Chapter III: Introduction (2)

But afterwards our chief captain, Petrus Manchossa, being at a distance of eight to nine miles from us, and having commanded us to make sail, we having on board our ship our captain's cousin, Jörg Manchossa,[22] who had fallen in love with the daughter of a burgher of Palma, and inasmuch as we were going to leave on the following day, the said Jörg Manchossa went ashore that very night, at twelve o'clock, with twelve of his good companions, and brought secretly with them, out of the island Palma, the said burgher's daughter and her maid-servant, with all their clothes and jewels, and money also, and came aboard again, but secretly, to the intent that neither our captain, nor the aforesaid agent, nor anybody else on the ship might know aught about it; only the watch saw them, for it was about midnight. And as we were intending to depart from there in the morning, and were only about two or three miles away, a mighty wind sprang up, so that we needs must turn back to the same harbour, where we were lying before. When we there cast anchor, our captain, the aforesaid Heinrich Paine, would go aland in a small vessel, which is called pat or podell (_bote_). And as he went, and was about to land, there were awaiting him more than thirty men, armed with arquebuses, spears, and halberds with the intention of taking him, the said Heinrich Paine. At the same time one of his crew besought him not to land, but to return to the ship, which advice the captain would have gladly followed, but that he could not, seeing that the men on land had come too near to him in another little ship, which they had in readiness; however, he escaped at length in another ship which was near the land. When the armed men saw that the others did not fire upon, nor could take the captain Heinrich Paine, they caused the town of Palma to sound the alarm, swiftly loaded two great guns, and fired four shots at our ship (which lay not far off from the land). With the first shot they breached our earthen pot, which was on the poop and full of fresh water, whereby five or six pails of water were lost. Secondly, they shot in pieces also the mizzen, that is, the hindmost mast nearest the stern. Thirdly, they shot in the waist of the ship a big hole whereby a man was struck and killed. But with the fourth shot they missed us.

[22] Jorge de Mendoza. No known document mentions this Jorge de
Mendoza, nor the rape alluded to by Schmidt. It is not likely that a
relative of the chief of the expedition should have been on board a
Flemish ship which was not under his immediate command.

There was also another captain, whose ship was lying by our side, and who intended to sail for Nova Hispania, in Mechseckheim[23]; he was on shore with one hundred and fifty men, who, when he knew of our quarrel, made peace between us and those of the town, on condition that Jörg Manchossa[24] and the burgher's daughter and her maid-servant should certainly be delivered into their hands.

[23] Mexico.

[24] Jorge de Mendoza.

Then the stadthalter, and the judge, our captain, and the captain spoken of above, came aboard our ship, intending to make prisoners Jörg Manchossa and his paramour.[25] Thereupon he answered them that she was his wife, and she did not show herself in another light and they soon got married; the father, however, was very sorry and anxious, and our ship was through them badly treated by the firing at it. After all this, we left Jörg Manchossa and his wife ashore, for our captain would not have them any longer on board his ship.

[25] In orig.: "Bulschafft," lit. love intrigue.

Now we again made ready our ship, and sailed to an island or land, the name whereof is S. Jacob, or, in Spanish, Sancte Augo (Santiago); there is a town belonging to the King of Portugal; the Portuguese entertain that town, and the Blackamoors are their subjects: this town is at a distance of three hundred miles from the said Island Palman, from which we sailed.[26] We remained there five days, and again furnished our ship with new and fresh victual, as bread, meat, water, and all that necessity demands at sea. The whole fleet, namely, fourteen ships, were now once more together. We then went again to sea and sailed for two whole months, and then arrived at an island wherein there was nothing else than birds, in such quantities that we killed them with sticks. Here we lay three days. This island is entirely uninhabited; it is in length and breadth about six miles either way, and is distant from the above-mentioned island, _S. Augo_, whence we sailed, fifteen hundred miles. In this sea there are flying-fishes and other marvellous great fishes of the balena kind, and great fishes called _schaubhut_, for that they wear on their heads a large trencher, with which they may become dangerous in fighting with other fishes; it is a wondrous great and evil fish. There are also other fishes which have on their backs a knife of whalebone, and are called in the Spanish tongue _Peschespate_,[27] and furthermore, other fishes which have on their backs a saw of whalebone, and are also evil fishes; their name is _Peschedeferre_,[28] and also there are several other rare fishes whose form, size, and other features I cannot at this time describe.

[26] All distances given by Schmidt are erroneous, and it is
astonishing that Don Felix de Azara, a geographer, should have written
to the contrary. By the distance given in miles between Palma, one of
the Canary Islands, and St. Iago, one of the Cape Verd Islands, it may
be seen that Schmidt's miles are more properly _Castilian leagues_ of
17½ in a geographical degree, the legal measure of distance in his
time.

[27] Peje-espada, or sword-fish.

[28] Peces-sierras.

