A true and agreeable description of some principal Indian lands and islands, which have not been recorded in former chronicles, but have now been first explored amid great danger during the voyage of Ulrich Schmidt of Straubing, and most carefully described by him.

A true and agreeable description of some principal Indian lands and islands, which have not been recorded in former chronicles, but have now been first explored amid great danger during the voyage of ULRICH SCHMIDT of Straubing, and most carefully described by him.

A true and agreeable description of some principal Indian lands and islands, which have not been recorded in former chronicles, but have now been first explored amid great danger during the voyage of ULRICH SCHMIDT OF STRAUBING, and most carefully described by him.

IN the first place, when setting forth from Antorff,[12] I came in fourteen days to Hispania, to a town called Calles,[13] to which one reckons four hundred miles by sea. I saw before that town a balena, or whale, thirty-five paces long, out of which thirty tuns—of the capacity of herring tuns—of fat had been extracted.

Near the said town of Calles there were fourteen great ships, well provided with all ammunitions and necessaries, which intended to voyage to Riodellaplata[14] in India. Also there were two thousand five hundred Spaniards and one hundred and fifty Germans, Netherlanders, and Saxons.[15] And our chief captain was called Petrus Manchossa.[16]

Among these fourteen ships, one belonged to Messrs. Sebastian Neidhart and Jacob Welser, from Nürnberg, who had sent their factor, Heinrich Paeime, with merchandise to Riodellaplata. With these and others, as Germans and Netherlanders, about eighty men, armed with arquebuses and muskets, I went to Riodellaplata.

As we were now come there,[17] we set out from Sibylla[18] with the said gentlemen and the chief captain, in the aforesaid year, on the day of S. Bartholomew, and came to a town in Spain called S. Lucas[19] which is twenty miles’ distance from Sibylla. There we were compelled, on account of much blustering winds, to stay till the first of September of the year before-named (1534).

And when we departed from there we fell in with three islands, which lie near to one another, the first of which is called Demerieff, the other Kumero, the third Palman,[20] and from the town of S. Lucas to these islands there is a space of about twenty miles.[21] At these islands the ships parted company. These islands belong to their Imperial Majesties, and are inhabited only by Spaniards, with their wives and children. And there sugar is made. We came with three ships to Palman, and remained there for four weeks, replenishing our store of victual.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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]

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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]

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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!

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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]

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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]

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.

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]

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]

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.

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]

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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!

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.

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]

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.

And when we arrived at these Thijembus and Christians, our commander was alarmed at this murder and at the flight of the Thijembus.[119] But he could do nothing, and therefore he left victuals in the castle of Corpus Christi, also our twenty men, with a commander named Antonius Manchossa,[121] and gave strict orders that he should not trust the Indians in any way, but that he should keep strict watch by day and by night, and if it happened that the Indians should come back and be friendly with him, that he should deal courteously with them, and give them all tokens of friendship, yet to be on his guard and beware lest any misfortune should happen to them or to other Christians.

Now our commander, Martin Domingo Eijolla,[122] took down with him those three persons who were the authors of the manslaughter, namely Francisco Ruis, the priest Johann Paban, and Ernandus, the secretary. And when they were about to take their journey and depart from us, a chief of the Thijembus, named Zeicho Lijemii,[123] came; this one was the Christians’ friend, who showed good-will towards them, but from a false and treacherous heart (as will be seen hereafter) said falsely that he must pretend to be on good terms with the Indians, for the sake of wife, children, and friends. And he engaged with our commander to take all the Christians with him down the river, because the whole country was up in arms against them to kill them or drive them out. To whom our chief commander, Martin Domingo Eijolla answered, that he would soon be back, that his people were strong enough to resist the Indians, and added, that he, Zeiche Lijemii should come over to the Christians, with wife, children, and friends, and with all his folk; and Zeiche Lijemii replied that he would do so.

Then our chief commander sailed down the river, leaving us at Corpus Christi. About eight days afterwards, the aforesaid Indian Zeicho Lijemii sent one of his brothers, named Suelapa,[124] treacherously, and requested our commander, Antonius Manchossa, to place at his disposal six Christians armed with guns and other weapons, for he wished to bring his household with his family to us, and henceforth live among us, and he remarked withal that he feared the Thijembus, and that without such help, he could scarcely hope to bring his things out in safety. He showed himself in such a way as though he would bring us victual and all sorts of necessaries, but that was all knavery and deception.

Our commander not only promised him six men, but gave him fifty well armed Spaniards, and ordered these fifty men to be watchful and on their guard, in order that they might not suffer any harm at the hands of the Indians.

