[In the following excerpt from a work originally published in 1937, Wagner cautions against looking at the Relación as an accurate historical document because it appears that many sections were added later by editors hoping to increase book sales and also because the explorer's apparent reticence in describing the land and resources was designed to prevent further exploration that would interfere with his own dreams of personal glory and fortune.]

The first person to attack the general credibility of [Cabeza de Vaca] was Judge Bethel Coopwood in his interesting series of articles [“The Route of Cabeza de Vaca in Texas,” Texas Historical Quarterly III (October 1899, January 1900, April 1900), pp. 108-140, 177-208, 229-264; IV (July 1900), pp. 1-32]. In these he maintains that Cabeza de Vaca never got to Sonora at all, but that the narrative was written up in Mexico to suit the designs of the viceroy. He thinks that they really entered the Spanish settlements east of the mountains, and argues his point well. The only support that I have ever found for Judge Coopwood's position is the statement in López de Velasco that they came out “por los Zacatecas.” Nevertheless, it seems impossible to avoid the conclusion that Cabeza de Vaca and his companions did come out somewhere in Sinaloa, not that there is much positive evidence for it; on the contrary, the negative evidence is plentiful.

That they did arrive at Culiacán was stated repeatedly at the time or shortly afterward. This has never been denied, nor any doubt cast upon it. The statement which they made to the Audiencia of Santo Domingo was of an official character, and in this the same statement occurs. [G. Fernández de Oviedo Valdéz, in Historia general y natural de las Indias, c. 1550] criticizes the printed book, but expresses no doubt about this particular part, which he certainly would have done if it had not been true.

The fact that the people Cabeza de Vaca met on the Rio Petatlán were there in 1533, and not, according to any information which we have, in 1536, certainly casts some doubt on his statement. The only possible way out of the difficulty is to assume, as Bancroft did, that these same parties made another expedition to the Rio Petatlán, in 1536, of which no record remains [H. H. Bancroft, History of the North Mexican States and Texas, 1531-1580, San Francisco, 1884, Vol. I, pp. 60-70; History of Arizona and New Mexico, 1530-1888, San Francisco, 1889]. Our knowledge of the events on the coast from 1530 to 1533 is derived from the documents published by Icazbalceta which, it seems, had formed part of the Proceso de Guzmán. The Proceso covered a later period than 1533, and possibly documents covering the later period are lost. We again have documents of 1538. As far as I know there is no evidence that any expedition was made to the Yaqui river between these two dates.

One of the curious things about the Cabeza de Vaca narrative is that the early wanderings are detailed with much greater precision than those of the latter part of the journey. It is probable that the account, either as it stands today or as finished in Mexico, was written about the first part of 1537, and, consequently, the events of their last wanderings must have been much fresher in their minds than those of five or six years previous. Nevertheless, there is practically nothing in the narrative about the latter part of the journey. The vagueness of the description would seem to be intentional, and in view of the statement made by the Knight of Elvas, it would appear that Cabeza de Vaca did hear something which he did not wish to put in his book. It is generally understood that he went back to Spain with the idea of getting a concession from the Emperor for exploration in the country to which both the Coronado and De Soto expeditions were directed, but was forestalled by De Soto and probably crowded out of the other line of exploration by the influence of Mendoza, a representative of the Crown. If this supposition is correct, and there is considerable basis for it, it furnishes a very strong indication that the party actually reached some point in southern Arizona, or, at least, northern Chihuahua, where they could get information from the Indians regarding the Cíbola communities. From what was learned later, there is no doubt but that the Indians in this part of the country had communication by way of trade with the Indians in central Arizona and perhaps even with those farther north.

The generally accepted view that Cabeza de Vaca and his party were somewhere in northern Sonora and there heard of the “seven cities” derives considerable support from a document discovered a few years ago in the Archives of the Indies in Seville, entitled: Crónica … de los descubrimientos antiguos y modernos de Nueva España y del nuevo Mexico. It was written by one Baltasar Obregón in 1584.

