CABASSUT
126
CABOT
Cabassut (Cabassutius), Jean, French theologian
and priest of the Oratory, b. at Aix in 1604, d. there,
1685. He excelled equally in learning and holiness of
life. He entered the Oratory at the age of twenty-one
and though devoted to his labour he was always ready
to interrupt even his most favourite study to assist the
needy. He had taught canon law at Avignon for
some time, when Cardinal Grimaldi. Archbishop of
Aix. took him as companion to Rome, where Father
Cabassut remained about eighteen months. Return-
ing to Aix, he became a distinguished writer on ques-
tions of ecclesiastical history, canon law. and moral
theology. St. Alphonsus considers him classical.
He was a probabifiorist in his moral solutions. The
following of his works are worthy of note: "Notitia
Conciliorum" (Lyons, 1668). Cardinal Grimaldi in-
duced the writer to enlarge this work and publish it
under the title, "Xotitia ecclesiastica historiarum,
conciliorum et canonum invicem collatorum", etc.
(Lyons, 16S0, and other dates; Munich, 1758; Tour-
nai, 1851, 3 vols.). Often modified and enlarged, it
was once, under the title "Cabassutius", an authority
for the history of councils. A compendium of the
"Notitia" appeared at Louvain, 1776. "Theoria et
Praxis Juris Canonici" etc. (Lyons, 1660, and other
dates; Rouen, 1703; Venice, 1757).
Hurter. Nomenelator, II. 501; Punkes in Kirehenlex., II, 1641; Rattekel, Mem. pour sereir a Vkist.de VOrat. (Paris. 1903). Ill, 396-412. A. J. Maas.
Cabello de Balboa, Miguel, a secular priest, b. at Archidona in Spain, dates of birth and death unknown. In 1566 he emigrated to Peru in South America; from here he went to Quito, Ecuador, where he began to write the "Miscelanea Antarctica", fin- ishing it at Lima in 15S6. Nothing else is known of him except that, in the years 1602-1603, he wrote a letter giving valuable details concerning the regions of Pelechuco and Apolobamba in eastern Bolivia, between the Andes and the Beni River. In this letter he does not explicitly state that he visited those districts, but the information imparted is such as to imply this. The letter is taken from a book written by Father Cabello of which nothing else is known.
The "Miscelanea Antarctica", however, is an im- portant source. Unfortunately, most of it remains in manuscript. Only the third part has been pub- lished in French by Ternaux Compans. The original was (1S53) in possession of the celebrated historiog- rapher Don Joaquin Garcia Ycazbalceta at Mexico. A complete copy also exists at the Lenox Branch of the New York Public Library. It contains Indian traditional records of the coming to South America of white men who are said to have preached the Gospel to the aborigines; also a theory that the Indians of Patagonia and Chile are the descendants of pirates of Macassar. The legendary history of the Inea tribe is expounded at length, and the origin of the Inca given in a manner somewhat at variance with the accounts of other Spanish authors.
Ternaux Compans, Histoire du Pfrou (tr. of part of Casello'8 book) furnishes a few biographical data. More is told in the Dieeinniirii, i.uiivnul de III. In,,,, iMevi,.,,, l.X5:(i;
I, eon y Pinelo, Epitome (1737-1738), lias a short notice of the work. On the missions to the Bolivian V le ind Ipolo-
bamba, see the letter by Cabello in !:,!■,, .,,,, , , ,/,
Indian (Madrid, 1SS5), II; Hem in , hi, , • „„, in; , tr. il.ima,
1876), II, gives nly meagre information.
Ad. F. Bandelieu.