It was not more than half a mile distance from us Christians to these Thijembus, and when our fifty men came to their settlement, the Thijembus came out to them, and gave them a Judas kiss, and brought them fish and meat to eat.

Now when the Christians began to fall to their meat, these Thijembus, with their allies who were hidden in the houses and in the fields, suddenly fell upon them, and so consecrated the banquet with them, that not a man of them escaped alive, but one lad called Kalderon.[125] God be merciful to them and to us all. Amen.

Afterwards they set upon us with ten thousand men or more, and besieged us, and thought they would vanquish us, but that did not happen, God be praised! although they stayed fourteen days before our place, and attacked us day and night.

They had this time long spears or javelins, which they had learnt how to make from the Christians, with which they drave at us and defended themselves.

And it happened on that same day that the Indians attacked us by night with all their force, and burnt down our houses, that our commander, Antonius Manchossa,[126] armed with a two-handed sword ran out of a gate near which some Indians lay in ambush so that they could not be seen; and the Indians thrust him through with their spears, so that he presently fell down dead without uttering a word. God’s mercy be with him! Now the Indians could not remain any longer because they had nothing to eat, so they broke up half their camp and departed.

After this two brigantines laden with provisions and other necessaries came to us from Bonas Aeieres[127] sent by our commander, Martin Domingo Eijolla,[128] in order that we might maintain ourselves where we were until the said commander’s arrival, which cheered us very much indeed. But those who came with the two ships were very sorrowful for the Christians that were slain. We therefore determined by a common council, and found it best to abide no longer in the village of Corpus Christi near these Thijembus, but we went all of us down the river and came to Bonas Aeieres to our commander, Martin Domingo Eijolla. He was much shocked and very angry about the slaughter of the people, and doubtful how to consult what he should first do, seeing that victual and other necessary things failed us.

But after we had stayed for five days at Bonas Aeieres, a ship called a Carabelle,[129] came from Spain, and brought us fresh tidings to wit, that a ship had arrived at St. Catharina, whose captain was called Albernunzo Gabrero,[130] and he had brought with him two hundred soldiers from Spain.

As soon as our commander had heard these tidings, he ordered one of the two lesser ships, which was called a galleon, to be made ready; and sent it along with the first to Sta. Catharina in Priesiell,[131] which is thirty miles[132] from Bonas Aeieres, and appointed for it a commander named Conssaillo Manchossa,[133] to govern the ship, and he charged him, when he arrived with his ship at St. Catherina in Priesiell, to load her with provisions, namely rice, manioc, and other things as he should think fit.

This commander, Conssaillo Manchossa, asked Martin Domingo Eijolla for six trusty soldiers, whom he could rely upon; and they were promised him. So he took me and six Spaniards, and also twenty more soldiers and seamen.

Departing from Bonas Aeieres, we came in a month’s time to St. Catharina, and finding the above-mentioned ship which had arrived from Spain, and the commander, Albernunzo Gabrero, with all his men, we were greatly rejoiced, and stayed there for two months, loading our ship with rice, manioc, and Turkish corn, so full that we could not take any more.

Then having sailed with both ships and the commander, Albernunzo Gabrero, and all his people from S. Catharina towards Bonas Aeieres in India, we arrived at twenty miles from the river Paranaw Wassu.[134] This river is forty miles wide at its mouth, and has the same width for eighty miles, until one reaches a harbour called S. Gabriel, where the river (Parana) has a width of eight miles.

Having arrived as before said, to within twenty miles of this river, on All Saints’ eve, the two ships approached at night close to one another, and the one spoke the other, asking if we were in the river Paranaw; our seaman said we were in that river, but the other one said we were at a distance of twenty miles from it.

For when two, three, or more ships sail in company, they always come together at sunset, and ask one another how long they have sailed day and night, and what wind they intend taking at night, in order that they may not separate from one another.

After this our skipper again addressed the master of the other ship, asking if he would follow him, but the other said that it was already night, and he would therefore stand out to sea till next morning, and would not make the land by night; this skipper was indeed somewhat wiser than ours as the event afterwards proved.

While our ship continued on its way that night, having parted company with the other, great storm-winds arose at sea, so that we saw the land by twelve or one o’clock, before we could anchor.

And when the ship had touched the ground, we having notwithstanding a full mile to make in order to reach land, knew of no other counsel save to appeal to God Almighty that He might be merciful and take pity on us. That same hour our ship was broken into many thousand pieces, and fifteen of our men and six Indians were drowned. Some taking hold of large pieces of timber swam out, and I with five of my companions escaped on the mast. But of the fifteen drowned we could not find one. God bless them and us all. Amen.

