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After departing from the Indians whom we left weeping, we went with others to their dwellings and were well received. They brought their children for us to touch their hands and gave us much mesquite flour. The mesquite is a fruit like the carob. It…

and cool It with half a gourd. When it is very foamy, they drink it as hot as they can stand it. From the time they take this tea out of the vessel until they drink it, they shout, asking who wants to drink. When the women hear these shouts they…

customs and habits of other people, but also to warn anyone who may encounter these people about their customs and cunning-very useful information in such cases.

CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX
About the Peoples and Languages

I also wish to give an account…

Before one goes to sleep he tries his bow, and should the string not be taut, he tightens it. They often leave their lodges crawling on the ground so that they cannot be seen and they look and keep watch everywhere to notice everything. If they sense…

to save the people and the horses when the south wind blew, and to beach the ships if they found themselves in danger, for winds from that direction wreck many vessels. Then I left. I wanted some people to accompany me, but they did not wish to…

their women and children can sleep there. When night falls, they light fires in their lodges to mislead any spies into thinking that they are in them. Before dawn they rekindle the same fires. If their enemies come to attack their dwellings, the men…

they let them nurse, so that they won't die in times of hunger. Even if some should survive those times, they would end up sickly and very weak. If any fall sick, they leave him to die in the wilderness, if he is not their child. If any cannot…

hungry, but that they would take us to some dwellings of theirs near by. That night we reached a place with fifty lodges, where the people were astonished to see us and were very afraid. After their fear of us subsided, they touched our faces and…

well and eat the scrapings, which was enough to sustain me for two or three days. It also happened that when these people, or the ones we were with before, gave us a piece of meat, we ate it raw, because if we tried to roast it, the first Indian…

among themselves, and each one of them took one of us by the hand and led us to their dwellings. With these people we suffered greater hunger than with the others, because the only thing we ate all day was two handfuls of that fruit. It was so…