[353] The knob of a spindle for twisting thread.
[354] Cf. Schmidt, supra, p. [47].
Night having come, they rested, and at daybreak resumed their march. Soon afterwards they came to other swamps, from which they thought they would never extricate themselves, not only because of the painful burning of their legs, but because they sank to the waist, and could hardly get out. These swamps extended for a little over a league, and then they found the way better and firmer. The same day, at one o’clock in the afternoon, having eaten nothing, and not having the wherewithal to satisfy their hunger, they met some twenty Indians who came towards them. These people arrived with pleasure and joy, laden with maize, bread, cooked geese, fish, and maize wine. They told the Spaniards that their chief had learned of their coming to his country, and had ordered them to bring food and speak to them on his behalf, and guide them to where he and his people were, who would be glad to receive them. Thanks to this food, Antonio Correa and his companions made up for their previous fasting. The same day, one hour before night, they arrived at the Indian settlements.
When they were a bow-shot off, upwards of five hundred Xarayes came forth to receive them with great joy. All were elegantly attired with parrots’ feathers, and aprons of white beads to cover their nakedness. They placed the Spaniards in their midst, and led them into the village, at the entrance to which large numbers of women and children were waiting for them. The women all had their privities covered, and many of them wore wide cotton dresses, this material being in use among them under the name of tipoes.
When the Spaniards had entered the village they came to where the chief of the Xarayes was. He was surrounded by three hundred Indians of very good appearance, mostly elderly men. This chief was seated on a cotton hammock in the midst of a large open place, all his people standing round him. They formed a lane by which the Spaniards might pass, and when these had come into the presence of the chief, they brought two little wooden stools, on which he signed to them to be seated. He then sent for an Indian Guaraní, who had been long in their country. This Indian had married a woman of their tribe, and was much loved by them, and regarded as one of themselves.
By means of this interpreter, the chief then bade the Spaniards welcome, and said how delighted they all were to see them, for he had long wished to know the Christians. He had heard of them at the time of Garcia’s visit to that country, and looked upon them as friends and relatives; he wished to make acquaintance with the chief of the Christians, because he had been told that he was kind and friendly with the Indians, that he gave them presents, and was generous, and he wished to know if the chief had sent them for anything, because he would give it them. The Spaniards told him, through the interpreter, that the governor had sent them to learn from him the route he should follow to reach the settlements in the interior, and to know by what tribes and villages he would have to pass, and in how many days he might arrive at the Indians that had gold and silver. They added that the object of their journey was also to inform him that the governor wished to make his acquaintance and contract an alliance with him. They spoke of all that the governor desired them to say. The Indian replied: “I am rejoiced to have you as my friends; I and my people consider the governor as our master; he has only to command, and we will obey him. Concerning the road leading to the settlements of the interior, I do not know of one, never having been there, because all the country is under water for two months, and when the waters subside the country is impassable. Nevertheless, the Indian Guaraní, who is serving as interpreter, has been in the interior and knows the road; to please the chief of the Christians I will send him to be his guide.” Thereupon, in the presence of all the people, he bade the Guaraní accompany them, which he did very willingly.
The Spaniards having seen that the chief denied that there was a road, for reasons which seemed to them after their experiences to be good and true, believed him. They asked him, however, for guides to lead them to the Guaraní settlements, because they were desirous of seeing and talking with these people. At this request the Indian was much troubled, and yet putting a good face on the matter, he answered, that the Guaranís were his enemies, and he was constantly at war with them, and hardly a day passed that they did not kill one another; and that since he was the friend of the Christians, they should not go in search of his enemies and contract an alliance with them. “However,” he added, “if you will go and visit these Guaranís, my people will conduct you there to-morrow morning.” As it was now night, the chief took them into his house, and gave them to eat, and had hammocks prepared for them. He then offered each of them a girl to sleep with, but they declined on the score of fatigue.
The following morning, one hour before daybreak, a great noise of drums beating and trumpets was heard, as though the whole village was falling about their ears. On the square in front of the chief’s house, all the Indians were assembled in their feathers and war-paint, armed with bows and arrows. Immediately the chief ordered the door of the house to be thrown open, in order that they might see his six hundred warriors, and he said to the Spaniards: “Christians, look at my people; it is thus they go to the Guaraní villages; go with them; they will take you there, and bring you back, for if you went alone they would kill you, knowing that you have been with me, and are my friends.” The Spaniards, seeing that in this way they would not have been able to speak with the chief of the Guaranís, and might lose the friendship of the Xarayes, answered that they had made up their minds to return to their chief and inform him of everything, and would see what he ordered, and then return and let him know. In this way the Indians were pacified. All that day they remained in the settlement of the Xarayes, which contained over one thousand inhabitants, and one league off there were four other villages of the same people, all of whom obeyed the said chief, whose name was Camire.
These Xarayes are tall men, and well made; they are agriculturists, sowing and reaping twice a year maize, potatoes, manioc, and mandubies. They rear large numbers of geese and fowls like ours in Spain. They pierce the lip like the Artaneses. Everyone lives separately with wife and children; they hoe the ground and sow; the women gather the produce and carry it to their houses; they spin much cotton. These Indians rear geese to devour the crickets, as we have before described.