We had afterwards to go on foot one hundred miles,[135] having lost all our clothes and victual, and had to sustain ourselves with such roots and fruits as we could find in the fields, until we came to the haven called S. Gabriel, where we found the aforesaid ship with her captain, which had arrived there thirty days before us.

When this mishap had been reported to our commander, Martino Domingo Eijolla,[136] he and all his men were very sorry, for they thought we had all perished, and they had already caused masses to be said for our souls.

As soon as we had arrived at Bonas Aeieres,[137] our commander, Martin Domingo Eijolla, ordered the captain of our ship and the pilot to come before him; and if there had not been much intercession on behalf of the pilot he would have been hanged. He was, however, condemned to stay for four years on the bergentin ships.

All the people being together at Bonas Aeieres, our chief captain ordered that the bergentin ships should be made ready, and that all the soldiers should be in them together, and that they should burn the great ships; preserving, however, the iron tackling. After this had been done, we sailed once more up the river Paranaw, and came to the town Noster Signora Desumsion, where we remained two years, waiting further orders from H. I. Majesty.

Meanwhile, another chief commander named Albernunzo Cabessa de Bacha,[138] came from Spain, appointed by H. I. Majesty, with four hundred men and thirty horses, in four vessels, two of which were large ships, and the other two Karabella.[139] These four ships arrived in Brazil at the haven called Wiessay, or S. Catherina,[140] to seek provision of victual, and when the commander had sent the two Karabella to sail eight miles distance from that port to seek for victuals, such a storm befell them that they were both compelled to remain at sea, and they perished, being broken all to pieces, but the men escaped.[141] When the chief captain heard of this, he durst not put to sea with the other two ships; but, since they were unseaworthy, he had them broken up, and came to us in haste by land to Riodellaplata, to the town Noster Signora desumsion, on the river Paraboe, and brought not more than three hundred out of the four hundred men with him, the remainder having died of hunger and disease.[142]

This Commander was eight whole months on his way, for the distance is reckoned to be five hundred miles from Noster Signora desumsion to this place or harbour of S. Catherina.

He also brought with him from Spain his commission from H. I. Majesty, and required that Martin Domingo Eijolla[143] should yield up the whole government to him, and that all the men should be obedient to him in every respect. The commander, Martin Domingo Eijolla, and all the people declared they were ready to obey, but with this understanding, that he, Cabessa de Bacha, should show and lay before them some document to prove that he had received from His Imperial Majesty such powers and authority.

But this the whole assembly could not obtain from him; only the priests and two or three of the captains affirmed it, that Albernunzo Cabessa de Bacha ruled and commanded; but we shall see hereafter how things went with him.

Now, this said Albernunzo Cabessa passed all the people in review, and found that there were eight hundred men. At the same time he made friendship with Martino Domingo Eijolla, and they became sworn brothers, so that he, Martino Domingo Eijolla, no less than before commanded the people.

After this review he, Albernunzo Cabessa de Bacha, ordered nine Bergentines to be prepared, that he might sail up the river Paraboe as far as he could. But at the same time, and before the ships were made ready, he sent out three Bergentines with one hundred and fifteen soldiers, to go as far as they could, in order to find Indians who had manioc and Turkish corn. He appointed them two captains, named Anthonius Gabrero and Diego Tabellino. They came first to a people called Surukufers,[144] who had Turkish corn, manioc, and other roots, such as mandues, which resemble hazel-nuts, and also fish and meat.

The men wear in their lips a great blue stone, like a draughtsman, and the women have their privities covered.

Among these people we left our ships, and with them some of our companions to guard them, and went thence into the country. After four days’ journey we came to a village, occupied by the Carios, who were about three thousand men strong, of whom we inquired diligently of the state of that country, and we received honest and peaceable answers from them. Returning thence, we again came back to our ships, and going down the river of Paraboe, we came to a nation called the Achkeres. Here we found a letter from our chief captain, Albernunzo Cabessa de Bacha, to the effect that we should hang the chief of these Indians, named Achkere.[145] Our commander at once complied with this order, out of which afterwards a great war broke out, as will be seen hereafter.

Now, when this had happened, to wit, that the above-mentioned Indian had come by his death in this way, we returned down the river to Noster Signora desumsion, and told our commander, Albernunzo Cabessa de Bacha, what we had done and seen during this voyage. Then he asked the chief Indian who was in the town Noster Signora,[146] that he should appoint him two thousand Indians who should go with us up the river.

