Pure Endurance
Three-hundred men accidentally landed in what is now Tampa Bay, Florida. A year later, only four men remained. One of those men was 37-year-old Cabeza De Vaca, a military veteran in the Narvaez expedition to Mexico. After being shipwrecked in the New World twice, Cabeza and his fellow men did whatever they could to endure the hardships they faced. The question still remains- how exactly did Cabeza de Vaca survive? Cabeza pulled through because of his survival skills, respect for the Native Americans, and his success as a healer.
Cabeza’s survival skills were one of the main factors that helped him endure. When faced with a problem, he withstood it by using what was available. When faced with starvation, he ate “berries, insects, rats, snakes,” and other natural forms of nutrition in order to stay alive (Doc. B). If he hadn’t known how to survive, Cabeza would’ve likely died along with the other 296 men that didn’t make it.
Another contribution to Cabeza de Vaca’s durability was his respect for the Native Americans he met. He “learned four Indian languages” (Doc. B) & “healed one of their injured men” Doc. C). When confronted by Spaniards, the Indians said that Cabeza & his men “came from where the sun rose,” “cured the sick,” and “did not covet anything,…show more content… When a group of Indians brought him a man that was “wounded through the right shoulder with an arrow,” (Doc. C) he performed what may have been the first documented surgery in North America to remove the arrow. He then stitched up the wound with a deer bone, and a few days later, “the man was healed” (Doc. C). Cabeza himself wrote that this favor gave him and his men a “great reputation” (Doc. C) throughout the land. Saving that man’s life was likely what made the Native Americans realize that they could trust Cabeza, assuring his survival in their territory and the territories of their
