We Came Naked and Barefoot: The Journey of Cabeza de Vaca Across North America (review)

Half a century ago, Alex D. Krieger chose the transcontinental route of Cabeza de Vaca as the subject for his doctoral dissertation in anthropology at the National University of Mexico. He wrote in Spanish, but also prepared an English version that he planned to publish as a "popular book." After earning his degree, Krieger spent much of his career as a professor of anthropology at the University of Washington. He died in 1991, leaving his manuscript updated but still incomplete. Margery H. Krieger then undertook to complete the editing and publication of her husband's magnum opus. The revised dissertation, together with a brief Foreword and Afterword by Thomas R. Hester, constitutes roughly half of the volume. The remainder is made up of Krieger's own translations of two key documents: The Relación de los Naufragios (1555) by Alvar Nuñez Cabeza de Vaca, and portions of the Historia General y Natural de las Indias by Gonzalo Fernandez de Oviedo y Valdes (1550) in which the "joint report" of Cabeza de Vaca, Andrés Dorantes, and Alonzo del Castillo is summarized (the original no longer exists). Cross references enable the reader to match Krieger's analysis with relevant passages in the texts.

Despite the delay in publication, aficionados of travel narratives will doubtless welcome this volume. The Narvaez expedition was the first to invade the American mainland north of Mexico—earlier, by more than a decade, than the expeditions of DeSoto and Coronado. Its saga began with a landing on the peninsula of Florida, followed by a march northward that encountered substantial native resistance and left a much-reduced company, out of touch with their ships, stranded near present-day Pensacola. Roughly two hundred survivors then built makeshift barges and set out to follow the coast of the Gulf of Mexico westward, hoping to reach the Spanish outpost of Panuco (near present-day Tampico). The boats were eventually tossed up, at different points on the Texas coast, where most of the men died during the winter of 1528-29. Four who survived (Cabeza de Vaca, Dorantes, Castillo, and the Moorish slave Estevanico) lingered in the area for six years before beginning the long walk that would take them to New Spain. By this time they were truly "naked and barefoot"; there would be no antique weapons, tools or coins left along the way, to mark the trail for future researchers.

Attempts to map Cabeza de Vaca's itinerary can anchor it to only three fairly definite locales: Matagorda Bay, near the point of departure; La Junta de los Rios, a stopover point; and the Rio Culiacan, the terminus, in western Mexico. This leaves ample scope for quibbling over details; however, more serious disagreements concern the initial leg of the journey. In 1940, Cleve Hallenbeck traced Cabeza de Vaca's footsteps westward, across central Texas and through the mountains of New Mexico; he backed up his own findings by citing climatic botanical, and other kinds of hard data. Krieger, who employed similar techniques, championed a radically different route that proceeded due south from Matagorda. He was convinced that, after six years in limbo, the "intrepid four" still remained steadfast in their desire to reach Panuco. Both Krieger and Hallenbeck did their research on the ground, and were critical of certain of their predecessors, as armchair scholars who relied only on maps. But it is Hallenbeck who is the focus of Krieger's strongest invective and personal criticism. The two men were near contemporaries; it is regrettable that a fifty-year lag in publication of Krieger's manuscript deprived Hallenbeck of the opportunity for a rejoinder.

Although at the time of its publication, Cabeza de Vaca's Relación was eagerly perused by would-be conquistadores...