Chapter THE FIFTH: How the governor hastened his journey

HAVING listened to the statement of those nine Christians, the governor thought that, in order to succour as speedily as possible the Spaniards residing in the town of the Ascension, as well as those in the port of Buenos Ayres, he would discover a road by _terra firma_ from the island, and so make his way to those parts already mentioned where the Christians were, and that he would send the vessels round by sea to Buenos Ayres. He therefore, against the will and opinion of the accountant Philip de Caceres, and of the pilot Antonio Lopez, who advised that they should all go together to Buenos Ayres, sent from the island of St. Catalina, Pedro Dorantes (the factor) to explore a road by land into the interior of the country where formerly many vassals of the King of Portugal had been killed by the native Indians. This Pedro Dorantes, by order of the governor, started with one hundred Spaniards, and some Indians who acted as guides; and at the end of three months and a half he returned to the island of St. Catalina, where the governor was awaiting him, and this, among other things, was what he reported: having crossed great sierras, and mountains, and much desert country, he had arrived at a place called "el Campo" (the plain), where the country began to be inhabited, and that the natives of the island had told him that the route he had taken was the safest to enter that country. He had followed a river called the Ytabucú,[306] which is opposite the point of the island at eighteen or twenty leagues from the harbour. When the governor knew of this, he sent immediately to reconnoitre the country watered by this river, through which he decided to make his journey; and having done this, he determined to enter the country by that route, in order to explore a region that had never before been seen, and carry relief, in the shortest possible time, to the Spaniards in that province. Having thus decided upon his plans, he told the friars, Bernardo de Armenta and Alonzo Lebron his companion, to remain in the island of St. Catalina and instruct the native Indians in the Christian doctrine, directing and confirming those already baptized. But these monks declined to obey, assigning as a pretext that they wished to accompany the governor, in order to establish themselves in the town of the Ascension, where the Spaniards were whom he was going to relieve.

[306] Or Itapucu. This river rises in the coast range, and falls into
the ocean south of San Francisco.