SOURCE: Preface to Cabeza de Vaca's Adventures in the Unknown Interior of America, translated by Cyclone Covey, University of New Mexico Press, 1997, pp. 7-17.

In the following preface to his 1961 translation of the Relación, Covey argues that the explorer's adventures are fascinating for more than their tales of survival and Native American customs, as they also show his transformation from a Spanish conquistador into a visionary whose compassion for native peoples would tragically be ignored by subsequent Spanish expeditions.

This sixteenth-century odyssey of Cabeza de Vaca's is one of the great true epics of history. It is the semi-official report to the king of Spain by the ranking surviving officer of a royal expedition to conquer Florida which fantastically miscarried.

Four out of a land-force of 300 men—by wits, stamina and luck—found their way back to civilization after eight harrowing years and roughly 6,000 miles over mostly...