De Vaca's "I saw a devilish thing", 1528-36
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Jump to navigationJump to searchSpanish explorer Cabeza de Vaca's report of his five-year captivity among the Indian's of Florida, from 1528 to 1533 states:
During the time that I was thus among these people I saw a devilish thing, and it is that I saw one man married to another, and these are impotent, effeminate men [amariooodos] and they go about dressed as women, and do women's tasks, and shoot with a bow, and carry great burdens, ... and they are huskier than the other men, and taller.... [1]
References
Jonathan Ned Katz, Gay American History: Lesbians and Gay Men in the U.S.A. (NY: Crowell, 1976) pg. 285.
- ↑ Alvar Nunez Cabeza de Vaca, "Naufragios de Alvar Nunez Cabeza de Vaca," in Historiadores primitives de Indios (Vol. I), ed. Enrique de Vedia, Biblioteca de autores espafioles, vol. 22 (Madrid: M. Rivadeneyra, 1852), p. 538. I wish to thank Ed Strugfor translating this text.
