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
La Relación - page 6

But having gone half the distance and having reached a port called Cape Santa Cruz, it seemed to him that the fleet should wait there and send a ship to bring the provisions. For this purpose he sent a certain Captain Pantoja there with his ship and to be on the safe side, he ordered me to go with him. And the Governor remained with four ships, since he had bought another vessel on the island of Santo Domingo. When we arrived at the port of Trinidad with these two ships, Captain Pantoja went with Vasco Porcalle into the town, one league away, to obtain the provisions. I remained on board with the pilots who told us that we ought to leave that place as rapidly as possible, for it was a very poor harbor and many ships were lost in it. And because what happened to us there was very noteworthy, it seemed appropriate to the purpose and aim of my account of this journey to tell about it here. The following morning there were bad signs in the weather. It began to rain and the seas were getting so rough that I gave permission for the people on board to go ashore. They nevertheless saw how bad the weather was, and since the town was one league away, many returned to the ship rather than expose themselves to the rain and cold. Meanwhile a canoe came from the town bringing me a letter from a resident urging me to go there, saying that he would give me whatever provisions were available and necessary. I declined his offer, saying that I could not leave the ships. At midday the canoe returned with another letter requesting the same thing with great insistence. A horse for me to ride was brought to the shore. I gave the same answer as before, saying that I could not leave the ships. But the pilots and the people begged me very much to go so that I might hasten the transfer of provisions as much as possible, so that we could leave there, since they greatly feared that the ships would be lost if they remained there for long. For this reason I decided to go to the town. But first I made arrangements with and ordered the pilots

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