[CHAPTER THE FIFTY-EIGHTH.]
How the governor held a council with his officers and informed them of what was passing.
SOON after this the governor convoked the officers and the clergy, and having told them of the report made concerning the Xarayes and Guaranís living on the frontier, it was decided that two Spaniards and two Guaranís should go with some natives of the port to speak with the Xarayes, and find out what kind of land it was, and collect information concerning the settlements and tribes of the interior, and the road thither; they were also to speak with the Guaranís, as from them they would be more fully and surely informed of the truth. That very day the two Spaniards started, and their names were Hector de Acuña and Antonio Correa, interpreters of the Guaraní language, with ten Indian Sacosies, and two Guaranís. The governor ordered them to tell the chief of the Xarayes that they were envoys sent to speak with him, and contract friendship with him and his people; that he begged him to come and see him, as he wished for a personal interview. The Spaniards were moreover desired to obtain information of the tribes and settlements in the interior, and of the route leading thither. Alvar Nuñez gave the Spaniards several presents, and a scarlet cap to present to the chief of the Xarayes, and another one for the chief of the Guaranís, to whom they were to say the same as to the chief of the Xarayes.
The following day Captain Gonzalo de Mendoza arrived with his troops and vessels, and reported that on the eve of All Saints’ day, while navigating past the country of the Guaxarapos, after speaking with this people, who gave themselves out as friends (saying that they had done the same with those who had passed before), the wind being contrary, and the Spaniards about to moor the brigantines, just as the five leading vessels were turning an elbow of the river, under sail, and one brigantine, commanded by Agustin de Campos, was behind, being towed along the shore, the Guaxarapos, seeing that its crew were all ashore, attacked them, and killed five Christians; and that Juan de Bolaños, while trying to swim to the vessel, was drowned. Our people had thought they were so safe, and were so confident, believing the Indians to be friendly, that they were not on their guard. Had not the other Christians escaped to the brigantine, they would all have been killed, because they were entirely unarmed. The death of these Christians did great harm to our reputation, for the Guaxarapos, who were in the habit of coming in their canoes to the port of Los Reyes, spread the news how they had slain the Christians, asserting that we were not valiant, and that our heads were soft, that the natives of that port ought to kill us, and that they would help them to do this. From that time these natives began to cherish evil designs against us.
[CHAPTER THE FIFTY-NINTH.]
How the governor sent an expedition to the Xarayes.
EIGHT days after Antonio Correa and Hector de Acuña, with their Indian guides, had set out, as we have stated, for the country and villages of the Xarayes, they returned to the port and told the governor what they had seen, done, and learned about the country, the people, and their chief. They brought with them an Indian whom the chief of the Xarayes had sent as a guide for the discovery of the land. Antonio Correa and Hector de Acuña said that, the very day of their departure from the port of Los Reyes, they arrived at a village of Indians called Artaneses, who are big men, and go naked. These people are agriculturists, but they sow little, for they have not much land fit for cultivation, because most of it is inundated, and covered with arid sand. They are poor, and subsist chiefly by fishing in the lagoons near their villages. Their women are very ugly, tattooing their faces with the tip of the ray’s tail, which they keep for this purpose, and they cover their nakedness.
These Indians are also hideous, owing to the habit they have of piercing a hole in the lower lip, and inserting in it the husk of a fruit of a certain tree, which is as large and round as a tortero.[353] This weighs down, and distends the lip in a manner frightful to see. Antonio Correa and his companion reported that the Indians had received them well, and had given them what they had to eat. The next day they brought them a guide. They had taken water to drink on their journey in gourds, and had marched all that day through swamps,[354] sinking at each step to the knees in mud, and withdrawing their feet with great difficulty. The mud was so heated by the sun that it scorched their legs, and produced painful wounds on them. That day they certainly thought they would have died of thirst, for the water in the gourds only lasted half the day. They slept on the open ground, between swamps, overcome with fatigue, thirst, and hunger. The following day, at eight in the morning, they came to a small lagoon of very muddy water, where they refilled their gourds, which the Indians carried, and marched the whole day through inundated land, as they had done the day before, except that they found some lagoon water with which to refresh themselves, and a tree with a little shade, where they reposed, and ate the remainder of their provisions, without leaving anything over. The guides told them that they had still a day’s march before them to reach the settlements of the Xarayes.