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HARPERS' ENCYCLOPÆDIA

OF

UNITED STATES HISTORY

C.

He died Aug. 4, 1818.

Cabell, WILLIAM, statesman; born in Licking Hole, Va., March 13, 1730; was a commissioner to arrange military claims in 1758. During the trouble between the American colonies and Great Britain, prior to the Revolutionary War, he was a delegate to all the conventions for securing independence; was also a member of the committee which drew up the famous

Cabell, JAMES LAURENCE, sanitarian; of the proposed national Constitution. born in Nelson county, Va., Aug. 26, 1813; graduated at the University of Virginia in 1833; studied medicine in Baltimore, Philadelphia, and Paris; and became Professor of Anatomy and Surgery in the University of Virginia. He was in charge of the Confederate military hospitals during the Civil War. When yellow fever broke out at Memphis he was appointed chairman of the National Sanitary Conference, and devised the plan which "declaration of rights." On Jan. 7, 1789, checked the spread of the epidemic. From 1879 till the time of his death, which occurred in Overton, Va., Aug. 13, 1889, he was president of the National Board of Health.

he was one of the Presidential electors who voted for Washington as the first President of the United States. He died in Union Hill, March 23, 1798.

Cabet, ETIENNE, communist; born in Cabell, SAMUEL JORDAN, military offi- Dijon, France, in 1788; studied law, but cer; born in Amherst county, Va., Dec. applied himself to literature and politics. 15, 1756; was educated at William and In 1840 he attracted much attention Mary College. In 1775 he recruited a com- through his social romance, Voyage en pany of riflemen for the American service, Icarie, in which he described a communiswhich is said to have opened the action tic Utopia. In 1848 he sent an Icarian at Saratoga. During the siege of Charles- colony to the Red River in Texas, but the ton he was captured, and not being able colony did not thrive; and in 1850, as the to procure an exchange remained inactive leader of another colony, he settled in till peace was concluded. He was a Repre- Nauvoo, Ill., whence the Mormons had sentative in Congress in 1785-1803, and been expelled. This colony likewise failed in 1788, as a member of the constitutional to prosper, and was abandoned in 1857. convention, voted against the adoption He died in St. Louis, Mo., Nov. 9, 1856.

CABEZA DE VACA, ALVAR NUÑEZ

Cabeza de Vaca, ALVAR NUÑEZ, Span- 1528 he accompanied the expedition of Narish official and author; born in Jerez de vaez to Florida in the capacity of compla Frontera, Spain, probably in 1490. In troller and royal treasurer, and he and 1

II.-A

telling me how terrified they were, beseeching us to be no longer angry, and said that they would lead us in the direction it was our wish to go, though they knew they should die on the way.

Whilst we still feigned to be displeased lest their fright should leave them, a remarkable circumstance happened, which was that on the same day many of the Indians became ill, and the next day eight men died. Abroad in the country, wheresoever this became known, there was such dread that it seemed as if the

three others were all of a party who escaped from shipwreck and the natives. These four lived for several years among the Indians, and, escaping, made their way to the Spanish settlements in northern Mexico in the spring of 1536. In the following year Cabeza de Vaca returned to Spain; in 1540 was appointed governor of Paraguay; in 1543 explored the upper Paraguay River, and in 1544 was deposed by the colonists and afterwards imprisoned and sent to Spain. After trial he was sentenced to be banished to Africa, but was subsequently recalled, granted inhabitants would die of fear at sight many favors by the King, and was made judge of the Supreme Court of Seville. He published two works, one relating to his experiences in Florida, and the other to his administration in Paraguay, both of which are of considerable historical be greater; for, beyond their loss, we value, and have been published in various languages. He died in Seville, some time after 1560.

