After Reading of La Relacion

1. Rate Cabeza de Vaca as a leader on a scale of 1 to 5, one being poor and five being very capable. Explain your rating.
Average. I rate him average because he made both a good decision and a bad one. Let’s start with the good decision. The author, as the leader of the group of explores, represents the group when they encountered the natives. He did the right thing of speaking for the group instead of sending someone else to communicate with the natives. On the other hand, the author should have listened to the group’s decision when deciding if they want to move to the native’s village: the natives might kill them as human scarify. He risked the whole group’s lives by stubbornly following his decision. That is why I rated him average.

2. Put yourself in the Spanish explorers' or the Lipan Apaches' place. You are meeting a group of people you know nothing about. Would you have done anything differently than either the Spanish explores or the Lipan Apaches did?
I might have armed myself when I first encounter the Indians. For sure, I wouldn’t behave as the author or the natives did.

3. What does Cabeza de Vaca's account reveal about his character and the qualities that enable him to survive?
He’s a man of independence and exploration—he bravely followed his decisions by making friends with the natives and trusting them, despite his crew members didn’t want him to do so; as well, he didn’t show that he was afraid when he encountered the natives, even though they met the group of explores with weapons.

4. What does Percy Bigmouth mean when he says the white men "began to get thick"?
I think he means that the white men were getting fat after they settled down in the New World, because there was no more shortage of food.

5. Compare Cabeza de Vaca and his companions' experience with that of the settlers in "Before They Got Thick." In what ways are the experiences the same and in what ways are they different?
Similarity: The natives are all kind and friendly to the Europeans.
Difference: In “Before They Got Thick”, the natives have thought about killing them (the white), in addition, the native did not show any trace of kindness and friendliness at the beginning when the Europeans got off the ship.

6. The newcomers at the end of Percy Bigmouth's tale are "getting along very well." Extend the story. What do you think happened in the next year? in five years? in ten years?
The whites settled in the New World, and the natives treated the white as if they were brothers.

7. The Lipan Apaches had no idea who the newcomers were. They had no prior experience on which to base their interactions, or ways of relating with this new group. What if strangers, perhaps from another planet, suddenly arrived in your area. How would people react?
Fear. People would not know the strangers motivation of entering your world, and they don’t know how to react to the new comers.