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Alvar Nunez Cabeza de Vaca (1507-59) served as the king's representative and treasurer for an expedition that explored Florida under a mandate from the Spanish Crown. In his report to the Spanish king Carlos V, first published in 1542 as La relacion (The Narrative) and again in 1555 as Naufragios (Shipwrecks), by which title it subsequently became known, Cabeza de Vaca describes the arduous eight-year odyssey (1528-36) from Florida through northern Mexico which culminated in his spiritual transformation.Before joining the Florida expedition led by Panfilo de Narvaez, Cabeza de Vaca had been a Spanish soldier who had fought several battles in Europe. Like many other Spaniards of his time, Cabeza de Vaca hoped to find wealth in the Americas. The expedition first sailed from southern Spain to Santo Domingo, where 140 men deserted, perhaps discontented with Narvaez, who had recently been appointed governor of the region that now comprises southern United States and northern Mexico (Krieger 21). For the expedition members, the first ill omen was the hurricane that destroyed part of the fleet near Cuba (Resendez 67). Narvaez was confident nonetheless that the expedition would explore the Florida coast, as he had engaged a pilot who claimed to know it well.The pilot's presumption and Narvaez's credulity soon became apparent as the expedition drifted along. The Spaniards could not communicate with the indigenous people that the Spaniards encountered after disembarking on the Florida coast. Cabeza de Vaca noted that "although they spoke to us, as we had no interpreters we did not understand them; but they made many gestures and threats, and it seemed as if they beckoned to us to leave the country (10-11). ["aunque no nos hablaron, como nosotros no teniamos lengua, no los entendiamos; mas hacianos muchas senas y amenazas, y nos parescio que nos decian que nos fuesemos de la tierra" (.Naufragios 20)]. In spite of this inauspicious beginning, Narvaez remained undaunted, believing perhaps that the natives would be as easy to subjugate as those in what is now Jamaica and Cuba.2Cabeza de Vaca distrusted Narvaez from the outset, as he could not comprehend that European mercantile notions of value meant nothing to indigenous peoples, or that the linguistic and cultural ignorance of the Spaniards might prove fatal. Thus began a distancing process that culminated in Cabeza de Vaca's new American identity. Cabeza de Vaca may have been predisposed to assume such an identity, as he was relatively free from prejudice. He had married a woman whose family had recently converted to Catholicism and as such were subject to discrimination in Spanish society (Resendez 50).3After sending the pilot to search for a port, Narvaez decided to abandon the ships and head inland on foot. Cabeza de Vaca opposed his folly:I replied that it seemed to me in no manner advisable to forsake the ships until they were in a safe port, held and occupied by us. I told him to consider that the pilots were at a loss, disagreeing among themselves, undecided as to what course to pursue. Moreover, the horses would not be with us in case we needed them, and, furthermore, we had no interpreter to make ourselves understood by the natives; hence we could have no parley with them. Neither did we know what to expect from the land we were entering, having no knowledge of what it was, what it might contain and by what kind of people it was inhabited, nor in what part of it we were; finally, that we had not the supplies required for penetrating into an unknown country. (13-14)[Yo respondia que me parescia que por ninguna manera debia dejar los navios sin que primero quedasen en puerto seguro y poblado, y que mirasen que los pilotos no andaban ciertos, ni se afirmaban en una misma cosa, ni sabian a que parte estaban; y que allende de esto, los caballos no estaban para que en ninguna necesidad que se ofreciese nos pudiesemos aprovechar de ellos; y que sobre todo esto, ibamos mudos y sin lengua, por donde mal nos podiamos entender con los indios, ni saber lo que de la tierra queriamos, y que entrabamos por tierra de que ninguna relacion teniamos, ni sabiamos de que suerte era, ni lo que en ella habia, ni de que gente estaba poblada, ni a que parte de ella estabamos y que sobre todo esto, no teniamos bastimentos para entrar adonde no sabiamos. …

The Spiritual Evolution of Cabeza de Vaca in Shipwrecks