Collars of turqueses two or three times double. brethren wore: sauing that they ware them but single about their neckes, and these people weare them three or foure times double, and goe in good apparell, and skinnes or Oxen: and the women weare of the sayd Turqueses at there nostrils and ears, and very good wast-coats and other garments. Heere there was a great knowledge of Ceuola, as in Nueua Espanna of Temistitan, and in Peru of Cuzco: and they tolde vs particularly the maner of their houses, lodgings, streetes and market-places, as men that had bene oftentimes there, and as those which were furnished from thence with things necessary for the seruice of their housholde, as those also had done, which I already had passed. I tolde them it was impossible that the houses should be made in such sort as they informed mee, and they for my better vnderstanding tooke earth or ashes, and powred water thereupon, and shewed me how they layd stones vpon it, and how the buylding grew vp, as they continued laying stones thereon, vntill it mounted aloft. I asked them whether the men of that Countrey had wings to mount vp vnto those loftes: whereat they laughed, and shewed mee a Ladder in as good sort as I my selfe was able to describe it. Then they tooke a Staffe and helde it ouer their heads, and said that the lofts were so high one aboue another. Likewise heere I had information of the woollen cloth of Totonteac, where they say are houses like those of Ceuola, and better and more in number, and that it is a great Prouince, and hath no gouernour.
This graduation is mistaken by 6. or 7. degrees at the least. Here I vnderstand that the coast of the sea trended much toward the West: for vnto the entrance of this first desert which I passed, the coast still stretched Northward: and because the trending of the coast is a thing of great importance, I was desirous to knowe and see it: and I saw plainely, that in 35. degrees the coast stretcheth to the West, whereat I reioyced no lesse then of the good newes within land, and so I returned backe to proceede in my iourney.
Through the foresayd valley I trauailed fiue dayes iourney which is inhabited with goodly people, and so aboundeth with victuals, that it sufficeth to feede aboue three thousand horsemen: it is all well watered and like a garden: the burroughs and townes are halfe and a quarter of a league long, and in all these villages, I found very ample report of Ceuola, whereof they made such particular relation vnto
me, as people which goe yeerely thither to earne their liuing. Heere I found a man borne in Ceuola, who told me that he came thither, hauing escaped from the gouernour or Lieutenant of the towne; for the Lord of these seuen Cities liueth and abideth in one of those townes called Ahacus, and in the rest he appoynteth lieu-tenants vnder him. This townesman of Ceuola is a white man of a good complexion, somewhat well in yeeres, and of farre greater capacitie then the inhabitants of this valley, or then those which I had left behind me. Hee sayde that he would goe with mee, that I might begge his pardon: and of him I learned many particulars: he tolde me that Ceuola was a great Citie, inhabited with great store of people, and hauing many Streetes and Market-places: and that in some partes of this Citie there are certaine very great houses of fiue stories high, wherein the chiefe of the Citie assemble themselues at certaine dayes of the yeere. He sayeth that the houses are of Lyme and Stone, according as others had tolde mee before, and that the gates, and small pillars of the principall houses are of Turqueses, and all the vessels wherein they are serued, and the other ornaments of their houses were of golde: and that the other sixe Cities are built like vnto this, whereof some are bigger: and that Ahacus is the chiefest of them. Marata lieth toward the Southeast. Hee sayth that toward the Southeast there is a kingdome called Marata, and that there were woont to be many, and those great Cities, which were all built of houses of Stone, with diuers lofts: and that these haue and doe wage warre with the Lord of the seuen cities, through which warre this kingdome of Marata is for the most part wasted, although it yet continueth and mainteineth warre against the other.
Totonteac lyeth West. Likewise he saith, that the kingdome called Totonteac lyeth toward the West, which he saith is a very mightie Prouince, replenished with infinite store of people and riches: and that in the sayde Kingdome they weare woollen cloth like that which I weare, and other finer sorts of woollen cloth made of the fleeces of those beastes which they described before vnto me: and that they are a very ciuile people. Moreouer hee tolde me, that there is another great Prouince and kingdome called Acus; for there is Acus, and Ahacus with an aspiration, which is the principall of the seuen cities: and Acus without an aspiration is a kingdome and Prouince of it selfe. He told me also, that the apparel which they weare
in Ceuola is after the same maner as they before had certified me, and that all the inhabitants of the Citie lie vpon beddes raysed a good height from the ground, with quilts and canopies ouer them, which couer the sayde Beds: and hee tolde mee that he would goe with me to Ceuola and farther also, if I would take him with me. The like relation was giuen vnto me in this towne by many others, but not so particularly. I trauelled three dayes iourney through this valley: the inhabitants whereof made mee exceeding great cheere and intertainement. In this valley I saw aboue a thousand Oxe-hides most excellently trimmed and dressed. And here also I saw farre greater store of Turqueses and chaines made thereof, then in all places which I had passed; and they say, that all commeth from the city of Ceuola, whereof they haue great knowledge, as also of the kingdome of Marata, and of the kingdomes of Acus and Totonteac.
Chap. 4.
Of a very great beast with one horne vpon his forehead; and of the courtesies which the Indians shewed Frier Marcus of Niça, in his Voyage. Also how cruelly Stephan Dorantez and his companions were vsed vpon their arriuall at Ceuola, by the Lorde thereof.
Here they shewed me an hide halfe as bigge againe as the hide of a great oxe, and tolde me that it was the skin of a beast which had but one horne vpon his forehead, and that this horne bendeth toward his breast, and that out of the same goeth a point right forward, wherein he hath so great strength, that it will breake any thing how strong so euer it be, if he runne against it, and that there are great store of these beasts in that Countrey. The colour of the hide is of the colour of a great Goat-skin, and the haire is a finger thicke. Here I had messengers from Stephan which brought me word, that by this time he was come to the farthest part of the desert, and that he was very ioyfull, because the farther he went, the more perfect knowledge he had of the greatnesse of the countrey, and sent me word, that since his departure from me, hee neuer had found the Indians, in any lye; for euen vnto that very place he had found al in such maner as they had informed him, and hoped that he should find the like at his arriuall in the valley which he was going vnto, as he had found
in the villages before passed. I set vp crosses, and vsed those acts and ceremonies, which were to be done according to my instructions. Fifteene daies iourney from the end of the desert to Ceuola or Ciuola. The inhabitants requested me to stay here three or foure daies, because that from this place there were foure dayes iourney vnto the desert, and from the first entrance in the same desert vnto the citie of Ceuola are 15 great dayes iourney more: also that they would prouide victuals for me and other necessaries for that voyage. Likewise they told me, that with Stephan the Negro were gone aboue 300 men to beare him company, and to carry victuals after him, and that in like sort many of them would go with me to serue me, because they hoped to returne home rich. I thanked them, and willed them to set things in order with speede, and so I rested there three dayes, wherein I alwayes informed my selfe of Ceuola, and of as many other things as I could learne, and called many Indians vnto me, and examined them seuerally, and all of them agreed in one tale, and told me of the great multitude of people, and of the order of the streetes, of the greatnesse of the houses, and of the strength of the gates, agreeing altogether with that which the rest before had told me. After three dayes many assembled themselues to goe with me, 30 of the principal of whom I tooke, being very well apparelled, and with chaines of turqueses, which some of them weare fiue or sixe times double, and other people to cary things necessary for them and me, and so set forward on my voyage.