Afterwards we sailed from this island to another, named Riogenea,[29] at a distance of five hundred miles from the former, belonging to the King of Portugal; this is the island Riogenea in India, and the Indians are called Toppis.[30] We lay there about fourteen days. There Petrus Manchossa,[31] our chief captain, ordered Hans Ossorig,[32] as his sworn brother, to take the command over us in his stead, forasmuch as he was always melancholy, weak, and ill. But he, Hans Ossorig, very soon was belied and ill-spoken of to Petrus Manchossa, his sworn brother, even as though he had in his mind to cause a mutiny among the people against Petrus Manchossa, the chief captain. Thereupon he, Petrus Manchossa, ordered four other captains, named Johann Eyollas, Johan Salleisser, Jörg Luchsam,[33] and Lazarum Salvaischo,[34] that the aforesaid Johan Ossorig should be killed with a dagger or otherwise put to death, and should be exposed in the midst of the place as a traitor; and besides he ordered and proclaimed to the effect that no one should dare to pity Ossorig, for that he himself, whoever he might be, would meet with no better fate. Yet Ossorig was treated wrongly, God Almighty knows it, and may He be merciful to him, for he was a pious, fair-dealing, and valiant warrior, and kept well all the warriors.

[29] The discoverers were Spaniards, and this is proved by the name
_Rio de Henero_, as the word _Enero_ was spelt in the sixteenth
century. The _h_ was at the time aspirated (especially by the natives
of Andalusia), and hence the name became corrupted into _Jenero_,
changed afterwards into _Janeiro_ by the Portuguese.

[30] Tupys.

[31] Don Pedro de Mendoza.

[32] Juan Osorio.

[33] Juan de Ayolas, Juan Salazar, and Jorge Lujan.

[34] If this name is rightly spelt, it may be one of the Flemish
who took part in the expedition. In Barcia's Spanish translation,
Salvaischo is interpreted as Salazar; but there is no mention in any
document of a Lazaro Salazar.

From there we sailed to Riodellaplata, and came into a river[35] called Paranau Wassu,[36] which is in width at its mouth, where one leaves the sea,[37] twenty-four miles. And from Riogenea to this river there is the space of five hundred miles. There we came to a haven, the name whereof is S. Gabriel, and there, in the said river Paranau, we anchored the fourteen ships.

[35] In orig.: "süss fliessend wasser."

[36] Parana Guazú.

[37] Between Cape Santa Maria and Cape San Antonio there are 188
English geographical miles.

As we were constrained to ride at a gunshot's distance from shore with the great ships, our chief captain, Petrus Manchossa[38] ordered to set the people ashore in the small ships, which are for that purpose intended, and are, therefore, called pat or podel.

[38] Don Pedro de Mendoza.

So by the grace of God we arrived at Riodellaplata, Anno 1535, and found there an Indian place inhabited by about two thousand people, named Zechurias,[39] who have nothing to eat but fish and meat. These, on our arrival did leave the place, and fled away with their wives and children, so that we could not find them. This Indian people go quite naked, the women having only their privities covered, from the navel to the knees, with a small piece of cotton cloth.

[39] Charúas.

Now the captain, Petrus Manchossa, commanded to bring the people into the ships again, and to convey them to the other side of the Paranau, where it is not broader than eight miles.[40]

[40] From the Island of San Gabriel to the place where Buenos Ayres
was founded there are 29 English miles.

There we built a new town and called it _Bonas Aeieres_, that is, in German, _Guter Wind_.

We also brought from Hispania on board the fourteen ships seventy-two horses and mares.

Here, also, we found a place inhabited by Indian folk, named Carendies,[41] numbering about three thousand people, including wives and children, and they were clothed in the same way as the Zechurias, from the navel to the knees. They brought us fish and meat to eat. These Carendies have no houses, but wander about, as do the Gipsies with us at home, and in summer they oftentimes travel upwards of thirty miles on dry land without finding a single drop of water to drink.

[41] Quirandis.

And when they meet with deer or other wild beasts, (when they have killed them) they drink their blood. Also if they find a root, called Cardes,[42] they eat it to slack their thirst. This--namely, that they drink blood--only happens because they cannot have any water, and that they might peradventure die of thirst.

[42] Cardo, _i.e._, thistles.

These Carendies brought us daily their provision of fish and meat to our camp, and did so for a fortnight, and they did only fail once to come to us. So our captain, Peter Manchossa,[43] sent to them, the Carendies, a judge, named Johan Pabon, with two foot-soldiers, for they were at a distance of four miles from our camp. When they came near to them, they were all three beaten black and blue, and were then sent back again to our camp. Petrus Manchossa, our captain, hearing of this from the judge's report (who for this cause raised a tumult about it in our camp), sent Diego Manchossa, his own brother, against them with three hundred foot-soldiers and thirty well-armed mounted men, of whom I also was one, straightway charging us to kill or take prisoners all these Indian Carendies and to take possession of their settlement. But when we came near them there were now some four thousand men, for they had assembled all their friends. And when we were about to attack them, they defended themselves in such a way that we had that very day our hands full. They also killed our commander, Diego Manchossa, and six noblemen. Of our foot-soldiers and mounted men over twenty were slain, and on their side about one thousand. Thus did they defend themselves valiantly against us, so that indeed we felt it.

[43] Don Pedro de Mendoza.

The said Carendies[44] use for their defence hand-bows and tardes[45] which are made in the shape of half-pikes, and the head of them is made out of flint-stone, like a flash; they have also bullets made out of stone with a long piece of string attached to them, of the size of our leaden bullets at home in Germany.

[44] Quirandis.

[45] Darts.

They throw such bullets round the feet of a horse or a deer, causing it to fall; it is also with these bullets that they killed our commander and the noblemen, as I have seen it done myself, but the foot-soldiers were killed by the aforesaid tardes.

