win-ship] THE EXPEDITION OF NARVAEZ 347 



unused to woodcraft. Little help could be procured from the Indians, 

 who soon became openly hostile wherever the Spaniards encountered 

 them. Food grew scarce, and no persuasion could induce the natives 

 to reveal hidden stores of corn, or of gold. On May 15, tired and dis- 

 couraged, the Spaniards reached a large river with a strong current 

 flowing toward the south. They rested here, while Cabeza de Vaca, 

 the royal treasurer accompanying the expedition, took a small party of 

 soldiers and followed the banks of the river down to the sea. The 

 fleet was not waiting for them at the mouth of this stream, nor could 

 anything be learned of the fine harbor for which they were searching. 

 Disappointed anew by the report which Cabeza de Vaca made on his 

 return to the main camp, the Spanish soldiers crossed the river and 

 continued their march toward the west. They plodded on and on, and 

 after awhile turned southward, to follow down the course of another 

 large river which blocked their westward march. On the last day of 

 July they reached a bay of considerable size, at the mouth of the river. 

 They named this Bahia de los Oavallos, perhaps, as has been surmised, 

 because it was here that they killed the last of their horses for food. 

 The Spaniards, long before this, had become thoroughly disheartened. 

 Neither food nor gold could lie found. The capital, cities, toward 

 which the Indian captives had directed the wandering strangers, when 

 reached, were mere groups of huts, situated in some cases on mounds 

 of earth. Not a sign of anything which would reward their search, 

 and hardly a thing to eat, had been discovered during the months of 

 toilsome marching. The Spaniards determined to leave the country. 

 They constructed forges in their camp near the seashore, and hammered 

 their spurs, stirrups, and other iron implements of warfare into nails and 

 saws and axes, with which to build the boats necessary for their escape 

 from the country. Ropes were made of the tails and manes of the 

 horses, whose hides, pieced out with the shirts of the men, were fash- 

 ioned into sails. By September 22, five boats were ready, each large 

 enough to hold between 45 and 50 men. In these the soldiers 

 embarked. Scarcely a man among them knew anything of naviga- 

 tion, aud they certainly knew nothing about the navigation of this 

 coast. They steered westward, keeping near the land, and stopping 

 occasionally for fresh water. Sometimes they obtained a little food. 



Toward the end of October they came to the mouth of a large river 

 which poured forth so strong a current that it drove the boats out to 

 sea. Two, those which contained Narvaez and the friars, were lost. 

 The men in the other three boats were driven ashore by a storm, some- 

 where on the coast of western Louisiana or eastern Texas. 1 This was 



'The most important source of information regarding the expedition of Narvaez is tbe Relation 

 written by Cabeza de Vaca. This is best consulted in Buckingham Smith's translation. Mr Smith 

 iio hoi. * in his volume everything winch be could find to supplement the main narration. The best 

 study oi the route followed by the survivors of tin- expedition, after they landed in Texas, is that of 

 Bandolier in the second chapter of bis Contributions to the History of the Southwest. In this essay 

 Bandolier has brought together all the documentary evidence, ami lie writes with the knowledge 

 obtained by traveling through the different portions of the country which Cabeza de Vaca must have 



