FIFTEENdays after the arrival of the governor at Ascension, the officers of His Majesty, who hated him because he refused to consent to things done against the service of God and the king, seeing him arrive with the other Christians in this extremity, conspired with their friends on St. Mark’s Day to take him prisoner that night. They had already depopulated the best and principal port of the province, with the intention of rebelling against the sovereign, as they have now done. In order to carry out their plans in the most effective way, they told a hundred men that they knew the governor was about to take from them their property, their houses, and their Indian girls, and would distribute these among the men who had returned from the exploring expedition; that it was a great injustice and contrary to the service of His Majesty. “This night”, they added,“we will go and require him, in the name of the king, not to take away your houses, nor your lands, nor your Indian girls, and, as we fear the governor may have us arrested, arm yourselves and bring your friends, for you will be doing a great service to His Majesty in this way.” It was arranged that at the Ave Maria these men should come armed to two houses which would be assigned to them, and should hold themselves in readiness there for further orders. So the insurgents, ten or twelve in number, entered the apartment where the governor was lying on his bed of sickness, with cries of “Liberty, liberty, long live the king!” They were the supervisor Alonso Cabrera, the accountant Philip de Caceres, Garcia Vanegas, acting treasurer, a servant of the governor named Pedro de Oñate (who was in the room with him, opened the door to the conspirators, and was an active promoter of the insurrection), Don Francisco de Mendoza, Jaime Rasquin (who held an arquebus and a poisoned dart at his breast), Diego de Acosta, Portuguese interpreter, and Solorzano, a native of Canaria. These men entered with arms in their hands and seized the governor, dragged him out of the room in his shirt, continuing to cry: “Liberty, liberty!” They called him a tyrant, levelled their arquebuses at him, saying such words as these: “Now you shall pay the penalty of your offences and the losses you have caused us.” When they had come out into the street they were joined by others whom they had enlisted on their side, who, seeing they were carrying the governor off a prisoner in that fashion, said to Pedro Dorantes and the others: “Let the responsibility of this rest with the traitors who did the deed; you brought us here on the pretext that our goods, houses, and Indian girls would be taken from us, but your real object was to make us parties to your treason against the king”; upon this they drew their swords, and there was a serious scrimmage. As the insurgents were now approaching the houses of the officers some took refuge in the house of Garcia Vanegas, dragging thegovernor along with them. Others remained at the door, saying to those who had taken the part of the governor: “You are betraying us; don’t say that you did not know what was going to be done; help us to put him into prison. If you attempt to deliver him we will cut you to pieces and chop off your heads. It is a matter of life and death to you; aid us, therefore, to complete what we have begun, and we will all share the goods, the Indian girls, and furniture of the governor.” The officers then entered the small room in which the governor was confined, placed him in irons, and set a watch upon him. Having done this they repaired to the house of Juan Pavon, alcalde mayor, and to that of the alguazil, Francisco de Peralta. When they had come to the alcalde mayor’s, Martin de Ure, a Biscayan, as leader, seized by force the staff of office. They did the same at the alguazil’s, and, having struck these functionaries several blows with the fist and knocked them about, they called them traitors and took them to the public prison, where they were put in the stocks by the head. They set at liberty the prisoners, among whom was one sentenced to death for having murdered a certain Morales, a gentleman of Seville. Having done this, they took a drum and marched about the streets, exciting the people to rebel, and uttering loud cries of “Liberty, liberty! Long live the king!”
After they had made the circuit of the city in this way, the same individuals went to the house of Pero Hernandez, secretary of the province, who was ill at the time. They arrested him, as well as Bartolomé Gonzales, took possession of his property and documents, and carried him prisoner to the house of Domingo de Irala, where they placed him in chains, and, after insulting him, left him in the hands of the sentinels. Then they published the following proclamation: “The officers of His Majesty prohibit all persons from appearing in the streets; anyone going out of doors will be considered a traitor and condemned to death.” Having donethis they again shouted, “Liberty, liberty!” While posting this order, they pushed and hustled everyone they met in the streets, forcing people to enter their houses.
They then went to the house of the governor, where he kept his property, papers, and the letters he had received from the king appointing him governor of the province, as well as the acts by which his authority had been recognised. They forced open some chests, extracted all the documents contained in them, and took possession of everything. They also opened a chest, locked with three keys, containing the public indictments against officers charged with crimes referred to the king for final sentence. They took also his goods, stuffs, provisions, oil, steel, and iron, besides a number of other things. Most of these things disappeared, everything being looted. They denounced him as a tyrant, and abused him in every way. The remainder of his property was bestowed upon such as professed to be attached to him, who took them under pretext of deposit; but these so-called friends of the deposed governor really helped the insurgents. His property was said to be worth over 100,000 castellanos,[358]according to the value current then; he had also ten brigantines.