Thus God Almighty graciously gave us the victory, and allowed us to take possession of their place; but we did not take prisoner any of the Indians, and their wives and children also fled away from the place before we attacked them.[46] At this place of theirs we found nothing but furrier-work made from marten or so-called otter; also much fish, fish meal, and fish fat. There we remained three days and then returned to our camp, leaving on the spot one hundred of our men, in order that they might fish with the Indians' nets for the providing of our folk, because there was there very good fishing.

[46] This fight with the Quirandis took place at a few miles' distance
from Buenos Ayres, on the banks of the river which since then is
called _de la Matanza_.

Every one received only six half-ounces of wheaten flour a day, and one fish every third day. The fishing lasted for two months, and if one would eat a fish over and above one's allowance, one had to go four miles for it.

And when we returned again to our camp, our folk were divided into those who were to be soldiers, and the others workers, so as to have all of them employed. And a town was built there, and an earthern wall, half a pike high, around it, and inside of it a strong house for our chief captain. The town wall was three foot broad, but that which was built to-day fell to pieces the day after, for the people had nothing to eat, and were starved with hunger, so that they suffered great poverty, and it became so bad that the horses could not go. Yea, finally, there was such want and misery for hunger's sake, that there were neither rats, nor mice, nor snakes to still the great dreadful hunger and unspeakable poverty, and shoes and leather were resorted to for eating and everything else.

It happened that three Spaniards stole a horse, and ate it secretly, but when it was known, they were imprisoned and interrogated under the torture. Whereupon, as soon as they admitted their guilt, they were sentenced to death by the gallows, and all three were hanged.

Immediately afterwards, at night, three other Spaniards came to the gallows to the three hanging men, and hacked off their thighs and pieces of their flesh, and took them home to still their hunger.

A Spaniard also ate his brother, who died in the city of Bonas Aeieres.[47]

[47] All this is exaggerated and incredible, though accepted as true
by the pseudo-poet, Barco Centenera, in his _Argentina_ poem.

Now our chief captain, Petrus Manchossa,[48] saw that he could not any longer keep his men there, so he ordered and took counsel with his head men that four little ships (called Parchkadienes[49]) should be made ready, which must he rowed, and three more yet smaller ones, which are called podell or patt.

[48] Pedro de Mendoza.

[49] Brigantines.

And when these seven little vessels were ready and equipped, our chief captain ordered all the people to assemble, and sent George Lauchstein[50] with three hundred and fifty armed men up the river Paranau in order to find out the Indians and so obtain victual and provisions. But as soon as the Indians were aware of us, they wrought us the most abominable piece of knavery, by burning and destroying all their victual and provisions and their villages, and then all took to flight; in consequence whereof we had nothing to eat but three ounces of bread a day. One half of our people died during this voyage through hunger, therefore we had to return again to the said place, where was our chief captain.

[50] George Lujan.

Petrus Manchossa desired to have a relation from George Lauchstein, our commander, as to the circumstances of our voyage, why so few of them had returned, since they had only been absent for five months. To whom our commander answered thus: the people died for hunger, since the Indians burnt all the provisions, and then took to flight, as has been related before.

After all this we remained still another month together in great poverty in the town of Bonas Aeieres, until the ships were prepared.

At this time the Indians came in great power and force, as many as twenty-three thousand men, against us and our town Bonas Aeieres. There were four nations of them, namely, Carendies, Zechurias, Zechuas, and Diembus.[51] They all meant to go about to destroy us all. But God Almighty preserved the greater part of us, therefore praise and thanks be to Him always and everlastingly, for on our side not more than about thirty men, including commanders and ensign, were slain.

[51] Quirandis, Charúas, and Timbus.

And when they first came to our town, Bonas Aeieres, and attacked us, some of them tried to storm the place, others shot fiery arrows at our houses, which, being covered with straw (only the house of our chief captain, covered with tiles, excepted), were set on fire, and so the whole town was burnt down. Their arrows are made out of cane, and carry fire on their points.

They have also a kind of wood, out of which they also make arrows, which, being lighted and shot off, do not extinguish, but also set fire to all houses made out of straw.

Moreover they burnt down four great ships which were half-a-mile distant from us on the river. The people who were there, and who had no guns, hearing such great tumult of the Indians, fled out of these four ships into three others which were not far from these, and did contain cannon.

But seeing the four ships burning that were lighted by the Indians, the Christians set themselves on defence and fired at the Indians, who becoming aware of this, and hearing the firing, soon departed from thence and left the Christians alone. All this happened on St. John's Day, Anno 1535.

All this having thus happened, our people had to return into the ships again, and Petrus Manchossa,[52] our chief captain, gave the command to Johann Eyollas,[53] and put him in his place to be our commander and rule us. But when Eyollas mustered the people, he found no more than five hundred and sixty men who were yet alive, out of two thousand five hundred, the others being dead and having been starved for hunger. God Almighty be gracious and merciful to them and to us. Amen.

[52] Don Pedro de Mendoza.

[53] Juan de Ayolas.

Johann Eyollas, our commander, now ordered eight small ships, Parchkadienes and Podells, to be made ready, and took with him on these ships four hundred men out of the five hundred and sixty, leaving the others, namely, one hundred and sixty men, in the four great ships to guard them, and he gave them a commander, named Johann Romero, and left them victual for one year, so that each soldier might have four ounces of bread or flour daily; he who wanted more was at liberty to find it.

