Our Catliolic Heritage in Texas
Cabeza de Vaca that the land beyond this place was a desert waste; that there was consequently no food supply and that but few people inhabited that region which was very cold in winter; that there were no fur-bearing animals and hence no skins to provide warm wearing apparel when it was most needed . 55 The savages said, however, that if the visitors wanted to see the other Christians, they might do so within two days, when the Indians who controlled these Spaniards, would come to eat nuts in the valley of a river which was a league hence. This river has been definitely identified with the Guadalupe. 56 Although the natives gave Cabeza de Vaca the desired information, they soon showed him and his partner their true character. "They threw mud at us," he says, "and pointed their arrows at our hearts every day, saying they would kill us in the same way as our other companions. Fearing this, Lope de Oviedo, my companion, said he preferred to go back with some women of the Indians in whose company we had crossed the ancon, and who had remained behind. I insisted he should not go and did all I could to prevail upon him to remain, but it was in vain. He went back, and I remained alone among these Indians who are named Quevenes." 57 Cabeza de Vaca meets Dorantes and Castillo. Two days later, just as the Indians had told Cabeza de Vaca, those who had Dorantes and Castillo came to the river of nuts ( the Guadalu~). This tribe which Cabeza de Vaca called Mareames were perhaps the J aranames. 58 The other Christians had, evidently, been informed of the presence of Cabeza de Vaca. for he says: "Andres Dorantes came out to see who I was, the Indians having told him a Christian was coming [to see him]. When he saw me, he was much surprised, having considered me dead for a long time, as the Indians 55 Barcia, I, I 8-19. This is evidently an exaggeration, as the weather could not be very cold in the area below Corpus Christi Bay, to which the Indians were referring. 56 Davenport and Wells, Quarterly, Vol. 22, p. 1:23. 57 Barcia, I, 18. The Quevenes have been identified as the Cuajanes, a tribe that roamed west of the Colorado River. Hodge, 59, note. They were more likely the Copanes, as correctly concluded by Davenport and Wells in their excellent study "The First Europeans in Texas," Quarterl,y, Vol. :2:2, pp. 133-139. For a detailed discussion of the tribes encountered between Malhado and Corpus Christi, see the study cited. 58 Davenport and Wells, Quarterly, Vol. :n, p. 139.
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