The Journey through New Mexico.The following is his narrative of his journey through New Mexico in 1535-36, from his Relation:

We told these people that we desired to go where the sun sets; and they said inhabitants in that direction were remote. We commanded them to send and make known our coming; but they strove to excuse themselves the best they could, the people being their enemies, and they did not wish to go to them. Not daring to disobey, however, they sent two women, one of their own, the other a captive from that people; for the women can negotiate even though there be war. We followed them, and stopped at a place where we agreed to wait. They tarried five days; and the Indians said they could not have found anybody.

We told them to conduct us towards the north; and they answered, as before, that except afar off there were no people in that direction, and nothing to eat, nor could water be found. Notwithstanding all this, we persisted, and said we desired to go in that course. They still tried to excuse themselves in the best manner possible. At this we became offended, and one night I went out to sleep in the woods apart from them; but directly they came to where I was, and remained all night without sleep, talking to me in great fear,

of us. They besought us not to remain angered, nor require that more of them should die. They believed we caused their death by only willing it, when in truth it gave us so much pain that it could not

feared they might all die, or abandon us of fright, and that other people thenceforward would do the same, seeing what had come to these. We prayed to God, our Lord, to relieve them; and from that time the sick began to get better.

We witnessed one thing with great admiration, that the parents, brothers, and wives of those who died had great sympathy for them in their suffering; but, when dead, they showed no feeling, neither did they weep nor speak among themselves, make any signs, nor dare approach the bodies until we commanded these to be taken to burial.

While we were among these people, which was more than fifteen days, we saw no one speak to another, nor did we see an infant smile: the only one that cried they took off to a distance, and with the sharp teeth of a rat they scratched it from the shoulders down nearly to the end of the legs. Seeing this cruelty, and offended at it, I asked why they did so: they said for chastisement, because the child had wept in my presence. These terrors they imparted to all those who had lately come to know us, that they might give us whatever they had; for they knew we kept nothing, and would relinquish all to them. This people were the most obedient we had found in all the land, the best conditioned, and, in general, comely.

The sick having recovered, and three days having passed since we came to the

place, the women whom we sent away returned, and said they had found very few people; nearly all had gone for cattle, being then in the season. We ordered the convalescent to remain and the well to go with us, and that at the end of two days' journey those women should go with two of our number to fetch up the people, and bring them on the road to receive us. Consequently, the next morning the most robust started with us.

At the end of three days' travel we stopped, and the next day Alonzo del Castillo set out with Estevanico, the negro, taking the two women as guides. She that was the captive led them to the river which ran between some ridges, where was a town at which her father lived; and these habitations were the first seen, having the appearance and structure of houses.

seated with their faces turned to the wall, their heads down, the hair brought before their eyes, and their property placed in a heap in the middle of the house. From this place they began to give us many blankets of skin; and they had nothing they did not bestow. They have the finest persons of any people we saw, of the greatest activity and strength, who best understood us and intelligently answered our inquiries. We called them the Cow nation, because most of the cattle killed are slaughtered in their neighborhood, and along up that river for over 50 leagues they destroy great numbers.

