Cabeza de Vaca turned his travel from Louisiana to, and through, Texas into a narrative of the "New World". In his recounting of his journey, de Vaca notes the customs of the Native Americans and actually offers explanations for why their customs are the way they are. However, even though for de Vaca living in a state of starvation is a temporary affliction, de Vaca doesn't acknowledge the fact that the Native Americans live in starvation their entire lives.

Columbus also wrote of his adventures in America, more specifically to his investors and the King and Queen of Spain. Like de Vaca, Columbus has encounters with the native peoples. Unlike de Vaca, Columbus does not seem to consider a lifestyle unlike that of Spain and Europe valid.

Mary Rowlandson came to America many years after de Vaca and Columbus, but her attitude towards the Native Americans is very similar as her predecessors. She mentions her hunger and her suffering in the wilderness, but like de Vaca, it doesn't seem to occur to her that her captors live that way all their lives. More like Columbus, she doesn't attempt to learn about her captors customs at all.