When all this had been done and arranged as here described, Johann Eyollas[53] and the four hundred men sailed with the Parchkadienes and the Podells[54] up the river Paranau, and Petrus Manchossa,[52] our chief captain, sailed with us, and in two months' time we reached the Indians, at a distance of eighty-four miles. These people are called Tyembus[55]; they wear on either nostril a small star, made out of white and blue stones. The men are tall of stature and erect, but the women, on the contrary, young and old, are very deformed, having all the lower part of their faces scratched, and always bloody. These people have nothing else to eat, and have all their lives through lived upon nothing else but fish and meat. They are reckoned to be fifteen thousand strong, or more. And when we came to about four miles' distance from this people they took notice of us, and came to meet us in sign of peace, with over four hundred canoes, in each of which were sixteen men.

[54] Brigantines and boats.

[55] Timbus.

Such a skiff is made out of a single tree, eighty feet long and three feet wide, and must be rowed as the fishermen's boats in Germany, only that the oars are not bound with iron.

When we met them on the water, our commander, Johann Eyollas, presented the chief of the Tyembus Indians, Zchera Wassu,[56] with a shirt, a red cap, a hatchet, and several other things. After this, Zchera Wassu went with us to their place, and gave us there fish and meat in abundance.

[56] Chera Guazú.

But if this said journey of ours had lasted ten more days, we would all have died of hunger, for even without that, fifty men out of four hundred who came in the ships had already died on this journey. But in this danger God mercifully helped us, be He praised and thanked for it.

In this said place we abode four years, but our chief captain, Petrus Manchossa,[57] who was full of infirmities, and was unable to move his hands or his feet, and who had spent during this voyage forty thousand ducats of his own in cash, could not remain any longer with us, and he sailed off in two small Parchkadienes to Bonas Aeieres to the four great ships, and took two of them with fifty men and sailed for Hispania. But when he was come nearly half-way, the hand of the Almighty so smote him that he died miserably. May God be merciful to him!

[57] Pedro de Mendoza.

But before his departure he had promised us to send two other ships to Riodellaplata, as soon as he himself or the ships should arrive in Spain, and this was faithfully laid down in his will. Accordingly, when the two ships arrived in Spain, and the councillors of His Imperial Majesty were informed of this, they speedily, in the name of His Majesty, sent two ships with people, provisions, and merchandise, and all necessaries, to Riodellaplata.

The commander of these two ships was called Alvanzo Gabrero,[58] who brought with him also about two hundred Spaniards and provisions for two years. He arrived at Bonas Aeieres (where the two other ships had been left) in the year 1539, with one hundred and sixty men.

[58] Alonso Cabrera.

The said commander, Alvanzo Gabrero, having come to the island Thiembus, to our chief, Johann Eyollas,[59] they ordered a ship to be sent to Spain, according to the will and order of the councillors of His Imperial Majesty, in order to report to them how all things were situated there in that country.

[59] Juan de Ayolas.

Then Johann Eyollas, our chief captain, held a council with Alvanzo Gabrero and Martin Domingo Eyolla,[60] and some other of his officers, and it was resolved to muster the men. And this being done, it was found that, together with those who had come from Spain, there were five hundred and fifty men. Of these they took four hundred men to themselves, leaving the other one hundred and fifty men at Thiembus, because there were not enough ships. They gave these men a commander, named Carolus Doberim,[61] who had been for some time page of His Imperial Majesty.

[60] Domingo Martinez de Irala.

[61] Carlos Dubrin.

After this had been resolved, they sailed with these four hundred men in eight small Parchkadienes up the river Paranau, in order to seek out another river, called Parabor,[62] where the Carios live, who have Turkish corn and a root named Mandeochade,[63] and other roots such as padades[64] and mandeoch parpie, mandioch mandapore, etc. The root padades resembles an apple, and has the same taste. Mandeoch parpie have the taste of chestnuts. Wine is made from mandepore,[65] and the Indians drink it. These Carios have fish and meat and great sheep, as big as mules. They also have wild boar, ostriches, and other wild beasts; also very many hens and geese.

[62] Paraguai.

[63] Manioc.

[64] Yams, or sweet potatoes.

[65] Mandioca or algarroba.

So then departing from the haven of Bonesperanso[66] with the said eight Parchkadienes vessels, we reached the first day, after a voyage of four miles, a nation called Curanda,[67] who abstain from fish and meat, and number over twelve thousand men, all of whom are fit for war. These people resemble the Thiembus spoken of before; they have little stones on their noses, and the men are tall, but the women are hideous; young as well as old have their faces scratched and always bloody. They are clothed like the Thiembus, from the navel to the knee with a small cotton cloth, as was described before. These Indians have great plenty of otter skins; also many canoes or skiffs. They liberally parted with us their fish, meat, and skins. We gave them in exchange glasses, paternosters, looking-glasses, combs, knives, and fish-hooks. We remained there two days, and then they gave us two Carios who were their captives, to show us the way, and help us with the language.

[66] Buena Esperanza, also called Corpus Christi, was the name given
by Don Pedro de Mendoza, says Herrera, to the settlement founded by
him four old Spanish leagues below the abandoned fort of Sebastian
Cabot.

[67] Coronda.

