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 103

We arrived in Mexico City on a Sunday, one day before the eve of St. James' day. There the Viceroy' and the Marqués del Valle treated us very well and welcomed us very graciously. They gave us clothing and offered us everything they had. On St. James' day there were festivities with tournaments and bullfights. CHAPTER THIRTY-SEVEN What Happened When I Wanted to Leave After we rested in Mexico City for two months, I wanted to return to these kingdoms. As the ship was about to set sail in October, a storm came and grounded the ship, and it was lost. Seeing this, I decided to wait until winter was over, since it is a season of rough weather for sailing. During Lent, when winter had passed, Andrés Dorantes and I left Mexico City for Veracruz to board our ship. We waited there until Palm Sunday, when we boarded. We remained on board more than two weeks waiting for the wind. The ship we were on was taking on a great deal of water. I left it and went to others that were about to sail, but Dorantes remained aboard that ship. On the tenth of April three ships sailed out of the port, and we traveled together for 150 leagues. On the way, two ships were taking on a lot of water. One night we got lost from this convoy because their pilots and sailing masters, as it later seemed, did not dare continue onward with their ships and returned to the port from which they had sailed. We did not notice this or have any more news of them and continued our voyage. On the fourth of May we arrived in the port of Havana, which is on the island of Cuba, where we waited for the two other ships until the second of June, thinking they would come. Then we left there, greatly fearing

Texas State University