Can you trace the approximate route de Vaca took after being blown ashore in the hurricane?	When encountering "The Other" most observers and recorders -- John Smith, William Bradford, Arthur Barlowe, and Thomas Harriot, in particular -- tried to fit the Native "Other" into an already formulated scheme, a familiar pattern like the Adam and Eve/Paradise (Barlowe) pattern or the Satan/Hell pattern (Smith and Bradford).  In other words, one way of dealing with these completely novel peoples and landscapes was to "type" them.  TYPOLOGIES are familiar patterns into which we try to fit novel experiences.  The patterns referred to for understanding most often by these early explorers came from the Bible. However, of all the Europeans who recorded experiences among the American Indians, Cabeza de Vaca may have been the "rawest;" that is, he recorded what he saw with very little interpretative reference to patterns.  And so, when we read Cabeza he is giving us a portrait of "The Other" which is freer of Biblical or technological static, so to speak.
Map from L'Illustration Journal Universel, 1853. 354.

Reading Guide for Cabeza de Vaca

Vocabulary:

Cultural References:

Introduction

What does cabeza de vaca mean?  Why was he given that name?
How did the company get stranded on the Florida coast?

How did they escape the Indians?

Off the coast of which of our modern states did Naváez abandon his company, taking off with the best of the oarsmen and barge?

And what happened to Naváez after that?

What was the source of de Vaca's continually improving reputation among the natives?

What or who followed de Vaca?

What phrase did de Vaca use ironically to describe Alcaraz and his men?

Where did Charles V send de Vaca to try the same thing that de las Casas tried to do?
Why was de Vaca eventually sent in chains back to Spain; then, further exiled to Algeria? Where is Algeria?
The introduction ends with this statement: De Vaca's book seeks to "explore his complex feelings regarding the Native Americans and his own countrymen's dealing with them." As you read, see if you can find signs indicating those "complex feelings" and statements showing his ambivalent attitude toward the natives.

From The Relation of Álvar Núñez Cabeza de Vaca
According the the 2nd paragraph, what is the "will of God" concerning men's fortunes?
How long was he "lost"?
Why, according to this dedication to Charles V, has de Vaca written this "strictly factual" account? Why is it not "trivial" to do so?

What does "malhado" mean?

What did the Malhado do to their bodies with cane?
What's their main food sources in the late fall and winter?

How do the Malhado feel about their children?

How do the Malhado grieve and then bury their dead?
How is the sachem, the medicine-man treated differently wehn they die?

How many wifes can they have [with one exception]?

How does a Malhado groom's relationship with his fiance's family change when he marries?

How does the son-in-law get food to eat after marrying?

In feet, approximately how far is it from the Malhado island to the mainland?

Summary:

List all the foods de Vaca mentions and the approximate time of year in which they are available?

Sum up the social status of the married woman in this culture. What evidence can you give for saying that is her status?
Describe the Malhado dress and bodily adornment customs.

[Our Life Among the Avavares and the Arbadaos]
How would you pronounce the words "Avavares" and "Arbadaos"? Anybody taken Spanish?
What unusual food did the Avavares and Arbadaos eat during the summer?

What was the physical condition of the Arbadaos Indians?

How much do two dogs cost?

What happened to their skin and why?
When de Vaca collected wood, how did it remind him of Christ?
What are some of the things de Vaca and his companions made so as to trade with the Arbadaos?
Where did they get some meat and why did they not cook it?

[Pushing On]

Why did the Indians look at them in amazement and fight?

How did the Spaniards allow the Indians to reassure themselves?

How did the host Indians respond when de Vaca and his men left?

[Customs of that Region]

So . . . . what happened when the wifes got pregnant?

Why did the children suckle so long?

What does de Vaca mean by "directly reconnect"?
How do the men try to resolve disputes?  Does it work?

Locate the Opata tribal grounds roughly on a map.
What evidence is here which shows that there was an extensive and sophisticated trade system among the Indians?
How are the Opata different in dress and custom from the Texas coastal natives? List three or four major differences.
Why do you think they decided to use the "Negro" as they did? How did that work to their benefit?
Note Vaca's observations on language?
What general affect did the explorers have on the country? What was, according to de Vaca, the reason they had this beneficial effect?

De Vaca sums up the character of the people. What's his assessment?

A Poison is mentioned.

[The First Confrontation]
How did the lost travelers feel, at first, on finding out that Christians were in the area?

How did the Christians react on first seeing de Vaca and his companions?

What was Alcaraz trying to do?

[The Falling Out With Our Countrymen]

How many Indians were in de Vaca's entourage?

Why was it unnecessary to order the Indians to bring food?

What does it mean that the Indians had a lot of food and the Christians none?

What did Alcaraz intend to do with the Indians?

What did de Vaca want the Indians to do to prevent this and why were the Indians reluctant to do as de Vaca instructed?

In summary and in general what were the natives' reasons for believing de Vaca rather than Alcaraz?
What could de Vaca not convince the Indians of?

What's the country like, according to de Vaca?

Whose fault is it if the towns are not rebuilt, according to de Vaca?

Do you see the irony in the first paragraph of "The First Confontation"? Can you reveal that irony in a clear statement?

Can you locate the mouth of the Gulf of California on a map?