ORIGINAL NARRATIVES OF EARLY AMERICAN HISTORY REPRODUCED UNDER THE AUSPICES OF THE AMERICAN HISTORICAL ASSOCIATION GENERAL EDITOR, J. FRANKLIN JAMESON, PH.D., LL.D., LITT.D. DIRECTOR OF THE DEPARTMENT OF HISTORICAL RESEARCH IN THE CARNEGIE INSTITUTION OF WASHINGTON NARRATIVES OF EARLY VIRGINIA BRADFORD'S HISTORY OF PLYMOUTH PLANTATION WINTHROP'S JOURNAL "HISTORY OF NEW ENGLAND" (2 vols.) NARRATIVES OF EARLY CAROLINA NARRATIVES OF EARLY MARYLAND NARRATIVES OF EARLY PENNSYLVANIA, WEST NEW JERSEY, AND DELAWARE NARRATIVES OF NEW NETHERLAND EARLY ENGLISH AND FRENCH VOYAGES VOYAGES OF SAMUEL DE CHAMPLAIN SPANISH EXPLORERS IN THE SOUTHERN UNITED STATES SPANISH EXPLORATION IN THE SOUTHWEST NARRATIVES OF THE INSURRECTIONS NARRATIVES OF THE INDIAN WARS JOHNSON'S WONDER-WORKING PROVIDENCE THE JOURNAL OF JASPAR DANCKAERTS NARRATIVES OF THE NORTHWEST NARRATIVES OF THE WITCHCRAFT CASES THE NORTHMEN, COLUMBUS, AND CABOT _ORIGINAL NARRATIVES OF EARLY AMERICAN HISTORY_ SPANISH EXPLORERS IN THE SOUTHERN UNITED STATES 1528-1543 THE NARRATIVE OF ALVAR NUÑEZ CABEÇA DE VACA EDITED BY FREDERICK W. HODGE OF THE BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY THE NARRATIVE OF THE EXPEDITION OF HERNANDO DE SOTO BY THE GENTLEMAN OF ELVAS EDITED BY THEODORE H. LEWIS HONORARY MEMBER OF THE MISSISSIPPI HISTORICAL SOCIETY THE NARRATIVE OF THE EXPEDITION OF CORONADO, BY PEDRO DE CASTAÑEDA EDITED BY FREDERICK W. HODGE _New York_ BARNES & NOBLE, INC. COPYRIGHT, 1907 BY CHARLES SCRIBNER'S SONS ALL RIGHTS ASSIGNED TO BARNES & NOBLE, INC., 1946 _All rights reserved_ REPRINTED, 1965 PRINTED IN THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA NOTE Although, in the narrative of the Gentleman of Elvas, the translation by Buckingham Smith has been followed, some corrections have been made in the text, and pains have been taken to set right, in accordance with the Portuguese original at the Lenox Library, the native proper names, on whose interpretation in the Indian languages the identification of localities in many cases depends. If variations from page to page in the spelling of some such names are observed by the reader, they may be assumed to exist in the original. The three narratives printed in this book are but a small selection from among many scores; for the narratives of Spanish explorers in the southern United States constitute an extensive literature. But if interest and historical importance are both taken into account, it is believed that these three hold an undisputed preëminence among such "relations." J. F. J. CONTENTS THE NARRATIVE OF ALVAR NUÑEZ CABEÇA DE VACA EDITED BY FREDERICK W. HODGE PAGE THE NARRATIVE OF ALVAR NUÑEZ CABEÇA DE VACA 1 INTRODUCTION 3