The 16th century journey of a Spaniard named Cabeza de Vaca is truly a remarkable survival story. He was one of the 4 survivors out of 600 that went on a disastrous colonizing expedition into Florida. He spent 10 years stranded in an unknown land with little food, hostile natives, and slim chances of ever returning to civilization. Cabeza de Vaca traveled thousands of miles over land and sea; starting in Florida he made his way through, Texas, New Mexico, and a large chunk of Mexico before he finally found fellow Spaniards again. He had to show incredible grit and faith to make it out alive. The many stories of his interactions with the Indians are perhaps the most interesting part of his journey. He recorded his entire journey in his book Adventures in the Unknown Interior of America.
After the disastrous trek through Florida and the crossing of the Gulf of Mexico on makeshift rafts, many of the men in the expedition had perished. (Sadly, I don’t have time to delve into those stories further.) The handful that remained (including Cabeza de Vaca) landed at modern day Galveston Texas. They were all so weak and hungry that they were forced to put themselves at the mercy of the local Indian tribe. At first, the Indians treated them well and gave them some of the little food that they had.
After spending some time with the Indians, the Indians decided to force them to become healers. Cabeza de Vaca and his companions were soldiers; they had no experience in any type of healing, nevertheless they tried. They observed an Indian healer at work then they began healing people. Everyone they visited, whether they were sick or physically injured, was healed within a day or two. Amazingly their only methods of healing were blowing on the sick, rubbing their hands on the sick, and praying to God that whoever they worked on be healed. They attained a respectful status within the tribe due to their miraculous success at healing.
After being healers for some time, for some reason they became slaves. Cabeza de Vaca does not explain how this happens in his book. During their time as slaves the number of survivors dwindled down to 4. They spent a long time in captivity enduring grueling conditions the whole way. Eventually they were able to make an escape westward going further into Texas.
After their escape they met up with more Indian tribes. They were once again welcomed as guests and given a tiny ration of food. In order to gain the respect of the Indians they began to heal people again. He gives a couple of specific stories of some of the Indians he helped. One Indian was suffering from terrible headaches, undoubtedly what we would call migraines today and he came to Cabeza de Vaca to be healed. Cabeza de Vaca prayed for the Indian’s headaches to be gone and the following day the Indian returned claiming that he no longer suffered from the headaches.
He gives another story of how he surgically removed an arrowhead from an Indian’s chest. After he used a knife to cut the arrow head out, he prayed that the Indian be healed quickly. To everyone’s amazement, within the next couple days, the Indian’s wound closed up and looked like it was hardly even there.
Cabeza de Vaca and his companion’s ability to heal the Indians time and time again is what allowed their escape back to civilization. The Indians were in awe of their ability to heal and it earned them a great deal of respect within the Indian tribes. The Indians considered it an honor whenever they came to their villages. If the Indians didn’t view them this way, they surely would have been killed or enslaved. Therefore, his methods for healing must have worked. If not, he never would have survived his journey.
Cabeza de Vaca’s journey through the New World was truly incredible. For 10 years he endured many hardships and saw the death of most of his comrades. In the end, his faith is what saved him. He was able to gain the respect of the Indians by healing, which he did by praying. This gave him the chance to return to civilization with an amazing story to tell.
Very cool story. Seems like there is a lot more to it.