They go entirely naked after the manner of the first we saw. The women are dressed with deer skin, and some few men, mostly the aged, who are incapable of fighting. The country is very populous. We asked how it was they did not plant Here Castillo and Estevanico arrived, maize. They answered it was that they and, after talking with the Indians, Cas- might not lose what they should put in tillo returned at the end of three days to the ground; that the rains had failed for the spot where he had left us, and brought two years in succession, and the seasons five or six of the people. He told us he were so dry the seed had everywhere been had found fixed dwellings of civilization, taken by the moles, and they could not that the inhabitants lived on beans and venture to plant again until after water pumpkins, and that he had seen maize. had fallen copiously. They begged us This news the most of anything delighted to tell the sky to rain, and to pray for us, and for it we gave infinite thanks to it, and we said we would do so. We also our Lord. Castillo told us the negro was desired to know whence they got the maize, coming with all the population to wait and they told us from where the sun for us in the road not far off. Accordingly goes down; there it grew throughout the we left, and, having travelled a league region, and the nearest was by that path. and a half, we met the negro and the Since they did not wish to go thither, we people coming to receive us. They gave us asked by what direction we might best beans, many pumpkins, calabashes, blank- proceed, and bade them inform us conets of cowhide, and other things. As this cerning the way; they said the path was people and those who came with us along up by that river towards the north, were enemies, and spoke not each other's for otherwise in a journey of seventeen language, we discharged the latter, giv- days we should find nothing to eat, except ing them what we received, and we de- a fruit they call chacan, that is ground parted with the others. Six leagues from between stones, and even then it could there, as the night set in we arrived at with difficulty be eaten for its dryness the houses, where great festivities were and pungency which was true. They made over us. We remained one day, and showed it to us there, and we could the next set out with these Indians. They not eat it. They informed us also took us to the settled habitations of that, whilst we travelled by the river others, who lived upon the same food. upward, we should all the way pass From that place onward was another usage. Those who knew of our approach did not come out to receive us on the road as the others had done, but we found them in their houses, and they had made others for our reception. They were all

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through a people that were their enemies, who spoke their tongue, and, though they had nothing to give us to eat, they would receive us with the best good-will, and present us with mantles of cotton, hides, and other articles of their wealth.

Still it appeared to them we ought by no means to take that course.

Doubting what it would be best to do, and which way we should choose for suitableness and support, we remained two days with these Indians, who gave us beans and pumpkins for our subsistence. Their method of cooking is so new that for its strangeness I desire to speak of it; thus it may be seen and remarked how curious and diversified are the contrivances and ingenuity of the human family. Not having discovered the use of pipkins, to boil what they would eat, they fill the half of a large calabash with water, and throw on the fire many stones of such as are most convenient and readily take the heat. When hot, they are taken up with tongs of sticks and dropped into the calabash until the water in it boils from the fervor of the stones. Then whatever is to be cooked is put in, and until it is done they continue taking out cooled stones and throwing in hot ones. Thus they boil their food.

Two days being spent while we tarried, we resolved to go in search of the maize. We did not wish to follow the path leading to where the cattle are, because it is towards the north, and for us very circuitous, since we ever held it certain that going towards the sunset we must find what we desired.

Thus we took our way, and traversed all the country until coming out at the South sea. Nor was the dread we had of the sharp hunger through which we should have to pass (as in verity we did, throughout the seventeen days' journey of which the natives spoke) sufficient to hinder us. During all that time, in ascending by the river, they gave us many coverings of cow-hide; but we did not eat of the fruit. Our sustenance each day was about a handful of deer-suet, which we had a long time been used to saving for such trials. Thus we passed the entire journey of seventeen days, and at the close we crossed the river and travelled other seventeen days.

As the sun went down, upon some plains that lie between chains of very great mountains, we found a people who for the third part of the year eat nothing but the powder of straw, and, that being the season when we passed, we also had to eat

of it, until reaching permanent habitations, where was abundance of maize brought together. They gave us a large quantity in grain and flour, pumpkins, beans, and shawls of cotton. With all these we loaded our guides, who went back the happiest creatures on earth. We gave thanks to God, our Lord, for having brought us where we had found so much food.

Some houses are of earth, the rest all of cane mats. From this point we marched through more than a hundred leagues of country, and continually found settled domiciles, with plenty of maize and beans. The people gave us many deer and cotton shawls better than those of New Spain, many beads and certain corals found on the South sea, and fine turquoises that come from the North. Indeed, they gave us everything they had. To me they gave five emeralds made into arrow-heads, which they use at their singing and dancing. They appeared to be very precious. I asked whence they got these; and they said the stones were brought from some lofty mountains that stand towards the north, where were populous towns and very large houses, and that they were purchased with plumes and the feathers of parrots.

