make arrows, and some tassels made from deer hair, which they dye red. I liked this trade, because it gave me the freedom to go wherever I wanted. I was obligated to nothing and was not a slave. Wherever I went they treated me well and fed me because I was a trader. Most of all I liked it because it gave me the opportunity to search for an escape route. I was well known among them and they rejoiced when they saw me bringing them things that they needed. Those who did not know me desired and strived to see me because of my reputation.

The hardships I endured would make a long story, filled with perils and hunger as well as storms and cold that I endured alone in the wilderness and which I survived through the great mercy of God our Lord. For this reason, I did not carry out my business in winter;" even they stay in their huts on their land, unable to do anything for themselves. I spent almost six years in that land among them, alone and as naked as they. The reason I stayed there so long was that I wanted to take with me a Christian named Lope de Oviedo, who was on the island. His companion, Alániz, who had remained with him when Alonso del Castillo and Andrés Dorantes left with all the others, later died. To get him out of there, I would cross over to the island every year and plead with him for us to leave as best we could in search of Christians. Every year he held me back, saying that we would leave the following year. Finally I got him out of there, taking him across the inlet and four rivers along the coast, since he did not know how to swim. In this way we went ahead with some Indians until we reached an inlet one league wide and deep throughout. As far as we could tell, it was the one called Espíritu Santo. On the other side we saw some Indians who came to see our Indians and told us that farther ahead there were three men like us and gave us their names. When we asked them about the other men,