IN the city of Ascension, which is by the river Paraguai, in the province of Rio de la Plata, on the 3rd March, in the year of Our Lord, 1545, appeared before me, public notary, and the legal witnesses, being in the church and monastery of Our Lady of Mercy, Redeemer of captives, Captain Hernando de Ribera, conquistador in this province, and deposed as follows: When SeÑor Alvar NuÑez Cabeza de Vaca, governor and adelantado and captain-general in the name of His Majesty, of the province of Rio de la Plata, was in the port of Los Reyes, whence he started on his exploration last year (1543), he commissioned me to take one brigantine, and a certain number of men, and explore up a certain river called Ygatu, which is an arm of two great rivers, viz., the Yacareati and the Yaiva, flowing, according to the reports of the Indians, through the settlements of the interior; and I, Hernando de Ribera, having arrived at some Indians called Xarayes, in consequence of information received from them, left the brigantine in a safe haven, and entered the interior of the country with forty men, in order to see and examine it with my own eyes. And having pursued my journey past many Indian settlements, and obtained from their inhabitants and other natives who came to see me, full reports touching the land, I examined and sifted these statements, in order to learn the truth, being moreover, acquainted with the language of the Carios, and therefore able to hold intercourse with those tribes.

Juan Valderas, royal notary, whom I had with me at this time, wrote down and made a note of certain things relating to that discovery. Yet I would not tell him the whole truth concerning the riches and the settlements of the various tribes inhabiting those regions, lest he should write it in his report. And he, the said notary, did not know, nor did he fully understand the matter, for my intention was at that time to have communicated it directly to the governor, in order that he might forthwith proceed to the conquest of that land, as it beseemed the service of God and His Majesty.

After penetrating several days’ journey into the interior, I was obliged to return to the port of Los Reyes, in compliance with orders sent me by the governor. And because I found him and all his people sick on my arrival, I had no opportunity of reporting my discovery, nor communicating all the information I had collected from the natives. A few days afterwards he was compelled to return to Ascension to save the lives of his people, and having again fallen sick a few days after his arrival in that city, he was arrested by the officers of His Majesty (as everybody knows), so that I was unable to make my statement.

Seeing that the officers of His Majesty are about to return to Spain with the governor, and fearing that he may in the meanwhile die, or be removed to some other place where the report might not be delivered to him, and that His Majesty’s service might in this way suffer loss, and the governor himself be prejudiced, and that I might be held blameworthy—taking all this, I say, into consideration, and for the discharge of my conscience, now I, in order to serve God and the King, and the governor in his name, desire to make a declaration of the said discovery, that His Majesty may know of it and the reports I obtained from the natives. I have therefore asked and required the notary to receive my statement, which is as follows:

“I, Captain Hernando de Ribera, say and declare that on the 20th of December last year (1543), I set out from the port of Los Reyes in the brigantine El Golondrino (‘The Swallow’) with fifty-two men, in obedience to the governor’s orders, and went on navigating the river Ygatu, which is an arm of the aforesaid two rivers Yacareati and Yaiva, and is very wide and voluminous; and on the sixth day I entered the parent stream of these two water-courses. According to the reports of the natives where I happened to land, these two rivers come from the interior of the country, the Yaiva most probably from the Sierras of Santa Martha. This river is wide and deep, and greater than the Yacareati, which according to the Indians, flows from the Peruvian Sierras; and between those two water-courses there is a wide expanse of land, and innumerable villages and tribes. According to the natives, the Yaiva and the Yacareati unite in the country of the Indians called Perobazanes, and there they separate again, and seventy leagues lower down they reunite.

“After navigating that river for seventeen days, I passed through the land of the Perobazanes, and arrived at another country, where the inhabitants are called Xarayes. These people are agriculturists, have a quantity of provisions, and rear geese, fowls, and other birds. They fish and hunt, and are a reasonable people, obeying their chief. Being in one of their settlements, consisting of about a thousand houses, and well received by their chief, Camire, I collected information concerning the settlements of the interior. In consequence of that information, I left the brigantine under the care of ten men, and taking a guide from the said Xarayes, advanced three days inland, till I reached the settlements of a tribe of Indians, called Urtueses, a good people, cultivating the soil like the Xarayes. From this place, I went on through an inhabited country, till I reached fourteen degrees twenty minutes going westwards.