The principal value of the document consists in an account of the expedition of Francisco de Ibarra to the north in 1565. Obregón was one of the party and gives an extended and interesting account of their experiences. The expedition, which started in the late spring, passed up through Sonora by the valleys of Corazones and Señora and thence into Arizona, finally getting as far as the Casa Grande ruins on the Gila river. At this point they encountered the Indians whom they called the “Vaqueros.” These were probably the Apaches. They had along an interpreter who could speak Opata and Sobaipuri, but she could not understand the “Vaqueros,” and they were compelled to communicate with these Indians by signs. Although this method of communication was likely to produce great misunderstanding, Obregón at least was sure that the Indians told the party about Cabeza de Vaca and his miracles and said that the Indians adored them as coming from the sun. It is a little curious that when they were in the Señora valley among some Indians whom their interpreter could understand, he says nothing about hearing of Cabeza de Vaca, and although he tells a great deal about Corazones and the Indians there, he does not mention the hearts of deer which Cabeza de Vaca said were presented to him and his companions in such great numbers.

Obregón was well acquainted with the west coast and speaks frequently of various persons who had been previously connected with the Coronado expedition. He refers to Cabeza de Vaca's party a number of times, evidently voicing the general belief, or perhaps we should call it certainty, that they had been in Culiacán. In speaking of them, Obregón usually refers to Cabeza de Vaca's book, which apparently he had seen. He frequently mentions Pedro de Tovar who was still alive at the time of Ibarra's expedition and living in Culiacán, where he had probably been since the time of the Coronado expedition, and possibly even before.

Whether or not the narrative as written by Cabeza de Vaca was actually published in 1537 or 1538, I feel very confident that when printed in 1542 it was not as he had originally written it, but contains interpolations. In fact, it is very likely that the account sent to the Audiencia in Santo Domingo was the only one written at the time, and, therefore, is the only genuine report. Most of the differences which Oviedo points out are probably interpolations, made either by Cabeza de Vaca or by someone else after he had left Spain. Many of the differences between the two accounts are of no real importance and might have arisen through carelessness in copying or in preparing the copy for publication. There are, however, important differences which cannot be accounted for in any such manner; for instance, the story of the buffalo at the end of chapter XVIII. There is nothing whatever of this in Oviedo.

This statement by Cabeza de Vaca is the first mention in print of the buffalo. He says he saw them three times. He tells how the Indians made clothing of their skins, lived on them, and how the buffalo ranged over land 400 leagues to the north. All these statements are entirely foreign to anything else in the narrative, and he even adds, “meten en la tierra grande cantidad de cueros.” Just what this last expression means is hard to say. Smith translated it as “distributing a vast number of hides into the interior country,” and Mrs. Bandelier “a great quantity of hides are met with inland.” I must confess that I do not know what this passage does mean. The translations just given would seem to imply that the skins were sent from the seacoast into the interior, and the passage might be translated in that way. Nevertheless, as Cabeza de Vaca says he saw them only three times and at this particular part of his journey never mentions an Indian as wearing a buffalo skin, it is obvious that he did not imply that the skins of the animals that were killed on the coast were sent into the interior. In fact, he never mentions seeing a buffalo skin until he was a long distance from the coast. In chapter XXX he says from here on they began to give us many cloaks of hides, and says that they called the Indians there the Cow Indians, and the Indians very likely explained by signs that the animals from which they came were plentiful in the north. This account also occurs in Oviedo, who, at the time he read this passage in 1539, as he says, had never heard of buffalo and did not know what “vacas” could be. After he saw the book and wrote his chapter VII he knew what these “vacas” were. If Cabeza de Vaca never saw any buffalo, as I think, how did this passage in chapter XVIII come to be found in the book? My explanation is as follows:

By some time in 1542, the news of the Coronado expedition had reached Spain. Coronado's letter, written after his return from the plains, was dated October 20, 1541, and probably reached Spain by the summer of 1542, possibly even much earlier. That either this letter or some other report was published at this time I think certain. There is another account, “Relación Postrera de Sívola. Esta es la Relación Postrera de Sívola, y de más de cuatrocientas leguas adelante,” which was sent from New Mexico after the main part of the expedition to the plains returned, about the middle of July, 1541.

