S3M ITE 
 

 
DE SOTO AND HIS MEN IN 
 THE LAND OF FLORIDA 
 
The Lady of Cofachiqui. 
 
De Soto and His Men in 
 the Land of Florida 
 
 BY 
 
 GRACE KING 
 
 Author of "New Orleans : the Place and the People," "Jean 
 
 Baptiste le Moyne, Sieur de Bienville," 
 
 "Balcony Stories/ etc. 
 
 With Illustrations by George Gibbs 
 
 New York 
 The Macmillan Company 
 
 London: Macmillan & Co., Ltd. 
 1914 
 
 All rights reserved 
 
Copyright, 1898, 
 By The Macmillan Company. 
 
 Set up and electrotyped September, 1898. Reprinted September, 
 1899. 
 New edition September, 1906; August, 1914. 
 
 Norwood Press 
 
 J. S. Cashing & Co. Berwick & Smith 
 Norwood, Mass., U.S.A. 
 
05 
 
 H~j 
 
 Q 
 
 57 
 
 " DEEP buried in the ooze of centuries, 
 
 Wrapped in the mighty river s winding-sheet, 
 That which the world once called De Soto lies 
 
 So sepulchred, steel-cased from head to feet, 
 Grim ruins of that puny wonder, Man, 
 
 Poor fragments of a half-created Thought, 
 Dowered with struggling will for one brief span, 
 
 Then dashed to pieces by the hand that wrought ; 
 But yet no part of him, no grasp for power, 
 
 No strenuous aim, no hope, has passed away, 
 No wrongful act but blasts this very hour, 
 
 All, all his acts are seeds that sprout to-day : 
 And yet for him sleep, and thro all the years 
 The endless drone of waters in deaf ears." 
 
 41C57S) 
 
Preface 
 
 THE Inca, Garcilaso de la Vega, tells us, in 
 the Introduction to his History of Florida, 
 how he came to write it. He says that, in 
 frequent and long conversations with a great friend 
 of his, a cavalier who took part in the expedition of 
 Hernando de Soto, he learned of the many great 
 deeds performed in it, both by Indians and Spanish 
 cavaliers ; and as it seemed a shame and a pity 
 that the memory of so much heroism should die 
 out of the world which gave it birth, he induced 
 his friend to recount the story in regular order 
 while he himself should write it down. But, what 
 with long voyages and wars, with incessant activities 
 on the part of both, twenty years passed and they 
 had not carried out their intention ; and as both 
 were then well on in years, the fear was great within 
 them that, one or the other dying, their story would 
 perish. Time and opportunity came, however, at 
 last, and the Inca and his friend set themselves to 
 the task, and accomplished it. By good fortune, just 
 as he had finished his book, the Inca was enabled to 
 add to his friend s memory the written testimony of 
 two witnesses of the same events. 
 
 Alonzo de Carmona, an old soldier of De Soto s, 
 
Vlll 
 
 Preface 
 
 who after the Florida expedition went to Peru, from 
 pure pleasure in recalling past adventures in his 
 old age and retirement in Spain, wrote them down 
 for circulation in his family and among his friends. 
 The Inca was an old Peruvian acquaintance, so Car- 
 mona sent him his manuscript, knowing nothing, 
 however, of the Inca s history of Florida. Shortly 
 afterwards, the Inca learned that in the hands 
 of a printer of Cordova was a collection of narra 
 tives of adventurers in the discovery and conquest 
 of the New World, belonging to the Provincial 
 of Santa Fe, who had been called away from the 
 editing of them by business of his order. The Inca 
 went to Cordova, found the collection, about a ream 
 of rat-eaten, vermin-infested paper, and searched 
 through it until he found the narrative concerning 
 Florida written by Juan Coles. Like the account 
 of Carmona, it was a soldier s story of his advent 
 ures, short and crude, written without order or pre 
 cision, giving but few local names, and jumping from 
 one date or region to another, in order to tell of 
 notable deeds as they came, haphazard, to mind. 
 But with the two manuscripts before him, the Inca 
 went again over his work, carefully noting where they 
 agreed with one another, and with his friend s mem 
 ory, and entering the result of the revisions, chapter 
 by chapter. And thus his history, completed, was 
 published at Lisbon in 1605, under the title of, " His 
 tory of the Adelantado Hernando de Soto, Governor 
 and Captain-General of the Kingdom of Florida, and 
 of other Heroic Cavaliers, Spanish and Indian." 
 
Preface ix 
 
 So long before this as 1557, there had been pub 
 lished at Evora the " True Relation of the La 
 bours of the Governor, Don Hernando de Soto, 
 and certain Portuguese Hidalgos, in discovering 
 the Province of Florida, by a Gentleman of Elvas." 
 The Inca does not mention having seen this true 
 relation, and perhaps it is on this account, that one 
 acute historian accuses him of having drawn his 
 whole material from it, the Cavalier, Alonzo de 
 Carmona, and Juan Coles being merely fictitious 
 authorities. Be this as it may the implied false 
 hood there can be no doubt to-day, that the 
 Portuguese narration could not act otherwise, on 
 a sympathetic reader, than to stimulate a desire to 
 commemorate such deeds of heroism as the Inca 
 must have heard of from old Floridian explorers, 
 since the " Gentleman from Elvas," in his account, 
 completely ignores them, or mentions them with 
 niggardly praise. 
 
 Luis Fernandez de Biedma, the royal factor of 
 the expedition, also wrote a brief official report of it, 
 which he presented to the king and council of the 
 Indies, on his return to Spain in 1544; a dry sum 
 mary, made up from memory, with all the slips and 
 errors in it incident to such a composition. And 
 finally, to complete the enumeration of authorities 
 on the subject, there is, or rather was, the report 
 made by Rodrigo Ranjel, the secretary of De Soto, 
 based upon a diary kept during the march, a version 
 of which is contained in Oviedo s History (edition 
 1851); the original text being unknown. 
 
x Preface 
 
 As long as there have been in this world two men 
 telling the same story, there have been two ways of 
 telling that story; and if there are two readers, 
 there will be just so many ways of believing it. It 
 seemed hardly more necessary here, than in the sol 
 dier stories of our own Civil War, for instance, to 
 confute and refute, sift and weigh evidence, when the 
 question is only one of mere human characteristics, 
 exaggerations, and discrepancies, which are the ear 
 marks, after all, of human experience, varying in 
 detail, but agreeing in the main essentials. 
 
 The Inca, as half Indian, naturally looks upon 
 the native of Florida with a more sympathetic eye 
 than does the Portuguese gentleman ; and melan 
 choly over the inevitable doom of the Indians in 
 their unequal contest with the Spaniards runs in an 
 undercurrent through his narration as through his 
 heart. He magnifies the Indians ; their fine cour 
 age, noble bearing, beauty, and courtliness of man 
 ner, the size of their armies and importance of their 
 villages, with perfect sincerity and simplicity, and 
 with no conscious deviation from truth; for in his 
 eyes there was but the difference of God s will be 
 tween the Indian and the Spanish cavalier between 
 his mother s people and his father s people. 
 
 The Portuguese gentleman looked with shrewd 
 eyes at everything -- Florida, Indians, Spaniards, 
 and even at the Adelantado himself. There was 
 no glamour of sentiment over his vision, particularly 
 when the failure of the expedition became apparent 
 to it. He, on his side, is methodical in minimizing 
 
Preface xi 
 
 the Indians and the country and the Spaniards 
 in comparison with the Portuguese. When he 
 praises, he praises God alone ; and the only heroic 
 deeds in the Conquest are attributed to Him, 
 without whom, not a Spaniard would have left 
 Florida alive. His long list of villages along the 
 line of march suggests that the Portuguese gentle 
 man wrote from carefully preserved memoranda. 
 The Inca gives fewer names, but his spelling of them 
 is more in accord with our pronunciation to-day. 
 
 Many of these Indian names remain to-day and 
 serve as landmarks to trace the general line of De 
 Soto s march. The precise line of the march has 
 given rise to infinite discussions, with the concomi 
 tant advantage of much zealous research, and patient 
 investigation of Indian antiquities and traditions, and 
 local features that might throw light upon it. 
 
 The original accounts are all within easy reach of 
 the curious ; the critical estimates of them, still 
 nearer at hand, are codified in Justin Winsor s Nar 
 rative and Critical History of America. In this 
 present volume there has been no attempt at aught 
 else than to form the original versions of De Soto s 
 expedition into one natural and continuous narra 
 tive, with as little alteration of language and spirit as 
 possible. What seemed most important and most 
 interesting has been taken ; for the sake of brevity, 
 much that was only interesting was discarded ; con 
 flicting statements were avoided ; and some of the 
 Inca s descriptions and the Portuguese gentleman s 
 long speeches were abridged. Although, as it were, 
 
xii Preface 
 
 to preserve the contemporary spirit from modern 
 interruptions, few notes and explanations are given, 
 the author has been guided by careful reference to 
 such accepted authorities as Jones s History of 
 Georgia and Antiquities of Southern Indians ; 
 Pickett s History of Alabama; Claiborne s His 
 tory of Mississippi; Yoakum s History of Texas ; 
 Marcy s Exploration of the Red River; Irving s 
 Conquest of Florida; Schoolcraft s American In 
 dians ; " Muskhogheean Indians " in Johnson s 
 Universal Cyclopedia ; and the Archives of Louisi 
 ana History ; La Salle s Journal of his voyages 
 down and up the Mississippi River ; Joutel s Nar 
 rative of his journey from the coast of Texas to 
 Canada ; Iberville s Journal of his voyage up the 
 Mississippi River from the mouth to Tensas Lake, 
 and back again ; Bienville s Journal of his expedi 
 tion to the Red River Country ; St. Denis s Over 
 land Journey to Mexico ; and the " Carte de la 
 Louisiane et du Cours du Mississippi," by Guil- 
 laume de L Isle of the "Academic Royale des 
 Sciences," published in the Amsterdam (1707) edi 
 tion of Garcilaso de la Vega, which traces De Soto s 
 route with the most reasonable accuracy, and which, 
 based as it was upon the memoirs and reports of all 
 the previous exploration of this region, might be 
 said to resume the ancient and begin the modern 
 history of the Mississippi. 
 
CONTENTS 
 
 Chapter Pa g e 
 
 Preface vii 
 
 I. Hernando de Soto ..... I 
 
 II. The Beginning of Conquest . . . .13 
 
 III. Juan Ortiz 20 
 
 IV. The March Inland . . . . 3 l 
 V. Acuera 4 2 
 
 VI. Vitachuco -5 
 
 VII. Apalache . . . . . . .68 
 
 VIII. The Ride of the Thirty Cavaliers . . .83 
 
 IX. Capafi -99 
 
 X. Cofa and Cofaqui 1 15 
 
 XI. Cofachiqui 127 
 
 XII. Xuala, Guaxule, Chiaha, Coosa . . . 144 
 
 XIII. Tuscaloosa 154 
 
 XIV. The Battle of Mauvila 164 
 
 XV. After the Battle 174 
 
 XVI. In the Chickasaw Country . . . .183 
 
 XVII. The Great River 197 
 
 XVIII. Capaha 210 
 
 XIX. In the West 222 
 
 XX. Death and Burial of the Adelantado . . .241 
 
xiv Contents 
 
 Chapter p age 
 
 XXI. Towards Mexico . . . . . .257 
 
 XXII. Back to the Mississippi ..... 269 
 
 XXIII. Aminoya . . . . . . .277 
 
 XXIV. The Flight down the River . . . .293 
 XXV. On the Gulf of Mexico .... 303 
 
 XXVI. Mexico . . . . . . .317 
 
List of Illustrations 
 
 Facing page 
 The Lady of Cofachiqui .... Frontispiece 
 
 Florida, with the March of De Soto and his Men : Map . I 
 
 "Swords flashed in the sun" ..... 2 
 
 "Sevilla! Sevilla ! " 19 
 
 De Soto and Vitachuco ...... 56 
 
 " The caravels had arrived" . . . . .107 
 
 "Back and forth they charged" . . . . .170 
 
 "The greatest river they had ever seen" . . . 202 
 Death of the Adelantado 250 
 
 xv 
 
Hi. 
 f ** ~* ! 
 
Hernando de Soto and his Men in the 
 Land of Florida 
 
 CHAPTER I 
 
 HERNANDO DE SOTO 
 
 HERNANDO DE SOTO and his men came 
 within sight of the land of Florida on the 
 twenty-fifth of June, 1539. It was Whit 
 sunday. The faint white streak of land between 
 the calm blue heavens and the quivering, flashing 
 blue waters of the Gulf broke like a new dawn. It 
 seemed the crest of a wave held fast, a wisp from 
 a white cloud overhead, nothing more ; but to 
 the Spaniards it looked hardly less than the very 
 symbol of the Holy Spirit, whose day it was, hover 
 ing over the bosom of the waters ; a token of divine 
 approbation and promise, the sure warrant of the 
 fulfilment of their hopes and expectations. So, a 
 quarter of a century before, the same vague white 
 line appeared to Juan Ponce de Leon on that radi 
 ant Easter morning when he named the country 
 " La tierra de la Pascua Florida/ the land of the 
 flowery feast ; and as he looked towards it, he could 
 hear, sighing over the waters behind him, the soft 
 
*. : ./ : .: { J-Je.rnando de Soto 
 
 voices of the Indians borne down in their weakness 
 by their oppressions, murmuring, " Over there! 
 Over there lies Bimini ! The land of the fountain 
 of Eternal Youth! The land where none grow old." 
 "Eternal Youth!" Young warriors catch not at 
 such words ; but the old, weather-beaten adventurer 
 and companion of Columbus heard them and lis 
 tened with his heart ; for the voice of the siren can 
 be heard only in the heart, and she sang to him the 
 song that never fails to lure the heart of the old 
 the song of joyous youth, of fresh love and fresh 
 hopes. Gold and Silver, Fame and Honour! What 
 paltry baubles in comparison with Eternal Youth ! 
 Ponce de Leon hastened to secure the conquest of 
 that land, and set sail for it with men and arms. 
 His own efflorescence, his own radiant resurrection, 
 was the festival he had in mind when he named the 
 shore. Alas ! poor old Ponce de Leon had been 
 dead and buried now some fifteen years. 
 
 On De Soto s fleet, the cry of the lookout, sig 
 nalled from ship to ship, was answered with glad 
 shouts and cries; trumpets sounded, swords flashed 
 in the sun; the decks darkened with a rushing 
 throng, and the ships, as if they, too, scented con 
 quest, bounded and leaped forward over the rippling 
 surges, their sails thrilling in the wind. These men 
 were pursuing no myth; the magic fountain no 
 longer lured men on, and, besides, these were all 
 young, possessed already the magic fountain of 
 youth ; there was but one white-haired man in the 
 thousand of them. The song they heard was the 
 
"Swords flashed in the sun." 
 
Hernando de Soto 3 
 
 song the siren sings to the young ; the song of the 
 future, the fortunate future, the future of fame and 
 wealth, of golden rivers and flashing mines, spoils 
 and prizes, ransom of kings and capture of kings 
 daughters; the future that youth gladly squanders 
 youth to obtain. And the gilded San Cristoval 
 was no more appropriate at the prow of his ship 
 than was Hernando de Soto at the head of such an 
 expedition; the pilot at the wheel could not steer 
 a straighter course across the ocean than he to that 
 land; for had he not been to it, had he not been 
 guided by the lodestar of his hopes into the very 
 haven of it ? 
 
 An unknown youth of sixteen, the son of an 
 obscure, impecunious hidalgo of Villanueva de 
 Barcarrota, with no possession of his own, as the 
 saying went, but his sword, no other recommenda 
 tions than his valour and good qualities, he set out 
 from Spain, one of the thousand of motley advent 
 urers that followed the new governor, Pedrarias 
 d Avila, to Darien. Twenty years later he returned 
 a conqueror of Peru, and rich with fame and fort 
 une ; the lieutenant general and right hand of 
 Pizarro, captor of Atahualpa and one of the spoilers 
 of the golden city of Cuzco; his name standing only 
 after the two Pizarros in the list of the division of 
 the prizes ; and young still, still in the prime of life 
 and enjoyment, and good looking and unmarried, 
 withal. Pizarro, even Cortez himself, was held by 
 not a few in Spain to have but a closing vista of life 
 in comparison with the career opening before him. 
 
4 Hernando de Soto 
 
 Of medium height, a figure that appeared as well 
 on foot as on horseback, dark complexion, regular 
 features, expressive eyes, noble address, he looked 
 the cavalier and soldier he had proved himself to be ; 
 inexorable of will, inexhaustible of resources, cool and 
 daring in battle, prudent and subtle at the council 
 board. He was by common consent reputed to 
 be the best horseman in the Peruvian army, and 
 always excepting the incomparable Pizarro himself, 
 also the best lancer in it, his lance being ever 
 reckoned equal to any ten of the best. He was 
 in truth the first Spaniard and his horse, the first 
 of those fateful animals that the unfortunate Inca 
 beheld if he beheld them. 
 
 The story of the celebrated interview came with 
 De Soto to Spain, but its truth was discredited then, 
 as it is now. Sent as envoy to Atahualpa, in Caxa- 
 malca, De Soto found the Inca, in all his sacred 
 majesty, seated on a throne, surrounded by attend 
 ants, awaiting him. The glittering troop of lancers 
 galloped to the spot and halted. Atahualpa s eyes 
 were fixed upon the ground. The troop passed and 
 repassed before him ; still he did not raise his head, 
 nor would he look at the envoy nor receive his 
 message nor answer him. An attendant looked, lis 
 tened, and answered for him. Stung by the con 
 temptuous disdain, De Soto spurred his horse and 
 curveted and pranced the animal so close to the 
 throne that the hoofs almost grazed the royal face. 
 The Peruvian attendants fled in terror from the 
 great, strange beast. Atahualpa then raised his eyes 
 
Hernando de Soto $ 
 
 and spoke. He commanded the attendants to be 
 put to death. 
 
 Seventy of the Peruvian conquerors returned to 
 Spain with De Soto, among them the distinguished 
 cavaliers Luis de Moscoso d Alvarado, Nuno de 
 Tobar, and Juan de Lobillo. All went together to 
 present themselves at court in Valladolid, Juan 
 d Anasco, a rich young cavalier of Seville, and an 
 amateur in adventure and science, accompanying 
 them. They presented themselves in such costly 
 apparel and made so gallant a show, that the his 
 torians of the time pause in their serious narratives 
 to chronicle it, and tell us, with naive simplicity, 
 with what smiles and favour they were received. 
 De Soto was treated with especial distinction and 
 honour ; and when it became known that of his prize 
 money he had loaned the king upwards of a hundred 
 thousand ducats, it became known also that royal 
 favour, the best gift of the blind goddess even in 
 the days of America s conquest, was not to be 
 withholden from him. Returning to Seville, he 
 took the lodgings and set up the state of a noble 
 man with attendants, a steward, gentlemen-ushers, 
 pages, a gentleman of the horse, a chamberlain. 
 
 While, of all the cities of Spain, the gay Andalusian 
 capitol would sow in the breast of a youth the surest 
 seeds of desire to turn him from contented provin 
 cialism to roving adventure after gold, yet would 
 she, more surely than any other city, lure him back 
 home again; for none other could vie with her in the 
 gratifications that a Spaniard coveted wealth to en- 
 
6 Hernando de Soto 
 
 joy. Around her fountains, in good sooth, old war 
 riors could forget even to wish for the fountain of 
 youth. There, society counted but one season, the 
 carnival, which had lasted ever since the days of 
 Columbus, with such a glittering flow of adventurers 
 streaming through it to and from the New World 
 as gilded it beyond the semblance of reality, as the 
 streams of Castilla de Oro were said to gild their 
 beds. 
 
 When De Soto came to Seville, the brilliant queen 
 and leader of this society was Dona Isabella de 
 Bobadilla, the widow of Pedrarias, his first chief 
 and patron. She had sailed in that same expedi 
 tion to Darien with her husband, to accompany 
 him, doughtily leaving behind her eight children 
 in Spain, and showing, it is chronicled, no less stout 
 a heart on the tempestuous voyage than the mari 
 ners who had passed their lives upon the deep. 
 And no less stoutly did she stand the bloody tem 
 pests of her husband s terrible reign in Darien (Furor 
 Domini, he was called for it). And it is not to be 
 forgotten that, in one of her efforts to mitigate it 
 by reconciling the vindictive Pedrarias with Vasco 
 Nunes de Balboa, she betrothed her eldest daughter 
 to the glorious young discoverer of the Pacific. But 
 she could not prevent the bloody execution of Acla. 
 . . . Dona Isabella, in fact, not only touched the 
 Spanish conquest with her own hands, as it were, 
 but, reaching back a little, she could touch the dis 
 covery of America and the great discoverer through 
 her aunt, the charming Beatrice de Bobadilla, 
 
Hernando de Soto 7 
 
 Marchioness of Moya, the favourite and intimate 
 friend of Queen Isabella, but better known now as 
 the ardent admirer of Columbus, and his friend at 
 court when he most needed a friend. 
 
 Dona Isabella s court in Seville was made up of 
 charming women like herself and a train of cavaliers 
 recruited from the fine flower of the Spanish chiv 
 alry and adventurers of the day. De Soto found 
 in it the same welcome and the same favour and dis 
 tinction as in the less charming imperial palace 
 at Valladolid. His marriage to Dona Isabella s 
 daughter, the young Dona Isabella de Bobadilla, 
 follows in logical and romantic sequence. And now 
 it would seem that De Soto s star had reached its 
 zenith. With fame, fortune, and a noble wife, what 
 higher was there to guide him to ? He had but 
 to buy land, found a great estate and family, and sit 
 down content with his happiness. But it seems 
 ordained that ambition may aspire to every success 
 but content, and fortune purchase every gift except 
 independence of fortune. De Soto had already 
 sought and obtained from the king the conquest 
 of Florida, offering to achieve it at his own expense. 
 A curt old chronicler who took part in the Florida 
 expedition, speaking for himself doubtless, says it 
 all came about simply through Cabeza de Vaca and 
 his talk. 
 
 Cabeza de Vaca had made his appearance at Val- 
 ladolid,too, after his adventures in America. There 
 was no splendour of fame and wealth about him ; 
 nothing of the conqueror ; his return to his native 
 
8 Hernando de Soto 
 
 land was in striking contrast to De Soto s. He, 
 too, guided by the lodestar of his hopes, had gone 
 to the New World in quest of his future. He had 
 found his future but not his fortune ; the expedition 
 had been a fool s errand, and he had come back 
 broken in health and in wealth. Massacre, ship 
 wreck, starvation, captivity, and hopeless wanderings 
 through vast unknown savage territories, this was 
 the tale he brought back to Spain. Pamphilo de 
 Narvaez had been his leader, Florida his El Dorado. 
 Ten years afterwards he and three companions 
 made their appearance on the frontiers of Mexico, 
 the sole survivors of the six hundred men who had 
 landed on the coast of Florida. Nevertheless it 
 was observed at court that in his relation of his 
 adventures, Cabeza de Vaca every now and then 
 would arrest his words suddenly, as if on guard 
 against revealing secrets, or would add such 
 phrases as " The rest which I saw I leave for 
 conference between His Majesty and myself." To 
 kinsmen who urged him to be more explicit he 
 would say that an oath bound him from revealing 
 what he saw, but that Florida was the richest country 
 in the world ; and he gave out that he was deter 
 mined to beg the conquest of the country from the 
 emperor. The device is a well-known one, but as 
 long as the world is peopled, its success may be 
 relied upon. 
 
 Hernando de Soto unhesitatingly threw his fort 
 une into equipping this expedition. Luis de Mos- 
 coso, Juan de Lobillo, and Nufio de Tobar eagerly 
 
Hernando de Soto 9 
 
 backed him with their prize money and their ser 
 vices. The king, who himself, from Cabeza de 
 Vaca s delusive manner, believed that Florida was 
 another Mexico or Peru, thought De Soto another 
 Cortez or Pizarro, and accorded him all the rights 
 and privileges and titles necessary or useful to the 
 Conquest. He named him governor and captain 
 general of Florida, with the title of Adelantado for 
 life, and the office of lord high sheriff in continuity 
 to his family; he gave him a grant of two hundred 
 leagues of land along the coast, and twelve leagues 
 square in the interior, of his own choosing, with the 
 right of importing negro slaves into it, and allowed 
 him one-seventh of the ransom and the spoil of all 
 the goods of any cacique, or chief captured. He 
 made him also governor of Cuba, and as a last 
 compliment, knight in the military order of St. lago. 
 De Soto chose his old companion in arms, Luis 
 de Moscoso d Alvarado, for master of camp, Nuno 
 de Tobar for lieutenant general ; Juan d Anasco, 
 the rich Sevillian, who also put money into the un 
 dertaking, was appointed royal treasurer. And now 
 the news was spread through Spain with great trum- 
 petings of the grants, privileges, titles, and prospects. 
 Nothing else was talked about in city, town, and 
 hamlet but how Hernando de Soto and other 
 conquerors of Peru, not content with their hundreds 
 of thousands of ducats of spoils, were going to spend 
 all in an armament for a new conquest ; and while 
 everybody wondered and marvelled, each one con 
 fidently held that this second conquest must indu- 
 
io Hernando de Soto 
 
 bitably be far richer and greater than the first. 
 From all parts of Spain, volunteers flocked to get 
 a place in it, cavaliers, soldiers, peasants, labourers, 
 artisans; nephews of cardinals and ministers; young 
 relatives of De Soto, of Luis de Moscoso, and 
 even of Cabeza de Vaca. Those who had money 
 brought it with them ; others sold or mortgaged 
 estates to purchase an interest in the investment. 
 Peasants parted from vineyards and farms, artisans 
 from trades, to equip themselves with a horse and 
 a lance. Who could doubt of the venture when 
 gold and silver were coming in by the ship-load 
 from the New World? And they all were willing, 
 say the chroniclers, to leave home, parents, family, 
 and friends, to part with rents and estates, sell vine 
 yards, farms, and trades, and venture life on the 
 expectation that Florida would prove richer than 
 Mexico and Peru. 
 
 The excitement spreading over to Portugal, the 
 cavalier, Andreas de Vasconselas, with a troop of 
 three hundred Portuguese cavaliers, all finely 
 mounted and equipped, enlisted ; and they were 
 the prettiest company in the expedition ; the most 
 soldierly. All the returned soldiers from Peru, al 
 ready trained and whetted for conquest and plunder, 
 eagerly volunteered. There was no lack of choice ; 
 more came than could be taken, and when De Soto 
 embarked at San Lucar de Barrameda, a crowd 
 of disappointed adventurers was left on the quay, 
 among heaps of luggage of all kinds, for there was 
 an oversupply of provisions also. Money had been 
 
Hernando de Soto n 
 
 spent so lavishly that more was brought than the 
 seven large ships and three caravels could take. In 
 San Lucar it was said that a finer expedition had 
 never left that part for the New World, and San 
 Lucar knew ; for since the time of Columbus the 
 water-gate of Seville had been the passageway to 
 the New World, and the memory of a middle-aged 
 mariner could easily hold all the expeditions that 
 had sailed from it. The fleet set sail on the sixth 
 of April, 1538, and crossed the bar, trumpets 
 sounding. Dona Isabella, the true daughter of her 
 mother, accompanied her husband. 
 
 The fleet made the usual stop for water and pro 
 visions at the Canary Islands. The governor of 
 Gomara, a cousin of Dona Isabella s, entertained 
 her royally. Living with him was a daughter, the 
 Dona Leonora de Bobadilla, a young girl of six 
 teen, and so extremely beautiful that Dona Isabella 
 begged her of her father as companion, and sailed 
 away with her, she and De Soto promising for 
 her a good marriage and establishment in Cuba or 
 in Florida. Meeting a calm, but no tempest, the 
 expedition made the harbour of Santiago de Cuba 
 in due order, and due pleasure, we may well say, 
 for here were assembled all the notables of the 
 island to greet and welcome the new governor and 
 his bride. The welcome lasted for three months, 
 with banquets, balls, masquerades, bull-fights, and 
 games, with prizes of gold and silver for the gal 
 lants, as if celebrating in anticipation the triumphs 
 of conquest. A very harvest of pleasure and tri- 
 
12 Hernando de Soto 
 
 umph it was to the Spanish cavaliers and a triumph 
 of conquest too. But, above all others, shone the 
 young lieutenant general, the handsome, dashing 
 Nuno de Tobar, mounted on his splendid dapple 
 grey charger. He carried off all prizes, and all 
 hearts, and chief prize of all, the heart of the beau 
 tiful young Dona Leonora. When Dona Isabella 
 and her husband discovered the romance, it had 
 already sped to a secret union. The young cavalier 
 hastened to make the reparation of a public celebra 
 tion of his nuptials ; but De Soto s displeasure was 
 implacable, and resenting the insult to his family 
 pride and dignity, he dispossessed Nuno de Tobar 
 of his title and office, and, in truth, would never 
 forgive him, nor restore him to favour. 
 
 The fleet moved round the island to Havana, 
 and the summer and winter were passed in Cuba, 
 while still further provisions and preparations were 
 made for the success of the Conquest. Two more 
 vessels were bought and loaded, reinforcements of 
 Cubans were added to the army, and horses of the 
 fine breed that this island was then producing for 
 the trade of conquest. 
 
 By spring all was ready for accomplishment, even 
 to favourable winds. Installing Dona Isabella as 
 governor of Cuba during his absence, De Soto bade 
 her farewell, and, embarking in his flag-ship, the San 
 Cristoval, sailed out of her sight into the Gulf, 
 toward the Land of Conquest. 
 
CHAPTER II 
 
 THE BEGINNING OF CONQUEST 
 
 THE fleet cruised along the wavering coast 
 line until the bay marked on the chart as the 
 Bay of Juan Ponce was discovered rounding 
 inland. De Soto changed the name to Espiritu 
 Santo, in honour of the day, and by sunset he had 
 furled sail and dropped anchor across its mouth. 
 Barges were sent out in the morning to search 
 for a channel and landing-place. They returned 
 in the evening loaded with greens of all kinds for 
 the horses. The vines heavy with grapes gave 
 great joy, for neither in Mexico nor in Peru had 
 grapes been found. The week passed in explora 
 tion, and it was not until the next Sunday, Trinity 
 Sunday, that formal possession was taken of the 
 land ; and the Spanish banner and royal arms were 
 raised and fixed in the beach, and the Conquest 
 officially begun in the name of the Church and the 
 King. The rest was a mere question of human 
 powers. 
 
 The three hundred soldiers sent ashore for the 
 ceremony scattered over the beach, carelessly and 
 easefully, enjoying their first taste of ownership 
 
 3 
 
14 Hernando de Soto 
 
 of so beautiful a land. As far as eye could see, 
 the dark, serried forest ran to the right and left, 
 God s fence, as they might call it, about their vast 
 property of inland kingdoms, cities, treasure. In 
 front stretched the sparkling Gulf, blue as another 
 heaven. The fluttering of the flag of his Catholic 
 Majesty, the soaring of a bird overhead, the glint 
 of a fish through the water naught else to fleck 
 the measureless Sabbath calm ; nor had there been 
 aught else during the past week, save a few faint 
 spirals of smoke rising here and there in the hori 
 zon camp-fires, perhaps signals. At nightfall, 
 after their supper, the soldiers stretched themselves 
 upon the ground around the royal standard for 
 their first sleep upon the bosom of their conquest. 
 It was rudely enough broken. Just before the 
 grey hour of dawn there burst from the silent black 
 forest a tumult that might have come from hell ; 
 cries and yells, leaping naked forms, and arrows 
 darting like a tornado of serpents through the air, 
 and slashing into the flesh like knives. Over 
 whelmed and confused, the untrained conquerors 
 could only run in helpless terror down the beach 
 and out into the water, whence their trumpets sent 
 clamorous calls over to the ships for help. It 
 came promptly ; horse and foot put out in barges, 
 and before the savages could finish their t victory, 
 they were driven back into the forest, and Spain 
 put again in possession of the beach. 
 
 The army was at once disembarked and camped 
 around the standard, but the Indians made no 
 
The Beginning of Conquest 15 
 
 further demonstration. After a few days of rest 
 it marched to a deserted Indian village discovered 
 on the shore about ten miles distant, where De Soto 
 decided to quarter himself for the present. The 
 village, a small one, consisting only of one row of 
 low wooden cabins, thatched with palmetto, stood 
 about an open space, the cabin of the chief on a 
 mound at one end; opposite, on another mound, 
 the temple bearing its wooden effigy of a fowl. 
 The Adelantado with his staff took the cabin of 
 the chief, the officers the rest of the cabins ; the 
 soldiers, tearing down the temple and gathering 
 brush, made rude shelters for themselves. The 
 ground was cleared of trees and underbrush for a 
 crossbow-shot around the village, sentinels were 
 posted, and horsemen ordered on regular rounds, 
 and the little savage hamlet was changed into a trim 
 military Spanish outpost. The vessels, coming in 
 gradually with the tide, were unloaded and the 
 provisions stored ; details were sent out every day 
 to capture natives for guides and to learn some 
 thing of the country. A few stragglers were caught 
 in the forest, but without interpreters they were 
 almost useless. De Soto managed to understand 
 from them, however, that the village he was in 
 belonged to a chief named Hirrihigua, who, warned 
 of the approach of the Spaniards, had taken refuge 
 with all his people in the forest. These captives 
 were always set at liberty with presents for Hirri 
 higua and messages asking for friendship. But the 
 savage chief would none of them neither presents 
 
1 6 Hernando de Soto 
 
 nor messages. On the contrary, he would rail at 
 his people for bringing him fair words and promises 
 from Christians, telling them to fetch him no pres 
 ents, but to bring him their heads these he would 
 receive ; but until then he wished to hear neither 
 their words nor their names. So much, only, could 
 De Soto at first learn : that Hirrihigua knew the 
 Spaniards and hated them. 
 
 At length, however, by patience and painstaking 
 he gathered from the Indians the explanation, 
 an incident of Pamphilo de Narvaez s expedition, 
 which, with all his talking, Cabeza de Vaca had 
 omitted. When Narvaez landed on this coast, in 
 this bay, Hirrihigua received him and treated him 
 as a friend; but the Spaniard acted as the Spaniards 
 (may God forgive them for it, say the pious chroni 
 clers) too often did, repaying kindness and confi 
 dence with treachery and cruelty. He seized Hir 
 rihigua and mutilated him vilely by cutting off his 
 nose. But this was not the worst : the chiefs old 
 mother he had thrown to the dogs, and she was 
 devoured before the eyes of her son. This could 
 not be forgotten ; it had haunted the memory of 
 Hirrihigua ever since, driving him at times into 
 the wild frenzy of one possessed by the evil one. 
 One, and only one, morsel of revenge in his long- 
 famished craving for it he had enjoyed. A Chris 
 tian ship sailed one day into the bay. Divin 
 ing at once that it came in search of tidings of 
 Narvaez, who had marched into the forests and 
 had nevermore been seen or heard of thereabouts, 
 
The Beginning of Conquest 17 
 
 Hirrihigua sent messages to it, indicating by signs 
 that Narvaez had left papers there to be given to 
 Christians who would come for them. In proof, 
 bits of paper and old letters found in the Spanish 
 camp were tied to sticks and held up from the 
 beach, but Hirrihigua refused to give them up 
 unless the Spaniards came in person for them ; the 
 Spaniards, on their guard, were afraid to trust them 
 selves ashore. Hirrihigua then sent four of his 
 warriors to remain on the ship as hostages, where 
 upon four Spaniards agreed to go ashore, paddling 
 away in the canoe that had brought the warriors. 
 But the canoe had barely touched the sand, when 
 the four warriors sprang with a great leap from the 
 ships into the water and swam away like fish. The 
 four Spaniards were dragged off in triumph into 
 the forest. Hirrihigua tortured and killed three of 
 them ; the fourth escaped to a neighbouring chief. 
 
 When bit by bit the story pieced itself together 
 in the camp and grew into a clear meaning to the 
 soldiers, that a Spaniard was even then living in 
 captivity among Indians, neighbouring to Hirri 
 higua and to the village, there was, there could be, 
 but one thought among all, officers and men 
 to advance no further step in the conquest until he 
 was delivered. The Adelantado at once sent out 
 two detachments of horse and crossbowmen, one 
 under Juan de Lobillo, the other under Balthazar 
 de Gallegos, with orders to go in different direc 
 tions and search a week for the village in question. 
 Juan de Lobillo had a vexatious time of it ; his route 
 
1 8 Hernando de Soto 
 
 lay through bogs and swamps, where the horses 
 could not travel, but where the Indians were at 
 their best. As one of the soldiers described them : 
 " Warlike and nimble as they are, they care not a 
 whit for any footman. When we charge, they run 
 away ; and as soon as we turn our backs, they are 
 upon us again. They never keep still, but are 
 always running about, so that no crossbow nor 
 arquebuse can be aimed at them, and before a man 
 of us can make one shot, they make six/ Juan 
 de Lobillo returned at the end of his time, bringing 
 six men wounded, one mortally, with nothing gained 
 but four frightened Indian women captives. 
 
 Balthazar de Gallegos followed his guide down 
 a smooth open road ; but after a time the Indian 
 seemed to grow uneasy in his mind and uncertain 
 in his conduct. He turned from the road into the 
 forest, and leading the troop from one by-path into 
 another, he wandered with it round and round 
 aimlessly ; or, he might have been seeking a swamp 
 into which finally to leave it while he escaped. The 
 woods thinning a little, the Spaniards saw the masts 
 of the ships in the bay, and discovered the treachery. 
 Gallegos frightened the Indian into guiding them 
 back into the right road. They had gone but a 
 short distance when, turning into an open plain, 
 they came face to face with a small band of Indians. 
 The troopers, all eagerness to fight, spurred forward 
 at full speed, with lances set. The Indians broke, 
 darting like hares into the leafy coverts of the forest. 
 The horsemen overtook only two: they lanced one 
 
"Sevilla! Sevilla !" 
 
The Beginning of Conquest 19 
 
 in the back just as he was running into the woods ; 
 the other, turning, warded off with his bow the 
 lance thrust aimed at him, making a great sign of 
 the cross in the air, crying out " Sevilla ! Sevilla ! " 
 " Are you a Spaniard ? " called out the astonished 
 pursuer. " Yes, yes," answered the man. 
 
 The lancer was Alvaro Nieto, the strongest and 
 most athletic man in the army. Drawing rein, he 
 stooped down, picked up the man with one hand, 
 threw him over the saddle and galloped off with 
 him to the commander, his comrades following 
 with the wounded Indian. Balthazar de Gallegos, 
 after putting a few questions to the prisoner, turned 
 his troop, and rode at full speed back to the camp. 
 
CHAPTER III 
 
 JUAN ORTIZ 
 
 IT was late in the night. The camp lay in the 
 silence of sleep. The sound of horse galloping 
 through it roused it up into wild alarm. The 
 Adelantado and his officers rushed to the front of 
 their quarters, sure that some disaster had happened 
 to one of the detachments, for neither was expected 
 for several days. The troop galloped straight 
 through the village to the mound and dismounted, 
 Balthazar de Gallegos calling out to calm the alarm. 
 Up the mound and into the great square room of 
 Hirrihigua s cabin he brought the Spanish captive 
 and placed him before the Adelantado and his cava 
 liers. Naked, sun-scorched, emaciated, scarred, the 
 poor wretch seemed no better than a savage, and 
 he looked like one. He had almost forgotten his 
 own mother-tongue, his words came hard and strange 
 to him, and he helped himself along with gestures 
 like the Indians. He was asked for his story. 
 His name, he began, was Juan Ortiz. His capture 
 and that of his three companions took place as the 
 Indians had related. Dragged through the forest to 
 this very village, Hirrihigua s village, they soon 
 
 20 
 
Juan Ortiz 21 
 
 found out into whose hands they had fallen, and 
 for what deed they were to atone with their lives ; 
 and kept under careful guard, they saw the prepara 
 tions go gleefully forward for the great feast of all 
 the tribe, at which their death was to be the enter 
 tainment. The day came; they were stripped and 
 one by one driven into the open space, out there ; 
 warriors with their bows and arrows surrounded it 
 like a fence. One by one three of the captives 
 were chased to death like wild beasts, the warriors 
 not shooting pointed arrows, for that would have 
 killed them too soon, but blunt ones, which pro 
 longed the agony, and pleasure. Hirrihigua all 
 the while stood aloof, gloating over the sight of 
 his victims fleeing hither and thither, from one side 
 of the square to the other, seeking for some refuge, 
 shelter, succour, but rinding none ; rinding nothing 
 but pitiless death. At last came the turn of the 
 fourth, Juan Ortiz, a lad barely eighteen years of 
 age. He was driven into the square, and the sport 
 of killing him was about to begin when a squaw, 
 the wife of Hirrihigua, followed by her three daugh 
 ters, ran across the open space to her husband and 
 with violent gestures loudly begged him to spare the 
 boy, to be content with the death of three men ; 
 that the boy was almost a child ; his youth cried to 
 him for mercy; he had not shared in the guilt of 
 Narvaez; it would be enough punishment to make 
 him a slave. 
 
 The chief, who loved his squaw, listened to her, 
 and spared Juan s life ; but he made it so bitter for 
 
22 Hernando dc Soto 
 
 him that, in truth, fhe boy often envied the fate 
 of his companions. For what with the continual 
 labour of fetching wood and water, the scant food and 
 sleep, and the constant buffetings, cudgellings, and 
 beatings he received, if he had not been a Christian, 
 he said, he would have put an end to himself to get 
 out of his misery. And on every feast day he 
 would have to play wild beast for the amusement 
 of Hirrihigua, and be chased and pelted by arrows 
 all day long, from sunrise to sunset. Even when 
 Hirrihigua went to his meals, he left warriors on 
 the watch to shoot at him and keep him running. 
 When the sun went down, and Juan lay panting on 
 the earth like a dog, all that kept him in life was 
 the kindness of the chief s wife and her daughters. 
 They would come to him and tend him and care for 
 him, bring him food and speak soft words to him. 
 And it seemed, because his cruelties and torments 
 did not kill the boy, Hirrihigua s hatred of him 
 grew fiercer and fiercer and more ungovernable. 
 One day it suddenly determined him to put an end 
 to Juan at once. He ordered a great fire to be 
 built in the square, and a barbecue made. This 
 was a frame like a bedstead standing about three 
 feet from the ground. When the fire had burnt to 
 a bed of coals, he had Juan seized, stretched and 
 bound upon the barbecue, which was then set over 
 the red coals. At the cries of agony the burning 
 drew from him, the squaw of the chief, with her 
 daughters, rushed out to the spot. The wife did 
 not know of the intentions of her husband. When 
 
Juan Ortiz 23 
 
 she saw what was being done, she threw herself 
 upon the frame, and tore it from the fire, berating 
 the warriors and her husband for their cruelty, and 
 begging them for mercy, all in one breath. She 
 and her daughters loosened the boy from the frame. 
 He was already half roasted; the flesh from the ribs 
 stuck to the barbecue and peeled away from him, 
 like the rind from an orange, the blood gushing out 
 pitifully in streams. 
 
 The chief again let his wife have her way ; per 
 haps he was rather glad of an interruption that pre 
 served a precious subject for cruelty, for he had 
 often regretted aloud that he had killed the other 
 Spaniards so quickly instead of keeping them for his 
 longer enjoyment. The women took Juan into 
 their cabin and dressed his wounds with herbs, their 
 hearts moved with great pity for the state they found 
 him in. They themselves, when they saw all the 
 pain and misery inflicted upon him, had more than 
 once repented saving him from death that first time. 
 After days and days of nursing and suffering, Juan 
 was seemingly cured, although his wounds never 
 entirely healed, but remained sore and fresh. Then 
 Hirrihigua, to rid himself of the constant prayers 
 of his wife, and her of the sight of the sufferings 
 of the boy, found a new form of persecution for 
 him. He set him to guard the burial-place of 
 the village. This was an open field in the depths 
 of a dense forest, far distant from the village a 
 lonely, isolated spot, with no sight or sound of 
 human habitation. The bodies were laid in wooden 
 
24 Hernando dc Soto 
 
 boxes, resting flat upon the ground, and covered 
 only with loose timbers held down by stones. 
 Every night beasts of prey from the forests would 
 come prowling among the boxes, and again and 
 again would force them open and carry off a corpse, 
 to the great grief and humiliation of the village. 
 Hirrihigua gave Juan four darts to defend the place 
 with, and swore to him that if he allowed one corpse 
 to be carried off he should be burned alive this 
 time without fail. Juan s only feeling was one of 
 gratitude to Providence for delivering him from the 
 presence of Hirrihigua, and he feared not but that 
 he would fare better with the dead than with the 
 living. 
 
 He kept good watch and was getting along well 
 until, one night, not able to fight any longer against 
 his drowsiness, he fell asleep just before dawn, 
 which always seems to be the time for sleep to exert 
 its greatest power against watchers. The noise of 
 a falling cover awoke him. Running to the burial- 
 chests, he found that the body of a child brought 
 there two days before was gone. He gave himself 
 up for lost. Dawn was near, and every day as 
 soon as it was light Indians came from the village 
 to see if the bodies were all there. But he quickly 
 determined to do what he could to find the body 
 and kill the animal, or be killed by it. He ran 
 wildly and vainly here and there through the woods 
 in his despair, making up his mind to attempt 
 flight, although he knew that escape was impossible, 
 when, hark ! he heard a noise like the crunching 
 
Juan Ortiz 25 
 
 of bones. Listening with all his might, and creep 
 ing slowly, slowly forward, he came to a clump of 
 bushes ; beyond them, through the dim light, he 
 saw the figure of an animal crouching. Calling 
 upon God, and summoning all his strength, he 
 threw one of his darts. He waited and listened. 
 It was too dark to see what kind of a shot he had 
 made ; he only knew, as hunters do at night when 
 they cannot see, by the feeling in his palm that it 
 was not a bad one. He waited and listened ; the 
 animal did not move. Hope began to rise within 
 him as, the creature still not moving, he waited 
 and listened, and watched for daylight. And so 
 daylight found him, and showed him the animal 
 dead with a dart through its heart, the little corpse 
 in its paws. Although he saw it, Juan could not 
 believe his eyes. Beside himself with glad relief, 
 he ran quickly, put the corpse back into the chest, 
 and then, taking the brute by one of the feet, he 
 dragged it along, with the dart still sticking in it, to 
 the village. 
 
 His elation was not greater than that of the 
 Indians over the feat; for it was a wonderful one 
 to them, and they marvelled over it and praised 
 him well for it. At so fine a stroke of good fort 
 une, the wife and daughters of Hirrihigua plucked 
 up courage and began again upon the chief, try 
 ing to persuade him that, as Juan had proved him 
 self so valiant, he should be employed in ways better 
 fitting to his strength and courage. And Hirri 
 higua for a while followed this advice, and treated 
 
26 Hernando de Soto 
 
 Juan far better than he had ever done. But every 
 time it was recalled to him that he had no nose, 
 that it had been cut off, his rage would break out 
 afresh, and this would bring back the memory of 
 his mother, and he would wax wild and furious 
 again, and even though he tried to control himself, 
 he could not, the desire for revenge so maddened 
 him. At last he told his wife and daughters that 
 he could stand it no longer ; that it was impossi 
 ble for him to live and suffer the Christian to live; 
 that they must never again intercede for him unless 
 they wished to share in the hatred he felt for the 
 youth, for he was decided now to put an end to 
 him once and forever, to have him shot to death 
 like his companions, at the next feast. The wife 
 and daughters, seeing that this was the truth, and 
 that now, indeed, no more mercy was to be hoped 
 for, submissively told the chief that, as he wished 
 so, so it should be. Nevertheless, a few days before 
 the feast the eldest daughter took Juan secretly 
 aside and warned him of the fixed resolution of her 
 father. " But," said she, " if you are a man, and 
 have the courage to fly to-night, I can still save 
 you;" and naming an hour and place, she con 
 tinued : " You will find an Indian whom you can 
 trust. He will guide you through the swamp to a 
 bridge. When you get there, send him back in time 
 to reach here before daylight, so that he may not be 
 missed, and my daring to help you may not become 
 known, to bring evil upon him and me. Beyond 
 that bridge a road leads to the village of a chief 
 
Juan Ortiz 27 
 
 who wants me for his wife. His name is Mucozo. 
 Tell him from me that I send you to him in this 
 last need for him to help and protect you. And 
 now put yourself in the hands of your God, for I 
 can do no more for you." . . . Juan threw him 
 self at her feet and kissed her hands in gratitude for 
 her pity and kindness then and always ; and that 
 night, he met the guide at the hour and place 
 named, and following her instructions, sent him 
 back from the bridge. 
 
 Speeding, as one fleeing from sure death, he 
 reached Mucozo s village before day, and waited on 
 the outskirts until light, when he saw two warriors 
 leave it and come his way. At sight of him they 
 put their arrows to their bows, but when they heard 
 his message, they sent word to their chief, who 
 came at once. Mucozo was a young warrior about 
 twenty-six, handsome of face and figure, with a 
 noble address. Juan hurriedly told his story of 
 Hirrihigua s torments, showing in proof the marks 
 upon his body, the welts and scars and running sores 
 from the burning, and telling how that now, there 
 being no more hope for mercy for him, the eldest 
 daughter, as a last and only means, had sent him to 
 beg Mucozo s help and protection. The young 
 chief listened and looked with pity. He could see 
 Juan s proofs easily enough, for the Spaniard went 
 as the savages, with no other covering than a cloth 
 around his waist. 
 
 When Juan came to the end of his message, 
 Mucozo kissed him on the cheek, the Indian token 
 
28 Hernando de Soto 
 
 of friendship, and told him that he would do for 
 him all that he could, of that to be certain. And 
 what Mucozo promised he performed. He kept 
 Juan with him, treating him like a brother, and a 
 dearly loved one. And although Hirrihigua sent 
 again and again for his slave, the young chief always 
 put off the messenger with excuses, and at last sent 
 answer that he would not give up Juan, and that 
 the loss of so hated a slave could be but a small 
 one to so great a chief. Hirrihigua then induced 
 Mucozo s brother-in-law, Urribarricuxi, a powerful 
 neighbouring chief, to demand Juan; but Mucozo 
 answered him also that it did not beseem a chief of 
 spirit and courage to deliver up a poor wretch to an 
 enemy to be hunted to death like a wild beast, And 
 so Juan had lived with him ever since. And that 
 morning Mucozo had called him and said to him, 
 " You must know, my brother, that in the village of 
 your good friend, Hirrihigua, is a Christian general 
 with a thousand warriors and a great number of 
 horses, come to conquer the country. You know all 
 I have done for you. Now you must go to the Chris 
 tian general, and pray him, from me and from you, 
 in return for the good I did you, not to harm me 
 and my people in this one little piece of land we 
 possess. Take warriors with you, and look out for 
 their safety, as our friendship obliges you to do." 
 Juan Ortiz thanking God in his heart for the news, 
 assured Mucozo that he would give the Spaniards 
 such an account of his kindness as would make the 
 whole army his friends ; and overjoyed almost past 
 
Juan Ortiz 29 
 
 reason at the wonderful prospect of deliverance, he 
 set out at once upon the road to find the Spaniards 
 on the very morning that the Spaniards set out to 
 find him. 
 
 When the cavaliers and officers had heard Juan s 
 story to the end, when they looked upon his poor 
 naked body, the side that had been against the fire 
 one great burn and foul running sores, tenderness 
 and compassion overcame them, and the Adelantado, 
 rising and going to him embraced him, as if he had 
 been a son, thanking God for returning him again 
 to his people. And all the officers embraced him 
 with tears and emotion. The Adelantado com 
 manded that without the loss of an hour s time 
 messengers should be sent in the name of the 
 emperor and king of Spain, and in his own name, 
 and that of his officers, and of all Spaniards, to 
 thank Mucozo for his bountiful kindness to Juan, 
 and to assure him of their unending friendship, 
 and to pray him to pay a visit to the camp, that 
 they might all see and know him and thank him 
 and honour him in person. 
 
 There was no sleep in camp the rest of that 
 night, for there was not a soldier in it but wanted to 
 embrace and greet Juan, to hear his story, see his 
 scars and drink his health, and thank God over 
 him as over a brother. But none thanked God as 
 Juan did, or shed such tears of joy. 
 
