La Relación - page 96

La Relación - page 96

although this was not necessary since they always took care to bring us everything they could. We sent messengers to call them, and six hundred people came, bringing all the corn they had in pots sealed with clay, in which they had buried it to hide it. They also brought us everything else they had. We took only the food and gave the rest to the Christians to divide among themselves.

After this we had many great quarrels with the Christians because they wanted to enslave the Indians we had brought with us. We were so angry that when we departed we left many Turkish-style bows that we were carrying, as well as many pouches and arrows, among them the five with the emeralds, which we lost because we forgot about them. We gave the Christians many buffalo-hide blankets and other things we had. We had great difficulty in persuading the Indians to return to their homes, to feel secure and to plant com. They wanted only to accompany us until they handed us over to other Indians, as was their custom. They feared that if they returned without doing this they would die, but they did not fear the Christians or their lances when they were with us. The Christians did not like this and had their interpreter tell them that we were the same kind of people they were, who had gotten lost a long time before, and that we were people of little luck and valor. They said that they were the lords of that land, and that the Indians should obey and serve them, but the Indians believed very little or nothing of what they were saying. Speaking among themselves, they said instead that the Christians were lying, because we had come from the East and they had come from the West; that we healed the sick and they killed the healthy; that we were naked and barefooted and they were dressed and on horseback, with lances; that we coveted nothing but instead gave away everything that was given to us and kept none of it,

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