Chronicle of the Narvaez Expedition

“I replied that it seemed to me in no way advisable to leave the ships until they were in a safe, occupied port. I told them to consider that the pilots were at a loss, disagreeing among themselves and undivided as to what course to pursue.” 

Cabeza de Vaca did not want the inland expedition to separate from the ships unless they knew for a fact that they would be able to return to those ships. It is unclear why Narváez did not follow this wise advice; possibly, Cabeza de Vaca simply invented this scene to show himself as a capable leader. Thus, the passage is an example of ambiguity in Cabeza de Vaca’s chronicle, straddling the line between nonfiction and fiction.

“Under these circumstances, I would much rather risk my life than my good name.” 

Cabeza de Vaca records that Narváez asked him to remain with the ships because only Cabeza de Vaca was up to the task. However, if this were true, then Narváez would have ordered Cabeza de Vaca to stay with the ships. Most likely he was asked to stay as an accusation of cowardice. Cabeza de Vaca’s dramatic refusal highlights the importance of personal honor for conquistadores.

“Besides suffering great fatigues and hunger, the backs of many among us were covered with wounds from the weight of the armor and other things they had to carry, as occasion required.”

Since the inhabitants of Florida did little to no farming, the area was nearly unimpacted by human development, making it extremely difficult to traverse. Additionally, the conquistadores had to carry all their provisions with them without pack animals or wagons—on top of conquistador armor, which could weigh around 60 lbs. Cabeza de Vaca subtly reminds his readers of the great feat of strength and endurance he and the others underwent. 

“He answered that this was no time for orders; that each one should do the best he could to save himself, which is what he intended to do, and with this he went on with his craft.”

Narváez’s last words to Cabeza de Vaca before their boats became separated highlight the direness of the situation—the leader of the expedition told his second-in-command that it is every man for himself. By including this, Cabeza de Vaca indirectly condemns Narváez for failing to lead. It also supports the image Cabeza de Vaca wants to convey of himself as the better leader who keeps a cool head under pressure and is loyal to his commanding officer.

“The rest of us, as naked as we had been born, had lost everything, and while it was not very valuable, to us it meant a great deal.”

The four boats the expedition constructed could only take them so far. Two were lost, and the other two wrecked on the coast. Afterwards, the men had no weapons or armor, and even lost their clothes. Cabeza de Vaca shows how low the expedition has fallen—their new condition makes them lower than the Indigenous people, who know how to survive. The would-be conquerors must now depend on those they sought to conquer.

“Upon seeing the disaster we had suffered, our misery and misfortune, the Indians sat down with us and began to weep out of compassion for our misfortune. For more than half an hour they wept so loudly and so sincerely that it could be heard far away.”

Indigenous people’s sympathy about the plight of the Europeans contradicts many preconceived notions the Europeans held about the Indigenous people, whom they mostly saw as barbarous, warmongering, and cannibalistic. This description illustrates a great sense of humanity not previously recorded by Europeans in the Americas.

“For us, however, there was no pleasure, feast, or sleep, since we expected to be sacrificed. In the morning they again gave us fish and roots, and treated us so well that we were reassured, losing to some extent our apprehension of being sacrificed.” 

Despite the warm reception Cabeza de Vaca and the others received at the hands of the Indigenous people, their fear of human sacrifice and cannibalism is so great that they do not take the sympathy shown them seriously. When they finally do so, Cabeza de Vaca’s opinions of Indigenous people have been greatly changed, opening him up to the possibility of living among Indigenous peoples.

“Then the Indians fell sick from a stomach ailment so that half of them died as well. They believed that we had killed them, and were, in fact, certain of it, so they agreed among themselves to kill those of us who had survived.” 

It is very telling that although most of the Indigenous people blame the foreigners for the illness and want to kill them, one Indigenous man could reason the group out of their murderous intentions. This highlights the civility and intellectual abilities of Indigenous people in contrast to European stereotypes. Of course, based on modern knowledge of the decimating effects of European illnesses on Indigenous populations, this illness was indeed most likely caused by the Europeans.

“Thanks to his will and the mercy he had upon us, as soon as we made the cross over them, all those for whom we prayed told the others they were cured and felt well again.”

This passage marks the beginning of Cabeza de Vaca’s turn to faith healing. Up to this point, the chronicle has been about conquest and its failure. However, here the chronicle shifts to begin a story of spiritual conversion and missionary work.

“Figeroa gave this account by following Esquivel’s narrative, and thus, from one to the other, it came down to me.”

Cabeza de Vaca relates a story he heard from others, who also heard it from someone else. The third-hand nature of this account, as well as Cabeza de Vaca’s temporal distance from the events, adds to the sense that this chronicle is often nonfactual. The now-lost initial joint account written by Cabeza de Vaca, Dorantes, and Castillo when they arrived in Mexico most likely contained the truest account of what transpired. This second edition of Cabeza de Vaca’s solo chronicle was written nearly two decades after he returned to Spain.

“They soon offered us many prickly pears, because they had heard of us and how we cured people and the marvels our Lord worked through us.”

As Cabeza de Vaca and his companions (Dorantes, Castillo, and Estevanico) became committed missionaries, the chronicle takes on a messianic tone, alluding to biblical miracles.

