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There were now eighty-nine Spaniards on the island. Their boats were at the bottom of the sea, and they had neither the tools, the materials, nor the strength to build new ones. The only way they could make it to New Spain was to walk. That would be difficult enough, but it was impossible without first crossing to the mainland. The Karankawa had canoes but they wouldn’t go to the mainland until February when they harvested oysters in the many bays along the coast. In the meantime, the Spaniards were stranded. That winter was a terrible one. Driving rain and high winds pounded the island. The storms were so violent and so unrelenting that the Indians rarely left their huts to find food. Already severely malnourished, the Spaniards began to die, one by one. By the time the storms abated, there were only fifteen left alive. They named the island “Isla de Malhado”—Misfortune Island. Many of the Indians had also become ill that winter. They were weary of the strangers who seemed to have brought nothing but bad times with them. The Indians demanded that they do something useful and ordered them to heal the sick. The request was so outlandish that Cabeza de Vaca thought they were joking. To show how serious they were, the Karankawa stopped bringing them food. Having no choice, the Spaniards went to the huts of the sick Indians. They recited the Lord’s Prayer and made the sign of the cross. They also bent down and blew on the Indians’ bodies as they’d seen Karankawa medicine men do. All the Indians they “treated” said they felt better. The bearded strangers were now seen as powerful medicine men performing a valuable service for the tribe. They were given food even if it meant some of the Karankawa had to go hungry. |