The Indians promised to be willing and obedient, and added that our commander should first of all think well about it before going into that country,[147] because the whole of it belonged to Dabere,[148] a chief of the Carios, who was prepared to come out in full force against the Christians. For this Dabere, they said, was Achkere’s brother, whom the Christians hanged, and therefore he intended to avenge his brother’s death. So our commander had to refrain from this voyage, and prepare himself to go to war against his enemies. He then ordered his sworn brother, Martino Domingo Eijolla,[149] to take four hundred Christians and two thousand Indians, and go against this Dabere and the Carios, and either drive them out of the whole country or utterly destroy them. The said Eijolla faithfully followed this mandate, and went with these people out of the city Noster Signora, and advanced towards the enemy, having first warned them on behalf of H. I. Majesty.

But this Dabere, little regarding the warning, would admit no treaty of peace; for he had gathered a considerable number of people together, and his settlements were very strongly fenced with palisadoes, which means wooden walls[150]; and compassed about with three such walls and many wide pits whereof we have already spoken; but we had found all this out before. So we stood still quietly with our army till the fourth day before we proclaimed war against them; the fourth day in the morning, three hours before daybreak, we fell upon the place, slaying all that we found there, and we captured many women, preserving them from slaughter, which was a great help to us afterwards.

In this assault sixteen Christians were slain, and many of us wounded and hurt. Also many of our Indians perished; but they did not gain very much from us, for on their side more than three thousand were slain.

Not very long after Dabere came with his people to ask for mercy, and that we should give him back his wives and children; then he and his people would serve the Christians and obey them. Our commander was compelled by H. I. Majesty to grant them that.

After this peace had been concluded, we again went down the river Paraboe[151] to our chief commander, Albernunzo Cabessa de Bacha,[152] and we told him how all had happened.

Then he thought of making his intended voyage, and he asked of Dabere, who was now satisfied, two thousand armed Indians to go with him; and they were willing, and promised to be always obedient. He also commanded the Carios to load the nine little Bergentin ships.[153] All this being done, he took five hundred Christians out of the eight hundred, and he left the remaining three hundred in the town Noster Signora desumsion, and appointed as their commander Johann Salleisser.[154]

He then sailed up the river Paraboe with this army of five hundred Christians and two thousand Indians.

The Carios had eighty-three canoes, and we Christians had nine Bergentin ships, in every one of which there were two horses; but the horses were conveyed overland one hundred miles, and we went by water unto a mountain called S. Fernando,[155] where the horses were shipped, and then we came to our enemies, the Peijembus,[156] but they did not wait for us, but soon fled away with their wives and children, having first burnt down their houses. After this we travelled together for one hundred miles, and found no people all that way, till at length we came to a nation named the Bachereos,[157] who live on fish and meat. It is a numerous people, who inhabit a large country over one hundred miles in extent, and they have also many canoes. Their women have their privities covered. They would not speak with us, but fled away from us. Afterwards we came to another people called Surukusis, where the three aforesaid ships were.[158] They were at ninety miles distance from the Baschereos, and they received us in a friendly way; each of them has his own lodging, with his wife and children; the men have a rounded piece of wood like draughts, hanging at the end of their ears. The women wear a grey stone of crystal, thick and long as a finger, in their lips; they are nice-looking, and go about quite naked. They have also plenty of Turkish corn, manioc, manduis, padades, etc., fish and meat in abundance; it is a great people.

Our commander asked them about a people named Carchkareos,[159] and also about the Carios. They could not give information about the Carchkareos, but they said that the Carios were with them in their houses; but it was not true.

Having learned this, our commander ordered us to prepare ourselves in order to go further into the country. He appointed one hundred and fifty men to stay with the ships, to whom he gave provision for two years. And he took the three hundred and fifty Christians and the eighteen horses, and the two thousand Indians or Carios who went out with us from Noster Signora desumsion, and marched into the country; but he did not do much, because he was not the right sort of man. Besides, all the officers and soldiers hated him for his perverse and rigorous carriage towards the men. We travelled eighteen days’ journey without seeing either Carios or any other people; and food also failing us, our commander was again obliged to return with us to the ships. And when we turned back he sent out a Spaniard, named Franciscus Riefere,[160] with ten other armed Spaniards, and ordered them to go forward ten days’ journey, and if in that time they should not find any other people, they should return to us to the ships, where we would wait for them.

