The Narvaez Expedition, 1526-1536
59
only two remained: Sotomayor and Esquivel. The former died and Hernando de Esquivel, following the established custom, fed upon him and kept alive in this manner until March 1, 1529, when an Indian came and took him captive. Of approximately one hundred men, who made up the crews of the barges of Narvaez and Enriquez, Esquivel was the only survivor by the spring of 1529. Such was the toll of life of this unfortunate expedition.'" Only the boat of Captains Tellez and Penalosa remains now to be accounted for. This vessel seems to have continued afloat longer than all the others. The fate of its crew was not learned by Cabeza de Vaca until almost seven years after it was wrecked. While in the land of the tunas (prickly pears) the natives told him that there was another nation called the Camones, who lived farther down the coast. Just where the habitat of these Indians was has not been definitely determined, but it seems they roamed in the vicinity of Aransas Pass, near Coq;1us Christi, not infrequently crossing over to ~ Josee..h's and Mustang Isl~nds. 45 It was in this area that the boat finally was destroyed, and the men were "so emaciated, that they offered no resistance while being killed. Thus they put an end to all of them and they showed us their clothes and arms," declares Cabeza de Vaca. "The barge was wrecked there." 46 Suffe,-ings and wanderings of tlie survivors. It is time to return to Cabeza de Vaca and his companions on San Luis Island-now a peninsula. When the men, who were shipwrecked with Castillo and Dorantes four miles above, on present Galveston Island, met the companions of Cabeza de Vaca, on November 7, there were about eighty persons. The Indians were friendly enough at first, but as the winter progressed the visitors were no longer welcome and before long many of them began to die of hunger, exposure, and sickness. A group of five, who were driven from the Indian camp and took refuge on the coast, were soon reduced to cannibalism. These were Sierra, Diego Lopez, Corral, Palacios, and Gon- zalo Ruiz. When the Indians discovered this fact, they were horrified at the terrible aspect and would have put all the rest of the Spaniards to death, had they found out this condition sooner. By the time spring '"Oviedo, Davenport, Quarterly, Vol. 27, p. 238; Barcia, I, 20; Davenport and Wells, Quarterly, Vol. 22, p. 125. 45 R . T. Hill, map published in Dallas Ne--.us, July 30, 1933; also article of the same date; Wells and Davenport, Quarterly, Vol. 22, p. 129; Bandelier, 97-98. • 6 Barcia, I, 22.
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