased to conduct us alike
to a land of Christians. Directly as we arranged this, we set ourselves to work. Before we
threw the boat out into the water, Tavera, a gentleman of our company, died; and the boat,
which we thought to use, came to its end, sinking from the unfitness to float.
As we were in the condition I have mentioned, the greater number of us naked, and the
weather boisterous for travel, and to cross rivers and bays by swimming, and we being
entirely without provisions or the means of carrying any, we yielded obedience to what
necessity required, to pass the winter in the place where we were. We also agreed that
four men of the most robust should go on to Panuco, which we believed to be near, and if,
by Divine favor, they should reach there, they could give information of our remaining on
that island, and of our sorrows and destitution. These men were excellent swimmers.
The four Christians being gone, after a few days such cold and tempestuous weather
succeeded that the Indians could not pull up roots, the cane wears in which they took fish
no longer yielded any thing, and the houses being very open, our people began to die. Five
Christians, of a mess on the coast, came to such extremity that they ate their dead; the
body of the last one only was found unconsumed. . . . This produced great commotion among
the Indians, giving rise to so much censure that had they known it in season to have done
so, doubtless they would have destroyed any survivor, and we should have found ourselves
in the utmost perplexity. Finally, of eighty men who arrived in the two instances, fifteen
only remained alive.
After this, the natives were visited by a disease of the bowels, of which half their
number died. They conceived that we had destroyed them, and believing it firmly, they
concerted among themselves to dispatch those of us who survived. When they were about to
execute their purpose, an Indian who had charge of me, told them not to believe we were
the cause of those deaths, since if we had such power we should also have averted the
fatality from so many of our people, whom they had seen die without our being able to
minister relief; already very few of us remained, and none doing hurt or wrong, and that
it would be better to leave us unharmed.
To this island we gave the name Malhado [Misfortune]. The people we found there are
large and well formed. . . . The stay they make on the island is from October to the end
of February. Their subsistence then is the root I have spoken of, got from under the water
in November and December. They have wears of cane and take fish only in this season;
afterwards they live on the roots. At the end of February, they go into other parts to
seek food; for then the root is beginning to grow and is not good..
There is another custom, which is, when a son or brother dies, at the house where the
death takes place, they do not go after food for three months, but sooner famish, their
relatives and neighbors providing what they eat. As in the time we were there a great
number of the natives died, in most houses there was very great hunger, because of the
keeping of this their custom and observance; for although they who sought after food
worked hard, yet from the severity of the season they could get but little; in
consequence, the Indians who kept me, left the island, and passed over in canoes to the
main, into some bays where are many oysters. For three months in the year they eat nothing
besides these, and drink very bad water. There is great want of wood; misquitos are in
great plenty. The houses are of mats, set up on masses of oyster shells, which they sleep
upon, and in skins, should they accidentally possess them. In this way we lived until
April [1, 1529], when we went to the sea shore, where we ate blackberries all the month,
during which time the Indians did not omit to observe their areitos [mystic dancing and
singing] and festivities. . .
CABEZA DE VACA AT THE SPANISH COURT
From Buckingham Smith, Narratives of the Career of Hernando de Sotoin the
Conquest of Florida as Told by a Knight of Elvas (New York, 1866), 7-10.
After Don Hernando [de Soto] had obtained the concession, a fidalgo arrived at Court
from the Indias, Cabaza de Vaca by name, who had been in Florida with Narvaez; and he
stated how he with four others had escaped, taking the way to New Spain; that the Governor
had been lost in the sea, and the rest were all dead. He brought with him a written
relation of adventures, which said in some places Here I have seen this; and the rest
which I saw I leave to confer of with His Majesty; generally, however, he described the
poverty of the country, and spoke of the hardships he had undergone. Some of his kinsfolk,
desirous of going to the Indias, strongly urged him to tell them whether he had seen any
rich country in Florida or not; but he told them that he could not do so; because he and
another (by name Orantes [Dorantes], who had remained in New Spain with the purpose of
returning into Florida) had sworn not to divulge certain things which they had seen, lest
some one might beg the government in advance of them, for which he had come to Spain;
nevertheless, he gave them to understand that it was the richest country in the world.
Don Hernando de Soto was desirous that Cabeza de Vaca should go with him, and made him
favorable proposals; but after they had come upon terms they disagreed, because the
Adelantado would not give the money requisite to pay for a ship that the other had bought.
Baltasar de Gallegos and Cristobal de Espindola told Cabaza de Vaca, their kinsman, that
as they had made up their minds to go to Florida, in consequence of what he had told them,
they besought him to counsel them; to which he replied, that the reason he did not go was
because he hoped to receive another government, being reluctant to march under the
standard of another; that he had himself come to solicit the conquest of Florida, and
though he found it had already been granted to Don Hernando de Soto, yet, on account of
his oath, he could not divulge what they desired to know; nevertheless, he would advise
them to sell their estates and go, - that in so doing they would act wisely.
As Soon as Cabeza de Vaca had an opportunity he spoke with the Emperor; and gave him an
account of all that he had gone through with, seen, and could by any means ascertain. . .