It happened that they found a populous nation of Indians, who had plenty of Turkish corn, manioc, and other roots. But the Spaniards durst not show themselves, but returned to us, and told it to our chief captain. He was very desirous to have gone into that country, but was hindered by waters[161] that he could not proceed. He therefore ordered a ship to be furnished, wherein he put eighty men, and gave us Ernando Rieffere[162] for our captain, and sent us up the river Paraboe to discover the nation named Scherues,[163] and ordered that we should go two days’ journey into the interior of the country and no farther, and then report to him of that land and its inhabitants.

So departing, on the first day we came on the other side of the country to a people named Surukusis, who live in an island[164] which is thirty miles wide, and encompassed by the river Paraboe; they eat manioc, maize, manduis, padades, mandepore, parpii, Bachkeku, and other roots; also fish and meat. The men and women are like the above-mentioned Surukusis in face and figure. We remained one day among them, and the second day we set off again. Ten canoes of these Indians accompanied us and showed us our way, and twice a day they hunted wild beasts and fished to supply us with food. After six days’ journey we came to a people called Achkeres. They are very numerous, men and women, are big and tall, the like whereof were not to be seen in the whole Riodellaplata. These Achkeres are three miles distance from the aforesaid Surukusis; they have nothing to eat but fish and meat; the women have their privities covered. Among these Achkeres[165] we remained one day, and then the above-mentioned Surukusis returned with their ten canoes to their village. Afterwards our commander, Ernando Riefere[166] asked the Achkeres to show us the way to the Scherues, and they were willing to do so, and came with eight canoes out of their place with us, and twice every day fished and hunted, so that we should have plenty to eat. The reason why they are called Achkeres, is as follows.

Achkarus is a fish which has a hard skin all over, so that it cannot be wounded with a knife, nor can one shoot it with an Indian dart. It is a big fish, which does great harm to other fishes. Its eggs, which it lays at about two or three paces from the water’s edge, have the taste of musk and are good for eating; the tail is the best part, though the whole fish is harmless; it lives always in the water. In our Germany that fish is reckoned to be noxious and even venomous, and is called a crocodile. And it is said, that if one looks at that fish, and even more, if the fish breathes upon any one, that person must by all means die; which is not according to truth, for man must also die without that, and nothing is more certain.

Further it is said that if such a fish is found in a well, there is no other means to kill it than to show it a mirror, in order that it may look at itself therein; it must then die from the sight of its own atrocious face.

But all these sayings are fables, and nothing else, for I should have died a hundred times if it had been true, having caught and eaten over three thousand of these fishes myself, and I would not have written so much about this fish if I had not had such good reason for it.

The ninth day after our departure we came to the Scherues,[167] who are reckoned to be thirty-six miles distant from the Achkeres. This nation is very populous, but these were not the genuine people among whom the king lives. These Scherues to whom we now came wear a moustache, and have a wooden ring in the tips of their ears, and the ear is folded round the wooden ring in a wonderful manner. The men have also a large blue crystal in their lips of the shape and size of a draughtsman. And they are painted blue on their bodies from the head to the knees so as to give them the appearance of wearing breeches.

But the women are painted otherwise, blue from the breast to the privities, and so artistically, that one could not soon find a painter to do it so well. They are absolutely naked, and are beautiful after their manner, and also commit transgressions in the dark.

Among these Scherues we remained one day, and afterwards in three days’ journey we came to a king, who lives at fourteen miles distance, and whose people are also called Scherues. His country is only four miles wide, but he has also a settlement on the river Paraboe.

There we left our ship with twelve Spaniards to watch it, that we might use it for our defence on our return. We also ordered these Scherues dwelling there to hold friendly intercourse with the Christians, which they also did.

We remained thus two days in this place, and prepared ourselves for travel, and took all that was wanted and passed over the river Paraboe,[168] and so came to the King who lives there himself.

And when we were approaching near and were about one mile off, the King of the Scherues came forth to meet us with twelve thousand men, or even more, on a heath, yet in a friendly and peaceable manner. The path they followed was eight feet broad, and was covered entirely with flowers and herbs up to their place, and made so clean that not so much as any little stone, stick, or straw appeared. The King was also accompanied by his musicians, whose instruments resemble our hoboys. His Royal Majesty had also ordered that deer and other wild beasts should be hunted on both sides of the way; so that they caught about thirty deer and twenty ostriches, and it was indeed an agreeable thing to see; and when we came to their place, the King appointed a house to accommodate every two Christians, and our captain with his servants were taken into the Royal House, and I was not very far from the King’s house. Then the King of the Scherues[169] and his subjects resolved to treat us Christians well, and to give us all our necessaries. And the King also held a Court in his own way, like the greatest lord in the country.

