Becoming America - An Exploration of American Literature from Precolonial to Post-Revolution, 2018a

BECOMING AMERICA
PRE- AND EARLY COLONIAL LITERATURE
gathered and all the people had gone back to their houses. They said the country
was very cold, and there were few skins. Reecting on this, and that it was already
winter, we resolved to pass the season with these Indians.
Five days after our arrival, all the Indians went o, taking us with them to gather
more prickly pears, where there were other peoples speaking dierent tongues.
After walking ve days in great hunger, since on the way was no manner of fruit, we
came to a river and put up our houses. We then went to seek the product of certain
trees, which is like peas. As there are no paths in the country, I was detained some
time. The others returned, and coming to look for them in the dark, I got lost.
Thank God I found a burning tree, and in the warmth of it passed the cold of that
night. In the morning, loading myself with sticks, and taking two brands with me,
I returned to seek them. In this manner I wandered ve days, ever with my re
and load; for if the wood had failed me where none could be found, as many parts
are without any, though I might have sought sticks elsewhere, there would have
been no re to kindle them. This was all the protection I had against cold, while
walking naked as I was born. Going to the low woods near the rivers, I prepared
myself for the night, stopping in them before sunset. I made a hole in the ground
and threw in fuel which the trees abundantly aorded, collected in good quantity
from those that were fallen and dry. About the whole I made four res, in the form
of a cross, which I watched and made up from time to time. I also gathered some
bundles of the coarse straw that there abounds, with which I covered myself in the
hole. In this way I was sheltered at night from cold. On one occasion while I slept,
the re fell upon the straw, when it began to blaze so rapidly that notwithstanding
the haste I made to get out of it, I carried some marks on my hair of the danger to
which I was exposed. All this while I tasted not a mouthful, nor did I nd anything
I could eat. My feet were bare and bled a good deal. Through the mercy of God, the
wind did not blow from the north in all this time, otherwise I should have died.
At the end of the fth day I arrived on the margin of a river, where I found the
Indians, who with the Christians, had considered me dead, supposing that I had
been stung by a viper. All were rejoiced to see me, and most so were my companions.
They said that up to that time they had struggled with great hunger, which was the
cause of their not having sought me. At night, all gave me of their prickly pears,
and the next morning we set out for a place where they were in large quantity, with
which we satised our great craving, the Christians rendering thanks to our Lord
that he had ever given us his aid.
1.5.2 Reading and Review Questions
1. In Chapter XV, how does Cabeza de Vaca reconcile his practicing the
Indians’ healing with his own cultural beliefs?
2. In Chapter XV, what information about the Indians’ culture does Cabeza
de Vaca convey? How?
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