[358]A gold coin formerly in use in Spain. During the reign of the Catholic kings it was worth 490 maravedis of silver, equal to about 4s.9d.The value of these coins afterwards fluctuated. This sum is undoubtedly grossly exaggerated.
[358]A gold coin formerly in use in Spain. During the reign of the Catholic kings it was worth 490 maravedis of silver, equal to about 4s.9d.The value of these coins afterwards fluctuated. This sum is undoubtedly grossly exaggerated.
THEfollowing day the officers published in the streets, by sound of drum and trumpet, that all the people should assemble in front of the house of Captain Domingo de Irala. Their friends and partisans having gone there armed, a libel was read by the public crier in a loud voice. It stated that the governor had ordered them all to be deprived of their possessions and to be treated as slaves: and that they, in the general interests of liberty, had laid hands on his person. When this libel had been read they called out, “Sirs, cry, Liberty, liberty, long live the king!” And this was accordingly done by their friends. After these proceedings they inveighed against the governor, and many said, “Come what may, let us kill this tyrant who wished to ruin and destroy us.”
When the fury of the population had somewhat calmed down, they elected Domingo de Irala as deputy-governor and captain general of the whole province. This man had already been elected once before in the place of Francisco Ruiz, once Don Pedro de Mendoza’s deputy. Ruiz had been in truth a good deputy-governor; but against all justice, and from envy and malice, he was deposed and Domingo de Irala elected in his stead. Someone having said to the supervisor, Alonso Cabrera, that they had acted badly in that case, because Francisco Ruiz had colonized the country and been at great pains to maintain it, he answered that they had acted thus because Ruiz would not do what they wished, but that Domingo de Irala, whose rank was less than theirown, would always do what they bade him; and for this reason all the officers elected him. They appointed Pero Diaz del Valle alcalde mayor, because he was a friend of Domingo de Irala, and gave the insignia of alguazil to a certain Bartolomé de la Marilla, a native of Truxillo, a friend of Nuflo de Chaves, and to Sancho de Salinas, a native of Cazalla.
Then the officers and Domingo de Irala made it known that they intended fitting out a new expedition to the country discovered by the governor, to search for gold and silver, and sending it, when found, to His Majesty, in order that they might be pardoned the crime they had committed. Should they not succeed in finding gold, they would not return, as they feared punishment; yet it might happen that they found so much of the precious metal that the king, in return for it, would make them a present of the country. By such means as these they cajoled the people. However, everybody knew enough of their misdeeds and their past and present conduct to decline consenting to the proposed expedition. And since then the majority of the people began to remonstrate against the imprisonment of the governor. Then the officers and newly-appointed magistrates began to maltreat those who showed discontent at the governor’s imprisonment. They imprisoned them, deprived them of all their possessions, and tormented them in every way. When these people took refuge in the church, in order to avoid being arrested, they stationed watchmen at the door, so that no provisions might reach them. They punished those who attempted to relieve them, disarmed all the inhabitants and harassed them by every means in their power. They, moreover, said in public that they would kill any persons who might show discontent at the governor’s imprisonment.
FROMthat time tumults and dissensions frequently arose among the people. Those that were of the party of the king denounced the rebel officers and their partisans as traitors. These, fearing the inhabitants, went armed day and night; they built stockades and other works for their defence, barricaded the streets, and withdrew into five or six houses. The governor was confined in a small room in the house of Garcia Vanegas, so as to have him in their midst. The alcalde and alguazils daily searched the houses immediately surrounding that in which the governor was held a captive, for fear lest an attempt might be made to enter them by means of mines. When the officers saw two or three men of the governor’s party talking together, they would immediately raise the alarm, enter the place in which governor Nuñez was confined, lay their hands on their daggers, and swear that if an attempt were made to rescue him they would cut off his head and throw it to his would-be deliverers. They appointed four men, whom they considered the bravest of their band, to stand ready armed with poniards, and made them swear that on the first attempt to rescue him in the name of His Majesty they would immediately enter and behead him. These men were posted so near the governor that he could hear them talking and sharpening their daggers. These executioners were Garcia Vanegas, Andres Hernandez,el romo, besides others.