 The next day clothing was given him, the Ade 
 lantado himself presenting him with doublet and 
 hose of fine black velvet. But from long habit of 
 
jo Hernando de Soto 
 
 going naked Juan could not wear them ; for over 
 twenty days he could not bear anything on his skin 
 except the loosest linen covering. 
 
 Two days later, Mucozo, in answer to the invita 
 tion sent him, made his appearance with a retinue 
 of warriors. To the Adelantado s graceful acknow 
 ledgments and the handsome speeches of the cava 
 liers he answered through Juan as gracefully and 
 handsomely as any of them, that he had only done 
 what his self-respect commanded, and that Juan, 
 even without other recommendation, was, on account 
 of his virtue and courage, worthy of all the consider 
 ation he had received ; that in sending him to De 
 Soto, he had acted for his own benefit, so there was 
 no occasion for thanks or gratitude for that. The 
 cavaliers who saw and knew Mucozo and told 
 about him in Spain, always closed their relation of 
 him with : " For grace and discretion, polish of 
 manner and high-flowing language, this savage 
 chief had nothing to learn from the courts of kings 
 and emperors." 
 
CHAPTER IV 
 
 THE MARCH INLAND 
 
 THE fleet being unloaded, and the supplies 
 stored, the large ships were sent back to Ha 
 vana ; the caravels were kept for the service 
 of the army. And now the Adelantado was ready 
 to penetrate inland, into that vast and unknown in 
 terior, imagination of which had armed and equipped 
 this expedition. Proclamation was made for the army 
 to prepare to march, and at the end of three days 
 Luis de Moscoso had it drawn out in regular order, 
 vanguard, rear-guard, centre, the baggage train 
 packed. Pedro Calderon, a cavalier and good sol 
 dier, who enjoyed the glory of having served as a 
 boy under the great Gonzalvo of Cordova, was ap 
 pointed commander of the small garrison to be left 
 in charge of the village and caravels. 
 
 The march was northeast, for in that direction, 
 according to Juan Ortiz and the Indian captives, lay 
 the best provisioned lands. And pleasant enough 
 the march was for about one hundred and fifteen 
 miles. The more the Spaniards saw of the country, 
 the more they liked it. How could it be other 
 wise, or what better could they have asked? The 
 
 31 
 
3 2 Hernando de Soto 
 
 soil was rich beyond expectation, with magnificent 
 forests of oak, pine, mulberry, and other handsome 
 trees that they did not know, and all were wreathed 
 with vines, drooping with luxuriant clusters of 
 grapes. The soldiers stepped along elated and 
 merry, every glance of the eye as it were bringing 
 them good news. They left the territory of Hirri- 
 higua and entered that of Urribarricuxi, the brother- 
 in-law, as has been mentioned, of the courtly and 
 generous Mucozo. His village was deserted and 
 abandoned, chief and people having fled into the 
 forest. Like Hirrihigua, Urribarricuxi would make 
 no answer to the messages of De Soto ; he kept in 
 his hiding-place and would not be tempted out 
 either for peace or for war. 
 
 As the village was large and well stored with pro 
 visions, the army remained there a week, while scouts 
 reconnoitred the country ahead of the line of march. 
 They found a great swamp which seemed to be an 
 impenetrable barrier against further advance to the 
 north ; but when the army set out again, De Soto 
 marched straight to it and pushed through it in 
 two days and camped in a beautiful plain beyond. 
 And now his scouts returned, saying that the 
 swamp just passed through was child s play to the 
 one that lay ahead, one that it would be utterly 
 impossible to penetrate ; the mother swamp, they 
 called it, of a group of smaller swamps, that held a 
 vast region in a state of impassable mire. 
 
 The Adelantado saw that he must be his own 
 scout. Taking a troop of horsemen and some Indian 
 
The March Inland 33 
 
 guides, he set out, leaving Luis de Moscoso to fol 
 low with the army when he sent him word. Decid 
 ing to try for a passage in another direction, he 
 retraced his steps across the swamp just crossed, and 
 travelled for three days round the edge of it, send 
 ing out scouts at regular intervals to push through 
 the dense growth, looking for some opening or foot 
 path used by the Indians. No path was found, but 
 Indians were in abundance. They infested the place 
 like mosquitoes, swarming out with sudden fury, 
 shooting a volley of arrows and disappearing almost 
 before they were seen ; and indeed against the ar 
 mour of the Spanish horsemen the arrows were but 
 little more harmful than mosquito stings. A few 
 captives were taken and forced to act as guides, but 
 they guided like captives and enemies, leading amiss 
 and astray. De Soto had four of them thrown to 
 the dogs, for these bloody executioners with teeth 
 well fleshed and appetites kept keen by starvation 
 were carried along on every reconnoissance. They 
 soon made an end of the four Indians and their 
 patriotism. A fifth, in terror of a like fate, offered 
 to guide faithfully. He did so, and the Spaniards 
 saw how hopeless would have been their search with 
 out him. He led them clear away from where they 
 were and set them in a clean, smooth, broad road, 
 running outside and making a circuit of the swamp. 
 Following this about four leagues they came to a 
 bayou of clear water. Plunging into it, the guide 
 led on through water breast high, but over a firm 
 bottom, until they came to a channel about a hun- 
 
34 Hernando de Soto 
 
 dred paces wide which was too deep to wade. Here 
 the Indians had made a crossing by cutting trees 
 from the opposite sides and fastening the ends 
 together. Over this same bridge the guide said 
 Narvaez and his army had passed ten years before. 
 It was overgrown with bushes and vines. Calling 
 for Diego de Moreno and Pedro de Oliva, the 
 Adelantado commanded them to take their hatchets 
 and clear the obstructions. The men were native 
 Cuban mesticoes (half-breeds of Indian and Spanish 
 parentage), great comrades and the best swimmers 
 in the army. They sprang forward to the task, 
 but were hardly upon the bridge before canoes of 
 Indians dashed out from the bushes on the further 
 bank, sending clouds of arrows whizzing at them. 
 With a high curve through the air the mesticoes 
 leaped into the water, and diving deep, swam under 
 it to the bank, the arrows pattering above them. 
 The Indians, as if satisfied, then paddled away as 
 quickly as they had advanced. 
 
 Much pleased at having found what he had 
 determined to find, De Soto, without a moment s 
 delay, turned for a messenger to take his orders to 
 Luis de Moscoso. Casting his eye over his cava 
 liers, he called out to Gonzalo Silvestre, and gave 
 him this command in a loud voice before the whole 
 troop : " Gonzalo Silvestre, luck has given you the 
 best horse in the army, but it was in order for you 
 to do the most work with it; and therefore, I shall 
 have to put upon you the hardest tasks that come 
 in our way ; so take patience and prepare yourself 
 
The March Inland 35 
 
 for them. Now you must know that our lives and 
 the Conquest require you to return this night to 
 the camp, to tell Luis de Moscoso that we have 
 found the passage through and that he must march 
 forward to join us. And he must send you back 
 at once with some biscuit and cheese for us ; for 
 as you know we are hungry and in sore need of 
 food. And that you may come more safely than 
 you go, order him to send along tWenty lancers to 
 protect you on the road. I shall wait for you here 
 until to-morrow night, when you must be back, even 
 though the road seem hard and long and the time 
 short. I know whom I am trusting. And that 
 you may not go alone, take any companion that 
 best suits you ; and be quick about it, so as to be 
 in the camp by dawn to-morrow ; for if daylight 
 catches you in the swamp, the Indians will surely 
 never let you get out of it alive." 
 
 Without a word, Gonzalo Silvestre turned, 
 mounted his horse and rode off. Passing by Juan 
 Lopez Cacho, a page of De Soto s, who also had a 
 good horse, he drew rein to say : " The governor 
 orders you and me to go on a message from him to 
 the camp before daylight, so follow me at once, for 
 I am on the way." " On my life ! " said Juan 
 Lopez, " I cannot go, I am tired ; take some one 
 else." " The governor ordered me to choose a com 
 panion ; I choose you. If you will come, come and 
 welcome ; if not, stay where you are, for going two 
 together will not lessen the danger, nor going one 
 alone increase the toil." And Gonzalo Silvestre, 
 
36 Hernando de Soto 
 
 spurring his horse, rode on. Juan Lopez Cacho, 
 cursing his luck, jumped on his horse and fol 
 lowed. 
 
 The sun was just setting. They were both 
 youths, hardly over eighteen years old, and soon, 
 light-hearted enough, they were trotting over the 
 first miles of their journey, for the road was clear 
 and free of Indians ; but when they struck the low 
 marshy places the troop had just struggled through, 
 the bogs, thickets, and canebrakes, the slow bayous 
 oozing in and out of the great swamp, their troubles 
 began. There was no regular road or path to fol 
 low, and knowing nothing of the country, they 
 could not go round or avoid the bad places for fear 
 of getting lost, but were forced to follow the track 
 made by the troop two days before, looking out for 
 what marks and signs they could remember. Night 
 fell, and soon in the gloomy forest they could not 
 see anything distinctly. And now, the risk of being 
 caught by the Indians was so great that nothing 
 could have saved them if they had not been helped 
 by the marvellous instinct of their horses. As if 
 possessed of human understanding and reason, they, 
 so soon as they saw that their riders could not guide 
 them, set themselves of their own wills to trace 
 the road, thrusting their nostrils to the ground, 
 and like hounds or setters, scenting the trail. The 
 men at first not catching their meaning, pulled 
 again and again at the reins, but the horses would 
 not lift their heads from the ground, except when 
 they lost the scent, then raising and tossing them, 
 
The March Inland 37 
 
 they would snort so loudly that it seemed certain 
 they must be heard by the Indians. 
 
 The horse of Silvestre was surer on the trail and 
 quicker to find it when it was lost than the other 
 one. But that was not astonishing, for he was 
 indeed, by every sign that nature gives, a per 
 fect horse, either for peace or for war. A dark 
 chestnut he was, with a white stocking on his left 
 hind foot, white marks on his forehead, and a 
 white rim around his mouth. The horse of Juan 
 Lopez was a light bay, with black feet ; an extremely 
 good horse too, but not to be compared with the 
 chestnut, which took the lead and kept it. Recogniz 
 ing at last the good sense of the animals, their riders 
 gave them full rein and let them do as they would, 
 without opposition or protest. And so the youths 
 journeyed on through the slow black hours of the 
 night, nearly dropping from their saddles from 
 fatigue and sleep and hunger, for during three days 
 they had had no rest, and nothing to eat but the 
 corn-stalks they gathered as they rode through the 
 fields of the Indians. And their horses were not 
 much better off; for during the same length of time 
 they had not been unsaddled, and the bits had only 
 been taken out of their mouths to let them eat. 
 And now, as the youths felt their way along, see 
 ing nothing as they said but death looking them 
 straight in the face, camp-fires began to glimmer 
 through the trees, to the right and left. Some 
 times pictured in a great circle of light, bands of 
 Indians would be seen feasting and dancing and 
 
3 8 Hernando de Soto 
 
 merry-making, and sometimes so near were they 
 that their singing and music and din of noise and 
 confusion could be distinctly heard. The Span 
 iards thanked God that it covered the footfalls of 
 their horses. Even the sudden and frantic barking 
 of the more watchful dogs trying to give the alarm 
 passed unnoticed. Had it been otherwise, the 
 Spaniards would never have lived to tell of it. 
 
 When the forest was silent and dark again, 
 Juan Lopez said to his comrade : " Either take 
 your lance and kill me here on the spot, or let 
 me have a wink of sleep ; I cannot go a step 
 farther, nor hold myself on my horse, for I am 
 dropping with sleep." Gonzalo Silvestre, who had 
 already refused Cacho three or four times, could 
 not withstand his importunity any longer. " Get 
 off your horse, then," he said impatiently, " and 
 go to sleep, if you would rather run the risk of 
 being killed by the Indians than resist one hour 
 longer. The pass through the swamp cannot be 
 very far off now, and we must get through that 
 before day, for if light catches us here we shall 
 never get through alive." Juan Lopez, without 
 waiting for more than consent, had dropped from 
 his saddle upon the earth like one dead, and before 
 Silvestre had finished speaking was fast asleep. 
 Silvestre took his lance and bridle from his hand. 
 A great cloud passed over the night and rain poured 
 down in torrents ; but all the water of that or any 
 other deluge would have failed to waken or even 
 disturb Juan Lopez. 
 
The March Inland 39 
 
 The rain ceased, the clouds passed away, and 
 in a flash it seemed to Silvestre it was broad 
 daylight ; perhaps he himself had slept on his 
 horse like his companion on the ground. Hastily 
 calling to Juan Lopez in a suppressed voice, he 
 tried to rouse him, but finally he had to take the 
 end of his lance to him. " Look," he whispered 
 angrily, " what your sleeping has brought us to ! 
 It is daylight and we shall never escape the 
 Indians now ! " Juan Lopez was in the saddle 
 like a flash, and the two galloped at full rein, the 
 two horses stretching their legs as gallantly as if 
 they had had no past stress. But in the light of 
 day, as the Adelantado had told them, they could 
 not help being seen by the Indians. In a moment 
 the forest was clamorous with alarm ; cries and yells, 
 blowing of horns and conch shells, beating of drums, 
 the hue and cry rising behind, spread on each side, 
 then flew on ahead and was answered by Indians 
 far away in the distance before them. As the two 
 youths galloped into sight of a great stretch of 
 marsh and of water, lying before them, from every 
 bush, reed, and branch there darted canoes filled 
 with yelling savages. It seemed to them that the 
 very leaves fell from the trees to turn into canoes 
 filled with savages. They saw the fate awaiting 
 them, but they saw too that in daring, not in 
 prudence, lay their only chance. They galloped 
 through the marsh and spurred into the deep water 
 and swam. Arrows pelted them like hail. " God 
 alone/ they exclaimed afterwards, " knew how they 
 
4O Hernando de Soto 
 
 did it," but they got through. As they came out 
 on to the dry land, Gonzalo turned his head for a 
 look backward : he said that the water was strewn 
 with arrows as a street is strewn with flowers on a 
 day of high festival. 
 
 The wild clamour of the pursuit had reached the 
 camp. Suspecting the cause of it, the troopers, 
 calling out to one another, jumped on their horses 
 and spurred down the road to the rescue. A long 
 way ahead of them all sped Nuno de Tobar, racing 
 his beautiful grey charger. Disgraced though he 
 was, and unranked, he was still the handsomest and 
 most dashing cavalier in the army, and the soldier s 
 ideal, in truth, of a noble cavalier, who for a friend 
 would of himself defy the onslaught of armies. 
 The Indians burst like a thunder-cloud from the 
 forest and into the road, but at sight of the troopers 
 charging towards them they stopped, turned, and 
 vanished. 
 
 Gonzalo Silvestre delivered his message, and in 
 less than an hour afterwards was on his way back 
 to the Adelantado with the supplies of food and his 
 escort of twenty lancers. Juan Lopez Cacho re 
 mained with Moscoso. " For," said he, " now that 
 the danger is over, the captain-general did not order 
 me to return any more than to go." 
 
 The Adelantado received Gonzalo Silvestre as 
 handsomely as he had sent him. Before all his 
 troops, and with the high-sounding words that 
 he knew so well when and how to use, he praised 
 his energy and courage in the incomparable peril 
 
The March Inland 41 
 
 of his mission, confessing that he had not dared 
 to hope to see him alive again. " No man," he 
 concluded, " could humanly do more," and he 
 pledged himself that Gonzalo one day should 
 receive his fitting reward. 
 
CHAPTER V 
 
 ACUERA 
 
 THE Spaniards marched through the territory 
 of Urribarricuxi, and came into that of an 
 other tribe and chief, Acuera, for tribe and 
 chief here, as in many other parts of Florida, had 
 the same name. As before, the line of march was 
 deserted, the Indians having fled to the forest. As 
 soon as a few captives were secured, De Soto sent 
 them with presents and greetings to their chief, as 
 he had sent to Urribarricuxi and Hirrihigua. He 
 kindly invited Acuera to come from his hiding-place 
 and meet the Spaniards in peace and friendship. The 
 Indians, he said, should rejoice to have the Span 
 iards as friends and brothers, for they were a brave 
 and warlike people, and if their friendship were not 
 accepted, they could do much harm and damage 
 to the land. And Acuera could hold it for certain 
 that he, their commander, had no will to injure any 
 one, as was to be seen by the country he had already 
 passed through, where he had done no harm, but 
 on the contrary had shown friendship even to those 
 who did not care to receive it, his first and princi 
 pal intention being to bring all the provinces of 
 that great country into subjection to his master, the 
 
 42 
 
Acuera 43 
 
 powerful emperor and king of Spain. Therefore, 
 he wished to see Acuera and talk to him fully and 
 freely, so that he could explain to him, and tell him 
 of the orders the king had given about the treat 
 ment of the natives of the land. 
 
 Acuera, like Urribarricuxi, and Hirrihigua, was 
 too wily to be lured into the power of the invaders 
 of his territory ; but unlike them, he answered the 
 Spanish general. From other Spaniards, he said, 
 that in years gone by had come into the land, he 
 had become well acquainted with what manner of 
 people they were, and knew their life and manners. 
 They held it their business to go wandering round 
 like vagabonds from country to country, robbing 
 people who had done them no offence whatever. 
 With such a people he wished no kind of peace 
 and friendship, but war, deadly, never-ending war. 
 Even if they were as brave as they boasted them 
 selves to be, he had no fear whatever of them, for he 
 and his people held themselves to be no less brave. 
 To prove this he promised the Spaniards to fight 
 them so long as they cared to remain in his lands ; 
 not openly or in field of battle, but by ambush, 
 stratagem, and surprise. So he warned them and 
 requested them to be on their guard, for he had 
 ordered his people to bring him every week two 
 Christian heads ; no more, as he would be content 
 with that. By beheading two of them every week, 
 he could finish them all in the course of a few 
 years ; for even if they settled and took up their 
 abode in his land, they could not perpetuate them- 
 
44 Hernando de Soto 
 
 selves there, as they had not brought their wives 
 to raise families. As to what the Spanish general 
 said about obedience to the king of Spain, he him 
 self, Acuera, was king in his own land, and there 
 was no need for him to become the subject of 
 another, who already possessed so many subjects. 
 Moreover he held those men to be most vile and 
 pusillanimous, who put themselves under another 
 man when they could live free. He and his peo 
 ple would rather die a hundred deaths to maintain 
 their freedom and the freedom of their country ; 
 and this they said not for once but forever. And 
 as to what the Spanish general said about the 
 Spaniards being servants of the king of Spain, and 
 going about conquering new lands for him, they 
 were welcome to that position ; and now he held 
 them in even less esteem than before, since they 
 confessed that they were servants and fought to gain 
 lands for another to rule and to enjoy. As they 
 bore the hunger and toil, and suffered the ills and 
 hardships, and risked their lives, it would be more 
 honourable and profitable for them to win lands 
 for themselves and their children, not for some one 
 else. And since they were so low that even at 
 this distance they did not lose the name of ser 
 vants, they need never, at any time, hope for his 
 friendship ; he did not care to bestow it so basely. 
 He did not need to know the orders of their king, 
 as he knew what to do in his own lands, and how 
 to treat the Spaniards, who, in short, were to get 
 out of it as quickly as possible if they did not wish 
 all to die in it. 
 
Acuera 45 
 
 Acuera proved to be a man of his word. Dur 
 ing the twenty days the invaders were in his ter 
 ritory his people neither slept nor rested in the 
 fulfilling of his commands. Not two heads every 
 week, but two every three days was the tally they 
 kept of their work. A Spaniard could not wander 
 a hundred yards from camp without being spitted 
 by an arrow ; and however quick a rush was made 
 to the rescue, his comrades found a headless corpse 
 awaiting them. If the body was buried where it 
 was found, the Indians would return the following 
 night, dig it up, cut it in quarters, and hang the 
 members in the trees, where the Spaniards might 
 see them. Fourteen Christian heads were sent to 
 the chief by his warriors. And this was not all, 
 for they wounded the invaders besides by the score. 
 The forest lay so close around the camp that they 
 could make their strokes with very little risk to 
 themselves, escaping easily and quickly to it after 
 wards, and they never left undone a stroke that 
 opportunity offered. And so great was their cau 
 tion and vigilance, that the Spaniards, with their ut 
 most efforts, and with all their advantages of armour 
 and horses, were never able to kill more than fifty 
 of them. Truthful indeed were the words shouted 
 by the Indians after the army all along its march : 
 "Pass along, robbers! Pass along! In Acuera 
 you will find what you deserve. Your bodies will 
 be cut into pieces and hung in the highest trees on 
 the roadside." 
 
 The captive Indians spoke of a province lying 
 
46 Hernando de Soto 
 
 farther along to the northeast, called Ocali, where 
 the people wore ornaments of gold. This decided the 
 Adelantado to direct his march thither. The coun 
 try, as the distance increased from the sea, became 
 more and more beautiful, the soil more and more 
 fertile. Such a region of fine trees the Spaniards 
 had never beheld ; they noted every variety of nut, 
 oak, and pine known to them, and great numbers 
 of other trees that they did not know, and the for 
 ests were so clean and clear that the horses could 
 get with ease through them. Swamps and low 
 places were no longer met, nor those murderous de 
 ceptive stretches of grass that lay along the sea 
 shore, where a footfall would send the surface into 
 a tremble for fifty paces around, upon which, if a 
 horse ventured he would sink out of sight. And 
 as had been foretold by the Indians, the country 
 was well supplied with food ; little groups of empty 
 cabins surrounded by teeming cornfields stretched 
 along miles of the march. But no gold was seen, 
 nor any evidence of it. 
 
 The village of the Ocali was deserted, but its 
 storehouses had been left well filled with corn and 
 vegetables, dried plums and grapes, pumpkins, nuts, 
 and acorns. De Soto quartered his army there, 
 while runners carried the usual messages and pres 
 ents in search of the chief, who allowed himself 
 to be persuaded to come upon a visit to the camp. 
 The Spaniards received him with many protesta 
 tions of friendliness, but he proved so suspicious 
 and watchful that nothing was gained from the 
 
Acuera 47 
 
 visit. Near the village was a river, which was too 
 deep to be forded, and the chief agreed that his 
 men should build a bridge over it. As he and 
 De Soto were walking along the bank selecting the 
 proper place, a band of about fifty Indians with 
 bows and arrows suddenly appeared on the oppo 
 site side, and shouting, "You want a bridge, do 
 you, robbers ? You will never see it made with 
 our hands," they let fly a volley of arrows at De 
 Soto and his suite. 
 
 The cries they gave roused the greyhound Bruto, 
 whose collar was held by a page. The dog, with 
 a spring that dragged the page to the ground and 
 made him loose his hold, leaped into the water and 
 made for the Indians on the opposite bank. The 
 Spaniards called to him, but he would not heed. 
 Swimming steadily forward through the swarm of 
 arrows, which were soon sticking in him as closely 
 as pins in a cushion, he reached the bank and eagerly 
 sprang upon it, but tottered and fell dead, literally 
 shot to pieces. More than fifty arrows were counted 
 in his shoulders and head. The Spaniards grieved 
 bitterly over him, for he was a rare animal and 
 had proved himself as good a soldier as any in the 
 conquest. By day and night he had stood his 
 watch and guard, and in the province Acuera had, 
 by his vigilance, saved many a man his head. In 
 deed, as his fate showed, he was never off guard. 
 Many of his feats would have been considered mar 
 vellous for another animal. Only a few days before, 
 four young warriors came to the camp, ostensibly 
 
48 Hernando de Soto 
 
 as envoys, really as spies. The Adelantado re 
 ceived them with his habitual affability, giving them 
 some gaudy Spanish trifles as presents, and order 
 ing them to be provided with food. The Indians 
 were sitting quietly eating, when seeing the Span 
 iards completely off their guard, the four of them 
 jumped up as one man and ran towards the woods 
 at full speed, which was too fast for any Spaniard 
 to overtake them on foot, and there were no horses 
 at hand. Bruto, who happened to be near, hear 
 ing the outcry, and seeing the Indians running, 
 gave chase. With human judgment, he flew past 
 the first Indian, the next, and the next, and catch 
 ing up with the one ahead, sprang upon his shoul 
 ders, pulled him to the ground, and held him there, 
 until the Indian behind came up. Leaping upon 
 him, he pulled him to the ground and held him ; 
 and so on, repeating the manoeuvre until he had all 
 four on the ground, he sprang from one to the other, 
 as fast as one arose, jumping upon him, and bark 
 ing so fiercely and furiously that, confused and 
 stunned, all lay helpless until the Spanish soldiers 
 came and took them in charge. 
 
 On another occasion, before the army reached 
 Ocali, while some Spaniards and Indians were 
 talking together on the bank of the river in the 
 most amicable way, one of the Indians, acting from 
 one of those foolhardy impulses that seemed irre 
 sistible to the race, struck one of the Spaniards 
 over the head with his bow and leaped into the 
 stream, all of his companions leaping after him. 
 
Acuera 49 
 
 Bruto, seeing it, sprang also into the water, and 
 swimming past the others, until he reached the In 
 dian who had struck the blow, he tore him to 
 pieces in mid-stream. In truth the Indians were 
 just in hating Bruto as if he were a Christian. He 
 was of that breed of dogs that passed into the 
 saying that it was not the Spaniards so much as 
 their dogs and horses that conquered the New 
 World. Had he lived, he would assuredly have 
 been as famous as Becerillo of Porto Rico, to 
 whom the Spaniards always allotted a man s share 
 of the spoils, or as Becerillo s pup, Leoncillo, be 
 longing to Vasco Nunez de Balboa. This dog 
 owned gold and slaves, and, it is said, could always 
 distinguish the Indians who came with peace in 
 their hearts from those who came with war. 
 
 The Spaniards after this made their own bridge, 
 and crossing the river, moved on towards the next 
 province. But before leaving Ocali they set am 
 bushes, and captured thirty Indians for slaves. 
 They had brought some along from Hirrihigua and 
 Urribarricuxi ; but there were still many soldiers 
 unprovided, and they grumbled for cooks to make 
 their bread. Pounding corn in a wooden mortar, 
 they said, and sifting the meal through their coats 
 of mail, and then making the bread and baking it 
 upon tiles, was so troublesome that they preferred 
 eating the corn parched whole. 
 
CHAPTER VI 
 
 VITACHUCO 
 
 BY means of fair words, gifts, and promises on 
 the one hand, and dire threats on the other, 
 the Indians captured at Ocali were made to 
 act as guides as far as the next province. This was 
 a vast territory called Vitachuco, measuring fifty 
 leagues as the army marched across it. It was di 
 vided among three brothers, the eldest Vitachuco 
 ruling over one half, the next over three tenths, 
 and the youngest over two tenths of it. The army 
 arrived first at the lands of the youngest brother, 
 Ochile, and the Adelantado moving quickly ahead 
 with a squadron, surprised and captured the village 
 one morning before daylight, with Ochile and all his 
 warriors in it. The Indians were terrified beyond 
 resistance by the sight of the strange, new army, 
 the men in armour, the horses, banners flying, and 
 above all, by the bands playing their loudest music, 
 for De Soto had commanded the band to play 
 its loudest at the assault. All the other captives 
 were set at liberty, and only the young chief kept 
 a prisoner. But he was treated with such honour 
 and flattery that in his gratitude he was easily per- 
 
 50 
 
Vitachuco 5 1 
 
 suaded to send messages to his brothers coun 
 selling their submission also to the invaders. 
 He told them how the Spaniards had come into 
 his territory, and how they said that their desire 
 and spirit was to have all the Indians as friends 
 and brothers ; that they were going on through 
 to other territories, and would not do any injury 
 on their march, particularly to those who received 
 them peaceably. But if there were any who 
 would not thus receive them, the Spaniards would 
 destroy their village, burn their cabins for fire 
 wood, devastate their cornfields, and waste and 
 scatter their provisions, taking at will what they 
 needed, in short, conduct themselves as in the 
 land of enemies. All of this might be avoided by 
 accepting the peace they offered, and it should be 
 done for the country s interest. 
 
 The second brother, who lived near Ochile, an 
 swered at once, thanking his brother for the advice, 
 and promising him to come in three or four days in 
 state and ceremony to make peace with the Span 
 iards, supplicating his brother in the meantime to 
 keep on good terms with such powerful conquerors. 
 Three days later he came, with a suite of his finest 
 looking warriors, and he left nothing undone in the 
 way of submission to keep the Spaniards in a good 
 humour. 
 
 Vitachuco made no answer to the message of 
 Ochile beyond holding the messenger and not 
 letting him return. The two brothers, under the 
 compliments and presents of the Spanish com- 
 
52 Hernando de Soto 
 
 mander, sent another messenger to him, begging 
 him not to delay accepting the terms offered, for 
 the Christians were indeed a folk whom the In 
 dians could not hope to get the better of in war. 
 In person they were the bravest of the brave, 
 and were truly what they called themselves, invin 
 cible, being in truth, by blood, spirit, and valour, 
 children of the sun and moon, the deities of the In 
 dians ; as such they came from the country where 
 the sun rises, bringing with them beasts called 
 horses, which were so brave, fleet, and powerful 
 that the Indians could not withstand them by 
 strength, nor escape them by flight. Therefore, as 
 his brothers, anxious for his life and safety, they 
 besought him not to bring destruction upon him 
 self. 
 
 Vitachuco s answer to this was : " It is very plain 
 that you are youths, and that you lack judgment 
 and experience to talk as you do about these Chris 
 tians, praising them as good men who never harm 
 any one ; as children of the sun, valiant and de 
 serving any service that we can render them. The 
 captivity that you have put yourselves in, and the 
 vile, cowardly spirit that you have acquired in the 
 short while since you gave yourselves up to be ser 
 vants and slaves, make you talk like women, prais 
 ing that which you ought to vituperate and abhor. 
 Do you not see that these Christians cannot be 
 better than those of the past who did such base 
 things, for are they not of the same nation and 
 the same land ? Do you not see their perfidy and 
 
Vitachuco 53 
 
 treachery ? If you were men with men s judgment, 
 you would see that by their own lives and words 
 they show themselves to be children of the evil 
 spirit, and not of the sun and moon, your gods ; 
 for do they not go from land to land killing and 
 plundering and destroying whatever they find in 
 their way, taking away the wives and daughters of 
 others instead of bringing their own with them ? 
 As for their making homes and settlements of their 
 own, they are not content with any land they see or 
 tread, for their delight is to wander like vagabonds, 
 living upon the toil and sweat of others. If they 
 were all good, as you say, they would not leave 
 their own country, where they could make use 
 of their goodness in sowing, planting, and gather 
 ing their crops to sustain themselves, without harm 
 to others, and go about as they do, committing their 
 robberies without shame and without fear of the 
 Great Spirit. Tell them not to enter my territory ; 
 for I promise them, however valiant they be, if 
 they put their feet within it, they shall never get 
 out of it alive ; for I shall destroy and make an end 
 of them all in it. Half I shall roast, the other 
 half I shall boil alive/ 
 
 And now that he was started, Vitachuco did not 
 wait for further messages, but every day sent two 
 or more of his warriors, who came like heralds into 
 the Spanish camp, sounding their horns and pro 
 claiming his defiance and threats of the various 
 ways he would put an end to the Spaniards so soon 
 as they set foot within his domains : " He would 
 
54 Hernando de Soto 
 
 make the plains open and swallow them up ; he 
 would make the hills come together and fall upon 
 them and bury them alive ; he would order such 
 wild, furious winds to blow that the trees would be 
 uprooted and hurled upon them as they passed 
 through the forests ; he would command a great 
 multitude of birds to fly over them with venom in 
 their beaks, which they should drop upon them, so 
 that their flesh would fester and rot away from 
 them ; he would poison the water, the grass, the 
 trees and the fields, and even the air, so that neither 
 man nor horse among the Christians should escape 
 with life ; and their fate would thus serve as a warn 
 ing to all who thereafter should dare to enter his 
 lands against his will." 
 
 Nevertheless the Spaniards advanced steadily 
 upon their march, De Soto and his officers all the 
 while feasting and entertaining the young chiefs, and 
 they working with might and main to please their 
 masters and bring their haughty, ferocious brother 
 also into the same subserviency. Finally, seeing 
 that their messages were of no avail, they obtained the 
 Adelantado s leave to go themselves and speak to 
 Vitachuco. And in truth they did so work upon 
 him with their fears, and with the fact, that not 
 withstanding his threats the Spaniards were already 
 well within his territory, that Vitachuco began to 
 consider the policy of dissembling his hatred until 
 a more convenient season for expressing it ; that is, 
 until under cover of pretended friendship he could 
 fall upon and destroy them all. With this in his 
 
Vitachuco 55 
 
 mind, he changed his former savage words into 
 others of mildness and suavity, telling his brothers 
 that he had no idea the Spaniards were men of such 
 parts and qualities as they described, but now since 
 he was convinced, it would please him to enter into 
 peaceful and friendly relations with them. But first 
 he would like to know how many days the army 
 would be in his territory ; what provisions would 
 be required during its stay ; and what levies would 
 be made during their march through it. De Soto 
 replied handsomely that he would stay no longer in 
 the territory than Vitachuco desired to have him ; 
 that he required no more provisions than Vitachuco 
 desired to give him ; and that he asked for nothing 
 further than Vitachuco s friendship. 
 
 Upon this, Vitachuco began to make ready for 
 a grand reception of the Spaniards, and for a 
 grand massacre of them afterwards. He gave out 
 publicly that day by day his affection for the 
 Spaniards and his desire to serve them were growing. 
 He summoned the bravest and finest looking of 
 his warriors to go with him to meet them, and 
 commanded a great store of food, water, and grass 
 for the horses to be gathered together in his village 
 against their arrival in it, so that there should be 
 no lack of anything, either for hospitality or for 
 entertainment. When all was in readiness to his 
 satisfaction, he sallied forth with his two brothers 
 and an escort of five hundred warriors in gala array 
 to meet the army. A handsome and noble sight 
 they presented, striding over the country with 
 
56 Hernando de Soto 
 
 their magnificent war bonnets of feathers waving 
 above their heads, their finest bows in their hands, 
 and their gayest quivers at their backs. Vitachuco s 
 haughty head and fierce countenance rose preemi 
 nent above all. He was of about the same age as 
 De Soto, finely proportioned and noble in bearing, 
 and as he stepped forward to greet the Spanish 
 commander, in the eyes of the onlookers, the 
 savage had no concessions to make the cavalier 
 either in presence or in manner ; in truth he acted 
 his role with the grace and ease of a subtle courtier. 
 De Soto, always won by submission, embraced him 
 warmly. 
 
 The Spanish army entered the village in full 
 military style, horse and foot, in regular squadrons, 
 banners flying, bands playing. The village was a 
 large one, of about two hundred well built cabins, 
 and surrounded on the outskirts by a fringe of 
 smaller and meaner ones. The Adelantado with 
 his staff and body-guard lodged in the great cabin 
 of Vitachuco, with him and his two brothers ; and 
 for three days the Spaniards and Indians gave 
 themselves up to good cheer and conviviality. 
 Then the two brothers took their leave, and Vita 
 chuco entered upon the second act of his drama. 
 His ostentatious friendliness had in fact so put the 
 Spaniards off their guard that he was able in all 
 security to work out his plans against them, and suc 
 cess lay within his grasp, when, and lucky it was for 
 the Spaniards, he let it slip from him. As if drunken 
 from imagination of the fumes of the blood he was 
 
De Soto and Vitachuco. 
 
Vitachuco 57 
 
 going to shed, he could not keep his elation to 
 himself nor his counsel, and like the drunken he 
 would not fear nor calculate. There were in the 
 army four warrior captives from a distant tribe, 
 carried aiong by the Adelantado as interpreters ; 
 Vitachuco secretly sent for them, and not only told 
 them of his approaching triumph, but vaingloriously 
 gave them all the details of it, promising them 
 honour and position if they chose to lend a hand. 
 He told them that he had collected and held in 
 readiness ten thousand braves, who came as they 
 pleased in and out of the village upon pretext of 
 fetching in wood, water, and food, the Spaniards 
 suspecting nothing. In three or four days he 
 would muster them all in the plain outside the vil 
 lage, with their weapons hidden at their feet in the 
 grass, and then he would invite the Spanish general 
 to go with him to see what a fine band of warriors 
 he had to fight for the Spaniards, if need be, in the 
 Conquest. "As we are friends," explained Vita 
 chuco, " he will come with me without distrust. I 
 shall have twelve strong, daring warriors with me 
 who will keep near him, and as we get close to 
 where my bands are drawn up, these warriors will 
 jump upon him and seize him, whether he is on 
 foot or on horseback, and make off with him to the 
 woods. This will be the signal for my braves to 
 seize their weapons and fall upon the strangers, 
 who, unarmed and stunned by the capture of their 
 chief, can easily be destroyed." 
 
 The four Indians, carried away by the same ex- 
 
58 Hernando de Soto 
 
 citement as the chief, pledged themselves to aid in 
 the massacre, which they praised and lauded as a 
 plot worthy of a great warrior and chief. But 
 better judgment came to them after a while, and 
 showed them the enterprise in all its dangers 
 and difficulties. Their experience with the Span 
 iards did not lead to the belief that they could be 
 taken unarmed and put to death so easily and 
 simply ; and the more they thought about it the 
 more they were convinced of this. Therefore sure 
 and certain fear triumphed over doubtful hope, for 
 their death as participants in the treachery was sure 
 if the Spaniards should find it out before they re 
 vealed it. They decided as to themselves to change 
 their design, and secretly going to Juan Ortiz they 
 told him all that Vitachuco had told them. Juan 
 hastened to repeat the revelation to the Adelantado. 
 He at once called a council of all his officers and 
 laid it before them ; and they all agreed that their 
 best plan was to meet dissimulation with dissimula 
 tion, treachery with treachery, and to take Vitachuco 
 in the very same trap that he had prepared for them. 
 Orders were given the soldiers to be on their guard, 
 but to continue in their seeming careless gayety, 
 so as not to arouse suspicion ; and twelve of the 
 strongest soldiers in the army were selected and 
 kept in readiness to escort the Adelantado when 
 ever Vitachuco invited him to review the Indian 
 muster. And so the day for the third, and, as 
 Vitachuco thought, the last, act of his drama arrived 
 a bright, exhilarating morning. 
 
Vitachuco 59 
 
 At an early hour the chief presented himself at 
 the Spanish headquarters, and with a great show of 
 courtesy prayed the Adelantado to grant him the 
 favour of coming out into the open field to see his 
 people drawn up in their battle array, so that, in 
 spired by so great a presence, they might wish to 
 fight for the Spaniards with courage and spirit when 
 ever occasion offered. He added that he himself 
 wished the Spanish general to see that his warriors 
 could form in squadrons as well as those other war 
 riors on the other side of the world, about whom 
 the Spaniards told such great stories. De Soto 
 answered that he should like nothing better than to 
 do what Vitachuco asked, but to make the sight still 
 finer and to give the Indians themselves something 
 to look at, he would order out his men, formed also 
 in their squadrons of horse and foot, and the two 
 armies could thus excite one another by their rivalry. 
 The chief had not bargained for so much pomp and 
 ceremony, and was rather taken aback by the pros 
 pect of it. But obstinate in his conviction of the 
 superior strength and courage of his warriors, and 
 sure of their being equal to destroying the Spaniards, 
 no matter how well prepared they were, he accepted 
 the proposed match. 
 
 The two walked to the field together, each fol 
 lowed by his twelve picked men. The field, just 
 outside the village, was a beautiful and spacious one. 
 On the right hand, a dense forest closed it in ; on 
 the left were two lakes, one in full view, small, 
 round, and so deep that a man could not touch 
 
60 Hernando de Soto 
 
 bottom five feet from the bank ; the other lake was 
 more like a wide river flowing past, both ends being 
 out of sight. Half-way between the forest and the 
 lake stood Vitachuco s squadrons noble looking 
 warriors, with height magnificently increased by their 
 superb war feathers. Their squadrons were formed 
 with perfect military precision files straight, ranks 
 open, pickets properly stationed. The Spaniards 
 eyed them with soldierly admiration. To all ap 
 pearances they were unarmed. 
 
 The Spanish squadrons marched gayly in with 
 their flags and music and took their position ; the 
 infantry skirting the forest, the cavalry near the 
 middle of the plain. In the breathless silence, and 
 under the fixed gaze of the two armies, Vitachuco 
 and De Soto walked forward together toward the 
 spot where each was to give the signal to his men 
 to seize the other. It was a game in which the first 
 move won, and the Spaniard gave his signal first. 
 His twelve men threw themselves upon Vitachuco, 
 and although the twelve Indians as quickly jumped 
 upon them, they could not wrest the chief from 
 their grasp. At the same moment the trumpeter 
 sounded the charge. De Soto, vaulting upon a 
 horse held in readiness by a page, spurred upon the 
 Indians with his battle-cry, the cavalry following. 
 
 It was said of De Soto in Central America that 
 he was fond of the sport of killing Indians, and he 
 showed that day that the saying was a true one. 
 He and his horsemen charged over the Indian 
 squadrons as over a wheat-field, trampling, crushing, 
 
Vitachuco 61 
 
 slaying with their swords, right and left. And it 
 was proof armour against naked skins ; Toledo 
 blades against bows and arrows : the Indian files went 
 down under them like rows of wheat under the 
 sickle. Brave as they were, the moment came 
 when they could stand it no longer. They broke 
 and ran, some towards the forest, and those who 
 could outrun the horses and dodge the crossbow- 
 men, escaped. Some ran towards the long lake, and 
 there also, those who distanced the horsemen jumped 
 into it, and swimming under the water, escaped. 
 The vanguard, as usual formed of the best and 
 bravest, paid as usual the penalty of their position. 
 The cavalry headed off their retreat either to the 
 long lake or the forest, where there was some 
 chance of escape. The only refuge open to them 
 was the small lake, and some nine hundred managed 
 to reach it and jump into it, the Spaniards spurring 
 after them up to their horses necks in the water. 
 But the Indians swam out of reach. The Spaniards 
 then surrounded the lake, the soldiers running from 
 all over the plain to the bank. All day long they 
 stood there trying to frighten the warriors into 
 surrender, shouting threats to them, but shoot 
 ing only a few bolts from their crossbows, aimed 
 not to kill, for the Indians were already, with no 
 earthly chance of escape, held as captives. But all 
 day long, desperate though their situation was, the 
 surrounded warriors withstood their foe, shouting 
 back their threats of defiance, swimming round and 
 round. The Spanish soldiers related afterwards 
 
62 Hernando de Soto 
 
 in Spain the perhaps incredible story that the war 
 riors ceased not to shoot at the Spaniards with 
 their best aim until their arrows were exhausted ; 
 and to shoot, a warrior would mount upon the 
 backs of five or six of his companions, and send off 
 arrow after arrow, until his quiver was exhausted, 
 when he would drop down into the water and 
 another would take his place. The water was too 
 deep for standing ; they had to keep swimming or 
 drown. 
 
 At sunset not one had surrendered. Night came 
 on ; the Spaniards lighted fires and kept up their 
 cordon, horse and foot stationed at regular inter 
 vals, so that not an Indian could hope to put foot 
 on the bank either for rest or escape. Sometimes 
 swimming stealthily under water, with a lily leaf 
 held in his mouth to hide his head, a warrior would 
 get safely up to the edge of the land ; but a lance 
 thrust or a bolt from a crossbow would drive him 
 back at once to deep water. The Spaniards thought 
 that by keeping the Indians swimming all night, fa 
 tigue would force them to surrender. But, however 
 much they exerted themselves to harass and torment, 
 they could not exert themselves to the measure of 
 the strength and spirit of the Indians. 
 
 Midnight came, and the warriors had been fourteen 
 hours in the water, and the water was now freezing 
 cold ; but not one had yet surrendered. Juan Ortiz 
 and the four Indian interpreters then came to the 
 bank, and they laboured with their best heart and 
 will, and by pleadings and persuasions and oaths to 
 
Vitachuco 63 
 
 protect them, they coaxed one by one the most ex 
 hausted out of the water ; but so slowly that by day 
 light only fifty had given themselves up. After that, 
 seeing that the Spaniards had kept their promises, 
 and that none of the fifty had been killed, but that 
 on the contrary they had received good treatment, 
 others came forward, but so reluctantly and so much 
 against their will, that, after swimming close in to 
 the bank, many would turn and swim back again to 
 their comrades. But the love of life would draw 
 them back again to the bank, and thus after a while 
 they would surrender. About ten o clock, two hun 
 dred came out in a body. They had been in the 
 lake twenty-four hours and it was pitiable to see 
 them stiff with cold, spent with fatigue, hunger, 
 and want of sleep. By three o clock only seven re 
 mained in the lake, and neither the entreaties of the 
 interpreters, nor the promises of the Adelantado, nor 
 the example of those who had surrendered could 
 prevail upon them to yield. On the contrary, they 
 seemed to have recovered the courage the others had 
 lost, and still swimming about, they could shout their 
 defiant answers to the bank : " We ask not your 
 promises, and fear not your threats of death." 
 Their courage and endurance would beyond a doubt 
 have ended only with their lives but that it seemed 
 to the Adelantado inhumanity to permit men of such 
 strength of soul as conquered the hearts even of 
 their conquerors to perish. When their voices grew 
 faint and finally ceased, he commanded twelve sol 
 diers, good swimmers, to swim into the lake with 
 
64 Hernando de Soto 
 
 their swords in their mouths, and fetch the Indians 
 out by force. It was done, the Spaniards seizing 
 them by a leg or an arm or the hair and dragging 
 them along to the shore, and throwing them upon 
 the sward, where they lay stretched like the dead. 
 They had been thirty hours in the water without as 
 far as their conquerors knew having once put foot 
 to the earth, or having received any other form of 
 relief. Carrying them to their quarters, the Span 
 iards used every means to restore them to conscious 
 ness. But the Indians did not revive until near 
 midnight. 
 
 When Vitachuco, neavily guarded in his own 
 cabin, heard of the end of his great attempt, that his 
 noblest and best warriors had not only been con 
 quered but were now captives and slaves of the 
 Spaniards, forced to cook for them and serve them, 
 he gave himself up to the unrestrained fury of his 
 passions, and by day and night he thought of 
 nothing but vengeance, vengeance, vengeance. And 
 now, precipitated, as it were, into an abysm of blind 
 ferocity, he wrought out his own destruction and 
 that of his people. The idea came to him in his 
 lurid frenzy that, as these nine hundred warriors 
 captured from the lake were picked men, the bravest 
 of his braves, they alone might suffice to accomplish 
 what his thousands had failed to do. At any rate 
 he counted that each one of them was good to kill 
 one Spaniard, as he himself was good to kill one 
 the Adelantado. And man for man, there were just 
 about as many Indians in the village as Spaniards. 
 
Vitachuco 65 
 
 The wild exploit once suggested, he rushed into it, 
 without knowing whether his warriors were in chains 
 or free, whether they had weapons or not. He 
 himself needed no other weapons than his own 
 strong fists ; and so he decided it must be with the 
 others. The four Indian boys who served him in 
 his cabin prison were sent secretly through the 
 camp to pass the word round that on the third 
 day from the following, precisely at noon, each 
 warrior was to be ready to kill the master to 
 whom he had been allotted. The signal to begin 
 would be a war-whoop that he, Vitachuco, would 
 give a whoop that he promised would be loud 
 and clear enough to be heard from one end of the 
 village to the other. The warriors sent answer that 
 they would do as he bid or die in the effort. 
 
 It was just one week after the last attempt. The 
 midday meal was ending ; Vitachuco, having been 
 pardoned and reinstated in favor, occupied his usual 
 place at the officers table, at the head of the long 
 bench, on the right hand of the Adelantado. As 
 he finished eating, he stretched himself full length 
 upon the bench, and began to twist and turn his 
 body from side to side, to clinch and open his 
 hands, stretch one arm and then the other, draw 
 his fists up to his shoulders, and strike them out 
 again with all his strength until the joints cracked 
 like snapping reeds. Then springing to his feet 
 with lightning quickness, he seized the Adelantado 
 by the collar with his left hand, and with his 
 clinched right gave him such a blow over the face 
 
66 Hernando de Soto 
 
 and mouth that De Soto hung limp in his grasp 
 like a child. Flinging him to the earth, Vitachuco 
 jumped upon him with both feet, giving a war-whoop 
 so clear, shrill, and loud that it was heard for miles 
 around. It was his last call to his men. The 
 Spanish officers, drawing their swords, ten or twelve 
 blades plunged into his body ere the mouth closed, 
 and Vitachuco fell dead upon his enemy. The offi 
 cers were none too soon. Another blow from that 
 fist would have finished the commander. De Soto, 
 unconscious, the blood streaming from eyes, nose, 
 and mouth, looked as if a sledge-hammer had 
 struck him in his face; his nose was flat, jaws were 
 shattered, teeth knocked out. 
 
 And now from all over the camp rose the sound 
 of brave fighting. As Vitachuco s cry pierced the 
 air, every Indian rushed upon his master with what 
 ever utensil or missile he had in his hand or could 
 seize. Pots were jerked from their hooks, and their 
 contents dashed over heads, scalding away the whole 
 face from men. Tongs, pokers, fire-irons, red hot 
 from the fire, burned away brows and nostrils, and 
 branded backs. Plates, dishes, brooms, chairs, tables, 
 jugs, were smashed with intent to kill. Some Span 
 iards fell stunned at one stroke. Many, like De Soto, 
 had their faces crushed and teeth dashed out by 
 clinched fists. Many were flung upon the ground and 
 kicked and thumped and so left for dead. The Indians 
 kept their promise to their chief. They did as he 
 bade them, wielding their fists and grotesque weapons 
 with all the best passion that could fire the hearts of 
 
Vitachuco 67 
 
 men, and they died in the effort. The first moment 
 of surprise over, the Spaniards, calling to one another, 
 seized their weapons, and jumping upon horses, 
 were not long in having the Indians at their mercy. 
 And no mercy did they show. Every man of them 
 was killed. Not one of them was left alive, which 
 was a great pity, as the Spaniards themselves bore 
 testimony ; for they were brave and true warriors, 
 doing all that men could for their chief and their 
 people. In all, only four Spaniards were killed, 
 but numbers were seriously wounded ; and, indeed, 
 there was hardly a man in the army without a burn, 
 bruise, cut, or welt on some part of the body. And 
 lucky it was for the Spaniards, as they acknowledged, 
 that most of their captives were in chains, for, if 
 all had been free, brave and strong as they were, 
 although unarmed, man to man against their foes, 
 they would have gone dangerously far towards 
 making good their chief s call upon them. When 
 the conflict was over, every Spaniard brought what 
 slaves he had in chains into the public square, where 
 platoons of halberdiers despatched them. 
 
 As for the Adelantado, his injuries were painful 
 and long in healing. For twenty days his swollen, 
 disfigured face was kept in bandages and plasters, 
 and it was a month before he was able to eat any 
 but soft food. 1 
 
 1 The village of Vitachuco can be located only vaguely, as being in the province of 
 Apalache. 
 
CHAPTER VII 
 
 APALACHE 
 
 FOUR days later, with their bodies sore and 
 stiff, and their heads in bandages, the Span 
 iards withdrew from the bloody village, glad 
 enough to leave it behind. But they soon found 
 that only the village was left behind, not the 
 people, nor the fierce, indomitable spirit of resist 
 ance. Seventy-five miles, as they counted it, from 
 Vitachuco s village, lay the village of the next 
 province, Osachile. 1 The country was pleasant to 
 the eye ; easy woodland, with long stretches of 
 fields of standing corn, overrun with pumpkins and 
 beans ; but it was a hornet s nest to march through. 
 From every mile of forest and field Indians 
 swarmed in furious hordes, desperately throwing 
 away ten lives to wound one horse or one man. 
 The Spaniards, also maddened at last beyond them 
 selves by such fierce hatred, struck back as savage 
 against savage, chasing and running down the Indians 
 like wild hogs, and sticking their lances through 
 them, throwing one wretch in his agony aside to 
 
 1 Irving suggests that the river Oscilla may take its name from that old Indian 
 name and village. 
 
 68 
 
Apalache 69 
 
 spur after another, taking no prisoners, killing all 
 they saw. The route could be traced by the drop 
 ping of dead bodies, like the route of Hop o my 
 Thumb in the fairy tale by the dropping of white 
 pebbles. The Osachile village (to follow the Span 
 ish chronicles, which give the same name to tribe, 
 village, and chief) was silent and bare, not a liv 
 ing thing to be seen in it. It stood on the bank 
 of a river and was like all the Indian villages seen 
 in Florida to see one was to see all, and the de 
 scription of one serves for the description of all 
 but the mound of the chief s cabin was more con 
 siderable than any seen before, and was indeed a 
 fortress. It was from twelve to eighteen feet high, 
 with room on top for ten or twelve cabins. A wide 
 path paved with logs laid flat upon the earth led 
 by such easy stages to the summit that the horses 
 of the Spaniards easily ascended and descended it. 
 The sides, steep and straight, were walled in by a 
 stockade of stout logs, which also extended up the 
 sides of the path. 
 
