The Spanish forces rested a fortnight in the vale of Xaula, which was subject to the princess of Cofachiqui, though a separate province, being induced to this delay by finding abundance of all things, and on purpose to recruit their horses. Leaving this place, they marched one day through an agreeable country, and then five days over an unpeopled mountain[165], though not disagreeable, as it had many fine groves, waters, and pasture-grounds, the way over being about twenty leagues. Four Indian chiefs who accompanied them by order of the princess of Cofachiqui, sent to require the cacique of Guanale to receive the Spaniards with kindness, or otherwise to declare war against him. While on the march, a foot-soldier named Juan Terron pulled a little bag from his wallet full of large well-coloured pearls not pierced, which he offered to a horseman, who advised him to keep them as the general meant soon to send to the Havannah, where he might purchase a horse for them to ease him from marching on foot. On this refusal, Terron threw his pearls on the ground, alleging they were troublesome to carry, and they were picked up by his comrades. He sorely repented of this afterwards, as he was informed they would have been worth 6000 ducats in Spain. The Spaniards stopped four days at Guanale, and in five days march from thence they reached Ychiaha, a town situated on an island in the river about five leagues in length. As the general always made inquiry every where concerning the country farther on, the cacique of Ychiaha told him there were mines of yellow metal about thirty leagues from thence, and presented him with a long string of large pearls, which would have been of extraordinary value if they had not been bored. As Soto seemed to prize them, the cacique said there were many such in the burial place of his ancestors which he was welcome to take if he pleased. In return Soto presented the cacique with some pieces of velvet and satin, with which he was much gratified. Two soldiers were sent on, accompanied by a party of Indians, to view the reported mines of yellow metal, who reported that they were only copper, that the country was fruitful, and that they had been well treated by the inhabitants. Some of the men likewise were ordered to drag the river for the pearl oysters, where they soon brought up large quantities, which were laid on a fire to make them open their shells, and the pearls were taken out somewhat damaged by the heat. A soldier who boiled some of these oysters, while eating one of them, almost broke his teeth on a pearl as big as a hazle-nut, which he presented to Soto for his lady, as it was bright and well shaped; but the general refused it, desiring him to keep it to purchase horses, and in return for his good will paid the kings fifth out of his own money, its value being estimated at 400 ducats. Soto was exceedingly generous and obliging to his soldiers, making no distinction between himself and them, in clothes, eating, lodging, or enduring hardships, and enjoyed their entire confidence and affection.

[Footnote 165: If correct in the idea of Soto having crossed the Tenassee, the mountainous district here indicated may have been the Cumberland mountains, between the Tenassee and Cumberland Rivers.--E.]

From Ychiaha, the Spaniards proceeded onwards to Acoste, where the cacique received them with ill-will, and an open breach had like to have taken place; but Soto prevented this by conciliatory management, and still preserved the peace, which had not been infringed since leaving Apalache. Next day the Indians of Acoste became better humoured, and having contented them, Soto crossed the river into the large province of Coza, through which he marched for an hundred leagues, finding it every where populous and fertile, and the Spaniards were every where received in a friendly manner, well treated, and commodiously lodged. At the town of Coza, the cacique came out to meet Soto attended by a thousand Indians wearing plumes of feathers and rich mantles of furs. The town consisted of about five hundred houses along the side of the river, and here the Spaniards were most hospitably entertained. While dining one day with Soto, the cacique requested he would spend the winter in his country and establish a colony there; and indeed it was better land than any that the Spaniards had hitherto passed through. Soto thanked him for his friendly offer; but said that it was necessary for him in the first place to explore the country farther on, that he might be able to judge what articles were necessary for trade, and that he might give orders for seeds and all other requisites, after which he would return and accept his offer. He staid twelve days at this place, more to oblige the cacique than on any other account; and then set out towards the sea, which he had long designed, making a semicircular turn that he might march back by a different route to explore the country, meaning to make his way to the port of Anchusi.

In five days march he reached Talisse, a town fortified with entrenchments of timber and earth, on the frontiers of the territories of the cacique of Tascaluza, who was in enmity with the cacique of Coza, who went so far with the Spaniards on purpose to intimidate Tascaluza. At this place Soto was received by a son of Tascaluza, only eighteen years of age, and so tall that none of the Spaniards reached higher than his breast. This young man offered his fathers compliments of friendship to the Spaniards, and conducted Soto to Tascaluza, who received him sitting after their manner on a kind of chair, with a great number of men standing round him; and though the different commanders came up successively to salute him, no one stirred till Soto came forwards, when the cacique stood up and advanced twenty paces to meet him. Tascaluza was like a giant, much taller than his son, well-shaped, and of a good aspect. The Spaniards were well received, abundantly supplied, and commodiously quartered. They set out again on their march on the third day; and as the cacique Tascaluza chose to accompany them, one of the baggage horses belonging to Soto was selected for him to ride upon. When mounted, his feet reached within, a span of the ground. He was not fat, as his waist was hardly a yard in compass, and he did not seem to exceed forty years of age. In the course of this days march, after coming to a fortified town, the Spaniards had to cross the river, which they did with considerable difficulty, being badly supplied with rafts or floats. On taking up their quarters for the night, two Spaniards were amissing; and when the Indians were asked about them, they answered in a haughty manner, they were not given to our keeping, so that it was strongly suspected they were murdered. Upon this cause of jealousy, and being likewise privately informed that the cacique had assembled a great number of men at a place called Mavila, under pretence of serving the Spaniards, Soto sent three confidential officers to view that place, which was about a league and a half from quarters. They reported that they had seen no person by the way, but that Mavila was a much better fortified place than, any they had hitherto seen in Florida.

As the Spaniards were bound for Mavila, and under circumstances very considerable suspicion as to the good intentions of Tascaluza and his subjects, they marched with the utmost circumspection. Soto led the van in person, consisting of an hundred horse and an hundred and fifty foot. He was accompanied by Tascaluza, and as he marched with diligence, he arrived at Mavila at eight in the morning, the main body not coming up for a considerable time after. The town of Mavila was seated in a plain, enclosed by a double row of piles with timbers laid athwart, and the interstices rammed full of straw and earth, so that it looked like a wall smoothed by a masons trowel. At every eighty paces distance, there was a tower or platform where eight men could stand to fight, having many loop holes. It likewise had two gates. Though it only consisted of eighty houses, these were so large that each could have contained a thousand men. In the middle of the town was a large square or market-place, into which when Soto and the cacique were come and had dismounted, Tascaluza, pointed out to the interpreter a house in which the general might take up his quarters and another for his kitchen, saying that huts and barracks were provided for the rest of the Spaniards on the outside of the town. To this Soto made answer, that, when the major-general came up, he would distribute the troops to proper quarters.

Tascaluza now retired into a house where all his chiefs were assembled, on purpose to consult how best to kill all the Spaniards, which he had been long plotting to accomplish. It was proposed in this council to attack them in their present divided state, before the rest of the Spaniards could get forwards to the town; but another opinion prevailed, which was to allow them all to assemble, as the Indian chiefs had a large force concealed in the houses of the town, and thought themselves perfectly able to encounter with the Spaniards. When the meat was dressed at the quarters of Soto, Juan Ortiz the interpreter was sent with a message to Tascaluza desiring his presence; but he was refused admission to deliver his message, and on pressing to get in, an Indian came to the door exclaiming angrily, "What would these unmannerly vagabonds have with my lord? Down with the villains, there is no enduring their insolence!" He immediately bent his bow, and levelled at some Spaniards who were in the street; but Baltasar de Gallegos, who happened to be close by, gave him a cut on the shoulder which cleft him to the middle. An Indian youth now let fly six or seven arrows at Gallegos, which did him no harm as he was in armour, after which the Indian gave him three or four strokes on the helmet with his bow, but Gallegos killed him with two thrusts of his sword. The moment these Indians were slain an alarm was given, and above seven thousand warriors, who had been concealed in the large houses of the town, rushed out into the streets and drove all the Spaniards out of the town.