Not only was the arrest of the governor the cause of general tumult and dissension, there were also many private disputesand lawsuits in consequence of the edicts which had followed. Some said that the officers and their friends were traitors, and had done wrong in arresting Alvar Nuñez; that they had caused the ruin of the country as then appeared, and even now appears to be the case. Others took the contrary view; and they killed, wounded, and maimed one another. The officers and their friends said that the partisans of the governor and those who wished him set at liberty were traitors, and should be punished as such; they forbade suspected persons from talking together. Whenever they saw two men together in the streets they drew out an act of inquest, and arrested them in order to know what they were saying; and if three or four collected together, they fell upon them with their weapons. They had placed sentries on the roof of the house in which the governor was confined, in two sentry-boxes, that they might overlook the whole town and adjacent country. Their spies, too, reported what was being done and said in the town. At night, thirty armed men patrolled the streets, arresting anybody they met, demanding to know whither they were going, and for what purpose. As the tumults and disorders increased, the officers and their partisans became harassed, and begged the governor to give an order to the people to keep the peace and not revolt; and if necessary to fix a penalty for disobedience to this order. The officers drafted this order for him to sign, but when he had signed it they were advised not to publish it, because they pretended that everybody had been in favour of his arrest. For this reason the order was not published.
WHILEthese events were happening the governor was very ill in bed, and for the sake of his health chains were fastened round his feet; by his pillow a candle burned, for the prison was dark, no light being admitted, and so damp that the grass grew under his bed; he had the candle because he might want it at any moment. To crown his miseries, they had searched among the whole population for the man most evilly disposed towards him, and they found one named Hernando de Sosa, whom the governor had punished for striking an Indian chief. This man was placed on guard in the same room with him. The prison closed with two sliding doors furnished with padlocks; the officers and their partisans watched him day and night armed to the teeth; and there were upwards of one hundred and fifty of them, all paid with his property.
Notwithstanding this strict watch kept upon him, every night, or every third night, an Indian woman who brought him his supper conveyed him a letter written by one of his friends, informing him of all that happened outside his prison. They begged him to say what he wished them to do, three parts of the people being determined to die with the Indians in order to deliver him. They had feared to do this because of the threats of the officers to kill him should an attempt at a rescue be made. Seventy of those guarding him were ready to join them and make themselves masters of the principal entrance of the prison. They promised to defend him till the arrival of his friends. The governor opposed this project, because it could not easily be accomplishedwithout the slaughter of a large number of Christians. Besides, when once the scheme had been put into execution, the Indians would have put an end to the Christians and brought about the final ruin of the country. For these reasons he dissuaded them from their purpose.
The Indian woman who brought him a letter every third night, and took back an answer, passed through the midst of the guards, who stripped her naked, examined her mouth and ears, and cut off her hair, for fear of her concealing anything. They even searched her in parts which modesty compels me not to mention. This woman, as I have stated, passed the guard quite naked, and having come to where the governor was, handed the gaoler what she brought, and then sat down on his bed, for the room was small. She then began to scratch her foot, and while engaged in this way, drew forth a letter which she handed to the governor behind the back of the gaoler. This letter, written on very thin paper, was deftly rolled up and covered with black wax; this was concealed under the lesser toes, and attached to these by two black threads. In this way she brought the letters and the necessary paper for him to write his answer, and a little powder made of a certain black stone of the country, which, moistened with a little saliva or water, made ink. The officers and their friends suspected her, for they had learned that the governor knew what was passing outside the prison, and what they were doing. In order to be sure of this, they chose four of the more youthful of their party to seduce the Indian woman—not a difficult task, for these women are not sparing of their charms, and consider it an affront to deny their favours to anyone; they say, moreover, that they have received them for that purpose. These four youths accordingly intrigued with her and gave her many presents; but they could never make her divulge her secret during the whole of their intercourse, which lasted eleven months.
WHILEthe governor was in this situation, the officers and Domingo de Irala gave public permission to all their friends and partisans to go into the villages and huts of the Indians and take by force their wives, daughters, hammocks, and other of their possessions, a thing contrary to the service of His Majesty and the peace of the country. While this was going on they would scour the country, strike the Indians blows with sticks, carry them off to their houses, and oblige them to labour in their fields without any remuneration. When the Indians came and complained to Domingo de Irala and the officers, these answered that it was no affair of theirs, which pleased the Christians, because they knew that this answer was given to suit their pleasure and secure their support, for they might say that they had full liberty to do what they liked. These replies and bad treatment caused the country to be deserted. The natives withdrew to the mountains, and concealed themselves in places where the Christians could not find them. A large number were Christians, together with wives and children. When they left the settlement they lost the religious teaching of the monks and clergy, the governor having paid great attention to their religious instruction. A few days after his arrest they destroyed the caravel which he had made to send advice to His Majesty of all that was passing in the province; for the insurgents hoped to get the people to undertake a voyage of discovery in that country, where the governor hadalready partly explored; they thought they might obtain gold and silver there, and that they would have the honour of rendering important service to the king.
