re attended by above four thousand persons at
once, which was extremely troublesome, as none of them would either eat
or drink till the Spaniards had blessed the food and drink and breathed
on them.

They travelled in this manner for upwards of thirty leagues, at the end
of which the mode of their reception was considerably changed as the
Indians who accompanied them ceased plundering; yet the tribe at which
they arrived offered every thing they had, which was divided among the
escort, who then returned to their own dwellings, and this tribe
recovered what they had given away in a similar manner on accompanying
the Spaniards to the next tribe. In the course of their journey however
the Spaniards had to travel for more than fifty leagues through a craggy
mountainous country, where they suffered extremely for want of food,
till at length they arrived at a plain country where they met with a
kind reception, and where their escort received abundance of goods and
provisions and then returned to their own habitations. As the people
farther on were at war with the tribe where the Spaniards then were, two
women were sent on to inform the hostile tribe of the approach of the
Christians, as it was usual among these people, even when at war, to
continue an intercourse of trade by means of their women. Continuing
their journey, the Spaniards were inclined to change the route more to
the northwards, as no person came to meet them from the tribe to which
the women were sent; but the Indians who accompanied them objected to
this measure, as they alleged that the natives in that direction were
wicked and cruel, and that besides they would be unable to procure food
or water. As the Spaniards were displeased at this interruption, the
Indians declared themselves ready to go with them wherever they were
pleased to command, even though sure to perish, and they accordingly
went on; but as many of the Indians fell sick, and eight of them died in
this part of the journey, the other tribes were thrown into great
consternation, believing that they should all die upon being visited by
the Spaniards. So great was the dread and reverence in which the
Spaniards were held by the Indians, who imagined they were the cause of
the sickness and death of their countrymen, that they earnestly
entreated the Spaniards not to be angry with them. Cabeza de Vaca and
his companions became apprehensive that this mortality might estrange
the Indians from them, and