Cabeza de Vaca, Alvar Ntjnez, b. at Jerez de la Frontera in Andalusia, Spain; dates of birth and death uncertain. The family were originally peas- ants and called themselve Uhaja until after the battle of Las Xavax de Tolosa (11 July, 1212), when they were ennobled for service thai contributed to the important victory which the king- of Castile, Aragon, and Navarre achieved over the Moors. One of the Alhajas informed the Christians of a mountain
pass by which the position of the Arabs could be
turned, and indicated the entrance by placing the
skull of a cow near it. Hence the change of name
and the coat of arms. Alvar Nunez joined the expe-
dition of P&mfilo de Narvaez to Florida in 1526 as
treasurer. With two other Spaniards and an Arab
Moor, he was the only survivor who remained on the
mainland. For eight years they roamed along the
coasts of Louisiana and Texas under the greatest
hardships, their position among the Indians being
wellnigh intolerable. In utter despair, Cabeza de
Vaca at last tried his scanty knowledge of medicine,
and, his cures proving successful, he became a re-
nowned medicine man among the natives, his com-
panions following the example. The treatment to
which they resorted partook of the nature of a faith-
cure. He declares the sign of the cross to have been
a seldom-failing remedy. The belief of the outcasts
in miracles was sincere, while acknowledging that
they also employed indigenous Indian remedies with
simple Christian religious ceremonials. After nine
years they reached the Pacific coast in Sonora,
Mexico, thus being the first Europeans to travel across
the North American continent. Cabeza de Vaca
arrived at the city of Mexico in 1536. He was
also the first European who saw and described the
American bison or buffalo. But the wanderers did
not, as has been supposed, see the New Mexican
pueblos. They only heard of them. Returning to
Spain in 1537, he obtained the post of Governor of
the La Plata regions (Argentina), whither he went
in 1541.
Cabeza de Vaca was a trustworthy subaltern, but not fit for independent command. His men rebelled against him in 1543, took him prisoner, and sent him to Spain, where for eight years he was kept in a mild captivity. The date of his death is not known, but it is stated that he ended his days at Seville, where he occupied an honourable and modestly lucrative posi- tion in connection with the American trade. He wrote two works. One is the story of his first trials in America as a member of the expedition of Narvaez, which was published at Zamora in 1542, and is known under the title of "Naufragios" (reprinted 1555 and several times translated into English) ; the other is on his career in South America (published 1555) and called "Comentarios". Both are valuable for the history of Spanish colonization, the former also for the cus- toms and manners of North American Indians. There is hardly a work on the history of North America extant that does not allude, more or less correctly, to Cabeza de Vaca, and the same may be stated in regard to histories of Argentina and Para- guay. The earliest publications are of course those written by himself, his "La Relacion que dio Aluar Nunez Cabeza de Vaca de lo acaescido en las Indias en la armada donde yua por gouernador Pamphilo de Narbaez " etc. (Zamora, l r i42), only two copies of which are known to exist, and " La Relacion y comen- tarios del gouernador Aluar Nunez Cabeza de Vaca" (Valladolid, 1555).
OviF.no, Hist, general y natural (Madrid. 1S50), (rives the text of the above with some modifications, adding a communi-
r n written while on the way to Europe. In Documentos
hi - '.■' de Indias. there are a few more documents; R mi\78IO ( Ihllr \aviga:ioni e Ytaggi (Venice, 1556). an Italian version. There is a French translation by Ternaux Compans, both of the Navfrages and the Commentairei. English translations: I'ninna. His Pilgrimage (London. 1625-26, title. Relation of the Fleet in India. ,eh,r.,,f Pamphilus Naruaet teas Gov- ernor): SviiiHtr. (Washington, 1S51): reprinted by John Gil- inarv Shea (New York, 1X71). A paraphrase of the work has been given by Kingsley, Tales ,./ Old Travels (London, I Mill' lis- si HiMiHur has published The Journey of Alvar \ i abeza de Vaca (New York. 1905). a translation of the
1542 edition of the Naufragios. Ad. F. Bandelier.
Cabot, John- (Giovanni CaboTA or Gabota), a celebrated navigator and the discoverer of the Ameri- can mainland. b. in the first half of the fifteenth cen-
