Toiling in this manner to fetch the land, we navigated two days, and at the end of the time, a little while before the sun rose, we saw many smokes along the shore. While attempting to reach them, we found ourselves in three fathoms of water; and, it being dark, we dared not come to land; for, as we had seen so many smokes, we thought some danger might surprise us, and the obscurity leave us at a loss what to do. So we determined to wait until the morning. When it came, the boats had all lost sight of each other. I found myself in thirty fathoms; and, keeping my course until the hour of vespers, I observed two boats, and, as I drew near to them, I found that the first I approached was that of the governor, who asked me what I thought we should do. I told him we ought to join that boat which went in the advance, and by no means to leave her; and, the three being together, that we should keep on our way to where God should be pleased to direct us. He answered me, saying it could not be done, because the boat was far to sea, and he wished to reach the shore; that, if I wished to follow him, I should order the persons of my boat to take the oars, and work, as it was only by strength of arm that the land could be gained.
He was advised to this course by a captain he had with him named Pantoja, who told him, that, if he didnot fetch the land that day, in six days more they would not reach it; and in that time they must inevitably famish. I, seeing his will, took my oar; and the same did all who were in my boat, to obey it. We rowed until near sunset; but, as the governor carried in his boat the healthiest men there were among the whole, we could not by any means hold with or follow her. Seeing this, I asked him to give me a rope from his boat, that I might be enabled to keep up with him;but he answered me that he would do no little,[91] if they, as they were, should be able to reach the land that night. I said to him, that, since he saw the little strength we had to follow him and do what he had commanded, he should tell me what he would that I should do. He answered me, that it was no longer a time in which one should command another, but that each should do what he thought best to save his own life; that he so intended to act; and, saying this, he departed with his boat. As I could not follow him, I steered to the other boat at sea, which waited for me; and, having come up with her, I found her to be the one commanded by the captains Beñalosa and Tellez.
Thus we continued in company, eating a daily ration of half a handful of raw maize, until the end of four days, when we lost sight of each other in a storm; and such was the weather, that it was only by divine favor that we did not all go down. Because of the winter and its inclemency, the many days we had suffered hunger, and the heavy beating of the waves, the people began the next day to despair in such a manner, that, when the sun went down, all who were in my boat werefallen one on another, so near to death, that there were few among them in a state of sensibility. Among them all at this time there were not five men on their feet; and, when the night came, there were left only the master and myself who could work the boat. At the second hour of the night, he said to me that I must take charge of her, for that he was in such condition he believed that night he should die. So I took the paddle; and after midnight I went to see if the master was alive, and he said to me that he was better, and that he would take the charge until day. I declare that in that hour I would have more willingly died than seen so many people before me in such condition. After the master took the direction of the boat, I lay down a little while, but without repose; for nothing at that time was farther from me than sleep.
Near the dawn of day, it seemed to me that 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.We sounded, and found ourselves in seven fathoms. He thought we should keep the sea until sunrise; and accordingly I took an oar, and pulled on the side of the land until we were a league distant; and we then gave her stern to the sea. Near the shore, a wave took us that knocked the boat out of the water to the distance of the throw of a crowbar; and by the violence of the blow nearly all of 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, and crawled to land in some ravines. There we made fire, parching some of the maize webrought with us, and where we found rain-water. From the warmth of the fire the people recovered their faculties,and began somewhat to exert themselves.[92] The day on which we arrived here was the 6th of November.
II.—Cabeza de Vaca Saved by Indians.
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, and, having climbed into one of them, to survey the country in which we were, and endeavor to get some knowledge of it. He did as I bade him, and made out that we were on an island. He saw that the ground was pawed up in the manner that the land is wont to be where cattle range; and hence it appeared to him that this should be the country of Christians, and thus he reported to us. I ordered him to return to examine much more particularly, and see if there were any roads in it that were worn, and without going far, because of the danger there might be. He went, and, coming to a path, he took it for the distance of half a league, and found some huts without any tenants, for the Indianshad gone into the woods. He took from them an earthen pot, a little dog, some few mullets, and thus returned. It appearing to us that he was long absent, we sent two others, that they should look and see what might have befallen him.
They met him near by, and saw that three Indians with bows and arrows followed, and were calling to him; and he, in the same way, was beckoning them on. Thus they arrived where we were; the Indians remaining a little way back, seated on the same bank. Half an hour after, they were supported by fifty other Indian bowmen, whom, whether large or not, our fears made giants. They stopped near us with the three first. It were idle to think that there were any among us who could make defence; for it would have been difficult to find six that could raise themselves from the ground. The assessor and I went and called them, and they came to us. We endeavored the best we could to recommend ourselves to their favor, and secure their good-will. We gave them beads and hawk-bells; and each one 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.
The next day at sunrise, the time the Indians had appointed, they came as they had promised, and brought us a large quantity of fish, and certain roots that are eaten by them, of the size of walnuts, some a little larger, others a little smaller, the greater part of them got from under the water, and with much labor. In the evening they returned, and brought us more fish, and some of the roots. They sent their women andchildren to look at us, who returned rich with the hawk-bells and beads that we gave them; and they came afterward on other days in the same way. As we found that we had been provisioned with fish, roots, water, and other things for which we asked, we determined to embark again, and pursue our course. We dug out our boat from the sand in which it was buried; and it became necessary that we should all strip ourselves, and go through great exertion to launch her, for we were in such state, that things very much lighter sufficed to make us much labor.
Thus embarked, at the distance of two cross-bow shots in the sea we shipped a wave that wet us all. 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 held fast to her for preservation; but it happened to be for far otherwise, as the boat carried them over, and they drowned under her. As the surf near the shore was very high, a single roll of the sea threw the remainder into the waves, and half drowned us on the shore of the island, without our losing any more than the boat had taken under. Those of us who survived escaped naked as we were born, losing all that we had; and, although the whole was of little value, at that time it was worth much.