The Moor's Account

After a long journey across the ocean, Mustafa and Dorantes disembark. Mustafa describes his master as a man who is eager “to claim the treasures of the new world” (6). At the command of Governor Narváez, the leader of the expedition, the men begin exploring La Florida.

When the men come upon a deserted village, they plunder the food left behind by the native inhabitants. This unsettles Mustafa, who reflects, “I took nothing […] but I felt ashamed, because I had been made a witness to these acts of theft, and, unable to stop them, an accomplice to them as well” (7).

While searching the village, Mustafa finds a yellow pebble. Dorantes takes credit for Mustafa’s discovery and presents the pebble to Narváez, who declares it to be gold.

The entire group of explorers gathers on the beach, and the notary makes an official proclamation claiming the lands for Spain. He informs the native people that they must peacefully submit to their subjugation or be enslaved by the Europeans. Mustafa finds it strange that the notary is addressing people who have fled.

The men discover four natives, and Narváez orders that they be whipped until they reveal where the explorers can find more gold. After being flogged, the natives tell Narváez that the gold came from a rich city named Apalache. Narváez says that the kingdom is as rich as the Mexican kingdom discovered by Cortés.

Narváez decides all the able-bodied men should search for Apalache on foot while the rest of the party sails to the nearest port. Castillo questions whether it is wise to leave the ships to travel across an unknown country without a map or adequate provisions. Mustafa, who hopes to be set free if his master becomes rich, is relieved when Narváez dismisses Castillo’s objections.

As the men trek across the land, Mustafa witnesses a fellow enslaved North African being killed by an alligator. After crossing a river, a large group of natives appears on the opposite bank. At Narváez’s command, the notary orders the natives to bring them to Apalache. The natives kill one of the European foot soldiers, inciting a skirmish. The natives’ weapons are no match for the Europeans’ guns and horses.

Mustafa recounts how his parents met and recalls his mother telling him the story of his birth. Mustafa’s mother was a young widow from Fes. Mustafa’s grandfather chose a university student named Muhammad as her future husband, believing him to be an educated man with the prospect of a steady income, and the two are married. When Muhammad is unable to find work as a notary in Fes, he decides to move back to his hometown of Azemmur with his pregnant wife.

As they prepare to board the barge that will take them to Azemmur, a Portuguese soldier demands that they give up their place to make room for him. A skirmish ensues in which Muhammad is gravely wounded, but he and his wife succeed in boarding the barge. His wife gives birth to Mustafa as they cross the river. When they arrive in Azemmur, a doctor attends to Muhammad and amputates his arm. In the first few weeks of his life, Mustafa’s mother spends her time “attending to her men folk, both of them helpless and wholly dependent on her” (31).

Muhammad’s business is a success, and he is given the memorable nickname of “Muhammad the Lame.” Muhammad dreams of his son studying the Qur’an, attending university, and becoming a notary. But Mustafa says, “This image of me as a dutiful recorder of events in other people’s lives did not particularly inspire me” (33).

Soon he finds himself skipping his lessons to visit the souq. He is drawn to the storytelling he hears there. He observes that “the stories they told or foretold comforted people, inspired them, allowed them to imagine a future they had denied themselves” (33).

One day he spies on a healer in the souq who is treating a man in terrible pain. Mustafa sees that the patient is his father. His father punishes him for skipping school by having the schoolmaster cane his feet. Despite his father’s best efforts to prepare him for a life as a notary, Mustafa dreams of becoming a rich merchant.

The men bury the three Castilians who died during the battle with the natives. In contrast, the bodies of the many natives who were killed are disrespectfully piled under a tree. This reminds Mustafa of death’s constant presence in the wilderness and makes him hope to die in his homeland among his “own kind” (38). He is overwhelmed with nostalgia for Azemmur.

Dorantes is worried because his beloved horse Abejorro doesn’t look well. He asks Mustafa if he fed his beloved horse palm fruit and threatens to beat him if he has. Mustafa, thinking about the whippings the natives received, lies and says he didn’t. Mustafa offers to ask the ration master for more water for the horse, and the ration master asks Mustafa for his hatchet in return. Although Mustafa knows that the hatchet is his best chance of defending himself in a battle with the natives, he trades it because he’s afraid of what will happen to him if Abejorro becomes sick or dies.

Their native captives take them to a village where Castillo discovers a piece of gold in a native headdress. He brings it to Narváez, and once again the governor confirms that it is gold. At first, the explorers are very excited about the gold because they believe there must be more. When they don’t find more gold, Narváez tortures one of the native prisoners for either leading them to the wrong village or lying about the gold. Father Anselmo asks Narváez to stop torturing the man. Narváez stops for the moment but later tortures and interrogates all the captives. Mustafa takes pity on the captives and sneaks them food.

Castillo, worried about getting too far from the ships, suggests that a group follow the river to the port to obtain more provisions and chart a way back to the ships. At first Narváez objects but then he agrees that Castillo can take a small group of men to the port.