Witchcraft and Swashbuckling

quarkstomper · 02-17-2010, 04:57 PM

There was a Spanish explorer named Alvar Núñez Cabeza de Vaca who was shipwrecked off the Gulf Coast in 1528 and spent eight years wandering through present day Texas and Mexico. During most of this time, he and his companions were captives of one Indian tribe or another. The natives kept them alive, because he and his companions had gained a reputation as magical healers. Basicly, they performed improvised rituals and prayers, but they had a good enough success rate that they impressed the natives and were allowed to live.

De Vaca's story is an interesting one. Not much swashbuckling in it, I'm afraid; but some grueling accounts of survival in the swashbuckling era.

02-17-2010, 04:57 PM	#35
quarkstomper Join Date: Sep 2004 Location: The Enchanted Land-O-Cheese	Re: Witchcraft and Swashbuckling There was a Spanish explorer named Alvar Núñez Cabeza de Vaca who was shipwrecked off the Gulf Coast in 1528 and spent eight years wandering through present day Texas and Mexico. During most of this time, he and his companions were captives of one Indian tribe or another. The natives kept them alive, because he and his companions had gained a reputation as magical healers. Basicly, they performed improvised rituals and prayers, but they had a good enough success rate that they impressed the natives and were allowed to live. De Vaca's story is an interesting one. Not much swashbuckling in it, I'm afraid; but some grueling accounts of survival in the swashbuckling era.