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Updated: May 19, 2025
Owing to their misfortunes, they called this Isola de Mal-hado, or the isle of Bad-Luck . The inhabitants of this island were of large stature, their only weapons being bows and arrows. The men had one of their nipples bored, wearing a piece of reed in the hole, and a similar ornament in their under lip. They dwelt in this island from October to February, feeding much on certain roots.
When a son or brother dies, the people of the house will rather starve than go in quest of any thing to eat during three months, in all which time the relations of the family send in all that is necessary for their sustenance. Owing to this, several families in Mal-hado were in great straits while the Spaniards resided among them, as many had died and the survivors strictly observed the custom.
Cabeza de Vaca and the remnant of his unfortunate companions remained in the isle of Mal-hado till the end of April 1529, by which time all the food in the island being devoured, the whole population was forced by hunger to go over to the continent of Florida, where they fed upon wild berries. The Spaniards were obliged to act as physicians to the natives, as otherwise they were refused food.
Cabeza de Vaca continued in this mode of life to the year 1535, always well entertained, and always travelling towards the south west to gain ground in hopes of regaining his liberty by getting out of the country into Mexico . Though naked and alone, and enduring much hunger and cold, he enjoyed his liberty, and remained six years in that part of the country, always in hopes of being able to bring away his two remaining countrymen, Oviedo and Alanis, who had tarried in the island of Mal-hado.
So great is the want of food in all the country from the isle of Mal-hado to this district of the Maliconas, that the natives are often three days without eating; on which account it is the custom of mothers to suckle their children till twelve years of age, and they never have any intercourse with their husbands till two years after delivery.
Should his father-in-law or any of the brothers of his wife meet him during that time, they always look down and pass on without speaking; yet in that period the woman converses freely with the father or other relations of her husband. These customs are observed both in the island of Mal-hado and through all the country of Florida for fifty leagues inland.
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