The South American Expeditions, 1540-1545

by Cabeza De Vaca, Alvar Nunez; Morrow, Baker H.

• ISBN13: 9780826350633
• ISBN10: 0826350631
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2011-10-15
• Publisher: Univ of New Mexico Pr

Summary

This book is one of the great first-person accounts of the Spanish conquest of the Americas in the sixteenth century. Morrow's new translation makes Cabeza deVaca's adventures available to a wide English-speaking audience for the first time.

Table of Contents

Translator's Note	p. xiii
Translator's Acknowledgments	p. xxi
A Word About the Commentaries of Alvar Nunez Cabeza de Vaca	p. 1
We Leave the Island of Cape Verde	p. 3
The Governor and His Fleet Arrive at Santa Catalina, in Brazil, Where the Company Disembarks	p. 5
Nine Christians Come to the Island	p. 7
The Governor Makes Haste on His Journey	p. 9
The Governor and His People Begin Their First Ventures into the Interior	p. 11
What the Governor and His People Went By Along the Road, and What Sort of Country It Is	p. 23
Hardships Along the Way for the Governor and His People, and the Kinds of Pines and Pine Cones in That Land	p. 17
The Explorers Starve, but Save Themselves-with Worms, Which They Get from Some Canes	p. 19
The Indians Are Afraid of Horses	p. 22
The Governor Travels by Canoe on the Rio de Iguaza, and the Men Carry Their Canoes on Their Shoulders for a League to Bypass a Bad Stretch of the River at Some Rapids	p. 24
They Make Rafts to Carry the Sick	p. 27
The Governor Arrives at the City of Asuncion, Where He Finds the Christian Spaniards He Had Come to Help	p. 29
The Spaniards Who had Fallen Ill on the Rio de Piqueri Arrive in the City of Asuncion	p. 32
The Governor Sends Help to the People Who Had Gone in His Flagship to Buenos Aires to Assist in the Resettlement of That Port	p. 34
They Kill the Enemies They Capture, and Then Eat Them	p. 36
The Governor Concludes a Peace with the Agaces Tribe	p. 38
The Settlers Complain About Your Majesty's Officials to the Governor	p. 41
They Complain About the Guaycuru Indians to the Governor	p. 42
The Governor Asks for More Details About the Complaint	p. 43
The Governor and His People Cross the River, and Two Christians Drown	p. 46
Spies Go Out by Order of the Governor to Follow the Guaycuru Indians	p. 48
Following the Enemy, the Governor is Advised that They Are Just Ahead	p. 50
A Jaguar Causes an Uproar Between the Spaniards and the Indians	p. 52
The Governor and His Men Catch Up with the Enemy	p. 54
The Governor Breaks His Enemies	p. 57
The Governor Returns to the City of Asuncidn with All His Men	p. 59
The Agaces Indians Break the Peace	p. 61
The Governor Sets One of the Guaycuru Prisoners Free and Sends Him to Fetch the Others	p. 63
The Guaycurues Come to Give Their Allegiance to His Majesty	p. 64
The Governor, Making Peace with the Guaycurues, Returns His Prisoners	p. 66
The Apernes Indians Come to Make Peace and Give Their Allegiance	p. 68
Sentence Is Passed on the Agaces, with an Opinion Offered by the Clerics, the Captains, and Your Majesty's Officials	p. 70
The Governor Again Helps the People of Buenos Aires	p. 71
Three Christians and Some Indians Come Back from Their Explorations	p. 74
Boards Are Cut for Brigantines and a Caravel	p. 75
The Indians of the Countryside Return to Be of Service	p. 76
The Town of Asuncion Burns	p. 80
The Return of Domingo de Irala	p. 82
What Gonzalo de Mendoza Wrote	p. 85
The Governor Helps Gonzalo de Mendoza's Men	p. 87
Four Christians Die of Their Wounds in a War	p. 88
The Friars Flee	p. 90
The Governor Takes Four Hundred Men on His Expedition	p. 92
The Governor Leaves Behind the Supplies He Is Carrying	p. 94
He Pauses to Talk with the Natives of That Port	p. 95
He Sends for an Interpreter for the Payaguaes	p. 98
The Horses Embark from the Port	p. 99
How They Killed Juan de Ayolas and His Companions When They Came to This Port	p. 101
The Interpreter and the Others Who Were Supposed to Return Fail to Do So	p. 104
The Guaxarapos Parley with the Governor	p. 108
The Indians of That Country Come to Live Along the Banks of the River	p. 110
They Put Three Crosses at the Mouth of This River	p. 113
The Indian Farmers of Puerto Reyes	p. 116
How Garcia's Indians Populated This Place	p. 119
The Governor Speaks with the Chaneses	p. 120
The Governor Looks for Garcia's Indians	p. 122
The Governor Speaks to the Officials and Lets Them Know What Is Happening	p. 123
The Governor Sends Word to the Xarayes	p. 125
The Interpreters Return from Seeing the Xarayes Indians	p. 130
The Governor Resolves to Set Off on His Exploration	p. 133
The Rio Caliente	p. 135
The Governor Sends Men to Look for a House That Lies Ahead	p. 137
The Interpreter Comes Back from the Little House	p. 139
The Governor and His Men Return to the Port	p. 141
How They Wanted to Kill the Men Who Had Stayed Behind in Puerto Reyes	p. 142
The Governor Orders Captain Mendoza to Search for Provisions	p. 144
The Governor Sends Captain Ribera in a Brigantine to Explore the River of the Xarayes	p. 146
Captain Francisco de Ribera Returns from His Expedition	p. 149
Captain Francisco de Ribera Gives an Account of His Exploration	p. 150
The Governor Sends for Captain Gonzalo de Mendoza	p. 155
Hernando de Ribera Returns from His Exploration Along the River	p. 158
What Happened to the Governor and His People in Puerto Reyes	p. 159
The Governor and His Men Arrive in Asuncion, and He Is Thrown into Chains	p. 162
The People Gather in Front of Domingo de Irak's House	p. 166
Turbulence and Uproar Abound in the Land	p. 168
The Governor Is Held Prisoner in a Very Harsh Jail	p. 170
The Insurgents Plunder the Land and Take Its Estates by Force	p. 172
The Friars Flee Again	p. 174
How They Put Everyone Not of Their Opinion on the Rack	p. 176
They Want to Kill an Alderman Because of the Request He Made of Them	p. 177
The Insurgents Allow the Indians to Eat Human Flesh	p. 179
They Write to Your Majesty and Send on Their Account	p. 181
The Governor Is Poisoned Three Times with Arsenic While He Is on the Road	p. 184
Postscript: The Account of Hernando de Ribera Made Before Pedro Hernandez, Notary Public, on March 3 of the Year 1545	p. 188
Appendix:Original Preliminary Remarks (the Prohemio) by Cabeza de Vaca	p. 196
Illustrations Follow Page	p. 200
Notes	p. 211
Suggestions for Further Reading	p. 229
Index	p. 233
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