 The Spaniards remained here only long enough 
 to ambush some slaves to replace those lost in 
 Vitachuco s village, and these were carried along, as 
 the others had been, with chains fastened at one end 
 to iron collars about their necks and attached at the 
 other to the belts of the troopers. But the Span 
 iards complained that sometimes, when sent into the 
 forest for wood, the slaves killed their troopers and 
 ran away with their chains ; and sometimes, at night, 
 they filed or broke their chains with a piece of stone, 
 
jo Hernando de Soto 
 
 and so made their escape. The women and young 
 boys, when they were a hundred leagues from their 
 country, were loosed from their chains and thence 
 forth they always served their masters faithfully. 
 
 The march from Osachile was towards Apalache, 
 the great province of which the Spaniards had heard 
 marvellous tales ever since they entered the coun 
 try ; tales, not only of its fertility and plenty, but 
 of its brave, indomitable people. As had been 
 shouted about Acuera, flying Indians now shouted 
 threats of Apalache at their pursuers : " There you 
 will find men to kill you ! " After marching three 
 days through the neutral forest that separated the 
 two provinces, the army came to the frontier line 
 and demarcation of Apalache. This was a swamp 
 of such dimensions, so vast, so impenetrable, that 
 the Spaniards ever afterward called it simply the 
 " Great Swamp " ; l all other swamps encountered 
 dwindled by comparison into utter littleness. De 
 Soto halted his army in the open space that lay be 
 fore its sheer, precipitous heights of trees and vines, 
 one massive green mountain of foliage, and, as the 
 day was yet early, sent a hundred men through the 
 only opening he could discover to reconnoitre what 
 lay within and beyond ; and if they found water, to 
 sound its depth. The path, barely wide enough 
 for two men abreast, wound like a serpent between 
 the huge trunks of gigantic trees wedged one against 
 another in the dank, damp soil ; no light or sight 
 
 1 By some authorities supposed to be the great swamp of Okefinokee j by 
 others, the Ohahichce swamp. 
 
Apalache 7 1 
 
 of day nothing visible overhead in the subterranean 
 gloom but the dropping coils and loops of gaunt 
 black vines, the path lying at the bottom of it like 
 a trail through a chasm. 
 
 The detachment had gone but a short distance in 
 it when they saw ahead Indians prepared and de 
 termined to resist. The path was so narrow and the 
 growth so impenetrable that on neither side could 
 any fighting be done except by the two foremost 
 men in each file. The Spaniards therefore placed 
 two of their best armoured men in front, and behind 
 them two crossbowmen ; and so, the one pair using 
 their swords steadily from behind their shields, the 
 other driving their bolts over their comrades 
 shoulders, they drove the Indians along, step by 
 step, through two miles of the crawling, twisting 
 way, until suddenly, through a narrow aperture, 
 they burst into a broad sheet of water. Here, where 
 they could spread out, a sharp struggle followed, 
 with killing and wounding, good shots and fine cuts 
 on both sides. The Indians held their own ; the 
 Spaniards could neither sound the water in front 
 nor advance one step farther with their reconnois- 
 sance ; and so they sent hurried word to the Ade- 
 lantado. He came at once himself, with reinforce 
 ments, the best foot-soldiers in the army. The 
 Indians also sent for reinforcements, and now the 
 fight that followed was fast and furious. Both 
 sides met in water up to their waists, clambering 
 over fallen logs, their feet slipping and sliding over 
 roots and cypress knees. The Spaniards, knowing 
 
72 Hernando de Soto 
 
 that it would not do to turn back without finding 
 the passage through the water, fought doggedly, 
 never yielding an inch, but edging slowly forward, 
 the Indians as doggedly holding their own or try 
 ing to but forced step by step backward through 
 the water, and finally driven across and up the bank 
 on the other side. 
 
 A clear, narrow path was discovered beneath 
 the water, which led to where felled trees bridged 
 the deep part of the channel, and on the other 
 side of this a path under the water led onward 
 to where the gigantic, impenetrable forest began 
 again. De Soto at once returned to the camp 
 to make his preparations for the next day. Two 
 hundred picked men, provided with axes and 
 hatchets, were ordered to get ready to make their 
 way again through the forest and across the water, 
 and clear a space on the opposite side for a camp. 
 As before, the men in armour were to lead, pro 
 tecting the archers behind. Two hours before day 
 the start was made, each soldier carrying his rations 
 for the day, a handful of parched or boiled corn, 
 in his bosom. With all possible speed, they 
 filed through the path and reached the water. 
 To their surprise there was neither sight nor 
 sound of opposition. That the Spaniards should 
 dare in the darkness of night to hazard the 
 difficult passage had never occurred to the Indians, 
 and they had not prepared for it. When day 
 light came, however, and they found that the 
 Spaniards had crossed the bridge, they made the 
 
Apalache 73 
 
 forest ring with their fury. Yelling like demons, 
 they rushed into the water to defend the rest of the 
 way, and fought with more than redoubled ferocity. 
 The struggle was too fierce to be a long one. The 
 Spaniards stood stoutly where they were, and as on 
 the day before, the Indians were forced to give way 
 before armour and steel weapons. Step by step the 
 naked mass of them was driven back, out of the 
 water and up the bank ; there was no way of retreat 
 except into the narrow path, through which they 
 could not fly except in single file. The Spaniards 
 pushed and crushed them all into it one upon 
 another, and then fifty men marching in after them 
 closed the entrance. The others set at once to 
 work to clear the space for a camp. And so both 
 sides remained during the rest of the day the baf 
 fled and enraged Indians sending out war-whoops 
 and yells of defiance and insult, the Spaniards cut 
 ting trees and burning brush. When night came on, 
 there was not much change, for the Indians kept 
 up their din, and the Spaniards sat or lay where 
 they were, and made no attempt at sleeping. Day 
 light brought the Adelantado, with the rest of the 
 army and baggage following slowly and painfully. 
 Although there was no opposition or obstacle from 
 the savages, there was from the narrow path, 
 through which men, horses, and baggage could 
 advance only one by one and at a crawling pace. 
 It took all day for the whole of the army to reach 
 the clearing and pitch their camp. And that night, 
 again, the whoops, yells, and cries of the imprisoned 
 
74 Hernando de Soto 
 
 Indians made sleeping an impossibility. The 
 guard in the defile stood watch behind fixed lances 
 and swords, their food being passed to them from 
 hand to hand. As soon as day dawned, the army 
 was put in motion, and again advanced, pressing 
 by physical force the Indians before them, step by 
 step, keeping them at exactly the length of their 
 swords points and no more. 
 
 The last stretch of the jungle was passed and put 
 behind, and the woodland opened clear again. The 
 Indians were now foot and elbow free, and well they 
 profited by it. Creeping from tree to tree, hiding 
 behind bushes, crawling on the ground with the 
 noiselessness and quickness of serpents, they picked 
 off the Spaniards one by one ; wounded them by 
 scores with sudden storms of arrows ; surprised 
 them now on one side, now on the other, now in 
 front, now in the rear, unceasingly, incessantly. The 
 Spaniards, jaded for want of sleep and dogged and 
 teased into ill temper, accused the trees of turning 
 themselves into warriors, and the skies of raining 
 down arrows against them. The woodland was 
 clear, as has been said, but not clear enough for the 
 horses to act, and the crossbowmen and archers 
 seemed utterly useless ; for, as usual, while one of 
 them was making one shot, an Indian made six or 
 seven; indeed, one arrow had scarcely left the string 
 before another was ready aimed upon it. The few 
 open spaces where the horsemen might have had a 
 chance the Indians had blocked with felled trees, 
 barricades of timber, and branches tied from tree 
 
Apalache 75 
 
 to tree with vines. As for the canebrakes and 
 thickets, otherwise impassable, they had cunningly 
 perforated them with paths, like trap-doors, all the 
 length of the route, and in and out of these they 
 darted incessantly, and never without grimaces, 
 jeers, and insults, reminding the Spaniards over and 
 over again how in this very route they had met and 
 defeated Pamphilo de Narvaez eleven years before, 
 and as they had done to Pamphilo de Narvaez and 
 his army, so would they do to De Soto and his. 
 But, notwithstanding all, the Spaniards continued 
 their advance, slow as it was, and finally came out 
 into the open country. 
 
 Thanking God aloud, the troopers gave rein to 
 their horses and to their tempers. The tables were 
 now turned in their favour, and the Indians paid 
 for their harrying and insults and jeers, their taunts 
 about Pamphilo de Narvaez, and their boasts that 
 they would destroy this army as they had done that 
 one. Every Indian seen was run down, and few 
 were taken alive. 
 
 That evening, camp was pitched in an open field 
 which marked the beginning of the cultivated lands 
 of Apalache, so famed for their fertility throughout 
 Florida. But the Indians had no mind either to 
 rest themselves or to let their invaders rest after their 
 toilsome days and sleepless nights. All night long 
 they kept up their demoniacal tumult ; not one 
 hour of it but was broken by an attack, or a feigned 
 attack. With day, the weary army resumed its 
 march, passing through mile after mile of rich fields 
 
j6 Hernando de Soto 
 
 of corn, pumpkins, beans, and other vegetables, 
 extending as far as eye could reach on either side, 
 and dotted with groups of dwellings sufficient, the 
 Spaniards estimated, for a large population. Indeed, 
 experience proved it, for from every cornfield and 
 cabin-group darted out band after band of warriors, 
 rabid to wound if they could not kill. The Span 
 iards, once more astounded and infuriated by such 
 persistent ferocity, broke through all discipline and 
 order, and slaughtered without command and with 
 out mercy, each man for himself. But their insen 
 sate cruelty was in vain, for the more they killed, 
 the more they had to kill, the Indians, as they saw 
 themselves so hopelessly overmatched, waxing only 
 the more daring, the more eager to lose life. 
 
 After the cornfields came another stretch of wood 
 land, and after these a deep river running between 
 steep banks cut athwart the advance a difficult 
 crossing and one that the Indians had done their best 
 to make more difficult. Barricades stopped the ap 
 proach of horses, while a formidable palisade bris 
 tling with warriors stood in readiness for the foot- 
 soldiers. The Indians did not await the attack. 
 Seething out from their palisade, they threw them 
 selves before the Spaniards. The horsemen, jump 
 ing from their horses, dashed upon the barricades 
 with their battle-axes, to cut them away. The com 
 bat was a brave one on both sides, and despite 
 their armour, the Spaniards fell in numbers, for the 
 Indians fought like wild beasts, or desperate men 
 making their last effort. But the Spaniards fought 
 
Apalache 77 
 
 like brave men who knew the danger they were 
 in, and feared it. So they won the victory. Cross 
 ing the river, the army marched two leagues farther, 
 still through a flat country of cornfields and scat 
 tered cabins, and pitched the camp far from the 
 forest, hoping to get some sleep at last ; four days 
 and nights now they had been constantly on the 
 watch and in the fight. But they slept as little 
 that night as the others. The Indians, under cover 
 of darkness, crept out from the forest to keep up 
 their alarms and din of war-cries ; and surely, the 
 Spaniards said, they maintained the reputation that 
 the people of Apalache were valiant and vigilant 
 above all other people of Florida. 
 
 At the close of the fifth day s march, the army at 
 last reached its goal, the great or chief village of 
 Apalache. It was deserted ; so in its two hundred 
 and fifty cabins the Spaniards found at last a comfort 
 able and much-needed rest. The Adelantado, how 
 ever, was not a commander to give his men much 
 rest. He at once set them to repairing the walls of 
 the village and gathering provisions from neigh 
 bouring villages for the winter, while squadrons 
 were sent out in different directions to reconnoitre 
 the country. Two of them returned within the 
 fixed limit of time with about the same report 
 a fine country, fertile lands well supplied with food, 
 and quantities of villages filled with people ; no 
 swamps nor formidable forests. 
 
 Very different was the report made by Juan 
 d AfiascOj who had been sent towards the south in 
 
78 Hernando de Soto 
 
 search of the sea, which the Indians said lay about 
 thirty leagues from Apalache. The guide was a 
 young Indian who had volunteered for the service 
 with many protestations of fidelity to the Christians. 
 After travelling two days over a good road through 
 a level country, D Anasco and his troop came to 
 a village named Aute. It was deserted but well 
 filled with provisions. Supplying themselves for 
 four days, they proceeded onward, following the 
 same good road. The Indian guide then began 
 to play them false, leading them out of the road 
 into the swamp where the fallen trees and tangled 
 undergrowth distinguished the mire from " pools of 
 land," as the Spaniards called them, clear, open 
 spaces covered with grass, that looked solid enough 
 but sank under foot like veritable pools of water. 
 And under foot, ambushed all through water and 
 mire, there grew a bramble bearing long, upright, 
 sharp-pointed thorns, that wounded the feet of the 
 horses and men most cruelly; and do what they 
 would they could not escape nor avoid them. 
 
 Five days, however, the Spaniards struggled 
 through the swamps, following the guide, who turned 
 them hither and thither, first in one direction then 
 in another, circuiting and doubling. Three times 
 they came near enough the sea to hear the sound of 
 the waves, but each time the guide turned from it 
 inland. The provisions gave out and D Anasco 
 decided to return to Aute for more. But the way 
 back to Aute was even more vexatious than the way 
 to the swamp had been. The only path to follow 
 
Apalache 79 
 
 was in the trail of their own footprints, and the 
 trampling of the troop in the soft earth had made 
 a narrow furrow of water, where men and horses 
 sank to their knees and bogged at every step. 
 They reached Aute half dead with hunger, as men 
 would be who had eaten nothing but herbs and 
 roots for four days. 
 
 Supplying themselves again for five or six days, 
 they set out again upon their quest, not by a 
 better way but by the worst that could be found 
 by the devilish maliciousness of the guide. And 
 now, either in pursuance of an original design, or 
 grown desperate at the futility of his efforts to 
 discourage the Spaniards in their obstinate per 
 sistence, or acting upon an insane impulse with 
 the recklessness of his race, the guide one night, 
 while the soldiers lay sleeping upon the ground, 
 seized a firebrand and beat one of them in the 
 face. The other soldiers were for killing him at 
 once, but D Anasco interfered, saying that the 
 guide must be borne with, as he was the only 
 one they had, and they could not procure another. 
 When all were asleep again, the Indian repeated 
 his assault. The soldiers then fell upon him and 
 beat him unmercifully; but the Indian undauntedly 
 made still another attack upon a sleeping Spaniard 
 before day. The Spaniards in their rage hardly 
 knew what to do with him ; but for the moment 
 they satisfied themselves with beating him again, 
 and chaining him to one of their number, who was 
 to have particular watch and guard over him. As 
 
8o Hernando de Soto 
 
 soon as it was light the party set forth, and the 
 guide trudged along quietly enough for a short 
 while. Then springing like a panther upon the 
 soldier he was chained to, and seizing him in his 
 arms, he lifted him high up in the air and threw him 
 upon the ground, and jumped upon him with both 
 feet to stamp him. The Spaniards now took their 
 swords to the Indian and soon left him on the ground 
 for dead, with a hound loosed upon him. They 
 had barely moved away when they heard the most 
 terrible howling from the hound. Running back 
 to see what was the matter, instead of rinding the 
 Indian dead and half eaten by the dog, they found 
 the animal helpless in the hands of the savage, who 
 had thrust his thumbs in the dog s mouth, one on 
 each side, and had torn the jaws apart. The Span 
 iards again used their swords, and one of them, tak 
 ing out a knife, cut off the Indian s hands, and even 
 then so firm was their grip they could not be un 
 clasped from the dog s mouth. 
 
 And now the Spaniards stood confused and un 
 decided, not knowing what to do, doubting, most 
 of them, whether they should ever make their way 
 back from the swamp. Faithful Chance, however, 
 the friend of all, came to the rescue by sending a 
 straggling Indian that way. Fearing the fate of his 
 dog-eaten tribesman, he quickly enough answered 
 the questions put to him, and by signs gave the 
 Spaniards to understand that he could guide them 
 not only to the sea, but to the very place where 
 Pamphilo de Narvaez had made his boats and 
 
Apalache 8 1 
 
 embarked from Florida. Although the sound of the 
 waves breaking over the beach could be distinctly 
 heard, never in their lives, he said, would they reach 
 the sea from where they were ; they must return to 
 Aute and strike out in a different direction. This 
 they did, and taking a smooth, easy road, came to 
 the sea within two leagues of the village, coming 
 out upon the shore of the spacious, beautiful bay of 
 Apalache. And guiding them still farther along the 
 shore, the Indian led them indeed to the site of 
 the last camp of the unhappy Pamphilo de Narvaez, 
 the place where he and his men had made the boats 
 in which they had sailed to shipwreck and death. 
 There was the forge upon which they had turned 
 their stirrups into bolts and nails, the heaps of ashes 
 still piled about. There were the hollow logs, the 
 water-troughs of the horses, the racks that had held 
 their feed, and lying about were the skulls of the 
 same horses slaughtered to furnish skins for sails, 
 hair for ropes, and flesh for food, as Cabeza de Vaca 
 has described in his relation. 
 
 D Anasco and his men searched in all the hollows 
 of the trees for letters or papers, and examined the 
 bark for names, dates, or marks, but with no success. 
 They followed the shores of the bay to the sea, 
 and at the ebb of the tide they paddled out in 
 some old canoes that they found upturned on the 
 beach, but nothing more was found of the unfortu 
 nate expedition. The channel was sounded and 
 found of good depth for large ships. Fixing sig 
 nals to the tops of the highest trees, so that ships 
 
82 Hernando de Soto 
 
 sailing along the coast might see and recognize them, 
 and taking also in writing a description of the place, 
 Juan d Anasco returned to the camp. The troop 
 had been absent so long that the Adelantado felt 
 much anxiety about it, but the joy of his welcome 
 was more than doubled when he heard of so fine 
 a harbour near the camp. His satisfaction, in fact, 
 was complete, for no discovery could have been 
 better for the conquest of the country. He decided 
 forthwith to bring his caravels there, and the men 
 left at Hirrihigua s village to Apalache, where he 
 made up his mind to pass the winter. 
 
CHAPTER VIII 
 
 THE RIDE OF THE THIRTY CAVALIERS 
 
 JUAN D ANASCO was selected to carry the 
 orders to Calderon. A daring man was needed, 
 and so far the cavalier and gentleman from 
 Seville had distinguished himself above all other 
 captains in the expedition. His orders were to 
 choose twenty-nine cavaliers to accompany him, and 
 to make his preparations as quickly as possible. The 
 army had faced perils enough in its hundred and fifty 
 leagues of march from Hirrihigua to Apalache, but 
 how much greater would the perils be now when there 
 were only thirty horsemen to encounter them, and 
 when they were bound to find the Indians better pre 
 pared and more revengeful and determined even than 
 when the army passed through ! These considera 
 tions, however, were not the ones to make the thirty 
 cavaliers selected by D Afiasco shrink from the expe 
 dition ; on the contrary, they seemed stimulated by 
 them into greater alacrity for it. The preparations 
 were quickly made, and a few days later, it was on 
 the 2Oth of October, they rode out of the camp 
 several hours before day. They were equipped as 
 lightly as possible, in helmets and coats of mail, car- 
 
 83 
 
84 Hernando de Soto 
 
 rying only their lances in their hands and, hanging 
 from their saddles, a small wallet of food for them 
 selves and their horses. Their plan was to travel at 
 full speed, galloping their horses wherever the road 
 permitted, and to kill every Indian met, so that no 
 news or alarm could get ahead of them, for the dan 
 ger most to be feared was that the Indians, warned 
 of their coming, would ambush them. The first 
 day they killed two Indians and covered the eleven 
 leagues that lay between Apalache and the great 
 swamp, which they crossed without opposition or 
 molestation. This was a rare and unhoped-for 
 good fortune ; for a very few Indians in that narrow 
 defile through the forest or in the water-stretch 
 would have been enough to kill or maim some of 
 the horses, and the loss of even one horse might 
 mean the destruction of the troop. They stopped 
 at night in an open field, away from all forest or 
 trees, sleeping in relays, ten at a time. Long before 
 day they started again ; and as before, galloping 
 when they could, they cleared the twelve leagues of 
 the uninhabited reservation that lay between the two 
 provinces of Apalache and Osachile. 
 
 As they neared the village of Osachile they thought 
 in terror that the Indians might have heard of their 
 coming and be on the watch for them. Turning 
 aside they waited until midnight, and then riding up 
 to it as noiselessly as possible, they spurred their 
 horses, and galloping through it at full rein, were 
 out of it by the time the first hoof-beat was heard. 
 A league the other side of it, they again turned aside 
 
The Ride of the Thirty Cavaliers 85 
 
 and rested the few remaining hours of the night, and 
 at dawn mounted again, and galloped on without 
 drawing rein, for now they were in the region of 
 cabins and cornfields, and their danger was getting 
 more and more imminent. The five leagues to the 
 Osachile River cost the horses dear, but the good 
 animals stood the expense bravely. Gonzalo Sil- 
 vestre, always in the lead on his noble chestnut, was 
 the first to catch sight of the river, and fear was in 
 his heart lest he should see it more swollen than 
 when the army crossed it. But instead of more, 
 there was less water in it, and in his joy he rode 
 straight into it just as he was, without stopping, 
 and swam his horse over to the other bank. When 
 his companions saw him there, they also gave way 
 to their sense of relief, for each man had been carry 
 ing in his heart the same secret dread of the river. 
 And now the village of Vitachuco lay before them, 
 and if they had to fight their way through it, as they 
 feared they would have to do, knowing the people, 
 the thirty of them would never come out of it alive. 
 They therefore agreed with one another that under 
 no circumstances should any of the number stop to 
 fight, but all should push ahead in any way possi 
 ble without check or pause. And so they galloped 
 towards it, but their fears died away before their eyes. 
 The village, in Indian superstition a cursed and ill- 
 fated spot, had been burned and destroyed, the walls 
 thrown to the ground, and the dead bodies of the 
 Indians, as if unworthy of sepulture, left scattered all 
 about, just as the Spaniards had killed them. 
 
86 Hernando de Soto 
 
 The troopers had hardly left the ghastly scene be 
 hind them when they came upon two warriors hunt 
 ing, and never dreaming of seeing Christians again. 
 One jumped under a large, low-branched tree stand 
 ing near ; the other made a dash to reach the forest, 
 but before he could reach it the Spaniards had lanced 
 him in the back. The warrior under the tree, fit 
 ting an arrow to his bow, faced the Spaniards. The 
 horses could not get under the branches, but, stung 
 by his courage, some of the Spaniards wanted to 
 dismount and attack him on foot ; Juan d Anasco 
 would not consent. " It is neither brave nor pru 
 dent," he said, " to kill a desperate man at the risk 
 of the life of a man or a horse at a time when both 
 are so necessary to us ; for, as you know, we are not 
 provided with remedies even to cure a wound." 
 As he was in the lead, while he spoke, he galloped 
 his horse in a wide circle away from the road which 
 ran near the Indian and the tree. The warrior took 
 aim at the face of the first, second, third, and at 
 each trooper galloping by him, and when the last had 
 passed, and he saw that none had attacked him, but 
 all fled from him, he shouted after them, daring and 
 taunting them, calling them cowards and poltroons 
 who, thirty of them on horseback, had not dared to 
 attack one warrior on foot. And he stood his ground 
 under the tree with more honour, the Spaniards said 
 bitterly, than had the thirty who avoided him. As 
 they were galloping on, a moment later a great out 
 cry of alarm broke upon their ears from the corn 
 fields all around, the Indians calling to one another 
 
The Ride of the Thirty Cavaliers 87 
 
 to head the Christians and cut them off. The 
 Spaniards saved themselves from their peril, as from 
 many another, by the speed of their good horses, 
 which, galloping steadily on, distanced even the 
 cries of their enemies. 
 
 On this, the third day of their journey, they 
 made over seventeen leagues. The next day they 
 made seventeen leagues again, in addition also rac 
 ing down and lancing seven Indians. At night 
 fall, they rested in an open plain until a little after 
 midnight, when they mounted again, and by day 
 light had travelled five leagues, reaching the river 
 Ocali, where, it will be remembered, the hound 
 Bruto was shot to death. The Spaniards had some 
 hope of finding it, like the Osachile, with lower 
 water than when the army had crossed it. But not 
 so ; a good while before getting to it, they found 
 that it had not only filled its banks, but had over 
 flowed the land beyond. And when they came up 
 to it, the current was pouring down so swift and 
 strong and turbid, twisting and circling everywhere 
 in such angry eddies and whirlpools, that it was 
 most ugly to look at, and how much more to swim 
 across ! And to heighten the critical peril, faint 
 war-whoops and cries of a new alarm could be 
 heard, and not from behind alone, but from both 
 sides of the river, the cries of Indians opening the 
 chase. The lives of the Spaniards hung upon the 
 time that the swift-footed enemies took to reach 
 the bank of the river. And every moment the cries 
 grew louder. 
 
88 Hernando de Soto 
 
 In a flash the men decided what to do and did 
 it, without waiting for orders. Twelve of the best 
 swimmers, stripping themselves to their casques and 
 coats of mail over their shirts, with their lances in 
 their hands, jumped their horses, stripped also, into 
 the stream and swam over to the other bank, to 
 hold it before the Indians could get to it. Fourteen 
 others, with their best haste, cut branches from the 
 trees, and tied them together into a raft to ferry 
 over the saddles, bridles, clothing, and the men who 
 could not swim. The four remaining horsemen 
 stationed themselves to resist the Indians coming 
 from behind. The horses, as if they too recognized 
 the emergency, hastened to obey orders with human 
 intelligence, stepping into the water without balk 
 ing, and swimming across as told, to the no small 
 relief of their masters. 
 
 Eleven of the swimmers came out safely on the 
 other side by an opening in the bank ; the horse of 
 the twelfth, Juan Lopez Cacho, missed the opening, 
 and unable to stem the current and turn back, 
 Cacho let him go down with it, looking for some 
 other break to land in ; but although he tried him 
 at several places, the bank was so steep that the 
 horse could not gain a foothold, and would always 
 slip back. Juan Lopez then tried to return to the 
 side he started from ; but the horse, which had been 
 swimming a long time without stopping, was too 
 spent with fatigue, and his master had to call for 
 help to the men who were making the raft. Four 
 of them sprang into the water, and seizing the bridle 
 
The Ride of the Thirty Cavaliers 89 
 
 and swimming with it drew both him and his horse 
 out in safety upon the bank ; and just in time, for 
 both were too exhausted to help themselves longer. 
 The raft, ready in an incredibly short time, was 
 thrown out into the stream, and two swimmers at 
 once started to the other side with a rope to haul 
 it over. 
 
 And now the war-whoops and cries, coming 
 nearer and nearer, broke through the trees, and on 
 both banks at once the Indians rushed upon their 
 enemies in their wildest impetus of noise and fury. 
 On one bank the eleven cavaliers held them back ; 
 on the other, the four. The raft in the mean 
 time flew between the two landings, carrying over 
 first the garments of the eleven cavaliers, who 
 were calling for them loudly, for a north wind had 
 arisen, and catching them wet and with nothing on 
 but shirts and coats of mail, was stiffening them 
 with cold. Then the other baggage was thrown 
 upon it and hurried over. Those who could swim 
 did so, to save time, climbing out upon the other 
 bank, and running to reinforce the eleven hard at 
 work upon the ever-increasing numbers against 
 them. At the last trip of the raft, Gonzalo Sil- 
 vestre and another horseman only remained on 
 guard. While his companion jumped upon the 
 raft, pulling his horse by the rein into the water for 
 him to swim alongside, Gonzalo charged upon the 
 Indians and drove them back, then returning at full 
 speed, rode his horse into the water as he was, bri 
 dled and saddled, and jumping upon the raft cast 
 
90 Hernando de Soto 
 
 Joose the rope that held it. They were half-way 
 across the river before the Indians reached the bank 
 again to hurl their shouts of disappointment and 
 rage after them. The whole troop, charging and 
 lancing, soon got rid of the Indians opposing them 
 and galloped away from them. 
 
 It was now about two o clock in the afternoon. 
 Instead of going round the Ocali village they turned 
 into it, for Juan Lopez Cacho, from his hard work and 
 long stay in the water, and exposure to the cold wind 
 afterwards, had become stiff and numb, and sat his 
 horse like a statue of marble, unable to move hand 
 or foot, and his companions were forced to halt to 
 do something for his relief. The village seemed de 
 serted; but they dismounted in the open square, not 
 daring to enter a cabin, fearing an ambush. They 
 hurriedly made four large fires, and laid Juan Lopez 
 de Cacho in the heat of them, wrapped in all the 
 coats of his companions. One man gave him a dry 
 shirt. It seemed a miracle to find one more shirt 
 than they had on their backs, and it was the greatest 
 comfort that could have been given Juan Lopez. 
 The rest of the day was passed in anxiety and per 
 plexity ; they feared to travel with Juan Lopez in 
 the condition he was in, and feared, if they delayed, 
 that the Indians would get tidings of their coming. 
 But they decided to put the life of their companion 
 above the thoughts of their own safety, and with 
 this set to drying their saddles and clothing, giving 
 their horses their fill of corn from the Indian gran 
 aries, and resupplying their own wallets. At night 
 
The Ride of the Thirty Cavaliers 91 
 
 they stationed sentinels all around the village. Near 
 midnight came from them the word of alarm. 
 Noises in the distance were heard, as of a great band 
 of Indians. Fortunately Juan Lopez had shown 
 signs of returning consciousness. His companions 
 hastily put him, wrapped as he was, on his horse 
 and tied him in his saddle, for he could not hold 
 himself upright. He looked like the dead Cid, 
 sallying forth from Valencia to conquer in that 
 famous battle. A companion took the reins of his 
 horse, and as secretly as possible the troop left the 
 village, and galloped so well that by daylight they 
 were six leagues away from it. 
 
 Pushing onward without a stop all day, they 
 spurred like couriers through the inhabited regions, 
 killing all the Indians they met, drawing rein only 
 when they came to uninhabited tracts, to let their 
 horses breathe against the next run. Thus, on the 
 seventh day, they came into the perilous and dreaded 
 province of Acuera. As they were riding along in 
 intensest strain of watchfulness, one of the men 
 sickened and died in his saddle. His comrades 
 had heard him sigh once or twice and groan, but 
 thinking only of the Indians, they paid no heed. 
 Now, with remorse enough in their hearts, they dug 
 a grave with their hatchets and buried him, and sor 
 rowfully rode on again. By sunset they arrived at the 
 great swamp. It also was swollen with water and 
 had become a vast lake, with great bayous pouring 
 into and out of it. They camped upon a spot of 
 dry land on the edge of it. 
 
 It was bitter cold, with a north wind blowing, and 
 
92 Hernando de Soto 
 
 they suffered so keenly that, despite their fear of the 
 Indians, they were forced to build a fire, and with 
 this on their minds even those off watch could not 
 rest. Indeed, by this time the strain upon their 
 vigilance had become such that no man could 
 close his eyes in sleep a second without starting up 
 thinking he heard an alarm. About midnight, the 
 comrade of the man who had died during the day 
 sickened and died too, almost in a moment, and as 
 usual, says the chronicle, there were not lacking 
 fools to cry : " The plague ! The plague ! " Three 
 or four of the troop, forgetting all their past courage, 
 ran away panic-stricken, at full speed. Gomez Arias, 
 the second in command, like the man of sense and 
 judgment he was, called after them : " What more 
 plague do you want than we ve got already in this 
 expedition ! Plague enough we have in it that you 
 cannot run away from, no matter how much you 
 try, or how fast you go ; and if you do run away 
 from us, where do you think of going for ref 
 uge ? Do you think perchance you can run to 
 Seville ? " This brought the cowards back, and they 
 fell on their knees and joined in the prayers for the 
 dead that the others were reciting ; but no one would 
 touch the body to bury it, for all persisted that the 
 man had died of the plague. 
 
 Relieved enough were they when daylight came, 
 and they could set about getting through the swamp. 
 The eight men among them who could not swim 
 took the saddles, bridles ; and clothing of the others 
 over the bridge. The other twenty, naked as they 
 
The Ride of the Thirty Cavaliers 93 
 
 were born, undertook to drive the horses into the 
 water ; but when the animals felt how cold it was, 
 they would not go into the deep part where they had 
 to swim. Tying ropes to their halters, some of the 
 men swam out ahead and pulled, while others be 
 hind beat the horses with sticks ; but the trembling 
 brutes planted their four feet firmly on the ground, 
 let the blows rain on their backs, and would not 
 budge. When at last one or two did yield to 
 the pulling and driving so much as to swim a few 
 strokes, unable to stand the cold, they turned round 
 and made for the bank, dragging the swimmers 
 after them. And so, for more than three hours the 
 twenty Spaniards, standing in the water waist deep, 
 worked and laboured ; but do what they would, and 
 with all their energy and skill, trying first one horse 
 and then another, they could not get one of them 
 to cross the channel. At the end of four hours, they 
 were rewarded by getting two over, Juan d Afias- 
 co s and Gonzalo Silvestre s. But even after these 
 crossed, none of the others would follow. 
 
 Some of the men, those who could not swim, 
 then saddled, bridled, and mounted their horses, to 
 be in readiness in case of attack. The others, still 
 standing in the water, shivering, shaking, and freez 
 ing, their naked bodies mottled and black as negroes, 
 grew desperate and savage. Juan d Anasco, in his 
 clothes, sitting on his horse, all saddled and bridled, 
 was watching the proceedings from the other bank. 
 Vexed at the delay and the fruitless efforts of the 
 men, and not considering that it had not been for lack 
 
94 Hernando de Soto 
 
 of trying, and not noticing the condition that the 
 men were in, he fell into a temper, for he had one of 
 his own one which sometimes cost him the respect 
 of others and riding into the water as far as he 
 could, he called out in a loud voice : " Gomez Arias, 
 why do you not get those horses over and be done 
 with it ? The devil take you all ! " Gomez Arias, 
 knowing that he and his companions were more 
 dead than alive, and hardly able to stand the agony 
 they were enduring, with disgust and contempt in his 
 heart for the ingratitude of Anasco, answered as 
 angrily and as loudly : " The devil take you your 
 self, sitting there on your horse in your clothes and 
 forgetting that we have been here in the water freez 
 ing and doing our best ! Get off your horse and 
 come over here, and we shall see whether you can do 
 more than we." And to these he added other words 
 neither kinder nor more polite, for his anger when 
 excited also knew no bounds. Juan d Anasco re 
 strained himself, for he saw that the companions of 
 Arias restrained him. The discord subsiding, the 
 Spaniards returned to their work, and as it was now 
 near midday and the coldness of the water some 
 what tempered by the sun, the horses began to 
 act better. But with all the pushing and pulling 
 and haste that the men could put into it, it was 
 three o clock in the afternoon before the last one 
 crossed. 
 
 The state of their riders was pitiful livid, and 
 so frozen and spent with fatigue that they shivered 
 and shook the rest of the day, and could hardly hold 
 
The Ride of the Thirty Cavaliers 95 
 
 themselves upon their saddles. And it must be re 
 membered that they had no other food than corn to 
 restore their strength. But they rode along, thank 
 ing God that at least the cold had kept the Indians 
 in their cabins, and that to the other trials a savage 
 attack had not been added. When night came on 
 they slept with their usual precautions, and before 
 daylight were on the road again ; the horses of the 
 two dead companions going along with the others, 
 often taking the lead as if their riders were guiding 
 them. 
 
 By dawn the next day, the twelfth of their journey, 
 they came to the village of Urribarricuxi. A little 
 while after midnight as usual they mounted again, and 
 had journeyed about two leagues when they saw a fire 
 in the forest, and drawing near, discovered a group of 
 warriors and squaws busily cooking fish. The Span 
 iards decided to capture as many of them as they 
 could, even if they were Mucozo s people, and hold 
 them until it was known whether the chief had kept 
 peace with Pedro Calderon. So they charged upon 
 the camp. The warriors fled on all sides into the 
 forest, leaving the women and children. These 
 raised up their voices, and wept and wailed, calling 
 upon the name of Ortiz, uttering no word but that, 
 and repeating it over and over again, to remind the 
 Spaniards of the kindness of their chief and them 
 selves to him. But it was of no avail ; they were 
 taken and tied and carried along ; the Spaniards, 
 however, paused to eat the fish first, and although 
 in the skirmish both Indians and horses had trampled 
 
96 Hernando de Soto 
 
 them into the earth, they tasted to them better than 
 the best they had ever eaten before. 
 
 They made a circuit around the village of Mu- 
 cozo, and had travelled about five leagues, when 
 the horse of Juan Lopez Cacho broke down. 
 As for Juan Lopez himself, what with the excite 
 ment of getting away from the Indians and his own 
 robust youth, he was again himself, and completely 
 restored from the effects of his fatigue and exposure, 
 and during the rest of the expedition he fared the 
 same and did his work the same as the others. 
 And now his horse, after all his brave struggle to 
 cross the Ocali River, was to give out only three 
 leagues from the end of the journey ! His master 
 urged and the men coaxed, but it was impossible to 
 get him on farther, so they left him in a fine meadow 
 where there was plenty of grass, taking off his 
 saddle and bridle, which they hung in a tree, so 
 that the Indian who captured him would have him 
 with all his accoutrements ; but they feared that the 
 first Indian that saw him would shoot him to death 
 without mercy. 
 
 Their sadness over the good horse lasted until 
 the premonitions of a still greater trouble drove 
 it away. This came when they were within a little 
 more than a league of the village of Hirrihigua. 
 They looked in vain upon the ground for hoof- 
 prints or any signs of men and horses, and it 
 seemed only natural that the ground should have 
 been tracked thus far and even farther. Their fears 
 suggested that the garrison had been massacred by 
 
The Ride of the Thirty Cavaliers 97 
 
 Hirrihigua, or that it had abandoned the country in 
 the caravels. If the men of the garrison were still 
 living and in the village, it was impossible, the cava 
 liers kept repeating to one another, that there should 
 not be signs of them so near the place. In this 
 troubled state of mind, they took counsel as to what 
 they should do if their fears proved true. They 
 would have no boat to travel in by sea, and to re 
 turn by land to the Adelantado, after what they had 
 passed through, seemed utterly impossible. But 
 coming out of their forebodings with equal spirit 
 and determination, they decided unanimously that, 
 if they did not find their companions in the village, 
 they would retire into some hidden nook in the 
 forest where there was grass for the horses, and 
 while resting there from their fatigue, would kill the 
 superfluous horses for food ; then they would start 
 out again and try to get back to the Adelantado. 
 Even if they were killed on the road, they said, they 
 would end like good soldiers, trying to do their 
 duty in the charge given them by the captain-general ; 
 and if they came through in safety, then they would 
 have accomplished their duty like good soldiers. 
 
 So they pushed on, their suspicions and fears 
 growing more certain as they advanced, for still no 
 sign or sound of Spaniards or horses could they dis 
 cover. But when they came to the little lake that 
 lay about a half league from the village, they saw 
 where lye had been made, and clothes recently 
 washed. Shouts broke from them, and they laughed 
 for joy ; and as for the horses, when they came upon 
 
98 Hernando de Soto 
 
 the scent of other horses, they pricked up their 
 ears and spirits, pranced and reared, and showed so 
 much mettle that it was as much as their riders 
 could do to hold them in; and this, when they 
 were so strained and jaded that they could barely 
 stand on their feet. 
 
 When the village of Hirrihigua came in sight, 
 the sun was just setting and the night-watch was 
 riding out of the gate two by two, lances and 
 shields fixed at parade. Juan d Afiasco turned to 
 his men and gave a command. They formed their 
 column two by two, grasped their lances and shields, 
 set their helmets erect, and with a ringing war-cry 
 dashed into the village and up to the headquarters 
 of Calderon, as if they were entering a tilt or tourna 
 ment, says the chronicle, and not ending the ride 
 we have described. 
 
 Calderon, according to his orders, at once sent 
 Gomez Arias in the caravel to Havana to carry 
 to Dona Isabella a report of the expedition so far. 
 He carried her also a present of slaves. The two 
 brigantines were put in order and manned, and 
 D Afiasco himself sailed with them to the Bay of 
 Apalache. The camp at Hirrihigua was then 
 broken up, and the garrison started on the march 
 to Apalache. 
 
CHAPTER IX 
 
 CAPAFI 
 
 IN the meantime the Adelantado had not been 
 idle. He was, in fact, kept incessantly on the 
 alert day and night by the assaults and am 
 bushes of the Indians. His soldiers dared not vent 
 ure outside the camp without meeting death, or at 
 the least, wounds. It seemed to him that there was 
 but one way to put an end to a mode of warfare in 
 which he was hopelessly overmatched by the sav 
 ages ; that was, to get their chief into his power. 
 He bestirred himself with the utmost skill and 
 secrecy to find out where Capafi, as the chief was 
 called, had hidden himself, and by slow degrees ob 
 tained certain information that he might be found 
 in the centre of a great forest. Although only 
 eight leagues from the camp, Capafi thought him 
 self safe, relying upon the canebrakes, swamps, and 
 impassable places that surrounded him, the fortifica 
 tions he had thrown up, and the number of war 
 riors he had summoned to his defence. De Soto 
 resolved to make the capture himself. Taking his 
 spies and guides, he set out with the needful num 
 ber of men, horse and foot, and at the end of three 
 
 99 
 
TOO Hernando de Soto 
 
 days of toil and difficulty reached that part of the 
 forest, an impassable jungle to all appearances, where, 
 as he was told, lay Capafi s lair. In the very centre 
 of it, the spies said, a space had been cleared for 
 the dwellings of the chief and his attendants, and 
 the only way to it was a narrow footpath more than 
 half a league long, barred the entire length, at inter 
 vals of a hundred paces apart, by high palisades of 
 stout logs. Behind each palisade stood a band of 
 picked warriors. There was no other path or open 
 ing to get out of the fort on the other side, for Capafi 
 was so confident of the strength of his fortifications, 
 and of the bravery of the warriors defending them, 
 that, even if the Spaniards succeeded in reaching 
 him, it would be impossible for them, he thought, 
 to take him. Inside of the last barricades was Capafi 
 himself, and the warriors around him were such as 
 would die, to the last man, before seeing their chief 
 in the power of his enemies. 
 
 At the mouth of the pathway, the Adelantado 
 found the savages ready for him. The fight that 
 followed was no easy one in the narrow standing- 
 room ; it was hand to hand and foot to foot. The 
 Spaniards cut away the palisades with their hatchets 
 to make their way through, and the Indians pun 
 ished them severely while they were doing it. But 
 the palisade was gained, the Indians driven back, 
 and the next one attacked. And after this, one 
 by one, each barricade was cut through, and the 
 Indians driven to their next defence, and the centre 
 palisade and Capafi were at last reached. There 
 
Capafi ioi 
 
 was no further retreat, and the fight the Indians 
 had made before was but a spark to the fire 
 that raged now. An explosion of fierce despair it 
 was ; for their chief was looking on, with life and 
 liberty at stake. They threw their naked bodies 
 upon the bristling ranks, to catch the swords and 
 lances in their hands. But the Spaniards were too 
 near the prize they were after, or the loss of all 
 they had gained, to falter now, and they fought 
 with the determination that never fails to win. 
 The Adelantado, like the good captain he was, 
 fought in front, calling to his soldiers, each by 
 name, to strike with him ; and the soldiers, like the 
 good soldiers they were, at every call, leaped for 
 ward. Capafi, seeing that his men were being cut 
 down ruthlessly, and that by naked warriors more 
 could not be done than they had done, and that 
 to the last man they would die before yielding, now 
 raised his voice, and in tones that rose above all 
 the tumult, commanded them to surrender. They 
 would not obey, until with cries to the conquerors 
 to put them all to death but to spare the life of their 
 chief, they secured his safety. Then they stood 
 aside and the chief came forward to give himself up, 
 borne in the arms of attendants, for he could not 
 walk ; he was too fat. 
 
 The Spaniards gazed in wonder upon him. 
 Never in their lives had they seen so fat a man. 
 He not only could not walk, he could not even 
 hold his body upright on his feet. In public he 
 had to be carried everywhere ; in private he crawled 
 
id .rietnando de Soto 
 
 about on his hands and knees. And this was the 
 reason, as the Spaniards now discovered, why he 
 could not fly to a greater distance from them. 
 
 De Soto received him affably, as was his wont 
 with chiefs, and, very much pleased to have him in 
 his power, returned at once with him to his camp. 
 He was confident, now, that the Apalachians would 
 prudently modify their warfare, and that the Span 
 iards would be able at least to step out of their camp 
 without incurring the penalty of wounds and death. 
 But never was a man so mistaken in his calculations. 
 The Apalachians, on the contrary, showed themselves 
 more audacious than ever, more persistent and more 
 diabolically fertile in their resources of ambushes and 
 surprises; and the death line was maintained more 
 rigidly than ever around the Spanish camp. The 
 loss of their chief had made them only freer, by re 
 lieving them from the care of guarding him. They 
 could now devote all their energies to the Spaniards 
 and fight with both hands, whereas before one had 
 been tied. The exasperated Adelantado turned 
 upon his prisoner and bitterly upbraided him for the 
 ingratitude of his people after the kindness and 
 mercy shown their chief; for the Spaniards, he 
 said, if they had liked, could have killed him and 
 destroyed his village and cornfields. And the 
 Adelantado warned Capafi, if he did not wish to 
 bring a war of fire and blood on the land, to com 
 mand his people to cease their attacks, bidding 
 him remember that he was in the hands of the 
 Spaniards, and that, although they had hitherto 
 
Capafi 103 
 
 treated him with all honour and respect, they might 
 change. 
 
 Capafi, with all the gentleness and patience in the 
 world, and most submissively, and with much show 
 of feeling, replied that it pained him beyond every 
 thing that his people did not return the kindness 
 and mercy of De Soto by becoming friends with 
 him and serving him, as he, their chief, had tried 
 to induce them to do since he had been a prisoner. 
 He had sent messengers to them to command them 
 to cease harming and vexing his captors ; but the 
 messages had been of no effect, for the Indians be 
 lieved that they came not from the chief, but from 
 De Soto. He could not persuade them to believe 
 the favour and consideration with which he had 
 been treated, nor that he was allowed to go about 
 the camp at liberty ; on the contrary, they sus 
 pected that he was being badly used, that he was 
 kept in prison and in chains, and for this reason 
 they were bolder and more aggressive than before. 
 Therefore, he prayed De Soto to send him, Capafi 
 himself, as~a messenger of peace, to have his sol 
 diers carry him some five or six leagues from the 
 camp to a spot in the forest that he would show 
 them, where his best and noblest warriors had 
 taken refuge. There, shouting in a loud voice, he 
 would call them up by name, and they, hearing the 
 voice of their chief, would all come at his call, and 
 he would take away their evil suspicions of the 
 Spaniards, and would calm and soothe them, and 
 they would do what he commanded, as De Soto 
 
IO4 Hernando de Soto 
 
 would see. This, he said, was the quickest way 
 and the only way to bring them into any sort of 
 peace. Nothing would ever be gained by sending 
 messengers to them, because the answer would be 
 that the messengers were false, sent by their ene 
 mies and not by their chief. And Capafi, reason 
 ing thus, in his low, musical voice, and serious, 
 grieved countenance, persuaded De Soto to do as 
 he said to send him to the forest as a messenger 
 to his people. 
 
 The orders were given and carried into prompt 
 execution. Two companies, one of cavalry and 
 one of infantry, were detailed to go with the chief, 
 De Soto himself strictly charging them with his 
 watch and guard, so that he could not escape. 
 They left the camp before daylight, and travelling 
 hard, by nightfall reached the spot chosen by 
 Capafi. He at once, as he said he would, began to 
 shout and call, sending also his Indian attendant 
 into the woods. In a short time ten or twelve 
 warriors stood before him to receive his commands, 
 which he gave in the hearing of the Spaniards. They 
 and all the Indians in the forest were forthwith to 
 prepare to come together before him the next day, 
 for he himself in person wished to tell them things 
 most important for them to know. 
 
 Darkness closed in over the forest; the tired 
 Spaniards set their sentinels and placed their guard 
 over the chief, and betook themselves to sleep, 
 well satisfied with themselves for what they had 
 accomplished so far, and enjoying the results of 
 
Capafi 105 
 
 success in anticipation their triumphal return to 
 camp the next day, leading the whole of Capafi s 
 tribe behind them, in docile submission. 
 
 But a man s surest hopes seem ever his vainest ones. 
 When daylight came and the Spaniards awoke, they 
 found themselves without their chief, and without 
 a single Indian in the camp. They looked at each 
 other blankly and they asked one another what had 
 happened. And the only answer they made, the only 
 one they could make, was that what had happened 
 was impossible unless the chief had conjured up 
 demons who had carried him away during the night 
 through the air. Not one suggested that, tired 
 with their long day s march, and trusting confidently 
 in the chief s pleasant words and genial manner, as 
 well as the unwieldy bulk of his body, they had 
 made themselves easy and all gone to sleep together, 
 those on guard as well as those off. The chief hav 
 ing been carried, was of course not tired nor asleep ; 
 but astute warrior that he was, awake, alert, and watch 
 ful ; and so he seized his opportunity, and simply 
 crawled out on his hands and knees into the arms 
 of his lurking warriors, who, hoisting him upon 
 their shoulders, made off with him, and this time 
 carried him well beyond the reach of his enemies. 
 
 The Spanish captains and their worthy soldiers 
 beat the forest wildly for their captive all day long, 
 but came upon neither track nor sound of him. 
 The hardest bird of all to catch is, in truth, the one 
 just escaped from the snare. The Indians, having 
 deposited their chief in a place of safety, returned, 
 
io6 Hernando de Soto 
 
 and now they did not bother to fight the Spaniards, 
 but, laughing at them, mocking them, jeering at 
 them, insulting and affronting them in every way 
 possible, they let them return to their camp in safety. 
 The soldiers arrived at last, ashamed and discom 
 fited enough by the confession that a fat Indian who 
 had been given with so many charges into their 
 guard should have escaped from them on all fours. 
 They composed a thousand fables to relate to the 
 captain-general and told them all, vowing that all that 
 night they each one of them had felt the most ex 
 traordinary and unnatural things happening to them, 
 and that by all the saints the escape would not have 
 been possible unless Capafi had flown through the 
 air with devils ; for it was contrary to reason to sup 
 pose otherwise in face of the stern watch they had 
 kept and the good guard they had posted everywhere. 
 
 The Adelantado saw through the affair perfectly 
 well, but in order not to hurt the feelings of the 
 chagrined captains he pretended to be convinced by 
 their explanations, and even helped them out by 
 saying that the Indians were such great wizards and 
 necromancers that they could perform even greater 
 wonders than that. Nevertheless, he never forgot 
 nor ceased to resent in private the carelessness his 
 soldiers had shown. Everybody else in camp said 
 that it was a divine mercy that the Indians had not 
 returned and massacred the last one of them, which 
 they could easily have done while the Spaniards were 
 sleeping so soundly. 
 
 During the last week of December, Juan d Aftasco, 
 
"The caravels had arrived." 
 
Capafi 107 
 
 with the caravels, arrived in the bay of Apalache. 
 Six days later Pedro Calderon and his detachment 
 marched into camp, slowly and painfully, for men 
 and horses were sore and wounded. That any had 
 survived the march was a surprise to the comrades 
 who listened to their accounts of it. In every detail, 
 the painful experiences of the Adelantado s march 
 had been repeated, with the difference only of far 
 more overwhelming numbers of Indians against 
 them. Every day, nay, every mile, furnished its 
 skirmish ; every night had been a sleepless one ; 
 every forest had proved a trap ; every piece of 
 shrubbery in the open fields an ambuscade. When 
 they at last reached the camp, each man thanked 
 God, as if for his resurrection. 
 
