Chapter Index

× Proem 1. Which Tells When the Fleet Sailed, and of the Officers and People Who Went with It 2. How the Governor Came to the Port of Xagua and Brought a Pilot with Him 3. How We Arrived in Florida 4. How We Entered the Land 5. How the Governor Left the Ships 6. How We Entered Apalachee 7. What the Land is Like 8. How We Left Aute 9. How We Left the Bay of Horses 10. Of Our Skirmish with the Indians 11. What Happened to Lope de Oviedo with Some Indians 12. How the Indians Brought Us Food 13. How We Found Out about Other Christians 14. How Four Christians Departed 15. What Happened to Us in the Village of Misfortune 16. How Some Christians Left the Isle of Misfortune 17. How the Indians Came and Brought Andrés Dorantes and Castillo and Estebanico 18. How He Told Esquivel's Story 19. How the Indians Left Us 20. How We Escaped 21. How We Cured Some Sick People 22. How They Brought Other Sick People to Us the Following Day 23. How We Left after Having Eaten the Dogs 24. About the Customs of the Indians of That Land 25. How the Indians Are Skilled with a Weapon 26. About the Peoples and Languages 27. How We Moved On and Were Welcomed 28. About Another New Custom 29. How They Stole from One Another 30. How the Custom of Welcoming Us Changed 31. How We Followed the Corn Route 32. How They Gave Us Deer Hearts 33. How We Saw Traces of Christians 34. How I Sent for the Christians 35. How the Mayor Received Us Well the Night We Arrived 36. How We Had Them Build Churches in That Land 37. What Happened When I Wanted to Leave 38. What Happened to the Others Who Went to the Indies
TOC
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that we would encounter Frenchmen, who several days earlier had captured three of our ships. When we arrived at the island of Bermuda, a storm overtook us, of the sort that often overtakes all who pass through there, according to those who frequently sail that area. All night long we feared we were lost. It pleased God for the storm to end in the morning, and we continued our voyage. Twenty-nine days after our departure from Havana, we had sailed 1, 100 leagues, the distance given from there to the settlement of the Azores.

The following day, passing the island named Corvo, we met a French ship. At noon she began to pursue us, hauling with her a caravel she had captured from the Portuguese, and gave us chase. That afternoon we saw another nine sails, but they were so far away that we were unable to tell if they were Portuguese or if they belonged with those who were pursuing us.

At nightfall the French vessel was a cannon-shot away from our ship. After dark we took another course to elude her. Since she was so close to us, they saw us and fired towards us; this happened three or four times. They could have captured us had they wanted to, but they were leaving it for morning. It pleased God that in the morning the French ship and ours were close together and surrounded by the nine sails I said I had seen the previous afternoon. We recognized that they were from the Portuguese navy, and I thanked God for having been able to escape hardships on land and dangers on the sea. Once she realized that it was the Portuguese navy, the French vessel released the caravel she had captured, which had a cargo of blacks. The French ship had taken the Portuguese caravel along so that we would think that they were Portuguese and wait for them. When the French released the Portuguese vessel, they told her sailing master and pilot that we were French and part of their convoy. When they said this they put out sixty oars and fled by oar and by sail so swiftly it was unbelievable. The caravel that she released went to the galleon and told the captain that our ship and the other one were French. When our ship