[CHAPTER THE EIGHTY-FOURTH.]
How they gave arsenic three times to the governor during the voyage.
WHILE descending the river the officers ordered a certain Biscayan named Machin to prepare the food for the governor and then to pass it to Lope Duarte, one of the confederates of Domingo de Irala, and guilty, like the rest, of complicity in his arrest. He came from Spain as solicitor to Domingo de Irala and to attend to his affairs. While the governor journeyed in this fashion, arsenic was administered to him three times; but as an antidote against this poison he carried with him a bottle of oil and a piece of the horn of a unicorn. When he felt unwell he made use of these remedies; day and night his sufferings were great. But it pleased God that he escaped safely. He entreated the officers, Alonso Cabrera and Garcia Vanegas, to allow his own servants to cook for him, as he would take his meals from nobody else. To this they replied that he would have to take his food from whomsoever they chose; if he did not take it from the persons commissioned to give it him, he might die of hunger, it mattered little to them. He abstained from food several days, but hunger at length compelled him to take what they gave him. The insurgents had promised several persons to take them on board the caravel (afterwards destroyed) to Spain if they would support their faction and help them to arrest the governor and not oppose them. Two of these were Francisco de Paredes, a native of Burgos, and Friar Juan de Salazar, of the Order of Our Lady of Mercy. They carried as prisoners with them Luis de Miranda, Pedro Hernandez, Captain Salazar de Espinosa, and Pedro Vaca. Having descended the river to the island of San Gabriel, they would not allow either Francisco de Paredes or friar Juan de Salazar to remain on board, fearing lest these two persons should support the governor’s cause in Spain, and give a true account of what had happened. For this reason they compelled them to re-embark on the brigantines that returned up the river to Ascension, although they had sold their houses and property for much less than they were worth when they were compelled to leave. This caused them to make such an outcry that it was pitiable to hear them. Here the servants of the governor, who had accompanied him thus far, rowing all the way, were obliged to leave him, a loss he felt more than anything he had yet endured; nor did they feel the separation less acutely. They remained two days at the island of San Gabriel, when some of them left for Ascension, and the others for Spain. The brigantine which bore the governor had eleven banks of rowers, and contained twenty-seven persons altogether.
They pursued their voyage down the river till they entered the sea, when a violent tempest arose. The brigantine became waterlogged, and all the provisions were spoilt; all that they managed to preserve was a little flour, some lard, fish, and a little water. They were all very near being drowned. The officers who had charge of the governor said that God had sent them this terrible tempest as a punishment for the wrongs and injustice they had made their prisoner suffer. They resolved, therefore, to take off his chains and let him out of prison. Alonso de Cabrera filed them asunder, Garcia Vanegas kissed his feet, though Cabeza de Vaca would not allow it. They said openly that God had sent them those four days’ sufferings as a retribution for the wrongs they had done him. They acknowledged they had grievously wronged him, and that all their depositions were false; that the malice and jealousy they bore him prompted them to administer two thousand false oaths, and this because in three days he had discovered a country and a route, while those who had lived in the country for twelve years had not been able to accomplish it; and they implored his pardon, and that he would not inform His Majesty how they had arrested him. As soon as they had taken the chains off the governor the sea and wind subsided, and the tempest, which had lasted four days, calmed down. We navigated in the open sea for 2,500 leagues without having sight of land, and seeing nothing but water and sky. All the food we had was a flour-cake fried in a little lard, with a little water to drink. We were obliged to break off the planks of our vessel to make a fire to cook our cake. In this way, with infinite suffering, we arrived at the Azores, belonging to His most serene Majesty of Portugal, the voyage having lasted three months. We should not have suffered so severely from hunger had we touched on the Brazilian coast, or at the island of St. Domingo, in the Indies; but the officers dared not do this, for they felt guilty and dreaded being arrested and brought to justice as rebels against their king. On arriving at the Azores the officers in charge of the governor separated because of the dissensions they had had, and each went his own way; but first they tried to induce the justice of Angra to arrest the governor, so as to prevent him from giving information to His Majesty of the crimes and disorders they had committed. They alleged that when he passed Cape Verd he had pillaged the port and country. The judge having heard their deposition, told them to be gone, for his king would not allow himself to be robbed, and did not keep his ports in such a weak state of defence that anybody might dare to attack them. Having seen that, in spite of their malice, they could do nothing to detain him, they embarked, and arrived in Spain eight days before the governor, who was delayed by contrary winds. Being the first to present themselves at court, they gave out that Cabeza de Vaca had gone to the King of Portugal to inform him about those countries beyond the sea. A few days later the governor arrived at court. The night of his arrival all the guilty parties disappeared; they went straight to Madrid, where they hoped to find the court, as, in fact, they did. Meanwhile the Bishop of Cuenca, who presided over the council of the Indies,[361] died. This prelate would have punished the crimes and treason committed against His Majesty in that country. Some days afterwards the officers and the governor were released, on giving bail that they would not leave the jurisdiction of the court. Garcia de Vanegas, who was one of those who had arrested the governor, died a sudden, terrible death, his eyes having fallen out of his head, and he never declared the truth of what had passed. Alonso Cabrera, the supervisor, his accomplice, lost his reason, and in a fit of frenzy he killed his wife at Loxa. The friars who had taken part in the revolt and troubles also died suddenly, which seemed to show the small blame attaching to the governor in his conduct towards them. After keeping him eight years under arrest at court, he was set at liberty and acquitted. He was relieved of his governorship for divers reasons; for his enemies said that if he returned to punish the guilty, he would have occasioned more troubles and dissensions in that country. He therefore lost his appointment, besides other losses, without receiving any compensation for all the money he had spent in relieving the Spaniards, and in his voyage of discovery.
[361] This was a special council for the government of the Spanish possessions in the Indies. It was called Real Consejo de las Indias.