Among this people the women are treated with more decorum than in any part of the Indias we had visited. They wear a shirt of cotton that falls as low as the knee, and over it half sleeves with skirts reaching to the ground, made of dressed deer skin. It opens in front and is brought close with straps of leather. They soap this with a certain root that cleanses well, by which they are enabled to keep it becomingly. Shoes are worn. The people all came to us that we should touch and bless them, they being very urgent, which we could accomplish only with great labor, for sick and well all wished to go with a benediction.

These Indians ever accompanied us until they delivered us to others; and all held full faith in our coming from heaven. While travelling, we went without food all day until night, and we ate so little as to astonish them. We never felt exhaustion, neither were we in fact at all weary, so inured were we to hardship. We possessed great influence and author

ity: to preserve both, we seldom talked with them. The negro was in constant conversation; he informed himself about the ways we wished to take, of the towns there were, and the matters we desired to know.

We passed through many and dissimilar tongues. Our Lord granted us favor with the people who spoke them, for they always understood us, and we them. We questioned them, and received their answers by signs, just as if they spoke our language and we theirs; for, although we knew six languages, we could not everywhere avail ourselves of them, there being a thousand differences.

cover their nudity. They are a timid and dejected people.

We think that near the coast by way of those towns through which we came are more than a thousand leagues of inhabited country, plentiful of subsistence. Three times the year it is planted with maize and beans. Deer are of three kinds; one the size of the young steer of Spain. There are innumerable houses, such as are called bahíos. They have poison from a certain tree the size of the apple. For effect no more is necessary than to pluck the fruit and moisten the arrow with it, or, if there be no fruit, to break a twig and with the milk do the like. The tree is abundant and so deadly that, if the leaves be bruised and steeped in some neighboring water, the deer and other animals drinking it soon burst.

Throughout all these countries the people who were at war immediately made friends, that they might come to meet us, and bring what they possessed. In this way we left all the land at peace, and we We were in this town three days. A taught all the inhabitants by signs, which day's journey farther was another town, they understood, that in heaven was a at which the rain fell heavily while we Man we called God, who had created the were there, and the river became so swolsky and the earth; him we worshipped len we could not cross it, which detained and had for our master; that we did what us fifteen days. In this time Castillo he commanded and from his hand came saw the buckle of a sword-belt on the neck all good; and would they do as we did, of an Indian and stitched to it the nail all would be well with them. So ready of of a horseshoe. He took them, and we apprehension we found them that, could asked the native what they were: he anwe have had the use of language by which swered that they came from heaven. We to make ourselves perfectly understood, questioned him further, as to who had we should have left them all Christians. brought them thence: they all responded Thus much we gave them to understand that certain men who wore beards like the best we could. And afterward, us had come from heaven and arrived at when the sun rose, they opened their hands together with loud shouting towards the heavens, and then drew them down all over their bodies. They did the same again when the sun went down. They are a people of good condition and substance, capable in any pursuit.

In the town where the emeralds were presented to us the people gave Dorantes over six hundred open hearts of deer. They ever keep a good supply of them for food, and we called the place Pueblo de los Corazones. It is the entrance into many provinces on the South sea. They who go to look for them, and do not enter there, will be lost. On the coast is no maize: the inhabitants eat the powder of rush and of straw, and fish that is caught in the sea from rafts, not having With grass and straw the women

canoes.

For

that river, bringing horses, lances, and
swords, and that they had lanced two Ind-
ians. In a manner of the utmost indif-
ference we could feign, we asked them
what had become of those men. They an-
swered us that they had gone to sea, put-
ting their lances beneath the water, and
going themselves also under the water;
afterwards that they were seen on the
surface going towards the sunset.
this we gave many thanks to God our
Lord. We had before despaired of ever
hearing more of Christians. Even yet we
were left in great doubt and anxiety,
thinking those people were merely persons
who had come by sea on discoveries. How-
ever, as we had now such exact informa-
tion, we made greater speed, and, as we
advanced on our way, the news of the
Christians continually grew. We told the
natives that we were going in search of

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