There being no justice in the land, the inhabitants and colonists suffered many wrongs from the officers and magistrates appointed by the insurgents. They were imprisoned and deprived of their property; at least fifty of them became so indignant that they retreated into the interior towards the coast of Brazil, with the intention of finding means of proceeding to Spain and informing His Majesty of all the wrongs, misdeeds, and disturbances passing in the land. Many others were overtaken and kept in prison a long time; their arms and all their possessions were taken away and distributed among their friends and partisans, in order to engage their support for the party in power.
WHILEthis sad state of things was going on without hope of remedy, the monks—friar Bernardo de Armenta[359]thinking the moment opportune for putting into execution their long-conceived project of departing (having already attempted it, as I have said before), spoke about it to the officers and to Domingo de Irala, in order that they should give them permission and the necessary help to reach the coast of Brazil. Theseofficers consented, in order to give them satisfaction because they had opposed the governor, who had hindered their taking the route they wished. Permission was accordingly granted to them, and the necessary help to go to Brazil. They took with them some Spaniards and Indian women, to whom they were teaching Christianity.
[359]The name of the other monk is omitted in the text. It was probably Alonzo Lebron; cf.supra, pp.100,136.
[359]The name of the other monk is omitted in the text. It was probably Alonzo Lebron; cf.supra, pp.100,136.
During his captivity the governor had asked the insurgents several times to let him appoint a deputy to rule the province in the name of His Majesty, in order to terminate the tumults and disorders that were of such constant occurrence, and restore justice and tranquillity in the land. After making this nomination he would have liked to go before the king and render an account of all that had passed, and the actual position of affairs. The officers answered, however, that by his arrest his authority had lost all its force, and that the person they had nominated as governor would serve the purpose. Every day they entered his prison and threatened to put an end to his life. The governor replied that, should they decide upon doing this, he begged, and even if necessary he required, them in God’s name and the king’s to send him a clergyman to confess him. They said that if they gave him a confessor it would be Francisco de Andrada, or another native of Biscay (who were concerned in the insurrection), and if he would have neither of them, he should have none at all, because the others were their enemies and his supporters. In fact, they had arrested Antonio d’Escalera, Rodrigo de Herrera, and Luis de Miranda, because they had said, and were still saying, that the arrest of the governor was a great sin, and contrary to the service of God and His Majesty, and would bring ruin upon the land. The priest, Luis de Miranda, had been imprisoned with the Alcalde mayor for more than eight months without seeing sun or moon all that time. And the insurgents would never consent that any other of the clergy except those we have named should confess him.
A gentleman[360]named Anton Bravo, eighteen years of age, having been heard to say one day that he would form a scheme to release the governor from prison, the officers and Domingo de Irala had him arrested, and applied the torture to him, to find pretext for punishing and ill-treating others whom they hated. They offered him his liberty if he would incriminate others whom he had named in his evidence. These were all taken and disarmed. Anton Bravo was publicly bastinadoed in the street, proclaimed a traitor, and accused of being unfaithful to His Majesty by trying to deliver the governor from prison.
[360]In original, hidalgo, fromhijo de algo,i.e., a person of good birth.
[360]In original, hidalgo, fromhijo de algo,i.e., a person of good birth.
THISwas the cause of many other cruel torturings to find out if the persons accused had concerted measures for the release of the governor from prison. They sought to know who were the persons concerned in the scheme, how he was to be delivered, and if the ground were mined. Many were deprived of the use of their limbs by these tortures. Inscriptions having been found on the walls, which said, “Thou shalt die for thy king and thy law,” the officers, Domingo de Irala, and the magistrates, took steps to find out who were the authors, swearing and threatening to punish them, and they arrested a number of persons, whom they put to the torture.