 A week later, Diego de Maldonado was ordered to 
 take the caravels and coast one hundred leagues west 
 from the bay of Apalache, exploring what harbours 
 he found. Two months were allowed for the voy 
 age. At the end of the term, Maldonado returned 
 bringing two captives and the news of the discovery 
 of a most beautiful port, the finest yet seen, called 
 by the Indians Achusi (Pensacola Bay), sheltered 
 from every wind, but large and deep enough for the 
 largest fleet of vessels. 
 
 The success of the conquest seemed now beyond 
 doubt and everything seemed to be working in its 
 favour ; for the prime necessity for an establishment 
 in the country was just such a port as Maldonado 
 described, where vessels could enter and land emi 
 grants, horses, cattle, poultry, seeds, implements, 
 
io8 Hernando de Soto 
 
 and utensils. A few days after Maldonado s arrival, 
 therefore, the governor sent him to Havana with 
 the two caravels to announce to Dona Isabella, and 
 to all the other dignitaries of the island, the assured 
 success of the expedition. Maldonado had orders 
 to return with Gomez Arias to Florida the October 
 following, which would be in the year 1540, bring 
 ing the three caravels and any other ship or ships 
 he could buy, loaded with supplies of ammunition 
 and clothing and reinforcements of men and horses. 
 At the date named the governor reckoned to be at 
 Achusi, after having made a long circuit of dis 
 covery in the interior. 
 
 After this the winter wore on in Apalache with 
 no events to chronicle save the daily exploits of the 
 Indians. One of the Spaniards years afterwards 
 paid this compliment to them : " Perfectly brave and 
 dauntless, they showed us well curse them! how 
 it was they had been able to drive Pamphilo de Nar- 
 vaez out of their country. They came up to our 
 very beards every day to shake their fists at us ; 
 and, always prowling about the woods, whenever we 
 went out to cut wood, at the first sound of an axe, 
 they would swarm upon us ; kill us, break the 
 chains from our slaves, brought along to carry the 
 loads ; take our scalps ; and by the time one s cries 
 brought help, all would be over. I remember one 
 day that seven of us went out from the camp on 
 horseback hunting for a mess of game, opossum or 
 coon (little dogs, the Spaniards called them), and I 
 tell you we held that for a famous day when we 
 
Capafi 109 
 
 could find one, and no pheasant ever tasted better 
 to us. And so, going along, hunting our best, we 
 ran across five Indians with their bows and arrows. 
 All aimed at us, and one of them, making a mark 
 on the ground, told us not to pass over it or they 
 would kill us all. We, not understanding foolery 
 of that kind, charged upon them ; they let fly their 
 arrows, killed two of our horses, wounded two 
 others, and one of our men badly. We killed one 
 of them, but the others ran away and escaped ; for 
 in truth as they were swift on their feet, and having 
 no clothes on to disturb them, they generally did 
 escape except in a long run against the horses." 
 
 One day Juan d Anasco and six other cavaliers, 
 carelessly talking, walked their horses through the 
 village and into the fields beyond ; they were with 
 out armour ; one carried his lance, the others had 
 only their swords in their belts. In the bushes on 
 the edge of the clearing, they discovered an Indian 
 man and woman gathering peas from vines left over 
 from the year before, and at once they dashed for 
 ward to capture them. The woman, at the sight 
 of the horses, stood transfixed with terror. The 
 man, taking her in his arms, ran into the woods, 
 and putting her down under the first tree gave her 
 two or three pushes to make her go farther in. He 
 could have gone with her and escaped, but on the 
 contrary, running back to the spot where he had left 
 his bow and arrows, he seized them and advanced 
 to meet the Spaniards with as much firmness 
 and self-possession as if they were only another 
 
no Hernando de Soto 
 
 single Indian like himself. As he came forward, the 
 Spaniards declared it was an unworthy act for seven 
 Spaniards on horseback to kill one Indian on foot, 
 and so gallant a one merited to be taken alive. 
 Surrounding him, therefore, before he had time to 
 use his bow and arrows, they pressed their horses 
 upon him, crowding him to the ground, and calling 
 upon him to surrender. The harder pressed he 
 was the more furiously the Indian fought, on the 
 ground as he was, shooting his arrows and thrusting 
 his bow into the bellies of the horses above him. 
 Then, darting from under the hoofs to his feet, he 
 dealt, with his bow in both hands, such a blow upon 
 the head of the cavalier who was thrusting at him 
 with his lance, that the blood gushed from his face, 
 and he reeled in the saddle. " Plague take you !" 
 cried the Spaniard, furious. " While we are fooling 
 to save your life, you will kill the last one of us." 
 And he gave the warrior a thrust through the breast 
 which stretched him dead. All seven of the horses 
 were wounded. 
 
 And again, to give another story : about the 
 breaking up of the winter, in the beginning of 
 March, a detachment was sent to a neighbouring 
 deserted village to bring back corn. After taking 
 all they wanted, the soldiers hid themselves in 
 ambush to catch any Indians that by chance might 
 come along; and very soon an Indian did come 
 along through the village square. A cavalier, too 
 eager for the honour of his capture to think, gal 
 loped into the open space. The Indian, with in- 
 
Capafi in 
 
 credible swiftness, ran a short distance ; but seeing 
 that the horse was gaining upon him, he threw him 
 self under a low tree, and with an arrow in his bow, 
 waited for the horseman to come within shot. The 
 cavalier, not being able to get under the branches of 
 the tree, galloped alongside, thrusting his lance at 
 him. The Indian, dodging the lance, shot his arrow 
 just as the horse was abreast; the horse stumbled 
 and fell dead. A second cavalier had by this time 
 ridden up, and he also, not being able to get under 
 the tree, galloped past just as the first had done, 
 thrusting his lance under the branches at the 
 Indian. The Indian, as before, waited, and then 
 sent his arrow as before ; and the second horse 
 stumbled and fell alongside the first. Leaping 
 from their saddles the two cavaliers ran forward on 
 foot to attack him. But the Indian, satisfied with 
 unhorsing his pursuers and putting them on foot 
 like himself, now easily and lightly skipped before 
 them to the forest, turning to grimace and make 
 mocking gestures at them, jeering, " Let us always 
 fight on foot, and then we shall see who are the 
 better men ! " 
 
 A few days later two soldiers rode outside the 
 camp to gather fruit in the woods near by, and un 
 able to reach the lowest branches from their horses, 
 climbed from the saddles into the tree. The 
 Indians, always on the watch, waited only to let 
 them get well into the trees, then darted out towards 
 them. One of the men dropped to the ground to 
 run to his horse, but an arrow, driving between his 
 
112 Hernando de Soto 
 
 shoulders and coming half-way out of his breast, 
 stretched him flat. The other man was shot in the 
 tree, and falling with three arrows in him, had not 
 reached the ground before he was scalped. The 
 frightened horses ran to the camp. One had a drop 
 of blood on his flank and was taken to the farrier. 
 As the wound was no larger than a lancet s point, 
 the farrier said he could see nothing to dress. The 
 horse,dying the next day, was opened and an arrow 
 was found to have gone nearly through the whole 
 length of his body, lacking only the breadth of two 
 fingers of coming out. The stories of wonderful 
 arrow shots are innumerable in the chronicle. The 
 fine horse of Gonzalo Silvestre, later shot by an 
 arrow, fell dead without quivering a muscle. Aston 
 ished that so strong and large an animal should die 
 so quickly from one shot, the Spaniards opened his 
 body. They found that the arrow, entering the 
 breast, had cut straight through the trunk, piercing 
 the heart in its way. Luis de Moscoso, in an en 
 gagement, was shot by an arrow that passed through 
 a doublet of leather and the coat of mail he wore 
 underneath, a coat that cost in Spain one hundred 
 and fifty ducats. The rich cavaliers, who wore simi 
 lar fine and costly coats of mail, determined to find 
 out what they were really worth as defence against 
 arrows. So in the open square they set up a pole, 
 upon which they fastened one of the stout osier 
 baskets plaited by the Indians, and over the basket 
 they drew one of their best coats of mail. Then 
 loosing an Apalachian warrior from his chains, they 
 
Capafi 113 
 
 gave him a bow and arrows and, placing him about 
 fifty paces away, told him to shoot at the basket. 
 The Indian aimed and shot; the arrow passed so 
 clean, clear, and strong through the coat of mail 
 and basket that, if there had been a man on the 
 other side, it would have gone through him too. 
 The Spaniards then put another coat of mail on top 
 of the one already on the basket. The Indian shot 
 again ; the arrow passed through the four thicknesses 
 but lodged in the last ; when he saw that his arrow 
 had not gone clear through, he angrily begged for 
 another shot. " Let me try once more," he said, 
 " and if my arrow does not go as clear through as 
 the first, hang me at once/ But the Spaniards had 
 enough evidence, and did not care to see their coats 
 of mail still further discredited. But henceforth 
 they called them derisively their court dress and 
 gala costumes, and replaced them by very ugly but 
 much more serviceable wadded vests, and skirts 
 wide enough to cover the breast and haunches of 
 the horses. 
 
 The dexterity of the Indians was not to be won 
 dered at considering their training, say the Span 
 iards who suffered by it, for babies of three years 
 or less, as soon as they could stand on their feet, were 
 given tiny bows and arrows, with which they went 
 out hunting against the beetles and insects crawling 
 round their cabins ; and when they found a mouse 
 or a lizard in a hole, they would stand on the 
 watch from three to six hours, waiting for it to 
 come out, so as to shoot it. If there was nothing 
 
1 14 Hernando de Soto 
 
 else to shoot, they shot at the flies on the floor and 
 walls of their cabins. The bows of the warriors, 
 made of oak or other strong, heavy wood, were of 
 the height, and in proportion to the strength, of the 
 men that used them ; and as the Indians of Florida 
 were generally six feet high, no Spaniard in the 
 army, straining to his utmost, could draw the string 
 to the face ; while the Indians, with the greatest 
 ease, drew it behind the ear. 
 
CHAPTER X 
 
 COFA AND COFAQUI 
 
 SEEKING indefatigably among his captives for 
 information about the country farther inland, 
 which he was about to explore, De Soto dis 
 covered a lad about sixteen or seventeen years of age, 
 who, reared by Indian traders, had often travelled 
 with them to great distances. He offered to act as 
 guide through the country he had gone over, a dis 
 tance of at least twelve or thirteen days march. A 
 few days later another boy, also a trader s, was capt 
 ured, who had penetrated still farther into the in 
 terior, and knew even more about the country than 
 the first boy. When questioned about gold and silver 
 and precious stones, specimens of which were shown 
 him, he said that in one country he had travelled 
 through, called Cofachiqui, there was to be found 
 much of the yellow and white metal, and great 
 quantities of pearls, selecting one from the jewelry 
 before him to show what he meant, and he told how 
 the gold and silver were taken from the mine and 
 melted, just as if he had seen it done, or, as the 
 Spaniards said, as if the devil had inspired him. 
 This spread wild delight among the conquerors, who 
 
 "5 
 
n6 Hernando de Soto 
 
 could dream and think and talk of nothing else than 
 Cofachiqui and their longing to be there, each man 
 at once seeing himself the lord and master of great 
 and noble treasures, and acting and arranging his fut 
 ure thereby. As soon as the spring was well begun, 
 about the end of March, the Adelantado gave the 
 word of command, and the army gladly shaking the 
 dust of Apalache from their feet, started towards 
 the joyfully expected El Dorado. 
 
 After three days they came to an uninhabited 
 neutral region, and crossing it entered a new prov 
 ince, Altapaha. Here was found a different coun 
 try and a different people kindly, peace-loving, and 
 domestic tribes living in comfortable villages sur 
 rounded by cornfields. At every village the army 
 was received with presents of game and fruit, and 
 entertained with generous hospitality ; a peaceful 
 Sabbath period it seemed to the Spaniards after 
 Apalache. The villages were better built than any 
 seen before in Florida ; the cabins were thatched 
 with cane instead of straw and palmetto, and the 
 walls daubed with clay ; fireplaces were provided, 
 and in front of the cabins there were porticos with 
 benches or seats of cane. The people wore mantles 
 of skin or of stuff woven by the women from dried 
 grass or bark of trees, or fibre of nettles, which was 
 beaten out and bleached like flax ; and the skins 
 were so skilfully dressed and dyed that they looked 
 like the finest broadcloth. De Soto, perhaps as a 
 votive offering for the peace and friendship found 
 in the province, set up a cross in the village of 
 
Cofa and Cofaqui 1 1 7 
 
 Altapaha, explaining to the people in whose memory 
 it was done. 
 
 The army moved on towards the sunrise, the 
 quarter where the Indian lad said Cofachiqui lay. 
 The different chronicles of the expedition diverge 
 here somewhat, being confused about the route, 
 giving the village names in different orders. In giv 
 ing their accounts of the expedition afterwards, the 
 Spaniards were wont to say that they never ex 
 pected to know where they marched in Florida until 
 they had finished serving God here below and had 
 gone to their eternal home, when the exact line of 
 their march, with the other unknown things of earth, 
 would be revealed to them. They were looking for 
 gold and not topographical knowledge ; no maps 
 were made, no bearings taken, and individual mem 
 ory is the only authority for the succession of names 
 that vaguely track them for us to-day through the 
 plantations, towns, and railway centres that occupy 
 the territory and forests of four centuries ago. Cofa 
 was the chief of the next village where a halt was 
 made. As he had left the Christian symbol in 
 Altapaha, De Soto now left the symbol of Christians 
 in Cofa. This was the one small cannon which, with 
 infinite trouble and vexation, the army had dragged 
 along with them so far. But first, to show the 
 chief what he was leaving with him, he ordered the 
 cannon to be drawn in front of the chief s house, 
 loaded, aimed, and fired at a large, beautiful oak 
 standing outside the village. In two shots the tree 
 was demolished, the chief and his warriors standing 
 
n8 Hernando de Soto 
 
 by speechless and motionless from awe and admira 
 tion, and pride that so wonderful a thing was con 
 fided to them. When the army left his village, 
 Cofa provided it with pack bearers and guides and 
 interpreters, and he, with a great following of war 
 riors, accompanied it a day s march towards the next 
 territory, which belonged to his brother Cofaqui, 
 whom he had also warned by a forerunner of the 
 coming of the Spaniards, bespeaking hospitality for 
 them. 
 
 Cofaqui, acting upon the recommendation, pre 
 pared to receive the strangers in a manner that 
 would impress them with his importance and great 
 ness. Before they entered his territory, he sent a 
 band of his most noble warriors, escorted by a large 
 body of followers, to bid them welcome ; and as they 
 crossed his boundary, the pack bearers and guides 
 of Cofa were dismissed to return to their homes, and 
 their places were taken by tribesmen of Cofaqui. 
 When the sentinels in the watch-tower of the village 
 gave the cry that the Spanish army was approaching, 
 the young chief and his body-guard sallied forth to 
 meet them. A beautiful sight they presented to the 
 colour-loving eyes of the Spaniards, and if the lan 
 guage of their description seems exaggerated, it is 
 doubtless the fault of their eyes, always unreliable 
 about what they loved to look upon. All hand 
 some and all young they were, or looked to be, 
 the attribute of the warriors of Florida that may 
 have given rise to the myth of the Fountain of 
 Bimini. Their heads were crowned by the tallest 
 
Cofa and Cofaqui 119 
 
 and handsomest of war bonnets; over their shoulders 
 hung mantles of dyed skins, lustrous and bright as 
 satin and velvet ; quivers decked with bright and 
 dancing tassels rose at their backs. 
 
 The ceremonies of greeting and speech over, the 
 Adelantado and Cofaqui, the Spanish officers and 
 Indian warriors, all entered the village together, with 
 great show of good-will and cordiality, interchanging 
 their signs and gestures, and passing polite messages 
 to one another through their interpreters. The 
 dwelling of the chief was placed at the disposi 
 tion of De Soto, and the village abandoned to the 
 army; and the rest of the day was given up to feast 
 ing and jollity, Cofaqui retiring in the evening 
 with his people to a neighbouring village. The 
 next morning early he was again with the Adelan 
 tado, and after answering at length and freely the 
 questions about his province and the country, he 
 put this question : " I should like to know your 
 will, whether it is to remain here, or to move on 
 farther ; for according to it must we prepare what 
 is needful for you." The Adelantado answered 
 that he was going in search of other provinces, 
 which he had been told lay farther ahead of him, 
 one of them being called Cofachiqui, and that he 
 would not stop anywhere until he had seen the 
 whole country. The land of Cofachiqui, the chief 
 said, was next to his, but as there lay betwixt them 
 a vast neutral region that would require seven days 
 to cross, he offered to send people to escort the 
 army and to carry the luggage and the provisions, 
 
I2O Hernando de Soto 
 
 which he would furnish. He at once set about 
 giving his orders to collect with all speed the neces 
 sary supplies, and the Indians to carry them. And 
 so great was the obedience of his people, or his de 
 sire to get rid of the Spaniards, at the expense of his 
 neighbours, who were also his enemies, that four days 
 later he had in readiness Indians, thousands in num 
 ber, to serve as pack bearers, and a fine band of 
 warriors for guides and escorts. Patofa, the war 
 rior chief, who led all of Cofaqui s war parties, was 
 put in command. The Spaniards, at sight of such 
 a force, although collected to serve them, grew sus 
 picious and watchful, and kept rigid guard. 
 
 On the last night before their march, when all 
 was ready for an early start in the morning, there 
 came the secretly expected alarm ringing through 
 the air, the loudest and wildest " Help ! Help ! 
 They are killing me. Treason ! Treason ! " With 
 a " To arms," the soldiers rushed out with their 
 weapons, and formed in their companies, infantry 
 and cavalry. They waited; no enemy came no 
 further sound. A detail was sent in search of the 
 cause of alarm. It was found to be one of the two 
 Indian boys captured in Apalache Pedro the 
 Spaniards had dubbed him. The other boy, whose 
 name had also been Christianized into Marco, had 
 guided the army over all the country that he knew. 
 Pedro was now to take his turn and guide the way 
 into the province of Cofachiqui, where he had said 
 such great treasures of gold and silver and precious 
 stones were to be gained. The soldiers found him 
 
Cofa and Cofaqui 121 
 
 in his cabin, crying, shivering, and trembling from 
 fright. The devil, with a most terrible face, he ex 
 plained, and a great band of other devils, had come 
 and told him that he must not guide the Spaniards 
 where he had promised, under pain of death ; they 
 had seized him, dragged him out of his bed and 
 over the floor, beating him so that his body was 
 too bruised and sore for him to move. He thought 
 that they would have finished by killing him if the 
 Spaniards had not come ; but when the great devil 
 saw them coming in the door of the cabin, he had 
 loosed his hold and fled at once with all his little 
 devils. From this Pedro understood that the devil 
 was afraid of Christians, and so he begged and 
 clamoured to them to baptize him at once, then 
 and there, before the devils came back to kill him ; 
 for he was sure, if he were a Christian, they would 
 not touch him, because he had seen them flee from 
 the Christians. 
 
 The Adelantado and other officers were sum 
 moned, and Pedro repeated his story to them, and 
 showing the marks and bumps and bruises all over his 
 face and body in proof of the blows received. The 
 Adelantado ordered the priests to be called. They 
 came and listened to Pedro, and after hearing the 
 story, baptized him at once and stayed with him all 
 night, reciting prayers and giving him restoratives, 
 and the next day they confirmed him. The march 
 was put off a day, and when the army started, Pedro 
 was given a horse to ride, for he said he could neither 
 stand nor walk. 
 
122 Hernando de Soto 
 
 The two armies marched well separated from one 
 another, and at night camped apart, the pack bearers, 
 as soon as they had delivered their loads to the 
 Spaniards, filing off to sleep with their own people, 
 and Indians and Spaniards alike posting sentinels, 
 as if in fear of declared enemies. The Spaniards 
 were suspicious ; but the Indians, free and easy, 
 anxious only to please and serve the Spaniards in 
 every way possible, adopted their military precau 
 tions only through imitativeness. The uninhabited 
 neutral territory, the Despoblado, as the Spaniards 
 called it, was a pleasant enough country for marching. 
 The woods were open, the hills light, and the streams 
 small and easy to cross, with the exception of two, 
 whose current was so furious that the horses were 
 ranged side by side to break the force of it, so that 
 the foot-soldiers could pass through. 
 
 All went well until the seventh day, about noon, 
 when the two armies were thrown into great con 
 fusion and perplexity. The road hitherto followed, 
 a broad, smooth highway, came suddenly to an end, 
 and although there were several footpaths leading 
 from it, each one of them after a few paces lost 
 itself in the forest. The Indians in Patofa s army 
 as well as in De Soto s confessed that they were all 
 astray, and there was not one among them who 
 knew where he was, nor in what direction to go 
 to get out of the forest. The Adelantado sum 
 moned Patofa, and confident now in his suspicions, 
 accused him of leading the Spanish army astray. 
 But Patofa indignantly swore that neither he nor 
 
Cofa and Cofaqui 123 
 
 any Indian in his command had ever before reached 
 the spot they were now in, for, in all the warfare 
 between the two provinces, Cofachiqui had always 
 proved so superior in numbers and strength that 
 the people of Cofaqui had not dared to venture 
 beyond the boundaries of their own province ; this 
 alone was the reason, he said, why they did not 
 know where they were, or how to go on. And 
 moreover, he added, if the Spanish general suspected 
 him of leading the Spanish army there out of malice 
 or treason, he would tell him that he and his chief 
 were truthful men and above such perfidy. De Soto 
 then called Pedro, who up to this time had been 
 so certain of his route that he could tell always the 
 night before what the next day s stage would be. 
 But like the rest of the Indians, Pedro seemed to 
 have lost his memory, and he now declared that 
 it was four or five years since he had been over 
 that road, and he had forgotten it so completely that 
 he did not know the way any farther, nor would he 
 even suggest in what direction Cofachiqui lay. See 
 ing him deprived so suddenly of his knowledge, the 
 soldiers suggested that the devil had been after him 
 again ; but devil or no devil, De Soto in his anger 
 threatened to throw him to the dogs, and he would 
 have done so if Juan Ortiz, who needed him as an 
 interpreter, had not begged him off. The rest of 
 the day was spent pushing along wherever the forest 
 was thin enough to pass through, until about sunset 
 they were stopped by a river, wider than any seen 
 yet, and too deep to ford. 
 
124 Hernando de Soto 
 
 And now the anxiety and perplexity grew yet 
 greater, for there were not provisions enough in the 
 army to last if it delayed to make rafts and canoes. 
 Cofaqui s supplies had been measured only for 
 seven days, and although thousands of Indians had 
 been ostentatiously sent along to carry them, their 
 loads were not half the weight of an ordinary one, as 
 the Spaniards now found out, for each pack bearer 
 besides his load carried his bow and quiver. Al 
 though the day before proclamation had been made 
 that food was to be saved and measured, as it was 
 feared that the army would not reach the end of 
 its march as early as expected, the notice came too 
 late ; there were no provisions left to be saved. So 
 here were nearly one thousand Spaniards and three 
 hundred and fifty horses to feed, and nothing to eat 
 in sight but roots and herbs. The horsemen were 
 sent out to hunt at random in all directions for a 
 road. At nightfall they returned, faint and weary, 
 leading their exhausted horses, with no road or sign 
 of habitation found. By the next dawn De Soto 
 had started out four detachments, two of horse and 
 two of foot, to follow the course of the river up 
 and down until they found some inhabited coun 
 try. The camp awaited their return in the pangs 
 of starvation. Their great hunger, the soldiers 
 afterwards called this experience. The daily meas 
 ure of corn could be counted by the grain. The 
 soldiers spent these days searching for edible roots 
 and herbs. The Indians hunted and fished inde- 
 fatigably ; but a few birds and minnows was all they 
 
Cofa and Cofaqui 125 
 
 brought back after a day s effort ; and although 
 starving themselves, they would force these upon 
 the Spaniards, who, however, says the chronicle, 
 always returned half. At last the Adelantado saw 
 that he must kill the swine. The hogs brought 
 from Cuba had multiplied into a herd, which had 
 been carefully guarded, and brought along with the 
 army, in view of just such a crisis. But killing as 
 many as they dared, for breeders had to be re 
 served, the rations of meat were so small that they 
 seemed rather to aggravate than still the soldiers 
 hunger. And so, as the soldiers said, cheerfulness 
 and courage were after all their best substitute for 
 food. Officers and men fared alike; for the Ade 
 lantado would never, and even in this dire strait, 
 fare better than his soldiers. 
 
 Juan d Anasco commanded one of the four de 
 tachments, and with him went Patofa with a band 
 of warriors. They went up the river. After trav 
 elling three days they came to a village. Very few 
 people, but great quantities of food, were found in it. 
 The gladness of the famished men may be imagined, 
 and when they had killed their hunger, as they ex 
 pressed it, they mounted to a housetop ; as far as the 
 eye could reach they saw along the banks of the 
 river, villages, with cornfields lying all around. 
 Four troopers at once started back to carry the good 
 news to the Adelantado, and that night, while 
 the Spaniards were sleeping, Patofa and his men 
 sated their thirst for the blood of their enemies. 
 Slipping away from their allies they fell upon the 
 
126 Hernando de Soto 
 
 unsuspecting village of Cofachiqui, and for once, if 
 not forever, settled scores with their foes. The 
 Spaniards understood now the true significance of 
 Cofaqui s generous escort of warriors, and train of 
 pack bearers. 
 
 The news of food in the hungry camp roused it 
 from death to life. The soldiers did not wait for 
 orders, but each one sped for himself, guided by 
 Juan d Anasco s blazing on the trees. The Ade- 
 lantado and those who had the best horses reached 
 the village in twelve hours, the rest as their horses 
 or legs brought them. The Adelantado put an im 
 mediate end to Patofa s bloody work by sending 
 him and his people back to Cofaqui, but with much 
 largess of presents and thanks. And none too soon ; 
 for when the army, resuming its march, advanced 
 up the river through the line of villages, no live 
 Indians were found, only dead ones; men, women, 
 and children, and all scalped. 
 
CHAPTER XI 
 
 COFACHIQUI 
 
 AT last the Spaniards were in the land of Co- 
 fachiqui ! While the army camped for the 
 night, the enterprising Juan d Anasco with 
 a small party went out on a private reconnoissance. 
 They were back again before day, reporting the dis 
 covery of a large village on the other side of the 
 river, about two leagues distant. 1 The Adelantado 
 at once started for it himself with an escort, and, 
 following the bank of the river, soon reached the 
 canoe-landing opposite the village. Juan Ortiz and 
 Pedro called loudly for some one to bear a mes 
 sage to the chief. Indians came out, but seeing 
 the strange wonder of Spaniards and horses on the 
 other bank, they turned and ran with all speed back 
 into the village. Soon six warriors came to the 
 bank ; men of fine presence and, as the Spaniards 
 judged, of authority. They entered a canoe with 
 a number of rowers, and quickly crossed the river 
 and landed. Advancing towards the strangers, all 
 six of them at the same time made three profound 
 
 1 Indian traditions locate Cofachiqui at the modern Silver Bluff on the east bank 
 of the Savannah, in Barnwell County, South Carolina. 
 
 127 
 
128 Hernando de Soto 
 
 bows, the first towards the east, to the sun, the sec 
 ond towards the west, to the moon, and the third 
 to the Adelantado. The Adelantado was seated in 
 state on a throne, or rather in a large arm-chair, 
 which he carried along with him wherever he went, 
 and always sat in to receive chiefs and deputations. 
 "Sir, * said the warrior spokesman, "do you wish 
 peace or war ? " " Peace," answered the Adelan 
 tado, as usual, "not war"; adding that he only 
 asked passage through the territory, and provisions, 
 in order to reach other provinces that he was in 
 quest of; he desired rafts and canoes also to cross 
 the army over the river, and lastly, friendly treat 
 ment while he was marching through the country, 
 so that he might cause it the least damage possible. 
 Peace, the Indians said, they could promise; as 
 for food, they had themselves but little, because 
 during the past year a pestilence had raged through 
 out the province, and it had driven the people from 
 their villages into the woods, so that they had not 
 planted their fields ; and although the pestilence 
 was now over, very few of the Indians had returned 
 to their homes. The village opposite alone had 
 been free of it. They went on to explain that their 
 village was named Cofachiqui, and that their chief 
 was a woman, a young girl, but recently raised to 
 the position ; they would return and bear to her the 
 demands of the strangers, who in the meantime 
 must await her answer ; with good confidence, 
 however, for although their chieftain was a girl 
 she had the judgment and spirit of a man, and as 
 
Cofachiqui 1 29 
 
 such would do for the Spaniards all that she pos 
 sibly could. With this the six warriors returned to 
 their boats and crossing the river, disappeared in the 
 village. Only a few moments later the Spaniards 
 saw two large canoes hastily being made ready, mats 
 and cushions laid in them, and a canopy raised 
 over one of them. Then a litter approached the 
 bank, borne upon the shoulders of four warriors ; a 
 young squaw, evidently the princess, descended from 
 it and seated herself in the canoe that had the awn 
 ing. Eight Indian women followed, taking the pad 
 dles ; the men went in the other canoe. The women 
 rowed the princess across the river, and when she 
 stepped out of the canoe, they followed, walking up 
 the bank after her. 
 
 Those among the cavaliers who knew classical 
 history could not help reminding one another, 
 although this scene was rustic and simple in com 
 parison, of Cleopatra going down the river Cydnus 
 to meet Mark Antony. The princess, making a low 
 reverence before the Spanish general, seated herself 
 upon her throne, a kind of bench that her attend 
 ants brought and placed for her at his side, and 
 without waiting for him, she began to speak. She 
 repeated what her warriors had said ; that the pesti 
 lence of the past year made it impossible for her to 
 furnish the amount of provisions she would wish, 
 but that she would do all that was in her power. 
 And, that De Soto might see her will in her deed, 
 she gave him at once one of her two storehouses of 
 corn, collected in the village for the relief of her 
 
130 Hernando de Soto 
 
 people who had escaped from the pestilence ; the 
 other one she prayed De Soto kindly to spare for 
 her own necessities, which were great. In a village 
 near by there was another store of corn from which, 
 she said, he could take as he needed. For his lodge 
 ment, she would give up her own dwelling, and she 
 would order half the village to be vacated for a part 
 of his army ; but the rest of his soldiers would 
 have to content themselves with shelters of green 
 branches, which she would have put up for them. 
 If it would please him more, she and her people 
 would abandon the entire village, and retire to a 
 neighbouring one. Canoes and rafts would be 
 ready on the following day. 
 
 The Adelantado replied most graciously and gal 
 lantly, accepting her services in the name of the 
 emperor and king of Spain, his master, who would 
 repay them, he said, when time and occasion offered ; 
 as for himself and his army, he promised that her 
 great hospitality and kindness should never be 
 forgotten. Conversing further about her province 
 and other parts of the country, the young girl re 
 plied to all the questions put by the Adelantado 
 with such ease, well-ordered ideas, and sound judg 
 ment as the Spaniards could hardly believe pos 
 sible for one reared so far from schools and courts. 
 But they had noticed that the Indians of the prov 
 inces they were now travelling through were more 
 delicate and refined in appearance, more affable and 
 less fierce, than all the others met in the discovery. 
 While talking, the princess had quietly and slowly 
 
Cofachiqui 131 
 
 unwound a long string of pearls as large as hazel- 
 nuts that coiled three times round her neck and fell 
 to her waist, fingering and playing with them while 
 the interview lasted. When it was over, she 
 handed them to Juan Ortiz and told him to give 
 them to the governor. They would be valued 
 more, Juan said, should she give them with her 
 own hands. She replied that she dared not do that 
 for fear of going against the modesty which all 
 women should hold fast. Asking what the young 
 girl was saying and being told, the Adelantado said : 
 " More than the pearls themselves would I value 
 the favour of receiving them from her hands ; and 
 in acting so she would not go against modesty, for 
 we are treating of peace and friendship, of all things 
 the most important, most serious between strange 
 peoples/* 
 
 The princess, after hearing this, rose and gave the 
 pearls with her own hands to the Adelantado. He 
 also rose to receive them, and taking from his finger 
 a golden ring set with a handsome ruby that he 
 always wore, he gave it to the princess. She re 
 ceived it with great dignity and placed it on one 
 of her fingers. This little ceremony over, she took 
 her leave and returned to her village, leaving the 
 Spanish cavaliers charmed and half in love with 
 her, not only on account of her mind, but of her 
 beauty, which they vowed then and ever afterwards 
 she possessed to the extreme of perfection. And 
 so also then and afterwards they called her by no 
 other name or title than La Senora, the Lady of Co- 
 
132 Hernando de Soto 
 
 fachiqui ; and the name was right, says the chron 
 icler, for a lady she was in all respects. The mas 
 ter of camp arrived with the rest of the army, and 
 it was put across the river next day by means of the 
 rafts and canoes provided by the Indians. 
 
 Learning that the widowed mother of the prin 
 cess lived in retirement about fifty miles away, 
 the Adelantado wishing, as he said, to make sure 
 of peace and tranquillity as long as he was in the 
 country, determined to get her into his power. He 
 therefore requested the princess to send a message 
 to her mother to pay a visit to her. The princess 
 did so, urging her mother to come and see a people 
 never seen before in those parts, who went about 
 on the strangest kind of animals. The widow not 
 only refused to come, but when she had heard how 
 kindly her daughter had received the strangers, she 
 fell into a temper and soundly rated the warrior who 
 brought the message for having consented to so easy 
 and quick a friendship with a people, the like of 
 whom, as they said, they had never seen before. 
 She added many other pruderies, the Spaniards said, 
 such as irate widows and mothers the world over 
 are wont to scold about. All of this being duly 
 reported to the Adelantado made him more de 
 termined to get hold of her. He sent for Juan 
 d Anasco, and ordered him as one, he said, who had 
 a lucky hand in such affairs, to take thirty soldiers, 
 and disregarding the privacy and seclusion of the 
 lady widow to bring her with all the friendliness and 
 kindness in the world by force with him to the camp. 
 
Cofachiqui 133 
 
 Juan d Anasco, although the day was already ad 
 vanced, set out at once on a mission that came 
 ready made to his taste. The princess herself with 
 her own hands presented the guide to him ; a young 
 warrior, who, she explicitly directed, when the party 
 neared the dwelling-place of the old princess, was to 
 go in advance and warn her of the Spaniards com 
 ing, and supplicate her to go peaceably and as a 
 friend with them ; and he was to be sure to say that 
 her daughter and all her people made the same peti 
 tion to her. The young warrior had been reared 
 in the very arms of the old princess, and she loved 
 him as her own son ; and the daughter chose him 
 on this account, hoping that love for the messenger 
 would mitigate the pain inflicted by his message. 
 The young warrior matched his princess-chief in 
 looks and bearing. He was about twenty-one, 
 and nothing less than beautiful in face and fig 
 ure ; and as the Spaniards expressed it, the nobil 
 ity of his air stood to the nobility of his blood, 
 as does the flower to the fruit. And gallant enough 
 he was in dress for such an embassy, with his dia 
 dem of the rarest feathers, mantle of finest deer 
 skin, magnificent bow, and elegant quiver of arrows. 
 
 Chatting gayly as he went along, he entertained 
 the Spaniards with all manner of happy pleasantries. 
 About midday the party stopped to eat and to rest 
 awhile under the shade of a grove of trees, for it 
 was very warm. Sitting apart the guide seemed to 
 give himself up to thought, resting his head on his 
 hand and every now and then breathing a long 
 
Hernando de Soto 
 
 sigh. He took off his quiver, put it on the ground 
 before him, and began slowly, one by one, to draw 
 the arrows from it, passing them on to the Spaniards 
 who came round to look at them. In polish and 
 workmanship they were, indeed, exquisite. Some 
 had heads of stag-horn, sharpened and polished like 
 diamonds ; some of fish bones, wonderfully and cun 
 ningly adapted. Others were tipped with palm and 
 various other hard woods, pointed like steel or 
 iron. The Spaniards broke into exclamations of sur 
 prise and pleasure over them, for each one had some 
 particular beauty and novelty of its own. At last 
 the young warrior drew out a flint head, long and flat, 
 pointed and edged like the blade of a dagger ; with 
 a quick motion he plunged this into his throat and 
 fell. Before the Spaniards could rush to him, he 
 was dead. Astounded and shocked, they ques 
 tioned the Indian attendants. Their answers pieced 
 out the explanation, that the young warrior knew 
 that his mission was that of an enemy against 
 the old princess, because when other messengers 
 had been sent to her she had refused to go and 
 see the Spaniards, and for him now to guide 
 those same Spaniards to where she was, that they 
 by fair means or foul might take her away with 
 them, was not according to the love she had always 
 shown him, nor the care with which as mother and 
 princess she had reared him. And at the same 
 time it was clear to him that if he did not do what 
 the young princess commanded him, he would fall 
 into disgrace with her and be dismissed from her 
 
Cofachiqui 
 
 service. Either of these two misfortunes seemed 
 more painful than death ; and as whatever he did 
 for one would be against the other, and as he could 
 not live to please both, he determined to die for both. 
 
 The Indian attendants were then pressed to act 
 as guides, but they all swore, whether truly or 
 falsely, that they did not know where the old prin 
 cess lived ; that the young warrior alone knew the 
 secret of her hiding-place. The Spaniards strove 
 for two days to push along without a guide, but the 
 difficulties under foot, and the excessive heat, with 
 the weight of their armour, wearied and disgusted 
 them, and they returned empty handed to the camp. 
 Three days later Juan d Anasco made another at 
 tempt, this time by water, and came almost within 
 reach of his prize, but the old lady, warned that the 
 Christians were after her, fled farther away and hid 
 herself where she could not be tracked. It was the 
 gossip of the camp that Afiasco s persistence and 
 energy were not directed so much after the widow 
 as after a great treasure of pearls that rumour whis 
 pered she had with her. 
 
 Meanwhile the Adelantado had been in pursuit 
 of surer treasures at hand those that were to 
 make the conquerors lords and wealthy for life, 
 visions of which had kept them awake at night 
 in restless anxiety. He began by summoning the 
 princess before him and his officers, and confronting 
 her with Pedro and Marco, who were ordered to 
 tell her that she was commanded to bring all the 
 yellow and white metals and pearls she possessed, 
 
136 Hernando de Soto 
 
 like the finger rings and pieces of silver, and pearls 
 and stones set in the rings, that the Spaniards 
 showed her. The princess without hesitation spoke 
 to her attendants, and they at once ran in all haste 
 and came back fetching a great quantity of shining 
 gold-coloured copper, so much brighter than the 
 brightest brass that the Indian boys might well have 
 been deceived into thinking it gold. For silver, 
 were brought forward great white slabs as thick as 
 planks, shining like silver, but having no weight 
 whatever and crumbling between the ringers like dry 
 earth. As for precious stones, the princess said 
 there were none in her land, but there were pearls ; 
 and if the Spaniards wished, they might go up 
 there, pointing with her finger to a temple that 
 stood upon a mound. " That," said she, " is the 
 burial-place of the warriors of this village ; there 
 you will find our pearls. Take what you wish ; 
 and if you wish more, not far from here there is a 
 village which was the home of my forefathers ; its 
 temple is a far larger one than this ; you will find 
 there so many pearls that even if you loaded all 
 your horses with them, and yourselves with as much 
 as you could carry, you would not come to the end 
 of them. Take all, and if you still want more, we 
 can get more, and even more still for you from the 
 fishing-places of my people." This great news and 
 the magnificent way in which it was told, raised the 
 spirits of the Spaniards considerably, and consoled 
 them somewhat for their bitter and keen disappoint 
 ment about the gold and silver. 
 
Cofachiqui 137 
 
 While waiting for Juan d Anasco, the royal treas 
 urer, to return, the Adelantado set a trusty guard 
 about the temple, and at night himself went the 
 rounds for fear that the secret of the wealth inside 
 might come to the soldiers and excite their cupidity 
 into some lawless attempt ; and as soon as D Afiasco 
 made his report, he took him and all the royal fiscal 
 officers, and thirty cavaliers to the temple, opened 
 the door and entered it. The usual burial-room of 
 Indian temples was presented to them. Around 
 the four sides on benches were ranged the burial- 
 chests of the tribe chests of wood or great baskets 
 of finely plaited osier. The Spaniards lifted the 
 covers ; all were filled to the top with pearls, 1 large 
 and small, fine and coarse, pure and discoloured, 
 quantities upon quantities of them. And here and 
 there over the floor lay heaps of the finest skins, 
 dressed with the fur on, and dyed, hardly less valuable 
 in European markets than the pearls. It seemed to 
 the Adelantado and his companions that there were 
 no less than thousands of bushels of pearls in the 
 temple, and while the Adelantado was looking 
 around, the officers of the treasury began quickly to 
 
 1 C. C. Jones, in " Antiquities of the Southern Indians," after careful examina 
 tion of the subject, states that sufficient historical evidence has been adduced to sat 
 isfy the mind of any candid observer, beyond reasonable doubt, that the quantity and 
 value of the pearls possessed by the Indians of the sixteenth century have not been 
 exaggerated by the Spanish chroniclers. The numerous shell heaps upon the Gulf 
 coast and the banks of the inland rivers and lakes furnish indications of the local 
 sources whence the pearls were procured. Examinations of the Unionidae found at 
 the present day, in the Southern streams and lakes, have revealed in them seed pearls 
 in great quantities. It is not unlikely that rarer gems may have been procured by 
 trade from the Gulf islands, and Pearl Islands of Central America, even from the 
 Pacific Ocean. 
 
138 Hernando de Soto 
 
 weigh them, in their scales, which they had brought 
 along. When he saw what they were doing, he told 
 them that the army could not be hampered and bur 
 dened by heavy loads of pearls ; that his intention 
 was to take only two arrobas of them (fifty pounds), 
 to show their quality and purity ; as for the quan 
 tity, he said that would have to be described in 
 writing. The treasury officers implored him to let 
 them take what had been weighed, which they said 
 could not be missed from what was left. He con 
 sented to that, and dipping into the pearls, he gave 
 his two joined hands full to each cavalier to make 
 rosaries of, he said, to say prayers for their sins on. 
 So they left the temple elated, but also ardent to 
 see the other one, which the princess said was larger 
 and richer than this. 
 
 Two days later the same officers and cavaliers, 
 with a company of picked soldiers, set out to visit 
 it. The distance was about a league, through what 
 seemed to be a garden, so green was the country 
 with shrubbery and fruit trees, growing in regular 
 order, as if they had been planted by hand. The 
 party rode pleasantly chatting through them, pick 
 ing the fruit and admiring the fertility of the soil, in 
 happy content the golden dawn, as it were, of the 
 realization of their dreams brightening before them. 
 
 They found the village of Talomeco, as it was 
 called, situated upon the high bank of the river. 
 It held about five hundred cabins, all strong and 
 well built; and from its superiority of size and 
 appearance over other villages, it looked as if it 
 
Cofachiqui 139 
 
 might really once have been the seat and residence 
 of a powerful chief. His house on its mound rose 
 dominantly but it was in turn dominated by the 
 temple. The Spaniards* eyes, in fact, could see 
 nothing but the temple more than one hundred 
 paces long, and half as wide, with a tall, pointed roof, 
 that glittered before them like a thing of magic. 
 Canes, slender and supple, woven into a fine mat, 
 served for thatching, and this was studded with row 
 upon row of all kinds and sizes of shells, with the 
 lustrous side out ; great sea-shells of curious shapes, 
 conchs and periwinkles ; and between these shells 
 dropped strands of pearls falling all the way from 
 cone to edge a marvel of playing light and colour, 
 like the drippings of a summer shower with the sun 
 shining through. 
 
 Throwing open the two large doors, the Span 
 iards paused at the threshold, spellbound. Twelve 
 gigantic statues of wood confronted them, counter 
 feiting life, with such ferocity of expression and such 
 audacity of posture as could not but awe them. Six 
 stood on one side, and six on the other side of the 
 door, as if to guard it and forbid any one to enter. 
 The first ones, those next the door, were giants 
 about twelve feet high, the others diminished in size 
 by regular gradation. Each pair held a different 
 kind of weapon and stood in attitude to use it. 
 The first and largest raised in both hands great 
 clubs, ornamented a quarter of their length with 
 points and facets of copper ; the second brandished 
 broadswords of wood shaped much like the steel 
 
140 Hernando de Soto 
 
 swords of the Spaniards. The next ones wielded 
 wooden staves about six feet long, the end flattened 
 out into a blade or paddle ; the fourth pair had 
 tomahawks with blades of brass or flint ; the fifth 
 held bows with arrows aimed, and strings drawn 
 ready to shoot ; the sixth and last statues grasped 
 pikes pointed with copper. 
 
 Passing between the file of monsters, the Span 
 iards entered the great room. Overhead were rows 
 of lustrous shells such as covered the roof, and 
 the strands of pearls ; but interspersed among the 
 strands of pearls were strands of bright feathers, and 
 clusters of feathers strung on a fine, dull-coloured 
 thread, so that the feathers and pearls seemed to be 
 floating in the air. It was most beautiful. Look 
 ing lower, the Spaniards saw that along the upper 
 sides of the four walls ran two rows of statues, fig 
 ures of men and women of natural size, each placed 
 on a separate pedestal. The men held various 
 weapons, and each weapon was ornamented with 
 strings of pearls, coiling around them five or six 
 times ; the pearls separated at regular distances by 
 tassels of coloured threads, which much enhanced 
 their effect. The women had nothing in their hands. 
 All the space around these statues was covered with 
 shields of skins and fine cane mats; and these were 
 also ornamented with pearl ornaments and strings 
 of pearls brightened with tassels of thread. As in 
 the other temple, the burial-chests were placed on 
 benches around the four sides of the room, but in the 
 centre, upon the floor, were also rows of caskets, 
 
Cofachiqui 141 
 
 placed one on the top of another, rising in regular 
 gradation like pyramids. All of the caskets, large 
 and small, were filled with pearls, and the pearls too 
 were distributed according to size, the largest in the 
 largest caskets, the smallest, the seed pearls, in the 
 smallest infants caskets. In all there was such a 
 quantity of pearls that, seeing it with their own eyes, 
 the Spaniards confessed that what the princess had 
 said about the temple was truth and not pride and 
 exaggeration. As she declared, even if they loaded 
 themselves with as much as they could carry (and 
 there were more than nine hundred of them), and 
 loaded their three hundred horses with them, they 
 could not take them all ; there would still be hun 
 dreds of bushels of them left. And in addition 
 there were, as in the other temple, great heaps of 
 the largest and handsomest deerskins, dyed in dif 
 ferent colours, and the skins of other animals dressed 
 with the hair on ; cured and dressed as perfectly, 
 the Spaniards said, as could have been done in 
 Germany or Muscovy. Around this great room 
 were eight small rooms, all filled with different 
 weapons pikes, clubs, tomahawks, bows and ar 
 rows of all varieties, and of the most exquisite 
 workmanship ; some with three-pronged heads like 
 harpoons ; some two-pronged ; some with chisel- 
 edges, like daggers ; some shaped like thorns. In 
 the last room were mats of cane, so finely woven 
 that there were few among the Spanish crossbowmen 
 who could have put a bolt through them. 
 
 The revenue officers again proposed to take out 
 
142 Hernando de Soto 
 
 from the spoils the royal fifth that belonged to his 
 Imperial Majesty, and to carry it away with them. 
 But the Adelantado, as before, said that this would 
 only embarrass the movements of the army with ex 
 cessive luggage; that even now it could not carry its 
 necessary munitions and provisions ; that all must 
 be left just as it was. They were not dividing the 
 land now, he reminded them, only discovering it ; 
 when they did divide it, then he who should be in 
 possession could pay the royal fifth. Upon this, 
 the officers took nothing of all that they saw, but 
 they returned to the village with enough and more 
 than enough in their minds to stir their imaginations 
 about the unexplored country before them. 
 
 Greedily questioning the Indians if they knew of 
 any still greater land or chief farther inland, these 
 answered, as they had learned now to answer the 
 Spaniards, to get rid of them, that further on was a 
 greater and more powerful chief ruling over a richer 
 country called Chiaha. De Soto made up his mind 
 at once to march thither. The men and some of the 
 officers protested that there was no need to travel 
 any farther, for where they were the soil was rich, 
 the climate temperate, and treasure abundant ; but 
 it seemed as if the Adelantado, like the other Peru 
 vian conquerors, could be content with nothing less 
 than the wealth of Atahualpa. And, says one of 
 his soldiers, the Adelantado was a stern man and 
 of few words, and although he was glad to sift and 
 know the opinion of all, yet, after he had delivered 
 his own, he would not be opposed, and always did 
 
Cofachiqui 143 
 
 what he himself liked, and all others were forced to 
 bow to his will ; and although it seemed an error 
 to quit that country, yet there were none who could 
 say anything against him after they knew his resolu 
 tion. Whenever any one would speak of wanting 
 to settle where they were, he would answer with the 
 argument that there was not food enough in that 
 country to last the army a month, and that at any 
 rate they must return to the port of Apalache, where 
 Maldonado was to bring the ships. If no richer 
 country could be found, he said, they could return 
 to Cofachiqui whenever they chose. In the mean 
 time the Indians would be planting their fields and 
 laying up stores of provisions for them. And so 
 he ordered the march and prepared for it. 
 
CHAPTER XII 
 
 XUALA, GUAXULE, CHIAHA, COOSA 
 
 WHEN the army left Cofachiqui, the prin 
 cess was taken along, carefully guarded ; 
 and, according to the account of one of 
 the Portuguese cavaliers, she was not treated with 
 the usage she deserved after her kindness to the 
 Spaniards. She was carried in a litter or marched 
 on foot, followed by her women attendants ; and 
 now> as always, a lady, it was she who, throughout 
 her province, provided the supplies and gave the 
 commands that secured pack bearers from one village 
 to another, her messengers running ahead of the 
 army to bear her orders. She also sent warriors into 
 the next province to prepare the chief for the com 
 ing of the Spaniards, and to bespeak a peaceful re 
 ception for them. All along the march the Spaniards 
 found numbers of captives taken from other prov 
 inces, working as slaves, with one foot maimed to 
 prevent their escape, a savage substitute for chains. 
 The last stopping place in the princess s domin 
 ion was the village Xuala, 1 built on the slope of a 
 
 1 Supposed to be the site of the present town of Qualatche at the source of the 
 Catahootche River. 
 
 144 
 
Xuala, Guaxule, Chiaha, Coosa 145 
 
 hill near the bank of a furious little river. Plenty 
 of food and hospitable treatment tempted the Span 
 iards into a halt of fifteen days to rest their horses. 
 When they started again, the princess instead of 
 being dismissed was still carried along with them 
 towards the next province. But on the first day s 
 march beyond her country, she and her women, as 
 they were walking along, quietly passed out of view 
 in the woods ; and when the guard sought for them, 
 they could not be found, nor the casket of pearls 
 they carried with them. The Adelantado intended 
 to take it from them, and only out of courtesy had 
 let the princess keep it so far. 
 
 The good treatment received in the next village, 
 Guaxule, passed into a luck-word with the Spanish 
 soldiers, who ever afterwards at a good throw of the 
 dice would call out, " The house of Guaxule ! " 
 The chief answered the messages of the princess of 
 Cofachiqui by coming out with a retinue of about 
 five hundred warriors to receive the strangers and 
 conduct them to his village, where everything had 
 been prepared for their entertainment. The village 
 was prettily spread out among a number of small 
 streams that ran down from the hills in the distance. 
 The chief s house was given up to the Adelantado, 
 and the rest of the village was turned over to him 
 for the use of the army. The Indians in this part 
 of the country had quantities of fat dogs, and seeing 
 how much the Spaniards enjoyed the flesh of them, 
 they gave freely and constantly of them. The 
 Indians themselves seemed to eat no flesh but game. 
 
146 Hernando de Soto 
 
 The Spaniards, deprived as they were of animal food, 
 would so pine for it, that the sick soldiers would 
 moan, " If I had but one piece of meat, I should 
 get well." As the Indians here said that just ahead 
 lay a great territory, a far larger and richer one than 
 Guaxule, De Soto decided to push still on and not 
 turn back until he saw it, although he calculated that 
 he was nearly two hundred and seventy leagues from 
 Apalache, his point of return. The Spaniards always 
 remembered the little village of Canasauga ] in this 
 region as the place where a file of twenty Indians 
 met them bearing on their heads baskets of fresh 
 mulberries. 
 