The Spaniards who managed best on this alarm, ran immediately to mount their horses, which had been left tied on the outside of the town; while others cut the halters or reins that the Indians might not shoot them. Others remained tied, and were slain by the Indians. Such of the Spaniards as had been able to mount their horses, with others who now arrived, charged the Indians who were engaged with the infantry, making room for them to draw up in regular order. Having re-established their ranks, a troop of horse and a company of foot made so furious a charge on the Indians that they drove them into the town, and attempted to get in at the gate after them; but they were received by such a volley of arrows and stones as compelled them to retire two hundred paces, yet without turning their backs, in which consisted their safety. As the Indians followed them, they made a fresh charge, and drove the Indians back to the town, yet dared not to venture too near the wall; and the fight continued in this manner for some time, alternately gaining and losing ground, several of the Spaniards being killed and wounded. Finding they had the worst of it in the open field, the Indians kept close behind the walls of the town. On this Soto alighted from his horse, causing others to do the same, and advanced up to the gate at the head of a party armed with targets, under cover of which two hundred men with axes hewed down the gate and rushed in, not without much hazard and some loss. Others of the Spaniards contrived to mount the wall, helping each other, and hastened to succour those who had gained the gate. Seeing the Spaniards had forced their way into the town, which they deemed impregnable, the Indians fought desperately in the streets, and from the roofs of the houses, for which reason these were set on fire by the Spaniards. After entering the town, Soto remounted his horse, and charged a body of Indians in the market-place, killing many with his spear; but, raising himself in the stirrup to make a home thrust, an arrow penetrated through his armour and wounded him in the hip, so that he could not regain his seat: yet, not to discourage his men, he continued to fight during the remainder of the action, though obliged to stand the whole time in the stirrups. Another arrow pierced quite through the spear of Nunno de Tovar, near his hand, but did not break the shaft of the lance, which continued to serve after the arrow was cut off.

The fire which had been put to the houses burned fiercely, as the houses were all of wood and covered with thatch, by which great numbers of the Indians perished. About four in the afternoon, being sensible of their own weakness and that they were likely to be worsted, the Indian women began to join in the battle, armed with the spears, swords, and partizans which the Spaniards had lost, some even with bows and arrows, which they managed as dexterously as their husbands, and some armed only with stones exposed themselves courageously in the heat of the action. The foremost of the Spanish main body, which had fallen greatly behind the van little thinking of what was to happen, on hearing the noise of trumpets, drums, and shouts, gave the alarm to the rest, and hastening forwards came up about the close of the engagement. At this time many of the Indians got over the wall into the fields, and endeavoured to make head against the newly arrived Spaniards, but were soon slain. On the arrival of the Spanish main body, about twelve fresh horsemen made a furious charge on a large body of Indian men and women who still continued the battle in the market-place, and soon routed them with great slaughter. This ended the fight about sunset, after it had lasted nine hours, being on St Lukes day in the year 1541[166].

[Footnote 166: The date of 1541 seems here erroneous, Soto having landed in 1539, and spent only one winter in the country, the transactions in this part of the text ought only to refer to the year 1540.--E.]

During the night and next day, Soto ordered the best possible care to be taken of the wounded, some of whom died for want of proper necessaries, no bandages, lint, oil, or medicines being to be had, as all these things had been plundered along with the other baggage at the commencement of the battle by the Indians, and having been carried into the town were all there burnt along with the houses. Forty-eight Spaniards were slain in this battle; thirteen others died shortly of their wounds, and twenty-two some time afterwards, so that the entire loss was eighty-three men, besides forty-five horses, which were much missed, as the cavalry constituted the main strength of the army. It was reckoned that eleven thousand Indians perished, four thousand of whom were found dead without the town, and young Tascaluza among them. The dead bodies within the town were computed at three thousand, as the streets were all full of them; and it was believed that upwards of four thousand were consumed by fire in the houses, for above a thousand perished in one house, as the fire began at the door and they were all stifled. When the Spaniards afterwards scoured the country round, many were found to have died of their wounds in various parts, and some of them four leagues from the town. The body of the cacique Tascaluza could not be found, whence it was concluded that he had perished in the flames, a victim to his eager desire to destroy the Spaniards, which he had anxiously premeditated from the first notice he had received of their arrival in the neighbourhood of his territories. It was reported by some women who were made prisoners, that on the Indians of Talisse complaining of having been ordered by their cacique to carry the baggage of the Spaniards, Tascaluza had exhorted them to have a little patience, as he would soon deliver up these strangers to them as slaves. These women said that they were strangers who had accompanied their husbands at the invitation of Tascaluza, who had promised to give them scarlet and silk dresses, and fine jewels to wear at their dances, and to divide the Spaniards and their horses among them. They said likewise that all the women of the surrounding country, married and single, had collected on this occasion; as it had been given out that an extraordinary festival was to be held in honour of the Sun, after the destruction of the Spaniards. Besides the destruction of their baggage on this occasion, the Spaniards lost all the wine, chalices, and holy vestments for celebrating the mass, so that in future they could only have ordinary prayers and sermons, without any consecration or communion, till after their return among Christians.

The Spaniards remained a fortnight at Mavila, making frequent excursions into the country, where they found plenty of provisions. From twenty Indians whom they took prisoners, they were informed that there were no warriors left to oppose them in all the surrounding country, as all the bravest men of the nation and its allies had been slain in the battle. At this time they received the intelligence that Maldonado and Gomez Arias were making discoveries along the coast; and Soto was much inclined to have established a colony at the port of Achiusi or Anchusi[167], to carry on trade with another establishment twenty leagues up the country, but this was opposed by some of his officers, who thought the Spanish force too small for subduing so warlike a people, considering the experience they had of their fierceness in the battle of Mavila. They objected likewise that they saw no reason for exposing themselves to such hazards, without hope of reward, as they had found no mines in all the vast extent of country they had travelled over. This opposition was exceedingly perplexing to Soto, as he had expended the whole of his substance on the expedition, and was afraid his men would desert him if he came near the coast, when he was not in a condition to raise new forces. For these reasons he resolved to penetrate into the interior of the country; and, being disgusted at seeing all his projects disappointed, he never succeeded afterwards in any of his undertakings.

[Footnote 167: It is quite impossible to conjecture even where this place may have been situated; perhaps it is the same bay or creek formerly called Auche, and may have been that now called Mobille Bay. The Mavila of the text may likewise have been on the river now called Mobille. We know that the b and v are often interchanged in the Spanish names of places and persons; as for example Baldivia and Valdivia are both applied to the original Spanish conqueror of Chili. In the present instance, Mavila may afterwards have been changed to Mabila, and then by the French to Mobille. All this however is mere conjecture.--E.]