At dinner the musicians must play whenever it is his pleasure. Then the men and the most beautiful women must dance before him, and such a dance is to us Christians quite wonderful, so much so that looking upon them one could think of nothing else. These people are like the Scherues, of whom we spoke before.

Their wives make mantles from cotton very subtle, almost like satin, on which they embroider several figures, as deer, ostriches, Indian sheep, or what else they can. In these mantles they sleep when it is cold, or they sit upon them, or use them at their pleasure. These women are very fair and venerous, very amiable, and very hot too, as it seemed to me.

There we remained four days. Meanwhile, the King asked our commander what were our wishes, and whither we intended to go; and our commander replied he was seeking for gold and silver. The King gave him a silver crown, which weighed one and a half mark nearly, and a bar of gold, a span and a half in length and half a span broad; also a bracelet, i.e., a half-harness, and many other things in silver, and then said to our commander: He had no more gold or silver, and that these things were the spoils which in time past he had won in war from the Amazons.

And when he came to speak of the Amazons, and gave us to understand of their great riches, we were very glad to learn of it. And our commander presently asked the King if we could come to them by water; and how far it was to these Amazons.

The King answered we could not reach them by water, but would have to go by land, and travel during two whole months. Thereupon we decided to go to these Amazons, as will be related hereafter.

These women, the Amazons, have only one breast, and the men come to their wives only three or four times in the year; and if the woman, being in child by her husband, bring forth a male child, she sends that boy away to his father.

But if it be a girl, she keepeth it with her, and seareth the right breast, in order that it may grow no more. The reason for this is, that they may be more fit to handle their weapons and bows, for they are war-like women, making continual war against their enemies.

These women inhabit an island surrounded by water, and a large island it is too; and there is no access to it but by canoes. But in this island the Amazons have neither gold nor silver, though they are reported to have great riches in the terra firma where the men live. It is a very great nation, and is said to have a King whose name appears to be Iegnis, and they told us where he lived.

Now, our commander, Ernando Rieffere,[170] desired the said King of the Scherues[171] to place at our disposal some of his subjects to carry our plunder and to show us the way, because he intended to enter the interior of the country, and to seek out those above-mentioned Amazons. The King was willing to do so, but he said that at this time of the year the land would be under water, and therefore travelling there would not do at this season. We would not, however, believe his words, but were urgent to have his Indians. He therefore gave our commander for his person twenty men to carry his plunder and victual, and to each of us he gave five Indians to serve us and carry our necessaries, for we would have to go eight days’ journey without finding an Indian.

Afterwards we came to a certain nation called Siberis, who resemble the Scherues in their language and in other respects. We advanced for eight whole days and nights in water up to the knees, and sometimes as high as the waist; nor could we by any means come out of it. When we wished to make a fire, we heaped big fagot-sticks one on another, and made a fire thereon; and it happened several times that as we were about to cook our meat, both the pot in which we had our food and the fire fell into the water, and then we had to remain without eating. We also could not find any rest either by day or night, because of the small flies, against which we could do nothing.

We therefore asked these Siberis if there were any more water, and they said we would have to wade four more days in the water, and afterwards would have to travel five other days by land; and at length we should come to a people named Orthuses,[172] and they gave us to understand that we were too few in number, and therefore we had better return. But this we would not do for the Scherues sake, for we thought rather of sending them back to their town who were accompanying us. But the said Scherues refused to go, because the King had ordered them not to leave us, but to serve us until we came again out of that country.

The aforesaid Siberis then gave us ten men, who, together with the Scherues, should show us the way to the aforesaid Orthuses; so we went along for another seven days through water up to the waist or the knee; this water was quite as hot as if it had been heated on the fire, and we were compelled to drink it, for want of any other water. Some might suppose that it was a flowing water, but this was not so, for at that time rain had fallen so heavily that the whole land was inundated, for it is a flat land; how we suffered from the effects of this water shall be told hereafter.

Thus on the ninth day, between ten and eleven before noon, we came to the place of the Orthuses, and by midday we arrived in the centre of the village, where the chief’s house stands.

But at that very time there was a great mortality among the Orthuses, caused by famine, for they had nothing to eat, the locusts or grasshoppers having twice eaten and destroyed all the corn and the fruits of their trees. When we Christians saw this, and heard how things were going there, we became frightened, and could not remain long in the land, because we also had not much to eat. So our commander asked their chief how many days’ journey we yet had to the Amazons, and he said we must yet travel one full month to reach them, and besides, all the land was full of water, as it indeed appeared.