 The little streams that rippled past Guaxule, 
 all joining together, formed a great river, which 
 as the army followed it broadened and shallowed, 
 and at last separated into two branches, flowing 
 around an island which held a village, Chiaha 
 a pretty village, with a friendly chief and people 
 eagerly curious to see the strangers, and simple 
 and unaffected in showing it. They wished, they 
 said, that they could open all the doors in their 
 breasts so that the Spaniards might look with their 
 own eyes into their hearts. The weather was hot ; 
 and the army instead of quartering in the village 
 camped in a beautiful meadow outside, where the 
 men spread out at their ease, each one selecting 
 his own tree for a tent. The horses were also 
 given their ease in a large field about a quarter 
 
 1 A small tributary of the Coosa; the Connesauga perpetuates the name 
 of the village in modern geography. 
 
Xuala, Guaxule, Chiaha, Coosa 147 
 
 of a league away, and they enjoyed it, for proven 
 der had been short and marches long ever since 
 leaving Cofachiqui. 
 
 With their camp so scattered and out of order, 
 the Spaniards would have been in evil case to defend 
 themselves, had the Indians set upon them, but the 
 war and strife of the Apalachians had been left com 
 pletely behind with their country, so that the army 
 felt as secure in the enjoyment of their good living 
 as if in camp at home. In the cabins of the Indians 
 the Spaniards found, to their delight, gourds of bears 
 fat, which melted in the mouth like butter, and 
 tasted as good ; and walnut oil as clear as olive and 
 as savoury ; and pots of wild honey, which they 
 had never seen before in the country. But the 
 Indians, plied as usual with questions about the 
 country, gave what was still better than jars of but 
 ter and pots of honey, for they said that in a prov 
 ince called Chisca there were many and rich mines 
 of the yellow metal the Spaniards sought, and the 
 chief even offered guides to lead safely there and 
 back any Spaniards who would go and verify the 
 story. Two soldiers at once volunteered and set 
 out. 
 
 While they were away, the chief gave to De Soto 
 a beautiful string of pearls, a princely gift, if the 
 jewels had not been discoloured by fire, for the string 
 was two yards long, and the pearls as large as hazel- 
 nuts. The Adelantado in return presented the 
 chief with pieces of velvet and different coloured 
 cloths, which he received with great expressions 
 
148 Hernando de Soto 
 
 of gratitude. Being asked about pearls, he said 
 that they were fished in his country, and that there 
 were great quantities of them in the temple of 
 his village and in the other villages of his prov 
 ince, and if De Soto wished, he could take all he 
 wanted. The Adelantado then asking how the 
 pearls were obtained from the shells, the chief 
 promised he should see the next morning how it 
 was done. That night forty canoes were despatched 
 to the fishing-place, and in the early dawn great 
 heaps of wood were piled on the river bank and set 
 on fire. By the time the canoes returned, the fire 
 had burned to coals, which were raked out, and as the 
 shells were taken from the canoes they were thrown 
 upon them. As the shells opened, Indians would 
 seize them and thrust their fingers between them, 
 and pick out the pearls. The first ones opened 
 yielded ten or twelve pearls as large as peas. 
 
 A curious accident happened here one day. A 
 cavalier, lance in hand, was walking in a meadow 
 near the river, when he saw some small animal, 
 a coon or an opossum, running at a little distance 
 from him. He threw his lance at it eagerly, for in 
 the great lack of animal food the Spaniards were 
 always wild for any game. The lance shooting 
 past and ahead of the animal whizzed over the bank 
 of the river. Here it chanced another Spaniard was 
 sitting fishing. The lance drove through his head, 
 going in at one temple and coming out at the other. 
 The cavalier following to look for his lance found 
 the man there dead, holding his fishing-rod in his 
 
Xuala, Guaxule, Chiaha, Coosa 149 
 
 hands, the lance sticking in his head. What most 
 grieved the cavalier was that the victim of his cruel 
 throw was the one white-haired soldier in the 
 army, " father," as his comrades all affectionately 
 called him, and as a father in truth, respected by 
 them all. 
 
 The two explorers returned from their gold 
 mines, which turned out to be the usual ignis 
 fatuus copper. As it was close on to August, 
 and the men were rested, and the horses fat once 
 more, orders were given to prepare to march. The 
 kindly hospitality of the people, misunderstood, as 
 hospitality often is, by the recipients of it, was now 
 to be presumed upon. De Soto, incited by his 
 men, demanded thirty Indian women-slaves to ac 
 company the army. But that night the Indians with 
 their women and children fled from the village, the 
 chief pretending that it was against his will and com 
 mand. A troop of Spaniards was sent in pursuit, 
 ravaging the cornfields on the way ; but the Indians 
 had taken refuge on an island where neither foot nor 
 horse could get to them ; and so the army marched 
 away without their slaves. 
 
 At the other end of the island, on the point where 
 the two branches of the river came together again, 
 was another village named Acoste. Warned, per 
 haps, by runners from Chiaha, they gave the Span 
 iards quite a different reception. The chief made 
 no pretensions whatever of friendship, and although 
 he came outside of his village with his warriors to 
 meet the army, it was with bows in their hands, and 
 
150 Hernando de Soto 
 
 not to offer hospitality and courtesy, but fight. Not 
 for an instant would they lay their enmity or their 
 weapons aside, and the night was passed by both 
 camps watching in arms, as if in front of a declared 
 enemy. The next day the Spaniards crossed the 
 river in the boats and rafts found moored at the 
 bank, and pursued their way from Acoste, thanking 
 God for delivering them out of so tight a peril as 
 that island-village might have proved, had peace 
 once been broken. 
 
 The next province belonged to a chief called 
 Coosa. Over one hundred leagues the Spaniards 
 journeyed through it, finding everywhere a fertile 
 soil, and a thick population, passing ten or twelve 
 villages every day, without counting those they saw 
 at a distance to the right and left, and all showing 
 contentment and prosperity. The Indians came out 
 to receive the strangers with great demonstrations 
 of friendship, lodging them in their houses at night, 
 giving them with the utmost generosity all the food 
 they had, and accompanying them along the road as 
 far as the next village, and turning back only when 
 they saw them well received. Sometimes the army 
 slept in the villages, sometimes in the open fields, 
 wherever the day s march happened to end. The 
 chief s village lay at the other end of the province. 
 He sent messengers almost every day, welcoming 
 the Spanish general to his territory, and begging 
 him and his men, the greatest compliment that hos 
 pitality had yet paid the Spaniards, to journey as 
 slowly as possible through it, and to enjoy them- 
 
Xuala, Guaxule, Chiaha, Coosa 151 
 
 selves and feast themselves as much as they would 
 in it. 
 
 At the end of twenty three or four days, as they 
 neared his village, they saw a brave assemblage ad 
 vancing to meet them, more than a thousand war 
 riors in war plumes, with bows and quivers. All 
 were tall and well made men, and as they advanced 
 in a solid body of twenty front, the Spaniards could 
 not but exclaim at the sight. 
 
 Coosa, the chief, a good looking young warrior, 
 about twenty-six years of age, was borne in a litter 
 upon the shoulders of his noblest warriors. He 
 was seated upon cushions, and wore a magnificent 
 diadem of feathers and a mantle of marten skins 
 that fell in royal folds about him. Around the litter 
 walked musicians playing upon pipes and chanting. 
 Coosa made the customary speech of welcome with 
 the air and manner suitable to the princely osten 
 tation of his reception of the strangers ; and his con 
 versation and answers to the questions put to him 
 by the Spaniards did not belie the sense and judg 
 ment betokened by the expression of his face. On 
 the whole, the Spaniards thought he was the equal 
 in appearance of any prince brought up in a Euro 
 pean court. His village, built on the bank of the 
 river (supposed to be the Coosa of to-day), looked 
 what it was, the capital of a populous and prosperous 
 province. It contained five hundred houses, all large 
 and well built. The three houses that formed the 
 chief s personal establishment were given over to the 
 Adelantado and his officers ; one-half of the village 
 
152 Hernando de Soto 
 
 had been evacuated for the soldiers, and they all 
 were easily quartered in it. 
 
 During the ten or twelve days halt here, the 
 entertainment was of the kind usually reserved in 
 the Old World for very dear brothers ; for the 
 chronicler says that none but so tender a word 
 could express the geniality of the people to the 
 Spaniards. That their good-will and esteem were 
 sincere could not be doubted ; for one day after din 
 ner, during which Coosa and the Adelantado had 
 talked much about matters pertaining to the dis 
 covery and conquest of the land, and the eventual 
 settlement of it by the Spaniards, the young chief 
 rose to his feet, and making a low bow to the Ade 
 lantado, and running his eyes over the cavaliers 
 seated to the right and left of him, to include them 
 all in what he had to say, made a speech. After 
 praising the Spaniards and the fertility and resources 
 of his land, he proposed to De Soto to make his 
 settlement there, or at least to make a trial of 
 the province by wintering in it. And again the 
 Spaniards thought that the Adelantado could not 
 fare better by going farther ; but he, as before, reit 
 erated that under no circumstances would he settle 
 in the interior of the country before first founding 
 a port to receive his ships from Spain with the 
 requisites of colonization. As it was getting time 
 now, according to the plan laid down, to return to 
 the sea to meet Maldonado and the brigantines 
 which were expected soon, when the army started, 
 he headed it for the south. In fact, ever since 
 
Xuala, Guaxule, Chiaha, Coosa 153 
 
 leaving Xuala, he had been curving the route 
 towards the coast, to be within easy reach of it by 
 winter. Coosa accompanied the army to his boun 
 daries, or was carried along as hostage, according to 
 the policy of the Adelantado. 
 
CHAPTER XIII 
 
 TUSCALOOSA 
 
 TALISE 1 was the last village under Coosa s 
 rule, and, as a frontier post should be, it was 
 strongly fortified and well situated, the river 
 almost encircling it in a bend and making a penin 
 sula of it. But the village was not entirely subser 
 vient and obedient to Coosa ; the double dealings of 
 the neighbouring chief, Tuscaloosa, 2 a fierce, arro 
 gant warrior, too astute and subtle to come to open 
 warfare with Coosa, kept it in a disaffected, rebel 
 lious attitude towards its rightful chief. The Spanish 
 forces were not more than quartered in Talise 
 before the son of Tuscaloosa arrived with a fine 
 following of warriors, bearing greetings of peace and 
 offers of service from his father. He was a youth 
 of only eighteen, but of such fine stature that he 
 stood breast high above the tallest man in the Span 
 ish army ; the tallest Indian he was yet seen in the 
 country. Having delivered his message, and hear 
 ing that the Spaniards were journeying towards his 
 father s territory, he said, with frank promptness : 
 
 1 If Tallahassee be not merely a verbal echo of Talise, the latter exists to-day 
 in the town lying in the elbow of the Tallapoosa River. 
 
 2 Tuscaloosa is Choctaw for Black Warrior. 
 
 154 
 
Tuscaloosa 155 
 
 "To go there, although the distance Is short, you 
 have two roads ; I beg that you will command two 
 soldiers to go by one and return by the other, so 
 that they can see which would be the better for your 
 army to take. I will give guides who will conduct 
 them there and back in safety." His advice was 
 taken ; the guides were sent, and upon their report 
 the Adelantado selected his road, and the son of 
 Tuscaloosa was dismissed with presents. 
 
 Coosa here disappears from the narrative, " muy 
 gentil hombre " to the last, as the Spaniards said. 
 It was discovered that a soldier had remained behind, 
 concealed among the Indians in his village. Every 
 effort was made to induce the deserter to return to 
 the army, but all in vain ; for most indecently, says 
 the chronicler, he sent the Adelantado s messenger 
 back with the reply, that he preferred living with the 
 Indians to going on with the Spaniards. The Ade 
 lantado made a demand upon Coosa to cause his 
 Indians to fetch the man by force. The young 
 chief, however, with the greatest courtesy and polish, 
 replied that since not all the Spaniards, as he de 
 sired, had chosen to remain in his country, he was 
 much rejoiced that even one should by his own 
 choice have done so, and that the general must par 
 don him if he did not use force against the man, 
 whom he on the contrary greatly esteemed. The 
 Adelantado then let the matter drop. 
 
 Tuscaloosa did not wait in his own village for 
 the Spaniards, but came forward to one of the 
 smaller ones to receive them on the road. Early 
 
156 Hernando de Soto 
 
 in the morning of the third day after leaving Talise, 
 the army came in sight of him, posed in majestic 
 state, in a beautiful plain, a village rising on a hill 
 at his back. He sat on his royal chair, a seat hol 
 lowed out of solid wood ; at his feet were spread 
 beautiful mats ; above his head was held a yellow 
 banner striped with three bars of blue ; it was of 
 buckskin, but it looked like the richest silk ; and it 
 was the first banner seen by the Spaniards in Florida, 
 and the one Tuscaloosa always carried with him 
 wherever he went. Over a hundred warriors in war 
 plumes and mantles stood round him. Like his son, 
 Tuscaloosa rose above the heads of the tallest about 
 him by a foot and a half. To the Spaniards he was 
 a giant. His face was handsome, but ominous of the 
 stern ferocity and savageness of soul he afterwards 
 showed. His eyes were as large as those of an ox ; 
 his shoulders became his height, but the girth of 
 his waist was not more than two-thirds of a Spaniard s 
 sword belt ; arms and legs were straight and well 
 joined to his body ; his shins were as long as most 
 men s legs. In fine he was, say the Spaniards, the 
 perfection of colossal form and feature. He seemed 
 barely forty years of age. 
 
 The cavaliers and captains of the army riding in 
 advance of the general gained no sign of recogni 
 tion from him, either by movement or expression ; 
 it was as if he, like the Inca, Atahualpa, did not see 
 them, or they were not passing before him. Luis 
 de Moscoso came up and spoke to him, and he and 
 his escort coursed their horses to and fro, prancing 
 
Tuscaloosa 157 
 
 them up to where he sat. But Tuscaloosa would 
 only lift up his eyes to glance at them with disdain. 
 He made no offer at all to rise when the Adelan- 
 tado approached. So he, dismounting, went up to 
 him ; they then embraced and the two remained to 
 gether while the army marched up into the village. 
 Then, hand in hand, they followed until they reached 
 the building prepared for De Soto ; there Tuscaloosa 
 left him and strode away. The Spaniards remained 
 in the village two days, and when they set out 
 again, the chief and his retinue accompanied them, 
 he resplendent and magnificent in a gorgeous gold 
 embroidered scarlet coat and cap presented by the 
 Adelantado. The chiefs on the march always rode 
 on horseback, but when a horse was sought for Tus 
 caloosa, among all the chargers in the army there 
 was not one that could bear such a weight as his, 
 and the Adelantado would not hear of putting upon 
 him the affront, in the sight of all Spaniards, of 
 making him ride a mule. Finally, a hack belong 
 ing to the Adelantado, which for its strength had 
 been used as a pack-horse, was impressed for the 
 service ; but the chief was so tall that when seated 
 in the saddle his feet nearly touched the ground. 
 
 The march proceeded in a pleasant and leisurely 
 fashion, each day advancing three to four leagues, 
 until the principal village of the province, the one 
 from which both chief and province took their 
 name, was reached. It was a strong place, built on 
 the favourite site of the Indians, a neck of land, 
 almost surrounded by a river, which was the same 
 
158 Hernando de Soto 
 
 stream that flowed by Talise, but swelled to great 
 volume, depth, and current. A day was given to 
 crossing the army over it, and camp was pitched in 
 a beautiful valley just beyond its bank. Here two 
 soldiers were found to be missing, and it was sus 
 pected that the Indians, finding them astray from 
 the camp, had killed them. But when the Indians 
 were asked about them, their insolent answer was : 
 Had they taken charge of the Spaniards ? Or what 
 obligation were they under to account for them ? 
 The Adelantado did not push his investigations 
 with too much insistence, for fear of affronting the 
 chief and provoking something worse ; but he 
 stored the deed in his memory, and only deferred 
 the moment of retribution until he could be sure 
 of it. 
 
 The next village on the road through Tuscaloosa s 
 territory was Mauvila. 1 All along the march, the 
 chief had been sending messengers to it, to warn 
 his people, as he explained to the Spaniards, to col 
 lect provisions and pack bearers for the army. The 
 army halted within five miles of it, at the close of a 
 beautiful June day. Luis de Moscoso was of the 
 opinion that it would be wiser in the hot weather 
 to keep on camping outside the village in the field, 
 as they had been doing ; but the Adelantado, weary 
 it is said of sleeping in the open, decided to camp 
 
 1 The historian of Alabama, Pickett, says that he is satisfied that the site of 
 Mauvila was upon the north bank of the Alabama at a place now called Choctaw 
 Bluff, in Clarke County, about twenty-five miles above the confluence of the Alabama 
 and the Tombigbee. It is needless to say that it gave its name to the city and bay 
 of Mobile. 
 
Tuscaloosa 
 
 outside only that night, and to lodge in the vil 
 lage during his stay there. 
 
 The next morning at daylight he sent two sol 
 diers ahead, ordering them to spy round and find 
 out what sort of place Mauvila was, and if it were 
 true, as was famed all over the country, that Tusca 
 loosa had gathered great numbers of his people 
 there for festivities and rejoicings over the arrival of 
 the Spanish general and his army. The soldiers 
 were to wait in the village for De Soto, who would 
 ride immediately after them. So, as soon as they 
 were well on their way, he, with a hundred cavaliers 
 and footmen, followed by their slaves and the pack 
 bearers of the army with the luggage, set out with 
 Tuscaloosa to the village. The master of camp 
 was ordered to follow promptly with the rest of the 
 army. Riding quickly over the five miles, the 
 party reached the village about eight o clock. It 
 was seated in a beautiful meadow, and surrounded 
 and concealed by a wall a great palisade three pike 
 lengths high, made of well-grown trees, crossed by 
 timbers almost as large, fastened together by vines 
 and plastered with a thick mortar of mud and straw, 
 which filled all the interstices and crevices, and 
 formed a surface as smooth and unbroken as if 
 made with the trowel of a bricklayer. About the 
 height of a man, loopholes for arrows had been 
 pierced ; and about every fifty paces were towers 
 capable of holding seven or eight men. Numbers 
 of trunks of trees, driven into the ground for posts, 
 had taken root and had branched out all the length 
 
160 Hernando de Soto 
 
 of the walls, crowning it with green and giving great 
 beauty to it. There were but two gates, one open 
 ing to the east and one to the west. 
 
 As the Adelantado and Tuscaloosa neared, bands 
 of warriors came forward, dancing and singing ; and 
 after the warriors came bands of beautiful Indian 
 girls, likewise dancing and singing. They led the 
 way into the village and through the one broad 
 street that ran across from gate to gate. The Span 
 iards looked round in astonishment ; the houses 
 were few in number, but they were as large as bar 
 racks, the smallest capable of holding five hundred 
 men ; the largest, a thousand or fifteen hundred. 
 
 The little procession came to a stop in the public 
 square. The Spanish scouts were seen waiting to 
 one side. De Soto and Tuscaloosa dismounted, 
 and the chief, calling Juan Ortiz, said, pointing 
 with his finger: "In that large house will lodge 
 the general with his cavaliers, and the warriors 
 he wishes to keep with him ; in that other one 
 near it, his attendants and servants ; for the rest of 
 the army, an arrow s flight outside of the walls my 
 people have built huts of green branches where 
 they can lodge, because the village is small and will 
 not hold us all." The Adelantado replied that his 
 master of camp would fix the quarters as the chief 
 desired. Tuscaloosa then said something about 
 remaining in the village and not being troubled 
 with travelling any more with the army, and receiv 
 ing no reply from De Soto, he turned and strode 
 away to his house, the largest one around the square, 
 
Tuscaloosa 161 
 
 and entered it. The other cavaliers dismounted and 
 sent their horses outside the village to the place 
 assigned for the camp. 
 
 Gonzalo Quadrado Xaramillo, one of the scouts, 
 now came up to the Adelantado. " My lord," he 
 said, " I have been carefully examining this village, 
 and what I have seen and observed gives me no se 
 curity whatever of the friendship of this chief and his 
 people. On the contrary, I have an evil suspicion 
 that they have planned some treason against us ; in 
 those few houses you see there, are more than ten 
 thousand warriors, picked men, for there is not an 
 old one among them nor a menial ; and they are 
 armed to the teeth ; and those other houses are filled 
 with weapons ; they are magazines of arms. And 
 besides, although there are a great many women in 
 the village, all are girls ; not one among them has a 
 child, nor is there a child to be found in the whole 
 place; thus they are all free and without impedi 
 ment. For an arquebuse-shot, all around the vil 
 lage, the ground, as you may have seen, has been 
 cleaned and cleared so carefully and particularly 
 that even the roots of the grass have been pulled 
 up by hand, which seems to me to mean that they 
 are going to give us battle, and nothing in the 
 world will prevent them." Warning was passed 
 from mouth to mouth to the Spaniards standing 
 round to be on their guard ; and Xaramillo was 
 ordered to see Luis de Moscoso as soon as he 
 arrived and post him as to how matters stood, so 
 that he could make his arrangements accordingly. 
 
1 62 Hernando de Soto 
 
 In the meantime, a great council of war in the 
 building that Tuscaloosa had entered was deciding 
 upon the last arrangements for the massacre of the 
 Spaniards. For all along Tuscaloosa had been 
 determined to slay them in the village of Mauvila, 
 which he had selected for the purpose. For this 
 he had sent his son to welcome them, and spy out 
 what their wishes were, and their manner of weap 
 ons ; and for this, he had himself gone to meet 
 them, to conduct them thither, where his messen 
 gers had collected that great concourse of warriors, 
 not only from his own people and subjects, but 
 from among all his neighbours and allies, inviting 
 them to join in the triumph and glory of put 
 ting an end to all the Christians at once, promising 
 them as a reward Spaniards for slaves, and horses 
 to ride, and plunder of scarlet coats and caps. 
 Looking round him, Tuscaloosa saw the bravest 
 and most noted warriors of all that region. He 
 told them to decide promptly what they were going 
 to do : whether they would at once kill the Span 
 iards who were at present in the square, and after 
 them the others as they arrived, or whether they 
 would wait until all came up. The warriors fell 
 into a division ; some advised not to wait for the 
 rest of the Spaniards to come up and increase the 
 difficulty of the enterprise, but to kill those that 
 they already had under their hands, and afterwards 
 the others as they arrived. Others, the braver ones, 
 said that as they, the Indians, had the advantage of 
 the Spaniards in valour, agility, and fleetness, as well 
 
Tuscaloosa 163 
 
 as in numbers, it showed fear to fall upon the Span 
 iards in small divisions. Let them all come together 
 and then at one blow kill them all, for that would 
 be greater triumph and honour, and a deed more 
 fitting the fame of Tuscaloosa. Those of the 
 former opinion contended that the Spaniards to 
 gether would then be able to make a better defence, 
 and kill more Indians ; that what the warriors 
 wanted was to kill all the Spaniards, and the best 
 and surest way was the one that was safest to them 
 selves. This last counsel prevailed, although the 
 other suited Tuscaloosa s pride and daring better. 
 But he was so impatient to begin the killing that 
 every moment of delay, however short, seemed to 
 him long. And so the warriors agreed to seize the 
 first excuse that offered ; and if no excuse offered, 
 they would make one. With enemies, they said, 
 it was not necessary to seek reasons for killing them. 
 
CHAPTER XIV 
 
 THE BATTLE OF MAUVILA 
 
 WHILE this was going on, the servants of 
 the governor, in the lodgings appointed 
 him, had gone busily to work preparing 
 breakfast. When it was ready, the Adelantado was 
 asked to come to table. He sent Juan Ortiz to 
 summon Tuscaloosa, to eat with him. Juan Ortiz 
 gave his message at the door of the chief s house, 
 as the Indian attendants would not let him enter. 
 They answered that Tuscaloosa would come pres 
 ently. Some time passed; Tuscaloosa did not ap 
 pear. Juan Ortiz went again with his message to the 
 door, and received the same reply. After another 
 interval of waiting for Tuscaloosa a good long one 
 he went a third time, telling the guards to say to 
 Tuscaloosa that he must come at once, for the Ade 
 lantado was waiting and the food was upon the table. 
 Thereupon a magnificent warrior stepped to the 
 door. " Who," said he, arrogantly, " are these vaga 
 bonds and thieves who are calling to my chief, Tus 
 caloosa, their c come, come ! as if they were talking to 
 one of themselves ? By the Sun and the Moon, there 
 is no one here who is going to put up with their 
 insolence ! " 
 
 164 
 
The Battle of Mauvila 165 
 
 The words were not out of his mouth before a 
 warrior, coming up behind, put a bow and arrows 
 in his hand, and he, throwing his marten-skin 
 mantle back, placed the arrow on the string and 
 aimed it at a group of Spaniards standing in the 
 square. Balthazar de Gallegos happened to be 
 standing just by the side of the door. In a flash he 
 drew his sword and gave the Indian a cut that 
 opened him from shoulder to waist. The warrior 
 fell over the threshold dead. Then the fight began. 
 The first in the rush of the warriors from the door 
 was a beautiful-looking youth, perhaps the son of 
 the first warrior. He shot six or seven arrows at 
 Gallegos with frightful skill and quickness, but see 
 ing them fall harmless from the armour of the Span 
 iard, he took his bow wifti both hands, and closing 
 with him he thundered five or six blows over his head 
 so strong and quick that Gallegos saw stars dancing 
 before his eyes. With blood streaming down his face, 
 the cavalier gave two thrusts of his sword, and the 
 young warrior fell dead over the old one. 
 
 A prolonged war-cry now rose from every quarter 
 of the village, and from every house in sight Indians 
 poured out, and charged upon the Spaniards in the 
 square. So great was their number, and so wild and 
 furious their rush, that the Spaniards, like leaves 
 before the hurricane, their feet barely touching the 
 ground, were borne along before it, and cast out 
 side the gate more than two hundred paces, into 
 the open field. The horsemen flew to get their 
 horses before the Indians should reach them. The 
 
1 66 Hernando de Soto 
 
 quickest of foot managed to reach them and mount ; 
 the slower reached them only in time to cut their 
 halters, so that they could escape the arrows shot at 
 them. But there were some who could not do even 
 this, and their poor beasts were shot to death by 
 swarms of dancing Indians, who emptied quivers of 
 arrows into them. The pack bearers and the slaves 
 of the Spaniards had remained outside the village, 
 laying their packs down all over the ground near by 
 the walls, and waiting for orders to direct them to 
 their quarters. And now while one band of the 
 men of Mauvila was killing the horses, and another 
 pursuing the hard-pressed Spaniards, a third, leap 
 ing from the walls, made these Indians take up their 
 packs again and carry them into the village, where 
 the chains were struck off from the slaves, and 
 bows and arrows given to all to fight with. Thus 
 the luggage of the army, the clothing and the pearls 
 and all the property of the Spaniards passed into the 
 hands of the Indians, and the cavaliers and soldiers 
 were left with only what they had on their backs. 
 
 The few cavaliers who had been able to mount 
 their horses charged upon the furious mass of In 
 dians, before whom the little handful of Spaniards 
 on foot, fighting with might and main for their lives, 
 were retreating down the open field. The shock of 
 the horses gained them a moment s respite in which 
 to reform their ranks ; and now in two divisions, 
 footmen and horsemen, they turned and charged 
 upon their pursuers, and fired by the disgrace and 
 humiliation of their flight, they did not stop until 
 
The Battle of Mauvila 167 
 
 they had driven the Indians back within their walls. 
 The gates were pushed to and barred. The Span 
 iards beat and strove against them, but such a storm 
 of arrows and stones fell from the wall and towers, 
 that they were forced to withdraw out of their range. 
 Seeing the Spaniards again retreat, the Indians made 
 another furious charge, dashing out of the gate and 
 leaping over the wall ; and the Spaniards, cursing in 
 their shame of it as they did, were again hurled back 
 more than two hundred paces, but facing their ene 
 mies, and fighting steadily, shoulder to shoulder. 
 They knew that in order and discipline alone lay 
 their one chance of safety, and a slim enough chance 
 that was, few as they were, and in such sore need of 
 the rest of the army, which still did not come up. 
 Again they charged, and drove the Indians back 
 into the village ; but again the walls were too deadly 
 for them, and they were forced to retire. And so, 
 advancing and retiring, charging and retreating, they 
 fought without pause for the space of full three 
 hours, always retreating, however, a little farther, to 
 draw the Indians farther and farther from their 
 walls and out into the open, where the horses could 
 have more ground and space for their chargeSo 
 
 And in their rear, coming up and falling back, with 
 them, now close at their shoulders, now careering 
 at full speed away from their rear, rode the young 
 Dominican priest, Juan de Gallegos, the brother of 
 Balthazar. He wanted to give his horse to his 
 brother, and kept calling to him at the top of his 
 voice to come and get it; but Balthazar, in the 
 
1 68 Hernando de Soto 
 
 front rank of the fighters, had no time to respond, 
 nor would he have left his place. And thus, in one 
 of his retreats, an Indian happened to clap eyes upon 
 the priest and planted an arrow between his shoul 
 ders. The wound was only a slight one, for besides 
 hood and gown, the friars back was protected by his 
 large felt sombrero, that had slipped from his head 
 and hung by its cord round his neck like a shield. 
 After that the friar kept his distance from the 
 combat. Many Spaniards had already fallen, dead 
 or wounded, but the greatest loss, and the one 
 which caused most pain and grief to comrades and 
 soldiers, was that of Don Carlos Enriques, a cavalier 
 of Badajoz, who had married the niece of the Ade- 
 lantado, and who was by all odds the best loved man 
 in all the army. He was on horseback and fighting 
 like the bravest of cavaliers, as he was, when, in one 
 of the charges, his horse was shot by an arrow, just 
 above the breastplate ; and as he retreated he bent 
 over to draw the arrow out, passing his lance to his 
 left hand, and stretching himself over the horse s 
 neck and pulling at it. The turn of his head ex 
 posed a streak of throat; instantly a three-pronged 
 flint-headed arrow cut across it like a knife, and he 
 fell from his horse, almost beheaded. 
 
 The Indians, seeing their great disadvantage in 
 the open ground on account of the horses, now, with 
 shrill cries, called their forces together from all over 
 the field, and falling back into the village, closed the 
 gates and manned their walls. De Soto called upon 
 the best armoured cavaliers to dismount and storm 
 
The Battle of Mauvila 169 
 
 the gate. Quick as his word they formed a column 
 and, holding their shields over their heads, they 
 dashed upon the gate with their axes, cut it open, 
 and with one impetus charged through it. Not to 
 be kept outside and lose time from the fight by wait 
 ing to push through the narrow openings, other 
 Spaniards assaulted the wall itself, and with quick 
 blows of their axes cut great breaches in the smooth 
 mortar, and clambering over on the crosspieces, 
 jumped down inside. When they saw the Span 
 iards again inside the village, the Indians, maddened 
 to fury, threw themselves upon them and fought like 
 wild beasts ; up and down the broad mainway, in and 
 out the passages between the houses and from the 
 roofs. The Spaniards were shut in, front, rear, and 
 above, 
 
 It was the fourth hour of the fight, and it was 
 as dogged as at the first. The Indians still serried 
 and firm, the Spaniards steadily using their swords 
 and lances, but finding that the more they killed 
 the deadlier and fiercer was the spirit against them. 
 Command was given to fire the houses ; in an 
 instant sheets of flame and smoke rose from the 
 nearest ones. The roofs were thatched with straw, 
 dry as tinder, and in another instant, in the small 
 enclosure, the heat of hell was added to the carnage, 
 the blood, the dust, and the noise. Up to this time 
 the Adelantado had fought on foot; now, running 
 out of the village, he seized a horse. Nuno de To- 
 bar followed him, and the two soon came thundering 
 back like a whirlwind through the mainway, calling 
 
170 Hernando de Soto 
 
 out, " Our Lady ! " and " Santiago ! " and shouting 
 to their men to make way. The Spaniards opened 
 ranks, and on they rode through and broke into 
 the mass of fighting Indians in front, and charged 
 through them, from one end to another, lancing to 
 the right and left, the Indians rushing together be 
 hind them, like water behind the keel of a vessel ; 
 and when the cavaliers turned their horses again, a 
 solid front of fighters met them. Back and forth 
 they charged, shouting their battle-cry, arrows follow 
 ing them like a cloud of dust, pelting their armour 
 and dropping off. While De Soto was rising in his 
 stirrups to give a thrust of his lance, an Indian sent 
 an arrow through his coat of mail into his thigh. 
 There was no time to have the arrow pulled out, so 
 he fought the rest of the day standing in his stir 
 rups, a feat of horsemanship that was ever afterwards 
 cited with admiration by his men. 
 
 The flames raging more furiously from minute to 
 minute, the village was now one sheet of flame. 
 There was no escape from it. The Indians fight 
 ing on the roofs did not have time to leap down 
 from the blazing thatching ; the women crowding 
 the inside could not get out and were suffocated in 
 heaps, and thousands perished. The cavalry now 
 surged back and forth in the public square ; and 
 here the wind would blow the smoke and flames 
 now upon the Indians, blinding and driving them 
 back, now against the Spaniards, driving them back, 
 when the Indians would charge forward and regain 
 all the space that they had lost. Wild with heat 
 
"Back and forth they charged." 
 
The Battle of Mauvila 171 
 
 and thirst, the Spaniards would run for drink to a 
 pool near the walls ; it was running blood, but 
 even so they drank and returned to the fight. 
 Four o clock came, and the eighth hour of the 
 fight. 
 
 The Indians, seeing what numbers had gone 
 down under fire and steel, and that their ranks 
 were weakening for want of fighters, called now 
 upon their women, crying to them to take up arms 
 and avenge the death of their men, and if they 
 could not avenge them, to do as the men were 
 doing, die rather than be made the slaves of the 
 Spaniards. Women were already fighting by the 
 side of the men, but now, when that cry came, all 
 responded, not one held back ; on they ran, grasp 
 ing from the ground swords, partisans, lances, or 
 bows and arrows, which they used with the skill 
 and strength and deadly ferocity of the men. It 
 was like pouring oil upon a conflagration, and the 
 fight was such as the Spaniards had never seen. 
 The women braved death even more recklessly than 
 the men, throwing their naked breasts upon the keen 
 weapons of their enemies, so as to seize the points in 
 their hands. The Spaniards, their foes being women, 
 and fighting only to die, weakened against them, 
 and refrained from killing them, admiring them in 
 truth for their youth and beauty and fierce indomita- 
 bleness. And all day long the drums and trumpets 
 had not ceased to sound loud and clear for the rear 
 guard to make haste and come to the relief, and 
 still it did not come. The master of camp was 
 
172 Hernando de Soto 
 
 taking his time about it, and when he drew his 
 army out, his men, careless and lazy after the long 
 peace and good time that summer, scattered over 
 the fields and advanced at their ease and leisure, 
 picking fruit, laughing and talking, wandering for 
 ward like a picnic party. It was not until about 
 four o clock in the afternoon that they came within 
 earshot of the village, and heard the drums and 
 trumpets, and cries and shouts, and saw the smoke 
 boiling out as if from the crater of a volcano. The 
 alarm ran from mouth to mouth ; fear and anxiety 
 hurried them along fast enough now, and they 
 raced, each man for himself, and came running into 
 the village. The Indians trying to head them 
 off, the fight flared up again outside the wall, and 
 for a space the contest was as hot outside as in. 
 Ten or twelve horsemen, who were not to be 
 stopped, spurred their way in, among the first 
 Diego de Soto, the brother-in-law of Don Car 
 los Enriques. Hearing of the fate of Don Carlos, 
 he threw himself from his horse in a passion to 
 avenge him, and with shield and sword flew through 
 the bloody corpse-strewn mainway to where the 
 fight was fiercest and hottest. He had barely 
 reached it when he fell with an arrow shot through 
 his eye, coming out at the back of his neck. 
 
 And now, one by one, by tens, and finally by 
 columns, the rear-guard came into the fight. Fresh 
 and eager, they threw themselves in front of their 
 tired, straining comrades ; and the reinforcement 
 told. Soon about the middle of the open place 
 
The Battle of Mauvila 
 
 173 
 
 stood only a hollow square of warriors and women, 
 in the culmination of their desperation, hoping and 
 caring for naught but to die fighting. The horses 
 leaped upon them, trampling them down, charg 
 ing upon them with such impetus that they over 
 threw the Spaniards, fighting on the other side. 
 Over and over again they charged, until the hoofs 
 of the chargers trampled only the dead, for not 
 one would surrender ; all died there standing, fight 
 ing like the superb soldiers they were, says the 
 Spanish chronicler. This was the end; the battle 
 was over ; the Spaniards had at last won the day. 
 It was sunset; both sides had been fighting for nine 
 hours, but all was now over. Not all ! one war 
 rior still fought, until, looking round, he saw that 
 his people were all dead and gone all ; that he 
 alone was left alive. He turned, and with the light 
 ness of a deer ran to the wall and leaped upon it. 
 Below him, on the outside, the Spanish foot and 
 horse were chasing Indians and killing them all 
 over the field. There was no escape for him there, 
 and his pursuers were upon him. He loosed the 
 string from his bow in a flash, twisted one end 
 round the branch of a tree growing in the wall, 
 the other round his neck. A spring, and as the 
 Spaniards reached him, he hung dead. 
 
CHAPTER XV 
 
 AFTER THE BATTLE 
 
 THE Adelantado ordered the killed to be col 
 lected for burial, the wounded to be carried 
 to the surgeon. The dead amounted to 
 eighty-two men ; eighteen of them had arrows stick 
 ing in the mouth and eyes, the Indians by this time 
 having learned to aim not at the armoured body, but 
 at the face. Forty-five horses were killed. There 
 were seventeen hundred and seventy wounds for the 
 surgeon to treat; that is, dangerous wounds that 
 he alone could attend to deep cuts in flesh and 
 muscle, shattered bones, broken skulls, arrows in 
 the back, bones, or joints. The slight wounds, such 
 as arrows in the calf of the leg, hips, arms, or body, 
 which caused no fear of death or lameness, were 
 cared for by the men themselves, one wounded man 
 tending another. There was hardly a man in the 
 army that came out of the fight with less than five 
 or six of these slight wounds ; many of them had 
 ten or twelve. 
 
 There was only one surgeon in the army, and he 
 now proved himself neither competent nor skilful, 
 but stupid and almost good for nothing. And this 
 
 174 
 
After the Battle 175 
 
 was not the worst. In their dire extremity, the 
 Spaniards found that they had no medicaments ; that 
 the oil, bandages, and lint had been destroyed ; and 
 not only that, but all the supply of linen clothing, 
 the sheets and shirts, that could have been used for 
 bandages and lint, and, in fact, all the clothing of 
 any kind whatsoever, had been carried into the vil 
 lage by the Indians and there burned in the fire 
 that the Spaniards themselves had kindled. There 
 was nothing even to eat, for all the food, that which 
 the Spaniards had brought and that which the 
 Indians had in their houses, had been consumed, 
 too, by the flames, to the last grain. Without a 
 physician worthy of the name, without remedies, 
 bandages, or lint, without food or clothing to cover 
 themselves with, without shelter, even, in which to 
 escape from the cold and the night such was the 
 condition of the Spaniards after their victory. And 
 even if they had wished to go in search of anything, 
 the darkness and their ignorance of where they were 
 prevented ; and so exhausted were they that they 
 could hardly stand on their feet. The only abun 
 dance they had, says the chronicler, was in sighs and 
 groans. They prayed to God for help, and he 
 helped them as he always does help the brave 
 for he sent them the reflection that there was no 
 help for them but what came from their own 
 strength and courage. So they recovered heart, 
 and, all at once and with energy, went to work to 
 relieve the situation, each man helping the man 
 who was worse off than himself. 
 
176 Hernando de Soto 
 
 To procure shelter, some ran to the huts put up 
 by the Indians for the encampment, and, fetching 
 away the twigs and branches, built sheds against the 
 portions of the wall that were still left standing. 
 Others opened the bodies of the dead Indians and 
 got out the fat for salves and oils to dress the 
 wounds ; others brought straw to cover the sufferers. 
 One party stripped their dead and living compan 
 ions of their shirts ; and of these the linen ones 
 were reserved for the dressing of the most danger 
 ous wounds. Another party busied themselves in 
 butchering the dead horses to get the meat for 
 broths and teas, for there was nothing else to 
 nourish the sick with. And in addition to all this, 
 they did sentinel and guard duty, although there 
 were only few among them capable of bearing arms. 
 A very small force of Indians that night could 
 have accomplished Tuscaloosa s design and finished 
 them all. 
 
 Eight days the Spaniards lived in the miserable 
 sheds against the walls. When they were able to 
 leave them, they went to the huts made by the In 
 dians for their encampment, where they remained 
 for fifteen days, waiting for their wounds to heal. 
 Those who had the slightest wounds went on re- 
 connoissances to the villages round about to look 
 for food. The villages were small, but there were 
 great numbers of them; and in all were found many 
 wounded Indians, but never a sound man or woman 
 tending them. The Spaniards believed that Indians 
 hidden in the woods came at night to minister to 
 
After the Battle 177 
 
 them, returning to the forest by daylight. No In 
 dian was seen in the fields nor on the road ; and 
 the horsemen hunting captives to get information, 
 caught in all only fifteen or twenty. Questioning 
 these as to whether the Indians were collecting any 
 where to come out again against the Spaniards, they 
 said that, as in the last battle all their strongest, 
 most noble, and valiant warriors had perished, there 
 were none left to take up arms. And this seemed 
 to be the truth ; for in all the time that Spaniards 
 were in that encampment, no Indians appeared, 
 even to give a war-cry or false alarm. 
 
 The Spaniards believed that upwards of eleven 
 thousand of them had perished. More than twenty- 
 five hundred bodies were found around the village 
 outside of the walls, among them the body of the 
 splendid young warrior, Tuscaloosa s giant son. 
 In the village more than three thousand more were 
 found ; one could not walk in the main road nor 
 in the passages between the houses without stepping 
 upon corpses. The fire, the Spaniards calculated, 
 must have consumed more than thirty-five hundred, 
 for in one house alone upwards of one thousand 
 burned corpses were found, and the pity of it was, 
 to the Spaniards, most of them were women. For 
 a distance of four leagues all around the village, in 
 the thickets and hollows, the Spaniards reconnoi 
 tring the country found more than two thousand 
 dead or wounded Indians who had tried to get to 
 their homes but could not ; and it was pitiful to find 
 the wounded ones moaning all alone in the forest. 
 
178 Hernando de Soto 
 
 Of the fate of Tuscaloosa himself, nothing cer 
 tain was ever learned. Some of the Indians said 
 that he had fled and escaped, others that he had 
 perished in the fire, and this last seems the more 
 probable and worthy of him. 
 
 There was a loss from the fire that the Spaniards 
 suffered from in another than a bodily way this was 
 through the burning of the wheaten flour and the 
 wine, set apart and carefully guarded for the Sacra 
 ment, with the chalice, altars, and ornaments and 
 all other appointments for divine worship. And 
 from that time on the celebration of the Mass in 
 the army became an impossibility, because there was 
 no wine nor bread to consecrate for the Eucharist. 
 It was debated among the priests and officers 
 whether bread of corn might not be consecrated, 
 but it was agreed that, in their ignorance, it was 
 safer not to do so. And so the matter was left ; for 
 even if the priests had found anything to conse 
 crate for the Eucharist, they would still have lacked 
 chalice and altar. Nevertheless, every feast day 
 and Sunday the priest, in vestments of deerskin, 
 would stand before an altar of their own making 
 and repeat the creed and prayers and read the 
 Epistle and Evangel, and preach the sermon. The 
 soldiers called it dry Mass, and it was all they had 
 during the rest of their sojourn in Florida. 
 
 On the march to Mauvila, the Adelantado had 
 gathered from the Indians the information that two 
 ships were sailing along the coast. This was con 
 firmed by the captives after the battle, from whom 
 
After the Battle 179 
 
 it was also learned that Achuse, where Maldonado 
 was to bring his ships, lay not more than six days 
 journey from Mauvila. This was news to rejoice 
 all, for it meant the end of the long march in the in 
 terior, and the beginning of the settlement and own 
 ership of the land. The Adelantado could now fix 
 a colony in the port of Achuse as he had planned, 
 where he could safely receive vessels from all parts of 
 the world, and then he would found another colony 
 some twenty leagues in the interior, whence he could 
 rule all the Indians of Florida, and bring them into 
 subjection to the Roman Catholic faith and the crown 
 of Spain. 
 
 But never is a great scheme conceived by man 
 but there is conceived at the same time the discord 
 that is secretly to destroy it ; and the door through 
 which discord entered this expedition was, as ever, 
 the lust and greed of men. The soldiers who had 
 been in the Conquest of Peru, and had seen the 
 great wealth of gold and silver there, were ever 
 vaunting that country ; and as, on the contrary, 
 there had been no gold nor silver found in Florida, 
 it seemed impossible for them to be contented with 
 the idea of settling and colonizing this land. And 
 to their disappointment about the gold and silver 
 was added that of the incredible fierceness of the 
 battle of Mauvila, which had strangely discouraged 
 them. So, when they heard of the ships at Achuse, 
 they began to talk about wanting to leave the 
 country, to get out of it as soon as possible. They 
 said it would be impossible to conquer so warlike, 
 
180 Hernando de Soto 
 
 or to subdue so free and independent a people, and 
 that, judging from what they had seen, neither force 
 nor cunning would ever bring them under the yoke 
 of Spanish dominion ; that they would all let them 
 selves be killed first. There was no use, the mal 
 contents argued, going along, wasting away their 
 strength little by little in that country, when they 
 could go to other wealthy ones, already conquered, 
 like Peru and Mexico, where they could enrich them 
 selves without so much work. Therefore they 
 thought it would be well, as soon as they reached 
 the coast, to leave the cursed land they were in and 
 go to a New Spain. Such, and other similar ideas 
 were whispered and passed round ; but not so se 
 cretly that it did not come to the ears of loyal friends 
 of the Adelantado ; and through these he heard 
 what was going on in the army, that the soldiers 
 were talking about leaving the country as soon as 
 they came to any ships or boats whatever. 
 
 The Adelantado would not credit it, without first 
 testing the truth for himself. And so he went the 
 rounds of the camp at night in disguise, spying and 
 listening, and thus heard no less a personage than 
 the royal treasurer, Juan Gaytan, and others in his 
 hut, plotting together, as soon as they arrived at the 
 port of Achuse, to take the ships and sail to Mex 
 ico or Peru, or return to Spain. There was no 
 doubt left in the mind of the Adelantado ; his army 
 was disbanding, and his men looking out for other 
 places to go to, abandoning him as Francisco de 
 Pizarro had been abandoned in the beginning of the 
 
After the Battle 181 
 
 Conquest of Peru. And he knew if these men de 
 serted him and went away, there was no possibility 
 of ever raising a new army; that he would be left, 
 dispossessed of his position, authority, and reputa 
 tion, with all his wealth wasted in vain, and all his 
 excessive toil lost. 
 
 The blow struck keenly, and upon a man so jeal 
 ous of his honour as De Soto, it could not but have 
 an instantaneous and desperate effect. But putting 
 vengeance and punishment out of his mind for the 
 present, he dissimulated his anger and resentment, 
 determined never to suffer the evil meditated by 
 the weak, cowardly souls to come to pass. And so 
 without giving any insight whatever into his feel 
 ings, or letting his anger be suspected, he carefully 
 suppressed further tidings about the ships and se 
 cretly made his plans to lead the army imperceptibly 
 again into the interior, and away from the sea-coast, 
 and thus deprive the traitors of their opportunity to 
 betray him. And here it was that De Soto s failure 
 commenced ; this was the prime cause of the loss of 
 his expedition. Deceived in his hopes and thwarted 
 in his ambition for conquest and fame by his own 
 soldiers, he was from that day a changed, a discon 
 tented, and an unhappy man. Never afterwards 
 was the army able to accomplish anything that 
 pleased him, or that he would even pretend to be 
 pleased with ; on the contrary, he seemed to feel 
 only contempt for it. And this disconcerted and 
 dissatisfied his friends, who said among themselves 
 that he should boldly have pursued his first plan, 
 
1 82 Hernando de Soto 
 
 and gone to the seashore, where he could have put 
 an end to the mutiny by punishing the heads of it, 
 which would have frightened the rest of the conspira 
 tors, and still have saved his expedition. But how 
 ever clear-headed he was in habitual temper, the 
 Adelantado threw his judgment away when in a pas 
 sion, or used it only to gratify his passion. To 
 keep his men from suspecting his designs, he went 
 about among them, encouraging them, telling them 
 in a very different spirit from his usual frank one 
 with his soldiers, to hurry and get well, so that they 
 could leave that cursed country where they had suf 
 fered so much. 
 
 On the twenty-fourth day after the battle, on 
 Sunday the i8th of November, he broke up his 
 camp, starting his army as if to return to Achuse in 
 the same road they had travelled to Mauvila. 
 
CHAPTER XVI 
 
 IN THE CHICKASAW COUNTRY 
 
 THE Adelantado marched without stopping 
 out of the territory of Tuscaloosa, and 
 turning due north, entered into that of the 
 Chickasaws. Here, a large village standing on the 
 steep bank of a deep river 1 brought him to a halt; 
 for drawn up in front of it was a formidable look 
 ing band of about fifteen hundred warriors. Their 
 defence, however, was only a show. When the 
 Spaniards charged, they threw themselves into the 
 river and crossed it swimming, abandoning the vil 
 lage, which had already been completely emptied 
 of the women and children and provisions. They 
 drew up on the other side, fronting the army, spread 
 ing out along the bank, as reinforcements arrived. 
 That night and the following, noiselessly paddling 
 over the river in canoes, they gave the Spaniards in 
 camp little rest or respite from their attacks. The 
 third night the Spaniards, hiding themselves in deep 
 pits along the bank, lay in wait for them, and when 
 the Indians had landed, and were well away from 
 their canoes, they rushed out upon them and slashed 
 
 1 The Black Warrior River, says Pickett, near the modern town of Erie. 
 183 
 
184 Hernando de Soto 
 
 them with their swords. After this, the Indians 
 gave up crossing the river and concentrated all their 
 energy upon guarding their own bank. 
 
 Seeing that he was losing time waiting for the 
 enemy to relax vigilance, the Adelantado ordered 
 two large flat boats to be built, the carpenters work 
 ing back in the forest, to keep the Indians from 
 finding out what they were doing. When the boats 
 were finished, they were carried to the river and 
 launched during the night, and before day each boat 
 started over with ten cavaliers and a load of foot 
 men. The infantry rowed, while the cavaliers sat 
 their horses, ready to leap on land the moment the 
 boat touched. With all their efforts at silence and 
 quiet, however, the quick ears of the Indians, patrol 
 ling opposite, heard them. Their war-cries broke 
 out like the barking of watch-dogs, and it became 
 now a race between the boats and the Indians to 
 get to the landing-place first. The rowers bent 
 and strained at their oars, but before they were half 
 way over every one of them had arrows sticking in 
 him. As the first boat touched the bank and a 
 cavalier jumped his horse ashore, Gonzalo Silvestre 
 followed, and the two, charging the Indians, drove 
 them back and gained time for the rest of their corps 
 to land, repeating this charge until the other horse 
 men came to their assistance. The wounded infan 
 try rushed through the arrows to a cluster of cabins, 
 where they cowered under shelter. 
 