Sailing further we came afterwards to another people called Gulgaises,[68] who number forty thousand men of war and abstain from fish and meat. These have also two little stars on their noses; they are situated thirty miles from the Curandas,[69] and speak the same language as the Thiembus[70] and Curandas. They dwell on a lake six miles long and four miles wide, on the left side of the river Paranau.[71] We stayed four days among them, and these men imparted to us of their poverty and we did the like by them.

[68] Guaicurús.

[69] Quirandis.

[70] Timbús.

[71] Paraná.

From thence we sailed further, and during eighteen days we did not find any people; then we came to a river flowing inland. And there we found a great multitude of people, called Machkuerendas.[72] These eat nothing but fish and a little meat, number over eighteen thousand men of war, and have many canoes or skiffs.

[72] Perhaps _Mocoretás_. But the Indians living in those parts were
the Agazes and Abipones. The Timbus and Corondas were the same folk.

They received us well, after their manner, sharing with us of their poverty; they live on the other side, _i.e._, the right side of the Paranaw, speak a different language from the former, wear also two little stars (stones) on their nose, are tall and of a good proportion; but their women are as hideous as those before spoken of; and they are distant sixty-seven miles from the Gulgaises.[73]

[73] Guaicurús.

After having lived among them for four days, we found on the land a marvellous great and monstrous snake five and twenty foot long, and as thick as a man, black and yellow in colour, which we fired at and killed. The Indians marvelled much at seeing such a snake, for they never before had seen such a large one. This snake, so they told us, had done much harm to them, for when they were bathing this snake was also in the water and it would coil its tail around one of them, taking him under water and devouring him there, so that oftentimes the Indians did not know what had become of him. I myself carefully measured the length and thickness of this snake, which the Indians cut up in pieces and carried home with them, and having boiled and roasted it, did afterwards eat thereof.

From thence we sailed up the river Paranaw for four days' journey, and came to a people called Zchemiaisch Saluaischo,[74] who are small and thick set, and eat nothing but fish and honey. These people, both men and women, young and old, go about absolutely naked as they came into the world, so that they have neither linen nor anything else to cover their privities.

[74] It is impossible even to guess at what the author means by these
words, which are not _Guaraní_.

They make war against the Machkuerendas. The flesh they eat consists of deer, wild swine, ostriches, and rabbits, which resemble rats, but without tails. This people is at a distance of sixteen miles from the Machkuerendas, and we made that journey in four days. We only passed the night among them, for they themselves had nothing to eat. They are just like our highwaymen or street-robbers at home.

They dwell about twenty miles away from the water, to the intent that their enemies might not easily fall upon them. But at this time they had come to the water five days before we did, in order to fish and to provide themselves because they were about to make war against the Machkuerendas. They number two thousand men.

We departed thence and came to a people called Mapennis,[75] who number ten thousand men. These people dwell scattered here and there in that country, extending for the space of forty miles either way. Yet they can all be gathered together either on land or water in two days time. They had more canoes or skiffs than any other people we had seen hitherto, and in one such canoe they can carry as many as twenty persons.

[75] Mepenes.

This people received us on the river in a hostile and war-like manner, with five hundred canoes, but with little profit to themselves from us, for we slew a goodly number of them with our guns, they having never in their lives before seen either a gun or a Christian.

But when we came to their houses, we could prevail nothing against them, seeing that they were a whole mile distant from the river Paranon[76] where our ships lay; and all their villages were surrounded with deep water from the lake, so that we could do them no harm, nor take anything from them, except that we took two hundred and fifty canoes, which we burnt and destroyed. Neither did we dare to go too far from our ships, for we feared that they might attack the ships from another side, therefore we returned. The Mapennis only fight upon the water, and are distant from the Zchemias Saluaischo, from whom we last came, ninety-five miles.

[76] Paraná.

From thence we sailed in eight days to a river called the Parabor[77] which we ascended and found there a numerous people named Kueremagbas,[78] having nothing to eat but fish and meat and St. John's bread,[79] or the herb fenugreek, from which also they make wine.[80] This people was very kind to us, and gave us every thing of which we were in need. They are very tall, both men and women.

[77] Paraguai.

[78] These Indians are the Mbaiás.

[79] Algarroba, the seed of the carob tree.

[80] The vegetable from which they made wine was not the fenugreek,
but the carrot-bean (Prosopis dulcis mimosa).

The men pierce a little hole in their nose, in which they insert for ornament a small parrot's feather. The women have long blue stripes on their cheeks which remain all their lives through, and their privities are covered with a small piece of cotton cloth from the navel to the knees. From the Mapennis[81] to these Kueremagbas are forty miles; we remained three days among them.

[81] Mepenes.

Departing thence we came to another people called Aygais,[82] who also live on fish and meat. They are tall and erect. The women are nice-looking, painted, and have their privities covered in the same manner as explained before.

[82] Agazes.

When we came to them, they put themselves on their defence, and wished to make war against us by not allowing us to pass through. Finding this to be the case, and that there was no help for it, we put our trust in God, and then made our preparations to attack them by land and water; we fought them and killed a great number--fifteen of our men also being slain. God be merciful to them.

These Aygais are the best warriors that can be found on the water, but they are not so good at fighting on land. Before fighting, they caused their wives and children to flee to a place of safety, and concealed their provisions and other things. What happened to them at the last you will presently hear. Their place is near a river called Jepedij,[83] on the other side of the Parabor. It takes its source in the mountains of Peru, near a town named Duechkamin.[84] From the Kueremagbas to the Aygais there are thirty miles.

