[CHAPTER THE FORTY-NINTH.]
How Juan de Ayolas entered the port where he and his Christians were killed.
ON the 12th October the governor arrived at the port of Candelaria, and the country of the Payaguás. It was here that Captain Juan de Ayolas entered with his Spaniards, and hither he returned after his exploration, expecting to find Domingo de Irala, whom he had left in charge of the brigantines, which he had taken with him. Here he remained four months awaiting their arrival, during which time he and his men suffered terribly from hunger. At length the Payaguás, having learned of his weak condition and want of arms, began treating him with familiarity, and offered to receive him and his men into their houses and support them. Then they suddenly fell upon them as they were crossing some marshes full of rushes; every Christian was seized by two Indians armed with poles who struck them several blows on the head, and so they slew Captain Juan de Ayolas and eighty Spaniards, being all that remained of the one hundred and fifty who had gone on that expedition. The blame of their death rests with him who had been left in charge of the brigantines, and who, instead of awaiting their return, abandoned them to their fate, and descended the river to please himself. Had Juan de Ayolas found the brigantines there when he returned, he would have embarked and escaped massacre at the hands of these Indians. But Domingo de Irala acted with bad faith, to the intent that Juan de Ayolas might be slain, and that he might raise a revolt in the land against God and the king. This he afterwards succeeded in, and, to the present day, he is actually in revolt, having destroyed and laid waste all that land, and for twelve years he continues to govern it tyrannically.[344]
[344] This is reckoned from the end of Alvar Nuñez’s government, 1543, to the date of publication of this work in Valladolid, 1555.
The pilots observed here to obtain the elevation of the pole, and found the latitude of that port to be in twenty-one degrees less one-third of a degree.[345] Having arrived here, the armada was assembled before opening communications with the Payaguás and ascertaining where their settlements were situated. The following morning, at eight o’clock, seven Payaguás appeared on the bank of the river, and the governor ordered an equal number of Spaniards, together with the interpreter (who proved very useful), to treat with them, as they were desirous of speaking with them, and of coming to a peaceful arrangement, the captain of the expedition having no other object but that of peace. Having conversed a little while, the Indians asked if these Christians, who had now arrived in the brigantines, were the same as those who formerly went about the country. The Spaniards, who had been warned beforehand, answered that they were not the same as those others, but were newly arrived in the country. Upon this, one of the Payaguás came among the Christians, and was immediately brought before the governor. He asked him, through the interpreter, by whose order he had come. The man answered that his chief, having learned of the arrival of the Spaniards, had sent him to inquire if it were true they were the same people as those who went formerly in the country, and to say that his chief wished to be the friend of the governor, and that all that had been taken from Juan de Ayolas and from the Christians was kept together, and placed in security ready to be restored to the chief of the Christians, in order that peace might be made with them, and to obtain pardon for the murder of Ayolas and the other Christians who had been slain in war. The governor then asked him how much gold and silver they had taken from Juan de Ayolas and from the Christians, and he showed, by signs, that it would amount to sixty-six loads such as the Chanés Indians are accustomed to carry, and that it was all in plates, bracelets, crowns, and axes; also that there were small vases of gold and silver. Alvar Nuñez charged that Indian, through the interpreter, to tell his chief that His Majesty had sent him to that land to establish peace with them and other tribes that would accept it, and that the past wars would be forgiven. He added that if his chief sought friendship, and would be willing to restore all that had been taken from the Spaniards, he should come in person and speak with him (the governor), as he was very desirous of seeing him, and would treat him well, and receive him as a vassal of the king. In token of peace, he sent him several presents, and gave other things as well to the Indian himself, and asked him when he would return with his chief.
[345] This is an error of one and two-thirds of a degree. The exact latitude of Candelaria was 19 degrees, where now is Corumbá.
This chief, though a fisherman, is lord of this miserable people (for all are fishermen); he is a very grave man, feared and respected by his people, and, if anyone offend him and make him angry, he takes a bow, and shoots two or three arrows into him. If the man be killed, he sends for the wife (if there be one), and gives her a bead to appease her wrath at the murder of her husband. If he have no bead to give her, then a couple of feathers. When this chief wishes to spit, one that is nearest to him joins his hands together so that he should spit into them. These, and such like extravagances, are practised by this chief. All along the river there is no Indian that owns such things as he does. The interpreter promised that he and his chief would be there again the next morning, and so he left the governor in expectation.