 By the time the second boatload had crossed, 
 the Indians were retreating into the forest to make 
 
In the Chickasaw Country 185 
 
 their way to a camp they had fortified there. The 
 Spaniards pursued, but the Indians remained behind 
 their palisades ; and during the night they dis 
 appeared, and the army could resume its march 
 next day through the country without hindrance 
 always the same flat, pleasant country, filled with 
 small villages, well stored with beans and corn. 
 Coming to another river (the Little Tombigbee), the 
 Indians were again found drawn up in line of battle. 
 The Adelantado sent a messenger over with proffers 
 of peace ; they slew the man in the face of the 
 army, but then, as if satisfied, with a great shout 
 they went away. The Spaniards built other boats 
 and crossed the river, and marching on, came the 
 next day to a remarkably large and pretty village, 1 
 built on a rising plain crossed by rippling streams, 
 and shaded by groves of oak and nut trees, stand 
 ing in the rich mass of years of fruitage. It proved 
 to be the great village of the Chickasaws, the one 
 which bore the name of the tribe and the chief. 
 The cabins were empty and the crops still un- 
 gathered in the surrounding fields. The Spaniards 
 entered and took possession, and as it was now the 
 first week in December, and the men were begin 
 ning to suffer greatly in their denuded condition 
 from the cold, the Adelantado decided that no better 
 place could be found in which to winter. The walls 
 were repaired and shelters built for the horses, 
 the corn was gathered from the field and neigh- 
 
 1 This village is supposed to have stood on the west bank of the Yazoo River, 
 some two hundred and fifty miles north of Mobile. 
 
1 86 Hernando de Soto 
 
 bouring villages were raided for additional provis 
 ions. 
 
 At first something like peace and quiet was en 
 joyed here. The only military employment of the 
 men was to give the horses a short run every day 
 when the weather permitted, and catch what In 
 dians they could to question for information about 
 the country. By this time, as nearly every province 
 travelled through had a different dialect, twelve or 
 fourteen interpreters were necessary to communicate 
 with the natives, Juan Ortiz standing at one end of 
 the line and passing his sentence on from mouth 
 to mouth, or from province to province, as the case 
 really was, until it arrived at the last one under 
 question. Most of the captives were at once set 
 free and given presents to take to their chief, with 
 messages inviting him to peace and friendship. To 
 this the chief responded, also with presents of 
 fruit, fish, and game ; and one time with as many 
 as a hundred and fifty rabbits, and always with great 
 promises of coming soon, sending excuses and mul 
 tiplying his falsehoods from day to day to entertain 
 the Adelantado and keep him quiet. 
 
 But soon he dropped his amenities, and opened 
 his campaign ; a masterly one it proved. Every 
 night the Spaniards were aroused two or three times 
 by false alarms, the men jumping up and running 
 out, but finding nothing to fight. This was kept 
 up steadily for two months, and, as it turned out, 
 was an industrious ruse to tire the Spaniards with 
 keeping watch and to put them off their guard. 
 
In the Chickasaw Country 187 
 
 One night, during the last week of January, a north 
 wind sprang up and blew furiously. The Adelan- 
 tado had his misgivings, and that very night had 
 warned Luis de Moscoso to keep up a strong watch; 
 but the very worst men in the army seemed to have 
 been put on duty. It was about one o clock, and 
 the wind was at its height, when from the four sides 
 of the village there came such a blast of horns and 
 conchs, clatter of drums, and war-whoops, as made 
 the wind seem still. 
 
 The Spaniards sprang to arms, but before they 
 got to their doors the roofs of their cabins were in 
 flames, roaring and blazing in the wind, and the In 
 dians leaping in all around them. In four separate 
 bands, the Chickasaws had crept up on the four 
 sides of the camp. Each man carried a lighted taper 
 made of a grass that grows in that part of the coun 
 try, which once lighted smoulders like the fuse of an 
 arquebuse, until slung through the air, when it bursts 
 into a flame. By fastening them to the tip of their 
 arrows and shooting them, the Indians could fire a 
 building at a distance. The Spaniards leapt through 
 the flames, or crawled on all fours under them with 
 what weapons they could snatch; but in whatever 
 direction they ran, the wind drove the fire against 
 them, while the Indians, springing nimbly and from 
 shelter to shelter, shot them as they fled hither and 
 thither in the confusion. The horsemen took no 
 time to put on armour, or saddle horses, but as they 
 were, in their shirts, jerked their steeds out by their 
 halters, and jumping on their backs, galloped them 
 
1 88 Hernando de Soto 
 
 out of the flames. Many, to save themselves, were 
 forced to abandon their horses. 
 
 In the eastern quarter of the camp the fire and 
 attack raged most furiously. Forty or fifty Span 
 iards stampeded in a panic, running away as fast as 
 they could. But Nuno de Tobar, on foot, sword in 
 hand, ran after them, shouting at the top of his 
 voice : " Come back, soldiers, come back ! Where 
 are you running to ? There is no Cordova or 
 Seville here to give you refuge ! " 
 
 From the other side of the camp forty or fifty 
 soldiers came running up just at the moment, and 
 they, abusing the men for their cowardice, brought 
 them to themselves, and all together they hastened 
 round the village to a place where Andreas de 
 Vasconselas with some twenty of his cavaliers were 
 hard at work. And now from one direction and 
 another men came running into the fight, closing 
 with the Indians wherever they found them, and 
 driving them back from the village. But where 
 the hottest of the struggle was going on there was 
 the Adelantado, holding his opponents at bay. He, 
 who to be ready for such emergency slept always 
 in doublet and hose, was on horseback and out 
 of the village, fighting, before any other cavalier. 
 When he saw his forces strengthening, he dashed 
 forward with fresh spirit and strength. While 
 rising in his right stirrup to give his lance full play, 
 the saddle turned and pitched him head foremost 
 into the midst of his enemies. Seeing his jeopardy, 
 his men sprang to the rescue and fought so desper- 
 
In the Chickasaw Country 189 
 
 ately, that, before the Indians could get at him, 
 he was dragged out from among them. The sad 
 dle was instantly upon his horse again, and he in 
 the saddle and back in the fight. The saddle had 
 turned, because in the wild haste of the moment the 
 groom had not buckled the girth, and the Adelan- 
 tado had been fighting all this time with the sad 
 dle simply laid on the cloth. 
 
 The Indians weakened, as they always did in the 
 crisis of the fight, and the Spaniards were just about 
 turning the tables against them when their cry to 
 retreat was heard echoing all round the village ; and 
 almost as suddenly as they came, they turned their 
 backs and fled at full speed. The Spanish pursued 
 as far as the light of the burning village extended, 
 and then returned to count their loss. It was 
 greater than they feared ; forty Spaniards killed and 
 fifty horses. Twenty of the horses were burned in 
 the stables, chained fast, for they had become so 
 frolicsome and restive with high feeding and want 
 of exercise that their masters had used chains instead 
 of halters, and so the poor beasts had no chance to 
 escape. 
 
 Nearly all the hogs four hundred of them 
 were burned to death. To guard them the better 
 from the depredations of the Indians, who had 
 become so greedy for them that they constantly 
 stole them, the Adelantado kept them in the cen 
 tre of the village in a great pen covered with 
 straw. This, of course, caught fire, and none of the 
 hogs escaped except the little sucking pigs that 
 
190 Hernando de Soto 
 
 could run between the cracks of the posts ; and the 
 hogs were so fat that, it was said, their melted grease 
 soaked the ground for two hundred steps around 
 the pen. Among other things related by the Span 
 ish soldiers of this night attack of the Chickasaws 
 was that each warrior came to it with three ropes 
 tied around his body one to tie and carry away a 
 Spaniard, one for a horse, and the third for a hog. 
 
 Far more pitiable than after the battle of 
 Mauvila was the plight now of the Spaniards ; for 
 not only were the few clothes that remained to them 
 burned, but all their weapons and saddles. It was 
 well for them that the Indians did not attack them 
 the next day. 
 
 The Adelantado, who had never forgiven Luis de 
 Moscoso for not coming up more quickly with the 
 troops at Mauvila, now, after the negligence that 
 had permitted the surprise of the camp, deposed 
 him and appointed Balthazar de Gallegos master of 
 camp. The village was in ruins and there could be 
 no question of remaining in it, so three days after 
 the attack, the army drew out from it, and with their 
 remnants of luggage, camped in an open field about 
 a league distant. Temporary shelters were put up 
 with the timbers and thatching carried off from 
 neighbouring villages. The soldiers called the en 
 campment Chickasilla, Little Chickasaw. Here a 
 forge was contrived out of arquebuse barrels, with 
 the bellows pieced out of bear skin, and in all haste 
 and with all their energy, the men turned to making 
 new lances, shields, and saddles, and to tempering 
 
In the Chickasaw Country 191 
 
 their swords. As for clothing, they looked more 
 like gypsies than soldiers : one without a coat, an 
 other without breeches, and all barefooted ; and the 
 winter was severe, with frost and ice in plenty. 
 Their only comfort was fires ; but they complained 
 that they spent the whole night turning from one 
 side to the other, for while one side warmed, the 
 other froze. They did not sleep under shelters, 
 for the Adelantado, fearing another conflagration, 
 camped them in the open in four separate divisions, 
 each one with pickets and sentinels posted. To 
 secure against surprise during the night, every morn 
 ing five or six detachments of cavalry scouted the 
 country in all directions and killed all Indians met. 
 When they returned at sunset, they could truthfully 
 say that there was not a live Indian in a circuit of 
 four leagues around the camp. But within four or 
 five hours at the latest, the Indians would be at the 
 camp again, and seldom a night passed without a 
 soldier or horse being wounded. 
 
 The winter wore on to March,, and what with the 
 constant toil, the nightly skirmishes, the cold, and 
 being every night on duty, barefoot, and with noth 
 ing on but breeches and a shirt of buckskin, the 
 Spaniards always said they survived only through 
 the mercy of Heaven and Juan Vega. Juan Vega 
 was one of the common soldiers, a peasant, who one 
 day bethought him of making a mat of the grass 
 which grew long and pliable thereabouts, to cover 
 himself with from the cold of night. He plaited 
 it four fingers thick and so long and wide that one 
 
192 Hernando de Soto 
 
 half served as mattress and the other as blanket. 
 When he found how comfortable it was, he plaited 
 quantities of them for his comrades and taught 
 others to plait them. And so the men would take 
 their mats with them to their guard stations at 
 night, and wrapping themselves in them were able 
 to resist the cold, from which otherwise, they said, 
 they would have perished. 
 
 They were glad enough when the first days of 
 spring came, and they could move away from the 
 Chickasaw country and proceed with their discovery. 
 After marching about four leagues, the Adelantado 
 halted for the night, sending as usual a troop of 
 horse to reconnoitre the line of the morrow s route. 
 The troop returned with the report that only a 
 short ride distant, and in direct line of their route, 
 was a stronghold, 1 the most formidable yet seen in 
 the country, filled with warriors, ferocious looking 
 men, in war feathers and paint, with their bodies 
 striped red, black, white, and yellow, and their eyes 
 circled with rings of red, which made them look 
 like devils. As soon as they saw the Spaniards, 
 they beat their drums and with a great cry came 
 out of the fort to meet them ; but the troop re 
 treated. The Adelantado at once went himself on 
 a reconnoissance, and returning to camp said to his 
 officers and cavaliers : " Before night we must drive 
 the savages out of that fort ; for after their past 
 
 1 This fort of the Alibamo has been located by Indian tradition upon the Yazoo 
 River in Tallahatchie County, Mississippi. The Alibamo Indians belong to the 
 Chickasaw tribe. 
 
In the Chickasaw Country 193 
 
 success, they are so little afraid of us that they are 
 not going to let us leave their country without a 
 fight, and if we do not punish them, they will come 
 out and punish us to-night." Officers and cavaliers, 
 burning for revenge for their sufferings during the 
 winter, heartily agreed to this ; and various com 
 panies were at once ordered forward, a third of the 
 army being left behind to guard the camp. 
 
 The fort, about two hundred paces square, was 
 without doubt a strong one a palisade of the 
 stoutest logs driven so close together in the ground 
 that they overlapped. Inside, two other palisades 
 crossed from wall to wall. The entrance was through 
 three small doors, one in the centre, the other two 
 close to the corners, but so low that a man on horse 
 back could not pass through. Almost underneath 
 the rear wall, ran a narrow and very deep stream 
 with high, sheer banks, most difficult for a man to 
 climb, and utterly impassable for horses. The only 
 bridge over it was a frail, narrow, swinging foot- 
 log, anything but easy to cross. 
 
 The Adelantado, after studying the situation, 
 ordered one hundred of the best-armoured cava 
 liers to dismount, and forming in three columns 
 of three abreast, to assault the doors ; the footmen, 
 advancing behind and under their protection, were 
 to support them and hold the doors after they 
 were gained. He and Andreas de Vasconselas, 
 with a troop of horse stationed on each side, were to 
 charge when the proper moment came. The order 
 was no sooner given than obeyed ; and the three col- 
 
194 Hernando de Soto 
 
 umns were formed. The Indians, who up to this 
 time had remained close within their walls, seeing the 
 Spaniards ready to attack, now sallied forth, about 
 a hundred men from each doorway, and with all 
 dash and daring attacked the advancing columns of 
 Spaniards. At their first discharge of arrows, two 
 cavaliers in the front rank of one column fell, and 
 one in each of the other columns. And after that, 
 volley upon volley was shot, and men dropped out 
 of their columns everywhere. The Spaniards, giving 
 a loud shout to one another to close at once, broke 
 into a furious charge upon the gates. At the same 
 time the Adelantado and Andreas de Vasconselas 
 charged from the sides with their troops of horse, 
 and the Indians were driven back. The gates being 
 too narrow to let them through, they were jammed 
 and crushed and crowded against the walls, and cut 
 down by the Spaniards, who leaped over their bodies 
 and got inside the fort. Here was the entire force 
 of the Indians, and here were the same small door 
 ways, and, as before, the Indians blocked them. 
 When the Spaniards saw the Chickasaws penned in 
 thus, all their hatred, from the incessant warfare, 
 anxiety, sufferings, and cruelty of the winter rose 
 in relentless fury within them, and their swords 
 opened flood-gates of blood in the naked mass of 
 bodies before them. It was the same against the 
 other wall, in the second enclosure : it was carnage, 
 not killing. Some of the warriors, sore pressed, 
 leaped from the palisade into the plain, only to fall 
 into the hands of the troopers outside. Those who 
 
In the Chickasaw Country 195 
 
 could, got through the rear gates to the river, but 
 the light foot-bridge, crowded with the confused 
 mass, swayed and bent under them, and numbers 
 fell, their bodies writhing and twisting through the 
 air, into the river far below. Those who could not 
 get to the bridge threw themselves into the river 
 and swam across. On the other side of the river, 
 reforming and ranging themselves in battle array, 
 they still defiantly faced the Spaniards. De Soto 
 with the two troops of horsemen rode up and down 
 the bank looking for a ford, and the infantry drew 
 up in a line facing the Indians. 
 
 While thus waiting and watching each other, a 
 warrior stepped out from the ranks of his people 
 and, calling over to the Spaniards by sign, chal 
 lenged a crossbowman to come out and try skill 
 with him. A hidalgo of Asturia accepted, and walk 
 ing out upon the bank, took his position, placed a 
 shaft in his bow, and bending his head sideways, 
 crossbowman style, aimed at the Indian; the Indian, 
 straight and erect, aimed at him. Both drew string 
 at the same instant. The Indian tottered and fell 
 dead, hit full and fair in the breast. The Spaniard 
 walked away, with the arrow sticking like a needle 
 through the nape of his neck, which he had exposed 
 in bending his head. 
 
 The Adelantado, finding a ford, crossed the river 
 with his horse and fell again upon the Indians, 
 and put them to flight, pursuing and lancing them 
 until night fell and darkness opened a refuge to 
 them. As he had ordered, the fort was taken, rind 
 
196 Hernando de Soto 
 
 the Chickasaws were punished ; two thousand of 
 them, at least, were killed in it. But not without 
 cost ; for, although it is not stated how many Span 
 iards were killed, yet so many were wounded that 
 the army was forced to halt for four days on this 
 account ; and fifteen men died in camp and during 
 the first days of the march. 
 
CHAPTER XVII 
 
 THE GREAT RIVER 
 
 STIFF and sore, the Spaniards crossed the river 
 and drew out of the Chickasaw country, cursing 
 it as cordially as they had done that of Tusca- 
 loosa. Beyond lay a vast wilderness of forest and 
 swamp, the neutral territory between the Chicka- 
 saws and the next tribe. Always heading away 
 from the sea-shore, De Soto led his men into this 
 wilderness, almost impassable even for the horses, 
 which had to swim across a great bayou and lake. 
 Seven days it took them to get through, and when 
 they came out to high land again and clear forest, 
 they saw just before them a village, and as soon 
 as they saw it, breaking through all order and disci 
 pline, they rushed forward and captured it, with 
 every man, woman, and child in it, plundering the 
 cabins of everything they could find. It was the vil 
 lage of Chisca, 1 whose people, on account of the 
 extensive forest lying between them and the other 
 province, had heard nothing of the march of the 
 Spaniards through the land; they knew nothing of the 
 
 1 It is hardly necessary to say that Chisca is only a variation in the Spanish 
 spelling of Chicasa, i.e. Chickasaw, and that the Spaniards, although they were 
 rejoicing at being out of it, were still in the country of the Chickasaws. 
 
 197 
 
Hernando de Soto 
 
 Spaniards, in fact, until they saw them breaking into 
 the village. Only the dwelling of the chief escaped 
 capture. It stood outside the village on a very 
 high mound, which was walled like a fortress, hav 
 ing no way of ingress or egress save tall ladders. 
 To this place some of the Indians fled for refuge. 
 
 The chief Chisca lay in his bed, for he was very 
 old and infirm. When he heard the noise and 
 confusion below in his village, he arose, and com 
 ing out in front of his cabin, saw what was going 
 on : the place being sacked and plundered and his 
 people captured. Wild with rage, he seized a 
 hatchet and started down the ladder, with fierce 
 threats against each and all who came into his 
 village without permission the threats of his 
 long-past youthful warrior days, for the poor old 
 frame had not strength now to kill a cat ; and 
 besides being ill and decrepit from age, the chief 
 was so small and puny that the Spaniards held him 
 ever to be the most insignificant looking of all the 
 Indians they saw in Florida. His women and 
 servants threw themselves upon him and with tears 
 and prayers held him back, while the Indians who 
 had fled from the village told him that the new 
 comers were men such as none of them had ever 
 seen the like of before ; that there were great num 
 bers of them, and they were borne along upon 
 great animals that ran most swiftly. If the chief 
 wanted to fight, they said, he must remember he was 
 taken off his guard and unprepared, and to revenge 
 such an insult, he must call out all the people in 
 
The Great River 199 
 
 the province and bide his time and opportunity, 
 feigning the while friendship with the enemy, and 
 making the best of what had happened until the 
 time for vengeance came ; to rush into a fight now 
 would bring greater risk and insult to himself and 
 damage to his people. But, reason as they might, 
 it was a long time before they could dissuade their 
 old chief from going down the ladder to fight the 
 Spaniards. And his temper was such, that, when 
 the Adelantado sent a message, offering him peace 
 and friendship, he would not listen to it, saying that 
 he wished no messages from one who insulted him, 
 but war, and a war of fire and blood ; and this war 
 he declared against the Spaniards at once, so that 
 they could be prepared, for he meant to slaughter 
 them all, and that soon. 
 
 De Soto and his officers and soldiers during the 
 past winter had been rather surfeited with fighting, 
 and now, with numbers of men and horses still 
 wounded and suffering from their last engagement, 
 they had no inclination whatever for more of it. 
 Embarrassed and vexed at having so recklessly 
 sacked and plundered the village and angered the 
 chief, they sent other and more and more urgent 
 messages to him, using all the prettiest words and 
 the politest and most suave phrases they knew. 
 For they saw, with anxiety, that, in the three short 
 hours they had been in the village, great numbers 
 of warriors had rallied round the old chief, and 
 they feared that greater numbers still would soon 
 arrive to increase his already preponderating force. 
 
2OO Hernando de Soto 
 
 And they saw, too, that the position of the village 
 was favourable to the Indians but very bad and 
 unfavourable to themselves ; the ground being filled 
 with trees and cut up with bayous, which would 
 prevent their using their horses, a very necessary 
 advantage to them now over the Indians. But 
 what finally was of the greatest weight with them 
 and they had proved it well by their experience 
 in the past was the fact that wars and battles did 
 not advance them a whit, but, on the contrary, the 
 Indians killing ofT their men and horses were slowly 
 and surely consuming their strength day by day. 
 All of which made them want peace and want it 
 heartily. 
 
 The Indians, on the other hand, seeing their 
 strengthening numbers, and smarting under the capt 
 ure of their women and children, wanted war, and 
 would accept nothing but war, as the shortest and 
 best way of obtaining restitution for their loss. 
 However, there is always a proportion of prudent, 
 even among the most daring warriors. These began 
 to suggest that the peace and friendship offered by 
 the Spaniards be accepted, as in that way, much more 
 surely than by war, could the captured wives and 
 children and lost property be recovered and such 
 further damage prevented, as having their village 
 burned and their fields destroyed when the time for 
 planting was so near. What need, said they, to 
 prove by trial the valour of the Spaniards? Their 
 own senses told them very clearly what sort of men 
 they were ; for men who could pass through so 
 
The Great River 201 
 
 much country and so many enemies could not be 
 other than the very bravest, whose peace would be 
 far more profitable than their wars. 
 
 After much talking this counsel finally prevailed, 
 the chief accepting it and guarding his wrath until 
 the hoped-for future opportunity should arrive. 
 He therefore replied to the waiting messenger of 
 the Adelantado that, first of all, the Spaniards must 
 tell him what they required. The answer was that 
 the Spaniards required nothing more than to have 
 the village vacated and given to them for lodging, 
 and, as no man had a dispensation from hunger, 
 the necessary food, which would be little, for they 
 were on the march and could not stay long in that 
 territory. The old chief said he would be willing 
 to grant this, but only and solely on condition that 
 his captured people should be freed at once, and 
 that all property taken should be restored without 
 so much as an earthen pot missing ; and that if the 
 Spaniards did not accept these terms, he defied them 
 to battle then and at once. 
 
 The Spaniards accepted ; the captives were set 
 free and the plunder restored, not even an earthen 
 pot, as the chief said, missing. The Indians then 
 vacated the village, leaving the provisions in it. 
 The sick and wounded were in such dire need of 
 rest and refreshment that the army remained there 
 six days. On the day before his departure, with 
 the permission of the old chief, whose ire had 
 somewhat abated, De Soto climbed up the mound 
 to present his respects and thanks to him. 
 
2O2 Hernando de Soto 
 
 Marching from the village, and just outside of it, 
 the Spaniards came to the greatest river they had 
 ever seen, the Mississippi. 1 A half league broad 
 it was, as they described it ; " and if a man stood 
 still on the other side, it could not be discovered 
 whether he were a man or not ; and it was of 
 mighty depth and current, and the water was 
 muddy, and brought along down stream continually 
 great trees and timbers/ The Indians called it the 
 Chicagua River ; but the Spaniards called it in their 
 accounts nothing but El Rio Grande the Great 
 River. They marched along the bank until, at the 
 end of the fourth day, they came to a place where it 
 was open enough to permit the army to get to the 
 water, for hitherto it was not only covered by a for 
 est of the deepest and densest kind, but it was so 
 steep and high that there was no way of getting 
 either up or down. Finding an open field for a 
 camp about a crossbow shot distant from it, the 
 Adelantado halted to build boats. The great river, 
 instead of stopping him, tempted him to cross and 
 push his discoveries on the other side ; moreover, 
 in Chisca the Indians told of gold on the other side 
 of the river; and of a great and rich province called 
 Capaha, lying over there. 
 
 The forest furnished the best of timber, and the 
 villages, corn : and the work was commenced forth 
 with and pushed along briskly. Simultaneously 
 
 1 They were at what is now known as the Chickasaw Bluffs, 32 N., having in 
 their march wound their way over Florida, Georgia, part of South Carolina, Ala 
 bama, Mississippi, Louisiana, and Tennessee. 
 
The Great River 203 
 
 with the Spaniards on one bank, appeared Indians 
 on the other ; a great gathering they seemed across 
 the water, and provided with an innumerable quan 
 tity of canoes. Soon deputations began to arrive 
 from them and from the chiefs round about, spying 
 with eager curiosity, under feigned indifference. 
 One day six Indians from the river below presented 
 themselves, who said they came to see what manner 
 of people the Spaniards were; for long ago they had 
 been told by their fathers that a white people should 
 come and subdue them ; another day, warriors came 
 to announce the visit of a great chief, named Aquixo, 
 chief of many towns and tribes on the other side of 
 the river. And, as announced, Aquixo was seen ap 
 proaching with a flotilla of at least two hundred 
 canoes, each with a file of Indians in war-paint and 
 great war-plumes, with bows and quivers, and with 
 shields in their hands, standing from stem to stern. 
 The canoe of the chief had a canopy under which he 
 sat. Paddling at full speed, they came swirling to 
 within a stone s throw of the bank, when the chief 
 called out a greeting to the Adelantado, who was 
 standing there with his officers. The Adelantado 
 called to him to come on shore, that they might the 
 better talk together. The chief sent three canoes 
 ashore with a present of a great quantity of dried fish 
 and a bread which the Spaniards describe as made of 
 prunes (the toothsome persimmon bread of the old- 
 time southern pioneer). But the demonstrations 
 turned out to be a piece of Indian treachery, the 
 real purpose being to attack if possible ; for, when 
 
204 Hernando de Soto 
 
 the Indians saw that the Spaniards were prepared 
 the Adelantado had drawn up his whole army in 
 sight they began to go away again. The cross- 
 bowmen, with a loud shout, sent a volley after them. 
 The Spaniards gazed after them with admiration, 
 for they retired in such perfect order; and the 
 canoes were so symmetrical and graceful, the 
 plumed warriors, with their bows and bright quivers, 
 so erect, they seemed more like a festival pageant 
 than a savage fleet. 
 
 By the end of three weeks four boats were fin 
 ished and in the water. Three hours before day, 
 one morning, the Adelantado embarked his first 
 detachment ; horsemen, crossbowmen, and rowers, 
 selected by himself as men who would make sure 
 of the passage or die. They rowed a quarter of 
 a league up the river, and then crossing over, fell 
 down with the current opposite the camp. The 
 horsemen leaped out of the barges on horseback and 
 forded to a sandy plat of hard, clean ground, where 
 all the men landed without difficulty or opposition. 
 The barges returned at once for another load, and 
 within two hours after sunrise, the entire army with 
 the baggage was over. 
 
 Stopping only long enough to break up the boats 
 so as to save the nails and fastenings, they resumed 
 their march. They journeyed five days up the river, 
 through a savage, uninhabited stretch of country, 
 and then came to some high hills, from the tops of 
 which could be seen a large village of about four 
 hundred cabins on the bank of a river flowing 
 
The Great River 205 
 
 towards the Great River. And up and down, the 
 banks of the river were dotted with cornfields and 
 groves of handsome trees. As the army approached 
 the village the Indians came out eagerly to offer 
 peace, and later on warriors came to De Soto from 
 the chief, proffering the hospitality of his village, 
 the principal one of the province, called Casquin 
 (Kaskaskia). The Spaniards found it on the same 
 side of the river seven leagues higher up. The 
 country through which they passed going to it was 
 all bountifully fertile and well populated ; wherever 
 the eye looked, in fact, could be seen no less than 
 two or three little villages of from fifteen to forty 
 cabins. The chief, called Casquin also, a handsome 
 warrior about fifty years of age, with a large follow 
 ing of warriors, met the army on the road and 
 escorted it to his village. The Adelantado, now 
 anxiously careful to avoid any infractions of peace, 
 accepted lodgings only for himself and officers in it, 
 quartering the army in a grove near by, where the 
 men were most comfortable, for it was now May, 
 and beginning to be very warm. 
 
 Every day of the stay in Casquin, the Spaniards 
 and Indians grew better pleased with one another; 
 and one morning the chief and several of his war 
 riors presented themselves before the Adelantado, 
 and all bowing with the deepest reverence, Cas 
 quin spoke : " My lord, as you have the advantage 
 over us in force and arms, so we believe you have 
 the advantage over us in gods. These that you see 
 here are the best warriors of my nation ; and I, with 
 
206 Hernando de Soto 
 
 them, beg you to pray your gods to send us rain, 
 for our cornfields need water sadly." The Ade- 
 lantado answered piously, that, although he and 
 all of his army were sinners, they would pray to 
 their Lord God to show his favour as the Indians 
 asked ; and at once, in the presence of the chief, 
 sending for Master Francisco, a Genoese, and a 
 great master in carpentry and boat building, he com 
 manded him straightway to make a cross out of the 
 tallest and finest pine tree to be found in all the 
 surrounding forest. And such was the tree to which 
 the Indians guided the builder, and which the Span 
 iards cut down ; for after clearing and stripping it, one 
 hundred men could not raise it from the ground ; 
 and the cross that Master Francisco made of it was 
 surely a grand one and proportioned in all perfec 
 tion. It was carried to the top of a tall artificial 
 mound raised on the bank of the river as a watch- 
 tower, and there it was set up. 
 
 A solemn procession was then ordered for the next 
 day ; and it was worthy the cross. All the army 
 took part in it, except a squadron of cavalry and 
 infantry stationed on guard ; more than a thousand 
 men there were, believers and unbelievers, the chief 
 walking by the side of the Adelantado, the warriors 
 by the side of the cavaliers. The priests and friars 
 went first, chanting the litany, to which all the sol 
 diers chanted the responses. With slow steps they 
 advanced to the mound, ascended it, and falling on 
 their knees repeated two or three prayers. Then, 
 two by two rising, they went to the cross, kneeled 
 
The Great River 207 
 
 at its foot, adored and kissed it the priests first, 
 the Adelantado and the chief following, then the 
 cavaliers and warriors, then the common soldiers and 
 the other Indians, who did exactly what they saw the 
 Spaniards do. On the opposite bank of the river, the 
 Spaniards could see a great mass of people standing, 
 watching, stretching and waving their arms, clasping 
 their hands, raising their eyes too, praying as they 
 saw the Christians were praying, and from both sides 
 of the river rose the wailing of the Indian women 
 and children. The Spaniards were much affected by 
 the sight; the colossal cross, extending its wide arms 
 over a multitude praying out of their dimness and 
 ignorance to a God they knew not, seemed to them 
 a sign to their church such as the rainbow was to 
 the faithful after the Deluge. The procession re 
 turned in the same order to the village, all chanting 
 the Te Deum. And that very night, a little before 
 midnight, it began to rain ; and the rain lasted two 
 whole days, to the great joy of the Indians. Some 
 days later the chief and his warriors came again, 
 bowing reverently before the Adelantado, presenting 
 now two blind men, and praying him to heal their 
 eyes ; and the blind ones also raising their voices, 
 begged earnestly and loudly for sight. But this 
 time only a long theological explanation of the 
 Christian religion by the Adelantado was vouchsafed 
 them. 
 
 When the Adelantado gave orders for the army 
 to prepare to take up its march upon Capaha, Cas- 
 quin insisted upon accompanying it with a great 
 
208 Hernando de Soto 
 
 train of his people to carry the provisions and clear 
 the road, and to fetch wood and water, and gather 
 grass and green food for the horses ; for the army, 
 he said, would not only have to pass through an ex 
 tensive neutral forest, but also have to cross a lake 
 over which a bridge would be needed, and which his 
 men could make. The Spaniards did not find out 
 until later that the Casquins were at war, as their 
 fathers, forefathers, and ancestors far back had been, 
 with the neighbouring province of Capaha, 1 and that 
 the chief of Capaha, a noted warrior, had so over 
 awed and subdued the people of Casquin that they 
 dared not take up arms for any purpose for fear of 
 offending him, and thus they had been driven into 
 the shame of never going outside of their boundaries. 
 But now Casquin, the chief, saw a fine opportunity, 
 under the protection of a foreign power, to avenge 
 himself for all past injuries. So, in addition to the 
 pack bearers, who carried their bows and arrows as 
 well as their packs, he collected a great band of war 
 riors armed to the teeth ; and with great pomp and 
 ceremony he put himself at the head of these to go 
 in advance, he said, to clear the road and prepare 
 the camp for the Spaniards. The Adelantado pru 
 dently kept his army well behind them, and as the 
 two armies travelled during the day, so they camped 
 at night with a safe distance intervening. 
 
 At the end of three days the army came to a 
 swamp a very ugly one it was, as the Casquin 
 chief had said, with a great lake in the centre. The 
 
 1 The Kappas or Quapaw of modern accounts. 
 
The Great River 209 
 
 foot-soldiers and pack bearers crossed on the bridge 
 that the Indians made, while the cavaliers swam 
 their horses over. As the swamp was the dividing 
 line between the territory of Capaha and Casquin, 
 that night the Casquin warriors camped for the first 
 time in their lives in their enemy s country. The 
 village of Capaha lay within easy reach. 
 
CHAPTER XVIII 
 
 CAPAHA 
 
 CAPAHA, the chief, was looking out from the 
 porch of his cabin in the early dawn. His 
 village, built on a mound a hill in height 
 and size rose finely above the land. Along three 
 sides of it ran a deep moat or ditch wide enough for 
 two canoes abreast and filled with water which came 
 and went through a channel dug by hand, extend 
 ing to the Mississippi, three leagues away. On its 
 fourth side, the mound was protected by a strong 
 palisade, whose timbers were driven so close into 
 the earth that they overlapped one another. As 
 the chief, securely confident, as he well might be, 
 looked about him in the brightening light, he saw 
 gliding through the forest the dusky figures of his 
 enemies, the Casquins were upon him. He had 
 but time before they broke from the forest to give 
 the alarm and jump into a canoe and paddle as fast 
 as he could through the canal. Such of his warriors 
 as had canoes followed him, others fled into the 
 woods. 
 
 The Casquins, finding no defence attempted, 
 stopped in their rush, and crept into the village 
 
 210 
 
Capaha 211 
 
 slowly and cautiously, suspecting an ambush or 
 stratagem ; although they had the Spaniards behind 
 them, they had been too often whipped by the Ca- 
 pahas not to fear them still. This delay gave some 
 of the women and children time to escape ; but many 
 were unfortunate enough to be caught in the village ; 
 for when the Casquins had convinced themselves 
 that there were indeed none to oppose, then they gave 
 themselves up to the sweets of revenge for which 
 they had lusted for generations. They killed and 
 scalped ; they destroyed, sacked, and plundered the 
 chief s house with especial glee and delight ; they 
 went to the temple of the village, the sacred burial- 
 place of the father, grandfather, and ancestors of Ca 
 paha, leaping and calling to one another so that all 
 might enjoy the triumph ; and knowing how much 
 Capaha, proud and haughty as he was, would feel the 
 desecration and sacrilege, they committed in the tem 
 ple all the outrages and insults they could think of. 
 They robbed it of everything it held in the way of 
 treasures and ornaments, of spoil and trophy, acquired 
 mostly through past victories over the Casquins ; 
 they threw the burial-chests upon the earth, broke 
 them asunder, scattered the bones, and not even 
 content with that, they trampled upon them with 
 all kinds of revilement and contempt. They took 
 down the heads of the Casquins which the men of 
 Capaha had stuck on poles at the door, and replaced 
 them with heads cut off fresh from the people of 
 Capaha. In short, there was no form of vengeance 
 they could think of that they did not wreak upon 
 
212 Hernando de Soto 
 
 their enemies, except burning the village ; that they 
 did not dare for fear of the Spaniards. 
 
 The Spaniards had not yet come up, and the 
 Casquins, camping and marching well ahead of the 
 army, were able to accomplish all this before they 
 arrived. When the Adelantado came in sight of 
 the village and heard what had taken place, and that 
 the chief had fled, he at once ordered Casquin to stop 
 the deviltries of his men, and he sent messengers after 
 Capaha with offers of peace and friendship. But 
 Capaha would not receive them. On the contrary, 
 he made his way to an island he possessed in the 
 Mississippi, summoning his warriors far and near 
 to him, and the messengers found him busy fortify 
 ing it. When this was told the Adelantado, he de 
 termined to forestall attack by attacking; and he 
 commanded Indians and Spaniards to prepare at 
 once for an expedition against the island. Casquin, 
 seeing before him now nothing less than the com 
 plete destruction of the Capahas, threw himself with 
 all energy into the preparations for it. He sent in 
 all haste to his village to fetch canoes up the Mis 
 sissippi to a landing-place opposite the island, and 
 he at once started off himself with his warriors to 
 meet them there, ravaging, wasting, and destroying 
 as he went, and setting free his people captured of 
 yore by the Capahas, wherever he found them work 
 ing in the cornfields slaves, with the tendons of 
 one foot cut to lame them. 
 
 When De Soto with his men arrived at the 
 landing-place, he found seventy canoes awaiting 
 
Capaha 213 
 
 him. He found also that Capaha s island was an 
 impassable growth of cane-brake and thicket, and 
 that the chief had fortified it from end to end by 
 palisades behind which he stood ready and waiting 
 with his best tried warriors, the very flower of his 
 fine tribe. The attack was immediately begun, De 
 Soto setting out in the lead with two hundred of 
 his men, Casquin and his men following in the rest 
 of the flotilla. 
 
 In one of the foremost Spanish canoes crossing 
 the river was a handsome young fellow, Francisco 
 Sebastian, who, overflowing with gayety and good 
 spirits, was always the life of any party he hap 
 pened to be in ; and now as ever, always talking, he 
 was entertaining his comrades and keeping them in 
 a laugh over his drolleries. " The devil himself it 
 was," he was saying, " and no one else, that brought 
 me into this scrape of a conquest. For God, He 
 dropped me into a good enough country, I can tell 
 you, Italy, where, by the polite custom of lan 
 guage, I was c My-lorded, and bowed down to, and 
 smiled upon as if I were a real lord with vassals 
 under me ; and you, rude boors that you are, you 
 never think of using anything else but f thou to 
 me and treat me like one of yourselves. There, 
 like the beautiful people they are, they feasted me, 
 and succoured me in my wants, as if I were every 
 young girl s sweetheart, every old woman s son. 
 That was in peace. In war, it was still finer; for, 
 if I happened to kill a man, Turk, Moor, or 
 Frenchman, I had him, I could strip him of 
 
214 Hernando de Soto 
 
 his armour, his clothes, his horse, and so he was 
 always worth something to me. Here in this devil s 
 own country, what have I got to fight? Naked, 
 indecent creatures, who go skipping and hopping 
 and dancing and capering before and around me, 
 always ten paces off, shooting their arrows at me 
 with all the grace and skill in the world, as if I were 
 a piece of game or a pretty target, and if by good 
 luck I do catch and kill one of them, what is there 
 to strip him of? A bow and some feathers. Much 
 use I can make of them. But what I feel most of 
 all is that the famous fortune-teller and astrologer, 
 Lucero of Italy, once told me to be careful about 
 going upon the water, because I was going to die by 
 drowning and I have avoided water ever since ; and 
 now just see! my ill luck has sent me to a country 
 where we are never out of the water." The canoe had 
 come within jumping distance of the island. Fran 
 cisco, always the first daredevil in every adventure, 
 quickly got up, and putting his lance overboard and 
 bracing it in the river-bed he leaped, but instead of 
 reaching land, he pushed the boat back and fell into 
 the water, where his armour sinking him like a stone 
 to the bottom, he helplessly drowned. 
 
 The Spaniards, attacking with their accustomed 
 spirit and courage, gained the first palisade and 
 drove the Indians behind the second. But there 
 the Capahas were fighting with their chief; and 
 knowing the peril they were in, and that, if they 
 did not then and there conquer the Casquins they 
 would lose all the honour and glory of their past 
 
Capaha 215 
 
 victories, and burning also with shame at having 
 fled from the Casquins, they fought with such 
 might that they held the Spaniards at bay, and 
 neither they nor their Indian allies advanced a step. 
 When they saw this, the men of Capaha could not 
 restrain themselves, but in fierce exultation they 
 called out to the Casquin men : " Come on, cowards, 
 come on ! and take us ; you have taken our village, 
 come and take us. But think of the time when 
 these strangers go away and leave you to us ! Then 
 we will show you ! " These words were enough for 
 the Casquin men : whipped and cowed people that 
 they were, they not only stopped fighting, but, 
 losing all courage, turned their backs and fled to 
 their canoes without any respect whatever to their 
 chief or to the Spaniards and De Soto, who 
 shouted after them not to abandon their friends. 
 Throwing themselves into their canoes, they pushed 
 away into the stream and made for the opposite 
 bank. The Spaniards, left to face the overwhelming 
 numbers of the Indians, were themselves forced to 
 retreat towards the canoes, the Indians pressing 
 more and more fiercely upon them. Their peril 
 was desperate. But the Capaha chief by a brilliant 
 stratagem changed all. Throwing himself before 
 his warriors, in a loud voice he commanded them 
 not to injure the Christians, but to let them go free. 
 And well it was for the Spaniards, for otherwise the 
 two hundred of them would have been all slaughtered. 
 Early the next morning, Capaha sent messengers 
 to the Spanish camp offering peace and friendship, 
 
216 Hernando de Soto 
 
 and praying De Soto not to allow his enemies 
 to work any more damage to his lands ; praying, 
 also, that the Spanish general would return to the 
 village to protect it, promising to visit him person 
 ally on the morrow. The Adelantado, grateful for 
 the magnanimity of the day before, answered that 
 Capaha could come whenever he chose ; that he 
 would always be well received by the Spaniards, 
 and that no further damage should be done in his 
 lands. Public proclamation was made that neither 
 Indians nor Spaniards should dare commit any more 
 injury whatever in that province, and the Casquin 
 warriors and pack bearers were ordered to take 
 themselves without delay back into their own terri 
 tory. This embassy of his enemy did not please 
 Casquin at all, nor the answer of the Adelantado, 
 for he saw that it might possibly come to pass that 
 Capaha, with the favour and assistance of the Span 
 iards, would turn and destroy him and his people. 
 He became very uneasy and would not leave the 
 Adelantado a moment ; he returned to the village 
 with him and begged to stay on longer with the 
 Spaniards. He and a few of his warriors were 
 allowed to remain. 
 
 The next day Capaha came to the village accom 
 panied by a hundred splendid-looking warriors in 
 their handsomest feathers and skin mantles. Before 
 he presented himself to the Adelantado, he went 
 into his temple, and looking upon the ruin it had 
 suffered, gathered up with his own hands from 
 the floor the bones and remains of his ancestors, 
 
Capaha 217 
 
 and placed them in the chests. He then went to 
 his house and saw what had been done there. Then 
 he proceeded to the quarters of the Adelantado, who 
 received him with great compliments and distinction. 
 The chief was a young man, not more than twenty- 
 six years of age, calm and self-possessed, with the 
 manners and dignity of middle age. He answered 
 the questions put to him by the Adelantado and the 
 officers with great courtesy, patiently waiting until 
 one after the other had finished. When he saw 
 that there was nothing more for him to answer, he 
 turned towards Casquin, who was standing near the 
 Adelantado listening and watching, and whom he 
 had pretended not to see until then. Now fixing 
 him with his eyes, he addressed him : " Be content, 
 Casquin, for you have enjoyed what you have never 
 dreamed of nor hoped for out of your own strength, 
 your revenge ; and give thanks for it to these stran 
 gers. But they will go away, and we shall be here 
 as we were before. Then, Casquin, pray to the Sun 
 and Moon to help you." Before Casquin could 
 answer, the Adelantado, who had asked the inter 
 pretation of what Capaha was saying, interposed, and 
 charged upon the two chiefs the necessity of peace, 
 and enforced at least the semblance of it upon them 
 both, until the hour came for dinner. 
 
 When the Adelantado took his place at the 
 head of the board, Casquin took his seat at his 
 right hand the seat that he had occupied since 
 he had been with the army. Capaha remained 
 standing ; and looking Casquin full in the face said : 
 
2i 8 Hernando de Soto 
 
 ct You know very well that place is mine, Casquin ; 
 and for many reasons, the principal of which is that 
 my blood is more illustrious, my chieftainship more 
 ancient, and my territory larger than yours, and for 
 any one of these three reasons you should not take 
 it, because, in virtue of every one of them, it belongs 
 to me." 
 
 The Adelantado, seeing that something new was 
 happening, asked the interpreters again what Capaha 
 was saying ; and being told, he spoke to him : 
 " Even if all you have said be true, it is only just 
 that the years of Casquin should be respected, and 
 that you, who are a youth, should honour age by 
 yielding him the superior place ; it is the natural 
 obligation of the young to revere the old, and by 
 doing so they honour themselves." 
 
 " Sir," Capaha replied, " if I had Casquin in my 
 house as guest, either with white hairs or without, 
 I should give him the first place at my meals, and 
 would do him all the honour, besides, that I could ; 
 but as we are eating with strangers, it does not seem 
 just to yield my place, for it has come to me from 
 my forefathers, and if I should do so, my people 
 and my warriors would hold it ill of me. If you 
 wish me to eat with you, you must give me the 
 place at your right hand which belongs to me, other 
 wise I shall go and eat with my warriors ; this would 
 be more honourable for me and more satisfactory to 
 them than for me to be abased below the station in 
 which my forefathers left me." 
 
 Casquin, who on the one hand was desirous of 
 
Capaha 219 
 
 placating the wrath of Capaha, and on the other, 
 knew that all he said was true, now rose from his 
 seat, and said to the Adelantado : " Capaha is in the 
 right, and only demands what is just. I beg you 
 to give him the place that belongs to him ; I shall 
 seat myself on the other side, for at your table any 
 seat is honourable." And crossing to the other side, 
 without the slightest vexation, he seated himself 
 there and began to eat. Capaha took his seat, and 
 with all appearance of good feeling, also began his 
 repast. 
 
 The army remained over a month in the village, 
 and finding there great quantities of skins of deer, 
 bear, and wildcat, the soldiers employed their time 
 in tailoring, fashioning them into clothing. The 
 large furs they cut into coats, cassocks, and gowns, 
 lining them with wildcat skins. The deerskins 
 furnished jerkins, shirts, hose, and shoes. Some 
 bucklers of buffalo skin were appropriated as breast 
 plates for the horses. Food was abundant, not only 
 corn in the granaries and in the fields, but fish in 
 the moat and canal ; the water was thick with them. 
 The soldiers caught them with lines and nets found 
 in the cabins ; the moat itself was, in fact, a weir, 
 and the Spaniards feasted on the fish they caught. 
 Most of the fish were new to them. As they de 
 scribed them afterwards, there was one kind they 
 called " Bagres," which had great prickles, like awls, 
 along the gills and on both sides, and one-third 
 of its length was head ; some of them weighed a 
 hundred and fifty pounds. The " barbilles " was a 
 
22O Hernando de Soto 
 
 little delicate red and grey fish with a long snout ; 
 and another fish as large as a hog, they said, had 
 upper and lower rows of teeth. 
 
 But the great necessity of the army now, as all 
 along, although it has not been mentioned, was salt. 
 The soldiers were suffering and even dying for it. 
 Even when the army left the province of Coosa and 
 entered Tuscaloosa, the provision of salt had begun 
 to grow scarce, and shortly afterwards there was none 
 at all, and then the soldiers began to sicken and to 
 die of a dreadful, strange death. They would fall 
 into a slow fever, and, at the end of four or five 
 days, no one could endure the odour of them at 
 forty or fifty paces ; they stank, says the chronicler, 
 like the putrid bodies of dead cats and dogs. And 
 as no one knew then what was the matter, they per 
 ished without any remedy. But even if the phy 
 sician had had medicine, the sick could not have 
 profited by it, because, when the fever seized them 
 they were already past help, turning from the breast 
 down as green as grass. The Indians told them to 
 burn certain herbs, and make a lye from the ashes, 
 and to use it as they did salt upon the food ; but 
 the Spaniards called this unclean, and indecent, and 
 said it was beneath their quality to eat as the 
 Indians did. These were the ones, the chronicler 
 says tersely, who died, and, when on their death 
 beds they begged for the lye, it was too late to do 
 them good. And then in their fear and horror the 
 living were glad enough to make use of it. More 
 than sixty men died thus during one year. 
 
Capaha 221 
 
 The Adelantado made continual efforts among 
 the Indians to find out where salt might be pro 
 cured but always in vain. By good luck here in 
 the Capaha village he found some traders, who, 
 among other wares, carried salt round to sell. They 
 got their salt, they said, from some hills where it was 
 found in plenty and of good quality ; thither 
 they offered to guide the Spaniards. Two soldiers 
 joyfully volunteered to go to the place. They re 
 turned at the end of eleven days, worn out with 
 fatigue and hunger, having travelled for a week 
 through a bare region, where they found nothing to 
 eat save green plums and corn-stalks. But they 
 came back loaded with rock-salt, bringing also some 
 specimens of shining copper, which they took for 
 gold. The country they had passed through was, 
 they said, poor and sterile, and ill populated ; and 
 the Indians had told them that towards the north it 
 was worse still, for the climate was very cold, and 
 few Indians lived there because of the great droves 
 of wild beeves which destroyed the corn. 
 
CHAPTER XIX 
 
 IN THE WEST 
 
 WHEN asked which way the country was 
 most inhabited, the Indians all answered, 
 towards the south ; that, in the south 
 was a great province and plentiful country called 
 Quiguate. This, with the discouraging report of 
 the salt country, decided De Soto to change his 
 line of march and to return to the Casquin village, 
 and from there to strike out in another direction. 
 
 From Casquin the army marched south ; not as 
 heretofore towards the north and away from the sea. 
 Nine days it followed the river down its course 
 through a rich and well-peopled country, and came 
 to a village that in truth was the largest yet seen 
 in Florida, Quiguate, the village from which the 
 province and chief took their name. It was built 
 in three sections or divisions, one of which alone 
 sufficed to quarter the entire army. The chief and 
 his people received the army with great show of 
 friendliness ; but, two nights later, all disappeared, 
 not a native being left in the place. Then, perhaps 
 fearing damage to their cornfields, with their crops 
 ready to gather, a few days afterwards they all re- 
 
 222 
 
In the West 223 
 
 turned during the night, and went their way about 
 the village as if nothing had happened. 
 
 During the halt here, one night about midnight, 
 the sergeant on duty came to the Adelantado to say 
 that the royal treasurer, Juan Gaytan, being called for 
 his round of patrol duty had refused to go, giving as 
 an excuse his position as royal treasurer. The Ade 
 lantado fell into great anger. Juan Gaytan was not 
 one he was likely to forget or to forgive. And 
 now with this added to past resentment, he sprang 
 from his bed, and going out upon the porch of his 
 quarters, which from its mound dominated the 
 whole place, he called out in a voice that everybody 
 in that village heard, although it was midnight : 
 " What is this, soldiers and captains ? Are the 
 mutineers still among you who in Mauvila plotted 
 to return to Spain or to go to Mexico, that, with 
 excuses of being officers of the royal exchequer, they 
 refuse to take the watches that fall to them ? And 
 why did you want to return to Spain ? Had you 
 left there perhaps ancestral estates and titles that 
 you want to get back to and enjoy ? And why did 
 you wish to go to Mexico ? To show the vileness 
 and littleness of your souls, that having had it in 
 your power to become lords of so great and rich a 
 country as this, you held it better in your pusilla 
 nimity and cowardice to abandon it, to fare through 
 life living in others* houses and eating at others 
 tables, when you might have had your own house 
 and your own good table to offer in hospitality to 
 others ! What honour do you think it will bring 
 
224 Hernando de Soto 
 
 upon you when this is known ? Shame upon you 
 all ! And know that, officer of the royal exchequer 
 or not officer of the royal exchequer, no one is to 
 presume to excuse himself from duty, no matter 
 who he be, for I shall cut off the head of the first 
 man that does so. And do not deceive yourselves ; 
 so long as I live, no one leaves this land until it is 
 conquered and settled, for we shall conquer and 
 settle it or die in the attempt. Therefore do your 
 duty and leave off your pretensions, for it is not 
 the time for them/ These words, ringing with all 
 the bitter disappointment and grief of his heart, be 
 trayed for the first time to the soldiers the cause of 
 the perpetual discontent that had possessed the 
 Adelantado since he left Mauvila, and that pos 
 sessed him until he died. Those that took his 
 words to themselves, from that time on did what 
 they were ordered to do without murmuring, for 
 they knew that the Adelantado was not a man to 
 trifle with, and particularly after he had declared 
 himself as he had done. 
 