[83] Ipiti, the name of this river, signifies "red" in the Guaraní
language; hence the Spaniards called it Rio Bermejo (Red River).

[84] Neither at the time of Schmidt, nor afterwards, was there at the
head of the Bermejo a people called Duechkamin. This may, perhaps,
refer to Tomina, because, though this town is not situated within
the system of the river Bermejo, it is not far from it, and this
circumstance may have led Schmidt into error. M. Ternaux says in his
_Collection_ that this town can be no other than Tucuman, but this
proves his incompetency in this matter, as Tucuman was founded many
years after Schmidt's voyage to the River Plate.

Departing from these Aygais we came to a people named Carios, fifty miles distant from the Aygais. There, by God's grace, we found plenty of Turkish corn and mandeochade, padades, mandeochparpij, mandepore, manduris, wacheku, etc. They have also fish and meat, deer, wild boar, ostriches, Indian sheep, rabbits, hens and geese, also plenty of honey, of which they make wine; and there is much cotton in the land.

These Carios have a large country, nearly three hundred miles in length and breadth; they are men of short stature, and more able to endure work and labour than the other natives.

The men have a little hole in their lips in which they put yellow crystals, called in their language Parabor,[85] two spans long and of the thickness of a quill or reed.

[85] _Parabor._ In Barcia's Spanish translation this word thus written
by Schmidt was changed into _tembetá_, which was the one used by the
Tapijs (Tupis). Both are Guaraní words, and they represent the same
thing; but _parabog_, or rather _paraog_, is more picturesque and
accurate. It means a cover in various colours.

This people, men and women, young and old, go completely naked as God created them. Among these Indians, the father sells his daughter, the husband his wife if she does not please him, and the brother sells or exchanges his sister. A woman costs a shirt or a bread knife, or a small hoe, or some other thing of that kind.

These Carios also eat man's flesh if they can get it. For when they make prisoners in war, male or female, they fatten them as we do swine in Germany. But if the woman be somewhat young and good-looking, they keep her for a year or so, and if during that time she does not live after their desires, they put her to death and eat her, making a solemn banquet[86] of it, and oftentimes this is combined with a marriage. Only old persons are put to work until they die.

[86] In orig.: "Pancket."

These Carios undertake longer journeys than any nation in the country of the Riodellaplata. They are wonderful warriors on land. Their villages or towns are situate on hills upon the river Paraboe[87]; formerly their city was called Lambere.[88]

[87] Paraguai.

[88] Lambaré.

Their town is made with two wooden palisades, each piece of timber being the thickness of a man. And one palisade is separated from the other by a space of twelve feet; the posts are driven down into the earth, six feet deep, and are above the earth nearly as high as one may reach with a sword.

They have also their forts. And at a distance of fifteen feet from this town wall they made pits as deep as the height of three men, one over the other, and put into them (but not above ground) lances of hard wood, with points like that of a needle; and they covered these pits with straw and small gravel, strewing a little earth and grass between, to the intent that when we Christians pursued them, or assaulted their town, we should have fallen blindly into these pitfalls. But at length they digged so many pits that they themselves fell into them.

For when our chief captain Johann Eijollas[89] commanded all our people, except sixty men who were left in the Parchkadienes[90] to guard them, and marched them in good order against their town Lambere, the Carios descried our approach at a gunshot distance, and they numbered forty thousand men armed with bows and arquebuses, and they begged us to go back to our Parchkadienes; if we did so, they would provide us with victuals and other necessaries, but if not they would act as our enemies. But it did not suit us nor our chief captain to do this, for the country and the people pleased us very well, as did also their food, for we had not seen nor eaten better bread during the last four years, fish and meat having been our only sustenance.

[89] Juan de Ayolas.

[90] Brigantines.

So the Carios took their bows and guns and received us therewith, and told us that we were welcome, but we refused to do them any harm. On the contrary, we told them for the third time to keep the peace, and that we wished to be their friends. But they did not take any notice of our words, because they had not yet tried our bows and guns. And when we came near them we fired at them, so that they heard it, and saw their people fall to the ground, although they saw not any bullet or arrow or aught else but a hole in their body; and they wondered and were frightened, and soon all took to flight, and fell one upon another like dogs. So they hastened to shelter themselves in their town, after two hundred of them had fallen into the above-mentioned pits.

Afterwards we Christians came to their town and assaulted it, but they resisted as well as they could for three days. Not being able to hold out any longer, and fearing besides for their wives and children whom they had with them in the town, they prayed for mercy, promising that they would do anything for us if only we would spare their lives. Also they gave to our commander, Johann Eijollas, six women, the eldest of whom was only eighteen years old.

They also gave him six deer and other wild beasts, and besought us to remain with them, and they gave to every soldier two women to wait on him, and to wash and cook for him. Besides which they gave us food and all the necessaries of life; so that peace was then concluded between us and our enemies.

After that the Carios were compelled to build us a great house of stone, earth, and wood, in order that if in the meanwhile they were to revolt against us we Christians might have a place of refuge in which to defend ourselves.

We took this town on the feast of the Assumption, in the year 1539, and therefore it is called Noster Signora desumsion.[91]

[91] Nuestra Senora de la Asuncion. Schmidt's chronology is often
mistaken. Lambaré, with its population, was taken by Juan de Ayolas on
the 15th of August 1536. Asuncion was founded in the following year by
Juan de Salazar.