When the sick and wounded were so far recovered as to be able to travel, Soto set out from Mavila, and marched through a fine country for three days, after which they entered the province of Chioza, where the natives refused to receive him in a peaceable manner. They abandoned their town, and took post to defend the passage of a very deep river in which were many craggy places. At this pass above eight thousand Indians collected, some of whom crossed in canoes to attack and harass the Spaniards: But Soto caused some trenches to be made, in which he concealed several bodies of musqueteers, targeteers, and crossbow-men, who fell upon the rear of the Indians, who forbore to repeat these attempts after having been twice discomfited in this manner. As it was found impossible to cross over in the face of so large a force of Indians in the ordinary manner, two very large piraguas were privately built in the woods, which were got ready in twelve days, and were then drawn out of the wood on rollers by the Spaniards with the assistance of their horses and mules. These were launched into the river without being perceived by the Indians; and forty musqueteers and crossbow-men were embarked in each with a few horses, and these pushed across the river with the utmost diligence. They were descried however, by five hundred Indians who were scouring the country, who with loud cries gave the alarm to the rest, and all hastened to defend the pass. Most of the Spaniards were wounded while on the water, as the Indians continually shot their arrows against them unopposed. One of the piraguas got straight across to the landing, but the other was forced some way down by the current, and had to be towed up. Two horsemen landed from the first piragua, who drove the Indians above two hundred paces back, and made four several charges before any reinforcement could land; but at length were joined by other four horsemen, and made several desperate charges on the Indians, so as to allow of the infantry getting on shore; but as these were almost all wounded, they were obliged to take shelter in an Indian town hard by. Soto came over in the second trip of the piraguas, accompanied by sixty men; and the Indians, on seeing the Spanish force increase, retired to a fortified town in the neighbourhood, whence they frequently sallied out to skirmish with the Spaniards; but as the cavalry killed many of them with their spears, they evacuated that place during the night.

The Spaniards now broke up their piraguas, keeping the iron work for future service, and advanced farther into the country. In four days they reached a town called Chicoza[168], well situated in a fertile country among brooks and surrounded by abundance of fruit trees. Resolving to spend the winter in this place, Soto caused it to be fortified, huts to be built for the accommodation of his troops, and all the provisions that could be procured to be collected. At this place they remained in peace for about two months, the horsemen making frequent excursions into the surrounding country in quest of provisions. Such Indians as happened to be made prisoners on these occasions were immediately set at liberty, receiving various trinkets for themselves and presents for their chiefs, with messages desiring them to repair to the Spanish quarters to enter into terms of peace and amity. The chiefs sent presents of fruit in return, and promised soon to visit the Spanish general. Soon afterwards they began every night to alarm the Spaniards; and one night three considerable bodies of them drew near the town about midnight, and when about an hundred paces from the entrenchments they set up loud shouts and made a prodigious noise with their warlike instruments; after which, with burning wreaths of a certain plant tied round their arrows, they set the town on fire, all the houses being thatched. Undismayed at this calamity, the Spaniards repaired to their alarm posts, and Soto issuing out in his escaupil or cotton armour, mounted his horse and went to attack the Indians, being the first to kill one of the assailants with his spear; as upon all occasions of danger he gave a wonderful example of cool and intrepid courage. Some sick Spaniards and several horses were burnt on this occasion; but Captain Andres de Vasconcelos with four horsemen fell with such fury on the enemy that he forced them to retire. Soto, being eager to slay an Indian who particularly distinguished himself in this action, leaned forwards so much that he and the saddle fell off; but being bravely rescued by his men, he mounted again and returned to the fight. At length after two hours hard fighting, the Indians were constrained to fly, and were pursued as far as they could be seen by the light from the burning houses, after which Soto sounded a retreat. In this fatal night, the Spaniards lost forty men and fifty horses, twenty of them being burnt. All the swine likewise perished in the fire, except a few that broke out of an enclosed yard. During this engagement prodigious shots of arrows were made by the Indians, one of which pierced through both shoulder-blades of a horse, and came out four fingers breadth on the opposite side.

[Footnote 168: This word seems to have almost the same sound with Chicasaw, and Soto may on his present return into the interior have crossed the river Yazous, which flows into the Missisippi in lat. 32° 30' N. a short way above the Natches.--E.]

Soto now thought proper to remove the army to a town named Chicacolla, about a league from that which had been burnt; and, having fortified these new quarters, the Spaniards were obliged to make new saddles, spears, targets and clothes, to supply the places of those which had been burnt. The clothes were made of goats skins[169]. At this place the Spaniards spent the rest of the winter, during which they suffered extreme hardships for want of clothes, as the weather was excessively cold. Being sensible that they had done much harm to the Spaniards in the late night attack, the Indians returned again to make a similar attempt; but their bow-strings being wetted by violent rain, they withdrew, as was learnt from an Indian prisoner. They returned however every night to alarm the Spaniards, of whom they always wounded some; and though the cavalry scoured the country every day four leagues round, they could meet none of the natives, so that it was wonderful how they should come nightly from so great a distance.

[Footnote 169: More probably of deer skins found in the Indian towns, as goats certainly were not among the indigenous animals of North America.--E.]

The Spaniards contrived to shift in a very miserable manner at Chicacolla till about the latter end of March 1542[170], when they resumed their march. At the end of about four leagues, the advanced guard returned with a report that they had seen an Indian fort which appeared to be defended by about four thousand warriors. After viewing it, Soto told his soldiers that it was indispensably requisite to dislodge these people, who would otherwise annoy them with night attacks, and that it was likewise necessary to do this that they might preserve the reputation they had already gained in so many provinces of the country. This fort, called Alibamo[171], was of a square form, each side being four hundred paces in length, and the gates were so low that the horsemen could not ride in, similar in all respects to what has been already said respecting Mavila.[172] The general therefore gave orders to three companies of infantry to assail the gates, those who were best armed being placed in front. When they were all ready to begin the assault, a thousand Indians sallied out from the town, all adorned with plumes of feathers, and having their bodies and faces painted of several colours. At the first flight of arrows, five of the Spaniards were shot, three of whom died of their wounds. To prevent the discharge of more arrows, the Spaniards immediately closed and drove the Indians in at the gates, which they entered along with them, making dreadful havock with their swords, as may easily be imagined, the Indians being all naked. To escape from the infantry, the Indians threw themselves from the walls, by which means they fell into the hands of the horsemen, who slew many of them with their spears. Others of the Indians endeavoured to escape by swimming a river behind the fort; but a squadron of horse passed the river, and killed many of them, so that on the whole two thousand Indians were supposed to have been slain in this battle. During this engagement, an Indian challenged Juan de Salinas to single combat, which he accepted, and when his comrade made offer to cover him with his target, he refused, saying that it was a shame for two Spaniards to engage one Indian. Salinas shot his bolt through the breast of the Indian, and in return the Indians arrow went through the neck of the Spaniard.

[Footnote 170: Herrera persists in the error already noticed of advancing his chronology a year, as hitherto between May 1539 he has only accounted for two winters, and ought consequently to have been now only in the spring of 1541.--E.]

[Footnote 171: At present Toulouse, built on the scite of an Indian village called Alibama, stands on a river of the same name, which flows into the left or east side of the Mobille River in the back part of Georgia, and seems to have been surrounded by a tribe called the Alibamons. If this be the place indicated in the text, it is quite adverse to the idea of Chicoza being to the north-west of the Yazous.--E.]

[Footnote 172: These square forts of logs rammed full of earth may have given rise to the entrenchments which have lately occasioned some speculation in America, as having belonged to a people more advanced in civilization than the present race of savage hunters.--E.]