Now the chief of the Orthuses presented our commander with four Pleynisch[173] of gold, and four silver rings which they wear on the arm; but the Indians wear the plates on their foreheads for ornaments, as our nobles do their gold chains on their necks. For all this, our commander gave the chief of the Indians a hatchet, knives, paternosters, scissors, and other things which are made at Nuremberg. We would have wished more from them, but we durst not ask it, for we Christians were not numerous enough, and therefore had to beware of them. The Indians, on the contrary, were very numerous, and their town so large, that I had hitherto never seen in the whole of India so many people together, nor such a big place, although I have been far and wide. The mortality among the Indians, dying from hunger, certainly was our good luck, for otherwise we Christians might not perhaps have escaped with our lives.

When we again returned to the aforesaid Siberis, we were ill-provided with victual, for they had nothing to eat but a tree called a palm, and cardes,[174] and other roots which grow underground. And when we came to the Scherues, our people were half dead for sickness, because of the water and the poverty that we had to undergo during this journey, for we never came out of the water for thirty days and nights together, and we were always constrained to drink of that impure water.

So we remained among the Scherues, where the King lives, for four days, and they treated us very well, and waited on us diligently, and the King ordered his subjects to give us all things necessary.

On this journey each of us plundered nearly two hundred ducats’ worth of Indian cotton mantles and silver, having secretly bartered these for knives, paternosters,[175] scissors, and looking-glasses.

After all this we again went down the river to our chief commander, Albernunzo Cabessa de Bacha,[176] and when we arrived, he ordered us on our lives not to come out of the ships, and he came also in person to us and ordered our commander, Ernando Rieffere,[177] to be cast into prison, and took from us soldiers all that we had brought with us from the country; and finally, he would have hanged our commander, Ernando Rieffere, on a tree. But when we heard of this, we being still in the Bergentin,[178] raised a great tumult along with other good friends who were on shore, against our chief commander, Albernunzo Cabessa de Bacha, demanding that he should set our commander, Ernando Rieffere, free, and restore to us all of that which he had taken away, otherwise we should take measures accordingly. Seeing such an uproar and our wrathful indignation, he was very glad indeed to let our commander go free, and to restore to us all he had taken away, giving us fair words that we might be pacified; how it fared with him afterwards shall presently be told.

All this having occurred, and peace being established, he desired our commander, Ernando Rieffere, and us to give him a report on the country we had been to; and explain how it happened that we had remained so long absent; and we gave him an answer wherewith he was well satisfied. That he had received us so badly and taken our things away, was the result of our not having obeyed his mandate; for he had only ordered us to go as far as the Scherues,[179] and four days’ journey inland, and then to return and report to him; we on the contrary had gone for eighteen days beyond the country of the Scherues.

Now our chief commander, after the report we had made of it, would have marched with all his people to that country to which we had just been; but we soldiers would not agree thereto, especially at this very time when the country was quite under water.

Moreover, most of the people were very feeble and ill, besides which our chief commander, Albernunzo Cabessa de Bacha, commanded no great respect or favour among the soldiers, for he was a man who had never held a command nor any important post whatsoever.

So we remained for two months among the aforesaid Siberis (Surukusis?), during which time our chief commander got a fever, which made him very ill—it would have been no great loss had he died at this time, for he really commanded no great respect among us.

In this country of the Surukusis I did not find a single Indian who was forty or fifty years of age, nor have I ever in my life experienced a more unhealthy country; for it lies under the tropic, i.e., there where the sun is at the highest; it is as unhealthy as Sancte Thome.[180]

Being among the Surukusis, I saw the constellation of Ursa Major, of which we had lost sight when we passed the island of S. Augo.[181]

Now our commander-in-chief ordered, in spite of his illness, one hundred and fifty Christians and two thousand Indian Carios to go with four Bergentin ships,[182] four miles distance to the island of the Surukusis, and commanded them to slay all these Surukusis or to take them prisoners, and that they should principally destroy all persons from forty to fifty years of age. The way these Surukusis had previously entertained us has already been declared,[183] and how we rewarded and thanked them will now appear. God knows that we did them wrong.

When, therefore, we arrived at their town unawares, they came out of their houses with bows and arrows to meet us peaceably. But a tumult arising between the Carios and the Surukusis, we Christians fired at them and killed very many, and having made more than two thousand prisoners, men, women, boys, and girls, we afterwards burnt down their town, and took all they possessed that could be carried away, as in such violent assaults is usual; then we turned back again to our commander, Albernunzo Cabessa de Bacha, who was very well pleased with our deeds.

