La Relación - page 8
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La Relación - page 8
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in some trees. Ten leagues from there we found the bodies of two persons from my ship, and certain box covers, and the bodies were so disfigured from having struck the rocks that they could not be recognized. A cloak and a quilt torn to shreds were also found, but nothing else appeared.
Sixty people and twenty horses perished on the ships. Those who had gone ashore the day the ships arrived, who must have numbered up to thirty, were the sole survivors of those who had come on both vessels. Thus, we endured several days with great hardship and need, for the provisions and sustenance that were in the town were lost, along with some livestock. It was pitiful to see the condition the land was left in, with fallen trees, the woods stripped bare, all without leaves or grass.
We stayed there until the fifth of November, when the Governor arrived with his four ships, which also had weathered the great storm but had survived because they had found safe harbor in time. The people he brought in them and those he found there were so terrified of what had happened that they feared setting sail again in winter, and they pleaded with the governor to spend the season there. And he acceded to their wishes and those of the residents and wintered there. He put me in charge of the ships and the people, so that I could go with them to spend the winter in the port of Xagua, twelve leagues away, where I remained until the twentieth day of the month of February.
CHAPTER TWO
How the Govemor Came to the Port of Xagua and Brought a Pilot with Him
At this time the Governor arrived with a brigantine he had purchased in Trinidad, bringing along a pilot named Miruelo. He had taken him because he said that he knew, and had been at, the River of Palms and that he was a very good pilot of the entire north coast.
He also left on the coast of Havana another ship which he had purchased,
Sixty people and twenty horses perished on the ships. Those who had gone ashore the day the ships arrived, who must have numbered up to thirty, were the sole survivors of those who had come on both vessels. Thus, we endured several days with great hardship and need, for the provisions and sustenance that were in the town were lost, along with some livestock. It was pitiful to see the condition the land was left in, with fallen trees, the woods stripped bare, all without leaves or grass.
We stayed there until the fifth of November, when the Governor arrived with his four ships, which also had weathered the great storm but had survived because they had found safe harbor in time. The people he brought in them and those he found there were so terrified of what had happened that they feared setting sail again in winter, and they pleaded with the governor to spend the season there. And he acceded to their wishes and those of the residents and wintered there. He put me in charge of the ships and the people, so that I could go with them to spend the winter in the port of Xagua, twelve leagues away, where I remained until the twentieth day of the month of February.
CHAPTER TWO
How the Govemor Came to the Port of Xagua and Brought a Pilot with Him
At this time the Governor arrived with a brigantine he had purchased in Trinidad, bringing along a pilot named Miruelo. He had taken him because he said that he knew, and had been at, the River of Palms and that he was a very good pilot of the entire north coast.
He also left on the coast of Havana another ship which he had purchased,
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“La Relación - page 8,” Cabeza de Vaca, accessed October 6, 2024, https://exhibits.library.txstate.edu/cabeza/items/show/25.