When the general came up with the army and saw the great quantity of skins, he thought lie would divide them among the men, and placed guards so that they could look at them. But when the men arrived and saw that the general was sending some of his companions with orders for the guards to give them some of the skins, and that these were going to select the best, they were angry because they were not going to be divided evenly> and made a rush, and in less than a quarter of an hour nothing was left but the empty ground.
The natives, who happened to see this also took a hand in it. The women and some others were left crying, because they thought that the strangers were not going to take anything, but would bless them as Cabeza de Vaca and Dorantes had done when they passed through here. They found an Indian girl here who was as white as a Castilian lady, except that she had her chin painted like a Moorish woman. In general they all paint themselves in this way here, and they decorate their eyes.
Chapter 20, of how great stones fell in the camp, and how they discovered another ravine, where the army was divided into two parts.
While the army was resting in this ravine, as we ha'^e related, a tempest came up one afternoon with a very high wind and hail, and in a very short space of time a great quantity of hailstones, as big as bowls, or bigger, fell as thick as raindrops, so that in places they covered the ground two or three spans or more deep. And one hit the horse — or I should say, there was not a horse that did not break away, excej)t two or three which the negroes protected by holding large sea nets over them, with the helmets and shields which all the rest wore;[1] and some of them dashed up on to the sides of the ravine so that they got them down with great difficulty. If this had struck them while they were upon the plain, the army would have been iu great danger of being left without its horses, as there were many which they were not able to cover.[2] The hail broke many tents, and battered many helmets, and wounded many of the horses, and broke all the crockery of the army, and the gourds, which was no small loss, because they do not have any crockery in this region. They do not make gourds, nor sow corn, nor eat bread, but instead raw meat — or only half cooked — and fruit.
- ↑ The Spanish text is very confused. Ternaux says: "Les chevaux rompirent leure liens et s'échappàrent tous à l'exception de deux ou trois qui furent retenus par des nègres qui avaient pris des casques et des boucliers pour se mettre à l'abri. Le vent en enleva d'autres et les colla contre les parois du ravin."
- ↑ Mota Padilla, xxiiii, 3, p. 165: "A la primera barranca. . . . á las tres de la tarde hicieron alto, y repentinamente un recio riento les llevó una nube tan cargada, que cause horror el granizo, que despedia tan gruesos como nueces, huevos de gallina y de ánsares, de suerte que era necesario arrodelarse para la resistencia; los caballos dieron estampida y se pusieron en fuga. y no se pudieran ballar si la barranca no los detiene: las tieudas que se habian armado quedaron rotas, y quebradas todas las ollas, cazuelas, coniales y denias vasijas; y afligidos con tan varios suceaos, determinaron en aquel dia que fué el de Ascension del Señor de 541, que el ejército se volviese á Tigües á reparar, como que era tierra abastecida de todo."
