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

venison, until the qua nifty of it become
so great that we knew not where tC
| DISPOSE of it. We gave many thanks tC
God, for every day went on increasing
| His compa sion and his gifts.
| New hopes were thus kiudled, and
| the Spaniards continued with deliber-
ate purpose the practice which had &C
eide tally opened new career to
them. Their fame spread, and from
this time forward their march was the
progress of trium Oh ant me icine men,
ofteo attended by hundreds, even thou
sauds, says Cabeza. The Indians sur
rendered all this earthly possessions
to these children of the sun, AID served
them as willing slaves.
In very interesting chapter Cab "a
also tells us of some of the queer Gus
toms OF the tribes through which he
passed. In one tribe, when child
died, it was mOurned for whole year,
and LISTING until sunset. If brother
or husband died, none of that family
would go in search of food for three
months, but would stsrve to death if
not provided for by the rest of the
tribe. In war they were keen and
vigilan.. The warriors dug ditahes in
front of their huts, and lyirg down in
them, completely covered themselves
with bru: b and twies. Thus concealed
they could do much damage. They
drank a liquid made by roasting a Ger
tain kind of .,leaf, upon which water
WAS then poured. This had an intoxl-
eating effect, ard for three days at a
time they would take nothing else.
From the TIM it was ready to be used
I'd It'll it was consumed they cried con-
tinually, "Who wishes to drink, who
wishes to drink?' When a woman
heard this, she stopped instantly what
was thought an evil spirit went into
the liquid ard it was thrown away and
the woman was beaten with icks. The
mesQ ute bean, a. important article OF
food with them, was prepared for eat
ing in a peculiar mann r. A hole was
dug in the ground; in this the beans
we're PLACED and pounded with club.
Dirt and wa'er were pohred in on them
and all stirred IN together. Then the
Indians gathaie ed around and ate out of
the whole. If it did not taste right,
more dirt was stirred in.
Hope rose in the hearts of the Span
iards. We're they at last near the
Spanish settlements, or had these men
been but passing explorers? But as
they went on, they found the Indians
fleeing on account of this party. The
villages were deserted, the fields until
ed. The people were living on the
subsistence Cabeza and his compan-
ions were forced to resort. A few
days jouroey more and the tracks of
the Christians were visible. They
were in the peighborhood of a psrty of
Spanish slave hunters. Day by day
they gained upon them, and at last Ca
beza lie 4ving the others some little dis
lance behind, came up with four Span
ish horsemen. They took him to their
leader, and to him Cabeza told the
story of his marvellous wanderin1s.
Through the ipflence of Cabeza
many of theIndians were persuaded to
return to their villages aud bring out
food, which they had concealed. The
Indians could not be persuaded to be-
ieve that CabeZa and his companions
were also Spauiards, of whom they
were very much afraid.
These Spaniards gave Cabeza two
Spanish settlement. The guides &C
cording to their ord rs, took them in
such way that they should not again
see the Indians, whom the Spaniards,
contrary to their promises seized as
soon as Caheza had gone. All of Ca
beza's party came near perishing from
hunger and thirst, and many of them
did. But at last they reached the
town of San MIGUEL, April l, 1886, the
fist Spanish settlement they had seen
since thew left Cuba, nearly ten years
b fore. They stayed here some time,
and letters written by them to the
Spanish king have been of some
value in determining their route On
August 9, 1887, 'Cabeza de Vaca, hav-
ing passed through almost Incredible
ventures, landed at Lisbon, Spain.
Among these tribes Cabeza and bis
waudered for many days,
always followed by a great number of
Indians. On approaching a new tribe
the Indians came out TO meet them.
laying all their possessions at the
Spaniards' feet. Cabeza then turned
over these goods to his followers and
dismissed them. The Indians who had
thus given up all they possessed fol-
lowed the white men to the
next tribe, where they were reim-
buried for their loss, and so on indef-
nitely.
On desiring the Indians TO take them
on toward the west, they found them
very reluctant to do so. However, on
the Spaniar3s showing their displeas-
ure, the savages yielded to their re-
OUa6t and having sent ont w0man aS