The second half of Naufragios provokes some interesting questions about the real events that underlie this narrative. Firstly – what caused all the indigenous people to be sick and what cured them? Starting in the second half of the book, as Cabeza de Vaca and crew journey onwards, every village they stumble upon is full of sick and dying people. We discover later that other Spaniards have been marauding about in the region; could the indigenous people be sick from a disease newly introduced to the Americas by these Spaniards?
However, what is baffling about this situation is that the indigenous people seem to be cured out of nowhere, what Cabeza de Vaca claims is divine intervention. For example, the indigenous people brought them “cinco enfermos que estaban tollidos y muy malos” and after a prayer session “todos amanecieron tan buenos y sanos, y se fueron tan recios como si nunca hubieran tenido mal ninguno” (156). Does anyone have any guesses as to what is actually going on here? Cabeza de Vaca calls his compatriots “médicos” and himself “cura” – they appear more like the latter than the former – but if so what is curing the indigenous people and why do they flock to the Spaniards with their sick and children? (158). Cabeza de Vaca was known to be over-imaginative in the first half of the book, but is he just inventing miracles to seem more in touch with God?
Christianity really comes to the fore in the second half of Naufragios. The first mission of these men was to conquer and govern, which was shattered by natural forces and they became preoccupied with survival, but then they pick up evangelization as their new mission. This is initially linked to the supposed medical attention provided by Cabeza de Vaca and the others; as he reports, the indigenous people “nos venían a buscar para que los curásemos y santiguásemos sus hijos” (158). Later, Cabeza de Vaca and crew stop “curing” the sick and focus on evangelizing the apparently willing indigenous people, “porque dolientes y sanos, todos querían ir santiguados” (195). They explain about God to various indigenous communities through the dubious language of “señas” and are convinced that “todos los dejáramos cristianos”(196). The apparent evangelization of the indigenous people is the great legacy of Cabeza de Vaca in the Americas.
Cabeza de Vaca reports to the king: “Dios nuestro Señor por su infinita misericordia, quiera que en los días de Vuestra Majestad y debajo de vuestro poder y señorío, estas gentes vengan a ser verdaderamente y con entera voluntad sujetas al verdadero Señor” (213). Of course in the chapters preceding this statement he makes himself out to be the all-important conduit between the indigenous people and the God they have now allegedly accepted. In the final chapters you can imagine the beginnings of religious syncretism, in this case the blending of indigenous and Christian beliefs, you can picture the Spaniards feeling very pleased that they convinced the indigenous people that there is a God in heaven when they already believed this but in a different form. How interesting that on the same page Cabeza de Vaca describes the saving of their souls he describes in passing six Spaniards who “traían quinientos indos hecho esclavos” and sees absolutely no problem with this (213).
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