AFFAIRSbeing in the state I have described, a certain Pedro de Molina, a native of Guadix, and judge of that town, having been witness of the misfortunes and troubles that were taking place in the country, determined, in His Majesty’s interests, to enter the stockaded enclosure where Domingo de Irala and his officers were residing, and in the presence of all, doffing his cap, he asked Martin de Ure, the notary, to read to the officers a requisition that the evils, murders, and injustice occasioned by the arrest of the governor might cease. He demanded that Alvar Nuñez should be set free, and that he should be allowed to invest some fitting person, with his authority, to govern the province in the name of His Majesty, and maintain peace and justice. The notary at first refused to read it because the insurgents were present, but at length he took it, and said to Pedro de Molina that if he wished it read he must pay him his fee. Pedro de Molina drew his sword and handed it to him. The notary declined the sword as a pledge for payment. Then Pedro de Molina took off his woollen hood and gave it to him, saying: “Read it, I have no better pledge to offer.” Martin de Ure took the hood and the requisition, and threw them both down at his feet, declaring that he would not notify it to those gentlemen. Thereupon Garcia Vanegas, the deputy-treasurer, addressed some insulting words to Pedro de Molina, threatening to have him beaten to death, and that he deserved it fordaring to speak in that way. Pedro de Molina then went out, raising his cap, considering himself fortunate in escaping without further ill-treatment.
THEofficers and Domingo de Irala, wishing to gain favour among the natives, gave them permission to kill and eat their Indian enemies. Many of those who availed themselves of this license were converted Christians. The insurgents had adopted this expedient, unbecoming to the service of God and His Majesty, and horrible to all who knew of it, in order to prevent the Indians from leaving the country, and attaching them to their party. They told them the governor was a bad man, inasmuch as he would not authorise their killing and eating their enemies, and that he had been arrested on that account, and that they now gave them free permission to do this.
In spite of all their efforts, the officers and Domingo de Irala, seeing that the tumults and quarrels would not cease, but were daily on the increase, decided to remove the governor from the province, while those who took this step chose to remain where they were and not return to Spain; they only desired to expel him and some of his friends. The partisans of the governor, on hearing this resolution, were much excited. They said that since the officers had usurped the power of deposing the governor and arresting him, and had given their supporters to understand that they would go with him to Spain, to explain their conduct toHis Majesty, they must keep their promise, and if they all refused to go, that two, at all events, should accompany him, and that the other two might remain in the province. So they arranged it in that way, and, in order to take him to Spain, they equipped one of the brigantines which he had built for exploring and conquering the country. This gave rise to serious altercations, owing to the discontent that prevailed at seeing they were about to take Alvar Nuñez from the province. The officers resolved upon arresting the leaders of the malcontents, but durst not carry out their intention. In this dilemma they had again recourse to the governor, conjuring him to put an end to all the scandals and disorders; that if his friends would give their word not to attempt his release, that they on their side, and their magistrates, would promise not to arrest anybody, or do any injury to anybody, and would set those free whom they had arrested, and they swore it. As the governor had now been in prison a long time, and nobody had seen him, it was suspected and feared that they had secretly murdered him. They were accordingly asked to allow two monks and two gentlemen to enter his prison and see him, so that they might certify the people he was still alive. The officers promised they would do this three or four days before it was time for him to embark, but they broke their word.
ATthis juncture the officers prepared several memoirs to send to Spain, accusing the governor and making him odious to everybody. To lend a favourable colour to their own criminal acts, they wrote things that never happened and were entirely untrue. While the brigantine was being equipped for her voyage, the friends of the governor arranged with the carpenters to hollow a timber as big as a man’s thigh, and three spans long, and place inside it a general act of accusation which the governor had addressed to His Majesty, and other important papers collected by his friends when he was arrested. This packet was taken and enveloped in a waxed cloth, and the piece of timber was fastened to the poop of the brigantine with six nails above and six below. The carpenters said that they had placed it there to strengthen the brigantine, and the secret was kept so well that nobody discovered it. The master carpenter told a sailor of it, so that when the vessel arrived in Spain the documents might be taken out. It had been arranged with the officers that the governor should be seen by his friends before he embarked, but neither Captain Salazar nor anybody saw him. One night, towards midnight, Alonso Cabrera, the supervisor, and Pedro Dorantes, his factor, accompanied by a large number of arquebusiers, presented themselves at the prison; and each arquebusier carried three lighted fuses in his hand, so as to make the number appear greater than it was. Then Alonso Cabrera and Pedro Dorantes entered the room in which he lay; theyseized him by the arm and lifted him out of the bed with the chains round his feet; he was very ill, almost to death. They carried him in this state to the gate leading into the street, and when he saw the sky, which he had not seen till then, he entreated them to let him render thanks to God. When he rose from his knees, two soldiers took him under the arms and carried him on board the brigantine, for he was extremely weak and crippled. When he saw himself in the midst of these people, he said to them: “Sirs, be my witnesses that I appoint, as my deputy, Juan de Salazar de Espinosa, that he may govern this province instead of me, and in the name of His Majesty, maintaining order and justice till the King should have been pleased to make other dispositions.” Hardly had he finished speaking than Garcia Vanegas, deputy treasurer, rushed upon him, dagger in hand, saying: “I do not recognise what you say; retract, or I will tear your soul from your body.” The governor had, however, been advised not to say what he did, because they were determined to kill him, and these words might have occasioned a great disturbance among them, and the party of the King might have snatched him from the hands of the others, everybody being then in the street. Garcia Vanegas having withdrawn a little, the governor repeated the same words; then Garcia sprang with great fury on the governor, and placed a dagger to his temple, saying to him as before: “Withdraw what you have said, or I will tear your soul from your body.” At the same moment he inflicted a slight wound on his temple, and pushed the people who were carrying the governor with so much violence that they fell with him, and one of them dropped his cap. After this they quickly raised him again, and carried him precipitately on board the brigantine. They closed the poop of the vessel with planks, put two chains on him which prevented him from moving; then they unmoored and descended the river.
