Chronicle of the Narvaez Expedition

After an Indigenous woman gives birth, her husband does not sleep with her until the child turns two. Women nurse their children until age of 12 for survival. If a child is ill, “he is left to die in the field unless he is somebody’s child” (66). If a man is angry with his wife, he can leave her and find another. During quarrels, members of the group will physically fight one another; after the fight, they will separate until the resentment has passed and behave as if nothing ever happened. Cabeza de Vaca decides that the Indigenous people are very warlike, “as if they had trained in Italy and in continuous warfare” (67).

Cabeza de Vaca is impressed with Indigenous martial alertness: “These Indians are the readiest people with their weapons of any I have seen in the world” (68). If the Indigenous people fear an attack, they make sure at night that their bows strung; they sleep with a dozen or more arrows and only unstring their bows during daytime, and only after having ascertained that there is no danger nearby. Often, upon waking, they crawl out of their huts low to the ground. If anything is suspect, they are all armed and out in the field in no time. They can fight crouched and are accustomed to darting around quickly to dodge arrows, which means arquebuses are not very effective against them: “Horses are what the Indians dread most, and the means by which they will be overcome” (68). In war, enemies are dealt with harshly, as a matter of honor and saving face. Indigenous people are of great physical stature and prowess, “better […] than those of any other men on earth” (69).

Cabeza de Vaca lists the many different Indigenous nations and languages he and his fellow travelers encountered. The Indigenous people of the Isle of Misfortune speak two languages, Han and Cavoques. Other peoples include the Charrucos, Deguenes, Mendicans, Quevenes, Marianes, Guaycones, Yguaces, Atayos, Quitoles, Chavavares, Maliacones, Cultalchulches, Susolas, Comos, Camolas, and the people whom the Europeans name the People of the Figs. All come from different villages and speak different languages.

Indigenous people like to smoke and drink a tea made from toasted leaves. They are very superstitious about this tea, and women are not allowed near it. While with the Indigenous people, Cabeza de Vaca comes across men who marry men.

After the Europeans leave the healed Indigenous people, they visit another tribe’s village. They are warmly received, with Indigenous people bringing their children to be touched by the Europeans. These people eat mesquite flour, which is made from a fruit like the carob bean mixed with water and earth, which makes it “sweet and very palatable” (72). The Europeans are given a great feast of this flour and then left to journey onward. Some women go with them as guides.

They come across some 100 Indigenous huts and are received with rejoicing and dancing. The inhabitants of the huts carry prized ceremonial gourds which they believe have healing powers. No gourds grow in the area—they find the gourds washed downriver after heavy rains. The Indigenous people spend all night celebrating and bring more people to be healed.

Cabeza de Vaca and the others move to another tribe; some gourd-prizing Indigenous people accompany them. When they arrive, they notice a new custom: When foreign Indigenous people arrive at the new village, they take from the inhabitants whatever they want. The Europeans continue to heal people as they travel.

Cabeza de Vaca and the others are at first sad that the Indigenous people who accompany them seem to be stealing from new villages, fearing reprisal and strife. The Indigenous people explain to them, however, that taking is okay, because those who lost their belonging will repay themselves later from rich Indigenous people.

The Europeans’ followers increase in numbers. Any gifts the Europeans receive they give to these followers. For a time, the Europeans separate from the Indigenous people following them and find some women who take them to their village. Their followers catch up, however, and take everything from the village, telling its inhabitants that the Europeans are “children of the sun and had the power to cure the sick or kill them” (77).

The Europeans’ followers instruct newcomers on how to treat the Europeans. In one village, two medicine men give the Europeans gourds, which enhance their status greatly. Indigenous people give Dorantes a copper rattle with a large face on it, informing him that the copper comes from somewhere up north. In one village, Cabeza de Vaca performs surgery to remove an arrowhead from a man’s side.

They travel and meet so many tribes and languages that Cabeza de Vaca cannot remember them all. The group carries clubs, chasing game through the brush, whacking rabbits and other animals. Those who use bows hunt deer in the mountains. The Europeans maintain the practice of accepting gifts, keeping only what they need, and distributing the rest among everyone else.