Wichita eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1886-1890, 1890-01-12
THE JOURNEY OF ALVAS NUNEz
CABEZA DE VACA.
The Address Of Senator Moody on that
Subject Criticised.

y
of Linn county, delivered at the rooms
of the State Historical society at Topeka
an address in which he claimed to give
an account of the wanderings Of Alvas
Nunez Cabeza de Vaca, the treasurer of
the ill fated expedition of Pamphilo de
Narvaez, which was lost on the shores of
the gulf of Mexico three hundred and
fifty years ago. Later in the year the
senator delivered the same address at
Lawrence, in the hall of the state uni
versity, before large audience, and a
synopsis OF it appeared in the next issue
of the University Courier with fiattering
comments. 1t would seem as though an
address, to be entitled to hearing at
the places mentioned, when dealing
with historical matters, should possess
the merit of being founded on facts,
especially when the person delivering the
address is state senator and, by the
grace of the governor, a regent of the
state university. But the address of the
senator lacked this essential basis, and l
ask space in your columns to show the
errors which abound in the conclusions
| he arrives at as to the route traversed by
the Spaniards in their memorable jour-
ney. In order to present the issue clearly
will briefly give the route which the
senator lays down as the one traversed
by the Spaniards. Seven years prior to
beginning their journey the Spaniards
had been wrecked on the gulf of Mexico,
! at an island which they named Mulhado.
From the vicinity of this island, which
Senator Moody Identifies as the present
island of Santa Rosa on the northwest
coast of Florida, the senator traces
the route north through the pres
ent state Of Alabama, then west
ward to the Mississippi river and
although Nunez in his narrative does not
mention the crossing of any stream eX-
cept by wading, the senator takes him
across the Mississippi and gives him the
credit of being its discoverer in the place
of Soto. unconscious of the fact that if
Munez had crossed it neither he or Soto
were entitled to the credit of discovering
it, as it had been known to the Spanish
authorities for nearly twenty years I'M
der the name Rio del Espiritu Santo
The journey from the Mississippi river
west he says is of unusual interest to Kan
sans, and traces it as follows: West to
the Boston mountains in Arkansas, then
westerly crossing he Neosho and Yer
dlgris rivers to the Arkansas near the
mouth of the Cimarron, then north up
the Arkansas to the great bend, then
west and southwest along that river and
its tributaries to near the present town
of Las Vegas in New Mexico, then south
west to the Spanish settlements in Old
Mexico. If the senator is correct in
thus locating the route travelled by
Nunez and his companions, it is also
true that they journeyed for several
hundred miles In the present state of
Kansas, which fact would be of interest
to Kansas while it would take from Cor
anado the shadowy fame he now pos
sesses of being the first European to ex-
plore our territory; it would give us new
and positive names to honor as those of
the first white men who trod our soil.
Unfortunately there is nothing in the
narrative of the journey to warrant the
belief that Nunez and companions ever
passed over single mile Of the route as
laid down by Senator Moody, but on the
contrary l believe investigation will
show that the island Malhado was west
of the mouth of the Mississippi, that the
journey of Nunez and his companions
began not far from the boundary be-
tween Louisiana and Texas, and lay al
most due west across the prairieS
of Texas and mountains and
valleys of Mexico to the
Spanish settlements near the Pacific
coast, feat they could much more
easily perform than the continental
tramp laid down for them by the sena-
tor. In the summer of the year 1923 the
expedition of Pamphilo de Narvaez,
after suffering various hardships in their
wonderings over the country now en-
braced in portions of the states Of
Georgia and Florida, arrived at the
Indian town of Aute at the head of a
small bay on the northwest coast of
Florida. which he named Horse bay. At
that place they determined to build
boats and attempt to reach Panuco on
the western limit of the territory Mar
vaez had been appointed to govern.
the enmity and ferocity of the savages
in the country through which Narvaez
had led his followers, and their failure
to find the gold for which they were
searching, together with the dismissal of
their ships, had so disheartened them
that they thought only of endearvoring
to reach the nearest locality where their
countrymen were established. a month
was spent in building barges, five in
number, and these composed the little
feet that left Horse bay September %,
1928, to coast westward to Panuco,
which was located on Palm river in
Mexico. These barges were manned by
about fifty men each, and were equipped
with rude oars and sails. For more than
thirty days and nights they urged their
boats onward with but one landing.
Suffering from thirst. but so eager were
they to reach a friendly haven that they
urged their boats forward by night as
well as by day.
In his account of the voyage Nunez
always uses the words sailed or navi-
gated unless in describing an ATTEMPT to
make a landing and after they had been
nearly forty days on their voyage says:
$50 we sailed that day until the middle
of the afternoon when our boat, which
was first, discovered a point made by
the land and against q cape OPP
posite a broad river passed. l an
chored by little island which
forms the point to await the
arrival of the other boat. The govern
or did not choose to come up but entered
bay in which there were great many
islets. We came together there and took
fresh water from the sea, for the stream
entered it impetuously. To parch some
corn we had with US we agreed to so to
the river behind the point, which was
one league off. We were unable to get
there by any efforts. so violent was the
current on the way, which drove Us
from the land while we contended and
strove TO gain it. Half league out we
sounded and found that with thirty faith