Gabota Came
To Pernambuco In Brasil, Where He Waited Three Months For A Favourable
Wind To Get Round Cape St Augustine.
In the Bay of _Patos_, or of ducks,
the admirals ship was lost; and despairing of being able to accomplish
the voyage to the Moluccas, he built a pinnace for the purpose of
exploring the Rio Plata.
Gabota accordingly ran sixty leagues, or 120
miles up that river; when coming to a bar, he left the large ships there,
and went with the boats of the squadron 120 leagues, or 480 miles farther
up the river Parana, which the inhabitants considered to be the principal
river. He here constructed a fort, and remained in that place above a
year; From thence he rowed still farther up the Parana, till he came to
the mouth of another river called _Paragioa_, or Paraguay; and,
perceiving that the country produced gold and silver, he kept on his
course, sending one of the boats in advance, which was taken by the
natives. On this, Gabota thought it more prudent to return to his fort,
after having penetrated 200 leagues or 800 miles up this river. He took
on board the people he had left at the fort, and returning to the ships
at the bar, sailed back to Seville in 1530. He reported that the Rio
Plata was navigable for a great way, and that it rises from a lake named
_Bombo_[60] in the kingdom of Peru, whence, flowing through the valleys
of Xauxa, it receives the rivers Parso, Bulcasban, Cay, Parima, Hiacax,
and several others, by which its waters are greatly increased. It is also
said that the river of San Francesco comes from the same lake, which
likewise is very great; because rivers that flow from lakes are larger
than those which proceed from springs.
In the year 1527, Panfilo de Narvaez sailed from St Lucar de Barameda
with five ships, having 600 soldiers, 100 horses, and great abundance of
provisions, ammunition, and all other necessaries, to take possession of
Florida, as far as the river Palmas, of which he was appointed governor.
Not being able to land at the place he wished, he went on shore with 300
of his soldiers, some horses, and a supply of provisions, nearer Cape
Florida, ordering the ships to proceed to the river Palmas, in which
voyage they were nearly all lost Those who escaped shipwreck, suffered
extreme hardships from hunger and thirst on a dry barren island, called
Xamo by the natives, and which the Spaniards named _Malhada_. In this
island they were attacked by the natives, and many, both of the Spaniards
and natives, were slain.
Narvaez, and his people, saw some gold among the Indians of Florida, who
said they had it from _Apalachen_. He therefore went to that town in
search of gold, where they found abundance of bay trees, and others of
many different kinds, and plenty of beasts and birds, but neither gold
nor silver. From Apalachen, he went to a town called Aute, and from:
thence to Xamo, a poor and barren country. In this place, the natives
requested the Spaniards to cure their sick, of whom they had great
numbers; and the Spaniards being in extreme poverty and distress, prayed
for the sick, and used such endeavours as were in their power, towards
their relief: And it pleased God that many, both of the sick, and those
who were ill from wounds, recovered; nay, even one that was supposed to
be dead, was, by them, restored to life. Owing to this, the Spaniards
were greatly esteemed, and even reputed as gods, so that the people
offered them no injury, and even gave them such things as they had. By
these means, they passed through many countries, and many strange nations,
differing from each other in language, customs, and dress, and came at
length among a people that lived continually among their flocks and herds,
like the Arabs. Many of the tribes through which they travelled were so
poor as to feed on snakes, lizards, spiders, ants, and all kinds of
vermin, yet were well contented with their hard fore, and were much given
to singing and dancing. This people are reported to purchase all their
wives from their enemies, and to kill all their own daughters, lest by
marrying into hostile tribes their enemies should increase in numbers. In
some places, the women continued to suckle their children till they were
ten or twelve years old; and there were certain men, being hermaphrodites,
who married each other. In this manner, the Spaniards penetrated above
800 leagues, or 3200 miles through the country, till at length, not above
seven or eight of the whole armament reached the city of St Michael of
Calvacan, in lat. 23 deg.. N. or higher, on the coast of the South Sea[61].
Learning, as has been formerly mentioned, that Garcia de Louisa had
passed through the Straits of Magellan, on a voyage to the _Islands of
Cloves_, Cortes fitted out three ships from Civitlanejo, now St
Christophers, in lat. 20 deg.. N. on the western coast of New Spain, intending
to send there in search of Loaisa, and that they might discover the way
to the Moluccas, and open up the spice trade with New Spain. Leaving
Civatlanejo, on All Saints day, 1527, under the command of Alvaro de
Saavedra Ceron, the cousin of Cortes, they fell in with the islands
formerly discovered by Magellan, which he had named _the Pleasures_;
whence they sailed to the islands which had been discovered by Gomez de
Sequeira, and called by his name, but not knowing of this previous
discovery, he named them _Islas de los Reyes_, or the Isles of the Kings,
because discovered on Twelfth day. During this part of the voyage, two
ships of the squadron separated from Saavedra, and were never more heard
of. Sailing on from island to island, he arrived at the Island of Candiga,
where he ransomed two Spaniards for seventy ducats, who had belonged to
the crew of Loaisa, who was shipwrecked in that neighbourhood.
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