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Show 86 LEADING FACTS OF NEW MEXICAN THE HISTORY These Indians were the neighboring tribe, called From Dorantes, Alvar of two more of the boats Mariames. Castillo was with another and the Iguaces. Nuiiez Cabeza de Vaca learned of the fate which had sailed from the Bay of Horses. Dorantes had learned this from the sole CABEZA DE VACA LEARNS OF survivor ** of the party of four which THE FATE OF NARVAEZ AND had first left the island of Malhado HIS COMPANIONS seeking Panuco, and who had ultimately returned to the coast where he was accustomed to live. He had received his information from another Christian who was a captive among the Quevenes, where Figueroa found him.* According to the story, Narvdez, after the parting of his boat and that of Cabeza de Vaca, had come upon the comptroller and Fr. Xuares, with the friars and the crew of the second boat, which had been upset at the confluence of the rivers.*4 The governor landed his own crew and sailed along the coast, while the remainder of his own men and those of the second boat followed along shore until they came to a bay, across which Narvaez carried those on shore in his own boat. The governor remained on board, and, during the night, a heavy gale from the north drove him and those with him out to sea. They had neither food nor water aboard and were never heard of again.®® Those who had been left on the shore marched along the coast, feeding upon oysters and shell-fish, and soon became utterly ex- hausted and one by one died of hunger and cold. those who died were eaten 8¢ by the famished The bodies of survivors. Finally 82 Figueroa. 88 Hernando de Esquivel, a native of Bajadé6z, who had come in company with the commissary. 84 The delta of the Mississippi river. a ~~ Bandelier, Mrs. Fanny, The J ourney of Alvar Nufiez Cabeza de Vaca, p. 84: hie €@ governor did not land that night, but remained on his barge with : : page who was sick. They had neither water nor anything to aeatpilot on es and at midnight a northerner set in with such violence that it carried ; arge out Into the sea, without anybody noticing it. They had for anchor on iy Stone, and never more did they hear of him.’? ar eae co FP .W., The Spanish Explorers in the Southern United States: ‘‘The § dried the flesh of fae died; and the last that died was Soto-Mayor, : ©, 1s Hesh, and, feeding on it, sustained existence until of those i when an Indian took Esquivel with him. While that had fled, he was coming to see if they in the possession of the FIRST SPANISH EXPLORERS 87 all but one met a similar fate and he was pursued by Indians and killed. Dorantes declared that of his own twelve companions four had been drowned, two lost in their journeyings, and three had been killed by the savages. The boat’s crew commanded by Tellez and Penalosa met with death at the hands of the barbarians. The members of the crew came on shore and being too exhausted to offer any resistance were all slain. So, at the time of the meeting of Dorantes and Cabeza de Vaca, there remained only ten of the original expedition of more than four hundred persons, and of these but five were destined ever to meet again with Europeans. Meanwhile the survivors with great anxiety were awaiting the time when they could escape from the savages who held them as slaves. The Mariames and Yguazes *’ passed their lives between alternate conditions of plenty and starvation. They were not an agricultural people. They had many very peculiar customs, all of which are graphically described by Cabeza de Vaca in his narrative. They destroyed their daughters at birth and also permitted the dogs to devour them, as they were afraid their enemies might raise children from them and thus acquire strength and power suf‘ficient to reduce them to slavery. The men bought their wives of their enemies, the price being a bow and two arrows. They lived in the married state at the will of the parties, separations occurring for the slightest cause. The men were not good hunters, although occasionally they hunted the deer, following the animal on foot all day until it was run down, or killing it by encircling it with fire. They were a merry and cheerful people, and even though they had nothing to eat, never failed to observe their festivities and ceremonials. They seemed to be happiest when gathering the prickly pear. During this time, they danced both day and night. native, Figueroa saw him, and learned all that had been related. He besought Esquivel to come with him, that together they might pursue the way to Panuco; to which Esquivel would not consent, saying that he had understood from the friars that Panuco had been left behind.’’ _ %* During the time the companions of Dorantes were with the Indians, held In slavery, they were very badly treated, and the Indians, among other things, amused themselves in pulling out their beards. They killed three out of the SIx without any cause, except that they went from one house to another. Dorantes, fearing he would meet the same fate, made his escape to the Mariames, the people among whom Esquivel tarried. These people informed Dorantes how they had put Esquivel to death, because he tried to run away on account of a woman dreaming Showed him that her son would kill him, and to prove their story, they ‘‘his sword, beads, and book, with other things that had been his. |