a journey through texas

A
Journey
Through
Texas

Alvar
Nunez
Cabeza
de
Vaca


De
Vaca
and
his
three
countrymen
wandered
for
months
through
Texas
as
they
journeyed
toward
the
Spanish
settlement
in

Mexico
City.

In
the
course
of
his
travels,
de
Vaca
healed
a
Native
American
by
performing
the
first
recorded
surgery
in

Texas.

His
resulting
fame
attracted
so
many
followers
that
de
Vaca
noted
in
his
journal
that
“the
number
of
our
 companions became
so
large
that
we
could
no
longer
control
them.”

As
they
continued
traveling
westward,
the
group
was
 well received
by
the
natives
they
encountered.


The
same
Indians
led
us
to
a
plain
beyond
the
chain
of
mountains,
where
people
came
to
meet
us
 from a
long
distance.
By
those
we
were
treated
in
the
same
manner
as
before,
and
they
made
so
 many presents
to
the
Indians
who
came
with
us
that,
unable
to
carry
all,
they
left
half
of
it.
We
told
 the givers
to
take
it
back,
so
as
not
to
have
it
lost,
but
they
refused,
saying
it
was
not
their
custom
to
 take back
what
they
had
once
offered,
and
so
it
was
left
to
waste.
We
told
these
people
our
route
 was towards
sunset,
and
they
replied
that
in
that
direction
people
lived
very
far
away.
So
we
 ordered them
to
send
there
and
inform
the
inhabitants
that
we
were
coming
and
how.
From
this
 they begged
to
be
excused,
because
the
others
were
their
enemies,
and
they
did
not
want
us
to
go
to
 them. Yet
they
did
not
venture
to
disobey
in
the
end,
and
sent
two
women,
one
of
their
own
and
the
 other a
captive.
They
selected
women
because
these
can
trade
everywhere,
even
if
there
be
war.
 We
followed
the
women
to
a
place
where
it
had
been
agreed
we
should
wait
for
them.
After
five
 days they
had
not
yet
returned,
and
the
Indians
explained
that
it
might
be
because
they
had
not
 found anybody.
So
we
told
them
to
take
us
north,
and
they
repeated
that
there
were
no
people,
 except very
far
away,
and
neither
food
nor
water.
Nevertheless
we
insisted,
saying
that
we
wanted
 to go