The title of this relation is apparently a printed one, although no printed copy of it exists to my knowledge, and as it was sent from New Mexico three months before Coronado's letter, it probably reached Spain before it, and thus might have been printed in the latter part of 1541 or early in 1542. The title would indicate that a previous Relación de Sívola had been printed, an account probably sent from New Mexico after the communities were first discovered. I think that the account in Cabeza de Vaca of the buffalo was taken from one of these reports from New Mexico, and when the book was published the buffalo story was added by some enterprising bookseller who wished to take advantage of the public interest in the happenings in that distant country. The mention of the cows coming from the north, and ranging over a distance of 400 leagues, as related in chapter XVIII, is further proof that the story was taken from one of the accounts of the Coronado expedition. Cabeza de Vaca could not possibly have known this while he was on the Gulf coast, nor at any other point of the journey. The use of the expression “400 leagues” might indicate that the account was taken precisely from this Relación Postrera.

There is an indication of another interpolation, which occurs in chapter XXX, where, in speaking of the Cow Indians, Cabeza de Vaca says that they called them the “Cow” nation because most of the cows killed were slaughtered in their neighborhood, and along up that river for fifty leagues they destroyed great numbers. How Cabeza de Vaca could have known that buffalo were numerous fifty leagues up the river is difficult to see, and I conclude that the editor of the narrative deduced this fact from one of the Coronado relations.

An examination of the narrative of Cabeza de Vaca, whether in his own book or in the pages of Oviedo, does not disclose many facts regarding the interior of the country. The striking features of the great plains nowhere appear in his narrative. He says in his own book that he saw buffalo three times, but in Oviedo no such statement is made. I think it may very well be questioned whether he ever saw even one buffalo. Judge Coopwood has made an examination of the buffalo range at this period and later, from which he brings forward considerable proof to show that he must have seen buffaloes, but really proves too much because on this basis he should have seen many of them. He does not speak of prairie dogs, but mentions rattlesnakes, or what we can suppose to have been rattlesnakes, only once or twice. The main object in his landscape was the cactus, which bore the tuna, although at one time he did get into the piñon region. After they got across the continent they had no definite idea as to just how far they had traveled. This is not to be wondered at under the circumstances, and his guess was far from the truth, at least in so far as the width of the country is concerned.

It may be noted that Cabeza de Vaca wrote nothing in the course of his narrative which could have been of any aid to the schemes of treasure hunters beyond the bare mention of the fact that he had heard of some stone houses farther north, and that in the province called Apalachen there was much gold. He also speaks of finding samples of gold, which were not mentioned in Oviedo. It seems quite possible, however, that he said something different. The Knight of Elvas, in his account of the De Soto expedition, says that when Cabeza de Vaca came to Spain in the fall of 1537 he brought along a written relación of his wanderings which did not contain any report of fabulous cities covered with gold and silver. He says that Cabeza de Vaca had an interview with the Emperor and evidently told him something different, because some of the leading nobles who were in touch with the Court immediately turned all their property into ready cash and joined the De Soto expedition. This seems to indicate that he possibly told the viceroy in Mexico similar stories and in this way helped to stimulate the Coronado expedition. It is even possible that De Soto, who had correspondents in Mexico, had received information of what Cabeza de Vaca had to say after his arrival there and hastened to get a contract from the Emperor, although De Soto's movements would indicate that he did not have any very definite idea as to where he was going unless we assume that he was after the gold Cabeza de Vaca said was in Apalachen. He certainly made no attempt to follow in the footsteps of Cabeza de Vaca. On the whole very little addition to the geographic knowledge of the northern interior was obtained from Cabeza de Vaca's accounts of his wanderings in the form they are known. Today they present more the aspect of romance than of historical fact.