(cheery music)
(exciting orchestral music)
- [Cabeza] In 1528, 15 years after Ponce de Leon,
another conquistador, Pánfilo de Narváez,
is sent to explore Florida.
His assistant and treasurer of this expedition is me.
I am Cabeza de Vaca.
Now Florida is quite near, Governor Narváez!
It's reported that the Indians are not hostile.
- That's splendid!
We'll turn them into good slaves!
- Rather, sir, we could turn them into good Christians!
- Oh, no, I have plenty of Christians here,
but not enough slaves!
- But, sir!
- You, Cabeza, are the treasurer of this expedition
so try to remember,
what we're after is gold, all we can get,
and slaves we can sell for gold.
Do you understand?
- Mm-Mm.
- [Scout] Land off port! Land ho!
(exciting orchestral music)
- Go on.
Hmm.
(men chatting)
- Capture the lot!
- But, Governor, they're treating us as friends!
Why are you doing this?
- I want slaves, Cabeza, that's why!
All right, let's go!
(horse whinnies) (sinister orchestral music)
Ah! Some more!
Capture them!
- Woah! - Huh?
(nose squeaking)
(native man laughing)
- [Pánfilo] Catch them!
He's a good strong one, he'll make a fine slave!
- All right, stop!
You must see he's being friendly!
- We have our orders!
(Native man laughing)
(men screaming)
- Governor, look!
Look what I've found!
We'll have food!
- [Andrés] Hey, Gov', take a look!
It's gold!
- Try to find out where it's at!
And remember, I need slaves!
If you have to shoot, don't blink!
Make sure they know who's in charge!
- [Dark-Haired Man] Right, Governor!
(man moaning)
(men shouting and groaning)
- [Cabeza] You see, Governor, they welcomed us here,
but now they're complete hostile!
- They're savages!
Stop your silly talk, I know what I have to do!
You see this gold?
Where is it from?
- Apalachee, Apalachee, Apalachee!
- I've got it!
I understand everything he said!
He said the gold is there in those hills,
in Apalachee country!
Let's go and get it!
- [Cabeza] But we mustn't abandon all our ships!
We have to find a port,
and we'll need supplies for an expedition
into the interior!
- The natives will supply us what we need!
As for the ships, they'll sail along the coast
'til they discover a port, where they'll anchor!
What do you say?
Do we go?
- Guess so, yeah.
- Since we all agree,
we will set off tomorrow at dawn!
- The chief is a great chief, we've got to obey!
- A few years ago, Cortés defeated our fearless leader,
beat him hands-down!
- (laughs) Right! At Cempoala in the South?
Wasn't that it?
- Right! And now our great chief
wants to get a little revenge!
- [Cabeza] And so we left the following day
with no permanent base,
without even knowing where we were going,
with no supplies, we just set off to die,
and nearly all of us did.
(intense orchestral music)
- Hey, you, go across!
Cross, I said!
- Me cross that?
I don't think so!
(Narváez grumbling)
- [Narváez] Go on!
All right, I guess we're going to need a raft.
- That Narváez! He's crazy, you know that?
- All right! Let's go!
- Oh, look!
(majestic orchestral music)
- [Cabeza] Wait, friends, stop here!
What's that animal there?
- [Estevanico] Oh, it looks like a giant cat!
- I'd call that quite a cat!
(man shouting and groaning)
- Hey, that's maize!
- I have to admit, it's not bad.
- [Cabeza] At last, the Apalachee,
a village of about 40 strange little huts
made of straw and intertwined leaves,
at the edge of a thick forest.
(toddler crying)
- Help! Help!
- Huh?
(toddler crying)
The men are all gone!
- Then no one will stop us!
We can go and get the gold!
(toddler crying)
The gold! Where is it?
Where is all your gold?
- Hey! Look at that!
(Apalachee men shouting and chanting)
(intense drum music) - Uh-Oh!
- [Cabeza] Of course, they asked
to have their women and children back.
- (speaks in Apalachee language)
(intense orchestral music) (Apalachee men shouting)
(conquistadors groaning and shouting)
- And what do you say it's called? Aute?
- That's right, sir.
The village is nine or 10 days away.
- And it's close to the sea, according to them.
And it's rich!
There's corn and fish and beans there!
- What is your opinion?
- [Alonso] Every day more of our men
are being killed and wounded!
We mustn't stay here!
- And very soon we'll have nothing to eat!
- [Cabeza] And we left, never knowing where we had been,
pursuing our destiny.
(exciting orchestral music)
- Forward!
(men screaming)
- If we don't find food soon,
we're all going to die.
- We're surely near the village now, Governor.
I hope so.
There it is!
But we mistreated them horribly,
and so they've destroyed everything!
- All that remains now is death.
- No, Governor, we have only to build boats,
sail down the river to the sea!
- Are you mad?
We have nothing to build a fleet of boats!
