This tale of early European 'adventure' in the Americas somehow left me cold - it was more a dry report of events that the vivid descriptions that you get with most of the Great Journeys. Cabeza De Vaca clearly has a much greater openness to the native population even before he is shipwrecked and dependent on them for survival - and one laments the fact that colonial history was dominated by men wholly unlike Cabeza De Vaca because if there had been more like him the worse cruelties would have been avoided - it also sets a harsh judgement on the others, for seeing Cabeza De Vaca humanity to the native populations there can be no excuses of actions justified in a different context or era.
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