The Southwestern Historical Quarterly, Volume 27, July 1923 - April, 1924 Page: 233
344 p. : maps ; 23 cm.View a full description of this periodical.
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The Expedition of Pdnfilo de Narviez
from other parts the things which they needed, and thus engaged
entered sometimes into the interior, and went along by the coast
forty leagues forward; and three times passed an ancon, which he
said he believed, from certain signs, is that called Espiritu Santo.
The second time he returned those forty leagues to bring a Chris-
tian who lived there, one of the two left there very feeble by Cas-
tillo and Dorantes when they departed from the island; the other
being dead, and the last time he brought him,9 and carried him
to the other side of said Ancon del Espiritu Santoo ten leagues
8The history of the northern coast of the Gulf of Mexico properly begins
with the running of its shore line by Alonso de Pineda for Francisco
Garfy, Governor of Jamaica, during 1518-1519. Pineda prepared a map,
or chart of his explorations, on which he indicated a bay, with a river
disemboguing into it, which he designated as Espiritu Santo Bay and
river. These were doubtless the modern Mobile Bay and Alabama River,
which Narvaez' men appear not to have seen, so they identified Paso
Cavallo, the entrance to Matagorda Bay, with Pineda's river and bay of
Espiritu Santo. La Salle made the same mistake a hundred and fifty
years later. (Coopwood, "Notes on the History of La Bahia del Espiritu
Santo," THE QUARTERLY, II, 162; Dunn, Spanish and French Rivalry in
the Gulf Region of the United States, 59-108. Wooten (ed.), A Compre-
hensive History of Texas, I, 6-9, note).
9Relacion: "In the end he took with him a Christian whom Dorantes
had left sick on an island where they were when he crossed to the main-
land. Going on with some Indians of the land, they went by the coast
until they arrived at an inlet [ancon] which was a league across and deep
in all parts, which seemed to them to be that called del Espiritu Santo.
"They saw some Indians who said that those of the other side had three
men like them, and told them their names. They questioned them about
the rest, and they replied that they were all dead from cold and hunger."
o"Paso Cavallo. Cabeza de Vaca's account of his final journey from
Mal-Hado to this ancon (Naufrdgios, Bandelier, 76-77) reads:
"Nearly six years I spent thus in the country, alone among them and
naked, as they all were themselves.
"The reason for remaining so long was that I wished to take with me a
Christian called Lope de Oviedo, who still lingered on the island. The
other companion, Alaniz, who remained with him after Alonso del Castillo
and An'dres Dorantes and all the others had gone, soon died, and in order
to get him [Oviedo] out of there, I went over to the island every year,
entreating him to leave with me and go as well as we could, in search of
Christians. But year after year he put it off to the year that was to
follow. In the end I got him to come, took him away, and carried him
across the inlets and through four rivers on the coast, since he could not
swim. Thence we proceeded, together with several Indians, to an inlet
one league wide, very deep everywhere and which seemed to us, from what
we saw, to be the one called del Espiritu Santo.
"On the opposite shore we saw Indians who had come to meet those in
our company. They informed us that further on there were three men
like ourselves, and told us their names. Upon being asked about the
rest of the party, they answered that all had died from cold and hunger,
and that the Indians beyond had killed Diego Dorantes, Valdivieso and233
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Texas State Historical Association. The Southwestern Historical Quarterly, Volume 27, July 1923 - April, 1924, periodical, 1924; Austin, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth101086/m1/239/: accessed April 26, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Texas State Historical Association.