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The Narvaez Expedition, r526-r536
to God because each day His favor and mercy increased." 74 The Indians celebrated the occasion with great rejoicings and danced for three days. It was October, 1535, and the Chrstians were anxious to continue on their long journey in spite of their kind hosts. They inquired of them concerning the nature of the country beyond, of its people and the food they might find. The Indians replied that prickly pears grew in abund- ance but the season was now over. Because of this fact, there were no people there now, all having gone home after eating the tunas. They said the land was "very cold, 75 and there were few skins to be had there." As winter was approaching, Cabeza de Vaca and his companions decided to stay with these Indians until the spring. Five days later they all went in search of another place \vhere tunas were still plentiful. It took them five days to get to a river where they put up their lodges. On the way they suffered great hunger because they found no prickly pears. This barren stretch was perhaps the Claiborne Eocene formation which lies between the Washington and Black prairies that separate the middle and western tuna countries. 76 Here the.y hunted for the fruit of a certain tree that resembled peas. While engaged in this search, Cabeza de Vaca strayed from the rest of the party and there being no roads became lost. Fortunately he found a burning tree before night- fall; no doubt where some of his friends had camped during the day. He spent the night by the fire and next morning, taking a firebrand in his hand and some wood, started to look for his friends. For five days he kept this up. Each night before sunset he would dig a hole in the ground near a thicket. Gathering wood, he then built four fires in the shape of a cross around the ditch and thus passed the night comfortably. To keep warm, he furthermore pulled the long rushes that grew along the stream and placed them over his naked body, for he had no clothes. One night the wind blew stronger than usual, and a spark from one of the fires kindled the straw that covered him. "Although I hurried," he says, "to get out of my hole as quickly as possible, I still had marks on my hair of the danger to which I had been [exposed] ." 77 When he at last met his friends by a river, they were surprised to see him, having long since thought him dead from the bite of some snake. Next day the Indians and the Spaniards set out again and soon came 74 Barcia, I, 23. 75 A strong argument against the contention of Davenport and Wells that they were now in the lower Rio Grande, where the winters are undeniably mild. 16 Hill, Dallas News, October 15, 1933. 77Barcia, I, 24.
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