In this skirmish sixteen men fell on our side, and we abode there two months. These Carios are distant from the Aygais[92] thirty miles, and from the island Bone Speranso, _i.e._, Good Hope, where the Thijembus[93] live, about three hundred and fifty-five miles.[94]

[92] Agazes.

[93] Timbus.

[94] Buena Esperanza was situated about lat. S. 32° 33′; Asuncion is
in 25° 17′.

And so we made a covenant with the Carios, they agreeing and promising to make war along with us, and to aid us with eight thousand men against the Aygais.

After our chief captain had decided all this, he took three hundred Spaniards and these Carios, and went down the river, and afterwards by land for thirty miles, to a place where the aforesaid Aygais live, of whom and of their treatment of us we have spoken.

We found them at the same place where we had left them, and we fell upon them by surprise in their houses while they were asleep, between three and four o'clock in the morning, for the Carios had sought them out and watched them, and we killed everybody, young and old, for it is the custom of the Carios, when they make war and are victorious, to kill all without any mercy or pity whatsoever.

We took also more than five hundred canoes or skiffs, and we burnt down all the villages we found, and wrought very much damage besides. Four months afterwards, some Aygais[95], who had not taken part in this skirmish, because they were not then at home, came and asked for mercy, and our commander was obliged to grant it them by order of H. I. Majesty, who gave orders to pardon every Indian up to the third time, but if one of them brake the peace for the third time he should become a prisoner for life or a slave.

[95] Agazes.

After that we continued for six months in this town, Noster Signora Desumsion, in German "Unser Frawen Himmelfahrt", and had a good rest.

Then our commander Johann Eijollas[96] inquired of the Carios about a people called Peijembas,[97] and they answered: it was from this town Desumsion to the Peijembas[97] one hundred miles distance up the river Parabol.[98]

[96] Juan de Ayolas.

[97] Payaguás.

[98] Paraguai.

Our commander then asked the Carios how the Peijembas[97] lived, and what provisions they had, and from what they abstained; also what kind of people they were, and of their habits. Their answer was, that the Peijembas[99] had nothing else but fish and meat, and also St. John's bread and fenugreek.[100] From this fenugreek they make flour which they eat with their fish; they also make wine of it, and this wine is as sweet as mead in Germany.

[99] Payaguás, _vide supra_, p. 15.

[100] Algarroba.

Our chief captain Johann Eijollas having heard all this from the Carios, ordered them to load five ships with provisions of Turkish corn and other things which were in the country; this had to be done in two months' time, and by that time he and his men would also equip themselves, and in the first place go to the Peijembas,[99] and afterwards to a people called Carch Karaisch, and the Carios promised to be always obedient, and to fulfil in all particulars the captain's orders.

All things having now been arranged, and the ships provided with victual, our commander ordered all the people to assemble, and out of the four hundred men, took three hundred well armed; and the remaining one hundred were left in the aforesaid town Vardellesse,[101] _i.e._ Noster Signora Desumsion, where the said Carios live. And then we went up the river and found at a distance of five miles from these Carios a village on the river Paraboe. The people here brought to us Christians, victual, in the shape of fish, meat, hens, geese, Indian sheep, and ostriches.

[101] _Vardellesse_ must be a Germanized form of the Spanish word
_Fortaleza_ (fortress).

Coming at last near a village of the Carios, which is called Weybingen,[102] and is at a distance of eighty miles from Noster Signora Desumsion, we took from them victual and other things which we could obtain from them.

[102] There is no village of that name in Paraguai.

From there we came to a mountain called S. Fernando, which resembles the Bagenberg; there we found the said Peijembas, who are at twelve miles distance from Weybingen, and they met us peaceably, and received us with false hearts, as we shall see hereafter.

They took us into their houses and gave us fish and meat and also fenugreek, and so we abode there for nine days.

Then our commander sent to ask their chief if they knew a folk named Carchkareisso.[103] He replied that they knew nothing indeed of such a people but what they had heard of them by report, and that they dwelt far away in the country, and that they had much gold and silver, but that they (the Peijembas) had never seen any of them.

[103] Guaycurús.

They also told us that these Carchkareisso[103] were wise men, like as we Christians are, and that they had plenty of victuals, such as Turkish corn, manioc, manduis, padades, wachekew, mandeochparpü, mandeochade, mandepare,[104] etc., and several other roots, the flesh of Indian sheep called amne,[105] an animal resembling a donkey, but that it has feet like kine and a thick and coarse skin, and that they had plenty also of deer, rabbits, geese, and hens; but that none of the Peijembas[106] as has been said, had ever seen all this, but only knew it by report of others. But we found afterwards how things were situated.

[104] Manduvis, potatoes, papas, etc.

[105] Anta, or tapir.

[106] Payaguás.

Having learned all this, our chief commander required to have some Peijembas to go with him into that country, whereupon they readily offered themselves, and presently their chief appointed three hundred Peijembas to accompany us to carry our victual and other necessaries. Our commander ordered these people to prepare themselves, for he would be starting in four days, and of the five ships he ordered three to sail, and on the other two he left fifty men of us Christians, whom he ordered to wait there during his five months' absence, and that if within that space of time he returned not unto us, that we should go back with these two vessels to Noster Signora Desumsion. But it so happened that we abode among these Peijembas for six months, and never heard anything in the meanwhile of our commander Johann Eijolla,[107] and we grew short of victual, so that we were compelled to return with our temporary commander Martin Domingo Eijolla[108] to the town Signora, according to the orders of our chief commander.

