Some of the most useful documents relating to Manteņo seafaring are the written records of early European explorers of Western South America. Particularly relevant for the Manteņo expedition is the following excerpt from a report of an encounter, in 1525, between a large Manteņo vessel and the Pizarro's first expedition to the West coast of South America:

...[Pizarro's crew] took a ship which came up to twenty men, of which eleven of them threw themselves into the water...[Pizarro's pilot] put the others ashore so that they might go; and these...were kept for interpreters...[with Pizarro's expedition] and treated well.

Pizarro's secretary goes on to describe the Matneno vessel itself:

This ship which I say he took seemed to have the capacity of up to thirty tonoles [about 25 tons]; it was made in plan and keel of canes [actually, balsa logs] as big as posts, bound with ropes of what they call sisal, which is like hemp, and the upper [deck] of lighter canes tied with the same ropes, where the people and their cargo travel together dry because the lower part [the logs which form the hull] is awash. Her masts and lateen yards were of very fine wood and sails of cotton of the same appearance as our ships, and very good rigging of the said sisal, which I say is like hemp, and some pierced stone weights (potales) for anchors in the manner of barbers' grinding stones.

There are several interesting items to note here. First, the fact that the vessel had a crew of up to 20 men is very interesting, although this may be an estimate (the document only describes 11 Manteņo leaping overboard in terror and three kept by the Pizarro expedition as translators). With regards to the construction of the vessel, we have several details of interest: a capacity of 20+ tons, balsa log construction, a hull 'awash' in sea water while the crew and cargo are kept dry by a cane deck, the use of cotton sails. The question of whether a lateen rig or a square sail were used is of great interest; there is a little more information on these questions here. Also of interest in terms of archaeological survey are the 'pierrced stone weights', some of which may have been net weights in addition to anchors; these artifacts could be expected to preserve very well and may be an important indicator of a balsa raft underwater archaeologial site.

The following section describes the wealth of cargo observed on board the Manteņo vessel:

And they were carrying many items of silver and of gold personal ornament to exchange with those whom they were going to trade, including crowns and diadems and belts and gauntlets (ponietes) and leg armor (greaves?) and breastplates and tweezers and jingling bells and strings and bunches of beads and [other beads of a clear, rosy colour] and mirrors mounted with the said silver and cups and other drinking vessels; they carried many mantles of wool and of cotton, and shirts and [tunics?] and [alarmes = not translated] and many other garments, most of them embroidered and richly worked in colours of scarlet and crimson, and blue and yellow, and of all other colours in different kinds of work and figures of birds and animals and fish and trees; and they brought some tiny weights to weigh gold, like Roman workmanship, and many other things. On some strings of beads there were some small stones and pieces of crystal and chalcedony, and other stones and crystal...All this they brought to exhange of some shells from which they make coral red and white beads, and they had the vessel almost laden with them...

We learn here that on board this trading vessel was a massive supply of red and white shell beads which the Manteņo were apparently trading away for many of the other goods on board. Some of the other goods may have also been produced by the Manteņo, but there is good archaeological evidence (see below) that the production of shell beads and shell ornaments was a very important element of Manteņo economy.

In the following passages we learn something of the extent of the Manteņo chiefdom:

Those three Indians which I said were siezed on the ship [raft] and brought to the captains acquired our language very well. It seems that they were from a land and town called Calangane; the people in that land are of the most superior quality and manner of Indians for they are of better appearance and colour and very skilled [wise], and have a dialect like Arabic; and it seems that they had subjection over the Indians I spoke of -- [subjection over the following towns] Tacumez and the bay of San Mateo, and of Nancabez and of Tovirisimi and Conilope and papagayos, and Tolona and Quisimos and Coaque and Toconjes and Arampajos, and Pintagua and Caraslobez and Amarejos, Cames, Amotosope, Docoa -- all towns of the said plain [flat land] that are found along the coast [of Northern Ecudor]; and of all the rest of the coast in that land of Calangone where they are [from], there are four towns together, under one master [lord]; [these towns, under the lord {chief} Calangome, are:] Calangome and Tusco and Seracapez and Calango [today identified as Salango, the building and launching site of Illa Tiki I, 470 years after this encounter between the Manteņo and Pizarro's expedition...].

Here we have learned that the Manteņo mariners said they came from a land called Calangone, in which at least four towns were managed by one lord named Calangome. This gives us some indication as to the extent of power maintained by Manteņo chiefs. Next, animals of the land are described, and some mention is made of the Manteņo economy and settlements:

[On this coast, ruled by the Chief Salangome] are many sheep [alpacas] and pigs [wild peccary] and cats [ocelots?] and dogs and other animals, and geese and pidgeons, and there they make blankets [shawls] that I said above are of wool and of cotton, and the embroidery [needlework] and the beads and items of silver and gold of much order [good/civilized government]: they have many tools to copper and other metals with which they work their lands, and obtain gold and make all manner of profit; their towns have well laid-out streets; they have many kinds of garden produce, and have much order and justice amongst themselves; the wome are very fair [beautiful] and well-dressed and all for the most part are [craft-workers, embroiderers or farmers].

Finally, we learn a fragment about Manteņo ritual:

There is an island in the sea close to the towns [since confirmed as Isla Salango, just off shore of the modern (and ancient) town of Salango] where they have a house of prayer made in the manner of a camp tent covered with rich embroidered mantles, where they have an image of a woman with a child in her arms whom they call the Maria Meseia; when someone has an affliction in some part [of the body] they make a copy of the part in silver or in gold and offer it to her, and they sacrifice sheep [alpacas] before this image at certain times.

from Samanos, J. 1844 [1526] 'Relacion de los primeros descrubimientos de Francisco Pizarro y Diego de Almagra, sacada de codice numero CXX de la Biblioteca imperial de Viena'.

in
'Coleccion de documentos ineditos para la historia de Espana, Tomo V', Madrid: 196..

Translation from Currie, E. 1995, Prehistory of the Southern Manabi Coast, Ecuador.
British Archaeological Reports#618, Oxford.

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