“We all prayed to him as well as we could to restore them to health and he, seeing there was no other way of getting those people to help us so that we might be saved from our miserable existence, had mercy on us.” 

Cabeza de Vaca’s stories of miraculous faith healing are hard for modern readers to believe. Still, we can appreciate the doubts, worries, and fear that the men must have felt should their healing powers not work—it is no small task to use only prayer to address five cases of paralysis. However, nowhere does Cabeza de Vaca record doubting God—his faith is never shaken.

“For myself I may say that I always had full faith in his mercy and that he would liberate me from captivity, and I always told my companions so.”

Cabeza de Vaca argues that his faith in God was exceptionally strong, attributing his healing abilities to this deeply held belief. It is of course possible that he had doubts but didn’t record them. This way, he appears to have the strongest psyche of the expedition.

“I was the most daring and reckless of all in undertaking cures. We never treated anyone that did not afterward say he was well, and they had such confidence in our skill that they believed that none of them would die as long as we were among them.” 

Cabeza de Vaca claims that he was ready to heal anyone and everyone. Again, the chronicle takes on a zealous tone, as Cabeza de Vaca almost places himself on par with the earliest saints of the Catholic Church and their miracles.

“During this time others came from further on. When they were about to leave we told the first ones that we intended to accompany the others. This made them very sad and on their knees they begged us not to go.” 

Despite the improvement in their situation and the many miraculous feats they perform, Cabeza de Vaca and the others do not wish to remain with the Indigenous people indefinitely. They want to return home to Spain, or at least to Spanish settlements. The Indigenous people can never persuade them to remain. They always move on as soon as possible.

“They are all warlike and are so astute in guarding themselves from an enemy that it seems as if they had trained in Italy and in continuous warfare.”

Cabeza de Vaca served as a soldier during the Spanish conquest of Naples, one of many wars fought over territorial claims by European monarchs—in this case, because the Spanish King Carlos V had hereditary claims to much of Europe beyond the Iberian Peninsula. The comparison of Indigenous and Italian warfare in this passage provides another example of Cabeza de Vaca using what he knows to describe unfamiliar things in the Americas and provides the reader with a reminder of the larger historical picture surrounding the Narváez expedition.

“Horses are what the Indians dread most, and the means by which they will be overcome.”

Even though his life transitioned from conquest to missionary work, Cabeza de Vaca never loses sight of his desire to govern a Spanish colony, which requires a display of military skill as well as diplomatic qualification. Here, he aims to sound astute, comparing the shock power of European cavalry with the martial prowess of the Indigenous people. The Spanish goal was to subdue the Indigenous people at any cost; they would fold into the Spanish Empire either peacefully or through force.

“In consolation, the robbers told them that we were children of the sun and had the power to cure the sick or kill them. They told other lies, even bigger ones than those they invent to suit their own purposes.”

While Cabeza de Vaca praises the Indigenous people’s ready belief in the healing powers of the Christian god, he condemns of many of their customs. He abhors what he sees as theft—the custom of taking from others with the assumption that they would take from someone else in turn. Later, this behavior stops, as the group moves past the area where this is accepted cultural practice, making it clear that what Cabeza de Vaca sees as stealing is actually a more complex social rite.

“We told the givers to take it back, so they would not lose it, but they refused, saying it was not their custom to take back what they had once offered, so it was left to waste.”

While Cabeza de Vaca attempted to dissuade the Indigenous people from their custom of taking the things of others, he ran into a different Indigenous cultural practice—showering guests with endless gifts and refusing to take them back. Cabeza de Vaca’s befuddlement at what he is experiencing shows that despite his many years among Indigenous people, he had yet to fully understand their culture or beliefs.

“What they do not understand or is new to them they are wont to say comes from above.”

Cabeza de Vaca describes the superstitious nature of Indigenous people completely unaware that his own beliefs could be just as easily seen in the same light. The passage highlights Cabeza de Vaca’s inability to fully empathize with the Indigenous people.

“This astonished us somewhat, while it clearly shows how, in order to bring those people to Christianity and obedience unto Your Imperial Majesty, they should be well treated, and not otherwise.”

Cabeza de Vaca believed in peacefully converting the Indigenous population of the Americas. As the Spanish Empire expanded its territories the Americas, many Spanish learned of the extreme violence and cruelty of the conquistadores. Some, like Bartolomé de las Casas were horrified by the un-Christian behavior of fellow Europeans. Cabeza de Vaca’s chronicle similarly condemns such violence, urging the ruling elite to enact laws to protect Indigenous peoples. This stance also serves as a denial of any mistreatment of Indigenous people under Cabeza de Vaca’s earlier governorship, one of the accusations that lost him the position.

“In short, they recalled all our deeds, and praised them highly, contrasting them with the conduct of the others.”

Cabeza de Vaca claims that Indigenous people followed his opinions and commands because he and his companions treated the Indigenous people humanely, unlike the other Europeans in the area who killed and enslaved them. Cabeza de Vaca argues that the best way of dealing with Indigenous peoples is through amicable diplomacy.

“We went on with the idea of ensuring the Indians’ freedom, but just when we believed we had achieved this, the opposite took place.”

This passage summarizes the history of European and Native American interactions: After promising peace and prosperity, colonizers brought the sword. Indigenous peoples were also caught in European infighting and other conflicts.