[107] Juan de Ayolas.

[108] Domingo Martinez de Irala.

How our chief commander Johann Eijollas made his voyage shall be presently recorded.

First, when he departed from the Peijembas,[109] he came to a folk named Naperus,[110] who are on friendly terms with the Peijembas; they have nothing but fish and flesh, and are a people of considerable numbers. Our commander took with him some of these Naperus to show him the way, for they were to pass through divers countries, and many nations, with great difficulty and penury of all things, and meet with much resistance; so much so that nearly one-half of the Christians died during this voyage. Finally, when he had come to a people called the Peijssennas,[111] he could not go any further, but was compelled to turn back again with all his people except three sick Spaniards, whom he left among the Peijssennas.

[109] This word Peiembas is not Guaraní. It must be the _Payaguás_,
one of the tribes occupying the right bank of the river Paraguay, to
which Schmidt refers here, or perhaps the _Mbaiàs_, the tribe adjacent
to them.

[110] Yaperús, a tribe of the Payaguás.

[111] The Peyssennas are the same as the Peiembas. I believe the
author is referring to the Payaguás.

Our chief commander therefore, Johann Eijollas being _salvo mendo_, _i.e._ in good health, had come back with his men to the Naperus, where he stayed until the third day, because the men were faint and overtired with the journey, and because they had no further supplies.

But the Naperus, understanding this, resolved with the Peijembas, and made an agreement with them to the effect, that they would kill and make away with the chief commander Johann Eijollas and all his men, and they did so afterwards, for when Johann Eijollas was going with his Christians from the Naperus to the Peijembas, and had gone about half-way, they were attacked unawares, and with loud cries by the Naperus and their allies the Peijembas, who fell upon them like mad dogs, as they were passing through a forest; and they were mercilessly and miserably slaughtered, sick and faint Christians as they were, including their commander Johann Eijollas,[112] so that not one of them escaped. God have mercy on their souls!

[112] Juan de Ayolas.

Now as we fifty men had gone to the town Noster Signora Desumsion, and were waiting there for our commander Johann Eijollas and our soldiers, to know how things had gone, we heard tidings from an Indian who had been a slave to the late Johann Eijollas, and had been brought by him from the Peijssennas, and who had escaped because of his knowledge of the language. But although this man told us minutely all that had happened from beginning to end, we would not believe him.

And having remained during a whole year in the above-named town, Noster Signora, we were unable to gather any certain information as to how it had fared with our soldiers; only the Carios told our commander Martin Domingo Eijolla[113] that the general report was, that our Christians had all perished at the hands of the Peijembas.[114] But we would not yet believe it until we should hear from a Peijemba himself that it was true. After two months the Carios brought to our commander, Martin Domingo Eijolla, two Peijembas whom they had taken captive. These Peijembas being asked if they had really slain them all, denied it most emphatically, and said that our chief commander and his men were not yet gone away from their land.

[113] Domingo Martinez de Irala.

[114] Payaguás. These were the Indians who killed Juan de Ayolas
and all his people, according to Alvar Nuñez Cabeza de Vaca in his
_Comentarios_, _infra_, and Ruy Diaz de Guzman in _La Argentina_; also
Herrera, _Década_, v, libro 7, capitulo 5.

Our commander then obtained permission from the judge and the provost-marshal that the two prisoners should be put to the torture in order that they might tell the truth; and by his order they were tormented in such a manner that they were compelled to confess that they had killed the Christians and their chief.

In consequence thereof our commander Martin Domingo Eijolla had them judged, and ordered the two Peijembas to be tied to a tree around which a great fire was made in order to burn them.

Meanwhile it seemed good to us Christians to elect Martin Domingo Eijolla for our chief commander (especially because he had behaved so well against the war-people), until H. I. Majesty should give further orders.

Then Martin Eijolla ordered to prepare four parchkadienes,[115] and taking one hundred and fifty soldiers, the others being left in the aforesaid town of Noster Signora, he gave us to understand that he would gather together the other people who had been left among the Peijembas for reasons before mentioned,[116] and the one hundred and sixty Spaniards left at Bonas Aeieres[117] in the two ships, and bring them to the town Noster Signora Desumsion. Then he, Martin Domingo Eijolla, departed with these four brigantines down the rivers Parabol and Paranon.[118]

[115] Brigantines.

[116] On account of sickness, _cf. ante_, p. 26.

[117] Buenos Ayres.

[118] Paraguai and Parana.

Now before we came to the Thijembas,[119] it was resolved by the Christians who waited there for us, namely, by a captain named Franciscus Ruis, and Johann Paban, a priest, and a secretary named Johann Ernandus,[120] governors of the Christians, that they would kill the chief of the Thijembus, and certain other Indians, and they verily performed this impious and mischievous deed, and put from life to death the Indians who had rendered them for so long a time so many services before we came down there with Martin Domingo Eijolla.

[119] Timbus.

[120] These names are Francisco Ruiz Galan, Juan Pavon and Juan
Hernandez; Juan Pavon was not a clergyman, but an alcalde.