How Captain Francisco de Ribera reported of his discovery.
THE following day Captain Francisco de Ribera appeared before the governor with the six other Spaniards who had accompanied him. He gave an account of his exploration, and said: that after he left him in the forest he marched, following the guide for twenty-one days, without resting, through a country so thickly covered with trees and brushwood that it was impossible to advance without cutting a path. Some days they went one league, on others only half a league in two days, owing to the obstacles they encountered, the dense forests, and projecting rocks. The direction they followed was continually west; all the time they marched they sustained themselves on venison, wild boars’ flesh, and tapirs, which the Indians killed with their arrows; game was so abundant that they knocked down with sticks all they required for food. They found a great supply of honey in cavities of trees, and quantities of wild fruit. After twenty-one days they arrived at a river running to the west, and this river, according to their guide, flowed past Tapuaguazú and the Indian settlements. They caught much fish in it of a kind called by the natives piraputanas, which are a kind of sabalos,[356] and are excellent. The Spaniards crossed this river, and, following their guide, came upon the fresh tracks of Indians; for it had been raining that day, and the ground was moist. It was evident that the Indians were a party of hunters. Following their footprints, they came upon two large stacks of maize which was then being harvested. At this moment an Indian, who had not time to conceal himself, came towards them. He spoke a language they could not understand, wore a large silver disc in his lower lip, and gold earrings. He took Francisco de Ribera by the hand and signed to him to accompany him, which he did. They now observed a large house made of straw and wood. On approaching it, they saw women and other Indians carrying out of the house cotton stuffs and other articles, which they placed in front of the stacks. The Indian made them enter the house, where men and women were carrying out all it contained. In order to avoid passing the Christians, they made an opening in the straw, and passed the things out that way. Our people saw them taking from some large vessels full of maize, plates, hatchets, and bracelets of silver which they carried outside the straw walls. This Indian appeared to be the head of the family from the respect shown him. He took them inside, and signed to them to be seated, and ordered two Orejones (Indians with large ears), whom they supposed to be his slaves, to give them maize wine to drink out of some jars, which stood in the house buried up to their necks in the earth. They poured the wine into large gourds, and handed these to the Spaniards. The two Orejones said that at three days’ journey from that place there were Christians living with a tribe called Payzunoes; they then told the way to Tapuaguazú, which is a high mountain. Soon many natives arrived in their war-paint and feathers, with bows and arrows. The Indian spoke very volubly to them, and he also took a bow and arrows; he sent men, who came and went, with messages, by which the Spaniards knew that he was summoning the population from the neighbouring villages, and intended killing them. The captain told the Christians who were with him to come out of the house altogether, and return by the way they came, before more Indians had assembled; by this time there were over three hundred. Ribera gave the natives to understand that he would go and fetch many other Christians who were close at hand, and, as they were expecting more to arrive, they had only to wait till he came back. By this ruse our people escaped, but, at a stone’s throw from the house, the Indians, who saw they were escaping, pursued them with cries, and shot many arrows at them. They followed them into the forest, where the Christians defended themselves, and the Indians, thinking there were a larger number of them here, durst not pursue further, but let them go; all the Spaniards, however, were wounded. They came back the way they went, and it took them only twelve days to return to the place where they had left the governor, whence they had marched in twenty-one days. The captain estimated the distance from the Port of Los Reyes to the villages of those Indians at seventy leagues.
[356] Shad.
A lagoon twenty leagues from this port, in crossing which they had the water knee-deep, was, upon their return, so greatly increased that it covered a league of land, and was two pikes deep. They crossed it in rafts with great danger and difficulty. The captain added that, before attempting to enter that country, it would be necessary to wait till the waters subsided. The Indians he had seen were called Tarapecosies; they have plenty of provisions, and they rear geese and poultry like ours. This was the account given by Francisco de Ribera and by the Spaniards who accompanied him, and by the guide, all of whom confirmed what Francisco de Ribera had said.
There were some Indians in the port of Los Reyes belonging to the same tribe of Tarapecosies, from whose village de Ribera had just returned. They had come with Garcia, the interpreter, when he made his journey into the interior and returned defeated by the Guaranís of the Paraguai. These Indians had escaped with the Chaneses, who had also fled and lived all together in the port of Los Reyes. The governor, wishing for further information, sent for them. They immediately recognised the arrows that Francisco de Ribera had brought with him, which had been shot at him by the Tarapecosies, as those used in their native country. The governor asked them why their fellow-tribesmen had wished to kill those who had gone to see them. They answered that the Tarapecosies were no enemies of the Christians; on the contrary, they were their friends since Garcia had visited their country and trafficked with them. The reason why they had tried to kill the Spaniards was because these had taken Guaranís with them whom they regarded as enemies; for in former times these people had invaded their territory and sought to destroy them. The Christians, they said, should have taken an interpreter with them who knew their language, to let them know the object of their visit, for they were not in the habit of making war upon those who did them no injury. If they take an interpreter, they added, they will be well treated and supplied with provisions, and gold and silver, which are obtained from the tribes of the interior. Asked from what tribe and how they acquired their gold and silver, they answered that the Payzunos, who lived three days’ journey off, gave them these precious metals in exchange for bows and arrows and slaves, which they took from other tribes; the Payzunos obtained them from the Chaneses, Chimenos, Carcaraes, Candirées, and other Indian nations who possess an abundance of them. They were shown a brass candlestick very bright and shiny, to see if the gold they had in their land was like that. They said that the metal of the candlestick was hard and base, but their metal was soft and without smell, and more yellow. Then they were shown a gold ring, and asked if that were the metal of their country, and they said it was. They were also shown a tin plate, very bright and shiny, and asked if the silver in their country was of that kind. They answered that this metal stank, and was base and soft; theirs was whiter, harder, and had no bad smell. A silver cup was then put in their hands, and they were greatly pleased with it, and said that of that metal they had quantities in their land in the form of small vases and other things in use among the Indians, such as plates, bracelets, crowns, small hatchets, and other objects.
[CHAPTER THE SEVENTY-FIRST.]
How the governor sent for Gonzalo de Mendoza.
THE governor, in order to provide what was necessary for the exploration of this country as it beseemed the service of His Majesty, sent, without delay, for Gonzalo de Mendoza to recall him and his men from the land of the Arianicosies. Before leaving their village, however, he was to endeavour to get the Indians to return to their houses and pacify them.