In “The Relations of Alvar Nunez Cabeza de Vaca,” the author tells readers about the extreme hunger, thirst, and poor living conditions of the Indians he encountered. The people of the areas he traveled through all went naked, except for women who wore Spanish moss to cover only certain areas of their body. These people often went two to three days without eating, sometimes up to four days. Some tribes lacked corn, acorns, pecans, fish, and even water. Often, the tribes that had water only had contaminated water. The children of these people breast fed until the age of twelve. This was necessary due to the scarce amounts of food and water. If the children had stopped breast feeding earlier it was likely they would die or be extremely weak.