 And still to the question in which direction the 
 country was most inhabited, the Indians answered, 
 " Towards the south, down the river, there are great 
 provinces, ruled by great chiefs." Towards the 
 northwest it was different, they said ; all they knew 
 of there was a mountainous country called Caligoa. 
 However, De Soto and his officers, consulting to 
 gether upon it, decided to go to this Caligoa, for 
 perhaps, they said, the mountains would make a dif 
 ference in the soil and that gold and silver might be 
 
In the West 225 
 
 found there. The Indian guides led the army 
 seven days through the thick wilderness of a forest, 
 but every night it camped by some lake or pond, 
 so filled with fish that the Indians killed them with 
 cudgels, the slaves in their chains going into the 
 water first to trouble it, so that the fish would come 
 up on top. Caligoa was found upon a river at the 
 foot of a hill. The Indians, who knew nothing of 
 the Spaniards or their march, fled at sight of them 
 in terror, leaping into the river, but the Spaniards, 
 spreading out on both sides of the stream, captured 
 a great many of them, and among them the chief. 
 By his command, his people brought the Spaniards 
 presents of deerskins and buffalo hides. 
 
 The soil of Caligoa was so rich that the people 
 every year cast out old corn to find room for the 
 new, and the Spaniards found that the beans there 
 were better even than those of Spain ; the pump 
 kins when roasted tasted, they said, like chestnuts. 
 They were glad enough to see the Indians friendly 
 and peaceable, because they had heard that the men 
 of these parts poisoned their arrows, which fright 
 ened them very much, for if, they said, to their 
 fierceness, courage, and skill in shooting was added 
 poison, what should they do ? 
 
 These Indians also said that further north it was 
 very cold, and the country was poor and thinly in 
 habited, but there were great quantities of wild 
 cattle there ; the best and most populous country 
 they knew was Coyas, towards the south. The 
 chief of Caligoa furnished a guide to lead the army 
 
226 Hernando de Soto 
 
 to Coyas, which proved to be a five days march dis 
 tant. The village was small, and the cabins dif 
 ferent from any yet seen, for over the frames were 
 stretched skins, dyed in various colours and with 
 designs drawn upon them; skins also lay on the 
 floors like carpets. When De Soto saw that the 
 village was only a scattering group of cabins, he 
 thought that the guide had lied, for the Indians had 
 all said Coyas was well inhabited, and he threatened 
 the chief, charging him to tell the name of the 
 town and where the army was. But he and all the 
 Indians there and from other villages swore that 
 the village was Coyas, and the largest in the coun 
 try, explaining that though the cabins were strag 
 gling, there were many of them and they were well 
 stored with corn and filled with people. The town 
 was also called Tanico, 1 they said, from the river 
 of that name that flowed by it. 
 
 The soldiers walking along the bank of the river 
 in the afternoon happened to see, in a little tongue 
 of water, a bluish kind of sand. One of them, tak 
 ing up some, tasted it, and, finding it salty, told his 
 companions that he believed they could make salt 
 petre out of it, for powder for the arquebuses. 
 With this idea they gathered up a quantity of it, 
 threw it into water, rubbing it with their hands; then 
 straining the water, they put it to boil. The water 
 evaporated, leaving a deposit of salt, yellow in colour 
 
 1 The site of the village is generally supposed to have been at the hills of White 
 River, the source of the St. Francis. The Tunica Indians were afterwards on the 
 Mississippi. 
 
In the West 227 
 
 but good of taste. The Adelantado immediately 
 ordered a supply of it made for the army. It was 
 then he learned that the village was one of the 
 places to which the Indian traders came regularly 
 for salt to sell. They gathered the deposit in wide- 
 mouthed baskets ending in a point, made by the 
 women for the purpose ; and hanging these over an 
 empty earthen pot placed on the fire, they poured 
 water slowly into them, the water, dripping through 
 upon the heated pot, evaporated, leaving a crust of 
 salt. 
 
 So great was the craze of the soldiers for salt that 
 they could not control themselves at all, but ate it 
 by the handful as if it were sugar, answering those 
 who chided : " Let us have our fill of salt now, for 
 we have had our fill of hunger for it long enough." 
 So nine or ten did get their fill of it, for they died 
 of it, dying of the surfeit as the others had died of 
 the hunger. 
 
 The army rested here a month, the horses fatten 
 ing as much as the men from the great abundance 
 of corn and fodder ; and they too, in their eagerness 
 for salt, drank so greedily of a hot, brackish lake 
 near by that their bodies swelled from it. The 
 Indians of Coyas, like all the other Indians the 
 Spaniards met, knew of a better country that lay 
 beyond ; the province of Tula, towards the south. 
 The chief gave a guide to it, but no interpreters ; 
 for his ancestors, he said, having always been at 
 war, and never at peace, with the people of Tula, 
 there had been no intercourse between them, and 
 
228 Hernando de Soto 
 
 they did not understand one another s language. 
 And so, leaving the territory called " La Sal " by 
 the soldiers, the army set out for Tula. 
 
 After four days march through the despoblado 
 that lay between the two provinces, the army halted 
 about noon in a beautiful meadow which the guide 
 said was a half league distant from the Tula village. 
 The Adelantado rode out with an escort of horse 
 to have a look at it that afternoon. They found 
 it prettily situated in a meadow between two rivers. 
 The inhabitants were taken completely by surprise, 
 but at sight of the strangers, they gave the alarm and 
 rushed out like hornets to meet them, the women 
 with their weapons showing the same fierce and 
 daring spirit as the men. The Spaniards charged, 
 but they held firm ; and, both sides fighting steadily, 
 the one retreated and the other advanced into the 
 village. And there the Spaniards found about as 
 much work as they could do ; for their opponents 
 fought without fear of death, and, inferior though 
 they were in arms and force, they would not sur 
 render, but rather let themselves be killed, the 
 women as well as men. To get out of the way 
 of the horses, the Indians mounted on the tops of 
 their houses, and shot their arrows down upon the 
 assailants, and when beaten out of one house they 
 would run to another, and when pursued in front, 
 would slip round and come back to attack the 
 Spaniards in the rear. 
 
 One of the cavaliers, dismounting, charged into 
 a cabin and ran up the ladder into the loft, which, 
 
In the West 229 
 
 as in all Indian cabins, was used as a granary. Here, 
 he found five Indian women cowering in a corner. 
 By signs he told them that he did not wish to 
 harm them. When they saw that he was not 
 followed but was alone, they dropped their fear, 
 and rushing upon him like mastiffs upon a bull, and 
 seizing him by his legs, arms, neck, and back, they 
 bit, scratched, slapped, and pummelled him with 
 might and main. He would not use his weapon 
 against women, and was kicking and striking out 
 with his fists, when suddenly the foot he was stand 
 ing on broke through the flimsy floor and his leg 
 sank into the opening up to the thigh ; and there he 
 was caught and held while the Indian women pounced 
 upon him to finish their task, and they were in a fine 
 way to kill him, for the cavalier, though he saw his 
 peril, would not call for help in a fight with women. 
 At the moment a soldier happened to enter the room 
 beneath, and, hearing the noise above, he looked up 
 and saw a naked leg hanging, without shoe or hose. 
 Thinking it belonged to some Indian, for the Span 
 iards had gone so long bare-legged and bare-footed 
 their skin was no whiter than an Indian s, he drew 
 his sword to cut it off at a blow ; but just in time a 
 suspicion struck him as to what the commotion 
 above meant. Calling quickly to some companions 
 to follow, he ran up the steps, and there saw the 
 Indian women inflicting their inglorious death upon 
 the cavalier ; and the Spaniards were forced to kill 
 them all, for not a woman would loose her hold 
 upon him. 
 
230 Hernando de Soto 
 
 It was dark before the Adelantado could sound 
 the recall and return to camp. He left numbers 
 of Indians killed and wounded behind him, but 
 as some of his own men were pretty badly wounded, 
 he was not at all satisfied with the events of the 
 day, and his cavaliers owned themselves scandal 
 ized, as they called it, by the Indian women. The 
 next day the army marched upon the village and, 
 finding it deserted, took up quarters in it. Squad 
 rons of horsemen were sent out in all directions 
 to find out if the Indians were assembling for 
 an attack. They came upon a few Indians, but it 
 was impossible to capture any. As soon as one 
 was overpowered he would throw himself upon the 
 ground with gestures of " Kill me, or leave me," 
 and though jerked and pulled, he would not rise, 
 but would let himself be dragged along ; and so the 
 Spaniards were obliged to kill them all. In the 
 village the Spaniards found a great many buffalo 
 skins whose great size and thick hair had puzzled 
 them before. The buffalo meat they supposed was 
 beef, and looking in vain for cattle in the fields they 
 could not understand where it came from. 
 
 The Indians of Tula differed from all other 
 Indians the Spaniards had ever met. As has been 
 said, the others were all handsome and well feat 
 ured ; these, however, women as well as men, had 
 ugly, tattooed faces, and hideously long, narrow 
 heads, deformed artificially by bandages fastened 
 on at birth and kept on until the ninth or tenth 
 year. Their faces were tattooed even to the inside 
 
In the West 231 
 
 of their lips, as the Spaniards said, to match their 
 ugly hearts. 
 
 On the fourth day after the Spaniards took up 
 their quarters in the village, just before dawn, they 
 were attacked in three different places at once, the 
 Indians breaking into the camp so suddenly and in 
 such overwhelming force and fury that some of the 
 soldiers had not time to get their weapons, but were 
 forced to fly for their lives, leaving what little pos 
 sessions they had to be plundered. Desperate with 
 the wild outcry and confusion, and the obscurity of 
 the night which prevented them from distinguishing 
 friend from foe, the Spaniards called out to one 
 another their battle-cry, " Our Lady and Santiago !" 
 The Indians answered at once with " Tula ! Tula ! " 
 and the sound of their own names seemed to act 
 upon their fierce passion like the dashing of spirits 
 upon fire. The sun was just rising when they 
 withdrew, and the Spaniards did not attempt to pur 
 sue them. 
 
 Instead of their usual bows and arrows, that night 
 many of the Indians carried long staves, and they 
 fetched such stinging blows with them that the 
 Spaniards could barely get about, and they laugh 
 ingly confessed that they felt as if they had been 
 bastinadoed. A few Indians were taken prisoners, 
 and of these the Adelantado sent six to the chief 
 with their right hands and noses cut off. 
 
 The next day a party of Spaniards was sauntering 
 over the field of the night s battle, and talking it 
 over, when a trooper came riding up leading a 
 
232 Hernando de Soto 
 
 horse, his horse which had run away the night be 
 fore and which he, on a horse borrowed from a 
 companion, had just found and caught. As he 
 stopped by the saunterers, one of them, Francisco 
 de Salazar, jumped into the empty saddle to show 
 off his horsemanship, of which he was inordinately 
 proud ; and at the moment catching sight of an 
 Indian slinking behind a bush in the field, he and 
 the other trooper galloped forward towards him, while 
 the rest ran on foot. The Indian, seeing them 
 spreading out to surround him, and that, cut off 
 on all sides, he could not escape, came out from 
 his hiding-place, and himself ran to meet the first 
 Spaniard on foot. He had a hatchet in his hand, his 
 share of the plunder of the night before, and the 
 sharpened blade shone in the sun like a jewel. 
 Raising it with both hands, he dealt the Spaniard 
 a blow that sent his shield in pieces to the ground 
 and left his arm dangling half in two. The man, 
 stunned from the force of the blow and pain, stood 
 unable to speak or move. The next Spaniard now 
 coming up, the warrior turned to receive him and, 
 with another blow aimed as surely as the first, cut 
 through shield and arm, leaving him in exactly 
 the same condition as his companion. Seeing 
 this, the horsemen came spurring to the rescue. 
 The Indian jumped aside under a low oak and, 
 while the trooper was wheeling round thrusting at 
 him under the branches, he darted from under the 
 tree and, springing to the left of the horse, raised his 
 hatchet in both hands and gave him a cut that opened 
 
In the West 233 
 
 him from shoulder to knee, and the horse like the 
 footman stood unable to move a step. 
 
 By this time another of the Spaniards, Gonzalo 
 Silvestre, came up on foot. Thinking that two 
 Spaniards on foot and two horsemen were enough 
 for one Indian, he had not given himself much haste. 
 The Indian turned to receive him as he had done 
 the others, his strength and courage rising high in 
 triumph at the fine blows he had delivered. Rais 
 ing his hatchet for the fourth time in both hands, 
 he would have given the same blow for the fourth 
 time, if Gonzalo, quicker than the others, had not 
 dodged it, and the hatchet, swerving and only graz 
 ing his shield, was carried in its impetus to the 
 ground. Silvestre s sword flashed through the air 
 and, slitting across forehead, face, and shoulders of 
 the warrior, cut through the raised arm, and the 
 hand, which dropped, hanging by a shred of skin 
 from the wrist. The Indian, seizing the hatchet in 
 his one hand, sprang forward to strike the Spaniard 
 in the face. Silvestre caught the blow on his shield, 
 while from under it he gave a mighty cut at the In 
 dian s waist; his blade passed clean and straight 
 through the body. The Indian stood for a moment, 
 then fell in two pieces. Hearing of the feat, the 
 Adelantado and his officers hastened into the field 
 to verify it with their own eyes and to learn all the 
 particulars ; and saying that it was only right that so 
 wonderful an achievement should be well certified to, 
 he had a notarial account of it drawn up. 
 
 The army remained in Tula twenty days, during 
 
234 Hernando de Soto 
 
 which time horsemen overran the province in all 
 directions, and as it was populous, they captured 
 many Indians, men and women of all ages. But 
 neither promises nor threats could induce any of 
 them to go along peaceably ; and when force was 
 used, they would repeat the constant manoeuvre of 
 throwing themselves on the earth with " Kill me or 
 leave me, just as you please." So indomitable were 
 they, in short, that the only way to end a fight 
 with them was to kill all, which the Spaniards did, 
 excepting only the women and children. But one 
 Indian woman of all the province was enslaved, and 
 her temper was such that, if her master or any of 
 his friends said anything to her about her cooking 
 or about the food, she would throw the boiling pot 
 or the fire tongs, or anything else she happened to 
 have, in his face, bidding them either to kill her 
 or let her do as she pleased. And so they let her 
 alone and suffered all she chose to put upon them, 
 and even then she ran away, leaving her master 
 rejoiced at being rid of such a vixen. 
 
 The fierceness and cruelty of the Tula Indians, as 
 the Spaniards learned later, made them such a terror 
 to all neighbouring tribes that the mothers used the 
 name, Tula, to frighten the children and make them 
 stop crying ; and the Spaniards relate that, when 
 they left the province, they took with them, as their 
 only captive, a boy of nine or ten years. In the 
 villages, through which the army passed afterwards, 
 when the children of the village and those of the 
 army would all collect together to play their fa- 
 
In the West 235 
 
 vourite game of a battle, the Tula boy would fight 
 first on one side then on the other, and on which 
 ever side he was, when he and his men charged 
 with their cries of "Tula!" the other side always 
 ran. 
 
 The Adelantado, inquiring his way among the 
 Indians, was still told that towards the west the 
 villages were scattered, but that towards the south 
 east there were a great many towns and plenty of 
 corn, and that ten days journey from Tula there 
 was a great village called Utiangue, and that not far 
 from it was a great water. The winter with its 
 rain and snow would soon put an end to marching, 
 and as scattering villages meant scarcity of food, the 
 Adelantado decided to march forthwith to Utiangue 
 and winter there. The great water, he thought, 
 might be an arm of the sea ; and his mind began 
 to work on a new plan, or rather to take up again his 
 old one. If the great water was the sea, in the spring 
 he could march to the coast and make two brig- 
 antines and send the one to Mexico, the other to 
 Cuba, to take news of himself and his expedition 
 and bring back news to him, for he began to want 
 to hear from Dona Isabella, and she must be want 
 ing to hear from him, for it was three years since 
 either had heard from the other. Moreover, he 
 needed supplies of men and horses, for he had now 
 lost all together about two hundred and fifty men 
 and one hundred and fifty horses. Then, after re- 
 enforcements came, he would go on with the discov 
 ery and conquest of the country towards the west ; 
 
236 Hernando de Soto 
 
 for, far as he had travelled, he had not yet come 
 where Cabeza de Vaca had been and where he had 
 seen the marvellous wealth, the secret of which he 
 was afraid to divulge. 
 
 The army was eleven days in marching through 
 the territory of the fierce Tulas. The population 
 was scant as to numbers, but great in daring and 
 audacity. They harassed the Spaniards every mile 
 of their march, when there were no trees or shrubs 
 for an ambush, lying flat upon the ground and cover 
 ing themselves with grass, then rising like a flight 
 of locusts, whirring off volleys of arrows, and making 
 away at full speed. The horse, it is true, pursued 
 and lanced them at their own good pleasure, but 
 a mile further on there they were again, repeating 
 their manoeuvre, killing none but wounding many. 
 
 The army passed at last into the province of 
 Utiangue, and arrived at the great village about the 
 middle of October. As it was abandoned, they took 
 possession without trouble. The Indians here were 
 better looking than those of Tula ; they did not 
 tattoo their faces nor deform their heads, but they 
 were hardly less fierce. They would accept no mes 
 sages of peace, and their attitude was such that the 
 first measure of the Adelantado upon entering the 
 village was to strengthen its walls. Corn enough 
 for the winter was collected from the villages round 
 about, and a great provision of wood was laid in, 
 and nuts, dried grapes, and pumpkins. In the fields 
 were vast quantities of rabbits, which the Indians 
 taught the Spaniards to catch in traps, and later on, 
 
In the West 237 
 
 the Spaniards and Indians got up great deer hunts 
 together, which kept their larders well supplied with 
 venison. It snowed heavily at times, and for a 
 month and a half the men could not get out of 
 the village except by a pathway made by walk 
 ing the horses to and fro through the snow. To 
 keep up discipline, the Adelantado had the alarm 
 given from time to time, especially when he saw 
 slackness or carelessness among the men. Alto 
 gether it was by far the best winter that the Span 
 iards had passed in Florida, and they themselves 
 acknowledged that, with their good supplies of 
 food and fire, they would not in the houses of their 
 fathers at home have fared better, nor even as well. 
 The only demonstration from the Indians was a 
 constant visiting or sending of pretended messen 
 gers to spy in the camp, but nothing came of it. 
 
 But Juan Ortiz died during the winter, to the 
 great grief of all ; for all loved him for the vicissi 
 tudes he had passed through, and on account of 
 them each one hoped for Juan s return to his coun 
 try more ardently than for his own. His loss was 
 an irreparable one to the Adelantado. Pedro, the 
 boy from Cofachiqui, replaced him as interpreter ; 
 but what Juan could extract from an Indian in four 
 words it took this boy a day to get at, and then, as 
 often as not, he misunderstood so completely that 
 the army would march two or three days in the 
 wrong direction and have to retrace its steps. 
 
 The Adelantado meanwhile was conning over his 
 plans, for he was fixed in his mind now to return 
 
23 8 Hernando de Soto 
 
 to the Great River, by a different road from the 
 one travelled away from it, in order to see other 
 parts of the land. For his army was weakening, 
 men and horses wasting away day by day. And, 
 says the chronicle, sorrow more and more oppressed 
 the Adelantado that without any profit to himself 
 or to any one else so much toil had been suffered ; 
 he knew well that if he should fail or die without 
 making the beginning of an establishment in the 
 country and annexing it to Spain, it would be many, 
 many years before there could be collected together 
 for the purpose so many good soldiers, horses, arms, 
 and ammunition as had been embarked in that con 
 quest. And he sorely repented now that he had not 
 gone on to the port of Achuse and settled it as he 
 had decided two years ago, and his idea now was to 
 repair the mistake as best he could. He did not 
 propose to go in search of the sea-coast, but to settle 
 his army upon the bank of the Great River in the 
 best and most convenient situation to be found, and 
 to build there his brigantines and send them down 
 the Great River to the Gulf of Mexico, whence they 
 could make their way to Mexico, Cuba, or Spain, 
 carrying the news of the vast country he had ex 
 plored and bringing back news to him ; for above 
 all and besides all other consideration was the long 
 ing in his heart to hear from Dona Isabella and to 
 send tidings of his welfare to her. 
 
 So as soon as spring began to make a showing, 
 he drew the army out from Utiangue, and turned 
 its steps towards the region of the Great River ; and 
 
In the West 239 
 
 this was all the soldiers knew or cared to know about 
 the line of march. For when they heard the pur 
 pose of their return, they had but one idea in their 
 heads, or it might be said, feeling in their hearts, 
 to hurry on, through village after village, and prov 
 ince after province, by the longest marches they 
 could make, so as to get to the river as quickly as 
 possible, make their boats, and communicate with 
 Spain, the land of Christians, as they fondly called it. 
 
 The river that flowed by Utiangue was the same 1 
 that passed by Coyas, and the Indians said that it 
 ended only when it met the Great River. This was 
 enough ; the river became guide, and the army fol 
 lowed it along through forest and plain, by village 
 after village, crossing it once, and crossing a great 
 lake into which it fell with a furious current ; and 
 the river grew larger and deeper as they followed it 
 until it became of the size of the Guadalquiver, as it 
 flowed past the largest village seen since leaving 
 Utiangue. 
 
 The advance squadron halted and waited for the 
 rest of the army to come up. A large force of war 
 riors drew up in front of the village, while women 
 and children hurried over the river in boats and 
 rafts, and when the army arrived they themselves 
 jumped into the river and swam across without fir 
 ing an arrow. The Spaniards took a few prisoners. 
 Questioned, they said their village was named Anilco, 
 and they knew of no other village below them on 
 the river but Guachoya, and on the other side of 
 
 1 Red River or some of its affluents. 
 
24 Hernando de Soto 
 
 the Great River, Quigaltanqui. Messengers were 
 sent with offers of peace to the chief of Anilco. But 
 he, not deigning even to speak with the messengers, 
 haughtily, and as if he were dumb, made signs with 
 his hands for them to leave his presence. The Ade- 
 lantado decided not to tarry to enforce compulsion, 
 but to push on to Guachoya. He sent some of his 
 men down the river in boats, while he with the 
 remainder crossed to the other bank, and marched 
 on by land. 
 
 Four days later, on a Sunday, the village of 
 Guachoya came in sight, and a crossbow-shot away 
 from it rolled the majestic current of the Great 
 River. 
 
CHAPTER XX 
 
 DEATH AND BURIAL OF THE ADELANTADO 
 
 GUACHOYA and Anilco held each other in 
 such enmity and hatred, and were carrying 
 on such a bitter war, that not a word of 
 warning had come to the people of Guachoya about 
 the Spaniards, until some of the Guachoya warriors 
 paddling up the river in their canoes caught sight 
 of them marching forward. Returning in all haste 
 to their village, the warriors gave the alarm. The 
 chief and his people did not think of defence, but 
 throwing themselves with whatever they could carry 
 into their canoes, the whole population, men, women, 
 and children, fled to the other side of the Mississippi. 
 
 The village was a double one, equally divided 
 between the two mounds upon which it was built. 
 The Spaniards entered and took possession ; and 
 the cabins were so large and so well stored with 
 corn, beans, and dried vegetables and fruit that they 
 said it was as if the place had been especially built 
 and supplied by Providence for their ease and com 
 fort. 
 
 It was not long before Guachoya, 1 the chief, heard 
 
 1 Here as elsewhere in Florida the Spaniards always designated the chief by the 
 name of his village, or the village by the name of the chief. 
 
 R 241 
 
242 Hernando de Soto 
 
 all that had taken place in the Anilco village, and 
 how the chief there had rejected the Spanish general s 
 offer of peace and disdained his friendship, and he 
 saw, astute politician that he was and filled with sub 
 tleties, that an opportunity for revenge had come 
 ready-made to his hands. He sent at once offers 
 of his friendship and service to the Spaniards, beg 
 ging their pardon for not having waited to receive 
 them in his village, and promising to come in per 
 son and pay his respects. A few days later he came 
 with a large band of his warriors in their gala cos 
 tumes of feathers and skin mantles, and carrying 
 superb bows and quivers. The Adelantado, sitting 
 on his throne-chair with his row of interpreters stand 
 ing like a body-guard behind him, received them in 
 the great room of the chief s own cabin. Guachoya s 
 warriors, as they filed in, ranged themselves along the 
 sides of the room. While the interview was going 
 on Guachoya sneezed loudly ; instantly all the war 
 riors, bowing their heads, opening and closing their 
 arms, exclaimed, " The Sun guard you, the Sun be 
 with you, the Sun shine upon you, the Sun prosper 
 you, the Sun defend you, save you," and the like, the 
 words speeding in a gentle murmur down the line. 
 The Adelantado looked round in amazement, then 
 smiling at his officers, "You see," he said, "all the 
 world is alike!" The chief remained in the village 
 in a cabin that the Adelantado caused to be vacated 
 for him, his warriors going away at sunset and 
 returning at sunrise. In due course of time he per 
 suaded the Adelantado to go with him on an expe- 
 
Death and Burial of the Adelantado 243 
 
 dition against Anilco, proposing to send the bulk of 
 his warriors by the river, while he and the Spanish 
 force marched by land. The Adelantado, if he could 
 not get help out of Anilco for the building of the 
 brigantines, wanted at least security from any fear of 
 him while awaiting at Guachoya the return of the 
 brigantines from their voyage ; so he lent himself 
 to Guachoya s schemes. 
 
 The expedition started, one part by river, the 
 other by land, and all arrived at the meeting-place 
 on the river bank two leagues below the village, 
 where they camped that night. By daylight 
 they were in march towards the doomed village. 
 An Anilco Indian saw them and ran amain to 
 give warning. But the country was flat and 
 open ; and before the village, taken completely 
 by surprise, could rally, the Spanish horsemen 
 were upon it. The chief was absent, and no one 
 seemed in command. The people ran hither and 
 thither in confusion, the women and children 
 shrieking. 
 
 Carried away by mere excitement, the Spanish 
 horsemen rushed in and fought as if the harm 
 less people had been their bitter enemies. The 
 Guachoya warriors at their heels reaped the fruit 
 of the carnage with an atrocity even beyond that of 
 the Casquins ; for they killed even the old women, 
 first dragging off the little clothing they wore, and 
 shooting them down as they ran through the vil 
 lage in their withered nakedness ; and the infants 
 they would throw by one leg up into the air, and 
 
244 Hernando de Soto 
 
 shoot them full of arrows before they could fall to 
 the earth. 
 
 The Adelantado, whose worst intention had been 
 to frighten the chief into a peace and not by a 
 bloody punishment to force him into war, was 
 greatly incensed when he came up and saw the riot 
 of passion and cruelty. He sternly ordered the re 
 call to be sounded at once, and turned away with his 
 men, after having a proclamation cried that no one 
 under penalty of death should set fire to the village 
 or injure it further ; and, that the Guachoya chief 
 and his men should not excuse themselves with 
 ignorance, the proclamation was translated and cried 
 in their own language. But the Adelantado had not 
 marched his army a quarter of a league away when, 
 looking back, he saw smoke arising from the village 
 and the houses bursting into flames. The Guachoya 
 Indians, incapable of sparing the village of their 
 enemies, and forbidden to burn it openly, had hid 
 den coals of fire in the thatchings of straw ; and as 
 the straw in the summer heat had become as dry as 
 tinder a mere breath of wind was enough to make 
 it kindle. The Adelantado wanted to return to the 
 rescue of the place; but seeing numbers of Indians 
 running out from places of concealment to put out 
 the fire he left it to them, and proceeded upon his 
 road to Guachoya, in great anger, but concealing it, 
 so as not to lose the friends he had for the sake of 
 those he could not obtain. 
 
 Once more in the village and established in his 
 quarters, he left all other cares to his camp officers 
 
Death and Burial of the Adelantado 245 
 
 to take upon himself the building of the boats. For 
 this he thought and planned day and night. At once 
 he put men to work cutting the necessary timbers, 
 and in the forest he found an abundance of the best. 
 He collected together all the cordage and ropes in 
 the army and in the village, and anything else that 
 could serve for cordage from the villages around. 
 He sent out Indians to fetch him all the pine gum 
 and gum of other trees they could find to make 
 pitch of; he had forges set up, and began the work 
 of making nails and fastenings out of what metal 
 they had, and repairing what nails had been used in 
 the other boats. In his mind he had already se 
 lected the officers and soldiers, loyal friends whom 
 he could trust, to take the brigantines to their des 
 tination, and to bring back supplies. 
 
 When the Guachoya chief was questioned about 
 the sea, he answered that he knew nothing of it, 
 nor of any villages down the river on his side. But 
 on the other bank, he said, there were great prov 
 inces and villages. Thinking that the chief might 
 be lying, to get the army out of his village, the 
 Adelantado sent Juan d Anasco down the river on 
 a reconnoissance to see what habitations were along 
 it, and if there were any signs of the sea. D Anasco 
 was gone eight days, and on his return said that 
 in all that time he had not been able to go above 
 fourteen or fifteen leagues, because of the streams 
 running in and out the river, and the canebrakes 
 and thickets along the bank, and that he had found 
 no village, nor sign of village. This was discourag- 
 
246 Hernando de Soto 
 
 ing news, for with the Anilcoes at enmity, and no 
 other villages to draw supplies from, the Ade- 
 ^antado did not know what he should do for food, 
 and already it was running short. He sent Juan 
 d Anasco to reconnoitre the other side of the river. 
 As Guachoya had said, it was well populated, and 
 nearly opposite the Spaniards was a large village of 
 some fifteen hundred houses, the village of Qui- 
 galtanqui. 1 The Adelantado made up his mind 
 that instead of summering at Guachoya he would, as 
 soon as his vessels were built and despatched, cross 
 the river and take up his quarters in Quigaltanqui. 
 With presents and a grand message, he sent an In 
 dian to the chief, telling him that the Spaniards 
 were the sons of the Sun, and that along all the 
 way they had come through the country the natives 
 had served and obeyed them, and that Quigaltanqui, 
 therefore, should do the same and come to pay his 
 respects to them, bringing with him, as tokens of his 
 friendship and esteem, presents of those things that 
 they most valued. 
 
 Quigaltanqui s answer to this was : If the Span 
 iards are the children of the Sun, let them dry up 
 the river, and then he would believe them. As for 
 coming to them, he was wont to come to none ; 
 rather all those of whom he knew in the country 
 came to him and served and obeyed and paid trib 
 ute to him, either willingly or from force. If the 
 Spaniards wished to come to him in peace, he 
 
 1 Quigaltanqui seems, beyond reasonable doubt, to represent what was known 
 later as the great Natchez village and people. 
 
Death and Burial of the Adelantado 247 
 
 would willingly await them where he was ; if in war, 
 he would await them none the less willingly, and 
 would not shrink one step backward. 
 
 It went hard with the Adelantado not to be able 
 to cross the river at once and meet Quigaltanqui, 
 and see, as he said, if he could not abate some of 
 his pride ; but he could not. The river was rising 
 and coming down from above with furious current, 
 and the population on the other side of the river 
 was thick, while his own force was so weakened that 
 he had to fight now rather with his wits than his 
 power ; and lastly, he himself, ailing for a long time, 
 was ill, and in fact, when Quigaltanqui s answer 
 came, had betaken himself to bed, " evil " handed 
 with fever, as his chronicler puts it. And in addi 
 tion to all this, and to complete his measure of 
 anxiety and vexation, he was very doubtful about 
 the loyalty of Guachoya. The village was con 
 stantly filling with Indians, who came under pretext 
 of bringing the Spaniards fish, and every day the 
 chief was giving mysterious intimations that Quigal 
 tanqui was coming to attack the village. Although 
 the Adelantado suspected it to be a lie to drive him 
 away, he had to keep prepared and ready for attack. 
 And as the walls had great gaps through which the 
 Indians were in the habit of passing in and out, and 
 to mend them would betray apprehension, horse 
 men were stationed the length of them, and all night 
 and all day they kept up their rounds, two and two, 
 visiting the sentinels on their outposts and the cross- 
 bowmen on guard over the canoes in the river. 
 
248 Hernando de Soto 
 
 The fever never left the Adelantado, but rose 
 steadily, until it reached such a height that he knew 
 his illness was to the death, and so at once, as a 
 soldier and a Christian, he began to prepare himself 
 for it. He drew up his last will and testament, 
 which, for want of sufficient paper, was written 
 almost in cipher ; and he confessed his sins. Then 
 he called for the royal officers, the captains and cav 
 aliers, and the principal men of his army. When 
 they had come, and had placed themselves around 
 his bed, he told them, as one of them afterwards 
 wrote, that now he was going to give an account 
 in the presence of God of all his past life ; and, 
 since it pleased Him to take him, and since the 
 time was indeed come for his death, he, His most 
 unworthy servant, did yield Him many thanks 
 therefor. And he desired all his friends, present 
 and absent, to whom he confessed himself to be 
 much beholden for their love and loyalty and sin 
 gular virtues, which he had well tried in the travails 
 they had suffered together, and whom he had it 
 always in his mind to satisfy and reward when it 
 should please God to give him rest and more pros 
 perity of estate, he desired them all to pray to 
 God for him, that, in His mercy, He would forgive 
 him his sins and receive him into eternal glory. 
 And he asked them that they would free and quit 
 him of the charge and office which he had over 
 them, and that they would pardon him for any 
 wrongs that they might have received from him in 
 it. To avoid any dissension, which upon his death 
 
Death and Burial of the Adelantado 249 
 
 might arise, upon the choice of a successor, he re 
 quested them to select a person able to govern, and 
 whom all would like well. And he would thank 
 them very much for so doing, for the grief that he 
 felt would be somewhat assuaged, and the pain that 
 he endured in leaving them in so great trouble, in a 
 strange country, not even knowing where they 
 were. 
 
 Balthazar de Gallegos answered in the name of 
 the rest. First of all comforting the Adelantado, 
 he set before him how short the life of this world is, 
 and with how many troubles and miseries it is ac 
 companied, and how God showed a singular favour 
 to him who soonest left it ; and many other things 
 fit for such a time. As to the Adelantado s last re 
 quest, he said, although his death did justly grieve 
 them much, yet must they conform themselves to 
 the will of God ; and as for the captain-general to 
 be chosen, he, Balthazar de Gallegos, besought him 
 to name the man he thought fit, and they would 
 all obey. The Adelantado at once named Luis 
 de Moscoso d Alvarado. Then the officers and 
 most prominent soldiers of the army, and, after 
 them, all the others by twenty and thirty came to 
 him, and he swore them all to serve and obey Luis 
 de Moscoso. When this was done, he took leave 
 of them amid many tears from them, charging upon 
 them the conversion of the natives of that country 
 to the Roman Catholic faith, and the addition of it 
 to the crown of Spain the desires of his heart, 
 which death alone prevented him from fulfilling. 
 
250 Hernando de Soto 
 
 And he prayed them most tenderly to live in peace 
 and love with one another. 
 
 He died the next day, the twenty-first of May, 
 1542, on the seventh day of his illness, his fever 
 never diminishing, but increasing to the end. "And 
 thus," concludes the chronicler, " departed out of 
 this life the valorous, chivalrous, and noble cap 
 tain, Don Hernando de Soto, Governor of Cuba, 
 and Adelantado of Florida, whom fortune raised, 
 as it had done so many others, only that he might 
 have the higher fall. The danger of all perishing 
 in that country without him was clear before their 
 eyes, and they grieved that any had borne ill will to 
 him, or had not held him in the esteem they ought 
 to have done." All his good qualities and none but 
 the good were remembered, for, as it must be ever, 
 grief for the dead is largely the repentance of the 
 living. He was, said the soldiers, the most patient 
 of men ; so much so, that the greatest comfort his 
 soldiers ever had, in every toil and hardship, was 
 seeing his courage and endurance. He always hon 
 oured his soldiers, and though severe in punishing 
 military offences he pardoned all others with ease. 
 In his own person he was the bravest of the brave; 
 so true was this that whenever he fought in open 
 battle all had to make way for him, as if for ten 
 men, for, as has been said before, ten lances chosen 
 from the whole army were not worth his single one, 
 and wherever the fight was hottest there was he ever 
 to be found. And there was one very notable and 
 memorable circumstance always related of him ; that 
 
Death of the Adelantado. 
 
Death and Burial of the Adelantado 251 
 
 in assaults, surprises, and engagements with the 
 enemy by day, he was always the first or second, 
 and never the third, to get to the fight with his 
 arms ; and by night, he was never the second, 
 but always the first, so that it seemed to the men 
 that he first armed himself and then ordered the 
 alarm to be sounded. As for horsemanship, there 
 was never better horseman among Spanish cavaliers 
 witness his fighting five hours standing in his 
 stirrups at Mauvila, and one hour on a loose saddle 
 at Chickasaw. And now, after losing in this Con 
 quest of Florida all of his fortune, more than one 
 hundred thousand ducats, he lost his life in it, 
 his fame, his hope of family and the great estate that 
 he was to found. 
 
 Luis de Moscoso decided to conceal the death 
 of the Adelantado from the Indians. They had 
 always been made to believe that Christians were 
 immortal, and that the Adelantado himself was a 
 god, who could read their secrets ; for he used to 
 show them a mirror, telling them that the figures 
 they saw in it told him everything they did or said, 
 and therefore they were afraid to attempt anything 
 against him. Should they find out now that he was 
 dead, Moscoso feared that they would all, even the 
 friendly Indians, set upon the Spaniards and over 
 power them. As soon as the breath left the body, 
 the new captain-general ordered the corpse to be 
 kept hidden in the house for three days ; and to 
 keep up the deception, the soldiers were bidden to 
 hide their grief under gay, careless faces, and to say 
 
252 Hernando de Soto 
 
 that he was getting better. In all silence and se 
 crecy, the officers made their preparations for the 
 burial, seeking a place for the grave that the In 
 dians should not suspect. In an open space just 
 outside the village were a number of deep, wide pits 
 dug by the Indians to obtain earth for their mounds. 
 One of these was suggested and selected. At dead 
 of night, with sentinels posted to keep the Indians 
 at a distance, the officers, cavaliers, and priests car 
 ried the dead Adelantado thither, laid him in the 
 pit, and filled it with earth. The next day, to ob 
 literate traces of what they had done and still further 
 to deceive the Indians, they gave out that the Ade 
 lantado was getting well; and jumping upon their 
 horses with great demonstrations of joy and fes 
 tivity, they galloped all over the plain, around the 
 pits, and over the grave, upon which, on pretence of 
 laying the dust, great quantities of water had been 
 poured, so that the horses hoofs trampled the 
 ground into an even surface. But their precautions 
 were in vain, for the Indians were seen passing and 
 repassing among the pits, looking with careful atten 
 tion about them, whispering to one another, motion 
 ing with their chins, and winking their eyes in the 
 direction of the grave. The Spaniards now grew 
 suspicious themselves, and, uneasy and in fear, they 
 decided to take the body from the place it was in arid 
 bury it somewhere else, in some situation not so 
 easily determined, where, if the Indians searched for 
 it, they would not be so sure of finding it, and where 
 the search would be more difficult. For, as the 
 
Death and Burial of the Adelantado 253 
 
 Spaniards knew and said, if the Indians suspected 
 that a body was buried there, they would dig the 
 whole plain up, with their hands and never rest until 
 they found it. And if they found that the body 
 was that of the Adelantado, then would they wreak 
 upon him, dead, what they would not dare even 
 think of in his presence, living. 
 
 Then came the inspiration to bury the Adelantado 
 in the Great River itself which he had discovered ; 
 there, and there alone, said the officers, would the 
 body be safe from savage insult and outrage. His 
 good friend, Juan d Anasco, and four other captains 
 undertook to sound for a proper place. Taking 
 with them a Biscayan sailor who was clever with 
 the lead, they rowed over in the evening to the 
 middle of the river and, while pretending to fish, 
 sounded it, and found in the channel a depth of 
 nineteen fathoms. There they decided should be the 
 grave. And as there were no stones in that region 
 with which to weight the body and sink it to the 
 bottom, they had a large oak tree felled, in the 
 trunk of which was hollowed out a place the length 
 of a man. The next night, with all possible se 
 crecy and precaution, the Adelantado was disin 
 terred and placed in the oak, where he lay as in a 
 coffin, and the opening was carefully closed. The 
 cavaliers and priests carried the trunk to a boat, and 
 rowing out to midstream, and recommending the 
 soul of the Adelantado to God, dropped his body 
 overboard saw it sink to the bottom of the Mis 
 sissippi the mighty bed for the mighty sleep. 
 
254 Hernando de Soto 
 
 The property of the Adelantado, cried and sold at 
 auction the next day, consisted of two women slaves, 
 three horses, and seven hundred hogs. Every slave 
 and horse brought three thousand ducats, to be paid 
 for a long credit at the first melting of gold or 
 silver, or the first division of land in the Conquest, 
 the men giving bond and sureties for the amount. 
 Those who had no tangible property in Spain to 
 mortgage, paid greater prices, as much as two hun 
 dred ducats for a hog, giving a lien upon what 
 might be called their castles in Florida. But, says 
 the chronicler, pertinently, those who had any goods 
 in Spain bought with more fear and bought less. 
 From that time on, most of the soldiers had swine; 
 and they bred them and fed upon them, and en 
 joyed, among other gratifications, the pious one of 
 being able to observe Fridays and the eve of feast 
 days, which, as they had had no meat to abstain 
 from, they could not do before. 
 
 When the shock of the Adelantado s sad death 
 and burial wore off, the army returned to its usual 
 condition of mind and morals ; and now began to 
 be heard the veering and shifting expressions that, 
 through the long lapse of centuries ever separate 
 and contrast post-mortem from post-sepulcbram senti 
 ments. Some were glad now of the death of De 
 Soto, holding it for certain, they said, that Luis de 
 Moscoso, who was fond of his ease, would prefer 
 quiet rest among Christians to the laborious glory 
 of discovering and subduing countries. And the 
 view proved correct. With the death of the Ade- 
 
Death and Burial of the Adelantado 255 
 
 lantado ended all his plans and schemes, for there 
 seemed no thought of adding to the Crown of Spain 
 or the Church of Rome, only of getting out of the 
 country as fast as possible, which was, in truth, what 
 a great number of them had been hungrily yearning 
 to do ever since the disaster at Mauvila. 
 
 The new captain-general called a council of all the 
 officers, to decide whether the better way of abandon 
 ing the country would be to go down the river, or 
 to march through the country to Mexico, ordering 
 each one to give his opinion in writing with his 
 seal upon it. The officers were of one opinion that 
 the voyage by river and sea was the more danger 
 ous and hazardous, because they could not make 
 ships strong enough to abide a storm, and they had 
 neither master, pilot, compass, nor chart, nor know 
 ledge of how far the sea was, nor in fact any 
 knowledge of it whatever, nor even whether the 
 Great River flowed straight to it, or made wide 
 inland turnings, or fell over great rocks, where they 
 all might be wrecked. The royal treasurer, Juan 
 d Anasco, always in the lead of every discussion, as 
 of every adventure, related how he had once seen 
 a sea chart of the country, which placed New Spain 
 or Mexico about four hundred leagues, he calcu 
 lated, more or less, from the region they were in 
 now. Going by land he thought that, although they 
 might have to make circuits round great swamps 
 that they could not pass through, still by spending 
 the summer in marching, and finding some well-pro 
 visioned villages in which to pass the next winter, 
 
256 Hernando de Soto 
 
 they could by the summer following come to Chris 
 tian land. And on the march he suggested further 
 there was always a chance still that good fortune 
 might bring them to a rich country, where, as he 
 expressed it, they might do themselves good. Luis 
 de Moscoso wished to get out of the country in 
 shorter time than that, but recognizing the impedi 
 ments of the sea voyage, he consented to do what 
 seemed best for all, to march west until they came 
 to New Spain. And now, that this was decided 
 upon, there began to revive in the memories of all, 
 the Indian rumours, discredited before, that far out 
 towards the west there was another army of Span 
 iards marching and conquering the land; and belief 
 in the rumour grew now into a conviction that there 
 was a Spanish army out there that came from Mexico, 
 and that they would of a surety reach it. 1 
 
 1 In truth, while De Soto was marching west from the Mississippi, Coronado 
 in his search for the seven cities was marching east towards it. As Mr. Bandelier 
 so strikingly remarks in " The Gilded Man ": " Had Coronado gone directly east or 
 southeast, instead of in a northerly direction, he might have shaken hands with 
 the discoverer of the Mississippi on the western shores of the Great River." 
 
CHAPTER XXI 
 
 TOWARDS MEXICO 
 
 WITH eagerness and alacrity and hearty una 
 nimity, the Spanish soldiers made their 
 preparations, and the army left Guachoya 
 fifteen days after the death of the Adelantado. 
 They set their faces towards the west, resolved to 
 turn aside neither to the right nor to the left, sure 
 that going in a straight line would bring them out in 
 Mexico. It was not a march, but in truth a flight. 
 They hurried through the villages and provinces, 
 as if death and destruction were at their heels, tarry 
 ing nowhere, observing only that they were not as 
 well populated nor as rich in food as others seen 
 in the country, caring not to learn their names, in 
 deed caring for naught about them except to get 
 through them faster and faster. The first stop 
 ping-place, Chaguate, was reached in a fortnight, 
 and a day or two was spent there, gathering infor 
 mation about the next stage of the journey, the 
 way to Aguacay. 
 
 The day after leaving Chaguate, a cavalier was 
 discovered to be missing. A noble man and wealthy, 
 he had joined the expedition, equipped with costly 
 s 257 
 
258 Hernando de Soto 
 
 apparel, handsome armour, and three horses, and 
 in every way he had proved himself a gentleman, 
 except in his passion for cards. It must be ex 
 plained that, although the playing-cards had been 
 burned with the rest of the possessions of the sol 
 diers at Mauvila, they had been replaced by cards 
 of the soldiers own making, squares of skin, stiff 
 like parchment, painted in the style of the thou 
 sand wonders, as they expressed it. It is true not as 
 many packs were made as were desired, but at least 
 as many as sufficed the players, who used them 
 for a limited time, passing them round from one to 
 another ; and as they were of skin they stood well 
 the constant usage. As soon as the cavalier was 
 missed, the captain-general halted the army, de 
 termined not to proceed until he found him, seiz 
 ing as hostage four warriors he had brought along 
 from Chaguate. 
 
 A rigid investigation being made, it was learned 
 that the cavalier had been seen the day before, and 
 that four days previous he had gambled away every 
 thing he possessed, his clothing, his arms, a fine black 
 horse that remained to him, and even, in his blind 
 passion, he had staked and lost a beautiful Indian 
 girl of eighteen that had fallen to his lot. He had 
 honourably paid all his debts except the Indian girl, 
 and he told the winner that he must wait for her 
 four or five days, when he would send her to him. 
 He had not sent her, and she was missing also. So 
 it was suspected that, in order not to give up the girl, 
 and perhaps also ashamed of having squandered 
 
Towards Mexico 259 
 
 away his arms, among soldiers considered a basely 
 vile act, he had fled to the Indians. The suspicion 
 grew into certainty when it was discovered that 
 the girl was the daughter of a chief of Chaguate. 
 Moscoso nevertheless ordered the four warriors to 
 have the Spaniard brought back at once, threatening 
 if they did not, to put them and all the Indians in 
 the army to death. 
 
 The warriors sent runners in every direction where 
 they thought the cavalier might be found. They 
 returned, bringing word that the cavalier was with 
 the chief of Chaguate, who was feasting him with all 
 possible honour, and that he said that he did not 
 wish to return to his people. Moscoso, at this, 
 accused the warriors of lying to him ; he was con 
 vinced, he told them, that the Spaniard had been 
 killed. 
 
 " Sir," answered the spokesman, " we are not men 
 to lie to you ; and to prove the truth of our mes 
 sengers, let one of us go and bring back a token 
 that will satisfy you that the Spaniard is alive ; the 
 other three will remain with you as a pledge of 
 good faith ; and that you may be sure that the cava 
 lier is not dead, have a letter written to him asking 
 him to return or answer in writing. As none of us 
 know how to write, you will see that he is alive/* 
 This seemed reasonable, and Balthazar de Gallegos, 
 who was a friend of the cavalier and from the same 
 part of Spain, wrote the letter, reproaching him for 
 his act, and exhorting him to return and perform 
 his duty like a hidalgo, promising that his arms 
 
260 Hernando de Soto 
 
 and horse should be restored or others given him. 
 The warrior who made the offer was selected as 
 messenger. He went and returned in two days, 
 bringing the same letter that he had taken, with 
 the name of Don Diego de Guzman written across 
 it in charcoal, and a message from the chief that 
 the Spaniard had come to the tribe of his own free 
 will, and did not wish to return to his people, and 
 he would not force him. Upon this Moscoso, 
 who had wasted three precious days upon the 
 renegade, gave him up and went on with his 
 march. 
 
 The village of Aguacay was found deserted. 
 Moscoso rested there a day. Near by was found a 
 bonanza of salt, which the Spaniards picked up like 
 pebbles, and not far from the next camping place, a 
 small village, they found a saline lake from which 
 they made salt as they had done in Coyas. 
 
 The record of the march, as confused and irregu 
 lar as the march itself, brings the army next to a 
 camp between two mountains in a thin grove of 
 woods ; then, about the middle of July, to the small 
 village of Pato. Beyond was Amaye, a well-peopled 
 province. The province next Amaye was Naguatex. 1 
 
 Camping on the road to Naguatex in a beauti 
 ful grove of trees, they descried a band of Indians 
 watching them. The horsemen charged and made 
 some prisoners. These, questioned by Moscoso, 
 said that the band had been sent by the chief of 
 
 1 Natchitoches (pronounced Nakitosh), on Red River in northern Louisiana, 
 the oldest French settlement in the state. 
 
Towards Mexico 261 
 
 Naguatex to spy upon the army and find out what 
 kind of men were in it, and what order they kept ; 
 and that the chief with some of his allies were com 
 ing that day to attack the Spaniards. At that very 
 moment, two bodies of Indians were seen advancing 
 upon the army from opposite directions. When 
 they saw that they were discovered, they gave a 
 great cry and charged upon the Spaniards, and then 
 suddenly turned their backs and betook themselves 
 to flight. The Spaniards pursued carelessly, leav 
 ing the camp, which was immediately attacked by 
 other bands of Indians lying in ambush, and await 
 ing the result of the ruse ; these were driven off and 
 also hotly pursued. A great many Indians were 
 captured, and Moscoso, after cutting off the right 
 hand and the nose of each one, sent them to the 
 chief with the message that the Spaniards would 
 soon be in his territory to do the same to him. 
 
 The next day, the army came upon the first vil 
 lage of the Naguatex country, a scattered and strag 
 gling one. Asking about the great village of the 
 chief, Moscoso was told that it lay on the other side 
 of the river that ran near by. When he marched 
 to the river he found Indians gathered to resist his 
 crossing. Not knowing whether the stream was 
 fordable, and having a good many wounded men 
 and horses, he decided to halt and rest for a few 
 days, while he made a reconnoissance. He pitched 
 his camp a quarter of a league from the river, in a 
 small wood of beautiful trees that stood on the 
 banks of a small bayou, and sent horsemen up and 
 
262 Hernando de Soto 
 
 down the river to look for a ford, and to find out 
 what villages were on the other side. 
 
 The horsemen crossed the river despite the efforts 
 of the Indians to oppose them, and found a great 
 number of villages on the other side, well stored 
 with provisions. Moscoso led his men four days 
 later to the river, but found it risen to such a 
 height that he could not ford it. As it had not 
 rained for a month, he was much astonished, but 
 the Indians told him that it often rose in that way 
 without rain anywhere in the country; and then the 
 Spaniards thought hopefully that it might be the 
 tide of the sea that came into it. The Indians, how 
 ever, had never heard of the sea, and they said the 
 rise came always from above. Moscoso returned to 
 his camp and remained there a week longer, when 
 the river had fallen sufficiently to permit him to 
 cross. On the other side he found the Naguatex 
 village ; but it was deserted. Here and in all this 
 neighbourhood were found clay vessels l that were 
 only a little different, says the chronicler, from those 
 of Estremoz or Montemor in Spain. 
 
 Moscoso camped in the field outside the village, 
 and sent to the chief demanding a guide. The guide 
 not coming, he sent troops to burn the village and 
 capture what Indians could be found. Great stores 
 of provisions were consumed, and many Indians, 
 men and women, captured. The chief trifled no 
 longer. He sent guides who knew the language of 
 
 1 Recent excavations in a mound in Natchitoches have brought to light a speci 
 men of pottery, rarely beautiful in shape and design of ornamentation. 
 