Two days after the embarkation of the governor and thedeparture of the brigantine, Domingo de Irala, the accountant Philip de Caceres, and the factor Pedro Dorantes assembled their friends and attacked the house of Captain Salazar. They seized him and Pedro de Estopiñan Cabeza de Vaca, put them in irons, and sent them down the river to overtake the brigantine. These two officers were taken to Spain with him, and it is certain that if Captain Salazar had wished it the governor would not have been arrested, and still less would they have been able to take him out of the country and carry him to Castille; but, as he remained deputy governor, his conduct was not altogether frank. Cabeza de Vaca begged that two of his servants might be allowed to accompany him to prepare his food and attend upon him during the voyage. Accordingly they let the two servants go, not however to wait on him, but to row four hundred leagues on the river, for none could be found willing to do this work. They forced some of the people to come, others fled into the interior, and the property of such was confiscated and distributed among those that were pressed for the service. The officers did a very wrong thing during the voyage, and it was this: every two or three days they spread among their partisans and their friends a thousand calumnies against him, and finally said: “We have, as it is manifest, done you a great deal of good and acted for your advantage and that of the king, in consideration for this, sign this paper.” In this way they filled four quires of paper with signatures, and during the voyage down the river composed their calumnious statements while these who had signed their names to the paper remained at Ascension, three hundred leagues up the river. It was upon this document that the charges brought against the governor were framed.
WHILEdescending 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, PedroHernandez, 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 depositionswere 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 wasdelayed 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 calledReal Consejo de las Indias.
[361]This was a special council for the government of the Spanish possessions in the Indies. It was calledReal Consejo de las Indias.
INthe city of Ascension, which is by the river Paraguai, in the province of Rio de la Plata, on the 3rd March, in the year of Our Lord, 1545, appeared before me, public notary, and the legal witnesses, being in the church and monastery of Our Lady of Mercy, Redeemer of captives, Captain Hernando de Ribera, conquistador in this province, and deposed as follows: When Señor Alvar Nuñez Cabeza de Vaca, governor and adelantado and captain-general in the name of His Majesty, of the province of Rio de la Plata, was in the port of Los Reyes, whence he started on his exploration last year (1543), he commissioned me to take one brigantine, and a certain number of men, and explore up a certain river called Ygatu, which is an arm of two great rivers, viz., the Yacareati and the Yaiva, flowing, according to the reports of the Indians, through the settlements of the interior; and I, Hernando de Ribera, having arrived at some Indians called Xarayes, in consequence of information received from them, left the brigantine in a safe haven, and entered the interior of the country with forty men, in order to see and examine it with my own eyes. And having pursued my journey past many Indian settlements, and obtained from their inhabitants and other natives who came to see me, full reports touching the land, I examined andsifted these statements, in order to learn the truth, being moreover, acquainted with the language of the Carios, and therefore able to hold intercourse with those tribes.
Juan Valderas, royal notary, whom I had with me at this time, wrote down and made a note of certain things relating to that discovery. Yet I would not tell him the whole truth concerning the riches and the settlements of the various tribes inhabiting those regions, lest he should write it in his report. And he, the said notary, did not know, nor did he fully understand the matter, for my intention was at that time to have communicated it directly to the governor, in order that he might forthwith proceed to the conquest of that land, as it beseemed the service of God and His Majesty.
