Name
Date
“A Journey Through Texas” by Alvar Núñez Cabeza de Vaca
“Boulders Taller Than the Great Tower of Seville” by García López de Cardenas
Reading Warm-up A
Read the following passage. Pay special attention to the underlined words. Then, read it again,
and complete the activities. Use a separate sheet of paper for your written answers.
Juan Ponce de Leon was a Spanish explorer who is
probably more famous for what people think he tried to do
than for what he actually did. He led the first exploration
of Florida by Europeans, but the power of popular imagination will forever link him with the search for the mythical Fountain of Youth. In fact, history shows that Ponce de
Leon was searching for something advantageous to his
career. He desired something that would do him earthly
good—not a dream of eternal youth, but wealth, land,
prestige, and power.
In 1513, Ponce de Leon first touched on the Florida
coast. However, a demonstration of unfriendliness by the
native Calusa tribe showed how unwelcome he was, and
his visit was a short one. He escaped, and his ships
safely made the circuit back, returning to the established
European settlements.
It was his second voyage eight years later that would
lead to Ponce de Leon’s downfall. He overcame the many
obstacles that prevented another expedition, and he was
finally able to finance a voyage in 1521. He hoped for a
less hostile reception, but he would be met with violence.
To establish a permanent colony, Ponce de Leon
brought soldiers, farmers, and artisans who built a small
community between Charlotte Harbor and Estero Bay.
However, after some time, the food supply dwindled.
Provisions ran low. People grew hungry and faced
starvation. Ponce de Leon realized that he and some of
his men had to leave the safety of their houses, the
abodes they had built with such effort, to find food and
fresh water. He led a band of soldiers into a dense forest.
Calusa warriors attacked, and an arrow dealt Ponce de
Leon the wound that ended all his searches.
Unit 1 Resources: A Gathering of Voices
© Pearson Education, Inc. All rights reserved.
54
1. Circle the words that explain
advantageous. What is
advantageous to a young
athlete?
2. Underline the words that
explain demonstration.
Name a demonstration of
happiness or delight.
3. Circle the words that
explain circuit. What root
helps explain the meaning
of circuit?
4. Underline the word that
tells what the obstacles did.
Name two obstacles to a
successful career.
5. Circle the words that explain
reception. Describe a hero’s
reception.
6. Underline the word that means
the same as provisions. Use
provisions in a sentence.
7. Underline the words that
explain starvation. What can
wealthy nations do to prevent starvation in poorer
nations?
8. Circle the word that means
the same as abodes. Name
four kinds of abodes.
Name
Date
“A Journey Through Texas” by Alvar Núñez Cabeza de Vaca
“Boulders Taller Than the Great Tower of Seville” by García López de Cardenas
Reading Warm-up B
Read the following passage. Pay special attention to the underlined words. Then, read it again,
and complete the activities. Use a separate sheet of paper for your written answers.
Although the Grand Canyon was one of the first of
North America’s natural wonders to be visited by
Europeans—earlier than Niagara Falls or Yellowstone or
Yosemite—it took centuries to explore it fully. When
Lopez de Cardenas came upon the great arroyo, it was
not his main interest. As part of the Coronado expedition, he was searching for a fabulous city, perhaps paved
with gold, or a river leading to such a city. To him, the
canyon was a mere hole in the ground, only an immense
gorge, impressive but not the object of his search. It
would take centuries before successive expeditions, one
after another, would probe further and further into the
canyon and reveal its true wonders and possibilities.
One of the liveliest of the later tales of Grand Canyon
exploration, full of excitement and adventure, is the story
of Father Francisco Tomas Garces. He was part of a larger
expedition that crossed the southwest and traversed
much of the land that would become the Old Spanish
Trail. In order to procure as much information as possible
about the land and its inhabitants, Garces separated from
the main party. With the help of Indian guides, he pushed
up the Colorado River and penetrated Havasu Canyon.
Garces was amazed at the roughness of the country
and deeply impressed with how the Native Americans
subsisted there. They lived at one with the unforgiving
terrain. He entreated the Havasupai Indians to help him,
asking them to guide him farther. Garces did not grasp
the significance of what he saw, even calling it “a prison
of cliffs and canyons.” But he had in fact encountered
the western Grand Canyon. Hereafter, we need to include
Garces on any future list of explorers who used the Colorado River to increase knowledge of the Grand Canyon
and its people.
Unit 1 Resources: A Gathering of Voices
© Pearson Education, Inc. All rights reserved.
55
1. Underline the word that
helps explain mere. Describe
a situation in which someone
might be a mere beginner.