No iron, no rigging or tools!
- I know how to construct an iron forge.
- I'm a good carpenter.
- And I know how to make the glue
to caulk the hull of a boat, sir!
- Well, then, let's get started.
- Now, our stirrups, we can melt them down!
- And the armor and crossbows and our spurs!
- All the metal to the forge! (laughs)
(cheery orchestral music)
- [Cabeza] These men started with no tools at all.
They had no experience at building ships
and yet they proved themselves to be ingenious.
In less than two months
they had completed five sailing boats.
(exciting orchestral music)
- There's no more.
- We must trust in the Lord.
He alone is our last hope.
- Land! Straight ahead!
- Oarsmen, pull!
If we don't find water soon, well,
we shall all die.
You go off and look that way.
You, the other side.
We'll go this way.
No water, not even a drop, anywhere around.
Nothing to eat.
Huh?
Why!
(exciting orchestral music)
Oh, Lord, you have blessed us!
You have not forsaken us!
- (speaks in Apalachee)
- He says they'll take us in and feed us, yes,
but then they'll sacrifice us to their gods!
- They seem to be sincerely helpful.
I mean, they did save our lives!
- Oh, with these savages you never can tell!
All right, we'll get our strength back,
and then we'll see.
It's exactly a month since they brought us here.
They've fed us well and most of us have our strength.
We still have our weapons.
They have nothing to fight with.
We could easily defeat them now.
- They've been so kind, Governor,
they would surely be good Christians.
- These savages? These pagans?
Rather they would make good slaves,
and don't forget, I'm in charge here.
Hold your tongue and obey orders.
- Head.
Stomach.
- Me eat!
Me drink!
(men laughing)
(sinister orchestral music)
- There you are!
Look there!
Capture them, all of them!
(men screaming)
(intense orchestral music)
- I'd say that we're in for a storm!
Land straight ahead!
(child singing)
(men snoring)
- (speaks Apalachee)
- What's this?
- They're giving us something to eat.
(cheery orchestral music)
- [Cabeza] Here it is the women and sometimes the old people
who work hardest carrying heavy loads.
To have a bride,
a man gives the girl's father a bow and two or three arrows.
There is so little here to eat,
the Indians have to use all their ingenuity
to feed themselves.
Everything is good to eat,
anything they can find.
Ants, ant eggs, spiders, worms, lizards, salamanders,
grass snakes, antlers, and if nothing else,
wood and soil, they even eat that.
In the swamps there grows and edible root
that is quite nourishing,
but it's very difficult to pull this root
up from the swamp bottom,
and this task they gave to us.
- Now the Indians say,
we're no longer interested in curing them,
as a result they give us nothing to eat.
- That's right, they think we're refusing
to give them any help,
but the truth is we don't know how.
- You're very wise, Cabeza!
Why don't you try!
- Good idea!
Why not just pretend to help
and they won't even know the difference.
- Well, we're going to leave someday,
and so it may as well be tonight when they're sleeping.
We'll take what food we can,
just enough to survive.
(rattlesnake rattling) (men gasping)
(bird squawking)
- What a curious bird!
It doesn't fly.
- [Man] Listen!
Sounds like men approaching.
- It is true!
These men have white skins!
That means the power to cure, to help us!
- Oh, no!
When there's somebody to cure,
I'm the one who will do it!
I don't want anyone else nosing in!
Naturally, we kill them,
but right now I have another patient waiting.
(cheery orchestral music)
So, you have a stomach ache.
That right?
- Yes, doctor, it's been two days.
- I'll cure it!
- Ouch!
- See! That's a very good sign!
The smoke carries the pain away!
You feel much better now!
- I don't know, it still hurts,
but the pain seems different,
it's more a burning sensation.
- Hmm.
What you need is a strong medicine.
In your case, a much hotter rock.
- [Patient] No! No!
In that case, I'm feeling better!
It hardly hurts at all!
- You see!
The patient's feeling much better!
No need for any of them!
- Yes, only, all the same, we could try.
I mean, they are specialists,
internationally known, and all.
- We were waiting for you!
You're the international specialists!
Just the men we need!
- Humph!
- But we're not medical men, honest!
We don't know anything about it!
- [Man] I've got a bad headache!
It's terrible, I mean it really hurts!
- That's easy!
I've got just what you need!
- [Man] It'll take the pain away?
- Wait, Witchdoctor!
Why not try these doctors?
- We don't know how!
- [Cabeza] I know faith can cure.
Well, I'll try.
(medicine man cackling)
- Oh, Heavenly Father, in your infinite mercy
take pity on this miserable sinner.
Grant him release from this terrible affliction, Lord.
Oh, grant this, we beseech you!
Disappear, horrid pain, never to infest this man!
Liberate his spirit!
Ew, bug, get away!
- Yeah! (laughs) The pain is gone!
No more pain, no more pain!