After penetrating several days’ journey into the interior, I was obliged to return to the port of Los Reyes, in compliance with orders sent me by the governor. And because I found him and all his people sick on my arrival, I had no opportunity of reporting my discovery, nor communicating all the information I had collected from the natives. A few days afterwards he was compelled to return to Ascension to save the lives of his people, and having again fallen sick a few days after his arrival in that city, he was arrested by the officers of His Majesty (as everybody knows), so that I was unable to make my statement.
Seeing that the officers of His Majesty are about to return to Spain with the governor, and fearing that he may in the meanwhile die, or be removed to some other place where the report might not be delivered to him, and that His Majesty’s service might in this way suffer loss, and the governor himself be prejudiced, and that I might be held blameworthy—taking all this, I say, into consideration, and for the discharge of my conscience, now I, in order to serve God and the King, and the governor in his name, desire to make a declaration of the said discovery, that His Majesty may know of it andthe reports I obtained from the natives. I have therefore asked and required the notary to receive my statement, which is as follows:
“I, Captain Hernando de Ribera, say and declare that on the 20th of December last year (1543), I set out from the port of Los Reyes in the brigantineEl Golondrino(‘The Swallow’) with fifty-two men, in obedience to the governor’s orders, and went on navigating the river Ygatu, which is an arm of the aforesaid two rivers Yacareati and Yaiva, and is very wide and voluminous; and on the sixth day I entered the parent stream of these two water-courses. According to the reports of the natives where I happened to land, these two rivers come from the interior of the country, the Yaiva most probably from the Sierras of Santa Martha. This river is wide and deep, and greater than the Yacareati, which according to the Indians, flows from the Peruvian Sierras; and between those two water-courses there is a wide expanse of land, and innumerable villages and tribes. According to the natives, the Yaiva and the Yacareati unite in the country of the Indians called Perobazanes, and there they separate again, and seventy leagues lower down they reunite.
“After navigating that river for seventeen days, I passed through the land of the Perobazanes, and arrived at another country, where the inhabitants are called Xarayes. These people are agriculturists, have a quantity of provisions, and rear geese, fowls, and other birds. They fish and hunt, and are a reasonable people, obeying their chief. Being in one of their settlements, consisting of about a thousand houses, and well received by their chief, Camire, I collected information concerning the settlements of the interior. In consequence of that information, I left the brigantine under the care of ten men, and taking a guide from the said Xarayes, advanced three days inland, till I reached the settlements of a tribe of Indians, called Urtueses, a good people, cultivating the soil like the Xarayes. From thisplace, I went on through an inhabited country, till I reached fourteen degrees twenty minutes going westwards.
“While staying in the settlements of the Urtueses and Aburuñes, many chiefs of tribes farther inland came and spoke with me, and brought feathers, like those of Peru, and metal plates in the rough. From them I also obtained information, questioning each individually concerning the settlements and tribes beyond. All these Indians told me that at ten days’ march from there, towards the west-north-west, there were women inhabiting large villages, who possessed a large quantity of white and yellow metal, and all their domestic utensils and vessels were of this metal, and their chief was a woman. They are a warlike people, much feared by the Indians. Before reaching those female warriors it is necessary to pass a tribe of very small Indians, who make war upon the women, and also upon those Indians who gave the information. At a certain time of the year these women unite with their neighbours, and cohabit with them. And if the children born of this intercourse be girls, the mothers keep them; if they are boys, they send them as soon as they are weaned to their fathers. On the other side of the settlements of these women, bordering with them, there are very large villages and tribes of Indians. These statements they made of their own free will, without my asking them. They talked also of a large lake, which they call the House of the Sun, because they say the sun locks himself in there, and said that these women lived there between the flanks of Santa Martha and the lake on the west-north-west, and that beyond the settlements of those women were other large nations of black people. According to the description they gave, these negroes are eagle-faced, with pointed beards like the Moors. We asked them how they knew those people to be black, and they answered that their fathers had seen them and other tribes living in that neighbourhood had reported it. These peopleclothe themselves, and have houses of stone and earth; they are tall, and possess white and yellow metal in such abundance that they make use of no other material for their domestic utensils and vases, and all kinds of great vessels. We asked where those black people lived, and they pointed to the north-west, saying, that should we wish to go there, we might reach their settlements in fifteen days. And it seemed to me, judging from the indications given by the Indians, that those settlements lie in twelve degrees towards the north-west, between the sierras of Santa Martha and Marañon. They are a race of warriors fighting with bows and arrows. The same Indians also gave us to understand that between west-north-west and north-west, one quarter north, there are many tribes of Indians with such large settlements that it is a day’s journey to pass from one end to the other; and all are rich in white and yellow metal, and wear clothes. They may be reached in a short time, always passing through inhabited country.
