The family of Schmidel has been known in Bavaria since 1364, and is said to have been ennobled. The author’s father, Wolfgang Schmidel, was held in high esteem by his townsmen, and was three times burgermeister of Straubing. He died in 1511, leaving three sons, of whom the youngest, Ulrich, was born in the first decade of the sixteenth century. Little or nothing is known of his boyhood or youth. His narrative indicates only a moderate degree of education. In 1534 he was at Antwerp, probably sent thither as a commercial agent or dependant, and in that year he enlisted as a soldier for service in the New World. At that time he was probably about twenty-five years of age. The same year he arrived at Cadiz, and departed for America with Mendoza’s expedition, destined for the Río de la Plata, that had been discovered by Solís and explored by Cabot. Mendoza’s fleet consisted of fourteen ships, having on board about two thousand five hundred persons; of these one hundred and fifty were soldiers. Two years after landing at the site of Buenos Aires a review of the colony showed five hundred and sixty survivors; the greater part had died of hunger. Schmidel witnessed the ravages of famine, the abandonment of the settlement at Buenos Aires, the founding of Asunción; was with Irala in the expedition towards Peru; served under Cabeza de Vaca, whom he characterized as an adventurer and unfit for the enterprise in which they were engaged; and took part in the rebellion of 1549. A letter from his brother Thomas, who had held the inheritance from his father, requested his return to Germany. His petition for a discharge was at first refused, but was finally granted with favourable commendation for the service he had rendered.[165] [Illustration: Title page of the revised edition of Schmidel’s “Warhafftige Historien,” Latin translation] [Sidenote: Schmidel and affairs of Paraguay] It has been denied that Schmidel was a soldier, but that view appears hardly tenable in the face of his clear designation of himself as a soldier. He was loyal to Irala, and took part in the revolt against the governor. His relation to this undertaking sufficiently explains his opinion of Núñez, and prepares one to find in his book a partisan account of events in Paraguay during these troubled years. The following is Schmidel’s reference to Alvar Núñez Cabeza de Vaca’s arrival in Asunción after the overland journey from the Atlantic coast: [Sidenote: Arrival of Núñez Cabeza de Vaca] “This commander was eight whole months on his way, for the distance is reckoned to be five hundred miles from Asunción to the place or harbour of Santa Catalina.