winshipI TRANSLATION OF CASTANEDA 541 



the enemy almost every day. He always marched with the advance 

 guard, leaving two-thirds of his force behind with the baggage. With 

 six or seven Spaniards, and without any of the Indian allies whom he 

 had with him, he forced his way into their villages, killing and destroy- 

 ing and setting them on lire, coming upon the enemy so suddenly and 

 with such quickness and boldness that they did not have a chance to 

 collect or even to do anything at all, until they became so afraid of him 

 that there was not a town which dared wait for him, but they fled 

 before him as from a powerful army; so much so, that for ten days, while 

 he was passing through the settlements, they did not have an hour's 

 rest. He did all this with his seven companions, so that when the rest 

 of the force came up with the baggage there was nothing for them to do 

 except to pillage, since the others had already killed and captured all 

 the people they could lay their hands on and the rest had fled. They 

 did not pause anywhere, so that although the villages ahead of him 

 received some warning, they were upon them so quickly that they did 

 not have a chance to collect. Especially in the region where the town of 

 Hearts had been, he killed and hung a large number of people to punish 

 them for their rebellion. He did not lose a companion during all this, nor 

 was anyone wounded, except one soldier, who was wounded in the eyelid 

 by an Indian who was almost dead, whom he was stripping. The 

 weapon broke the skin and, as it was poisoned, he would have had to 

 die if he had not been saved by the quince juice; he lost his eye as it 

 was. These deeds of theirs were such that I know those peojfle will 

 remember them as long as they live, and especially four or five friendly 

 Indians who went with them from Corazones, who thought that they 

 were so wonderful that they held them to be something divine rather 

 than human. If he had not fallen in with our army as he did, they 

 would have reached the country of the Indian called Turk, which they 

 expected to march to, and they would have arrived there without dan- 

 ger on account of their good order and the skill with which he was 

 leading them, and their knowledge and ample practice in war. Several 

 of these men are still in this town of Culiacau, where I am now writing 

 this account and narrative, where they, as well as I and the others who 

 have remained in this province, have never lacked for labor in keeping 

 this country quiet, in capturing rebels, and increasing in poverty and 

 need, and more than ever at the present hour, because the country is 

 poorer and more in debt than ever before. 



Chapter S, which describes some remarkable things that were seen on the 

 plains, with a description of the bulls. 



My silence was not without mystery and dissimulation when, in chap- 

 ter 7 of the second part of this book, I spoke of the plains and of 

 the things of which I will give a detailed account in this chapter, 

 where all these things may be found together; for these things were 

 remarkable and something not seen in other parts. I dare to write 



