La Relación - page 59
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La Relación - page 59
Description
they had returned home after having gathered the prickly pears. They said that it was a cold land and that there were few hides. Since winter and cold weather were already beginning when we heard this, we decided to spend it with these people.
Five days after we arrived, they went to look for more prickly pears, to a place where there were other peoples and languages. After five days journey with no food, because there were no prickly pears or other fruit on the way, we reached a river where we set up our lodges. Then we went to look for the fruit of certain trees, which is like the kind of lentils used for fodder. Since there are no trails in this whole land, I took a longer time than the others in this search. The people returned and I was left alone. While I was looking for them that night, I got lost. It pleased God that I should find a burning tree, by the fire of which I endured that cold night. In the morning I gathered firewood, made two firebrands and continued searching for them. And I walked this way for five days, always carrying fire and a load of firewood. I did this so that I could make more firebrands and build a fire if one went out and I found myself in a place that had no firewood. I had no other relief against the cold because I was as naked as the day I was born. At night I did the following to protect myself against the cold: I would go to the thickets in the woods near the rivers and stop there before sunset. I would dig a hole in the ground and put in it a lot of firewood from the many trees. I also would gather a lot of dried wood that had fallen from the trees, and around the hole I would build four fires crosswise. I was careful to stoke the fires from time to time. I would make some long sheaves from the straw that was available around there, to cover myself in that hole and shelter myself from the night-time cold. One night a spark fell on the straw covering me while I was sleeping and began to burn strongly. Although I jumped out of the hole right away, my hair was singed from the danger
Five days after we arrived, they went to look for more prickly pears, to a place where there were other peoples and languages. After five days journey with no food, because there were no prickly pears or other fruit on the way, we reached a river where we set up our lodges. Then we went to look for the fruit of certain trees, which is like the kind of lentils used for fodder. Since there are no trails in this whole land, I took a longer time than the others in this search. The people returned and I was left alone. While I was looking for them that night, I got lost. It pleased God that I should find a burning tree, by the fire of which I endured that cold night. In the morning I gathered firewood, made two firebrands and continued searching for them. And I walked this way for five days, always carrying fire and a load of firewood. I did this so that I could make more firebrands and build a fire if one went out and I found myself in a place that had no firewood. I had no other relief against the cold because I was as naked as the day I was born. At night I did the following to protect myself against the cold: I would go to the thickets in the woods near the rivers and stop there before sunset. I would dig a hole in the ground and put in it a lot of firewood from the many trees. I also would gather a lot of dried wood that had fallen from the trees, and around the hole I would build four fires crosswise. I was careful to stoke the fires from time to time. I would make some long sheaves from the straw that was available around there, to cover myself in that hole and shelter myself from the night-time cold. One night a spark fell on the straw covering me while I was sleeping and began to burn strongly. Although I jumped out of the hole right away, my hair was singed from the danger
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“La Relación - page 59,” Cabeza de Vaca, accessed August 20, 2025, https://ulomeka2.ul.txstate.edu/cabeza/items/show/92.