The Conquest of the River Plate (1535-1555). active 16th century Alvar Núñez Cabeza de Vaca
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]
[73] Guaicurús.
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.
[74] It is impossible even to guess at what the author means by these words, which are not Guaraní.
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.
[75] Mepenes.
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.
[76] Paraná.
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.
[77] Paraguai.
[78] These Indians are the Mbaiás.
[79] Algarroba, the seed of the carob tree.
[80] The vegetable from which they made wine was not the fenugreek, but the carrot-bean (Prosopis dulcis mimosa).
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.
[81] Mepenes.
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.
[82] Agazes.
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.
[83] Ipiti, the name of this river, signifies “red” in the Guaraní language; hence the Spaniards called it Rio Bermejo (Red River).
[84] Neither at the time of Schmidt, nor afterwards, was there at the head of the Bermejo a people called Duechkamin. This may, perhaps, refer to Tomina, because, though this town is not situated within the system of the river Bermejo, it is not far from it, and this circumstance may have led Schmidt into error. M. Ternaux says in his Collection that this town can be no other than Tucuman, but this proves his incompetency in this matter, as Tucuman