2. Circle the words that explain
successive. Name three
successive American
presidents.
3. Underline the words that
mean the same as liveliest.
Describe the liveliest dancer
you have ever seen.
4. Underline the word that
means about the same as
traversed. Use traversed in
a sentence of your own.
5. Circle the words that tell
what Garces wanted to
procure. Where would you
procure a new pair of
sneakers?
6. Circle the word that means
about the same as subsisted.
Define subsisted in your own
words.
7. Underline the word that
helps explain entreated.
Explain the difference
between entreated and
ordered.
8. Underline the word that
helps explain hereafter.
Name something you plan
to do hereafter.
Name
Date
“A Journey Through Texas” from The Journey of Alvar Núñez Cabeza de Vaca
by Alvar Núñez Cabeza de Vaca
“Boulders Taller Than the Great Tower of Seville” by García López de Cárdenas
Literary Analysis: Exploration Narratives/
Chronological Text Structure
The two selections you have just read are exploration narratives—explorers’ firsthand
accounts of their experiences. Such narratives generally focus on the difficulties that the explorers
faced and the specific discoveries they made. They are also generally written in chronological
order, the order in which events occurred.
DIRECTIONS: Read the two excerpts from “Boulders Taller Than the Great Tower of Seville” and
“A Journey Through Texas” below. Then, answer the questions.
The men spent three days looking for a way down [the Grand Canyon] to the river; from the top it
looked as if the water were a fathom [six feet] across. But, according to the information supplied by
the Indians, it must have been half a league wide [1½ miles]. . . . [Three men], being most agile,
began to go down. . . .They returned about four o’clock in the afternoon, as they could not reach
the bottom because of the many obstacles they met, for what from the top seemed easy, was not
so, on the contrary, it was rough and difficult. . . . from the point they had reached, the river seemed
very large, and that, from what they saw, the width given by the Indians was correct.
1. What do you learn from this narrative about access to the Grand Canyon?
2. Base your answers to the next three questions on the following excerpts.
A. Whose estimate of the width of the Colorado river is correct, according to the narrative?
They [Indians] said we should travel up the river towards the north, on which trail for seventeen days
we would not find a thing to eat, except a fruit called chacan, . . . .
After two days were past we determined to go in search of maize, and not to follow the road to the
cows, since the latter carried us to the north, which meant a very great circuit, . . .
So we went on our way and traversed the whole country to the South Sea [Gulf of Mexico], and our
resolution was not shaken by the fear of great starvation, which the Indians said we should suffer
(and indeed suffered) during the first seventeen days of travel.
B. How long did the explorers stay with the Indians?
C. What did they do next, and how long did the first part of their trip take?
Unit 1 Resources: A Gathering of Voices
© Pearson Education, Inc. All rights reserved.
56
Name
Date
“A Journey Through Texas” from The Journey of Alvar Núñez Cabeza de Vaca
by Alvar Núñez Cabeza de Vaca
“Boulders Taller Than the Great Tower of Seville” by García López de Cárdenas
Reading Strategy: Recognize Signal Words for Time
One way to make sense of a writer’s work is to look for signal words that point out
relationships among the ideas and events presented. In a narrative text that is presented in
chronological order, look for signal words related to time.
DIRECTIONS: Read each passage from the selections. Then, identify the signal words that help
you answer the question, and write the answers on the lines.
We followed the women to a place where it had been agreed we should wait for them. After five
days they had not yet returned, and the Indians explained that it might be because they had not
found anybody.
1. How long did the explorers wait for the Indian women to return?
On the same day many fell sick, and on the next day eight of them died!
2. How long after people fell sick did eight of them die?
We asked them why they did not raise maize, and they replied that they were afraid of losing the
crops, since for two successive years it had not rained, and the seasons were so dry that the moles
had eaten the corn, . . .
3. For how long had the drought been going on when the explorers arrived at the Indian
camp?
They set out from there laden with provisions, because they had to travel over some uninhabited
land before coming to settlements, which the Indians said were more than twenty days away.
4. Would the explorers cross the uninhabited land before they reached the settlements, or
after? How many days away were the settlements?
When they had traveled four additional days the guides said that it was impossible to go on
because no water would be found for three or four days, that when they themselves traveled
through that land they took along women who brought water in gourds, that in those trips they buried the gourds of water for the return trip, and that they traveled in one day a distance that took us
two days.
5. According to the guides, how many days distant was water from the beginning of this
journey?
6. How were the Indians able to travel through this dry country two times faster than the
explorers?
Unit 1 Resources: A Gathering of Voices
© Pearson Education, Inc. All rights reserved.
57