- That was sorcery, it's not professional medicine.
I'll go elsewhere and practice my medicine
where I'm appreciated!
(men chanting)
- Why are we saying tuna?
- Tuna is happiness!
We're able to eat it, we even make drinks!
You will see tomorrow.
(peaceful tribal music)
(people chanting)
- Yow! Ow, my foot!
Ow, my foot!
- They're amusing.
- No doubt it is quaint local custom.
- Do we try it?
- Oh, yes!
(people chanting "Ow, my foot! Ow, my foot!")
- What a quaint custom!
What an idea, dancing on just one foot!
- Huh?
What in the world was that?
- That? Nothing.
An antelope jackrabbit, that's all.
- Really? I didn't see anything.
- And no wonder!
It's considered the fastest animal on Earth!
Watch now, it's coming back!
Of course, you won't see it.
- [Cabeza] If it's so fast that nobody ever seen it,
how does anybody ever know what it looks like.
- An excellent question.
Because anyone can see him.
You want to see him?
- Yes, I would like to see him.
- You'll see him!
- Huh? - Woah!
- [Man] There! Take a look while you can!
He's a quick starter!
(men gasping)
(people shouting greetings)
- [Andres] If we cure them, we should make them pay!
It's worth gold and emeralds,
all kinds of precious stones!
- It's the Lord who cures their ills!
- This arrow hit him and went very deep near his heart!
Please!
- Extractor.
- Check.
- Ow! It hurts real bad!
- I think we'll have to administer an anesthetic.
- Check.
Patient anesthetized.
You may proceed, doctor.
- Needle and thread for two stitches.
- Check.
- The operation is completed.
Reanimate the patient.
(patient gasping and coughing)
- I'm better! I'm all cured now!
(people cheering)
(intense orchestral music)
- A bit farther on there is great river,
then much farther, the mountains,
and there are living other white men, same as you.
- We can't go on!
We haven't eaten for days and we're dying of thirst!
We'll take care of you. (laughs)
This wide river separate two lands.
That way, land of cows.
Here, land of corn.
- We'll go toward the setting sun.
I believe there is another ocean
and perhaps we'll meet others, like us.
Other Spaniards.
(exciting orchestral music)
(people talking and laughing)
- Oh! White man! My arm hurts, my arm!
A dislocated shoulder to place.
Go ahead, your turn. (chuckles)
- (groans) It's good as new!
- I've had this thing for a long time
and it's really bothering me.
My neck!
- A real pain in the neck, and with a twisting
of the third facial nerve.
My friend, carry out the procedure.
Number 18, force one.
- Sure, doc.
- Oh! Hmm!
- I said use force one!
You nearly killed him!
You gave him another stiff neck,
but on the other side.
Now, procedure 19, force one!
And be terribly gentle.
Make that force one-half!
- Oh, ah!
- [Cabeza] It took Cabeza six years to cross America
from East to West.
He traveled some 4,000 miles, 6,000 kilometers,
and always on foot with no weapons, no real food,
and little clothing.
Curing was their only weapon, and so they learned to cure.
But the trouble was other Spaniards were arriving
from the South and they had other ambitions.
- We know that you've come here in peace,
and we extend our welcome to you.
Stay long as you wish.
- Well, thank you, but the fact is,
we've heard about other white men, like us,
who could be just a few days' march from your village,
and we'd like to find them.
- Then we go along with you,
because these white men are terribly dangerous.
(intense orchestral music)
- Ah, finally! Slaves!
Go ahead, take them!
- We're not slaves, we're free men,
Spanish, just as you are!
- (Laughs) Spanish!
You're Spanish, you say?
Well, I mean, I've never seen any Spaniards like you yet!
- I am Álvar Núñez Cabeza de Vaca,
treasurer of the expedition undertaken by Governor Narváez!
- And I am Alonso del Castillo, Lieutenant to the king!
- I am Andrés Dorantes, an officer in the Spanish Guard!
- My name is Estévanico, a liberated Moor,
a Spanish soldier!
- Hey, Cabeza!
We thought you were dead!
- No, we're all alive by the grace of God
and a little help from our Indian friends.
- Ah! Well, they'll make good slaves.
- [Cabeza] No!
- They won't?
- No, they're friends, and they are free men!
- (sighs and grumbles)
(exciting orchestral music)
I was just making a joke.
- Mm-Hmm.
You could say Cabeza was the most human
of all the conquistadors.
He discovered and was passionately interested
in lands that had been unknown in Europe,
from Florida to California and Mexico.
He made every effort to know the Indians
and to understand them.
- That's good!
At last we hear a story of a conquistador
that's going to end great!
- Oh, it wasn't really a happy ending at all.
Cabeza de Vaca was to know the curse of the conquistadors
that I told you about.
He was thrown into prison
because he had befriended the Indians,
and there he languished almost until his death.
(exciting orchestral music)