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
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Which Tells When the Fleet Sailed, and of the Officers and People Who Went with It On the seventeenth day of the month of June of 1527, Governor Pánfilo de Narváez departed from the port of San Lúcar de Barrameda by authority and order of Your Majesty to conquer and govern the provinces which lie on the mainland from the River of Palms to Cape Florida . The fleet that he took consisted of five ships in which went six hundred men, more or less. The officers that he took-for they ought to be mentioned-were those named here: Cabeza de Vaca as treasurer and Provost Marshall ; Alonso Enríquez, purser; Alonso de Solís as Your Majesty's Factor, and Inspector; a friar of the Order of St. Francis named Juan Suárez, went as Commissary, along with four other friars of the same order. We arrived at the island of Santo Domingo, where we remained nearly forty-five days provisioning ourselves with necessary supplies, especially horses. Here more than 140 men deserted our fleet, wanting to remain there because of the proposals and promises made to them by the people of that land. From there we departed and sailed to Santiago, a port on the island of Cuba, where during our stay of a few days the Governor supplied himself with men, arms and horses. While there it happened that a gentleman named Vasco Porcalle, resident of the town of Trinidad on the same island, offered the governor certain provisions he had in Trinidad, one hundred leagues from the aforementioned port of Santiago. The governor departed for Trinidad with the entire fleet.

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