The Southwestern Historical Quarterly, Volume 22, July 1918 - April, 1919 Page: 237
521 p. : ill. (some col.), ports. ; 23 cm.View a full description of this periodical.
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The First Europeans in Texas, 1528-1536
half from there to another village of seventy or eighty ranchos, at
which they ate tunas in much abundance and there they received
them as in the first village, and they were given twenty-eight
loaves of meal, which is one thing these people there eat, called
,mesquite. . . There they rested that day and the day fol-
lowing, and from there they took them another six leagues for-
ward in this manner to other ranchos, . . . and there went
with them many men and women. . . . They arrived at a
village where the Christians were received as well as in the places
they had passed and even better. . . . Many of these In-
dians were blind, and great numbers were one-eyed from clouds
[cataracts]. They were a people of very good disposition, and
the men and women were of good activity. . . . Near there
were the mountains, and there was one Cordillera of them which
appeared to cross the land straight to the north.
From there they took these Christians forward to a river which
was at the foot of the point of where commented the said moun-
tain. There they had forty or fifty ranchos. . . . All that
night was spent in great games and feasts. . . That night
they sent to call people down toward the sea, and the following
day many men and women came to see these Christians and their
miracles. . . . These labored much to take them toward the
sea, because there they thought to retrieve their losses.
They said they had many people who would give the Christians
many things. But they would not go [toward the sea], but
higher into the interior, because [experience] warned them against
the people of the coast, and also because they had always told
them that they could not escape to the sea or to the sunset; and
they feared to give in and go there when they thought so little
of the idea. For these reasons they wanted to go higher. The
Indians did not hinder them much. They said that there were
no people nor food but very far from there. . . . As they
would not change their proposition . . . the Indians
sent to find people.
A comparison of the two narratives shows that while the main
facts stated are identical, the two accounts give different details.
Thus, while Cabeza de Vaca states that it was from the village
of the blind Indians that they first saw mountains, and Oviedo
first mentions mountains as being near the same place, Cabeza
de Vaca says that these mountains "swept down from the direc-
tion of the North Sea," and that from what the Indians told
them they believed these were fifteen leagues from the ocean,
while Oviedo says that one cordillera appeared to cross the land
"straight to the north." Cabeza de Vaca says that they went237
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Texas State Historical Association. The Southwestern Historical Quarterly, Volume 22, July 1918 - April, 1919, periodical, 1919; Austin, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth117156/m1/251/: accessed April 27, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Texas State Historical Association.