The Conquest of the River Plate (1535-1555). active 16th century Alvar Núñez Cabeza de Vaca
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.
[22] Jorge de Mendoza. No known document mentions this Jorge de Mendoza, nor the rape alluded to by Schmidt. It is not likely that a relative of the chief of the expedition should have been on board a Flemish ship which was not under his immediate command.
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.
[23] Mexico.
[24] Jorge de Mendoza.
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.
[25] In orig.: “Bulschafft,” lit. love intrigue.
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.
[26] All distances given by Schmidt are erroneous, and it is astonishing that Don Felix de Azara, a geographer, should have written to the contrary. By the distance given in miles between Palma, one of the Canary Islands, and St. Iago, one of the Cape Verd Islands, it may be seen that Schmidt’s miles are more properly Castilian leagues of 17½ in a geographical degree, the legal measure of distance in his time.
[27] Peje-espada, or sword-fish.
[28] Peces-sierras.
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.
[29] The discoverers were Spaniards, and this is proved by the name Rio de Henero, as the word Enero was spelt in the sixteenth century. The h was at the time aspirated (especially by the natives of Andalusia), and hence the name became corrupted into Jenero, changed afterwards into Janeiro by the Portuguese.
[30] Tupys.
[31] Don Pedro de Mendoza.
[32] Juan Osorio.
[33] Juan de Ayolas, Juan Salazar, and Jorge Lujan.
[34] If this name is rightly spelt, it may be one of the Flemish who took part in the expedition. In Barcia’s