At this time the Spaniards were reduced to great distress from want of salt, owing to which they were afflicted with lingering fevers, of which several died, and their bodies stunk so violently, that there was no coming near them. As a remedy for this evil, the Indians taught them to make a lye of the ashes of a certain herb, into which they dipped their food by way of sauce. At this time likewise the Spaniards were put to much trouble for interpreters, on account of the great diversity of languages, so that they were obliged to employ thirteen or fourteen others besides Juan Ortiz, among the various tribes they met with in traversing the country; but so acute were the natives, that such of their women as happened to live with the Spaniards were able to understand them in two months. After three days march from Alibamo, the Spaniards came to another town named Chisca, on a river to which they gave the name of El Grande[173] or the Great River, as it was the largest they had yet seen. Coming upon this place by surprise, most of the inhabitants were made prisoners; but some of them made their escape to the residence of the cacique, which stood on a high and difficult ascent, to which the only access was by means of stairs. Though old and sick, the cacique was coming down to attack the Spaniards, whom he threatened to put all to death, but he was stopped by his women and servants. As there was no proper access for the horsemen to assail the residence of the cacique, and besides as Soto was always more inclined to carry his purposes by gentle means than by the exertion of force, he very courteously offered to enter into peace and amity with this cacique and his people. In less than three hours, more than four thousand Indians assembled at the residence of the cacique, among whom there was great difference of opinion as to the choice of peace or war with the Spaniards, many of them inclining to war as accordant with the natural ferocity of their dispositions. The opinion however of the wiser prevailed, who deemed it better to make peace, by which they might recover their wives and children, and retrieve their property without bloodshed, and might save their corn, which was then ripe, from being destroyed. Peace was accordingly concluded, on condition that the Spaniards should not insist upon going up to the residence of the cacique; the prisoners were set at liberty, all the plunder of the town restored, and the Spaniards were supplied with provisions.

[Footnote 173: From what will appear in the sequel, there can scarcely be a doubt that this great river must have been the Missisippi. According to the Governor Pownall's map of North America, Soto fell in with this river in 1541, about the lat. of 34° 30' N. in the country of the Chicasaws and to the west of the Yazous, near where we have already supposed Chicoza to have been situated.--E.]

Having rested sixteen days in Chisca, on purpose to give time for the sick and wounded to recover, during which time they gained the friendship of the cacique, the Spaniards resumed their journey, and went four days along the river in search of some place in which it could be crossed, as the banks were everywhere high and almost perpendicular, and closely wooded. Although above six thousand Indians, with great numbers of canoes, were seen posted on the opposite side of the river, it was deemed necessary to get across in search of provisions, for which purpose two large piraguas were ordered to be built. In the mean time four Indians came to the camp, and having made their adorations to the sun and moon, they addressed Soto in the name of their cacique, bidding him welcome to his territories, and offering his friendship. The general returned a courteous answer, and was well supplied with provisions for his forces during his stay, but could never prevail on the cacique to visit him, who always excused himself under pretence of sickness; but it was afterwards found that this peace was concluded by the Indians on purpose to save their harvest, which was then ready to be carried home. In fifteen days the two piraguas were finished for crossing the river, although some damage was done by the Indians from the opposite side by means of their canoes; but the Spaniards drove them always away, as they kept a constant guard concealed behind trenches. These piraguas were so large as to contain an hundred and fifty foot and thirty cavalry, all of whom embarked in sight of the Indians, and plied up and down the river with sails and oars; and the Indians were so astonished and intimidated by the sight of such huge floating machines, that they abandoned the opposite bank of the river and dispersed.

After passing the river, the Spaniards came to a town of about four hundred houses, constructed upon some high bluffs or ridges near another river[174], and surrounded by spacious fields of Indian corn, and abundance of fruit-trees of several kinds. The Spaniards were courteously received at this place by order of the cacique, named Casquin[175], who resided at a different town higher up the river, and sent to compliment the Spanish commander. After resting six days, they proceeded up the banks of the river, through a plentiful and populous country, till they came to the town where Casquin resided, who received and entertained them with great attention and kindness.

[Footnote 174: This other river may have been the St Francis, which flows into the west side of the Missisippi a little above where Soto is supposed to have crossed.--E]

[Footnote 175: The memory of this name perhaps is still preserved in a small river or creek, called Kaskin-opa, which runs into the east side of the Missisippi about 20 miles below the mouth of the Ohio. The situation indeed is materially different from that in which Soto is supposed to have found the cacique named Casquin in the text; but the roaming tribes of Indians frequently change their places of residence, as influenced by success or misfortune in war and hunting.--E.]

Three days after their arrival, the cacique waited upon Soto, and, after making his obeisance to the sun and moon, he said "he was persuaded the Spaniards worshipped a better God than the Indians, since he had given them victory with so small a number over such multitudes of Indians: Wherefore he requested that Soto would pray to his God to send rain, of which they were in great want." The general answered, that though he and all his men were sinners, they would humbly pray to God to shew mercy. Having accordingly ordered a cross to be erected on a hill, he and all the forces, except a guard left to protect the quarters, went in solemn procession to adore the cross, accompanied by the cacique and some Indians, the Christian priests singing the litanies, and all the soldiers joining in the responses. Being come to the cross, many prayers were recited on their knees, after which they returned to their quarters chanting appropriate psalms. Above twenty thousand natives stood gazing at this religious procession, some on the same side of the river, and others on the opposite bank, all of whom occasionally set up loud shouts, as if begging of God to hear them. It pleased God to answer their humble prayers, as towards midnight there fell sufficient rain to satisfy the wants of the Indians, and the Christians returned solemn thanks for the mercy which God had been pleased to grant at their intercessions.

Nine days afterwards, the Spaniards again set out on their march, accompanied by Casquin and a great number of Indians carrying water and other necessaries. The cacique was also accompanied by five thousand of his warriors, as he was at war with the cacique of the next adjoining tribe, and took the opportunity of the Spaniards to assist in the war. During this march they spent three days in getting across a great swamp, when they came in sight of Capaha[176], being the frontier town of the next tribe. This place was fortified on three sides by a wet ditch forty fathoms wide and ten fathoms deep, into which water was conveyed from the great river by a canal three leagues in length. The fourth side, which had no ditch, was secured by high and thick palisades. As the cacique of Capaha was unprovided for resistance, he went away on seeing the approach of his enemies along the canal in a canoe, and sheltered himself in a fortified island in the great river. Many of his subjects accompanied him, and those who remained were butchered by the followers of Casquin, who took the whole scalps[177] of all they killed to carry home as trophies. They plundered the town, and took many prisoners, among whom were two beautiful women, wives of the cacique. They likewise demolished the burial-place belonging to Capaha, throwing about the bones of his ancestors, and recovered the scalps of their own countrymen which were hung up there as memorials of victory. All this evil was done before the arrival of Soto and the Spaniards, who had not been informed by Casquin of the enmity between him and Capaha. He would even have destroyed the town, if he had not feared giving offence to Soto.

[Footnote 176: On the western bank of the Missisippi, and in the country of the Akansas, there are two Indian towns named Kappas or Quapa, which may possibly have some connection with the Capaha of the text.--E.]

[Footnote 177: On all occasions the text of Herrera, as translated by Stephens, names these savage trophies of massacre sculls, which we have ventured to call scalps, consistent with the now universal practice of the North American savages. Possibly the entire scull might be the original trophy, for which the scalp was afterwards substituted as more portable.--E.]

On the coming up of the Spaniards, Soto sent a message to the fugitive cacique by means of some prisoners, offering peace; but Capaha would not hear of any friendly intercourse, and loudly declared his resolution to take ample vengeance of his enemies. Learning that the Spanish commander was making preparations for an attack on Capaha, Casquin requested him to wait for sixty canoes which he had ordered up the river, by means of which the army could be transported to attack the fortified island. In the mean time the troops of Casquin marched through the country of their enemies, which they laid waste on all sides, and in their course set free some of their own countrymen who were there in captivity, and had been lamed by cutting the sinews of one of their legs to prevent them from running away. On going in the canoes to attack the island, a great part of its coast was inaccessible, being overgrown with thick briars and brambles, which formed an impenetrable barrier, and the only accessible part was fortified by several rows of strong palisades. Soto ordered two hundred of his Spanish soldiers to endeavour to land along with the Indians belonging to Casquin. On this occasion one Spaniard was drowned by too great eagerness to get first to land; but the rest managed so well that they soon gamed the first palisade, on which the women and children belonging to the defenders set up a terrible cry of consternation. A desperate opposition was made at the second palisade, in which consisted the last refuge of the defenders. The subjects of Capaha reviled those of Casquin, calling them cowardly dogs, who had never ventured before to attack that place, and threatened them with ample vengeance when the valiant strangers had left the country. The subjects of Casquin were so intimidated by these threats and the brave opposition they experienced, that in spite of every thing their cacique could say they took to flight, carrying off forty of the canoes, and would have done the same with the other twenty, had not two Spaniards that were left in charge of each defended them with their swords. Being thus deserted by their allies, and having no horses to act against the Indians, the Spaniards began to retire; and when the Indians proposed to pursue them, Capaha restrained them, thinking this a favourable opportunity to embrace the peace he had before rejected, and the Spaniards accordingly retired unmolested.

Next day, without taking any notice whatever of Casquin, Capaha sent four messengers to Soto, apologizing for having before refused peace, which he now sued for, and requested leave to wait upon him. Soto was well pleased with this, and returned a suitable answer. Accordingly, Capaha came next day to the town, attended by an hundred Indians finely adorned with plumes of feathers; and before waiting on the general went to the sepulchre of his forefathers, where he gathered together the bones with anxious care, kissed them with much reverence, and replaced them in their chests or coffins. On coming into the presence of Soto, he paid his compliments with a good grace, and though only about twenty-six years of age gave an intelligent account or the affairs of his country. Turning to his enemy Casquin, he addressed him as follows: "I suppose you are now well pleased at having seen what you never expected, for which you may thank the power of these valiant strangers: But when they are gone, you and I shall understand each other. In the mean time I pray the sun and moon to send us good seasons." Being informed of what Capaha had said, the general without giving time to Casquiu to reply, assured Capaha that he and his Spaniards had not come into the country to inflame the enmity of the tribes, but to reconcile them. After more friendly discourse of this nature, Capaha consented to be friends with Casquin, and the two chiefs sat down to dinner with Soto. After the repast, the two women who belonged to Capaha and had been taken prisoners were brought in and restored to him, at which he seemed well pleased, yet presented them to Soto, who declined accepting them; but Capaha desired him to give them to any one he pleased, as they should not stay with him, and they were accordingly admitted among the followers of the Spanish army.

At this time the Spaniards suffered excessively for want of salt, when they were informed by some Indians that there was plenty to be had, and likewise of the metal they called gold only about four leagues from thence. Soto accordingly sent Ferdinand de Silvera and Pedro Moreno under the guidance of these Indians to the place, ordering them likewise to examine diligently into all the circumstances of the country they passed through. They returned after eleven days with six loads of rock salt, as clear as crystal, and one load of fine copper; and reported that the country they had passed through was rather barren and thinly inhabited. On receiving this report, the general resolved to return in the first place to Casquin, and thence to proceed towards the west, having marched northward all the way from Mavila, in order to remove to a distance from the sea. After resting five days at Casquin, they marched other five days down the river, where at a town in the province of Quiguate the inhabitants fled without any hostilities, but they returned in two days and the cacique made an apology for his absence. In the interval, the inhabitants of that place wounded two of the Spaniards, which the general thought proper to overlook under the present circumstances. Departing from Quiguate after a sojourn of seven days, they arrived in five days more at the province of Colima, marching still down the river, and were received in a friendly manner. At this place they found another river having blue sand, which was salt to the taste. The Spaniards being much in want of salt, steeped some of this sand in water, which they strained and boiled, and procured excellent salt to their great joy; yet some ate of it so voraciously that ten of them died.

Departing from this province of Colima, which the Spaniards named De Sal, or the Salt Country, they marched four days through an uninhabited wilderness, after which they came to a province called Tula[178]. On approaching the first town, the whole population both male and female came out to oppose them, and a battle ensued in which the Indians were defeated, and the Spaniards rushed into the town along with the fugitives; and as the inhabitants obstinately refused to submit or surrender they were all massacred. After this, on Reynoso Cabeza de Vaca[179] going into one of the houses, he was suddenly beset by five women who had hidden themselves in a corner, who would have stifled him if he had not been rescued by two soldiers who came in upon hearing his cries for assistance, and who were forced to kill the women before they could extricate him from their hands. From this place Soto sent out parties of his cavalry to view the country. When any Indians were made prisoners in these excursions, they used to throw themselves on the ground, exclaiming "either kill me or leave me," refusing obstinately to accompany the Spaniards, or to give any account of the country. At this place the Spaniards found several well dressed cows hides, though they could never learn from whence they came[180], and likewise other good skins of various kinds. Four days after the arrival of the Spaniards at this place, they were attacked one morning early by surprise by a large party of Indians, in three several places at once, all calling out Tula! Tula! continually, which was considered as a watch-word to know each other in the obscurity and confusion of the attack. The Spaniards seized their arms in all haste, invoking the blessed virgin and their patron apostle St Jago for aid, as they were in the utmost peril. In this battle the Indians fought with great clubs, a weapon which had not been seen before in Florida. The Indians continued the assault with such obstinacy till after sunrise, and the Spaniards had been so completely surprised, that they were forced to lay aside all punctilios of military discipline, each using his utmost individual efforts for safety, and the officers even submitting to fight occasionally under the command of their inferiors. At length the Indians were repulsed, and retired unpursued by the Spaniards, of whom four were killed and a good many wounded.

[Footnote 178: It is proper to observe that this place is named Fula on another occasion by Herrera.--E.]

[Footnote 179: This may have been a relative of Alvar Nunnez Cabeza de Vaca, whose adventures in escaping from the disastrous expedition of Panfilo de Narvaez to Florida have been related in the third section of this chapter.--E.]

[Footnote 180: It is however well known that buffaloes are found in various parts of North America.--E.]

While the Spaniards after the battle were surveying the dead, and looking at the dreadful wounds made by their swords and spears, an Indian started up from among the dead, on which Juan de Caranza ran to attack him. But the Indian gave him such a stroke with a Spanish battle-axe he had laid hold of, as to cleave his target and wound him in the arm. On this Diego de Godoy came up to assail him, but was soon disabled. Francisco de Salazar came on next, and made several thrusts at the Indian who skulked behind a tree, but at length gave Salazar so violent a blow on the neck that he dropped from his horse. The fourth Spaniard who came against this single Indian was Gonzalo Silvestre, who conducted himself with more caution. Having avoided a blow aimed at him by the Indian, he gave him in return a back stroke with his sword on the forehead, which glanced down his breast, and cut off his left hand at the wrist. The Indian rushed on aiming a blow at the face of Silvestre, who warded it off with his target, underneath which he with another back stroke cut him almost in two at the waist. The general and many others went up to see this Indian who had made himself so remarkable by his valour, and to admire the wonderful cut he had received from Gonzalo Silvestre; who was well known at the court of Madrid in 1570, by his valour and dexterity.

After remaining twenty days in Tula, the Spaniards departed from thence, accompanied only by one Indian woman and a boy belonging to that place, the former having attached herself to Juan Serrano de Leon, and the other to Christopher de Mosquera. In two days march, they came to the territory of Vitangue, through which they marched for four days, and then took up their quarters in a well built town, which they found abandoned. The situation of this place was advantageous, as it was inclosed with good palisades and there was plenty of provisions both for the men and horses; and as the winter advanced with hasty strides, Soto resolved to remain here till the ensuing spring, although the Indians were continually troublesome, and rejected every proposal for peace.

SECTION VI.

Conclusion of the Expedition to Florida by Ferdinand de Soto[181].

[Footnote 181: Herrera, VI. 1--30.]

Soto and his men accordingly took up their quarters in the town of Vitangue at the latter end of the year 1541[182]. As during their abode at this place, the Spaniards often went out to kill deer, rabbits, and roe-bucks, all of which were plentiful and good in the surrounding country, they were frequently on these occasions way-laid by the Indians, who discharged their arrows at them from ambushments and then made their escape. A great deal of snow fell during the winter, but as the Spaniards had abundance of fire-wood and provisions, among which was excellent fruit, they lived in tolerable comfort and in plenty. The cacique of the province, desirous of becoming acquainted with the strength and numbers of the Spaniards, that he might know how best to attack them, sent several messages to the general under pretence of offering to visit him. At first the Spaniards admitted these people into their quarters even under night; but at length Soto began to suspect some sinister purpose, by the frequency of these messages, and gave orders that no more of them should be admitted at night, reproving those who did not chastise and turn back these unseasonable visitors. In consequence of these orders, one of the centinels killed an Indian who impudently endeavoured to force his way into the town next night, for which he was much commended by the general.

[Footnote 182: At this place the text returns to the true date of 1541, quite conformable with the whole tenor of the narrative, and fully confirming our observations respecting erroneous dates in the text on former occasions.--E.]

Towards the end of winter, several parties were sent out in different directions to endeavour to procure Indians for carrying the baggage, who brought in very few. Upon this Soto set out himself on a similar expedition, with 100 horse and 150 foot. After a march of twenty leagues into the province of Naguaten, which was very populous, he attacked a town by surprise one morning at day-break, and returned with many prisoners. In April 1542, the Spaniards broke up from their winter quarters at Vitangue, and in seven days through a fruitful country arrived without opposition at the chief town of Naguaten, where they found abundance of provisions, and remained seventeen days. On the sixth day after their arrival, a message was brought from the cacique, to excuse himself for not having visited the general and offering his services. Soto received this messenger with much civility, and sent back a courteous answer. Next day four chiefs came attended by 500 servants with a large quantity of provisions, saying they had been sent by their lord to attend upon the general, but the cacique never made his appearance.

On departing from Naguaten, and after the Spaniards had marched two leagues, they missed a gentleman of Seville, named Diego de Guzman, who had always hitherto behaved himself well, but was much addicted to gaming. On inquiry it was found that Guzman had lost every thing he had at play the day before, among which was a good black horse and a beautiful young Indian woman to whom he was much attached. He had punctually delivered up every thing he had lost, except the woman, whom he promised to yield up in five days. It was concluded therefore that the reason of his disappearance was from shame of having abandoned himself to gaming, and owing to his love for the woman. On this occasion, the general required of the four chiefs belonging to Naguaten to restore Guzman, or that he would detain them as prisoners. They accordingly sent to inquire after him, and it was found that he had gone along with the woman to the cacique, whose daughter she was, that the Indians used him well, and that he refused to return. Upon this, one of the four chiefs asked permission of the general to go and inquire the reason of Guzman refusing to come back, and requested a letter to the deserter to that effect, saying that it was not reasonable he and his comrades should be reduced to slavery for the fault of another person who renounced his country and deserted from his commander. Soto accordingly ordered Baltasar de Gallegos, who was the friend and townsman of Guzman, to write him a letter reproving his behaviour and advising him to return; promising in the name of the general that his horse and arms should be returned, or others given in their room. The Indian who carried this letter was ordered to threaten the cacique with having his country laid waste if he did not restore Guzman. The messenger returned in three days, bringing back the letter, having Guzmans name wrote upon it with a piece of burnt stick, and an answer peremptorily refusing to return. Along with this letter, the cacique sent a message, declaring that he had done nothing to oblige Guzman to stay, and did not think himself obliged to force him back, but would on the contrary be well pleased if many others of the Spaniards would stay with him, all of whom should be well used: And if the general thought proper on this account to kill the four chiefs who were in his power and to ruin the country, he certainly might do so, but it would in his opinion be extremely unjust. Perceiving that it was impossible to induce Guzman to return, and that the cacique was in the right, Soto dismissed the four chiefs with some presents, and continued his progress.

After five days march through the province of Naguaten, the Spaniards entered upon a new territory called Guacane, inhabited by a fierce and warlike tribe, who obstinately refused to be at peace with them. In all the houses of this tribe, wooden-crosses were found; supposed to have been occasioned by what Cabeza de Vaca and his companions had taught in their progress through some other provinces of Florida, from whence these crosses had been conveyed to this province and several others[183]. Soto, having now lost half of his men and horses, was very desirous to establish some colony, that the fatigues and dangers which had been endured by him and his men might turn out to some useful purpose. With this view he was now anxious to return to the great river, repenting that he had not built a town at Achusi, as he once designed. He had now a strong inclination to found a colony in some convenient situation near the great river; where he could build two brigantines to send down to the sea, to give notice of the large and fertile provinces he had discovered, considering that if he should happen to die, all the fruits of his labours would be lost. Having marched eight days through the hostile province of Guacane, he proceeded by long marches in search of the great river through seven extensive provinces, some of which were fertile. In some of these the Spaniards were received in a friendly manner, as they used every possible means to avoid war, because their numbers were so much diminished, and they feared the summer might pass away before they could reach the great river. Having entered the province of Anilco, they marched thirty leagues through it to a town of four hundred houses, having a large square in which the residence of the cacique stood on an artificial mount on the bank of the river, which was as large as the Guadalquiver at Seville. On their approach to this place, the cacique drew out 1500 warriors to combat the Spaniards; yet as soon as they drew near, all the Indians fled without shooting a single arrow, and crossed the river in canoes and on floats, carrying off their women and children, only a small number being taken by the Spaniards. Soto sent several messages to the cacique requesting peace, but he constantly refused to be seen or to send any answer.

[Footnote 183: In Governor Pownalls map of North America, Soto is said to have reached a place called Caligoa in Louisiana on a branch of a Red river, in lat. 36° N. and about 230 miles west from the Missisippi.--E.]

Leaving Anilco, and crossing the river on which it stood without opposition, the Spaniards marched through an extensive unpeopled wilderness overgrown with wood, and came into the province of Guachacoya. The first town they came to was the capital of the province, and was situated on several hillocks at the side of the great river, on one of which hillocks stood the residence of the cacique. Being taken by surprise, as he had received no intelligence of the approach of the Spaniards in consequence of being at war with Anilco, the cacique of Guachacoya saw no likelihood of being able to defend his town, and made therefore a precipitate retreat across the river with his people in canoes and floats, carrying off as many of their effects as they could.