“Farther to the west there is a large lake, so wide that it is impossible to see from shore to shore, and by its side dwells a nation who wear clothes, and possess much metal and brilliant stones, which they work into the borders of their dress; and they find these stones in the lake. They have large villages, are agriculturists, and have stores of provisions, besides an abundance of geese and other birds. From the place where I was they said I might reach the lake and its settlements in fifteen days, always travelling through inhabited country, abounding in metal, and by good roads. They offered to show us the way thither when the floods subsided, though we were but few Christians, and the settlements we should have to pass were very large and populous.
“I also formally declare that the Indians showed me by signs that in the direction west, one quarter south-west, there are large towns, with houses built of earth, inhabited by a good people, clothed, very rich, and possessing plenty of metal. They rear a large number of great sheep, using these for agriculture and transport. I asked if those people were far off, and they answered that the route thither lay through a thickly inhabited country, and that it was not far. Among those people they said there were other Christians, and great waterless deserts of sand. We asked them how they knew there were Christians on that side, and they answered, that in times gone by the Indians living in that neighbourhood had been heard to say that as they were passing the desert they met many white people, clothed, with beards, and they had certain animals with them (evidently, according to their showing, horses), and riders on their backs, and that owing to the want of water they had returned, and many had died on the way. The Indians thought they had come from the other side of the desert. They showed us also, by signs, that in the direction west, one quarter south, there were high mountains, and an uninhabited country. Having heard that there were people dwelling beyond those deserts, the Indians had attempted to pass that way, but were unable to proceed, because they died of hunger and thirst. We asked them how they came to learn all this, and they answered, that all the Indians of this country communicated with one another, and it had been related how those Indians had seen the Christians and their horses crossing the desert. They said, too, that on the south-west skirt of those mountains there were many large settlements, and people rich in metal; and beyond these again lay the salt water and the great ships. We asked them if those settlements were ruled by separate chiefs, and they answered, that there was only one chief who ruled all the towns, and was obeyed by all. I further declare, that in order to verify their statements I questioned each of them separately for a day and a night, and they always repeated the same story without any variation whatever.”
The above statement was made by Hernando de Ribera,who said and declared that he had received it with all clearness, faithfully and loyally, without fraud and deceit; and in order that all credit and faith should be given to it, and that there should not be the slightest doubt concerning it, or any portion thereof, he said he would swear to the truth of it, and he swore in the name of God and Santa Maria, and on the four sacred gospels, upon which he placed his right hand, a missal being held open for that purpose by the reverend father, Francisco Gonzalez Paniagua, at the very place where the sacred gospels are written, and on the sign of the cross, like this:✠, where he also placed his right hand to testify that the aforesaid statement, according to the form and manner of it, was given, said, and declared by the Indian chiefs of the aforesaid land, and by other aged men whom he had diligently examined and interrogated in order to learn the truth, and have a clear understanding of the interior of the country.
After he had obtained this information, other Indians of different settlements came to see him, especially of a large village, called Uretabere. He went one day’s march in their territory, and collected information wherever he went, and all the statements agreed. He declared, moreover, under the sanctity of his oath, that there was no exaggeration or imagination in anything he had said, nothing but the truth, without fraud or reservation whatsoever. He also declared that the Indians assured him that the river Yacareati has a fall from a high mountain.
This he certifies to be true, so help him God, and if it be otherwise may he pay dear in this world with his body, and in the next with his soul. This oath having been read out to him, he said: “I swear it, Amen.”
The aforesaid captain asked and required me to testify to this statement, as much for his peace of mind as to serve as evidence for the aforesaid governor, and to preserve his rights; the following being witnesses: the aforesaid reverendfather Paniagua; Sebastian de Valdivieso, valet of the said governor; Gaspar de Hortigosa and Juan de Hoces, citizens of Cordoba, all of whom have signed their names as follows: Francisco Gonzalez Paniagua, Sebastian de Valdivieso, Juan de Hoces, Hernando de Ribera, Gaspar de Hortigosa.
Done before me, Pedro Hernandez, notary.