El Paso daily herald. (El Paso, Tex.) 1881-1901, 1898-03-05

the sick and dying, threatened with
mutiny. the outlook was dreary, not tt
saw hopeless To march inland was tC
march TO certain death; On the sea lay
their one oha ce for life.
From a strange land they sailed out
on strange water.
Not daring to trust them selves fal
out at sea, and in The vain hope Of
finding some Spanish settlement, they
kept close to the shore For thirty
DAYS or more they sailed along in this
manner. Then the water bags rOtted,
aad many of them, deliriou5 wi h thirst,
drank the briny water of the sea and
died 10 agony. While like daat b
seemed inevitable to all. they came 10
the Indian il;aga, where was TO- and
water. After day and nights stay,
during which they were attacked by
an Indians, they re-embarHed and
sailed on. 10 this manner shey con- on,
tinued for many days. suffering al
tn 1T men can suffer from want of food
and water.
At lengt tn they came to r broad river,
at the mouth of which were many little
Islands, river which, for several
reasons is supposed to have been the
Mississippi. The current bel"g to
strong to allow them to land, they
were borne OUT to ses, and in the dark
|
captain S b ,at fiaaily reached land but
two Others, one of which was Cabeza's
drifted olt to se2, for the men were
too weak to row. For several days
these two boats stayed together, but a
storm arose and they, too, drifted
apart:
Cabeza's boat was finally cast ashore
on an telsnd, which, for reasons to be
giveu.lase we believe to have been
Galveston island. The SpaDiards
named it Ma!hado meaning ''ill luck. "
The Indians came down to the shore,
gave them fish end roots and treated
them kindly. Ia an endeavor to
lauoch the boat on the following day
it was capsized and borne out to
sea They were cow entirely at the
mercy of the Indians. These, how
ever, were kindly disposed, and took
them TO their village. In a few days
they were joined by party from one
of the other beats, which had been
wrecked at another part of the is
land.
They now nun bered forty; but to go
on in such weather IVES Impossible as
those of the e st noat had even lost
their c'oth:ng H. was therefore
agreed that they should remain on the
island, while four of the men should
go on in search of Spanish settlements,
which they supposed to be very near
the west. Soon after the departure of
the four, a plague broke out.on the is
land, and the -umb er of the Spaniar 8
vas reduced to fifteen. These were
separated by the Indians, who had
practically enslaved them; some were
being taken to the mainland. others
left on the island. The weather was
very severe and food scarce. In the
springtime the Spaniards, except
| Cabeza and another, who were too sick
to travel, escaped from their masters
and started westward down the
coast. Nothing had yet been heard
of the four who had previously set
out.
For six years Cabeza led a slaves
| times on the island.
AT the end Of these six years he aud
his companion, Lopez de Ovideo, escap-
ed from the Indians and started down
the coast. After having crossed four
rivers, they came to a bay, most prob
ably Ma agor1e bay. On the farther
side of this bay they met party OF In
the island. These told them beyond
were three men like the Spsniards.
The Indians also said that if Cabeza
wished TO see them that in the next
few days they would be at walnut
grove not far distant. At this point
Lopez de Ovedio, terrified by the In
disns' tales Of cruelty refused to go far
Their, and returned to the former mas
terS.
Two days later Cabeza joined the
other three in the walnut grove. They
we're three of the party who had left
the island six years before. Their COM
panions had been killed by the Indians
or had died from hardships. OF the
powerful force which, MT long before.
Narvaez had led into the swamps of
Florida, there now remained only this
mere handful of wretched creatures,
VINO maintained a precarious Hveli-
hood as slaves of the Indians.
We believe that we can identify the
vicinity in which this meeting oc-
Cured. But of this we shall speak
more at length in another place: it is
sufficient to say that the Spaniards
were mo t probably in the neighbor-
hood of Mata9orda bay, and, perhaps,
ar the mouth of the Colorado river.
They remained quietly here for six
months, waiting until the Indians
at which time, many tribes being gath
cred together. they thought they could
best make their escape. For three
months in the year the Indians in that
part OF the country lived entirely on
The fruit of the cactus So luXuriant
and thick is the growth of this plant
in southwestern Texas that we can
safely say it was to this reg ion that the
Indians came early.
As the Spaniards had anticipated,
they were taken in due season to the
prickly pear region, where they
planned their escape. On the day
settled upon for their departure the In
diane quarreled among themselves.
and the Spsniards were separated.
Alter a years weary waiting, at the
next prickly psar season they were
again brought together. and agaio
separated before they could escapa.
In despair they appointed a me ting
place, and each pledged himself to
elude the vigilance OF his mas err, and
Join tue others at the appointed time
This time they were successful, and
the four men began their desperate
journey to find the Spanish settlements
in Mexico.
For the frat few days they Travelled
very rapidly, .fearing gr. ly lest the
indians should overtake them. They
soon came IT, another Indian tribe,
where they W. re kindly treated. From
20 49,: