How the interpreter and those who had promised to come failed to do so.
THAT day and four more having passed without the return of the Indian Payaguá, the governor sent for the interpreter, and asked him what he thought of this delay. And he said that he believed the chief would certainly never make his appearance, because the Payaguás are very sly and cautious; that the chief’s motive for sending an envoy to treat for peace was only to gain time and prevent the Spaniards and Guaranís from advancing and finding out the settlements of the Payaguás, and that while they (the Spaniards) were waiting the arrival of the chief, the Payaguás were removing their settlements, wives, and children, and that he thought they had fled to some place of concealment higher up the river. He advised the governor to follow, as he was certain that he would overtake them, because he knew they would be heavily loaded. In his opinion, the Payaguás would continue their flight till they reached a lagoon formerly inhabited by a tribe called the Mataraes, whom these Payaguás had slain and destroyed and had taken possession of their land because it abounded in fisheries.
The governor immediately gave orders to raise anchors, and brigantines and canoes went on navigating up the river. Wherever he halted, great numbers of the Payaguás might be seen along the bank, who, as the interpreter had said, were going by land with their wives and children, because the canoes could not contain them. After eight days’ navigation the governor arrived at the lagoon of the Mataraes, and entered it, without finding the Indians he was in search of there. He entered with half his people to seek them out and treat with them, but seeing they did not appear, and in order not to waste his provisions, he ordered all the Christians and Guaranís to return. They had found certain canoes with their paddles concealed under the water, and had seen the track by which the Indians had withdrawn; but the governor would not delay any longer, so, reassembling his people and collecting all the brigantines and canoes together, he pursued his navigation up the river, sometimes sailing, at other times rowing and towing, because of the many bends in its course, till he arrived at a part of its banks where many cassia trees grow.
These are very lofty and vigorous trees, yielding a fruit one palm and a half in length and as thick as three fingers. The people ate much of it, and the inside is as sweet as honey. It does not differ the least from that kind which is brought into Spain from other countries, except that it is much larger and rougher to the taste, because it is uncultivated. There are eighty of these trees united together on the bank of the Paraguai. In these parts of the river there was an abundance of wild fruit, which the Spaniards and Indians ate. Among them was one like a lemon of Ceuti in colour, acidity, peel, and smell, but smaller, no larger than the size of a pigeon’s egg. The tree bearing this fruit has leaves like a lemon. There is a great variety of trees and fruits in this country, and a wonderful diversity of fish, the quantity killed by the Indians and Spaniards surpassing belief. Whenever the wind was unfavourable for sailing they hunted the water-pigs and otters (which were also abundant), using for this purpose the light, swift canoes of the natives. This was a great pastime.
As we were now approaching the country of the Guaxarapos Indians, who inhabit the bank of the Paraguai, and are neighbours and traffic with the port of Los Reyes, for which we were bound, and as these Indians might have been alarmed at such a multitude of people and canoes, and might have fled inland, the governor, in order to allay their fears and pacify them, divided his flotilla into two parts, and, taking five brigantines and half the canoes, led the advance, leaving Captain Gonzalo de Mendoza to follow with the other vessels, canoes, and people, charging him to govern all the people kindly and not abuse his authority. He particularly warned him not to allow any wrongs or violence to be committed upon the native riverine population, and to pay for all the provisions he took, so as to keep the peace and safeguard His Majesty’s interests in that land. Taking with him the five brigantines and the canoes, the governor continued his voyage as I have stated, and, on the 18th October, arrived at a settlement of Guaxarapos Indians. Here thirty Indians having come out, he halted his flotilla within earshot, and addressed them through the interpreter, repeating what he had said to the other tribes lower down the river, exhorting them to give their submission to the king, and promising, if they did so, he would regard them as friends. They accordingly submitted; one of their number was a chief, to whom the governor gave presents and promised to do what he could for them.
Not far from the place where we met these Indians flowed another river. It is about half the width of the Paraguai, with a violent current, and it falls into this river, which comes from Brazil.[346] This was the river along which, old men tell, Garcia the Portuguese came and made war in that land. He entered it at the head of a large number of Indians, fought many battles, and destroyed many tribes, having only five Christians with him. The Indians say that he was never seen to return. He brought with him a mulatto named Pacheco, who returned to the country of Guaçani, who killed him on the spot. Garcia returned to Brazil. Of his Guaraní followers many are said to have been lost in the interior, and the natives told us that we should find many of them there from whom we might obtain information concerning the deeds of Garcia and the nature of the country. Some Indians, called Chaneses, had also sought refuge there, and had allied themselves with the Sococies and Xaquetes, who live near the port of Los Reyes.
[346] This river must have been the Cuyabá.
Having obtained this information from the Indians the governor pushed on to see the river by which Garcia had come, for he was near the place indicated by the Guaxarapos. When he had arrived at the mouth of the river called Iapaneme, he caused soundings to be taken, and the depth was found to be very great. This river has a rapid current, and is bordered on either bank by trees. Cabeza de Vaca ordered one of the brigantines to ascend it for a league and continue the soundings, all of which proved its depth to be great. The Guaxarapos said that along its banks lived various tribes, who cultivated maize and manioc and had large fisheries, obtaining as much fish as they could eat, and extracting oil from these fish, besides killing a quantity of game. The party sent to explore this river reported having seen smoke in several places on the banks—a sign of settlements. It was already late when the exploring party returned, and the governor ordered that the vessels should be moored that night off the mouth of that river, at the foot of a range of hills called Santa Lucia. This sierra was crossed by Garcia. The following morning the pilots observed the elevation, and found the estuary of the river to be in nineteen degrees and one-third.[347] That night a heavy fall of rain, accompanied by a strong wind, caused us great inconvenience. Great fires were made on shore, and many of the people slept by them, while the others remained on board the vessel under coverings of mats and skins.
[347] This is an error. The mouth of the river Cuyabá is in 18° lat.