The wars which were carried on among the tribes inhabiting the various districts or provinces of Florida, were not intended to deprive each other of their dominions, neither did they ordinarily engage in pitched battles with their whole forces; but consisted chiefly in skirmishes and mutual surprises, carried on by small parties at the fishing-places, in the hunting grounds, among the corn-fields, and on the paths through the wilderness. Sometimes they burnt the towns of their enemies, but always retired into their own country after any exploit; so that their warlike enterprises seemed rather for exercise in the use of arms, and to shew their valour, than for any solid or public purpose. In some places they ransomed or exchanged prisoners. In others they made them lame of a leg in order to retain them in their service, more from pride and vain glory than for any substantial use or benefit[184].

[Footnote 184: It is perhaps singular that no mention is made of the cruel manner in which the North American Indians were in use to put their prisoners to death. Probably that practice was then confined to the tribes farther to the north and west.--E.]

Three days after the arrival of the Spaniards at Guachacoya, the cacique became acquainted with the unfriendly reception they had received at Anilco. Though a barbarian, he could perceive the advantage which might be derived from that circumstance to obtain revenge upon his enemies, by an alliance with the warlike strangers. He sent therefore four of his inferior chiefs to wait upon the Spanish general attended by a considerable number of Indians loaded with fish and fruit, and desiring permission to wait upon him at the end of four days. Soto accordingly received the messengers with great courtesy, and sent back a friendly answer; yet the wary cacique sent fresh messengers every day to see in what disposition the Spanish general was. At length, being satisfied that Soto was disposed to receive him well, he made his appearance attended by ten chiefs splendidly dressed after their manner, in fine plumes of feathers, and rich furs, but all armed. Soto received them in a friendly manner, and had a long discourse, with the cacique in one of the spacious rooms belonging to his residence, by the intervention of interpreters. At one time the cacique happened to sneeze, on which all the Indians who were present bowed their heads and extended their arms, in token of salute; some saying, the sun preserve you, others the sun be with you, and others may the sun make you great, with other complimentary expressions of similar import. Among other discourse at this interview, the cacique proposed to Soto to return into the province of Anilco to take revenge on the cacique for his enmity, and offered to supply 80 canoes to carry the Spaniards down the great river and up that of Anilco, the distance being only twenty leagues, when the rest of the army marching by land might form a junction in the centre of the enemies country. As Soto was inclined to take a full view of the country, meaning to form a settlement between these two provinces, where he might build his brigantines, he agreed to this proposal, and accordingly orders were given out to prepare for the march. Juan de Guzman was ordered to embark with his company on board the canoes, which were likewise to carry 4000 Indians, and who were expected to join the forces which marched by land at the end of three days. Soto and the rest of the Spanish forces marched by land, being accompanied by Guachacoya with 2000 warriors, besides a large number carrying the provisions.

They all met at the time appointed, and as the Anilcans were unable to oppose the groat force which came against them, the Guachacoyans entered the town killing all they met, without regard to age or sex; committed all imaginable barbarities, broke open the sepulchres scattering and trampling on the bones, and took away the scalps of their countrymen and other trophies which the Anilcans had hung up in commemoration of their victories. On seeing the barbarity of his allies, Soto sounded a retreat and ordered the Spaniards to turn the Indians out of the town, wishing anxiously to put a stop to any farther mischief, and to prevent it from being set on fire. But all his efforts were ineffectual, as the Guachacoyans thrust burning brands into the thatch of the houses, which soon took fire, and the town was utterly destroyed. The Spaniards and their allies now returned to Guachacoya, where Soto gave orders for cutting down and hewing timber with which to build the brigantines, and to prepare iron work for their construction; designing when the vessels were finished to cross the river into a province named Quiqualtangui, which was very fertile and populous, the cacique of which had a town of five hundred houses, but who could never be induced to listen to proposals of peace from the Spaniards: On the contrary, he had sworn by the sun and moon, that he would give battle to these vagabond robbers, and would hang up their quarters on trees. The general endeavoured to appease him with presents and fair words, being always generous towards the leaders of the barbarians, endeavouring to bear with and soften their savage manners, and to conciliate their friendship. By this wise conduct he had hitherto been able to subsist his troops for so long a time among so many fierce and savage nations.

While engaged in these things, Soto was seized with a violent fever, which increased upon him so that he soon perceived it would prove mortal. He made therefore his will, and endeavoured to prepare for death like a good Christian. That nothing might be left unprovided for, he appointed in presence of all his officers and principal followers Luis Moscoso de Alvarado to succeed him in the command till the king might order otherwise; and after commending the virtue and bravery of Alvarado, he entreated and commanded all to yield him implicit obedience, even taking their oaths to that purpose, and represented to them how necessary it was for them all to be united and obedient, for their own preservation among these barbarous nations. He then took an affectionate leave of all his officers and soldiers, and departed this life on the seventh day of his illness, after performing all the duties of a zealous Christian. Ferdinand de Soto was of a comely appearance and pleasant countenance, and of affable and generous dispositions. He was an excellent soldier, and managed his weapons with much dexterity both on foot and on horseback; skilful and experienced in all military affairs; always brave and cool in action, and the foremost in every enterprise of danger: severe in punishing when necessary, yet easy to forgive, and always inclined to please his soldiers when that might be done without lessening his authority. At his death he was only forty-two years of age, and had expended his whole fortune, exceeding 100,000 ducats on this romantic and fruitless expedition. His death was universally lamented among his followers, as he had acquired their universal love and esteem by his excellent qualities and conduct. It was thought necessary to bury him under night, that his death might not be known to the Indians, nor the place of his interment, lest they should insult his remains; but in spite of all their precautions the secret was revealed; for which reason they hollowed out a log of oak into which they put his body, and sunk it in the middle of the great river, at a place where it was a quarter of a league across and nineteen feet deep.

When the funeral of the general was over, Luis de Alvarado assembled his officers to hold a council upon the present state of their affairs. After thanking them for admitting him as their commander, and making a statement of their numbers, arms, and ammunition, he desired they would determine upon what was best to be done, considering the fierceness and inveterate enmity of the barbarous nations by whom they were surrounded: Whether to prosecute what had been previously resolved upon by their late lamented general, or to devise some other measure for extricating themselves from the country, declaring that he was ready to proceed according to their opinion and advice. In their answer, the officers thanked him for the compliment he paid them, but referred the determination respecting their future proceedings to himself, and again submitted to obey him as their commander. The death of Soto had made a great change in the minds of the Spanish forces, who now determined to abandon the country they had taken so much pains to discover. Accordingly, they set out on the 5th of July 1542, and marched above 100 leagues to the westwards, through a barren and desert country[185]. On leaving Guachacoya they were joined by an Indian youth of about sixteen years of age, whom they did not observe till the fourth day of their march. Suspecting him of being a spy, Alvarado asked him who he was and what was his object in following them. He said that he had fled from Guachacoya, because the chief whom he served was at the point of death, and he had been appointed to be buried alive along with his master, as it was the custom of the country to inter women and servants along with great personages, to minister to them in the next world.

[Footnote 185: Though not directly so expressed in the text; it may be inferred from circumstances in the after part of the narratives that the present object of Alvarado and the Spaniards, was to endeavour to find their way by land to the northern part of New Spain.--E.]

