[Footnote 142: Culiacan, or Hueicolhuacan, on a river of the same name which discharges itself into the Vermilion Sea or Gulf of California, is in lat. 24° 50' N. long. 106° 40' W. in the province of Cinaloa. Cabeza de Vaca and his companions had therefore followed an oblique course from the north-east in the south of Louisiana entirely across the continent, to the south-west, from about the latitude of 31° to 25° both north; a journey in all probability exceeding 1200 English miles in a straight line. The beginning of their journey seems to have been to the west of the Missisippi, as that great river is not mentioned; neither indeed do we find any indications of the Rio Bravo del Norte, which they must necessarily have crossed.--E.]
Melchior Diaz, who was captain and alcalde of the province, received them with singular humanity, giving praise to God for having delivered them out of their tedious and miserable captivity, and requested them to use their endeavours to appease the Indians of that part of the country, who were in arms against the Spaniards. This they most readily undertook, and sent messages by some of the Indians to the neighbouring caciques, three of whom came to Culiacan attended by thirty Indians, bringing presents of feathers and emeralds. In conversation with these Indians about their religious belief, they said they believed in a being named Aguar, the lord of all things, who resided in heaven and sent them rain when they prayed to him for it; such being the tradition they had learnt from their fathers. Cabeza told them that Aguar was GOD the Creator of heaven and earth, who disposed all things according to his holy will, and who, after this life, rewarded the good and punished the wicked. He exhorted them therefore to believe henceforwards in this only true God, to return to their houses and live in peace, to build a house for the worship of God after the manner of the Christians, and when any Spaniards came to visit them, that they should meet them with crosses in their hands, and not with bows and arrows; promising, if they did this, that the Spaniards would be their good friends and would teach them every thing they ought to know, that God might make them happy in the next life. All this the Indians engaged to perform. Cabeza de Vaca and his companions went on from Culiacan for San Miguel[143], attended by a few Indians, the natives by the way coming out to meet them in great numbers with presents, whom they exhorted to become Christians as they were now subjects to the king of Spain. They all received these advices in the most friendly manner, requesting to have their children baptized. While on the road they were overtaken by Alcaraz, by whom they were informed that all the deserted country through which they had lately travelled was again well peopled and in peace, and that the Indians were all occupied in sowing their lands.
[Footnote 143: San Miguel is not to be found in the most recent map of New Spain by M. de Humboldt; that name may possibly have been given to the city of Mazatlan, in lat. 23° 15' N. on the coast of Cinaloa.--E.]
Cabeza de Vaca and his companions judged that the extent of country through which they had travelled, from Florida on the Atlantic to San Miguel on the South Sea, could not be less than two hundred leagues[144], as they declared upon oath before a notary at San Miguel on the 15th of May 1536, before whom likewise they subscribed a narrative of all the incidents of their weary pilgrimage. After resting fifteen days in San Miguel, they proceeded to the city of Compostella[145], a distance of an hundred leagues, where Nunno de Guzman then was, by whom they were kindly received and furnished with clothes and all other necessaries. From thence they went to Mexico, where they arrived on the 22d of July, and met with a courteous reception from the viceroy, Don Antonio de Mendoza. Leaving Castillo and Estevanillo at Mexico, Cabeza de Vaca and Orantes proceeded to Vera Cruz, whence they passed over into Spain in 1537.
[Footnote 144: Two hundred Spanish leagues of 17-1/2 to the degree, or about 800 English miles. It has been already stated in a former note that the direct distance they had travelled could not be less than 1200 miles, probably 1600 allowing for deflections.--E.]
[Footnote 145: San Miguel and Compostella are both omitted in the most recent map of New Spain by Humboldt, though both are inserted in Governor Pownalls map of North America; in which San Miguel is placed about 27 miles S.E. from Culiacan, and Compostella 230 miles S.S.E. from San Miguel; all three near the western coast of New Spain, the former in the province of Culiacan, the latter in that of Guadalaxara--E.]
We learn from Herrera[146], that Alvar Nunnez Cabeza de Vaca was sent out in 1540 as governor of the incipient Spanish settlements on the Rio Plata, in which expedition he was accompanied by his former companion in distress Orantes. In the year 1545, he was made prisoner by some mutinous officers of the colony and sent into Spain, where his conduct was cleared by the council of the Indies, yet he was not restored to his government.
[Footnote 146: Herrera, V. 342, 390, 402.]
SECTION IV.
Narrative of a new attempt to Conquer Florida, by Ferdinand de Soto[147].