But our people being for the most part feeble and ill-affected towards our chief commander, the latter could not do anything with them, so he ordered a ship to be prepared, and we all went down the river Paraboe,[184] and came to Noster Signora desumsion,[185] where we had left the other Christians. There our chief commander fell sick again of a fever, and kept indoors fourteen days together. It was, however, more out of pride than out of weakness, for he did not please the people; but showed himself unseemly towards them more than it behoved a lord or commander who would govern a country; for such a man should always give good counsel to everyone alike whatever their rank or station, and always be good-hearted to all. Also it seems well that such an one should so behave himself as he would like to appear to others, and should be wiser and cleverer than those whom he commands. For it is very bad and shameful that anyone should try to advance more in honours than in wisdom. And nobody should boast himself of his high position, despising others, like the vain and arrogant Thrasus[186] in Terentius, who thinks that every commander is appointed for the sake of the men, and not the soldiers nominated for the commander’s sake.

But here there has been no regard as to persons, but our commander has in all things only followed his arrogant and vain inspiration.

Thereupon it was resolved by all, noble man and commoner, to meet in council, with a view to take prisoner this chief commander, Albernunzo Cabessa de Bacha, and to send him to H. I. Majesty, and to report to His Majesty about his nice virtue, and how he had behaved towards us, and how, according to his reason, he had governed; and other things besides.

According to the resolution come to, these three gentlemen, namely, the treasurer or judge, the clerk or master of the toll or custom, and the secretary ordained by H. I. Majesty, whose names were Albernunzo Gabrero, Don Francisco Manchossa, Garze Hannego, Philippo de Gastra,[187] etc., taking with them two hundred soldiers, went to his lodging, and arrested our commander-in-chief, Albernunzo Cabessa de Bacha, when he least expected it. And this happened on St. Mark’s Day, Anno 1543.[188] They held prisoner the said Albernunzo Cabessa de Bacha for a whole year, until a ship called a Carrabella,[189] provided with victual and a crew, had been prepared. And on board this ship the often-mentioned Cabessa de Bacha, with two other officers on behalf of H. I. Majesty, were conveyed to Spain.

After that we had to elect another who should rule and govern the country until H. I. Majesty had time to designate one himself. And we held it for good, as it was the meaning and the will of the community, to nominate as chief Domingo Eijollas,[190] not only because he had formerly governed the country, but especially because most of the soldiers were satisfied with him.

However, there were some who had been the special friends of our aforesaid chief commander, Albernunzo Cabessa de Bacha, who were not pleased. But we did not care for that.

About this time I was very weak and ill with dropsy, which I, along with my fellow-comrades, had caught in our journey to the Orthuses, when we waded so long in the water, besides suffering want and intolerable hunger, as I have related; for nearly eighty of our people fell ill, and not more than thirty men escaped death.

And when Albernunzo Cabessa de Bacha was sent to Spain there was discord among us Christians, and soon we fought day and night, so that any one would have thought that the devil governed among us; and no man was safe from the other.

We thus made war among ourselves for two whole years, the sending away Cabessa de Bacha being the occasion of it. And when the Carios, who had formerly been our friends, perceived that we Christians were disunited, and had such false and treacherous hearts one towards another, they were not at all pleased, for they thought that every realm that is divided in itself and cannot agree must be destroyed. They therefore held a council, and agreed that they would kill us and drive us out of their country. But God Almighty—praise to Him, always and everlastingly—did not grant these Carios that their designs should prosper; although the whole country of the Carios and other nations, such as the Aygais,[191] were against us Christians.

But when we perceived this state of things we were obliged to make peace among ourselves. And we also entered into a treaty with two other tribes, one named the Jeperis, and the other the Bachacheis,[192] who numbered five thousand men in all. They eat only fish and flesh, are courageous in battle on land and water, but prefer fighting on land. Their weapons are tardes,[193] half a spear in length but not so thick, and the points are tipped with flint. They have also truncheons under their girdles four spans long with a knob at the end.

Every one of these Indians has also ten or twelve small sticks of wood, or as many in fact as he chooses to carry, a good span long, and on the point of every stick is fixed a broad and long fish’s tooth (named Palmede[194] in Spanish) that resembles a sea-tench. This tooth cuts like a razor; but you should know what they do with these teeth, or what use they put them to.

Firstly, they fight with the aforesaid tardes, and in case they are victorious over their enemies, and that these take to flight, they abandon their tardes and run after the enemies and throw their truncheons under their feet, in order to cause them to fall to the ground; then, without looking to see if they are yet half-alive or dead, they cut their heads off with the aforesaid fish-tooth. This is done so quickly that one has scarcely time enough to turn round; afterwards they put this tooth back again under their girdle or their other clothing.