At the end of the 100 leagues of wilderness, the Spaniards came to a province called Auche, where they were well received, and where they rested for two days. Still determined upon proceeding to the westwards, they were informed that they had a desert wilderness of four days journey to cross, and received a supply of provisions sufficient for the journey, with a guide to conduct them through the wilderness. But after having marched for eight days in that direction, still in the unhospitable and unpeopled wilds, and having been three days without Indian corn, they discovered that they had been imposed upon and were likely to perish of famine. Alvarado now ordered a dog to be let loose upon the faithless guide; who acknowledged that he had received orders from the cacique of Auche to lead them into the heart of the desert that they might there perish, because he did not think himself able to contend with them in arms. He craved pardon therefore of the general for having obeyed the orders of his chief, and engaged to lead the army in three days more, still proceeding to the westwards, to an inhabited country where they would find provisions. But the Spaniards were so incensed against him for leading them into the present alarming situation, that they would not listen to his apology or promises, and permitted the dogs to devour him. Thus left in the utmost want of provisions, and utterly ignorant of the country, the Spaniards held on their way towards the west for other three days, during which they had to subsist upon any wild plants they could find; and at length came to an inhabited though barren country. They here procured the means of subsistence, particularly beef, and saw many fresh cows hides, though the Indians never shewed them any cows[186]. While the Spaniards were proceeding on their march through this province, which they denominated De los Vaqueros[187], or the tribe of cow-herds, they observed an Indian approach from the skirts of a wood, and believing he might have brought some message from the cacique, they permitted him to draw near. But as soon as he was within reach, he levelled an arrow at five or six soldiers who stood together, who fortunately escaped the danger by stepping to a side; but the arrow flew among some Indian women who were dressing provisions for their masters, pierced one of them quite through, and wounded another in the breast, so that both died. On the alarm being given, Baltasar Gallegos, who happened to be at hand, overtook the Indian before he could get back to the wood, and slew him.

[Footnote 186: Unquestionably because they had none to produce. The beef and the hides were assuredly acquired by hunting the wild American buffaloe or bison.--E.]

[Footnote 187: In this rare instance our maps throw some light on the text. Nearly in the latitude of the mouth of the Ohio, but 700 or 800 miles west from the Missisippi, there is a nation named the Apaches Vaqueros, probably the same indicated in the text. The route thither from the Missisippi leads through several tribes of savage Indians, named Ozages, Paducas, and Kanzez.--E.]

Having travelled above thirty leagues westwards through this province of the cow-herds, they discovered a ridge of vast mountains still farther to the west, which from their own scouts and the information of the Indians, they learnt were barren, desert, and unpeopled. They were also informed, that if they bent their course to the right hand, they would come into a desert country; but that to the left, though a longer way, they would travel through inhabited and plentiful countries[188]. Considering what they had endured in their late march through the desert intervening between Auche and the country of Los Vaqueros, they had determined upon giving up their first plan of proceeding by land to Mexico, thinking it better to return to the great river, and so proceed to the sea pursuant to the plan originally proposed by their late general. They accordingly took long marches to the southwards, taking care not to offend the barbarians, yet they were teased by frequent attacks while leaving the country of the cow-herds. On one of these occasions a soldier was wounded by an arrow, which penetrated through his greaves and thigh, and passing through the saddle lap, ran two fingers breadth into the horses side, the arrow being made of reed with no other head than the reed itself hardened in the fire and sloped to a point. The wounded soldier was lifted from his horse, the arrow being previously cut off between his thigh and the saddle, and he was left to cure himself, as he had formerly performed many wonderful cures on his comrades with only oil and wool, assisted by prayers. But since the battle of Mavila, in which all the oil was lost, he had never attempted to cure either others or himself, though twice wounded before, believing that the cure could not be performed without oil and dirty wool. In this distress, he swore that he would not submit to the surgeons, and would rather die than allow them to dress his wound. Having no oil, he substituted hogs lard, and procured some wool from an Indian mantle, as the Spaniards had now no shirts or any other linen among them, and to the astonishment of every one he was so sound in four days that he was able to mount his horse on the fifth day. He now begged pardon of the soldiers for having allowed so many of his comrades to perish, by refusing to cure them, as he had believed the efficacy of his mode of cure depended on the oil, but as he now found that it consisted in the holy words he had pronounced over the dressings, he desired they might again recur to him when wounded, and he would exert himself as formerly. This soldier, named Sanjurgo Gallego, was very chaste, a good Christian, ever ready to serve all men, and had many other virtues[189].

[Footnote 188: There is some ambiguity in the text, from which it is difficult to ascertain whether the left and right hand of their general line of march is now to be respectively considered as south and north, or the contrary. But as coupled with their intended return towards the great river, now to the east, the left means probably the north, and the right the south.--E.]

[Footnote 189: Though not mentioned in the text, it is not improbable that Gallego had formerly placed considerable dependence on the use of holy oil, or chrysm. The whole secret of his surgery seems to have consisted in the application of bland oils, and leaving nature to operate, without the employment of the ancient barbarous methods of cure, by tents, escharotics, cautery, and heating inflammatory applications; which in modern times, abandoned by surgeons, have been adopted by farriers.--E.]

After leaving the territories of the cow-herds, the Spaniards marched for twenty days through the lands of other tribes. Being of opinion that they had declined too much from, the direction of Guachacoya, to which place they now proposed returning, the Spaniards now directed their course eastwards, still inclining somewhat towards the north, so that in this way they crossed the direction they had formerly gone in their march from Auche to the country of the cow-herds, yet without perceiving it. When at length they reached the great river, it was the middle of September, having travelled three months from leaving Guachacoya; and though they had fought no pitched battle during all that time, they were never free from alarm night or day, so that they had lost forty soldiers during this last useless and circuitous march. The Indians on every opportunity shot all who happened to stray from the main body, and would often crawl on all fours at night into their quarters, shoot their arrows, and make their escape, unseen by the centinels. To add to their distresses, the winter now began to set in, with much rain, snow and excessive cold weather. On coming to where they proposed quartering for the night, though wet, cold, weary and hungry, they were obliged to send parties in advance to secure them, generally, by force, and after all were mostly under the necessity of procuring provisions by means of their swords. Besides all this, they were often forced to construct rafts or floats on which to pass rivers, which sometimes occupied them five or six days. The horsemen were frequently obliged to pass the night on horseback, and the infantry to stand up to their knees in mire and water, with hardly any clothes to cover them, and such as they had always wet. Owing to these accumulated hardships, many of the Spaniards and their Indian attendants fell sick, and the distemper proceeded to the horses, so that sometimes four or five men and horses died in a day, and sometimes seven, whom they scarcely had leisure to bury for haste in pursuing their march.

In this miserable condition they came to the great river about the latter end of November[190]. In their march on the west side of the great river, from leaving the territory of Guachacoya to their arrival at their new winter quarters, they had marched by estimation 350 leagues, and lost 100 men and 80 horses by the way, without counting their Indian servants, who were of vast use. This was the only fruit of their long and painful march westwards in quest of New Spain, and of refusing to follow the plan which had been devised by their late general for descending the great river to the sea. At this period they were much gratified by finding two contiguous towns on the great river of 200 houses each, which were enclosed by a wet ditch drawn from the river. They were now reduced to 320 foot and 70 horse, or 390 in all, who now remained of 900 men and 330 horses which had landed in the bay of Espiritu Santo at the end of May 1539, four years and a half before. Yet inured to hardships and accustomed to conquer, they immediately attacked and gained possession of these towns, from which the inhabitants fled, having heard of the irresistible valour of the Spaniards from other tribes. They had the good fortune to find plenty of provisions in these towns, and to remain undisturbed by the Indians, so that they soon recovered from their fatigues; yet several died in consequence of their past sufferings, and among the rest Juan Ortiz, their chief interpreter and an excellent soldier.

[Footnote 190: They were already said to have reached it in the middle of September. The discrepancy may either be an oversight of Herrera; or they took from the middle of September to the end of November, in descending the right bank of the great river to where they passed the winter, having come to it much higher up than they intended.--E.]