“While staying in the settlements of the Urtueses and AburuÑes, many chiefs of tribes farther inland came and spoke with me, and brought feathers, like those of Peru, and metal plates in the rough. From them I also obtained information, questioning each individually concerning the settlements and tribes beyond. All these Indians told me that at ten days’ march from there, towards the west-north-west, there were women inhabiting large villages, who possessed a large quantity of white and yellow metal, and all their domestic utensils and vessels were of this metal, and their chief was a woman. They are a warlike people, much feared by the Indians. Before reaching those female warriors it is necessary to pass a tribe of very small Indians, who make war upon the women, and also upon those Indians who gave the information. At a certain time of the year these women unite with their neighbours, and cohabit with them. And if the children born of this intercourse be girls, the mothers keep them; if they are boys, they send them as soon as they are weaned to their fathers. On the other side of the settlements of these women, bordering with them, there are very large villages and tribes of Indians. These statements they made of their own free will, without my asking them. They talked also of a large lake, which they call the House of the Sun, because they say the sun locks himself in there, and said that these women lived there between the flanks of Santa Martha and the lake on the west-north-west, and that beyond the settlements of those women were other large nations of black people. According to the description they gave, these negroes are eagle-faced, with pointed beards like the Moors. We asked them how they knew those people to be black, and they answered that their fathers had seen them and other tribes living in that neighbourhood had reported it. These people clothe themselves, and have houses of stone and earth; they are tall, and possess white and yellow metal in such abundance that they make use of no other material for their domestic utensils and vases, and all kinds of great vessels. We asked where those black people lived, and they pointed to the north-west, saying, that should we wish to go there, we might reach their settlements in fifteen days. And it seemed to me, judging from the indications given by the Indians, that those settlements lie in twelve degrees towards the north-west, between the sierras of Santa Martha and MaraÑon. They are a race of warriors fighting with bows and arrows. The same Indians also gave us to understand that between west-north-west and north-west, one quarter north, there are many tribes of Indians with such large settlements that it is a day’s journey to pass from one end to the other; and all are rich in white and yellow metal, and wear clothes. They may be reached in a short time, always passing through inhabited country.

“Farther to the west there is a large lake, so wide that it is impossible to see from shore to shore, and by its side dwells a nation who wear clothes, and possess much metal and brilliant stones, which they work into the borders of their dress; and they find these stones in the lake. They have large villages, are agriculturists, and have stores of provisions, besides an abundance of geese and other birds. From the place where I was they said I might reach the lake and its settlements in fifteen days, always travelling through inhabited country, abounding in metal, and by good roads. They offered to show us the way thither when the floods subsided, though we were but few Christians, and the settlements we should have to pass were very large and populous.

“I also formally declare that the Indians showed me by signs that in the direction west, one quarter south-west, there are large towns, with houses built of earth, inhabited by a good people, clothed, very rich, and possessing plenty of metal. They rear a large number of great sheep, using these for agriculture and transport. I asked if those people were far off, and they answered that the route thither lay through a thickly inhabited country, and that it was not far. Among those people they said there were other Christians, and great waterless deserts of sand. We asked them how they knew there were Christians on that side, and they answered, that in times gone by the Indians living in that neighbourhood had been heard to say that as they were passing the desert they met many white people, clothed, with beards, and they had certain animals with them (evidently, according to their showing, horses), and riders on their backs, and that owing to the want of water they had returned, and many had died on the way. The Indians thought they had come from the other side of the desert. They showed us also, by signs, that in the direction west, one quarter south, there were high mountains, and an uninhabited country. Having heard that there were people dwelling beyond those deserts, the Indians had attempted to pass that way, but were unable to proceed, because they died of hunger and thirst. We asked them how they came to learn all this, and they answered, that all the Indians of this country communicated with one another, and it had been related how those Indians had seen the Christians and their horses crossing the desert. They said, too, that on the south-west skirt of those mountains there were many large settlements, and people rich in metal; and beyond these again lay the salt water and the great ships. We asked them if those settlements were ruled by separate chiefs, and they answered, that there was only one chief who ruled all the towns, and was obeyed by all. I further declare, that in order to verify their statements I questioned each of them separately for a day and a night, and they always repeated the same story without any variation whatever.”

The above statement was made by Hernando de Ribera, who said and declared that he had received it with all clearness, faithfully and loyally, without fraud and deceit; and in order that all credit and faith should be given to it, and that there should not be the slightest doubt concerning it, or any portion thereof, he said he would swear to the truth of it, and he swore in the name of God and Santa Maria, and on the four sacred gospels, upon which he placed his right hand, a missal being held open for that purpose by the reverend father, Francisco Gonzalez Paniagua, at the very place where the sacred gospels are written, and on the sign of the cross, like this: ?, where he also placed his right hand to testify that the aforesaid statement, according to the form and manner of it, was given, said, and declared by the Indian chiefs of the aforesaid land, and by other aged men whom he had diligently examined and interrogated in order to learn the truth, and have a clear understanding of the interior of the country.

After he had obtained this information, other Indians of different settlements came to see him, especially of a large village, called Uretabere. He went one day’s march in their territory, and collected information wherever he went, and all the statements agreed. He declared, moreover, under the sanctity of his oath, that there was no exaggeration or imagination in anything he had said, nothing but the truth, without fraud or reservation whatsoever. He also declared that the Indians assured him that the river Yacareati has a fall from a high mountain.

This he certifies to be true, so help him God, and if it be otherwise may he pay dear in this world with his body, and in the next with his soul. This oath having been read out to him, he said: “I swear it, Amen.”

The aforesaid captain asked and required me to testify to this statement, as much for his peace of mind as to serve as evidence for the aforesaid governor, and to preserve his rights; the following being witnesses: the aforesaid reverend father Paniagua; Sebastian de Valdivieso, valet of the said governor; Gaspar de Hortigosa and Juan de Hoces, citizens of Cordoba, all of whom have signed their names as follows: Francisco Gonzalez Paniagua, Sebastian de Valdivieso, Juan de Hoces, Hernando de Ribera, Gaspar de Hortigosa.

Done before me, Pedro Hernandez, notary.