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Show 80 LEADING of the island.** ETO Rah FEE . A) , LE a + ) * Cy hi FACTS OF NEW MEXICAN HISTORY A few preparations having been made, these brave hearts started out upon their journey. The weather continued cold and severe, and the Indians not being able to gather any roots or catch any fish, the Spaniards were confronted with starvation. The huts afforded very little protection and many of the Spaniards became ill and died. Five of them were reduced to such extremity that they were obliged to eat the dead bodies of their companions, in order to preserve their own lives.” In a short time only fifteen out of the eighty survivors remained alive. To increase their misery, about this time the Indians were visited by an epidemic of sickness, very fatal in character, and the Spaniards were accused of being the cause of it. This belief made the natives very hostile and they formed a plan to despatch the remaining Spaniards at once. They were prevented from carrying this plot into execution through the efforts of one of their number persuading them that the sickness was not caused by the Spaniards, and as evidence he showed that nearly all of the Spaniards had died of the same disease. The Indians were also much shocked at the cannibalism practiced by the Spaniards and on that account entertained great ill feeling toward them. The island upon which the Spaniards were wrecked, they gave the name of Malhado or Misfortune. Alvar Nuiiez Cabeza de Vaca, in his account *° of the manners and customs THE ISLAND OF MALHADO of the people who inhabited the island, AND ITS INHABITANTS says: ‘“The people on it are tall and well formed; they have no other weapons than bows and arrows with which they are most dextrous. The men have one of their nipples perforated from side to side and sometimes both; through this hole is thrust a reed as long as two and a half hands and as thick as two fingers ; they also have the under lip perforated and a piece of cane in it as thin as half the finger. The women do the hard work. People stay on this island from October till the end of February, feed on the roots I have mentioned, taken from under the water in 74 Herrera, Historia General, says: ‘The island of Cuba.’’ 7 Relacion, Bandelier translation: i j Lo i‘ Diego Sierra, ; ‘‘Their names ar e: Ct: pez, Corral, Palacios and Gonzalo Ruiz. At this the Indians were SO startled, and there : was such an uproar among them, that I veril believe ifi they had i seen ‘ou this at the beginning they would have killed them.’ , Bandelier, Mrs. Fanny, The Journey of Alvar Nufiez Cabeza : ppde Vaca, Fr. Bartolo mé a de lass Casas Casas : |