Towards Mexico 263 
 
 the country the Spaniards were to pass through. 
 Three days after leaving Naguatex, the army 
 entered the province of Nissone, the villages of 
 which were poorly inhabited and bare of food. 
 Then they came to a miserable little village called 
 Locane, where an Indian was captured who said 
 that the province of Nadacao was filled with large 
 villages well supplied with corn. Securing a guide, 
 Moscoso marched to Nadacao, and from thence to 
 the next province, Socotino, passing through Ayas, 1 
 where the Indians in a large band made a stout 
 resistance, keeping the army fighting the best part 
 of the day and wounding many horses and men. 
 The people of this region told Moscoso that they 
 had heard Indians talk of having seen other Span 
 iards. This cheered the hearts of the soldiers 
 mightily, for they thought that it meant that they 
 were close enough to New Spain for the Spaniards 
 to have come from thence ; and if that were so, they 
 felt that they held it in their power to get out of 
 Florida as soon as they pleased. 
 
 Reaching a depopulated neutral region, the guide 
 led them along an open high road through it ; but 
 after that, for three days, the road grew fainter, then 
 narrowed into a path, and then ended. And for 
 six days the army marched in an apparently limit 
 less jungle. Food gave out, there was no corn nor 
 meat, nor anything else to eat save herbs and roots. 
 
 1 These names are given as spelled in the Spanish chronicles. They are easily 
 recognized, by the sound, as the current ones of to-day in northwestern Louisiana and 
 northeastern Texas. 
 
264 Hernando de Soto 
 
 Luis de Moscoso summoned the guide before him, 
 and, incensed at his insolent bearing and answers, 
 had him tied to a tree and the dogs loosed upon 
 him. When the brutes began to tear his flesh, the 
 Indian implored that they be taken off, promising 
 to tell the truth. The dogs were leashed again, and 
 he confessed that his chief had ordered him to lead 
 the Spaniards astray in the forest, and to leave 
 them there to die of hunger. But he pledged him 
 self now, if his life were spared, to guide the army 
 honestly out of the forest in three days, his life to 
 be forfeited if he failed to keep his word. Luis 
 de Moscoso and his officers were too furious at the 
 desperate condition they were in, to listen to the 
 man s prayers or promises. The dogs were loosed 
 upon him again ; and as they were hungry they 
 soon finished him. 
 
 The Spaniards were satisfied in their vengeance, 
 but they were worse off than before, for they now 
 had absolutely no clue to the way out of the forest 
 and were indeed lost. Confused and perplexed, 
 they began at once to repent of killing the Indian, 
 who, if they had been less foolish, might, as he 
 promised, have extricated them. They could think 
 of nothing else to do but to carry out the plans he 
 had outlined ; and so giving him dead the belief 
 they had refused him living, they turned to the 
 west, and pushed straight on without deviating a 
 hand s breadth on either side. After three days of 
 marching with ever-increasing hunger tearing at 
 their vitals, they saw the forest thin and the ground 
 
Towards Mexico 265 
 
 rise in hills ; and at last they looked down upon an 
 inhabited country. But when they came to it, they 
 found that the Indians had all fled, that the soil 
 was lean and sterile, and that the villages were 
 only groups of miserable little hovels rather than 
 cabins. Nevertheless they found fresh meat in 
 them; and again they wondered where it could have 
 come from, as they had never found any cattle alive ; 
 and as before the Indians would not tell them. On 
 account of the meat and hides found there and in 
 all this region, they called it Los Vacqueros, or the 
 region of the cowherd, and more than twenty days 
 were they in marching through its sterile extent, 
 suffering all the time for food. The little corn 
 the Indians had they had buried in the woods, 
 and the famished Spaniards, worn out at the end of 
 a long day s march, had to burrow and dig, hunting 
 something to eat. 
 
 All through this dreadful region the Spaniards saw 
 a strange thing little crosses of wood set up on 
 the tops of the cabins ; there was hardly a cabin 
 without one. In their mystification they could not 
 account for it until those who knew Cabeza de 
 Vaca s narrative gave the explanation. These In 
 dians had heard of the miracles and cures which 
 Cabeza de Vaca relates he was driven to perform 
 to save his life (and by the same token, made it so 
 precious and valuable to the savages as to defeat 
 his purpose, for they would not then give him up 
 or release him), and the fame of the cross as a 
 medicine had been passed among them from hand 
 
266 Hernando de Soto 
 
 to hand and from mouth to mouth, as any sovereign 
 specific would be to-day. They had for this rea 
 son made crosses and put them over their houses 
 to ward off disease and peril from the inmates. 
 This shows, says the chronicler, how easily they 
 could have been converted to Christianity. The 
 Spaniards could not believe that Cabeza de Vaca 
 had himself crossed that region of country, because, 
 as they remembered his accounts, he had passed 
 only through the regions of gold and silver and 
 precious stones, regions the secret of whose riches 
 he was afraid to divulge, regions that the eyes of 
 these Spaniards had never yet come to the sight of. 
 At last a province called Guasco was reached, 
 where was found corn enough to load all the horses 
 and Indian pack bearers, and thence the army 
 marched to a village called Naquisco9a, where, some 
 Indians said, they had heard of Christians. The cap 
 tain-general had them forthwith tortured to extract 
 more information from them, and only learned that 
 they were from the village called Na9acahoz. The 
 army at once set out for Na9acahoz, which it reached 
 in two days. Among some women captured, there 
 was one who said she had seen Christians and had 
 been taken by them and had run away. Moscoso 
 ordered some horsemen to take the woman to the 
 place where she said she had seen the Christians, and 
 to find out if there were any signs thereabouts of 
 them or their horses ; but, after going three or four 
 leagues, the woman said her tale was a lie, and so was 
 all that the Indians had told of seeing Christians. 
 
Towards Mexico 267 
 
 As the country was bare of corn, and further west 
 no sign could be seen of human habitation, and in 
 fact a great desert seemed opening before it, the 
 army turned in its tracks and went back to Guasco. 
 There the Indians told Moscoso that ten days 
 journey from there was a river called Daycao, 1 near 
 which they often went hunting for deer, and where 
 they had seen people, but they did not know what 
 villages were there. 
 
 On again the Spaniards marched until they came 
 to this river. Moscoso sent horsemen over it to 
 reconnoitre the other bank ; they came upon but 
 one small village, whose people at sight of them 
 took to flight, leaving behind all they had, which 
 was nothing, said the Spaniards, but misery and 
 poverty. In all the cabins only a half a peck of 
 corn was found. Two Indians were captured and 
 brought to the captain-general ; but there was no 
 one in the camp who could understand their lan 
 guage. 
 
 The army was worn out with hunger and fatigue, 
 and Moscoso and his officers decided to advance no 
 further until they knew what lay before them. Far 
 away to the west, could be seen only the outline of 
 high mountains and the shading of great forests, 
 which they knew meant a despoblado. Companies 
 of scouts were given food and sent in different direc 
 tions. They all returned by the end of fifteen days, 
 bringing almost all the same report : a sterile land 
 
 1 The name suggests Caddodaquiou, abbreviated into Caddo, the name of a parish 
 of northwestern Louisiana, traversed by Red River. 
 
268 Hernando de Soto 
 
 and scant population, and the further they went the 
 poorer were both population and country. That 
 was what they had seen. What they heard from 
 captured Indians, was still more discouraging; that 
 although there were Indians in the country ahead, 
 they did not live in villages nor dwell in houses nor 
 plant fields ; but they were a roving people who went 
 about in bands, living on wild fruits, herbs, and 
 roots, and by their fishing and hunting; wander 
 ing from one quarter to the other, according to the 
 proper season for game. And this was the country 
 the army had to go through to reach Mexico. 
 
CHAPTER XXII 
 
 BACK TO THE MISSISSIPPI 
 
 MOSCOSO called a council of the officers and 
 principal cavaliers, to discuss what had 
 best be done. They decided that it was 
 best to return to the Great River at Guachoya, where 
 they would surely find corn, and there during the 
 winter to make boats, and next summer go down the 
 river to the sea, and along the sea-coast to New 
 Spain. Although this seemed difficult, and of 
 doubtful success, yet it was the only thing left 
 them to do, for, they reasoned, by land they could 
 not go further, that the country beyond the Dacayo 
 River was the one mentioned by Cabeza de Vaca in 
 his relation, where " the Indians live like Arabs, hav 
 ing no settled place, and feed upon tunas or roots 
 of the field, and on wild beasts that they killed/ 
 If this were so, and the Spaniards attempted to pass 
 the winter there, they could not choose but perish. 
 They were already in the beginning of October, and 
 it was urged if they stayed where they were any 
 longer, they would not be able to return for the 
 rains and snow. The decision was made public in 
 the army, and orders given to prepare at once for 
 the return march. 
 
 269 
 
270 Hernando de Soto 
 
 There were many among the soldiers who were 
 greatly dissatisfied with the plan, for they held that 
 the sea voyage, with the poor means they had for 
 making boats, was as doubtful and dangerous as con 
 tinuing by land. They still hoped that even yet 
 they might find a land of gold and silver before they 
 reached Mexico, for, said they, Cabeza de Vaca re 
 lated, that after he had found clothes made of cotton 
 wool, he saw gold and silver and stones of value. In 
 Guasco, turquoise stones and mantles of cotton wool 
 had been found, which the Indians by signs indicated 
 came from the west ; and they reasoned that, by 
 pushing on towards the west, they must of necessity 
 come to where Cabeza de Vaca had been. 
 
 Moscoso calculated that they had come about one 
 hundred and fifty leagues from the Great River; and 
 seeking information how, on the return, to avoid 
 the despoblados passed in the advance, he learned 
 that a curve to the right of the former route would 
 be the shorter way back, but that it led through 
 many bad places and stretches of uninhabited coun 
 try. To the left, the road would be longer, but it 
 passed through an inhabited country, where plenty 
 of corn was to be found and Indians for guides. 
 This last route was decided upon, and the army set 
 out. And now the Spaniards put what strength was 
 left in their bodies into their feet, and strained by 
 longer and longer marches to get over the ground 
 and out of the country of Los Vacqueros, with every 
 care not to irritate the Indians, so as to avoid any 
 delay that might arise from fighting. 
 
Back to the Mississippi 271 
 
 But the Indians were far from letting them go in 
 peace ; on the contrary, they seldom let them go for 
 the space of an hour without an attack. By day 
 they swarmed out from ambushes behind the trees 
 of the forest, or if in the open country from under 
 grass with which they covered themselves so cun 
 ningly that they could not be distinguished from 
 the ground ; jumping up under the very feet of the 
 army. By night they crept into the camp like liz 
 ards, the sentinels knowing nothing until they felt 
 an arrow in their backs, or their horses drop under 
 them. Finally when, footsore and weary, with a 
 sigh of relief, they were crossing the last stream and 
 boundary line of the cursed territory to go into 
 camp in the plain beyond, they had to stand a brisk, 
 fresh attack from them, made with all the daring and 
 spirit of new foes. The cavalier Sanjurge was fight 
 ing about the middle of the stream, when an Indian 
 from a thicket behind aimed an arrow with such 
 skill and sent it with such force that it went 
 through his coat of mail and saddle like a spike 
 driven by a sledge-hammer, and nailed Sanjurge 
 fast to his horse. The frightened horse sprang 
 through the water and galloped up the bank 
 into the plain, rearing, plunging, and kicking to get 
 rid of arrow and master too, if he could. Com 
 rades hurried to Sanj urge s assistance ; finding him 
 spitted to saddle and horse, they led him as he 
 was to where the camp was being pitched, and there, 
 raising him as carefully as they could, and cutting 
 the arrow between him and the saddle, they freed 
 
272 Hernando de Soto 
 
 him and laid him upon the grass, and left him 
 stretched there, recommending him to the benefit 
 of his own skill. 
 
 It must be explained that among many kinds of 
 skill that Sanjurge possessed, was one of curing 
 wounds with rags and oil and certain words that he 
 called healing words ; and during the expedition 
 he had made many such cures, to the great wonder 
 and admiration of the soldiers, who thought he 
 had a particular gift from God for the purpose. 
 But since the battle of Mauvila, when all the oil 
 and cloth had been burned, Sanjurge had given up 
 curing, saying his words were of no good without 
 rags and oil. He himself had since been wounded 
 twice, once by an arrow that had gone in at the in 
 step and come out at the ankle, from which he was 
 four months in getting well ; the other time in the 
 knee-joint, the head of the arrow breaking off in the 
 joint. He suffered such martyrdom this time while 
 the surgeon was getting the arrow-head out, was so 
 exasperated at the harshness and cruelty of the 
 man, and at his awkward hands, that he furiously 
 told him, as the greatest insult he could think of at 
 the moment, that if ever he were wounded again, he 
 would not call upon him, even if he knew that he 
 had to die for it. The surgeon, to satisfy his feel 
 ings, retorted that even if he knew that he could 
 save Sanjurge s life, he would never again attend him. 
 And now Sanjurge could not call upon the surgeon, 
 and the surgeon, although he knew that Sanjurge 
 was wounded, would not go to him. 
 
Back to the Mississippi 273 
 
 In this dire strait, therefore, Sanjurge had to do 
 the best he could for himself; so in place of oil he 
 took some hog s lard and in place of cloth rags, rags 
 from an old Indian mantle for it was many a long 
 day since the Spaniards had had a shirt or coat of 
 wool or linen among them ; and his remedies proved 
 so efficient, that in the four days that the army 
 rested in camp on account of the wounded, his wound 
 healed. And so on the fifth day when starting upon 
 the march, Sanjurge jumped into his saddle as well 
 as ever, and to show the Spaniards that he was really 
 cured, he galloped his horse along first on one side 
 of the army and then on the other, calling out : 
 " Kill me, Christians, kill me, for a traitor and a false 
 friend to you, for not curing you, thinking that the 
 value of my remedies was in the oil and wool, and 
 so letting more than a hundred and fifty of you die/ 
 
 Twenty days the army travelled towards the 
 south ; then, thinking that they were falling too 
 much below their goal, the village of Guachoya, they 
 curved again towards the north, and thus crossed 
 the road they had travelled going west. Along here 
 they had sore trouble to find food, for wherever they 
 had passed before they had so stripped the country 
 that the Indians, now, at their approach, hid all their 
 corn. But the villages they had burned in Nagua- 
 tex were repaired and refilled with corn, and all the 
 stretch of country, as on the westward journey, was 
 well populated and plentiful of food. Striking the 
 river at Ayas, they crossed it and followed it down 
 wards. 
 
274 Hernando de Soto 
 
 The end of November overtook them ; and the 
 winter set in with heavy cold and rains and keen winds. 
 Faster and faster the men trudged, more and more 
 dogged in their endurance. Their march was not 
 even a flight now, it was a rout. Each day, no 
 matter what the weather was, a stage of distance was 
 laid behind, and when they reached their camping 
 place at night, covered with mud and dripping with 
 water, they had to go out again and hunt for food, 
 and most times found and gained it only at the 
 cost of life and blood. The winter still advancing, 
 heavier rains and sometimes storms of snow swelled 
 the streams so that even the smallest could not be 
 forded, but had to be crossed on rafts, which took 
 time ; for wood had to be collected and the rafts 
 made with the Indians continually harassing and 
 tormenting them. 
 
 After such days, when at night the Spaniards 
 found dry ground to rest upon, they gave thanks to 
 God, for most generally the earth was covered with 
 water, and the cavaliers slept or rested until daylight 
 on horseback, never dismounting. As for the foot 
 men, standing in mud and water to their knees, 
 imagination, says the chronicler, must tell how they 
 passed the night. And what with the constant wad 
 ing in water and crossing of bayous, their one gar 
 ment of skin, belted around the waist, was always 
 wet ; barefooted and barelegged, no food, no sleep, 
 no rest, tired, spent, it was no wonder they sickened 
 and died, cavaliers, soldiers, slaves, more than 
 one hundred good men, among them the last priest, 
 
Back to the Mississippi 275 
 
 and with them eighty stout horses. Hardly any 
 slaves escaped ; and as some of these had been with 
 their masters, serving them faithfully and devotedly 
 since their advent in the land, they were missed 
 and wept for as comrades. In the haste to get on 
 there was no stop for sickness or death. Most of 
 the victims died on foot, while walking along, and 
 the living would hardly take time to bury the dead. 
 Many were left as they expired by the wayside, and 
 those who were buried received hardly enough earth 
 to cover them. But with all these miseries and 
 afflictions the soldiers kept up their watch by day 
 and night, and their fighting with the Indians, who 
 were still striking at them at every step of the way. 
 The river led them at last to Anilco, but there was 
 no food in Anilco. The Indians had not planted 
 their fields since their disaster in the spring; and 
 the Spaniards, who counted upon supplying them 
 selves there, were dumfounded with disappointment. 
 The discontented ones did not fail to make good 
 their point now, that it was bad council to have 
 come back and not to have followed their fortune 
 to the west. By sea, they reiterated, unless God 
 worked a miracle for them, it would be impossible 
 to save themselves without pilot or chart, or aught 
 to make sails ; without hemp for ropes, or oakum to 
 calk the boats ; without tar to pitch them, without 
 nails to fasten the timbers together. And, as in 
 happiness man sees ever a greater possible happi 
 ness beyond to disturb his enjoyment, and in mis 
 fortune he sees ever greater possible depths beneath 
 
276 Hernando de Soto 
 
 to discourage him, these predicted that it must 
 beyond peradventure happen to them as it had 
 happened to Pamphilo de Narvaez. 
 
 But the discontented ones, as the discontented 
 ever do, forgot the help of God, and now, says 
 the pious chronicler, it pleased Him, in His good 
 ness, to send the Indians of Anilco peacefully to 
 tell them, that a two days journey thence, near the 
 Great River, lay a pair of villages which the Span 
 iards had never heard of, called Aminoya. Whether 
 there was corn there, the Anilco men could not say, 
 for they were at war with the men of Aminoya, but 
 their country was fruitful, and they would be glad 
 with the favour of the Spaniards to go and despoil 
 it. The captain-general consenting, a body of horse 
 and foot men set out at once with a party of Anilco 
 warriors. In the afternoon of the second day, they 
 came out of the forest into a great clearing, where 
 two large villages rose in sight of one another, and 
 there in front of the villages flowed the longed-for 
 Great River. The gaunt, haggard, famished, sick 
 Spaniards, when they saw it, wept. Word was sent 
 to Moscoso, and he hurried up with the army. 
 
CHAPTER XXIII 
 
 AMINOYA 
 
 AS soon as Moscoso saw the villages, he de 
 termined to capture them. Forming his 
 men in battle array and, far from being 
 able to fight, the men could hardly stand he 
 commanded the trumpets to sound the charge. By 
 the blessing of God, as the Spaniards tell the story, 
 the Indians fled, abandoning their homes. The 
 army then advanced upon the other place, and 
 took it with the same facility. When the soldiers 
 spread themselves through the villages, their won 
 der was that such small places could contain so 
 much food corn and grain of all kinds, vege 
 tables, grapes, plums, pumpkins; truly they said, 
 if they had intended to pass the winter there, and had 
 busied themselves all summer collecting provisions, 
 they could not have amassed so much. And this 
 also they attributed to a particular mercy of God ; 
 for, as they confessed to one another, if they had 
 not found such good food and such good cabins to 
 winter in, to a certainty they would have all died 
 in short order, because in their wretched condi 
 tion they were unable to do anything for life or 
 
 277 
 
278 Hernando de Soto 
 
 safety. And even with their good fare and com 
 fort, more than fifty Spaniards, too exhausted to re 
 cuperate, died of past want in the midst of present 
 plenty, among them the noble Portuguese cava 
 lier, Andreas de Vasconselas, and, alas for Dona 
 Leonora ! the handsome, gallant, dashing, daring 
 Nufio de Tobar. Perhaps in the next world, as 
 says the chronicler, he may have gained the for 
 giveness and pardon which, despite his valour and 
 knightly deeds, his devotion and loyalty, De Soto 
 would never accord him in this. 
 
 For greater convenience and security, it was de 
 cided to join the two villages together, so that the 
 force might not be divided in case of emergency. 
 The soldiers were at once set to dismantling one 
 village and removing the timbers, thatchings, and 
 provisions to the other, which was also well for 
 tified. But with all the will and energy the men 
 could put into the task, so weak and exhausted 
 were they, it took them twenty days to accomplish 
 this. However, under good shelters, and with 
 abundance of good food, the sick and they com 
 prised nearly the whole army began to conva 
 lesce; and the natives were so kindly disposed, 
 that, although they had not made any regular peace 
 with the Spaniards, they did not oppose them in 
 any way, nor molest them, nor harass them even 
 with false alarms during the night. 
 
 As soon as health and strength were restored 
 sufficient for work, orders were given to cut timber 
 for the building of the boats. Master Francisco, 
 
Aminoya 279 
 
 whom it was God s greatest mercy to have brought 
 safely through all the hardships, for he was the only 
 man in the army who knew how to build ships, 
 Master Francisco was made head master over all the 
 workmen, in fact, over the captain-general himself. 
 The timber was cut, and a Portuguese, who had once 
 been a prisoner in Fez, and had learned there to use 
 the long saw, now taught others, and together they 
 sawed the trees into planks. Fortunately, a long 
 saw had been preserved through all the marches. 
 A forge was set up, and all the chains, and whatever 
 bits of iron could be found in the camp, were col 
 lected to be made into nails ; the stirrups, replaced by 
 stirrups of wood, were put aside to turn into anchors. 
 Four or five Biscayan carpenters were still alive, and 
 two men of Sardinia were found who could calk. 
 The only cooper fell sick, and was at the point of 
 death for a long time. But it pleased God also to 
 send him his health, and, although very weak, he 
 made the casks to hold the water. 
 
 While these beginnings were being made, the 
 chief of Anilco, fearing that his enemies of Gua- 
 choya might again secure the help of the Span 
 iards against him, now sought to secure for himself 
 their favour and protection. Not daring to trust 
 himself in the hands of the strangers, he sent 
 in his stead a near relation and his most noted 
 warrior, the one who commanded on all his war 
 paths. This warrior came in company with twenty- 
 four fine-looking warriors, followed by two hundred 
 Indians to serve them in any capacity required, and 
 
280 Hernando de Soto 
 
 by pack bearers loaded with presents of fruit, fish, 
 and game. He gave the message from his chief, 
 ending his offers of service and friendship with, 
 " Sir, I do not wish you to believe my words, but 
 the work we have come to do for you." 
 
 Two days later came the chief of Guachoya also 
 with presents, for the news had spread to his vil 
 lage that the Spaniards had returned and were in 
 quarters in Aminoya. It pleased him not at all to 
 see his enemy, the Anilco warrior, there before him, 
 forestalling him with service, and still less to see 
 him receiving from the Spaniards the compliment 
 and honour due a chief. He at once entered into 
 a spirited rivalry with him to gain the gratitude of 
 the Spaniards ; and every week the two would go 
 to their villages, returning with new and ever more 
 generous presents of food and anything else that 
 was needed. 
 
 Master Francisco, calculating the size and pro 
 portions of the vessels according to the number 
 of the persons to be embarked, found that six were 
 necessary, and for this number he demanded ma 
 terials. In order that the rains and other inclem 
 encies of the winter might not interrupt or disturb 
 the work, he commenced by building four great 
 sheds, under which all the men toiled together, with 
 out any distinction or difference, each man hastening 
 to do what he was most fitted for, without command. 
 For, as the hope of each lay in the making of the 
 boats, there could be but unanimity of mind and 
 heart in all. While some sawed the logs into 
 
Aminoya 281 
 
 planks, others chipped with adzes ; here some ham 
 mered iron at the forge, there some twisted fibre 
 into ropes, the soldier or captain who did the most 
 work at what he set about to do being, for the time, 
 the man most honoured by the others. 
 
 So they kept busy during February, March, and 
 April, the Anilco warrior all the while proving him 
 self the best of friends, offering with alacrity to pro 
 vide anything that was needed to help the work 
 along, collecting and bringing great quantities of 
 mantles of fibre, and skin the new ones for sails, 
 the old ones to be ravelled to calk the boats and 
 cutting and bringing great lengths of vines to be 
 used for ropes. Indeed, the captain-general, his 
 officers and men in their gratitude looked up to 
 him as to a Hernando de Soto himself; and the 
 warrior deserved it, they said, for in all respects 
 appearance, figure, and virtue he was a gentleman. 
 Guachoya also helped and provided ; but he did it 
 in a niggardly manner, and the soldiers said the dif 
 ference between his soul and that of the Anilco 
 warrior could be seen a mile off. And from almost 
 as great a distance also would be perceived his vex 
 ation and jealousy at the honour and respect paid 
 by the Spaniards to one inferior to him in power 
 and rank ; and his envy lay so heavy within him, 
 that it allowed him neither rest nor ease. 
 
 It would be well to recall, if, perhaps, it has been 
 forgotten, that opposite the village of Guachoya, on 
 the other side of the Great River, was the large and 
 powerful province of Quigaltanqui, whose chief, a 
 
182 Hernando de Soto 
 
 young warrior, had so audaciously braved De Soto. 
 When Quigaltanqui heard that the Spaniards were 
 above him, in Aminoya, making boats to go down 
 the river and across the seas to their own country, 
 he reasoned that, as they had seen so many and 
 such fine lands in his country, they could not help 
 extolling its greatness and richness ; and so they 
 would excite the greed of other people to come and 
 take it away from its natural chiefs and masters. 
 He thought, therefore, that it would be wise to pre 
 vent this by not permitting the Spaniards to leave 
 the country alive, and to intercept and kill them all 
 in it. He therefore sent out messengers, summon 
 ing together all the noted warriors of his territory, 
 and declared his judgment to them, and asked their 
 opinion. Quigaltanqui was as much feared out 
 side his territory, as he was blindly obeyed within. 
 Without hesitation the chiefs agreed with him and 
 begged him to lead them against the strangers, prom 
 ising that they would serve him until death. Qui 
 galtanqui, further to insure his success, sent messages 
 to the chiefs still farther away ; and, warning them 
 that the danger he feared and wished to avert was 
 the same for all, he exhorted them to leave off by 
 gone enmities and come together in a great league, to 
 prevent the peril of strangers penetrating into their 
 country and conquering their lands, and taking 
 their wives and children, and making slaves of them. 
 These chiefs also responded to Quigaltanqui with 
 the greatest enthusiasm, lauding his judgment and 
 forethought ; and from one side of the river and 
 
Aminoya 283 
 
 the other they all swore allegiance to him, each one 
 agreeing to collect with all possible secrecy and de 
 spatch as many men and canoes as he could, and 
 to make all other preparations for a war. All the 
 while they feigned to be friends of the Spaniards, and 
 to put them off their guard, they sent messengers 
 and presents to them, each chief separately, Qui- 
 galtanqui, as the prime actor, sending his messen 
 gers first. 
 
 The captain-general, at first deceived, replied 
 gratefully, thanking each and saying, which was the 
 truth, how much he rejoiced to be at peace and 
 friendly with the Indians ; and all the Spaniards were 
 indeed vastly pleased, as for some length of time 
 past they had had their glut of fighting. Into this 
 league, though he was bidden, the Anilco chief not 
 only refused to enter, but he commanded his war 
 rior to reveal it to the Spaniards in time to put 
 them on their guard. In this manner they heard 
 of it. They never could ascertain with any cer 
 tainty whether Guachoya was in the league or not. 
 He at least never gave any warning about it, and 
 they considered an attempt which he made about 
 this time to discredit the Anilco warrior might have 
 been a subtle design to prevent his being believed, 
 should he ever tell the Spaniards about the league. 
 For as Anilco had not consented to enter it, Gua 
 choya might well suspect him of being an enemy 
 of it, and of betraying it to the Christians. One 
 day, while Moscoso, his officers, Guachoya, and the 
 Anilco warrior were standing together in the work- 
 
284 Hernando de Soto 
 
 sheds, Guachoya, without any provocation, turning 
 to the captain-general, said : " For a long time I 
 have been grieved at the honour that you and your 
 soldiers pay to this Anilco man, for it seems to me 
 that honour should be given according to station, 
 and qualities, and possessions, and in all three he 
 has little or nothing. He is poor, and his father and 
 grandfather were poor before him ; he is the subject 
 and servant of a chief like myself, and I have war 
 riors as good as he and superior to him in birth and 
 possessions. I tell you this that you may know 
 whom it is you are favouring, so that you shall not 
 put so much faith in his words, and may be on 
 your guard." 
 
 While Guachoya was speaking, the Anilco war 
 rior made no sign of hearing him ; on the con 
 trary, without a word, gesture, or expression of the 
 face, he let him say all he wished to the end. Then 
 he arose and began to speak, and as Moscoso com 
 manded the interpreters to repeat what he said, 
 without suppressing a word, he spoke slowly and 
 distinctly, waiting at the end of each sentence for it 
 to be translated. " Guachoya, without any reason 
 whatever, you have tried to insult me before the 
 captain-general and his soldiers, when you should, 
 on the contrary, have paid honour to me for what 
 you know and what I shall tell now before you. 
 You say that I am poor, and so were my father and 
 grandfather. You say the truth ; but they were not 
 so poor as you make out, for they always had enough 
 of their own to feed themselves ; and I, through my 
 
Aminoya 285 
 
 good fortune against you and other chiefs like you, 
 have gained enough and more than enough for my 
 self and my family. When you say that I am of 
 base blood, you know well that you lie ; for, although 
 my father and grandfather were not chiefs, my great 
 grandfather and ancestors were, so that in family I 
 am as good as you, and as good as any other chief 
 in the land. You say that I am the subject of 
 another. You say the truth ; we cannot all be chiefs. 
 But it is also true that neither my chief, Anilco, nor 
 his father, nor his grandfather, has ever treated me 
 or mine like servants, but like kinsmen ; and we 
 have never given them low service, but the highest. 
 As you know, I had hardly passed my twentieth 
 year when Anilco chose me for his warrior chief, 
 and that for twenty years in peace or war I have 
 been the first person in the tribe after Anilco. And 
 I have won every battle that I fought against his 
 enemies ; against your father and all his warriors, 
 and against you, for I have conquered you, and capt 
 ured you and your two brothers, and all your best 
 warriors your land, and everything they and you 
 possessed. If I had chosen then, I could have taken 
 your lands from you and kept them for myself, for 
 there was no one in the length and breadth of them 
 to prevent me. But not only did I not do this, 
 but instead I feasted you, and your brothers, and 
 your warriors, and let you go free on your promise. 
 Last year, when you broke, as you did, your promises, 
 I had a mind to take you again and bring you back 
 into captivity, as I shall do when the Spaniards are 
 
286 Hernando de Soto 
 
 gone out of the land ; for under their favour you 
 came to the village of Anilco and burned his houses, 
 for which you will pay well ; that I promise you. 
 But it does not beseem men to quarrel by words 
 like women and children ; let us go to arms and 
 prove which one of the two, by virtue of strength 
 and courage, merits to be the chief over the other. 
 This Great River, going down, passes through your 
 territory, but on this side of your territory is the 
 river that passes through my territory. Let us, 
 you and me, get into a canoe, and start down the 
 river together, and he who proves himself the best 
 man on the way, he shall take the canoe and go 
 on to his village. If you kill me, you will have 
 avenged yourself like a warrior. If I kill you, then 
 I shall get all the satisfaction I want for what you 
 have said against me." Guachoya did not answer 
 a word. Whereupon, Moscoso and his officers 
 thought all the more of the Anilco warrior, and 
 treated him even with more respect than before, 
 and Guachoya with less. 
 
 When the Spaniards took possession of Aminoya, 
 they found in one of the cabins an old woman ; too 
 old she was to fly with the rest of her people. She 
 asked them what they were coming to her village 
 for. They said to pass the winter there. Then 
 she asked them what they expected to do with 
 themselves and their horses in the high water, for 
 every fourteen years the Great River rose and over 
 flowed its banks, and covered all the land, and that 
 the natives took refuge from it in the tops of their 
 
Aminoya 287 
 
 houses, and that year was the fourteenth year. At 
 this the Spaniards laughed very much, and then, as 
 they said, cast it to the winds. The month of 
 March came, and the Spaniards in their eagerness 
 to get out of the country were working with might 
 and main, not giving themselves a moment s respite 
 or rest, and the Anilco warrior was still going inces 
 santly backwards and forwards between the camp 
 and his village to get what was needed. 
 
 And, on the other side of the river, Quigaltanqui 
 and his allies in their determination to prevent the 
 strangers leaving the country were no whit lazier; 
 each chief of them was also with might and main 
 levying men and collecting canoes. All was at last 
 in readiness to assault the camp and burn the boats 
 and massacre the Spaniards. The critical moment 
 approached, and as usual with the Indians it was 
 accompanied by sinister signs, looks, and winks, and 
 incautious words. The Indian women secretly told 
 their masters to be on guard. At night when the 
 weather was clear, the paddling of canoes could be 
 heard, and a great murmuring from over the river 
 as from a camping place ; and from point to point 
 along the bank signal fires were lighted. 
 
 To all of it God, says the chronicler, put an end 
 by sending a most tremendous flood, the high 
 water predicted by the old Indian woman. The 
 water began to rise, and rose steadily day after day, 
 until its current, pouring down with terrific force 
 and swiftness, filled the great hollow space between 
 its banks, then rose, and rose, until it lay smooth 
 
288 Hernando de Soto 
 
 and even with its banks. And then, on the eigh 
 teenth of March, Palm Sunday, while the Spaniards 
 were walking in solemn procession, celebrating the 
 entry of our Saviour into Jerusalem, the river 
 came over its banks, and began to spread over the 
 country, creeping further and further inland day by 
 day and night by night. Ten days later there was 
 no going about the village except in canoes or on 
 horseback, and for forty days still the water rose. 
 
 A marvellous sight it was to the Spaniards to see 
 forests and fields sunk into a sea, for the water spread 
 over more than twenty leagues on each side of its 
 banks, and in all that extent nothing was to be seen 
 but the tops of the houses and trees. The Span 
 iards made rafts, covered with green boughs, for their 
 horses, and they raised the floors in their houses, 
 but they were driven from these up into the lofts, 
 where for two months they were cooped up. But 
 they did not cease from their work ; they floored 
 their dockyards, as they called their sheds, higher and 
 higher, and in them kept up their various tasks, even 
 to the burning of the charcoal for the forge. The 
 timber for the oars of the boats was cut from the 
 branches of trees standing in the water. 
 
 As for Quigaltanqui and his gathering forces, 
 when the warriors saw that an overflow was upon 
 them, they had to hie away in their canoes back to 
 their villages to look after their women and children 
 and provisions, and to put them in places of safety. 
 At the end of April, the water began to fall, but as 
 slowly as it had risen, so that it was the middle of 
 
Aminoya 289 
 
 May before the Spaniards could get about the vil 
 lage except by wading; and it was the end of the 
 month before it returned to its bed, or, as the 
 Spaniards said prettily, to its mother. 
 
 As soon as the ground was dry enough to walk 
 upon, the Indians began to collect their forces again 
 upon the other bank, and the Anilco chief sent a 
 warning to Moscoso that they were preparing for an 
 attack on a certain day, which the Spaniards would 
 know by its following four days after three presents 
 of fish came, one in the morning, one at midday, 
 and one in the evening. To prove the truth of 
 this, Moscoso had one of the Quigaltanqui Indians 
 who came to the village secretly captured and put 
 to torture, and the confession was forced that Qui 
 galtanqui and his allies would attack the camp three 
 days after the different chiefs sent a great present of 
 fish, one present in the morning, one at noon, and 
 one in the evening. The slaves in the village were 
 to steal away the lances which stood at the doors of 
 cabins and set the village on fire, when the warriors 
 ambushed in the forest were to rush in and make 
 an end of the Spaniards. Moscoso had the man 
 kept in chains, and waited. As he had said, on a 
 certain day there came to the camp a great present 
 of fish in the morning, another at midday, and a 
 third in the afternoon. Moscoso seized the mes 
 sengers, band by band, all thirty of them; and, re 
 solved to inflict such a punishment as would terrify 
 even the haughty Quigaltanqui, he had the right 
 hand of each warrior cut oft". The men submitted 
 
290 Hernando de Soto 
 
 without a word, and with the greatest stoicism. 
 As soon as one man s hand was chopped off, 
 another would step up and lay his upon the block, 
 which caused great pity and compassion among the 
 lookers-on. The mutilated braves were then sent 
 back to their chiefs with the message that the rest 
 of them might come when they would ; that the 
 Spaniards wished for nothing more than to meet 
 them. The appalling penalty produced the effect 
 expected by Moscoso ; a pause of horror fell over 
 the warlike preparations across the river. And 
 now the Spaniards, knowing for a certainty that 
 there would be only a short respite for them before 
 retaliation, worked as never before at their last 
 preparations. Advantage had been taken of the 
 high water to float the boats into the river, and 
 avoid the strain of launching, for the nails and fast 
 enings had been scarce in the building, and what 
 there were, were not of the strongest quality. So 
 for some time they had been lying at the bank 
 under guard night and day. Now all hands were 
 put to rigging and loading them. The boats were 
 open galleys, carrying seven oars to a side, and pro 
 vided with sails of skin. As the decks were not 
 covered, loose planks were laid down for the men 
 to run upon to trim the sails ; the cables were of 
 vines. 
 
 Two sows and a boar apiece were given Anilco 
 and Guachoya and other friendly chiefs, to breed 
 from, and eighteen hogs were reserved alive in case 
 of a stoppage at the mouth of the river ; the rest 
 
Aminoya 291 
 
 were butchered and the meat salted ; the lard 
 mixed with resin furnished tar for the outside of the 
 boats. Twenty of the thirty horses that remained 
 alive were tied at night to stakes and their veins cut, 
 and so left to bleed to death ; and their meat, par 
 boiled, salted, and dried in the sun, was added to 
 the store of food. 
 
 The Spaniards would have had corn enough, but 
 the high water had caused a famine in all the coun 
 try round, and the Indians of Aminoya, whose pro 
 visions had been captured with their villages, had 
 absolutely nothing to eat, and so were dying of 
 starvation. They came in flocks to the camp, offer 
 ing to work as slaves, hoping that the Christians, 
 having taken all they had, might bestow a few 
 crumbs upon them. So weak were they they could 
 hardly stand, and there was so little flesh on their 
 bones that they looked like skeletons. Many died 
 on the road to the village from pure hunger and 
 exhaustion. Moscoso forbade with severe penalties 
 the giving of corn to them, commanding all to be 
 saved for the voyage ; but when the soldiers saw the 
 misery of the poor wretches, and their willingness 
 to work, they gave them a part of their own rations. 
 When the time came for embarking, Moscoso s 
 foresight was seen to be wise, for there was barely 
 enough corn to serve their own needs. The horses 
 and hogs were put into canoes, screened round 
 with planks covered with skins as a protection 
 against arrows. The canoes for the horses were 
 tied two and two together, and the horses stood in 
 
292 Hernando de Soto 
 
 them, the fore feet in one, the hind feet in the other. 
 Besides these, each boat carried an empty canoe 
 in tow. Two days before the start, all the Indians 
 in the village were dismissed, and when they were 
 gone all the slaves were set free. But some of them, 
 the first captured in Florida, and brought along from 
 its most distant provinces, surviving all the hard 
 ships and ill fortunes of four years, begged with 
 tears not to be left behind ; for they said they 
 would rather die with the Spaniards than live 
 among the strangers in Aminoya, Anilco, and 
 Guachoya ; so they were allowed to follow along 
 still with their masters into the unknown dangers 
 ahead. 
 
 Moscoso appointed his captains, two to each boat, 
 taking their oath that they would obey him until 
 they came to the land of Christians. There were 
 about three hundred and fifty men, and these were 
 next distributed and told off in regular relays for 
 rowing, no man to be exempted but the captains. 
 And now there was nothing more to be done ; all 
 was completed. 
 
CHAPTER XXIV 
 
 THE FLIGHT DOWN THE RIVER 
 
 IT was the feast of St. Peter and St. Paul, the 
 2d of July, 1 543 four years and one 
 week since the expedition landed in Florida. 
 Waiting until after sunset, the Spaniards quietly 
 stepped into their boats, took their places, and 
 pushed off from shore. Steering out into the cur 
 rent, they rowed down with it. They rowed all 
 that night and the next day and the next night 
 without stopping, speeding onward over the spot 
 where lay the body of the Adelantado, passing the 
 Guachoya village where he died. Canoes, in wait 
 ing there, followed them to the next bend in the 
 river ; then they dropped behind and out of view, 
 and the vast river was all their own again. But 
 when one of the boats went ashore to a deserted 
 little village, an old Indian woman left there warned 
 them that the enemy were gathering, and were 
 coming fast after them. 
 
 The light of the next day brought to view a sight 
 such as the Spaniards had never seen before, and 
 never saw afterwards. Looking back, they saw the 
 broad river, from bank to bank, covered with Qui- 
 
 293 
 
294 Hernando de Soto 
 
 galtanqui s canoes. So many were they, writes one 
 chronicler, that the Spaniards could not count them, 
 but only reckoned them by hundreds, may be, 
 reckoning with the imagination rather than their eyes. 
 Each canoe carried from twenty to twenty-five rowers 
 to the side, with a serried file of standing warriors, 
 bows in their hands, quivers at their backs, tall, slim, 
 erect, immovable all to their crests of feathers. 
 The trim, light paddles, polished like ivory, glistened 
 in the sunshine, say the Spaniards, like the brightest 
 of lance-heads, and they sent the canoes with a ve 
 locity that a horse, galloping at full speed, would 
 hardly have excelled. To keep time, the rowers, in 
 unison, sang war-songs, interrupted at regular inter 
 vals with cries and insults hurled at the Christians. 
 Some of the canoes were dyed inside and out, all of 
 a colour black, white, blue, red, yellow, purple, 
 with the paddles to match. And the bows and 
 quivers and the feathers on the warriors heads 
 were all of the same colour as the canoes, so that 
 the Spaniards, describing it, said that no tournament 
 or joust of cavaliers on caparisoned steeds, and 
 dressed to produce an effect, could have excelled the 
 brilliant beauty of these savages. And the precision 
 of their movements was as wonderful and beautiful ; 
 their canoes now rushing onward with the quick 
 dropping words of their songs, now slowing off 
 in long drawn-out cadences. 
 
 The Spanish vessels pushed steadily onward in the 
 centre of the channel, the men rowing as men row 
 for life and safety. At midday the canoes were seen 
 
The Flight down the River 295 
 
 to separate into three divisions, and draw over to the 
 right-hand side of the river. And now, the Span- 
 jards had better opportunity to admire the beauty of 
 their evolutions, and the strength and skill of their 
 rowers. The first division, in a long, single file, 
 shouting Quigaltanqui s name, flashed forward like 
 a keen, curving blade athwart the course of the 
 Spaniards; and a broadside of arrows, which dark 
 ened the air as they came, fell into the boats. The 
 cavaliers ranged themselves with shield and lance for 
 the onset, and some of the soldiers quickly stepped 
 into the canoes in tow, to defend the horses ; but the 
 Indians passed onward to the other side of the river, 
 and, twirling round, returned in the rear of the boats 
 to take up their first position on the right bank. In 
 the meantime, the canoes of the second division had 
 advanced in precisely the same order, discharging 
 their arrows, returning to the right bank and taking 
 up their position after the first division ; and they 
 had hardly crossed before the third division was 
 there in front of the boats, pouring its broadsides 
 of arrows upon the Spaniards, returning to their po 
 sition near the right bank, whence the first canoes 
 immediately led off again, followed in due order by 
 the second and third divisions. And thus they kept 
 it up all day, crossing in front and discharging their 
 arrows, and returning by the rear to their first posi 
 tion, giving the Spaniards not one moment s respite 
 until nightfall. 
 
 Seeing that the Indians had no idea of coming 
 within reach of their swords but intended to fight 
 
296 Hernando de Soto 
 
 with their arrows at a distance in the canoes, the 
 Spaniards came back into the leading boats, leaving 
 the horses to what protection they could get out of 
 their coverings of mats and skins. During this first 
 day twenty-five men were wounded in Calderon s 
 vessel, which was in the rear. The soldiers not in 
 armour tried to get out of the way of the arrows 
 by going to the other side of the boat, and some of 
 the rowers dropping their oars, the boat began to 
 drift. But one of the cavaliers made a soldier take 
 up an oar and steer back into the course, while he 
 stood before him and guarded him with his shield, 
 and so he saved the boat. The Spaniards then be 
 thought themselves of the mats that they slept in, 
 which were so close and strong that no arrow could 
 cut through them, and as soon as the Indians gave 
 them the leisure for it they hung them along the 
 sides of the boats. But the Indians, shooting their 
 arrows with as deadly skill up in the air so that they 
 might fall into the boats, wounded almost as many. 
 
 So the pursuit continued for ten days begin 
 ning at dawn, ending at sunset with no varia 
 tion whatever in the manoeuvre. At the end of 
 that time two of the horses had been killed, and few 
 of the Spaniards had escaped without a wound. 
 The crossbowmen did what they could, but they 
 were too few in number to do much. As for the 
 arquebusiers, their powder had long since been 
 exhausted and their guns forged into nails. 
 
 The Indians, seeing at last that their manoeuvres 
 had only forced the Spaniards into keeping in 
 
The Flight down the River 297 
 
 closer order, now pretended to withdraw, and cun 
 ningly dropped out of sight and remained a dis 
 tance up the river in hopes that their enemies, grow 
 ing careless and off their guard, the boats would 
 spread out and separate from one another, thus giv 
 ing an opportunity to attack one by itself. The 
 Spaniards fell into their trap before the day was out. 
 Passing by a little village that looked as if it had 
 been abandoned, and believing that the Indians had 
 given over the chase and that the river was nearing 
 the sea, Moscoso thought it would be well to lay 
 in a new supply of corn. Word was passed along 
 the boats for volunteers to go with Gonzalo Silvestre 
 to the village. A hundred men immediately put 
 out in their canoes, taking the horses to give them 
 a little run, or, one chronicler says, to kill them for 
 their meat. But the village was not abandoned ; 
 the Indians were out in their fields. Seeing the 
 Spaniards coming, they fled to the forest, sending out 
 wild cries of alarm. Gonzalo Silvestre and his men, 
 making all haste, landed and ran to the cabins, 
 grasping up all the corn and provisions and skins 
 they could pack on their shoulders. Among the 
 skins was a magnificent one, which Gonzalo Silvestre 
 secured for himself, of the finest marten, very long 
 and wide, and doubled so as to be the same on both 
 sides, ornamented on the edge with pearls hung in 
 groups like tassels. 
 
 In the midst of their looting, they heard the 
 trumpets from the boats sounding a peremptory 
 recall; Quigaltanqui s canoes were in sight, and 
 
298 Hernando de Soto 
 
 coming at full speed to the rescue of the villagers. 
 The Spaniards jumped into their canoes, but they 
 were too hard pressed to save their horses. They 
 managed to reach the vessels, but the chase was 
 so close that, if the Indians on the river had been 
 a hundred paces in advance, they would never have 
 succeeded. The Indians, furious at their disap 
 pointment, turned for revenge upon the deserted 
 horses. The intelligent animals, as if knowing 
 that they were at last in the power of their bitter 
 enemies, began to neigh and snort and gallop over 
 the fields. The delighted Indians pursued, shoot 
 ing at them with the wildest glee until the last horse 
 fell the last of the three hundred and fifty fine 
 horses that had entered upon the conquest of the 
 country the Spaniards looking on with such sor 
 row as men feel over the killing of little children. 
 
 The canoes again dropped behind, and kept out 
 of sight ; and the galleys rowing and sailing on under 
 a prosperous wind with no foe in view for a day or 
 two, the men again grew careless and off their guard ; 
 and one of the boats, the crew not noticing it, 
 dropped out of the regular order and, separating 
 from the others, fell behind more than a hundred 
 yards. The Indians, who were on watch, lost not a 
 moment of their opportunity. From all directions 
 their canoes came charging over the water towards 
 the straggler with the speed and fury of wild ani 
 mals. The other six vessels lowered sails, and began 
 to row back to the rescue as fast as they could. The 
 distance was short, but against the current of the 
 
The Flight down the River 299 
 
 river the headway was slow and difficult. When 
 they reached the surrounded boat, the Indians were 
 pouring over the sides, the Spaniards defending 
 themselves as best they could, each man holding a 
 circle at bay with his sword. But as the other boats 
 came up, the Indians retreated, taking the canoes in 
 tow with their cargo of live hogs. The Spaniards 
 now returned to their first caution, Moscoso charg 
 ing the captains if they did not want to fall into like 
 danger again, not, on any account, to separate or 
 break the regular order. But what avail charges 
 when a fool takes it into his head to act ? 
 
 Among the Spaniards was a rustic fellow, Estevan 
 Anez by name, who had none of the qualities of a 
 real soldier, but who, having safely passed through 
 all the dangers of an expedition where so many 
 brave men had perished, was puffed up with vanity, 
 as if his valour had been his salvation. He was a 
 great talker, and in his galley had talked himself 
 into a great reputation for bravery among his com 
 panions, particularly among the young ones; and so 
 one day he talked himself and five of them into 
 believing that they could perform the most brilliant 
 and most famous feat of arms in that discovery or 
 any other and somehow it is not hard to per 
 suade youths that they can do the most famous and 
 brilliant deeds of all ages. Among these was a 
 young cavalier of twenty, the son of the brave Don 
 Carlos Enriques, killed in the battle of Mauvila, as 
 perfect of figure and as beautiful of face, says the 
 chronicler, as it was possible for a human being to be, 
 
joo Hernando de Soto 
 
 and in gallantry and virtue, the worthy son of his 
 father. He with the others followed Anez into the 
 canoe in tow of their boat, and, casting off, they pad 
 dled away, saying they were going to speak to the 
 captain-general. But as soon as they were a little 
 distance from their boat, they, on the contrary, turned 
 and, shouting out cries of defiance, paddled straight 
 for the Indians who were keeping just in sight. 
 
 Moscoso, seeing the senseless act, ordered the 
 trumpets in all haste to sound the recall, and with 
 shouts and gestures he and his officers ordered the 
 canoe to return. But the more and the louder they 
 called, the more obstinate and determined seemed 
 the course of the canoe. Furious at the disobe 
 dience, the captain-general ordered thirty or forty 
 men to go and arrest and fetch him the leader, de 
 termined to hang him as soon as he was aboard. 
 It would have been better to have remitted his 
 punishment to the Indians, for they knew, and 
 none better, how to cure such foolishness. As 
 soon as the order was heard, from every boat Span 
 iards jumped into their canoes to execute it. The 
 Indians as on the first day covered the river from 
 bank to bank. When they saw the canoes of the 
 Spaniards coming towards them, instead of advanc 
 ing they kept their paddles going, merely to hold 
 their line. Then, almost imperceptibly at first, in 
 perfect unison and grace they began to back, to 
 draw the canoes further away from the boats, which 
 in the meantime had lowered their sails and were 
 working their oars to stem the current. 
 
The Flight down the River 301 
 
 Seeing themselves gaining upon the Indians, in 
 stead of suspecting something, Anez and his crew 
 paddled still more fiercely towards them, calling out 
 excitedly : " See, they are flying ! They are flying ! " 
 When the first canoe of Spaniards and the three 
 others coming after were near enough, the Indians 
 began to spread out towards the sides, curving like 
 a crescent, the centre still paddling backwards and 
 leading on the Spaniards. When these were well in 
 the trap, and could not get out even if they wished, 
 the horns of the crescent began to curve forward ; 
 then suddenly closing they charged over the water, 
 striking the four canoes of Spaniards on the side 
 with such impetus and force that they turned them 
 over, and passing over the place where they were 
 in such numbers that the Spaniards could not even 
 rise to the surface. Whenever a head appeared it 
 was beaten by a paddle back into the water. And 
 so perished forty-eight of the fifty-two men in the 
 four canoes. " And all for the act of a fool ! " 
 exclaims the chronicler. 
 
 The four who escaped owed their lives to Pedro 
 Moreno, the Mestico. Although overturned into 
 the water, he with his great strength and skill was 
 able to recover his canoe and get into it, pulling 
 after him three others, among them the brave 
 soldier Nieto, who, it will be remembered, lifted up 
 Juan Ortiz to his saddle and rode away with him. 
 Nieto held the Indians at bay while Pedro Moreno 
 paddled. But neither his strength and courage nor 
 Pedro Moreno s skill and dexterity would have availed 
 
JO2 Hernando de Soto 
 
 to save their lives, if the galleys had not come up 
 when they did. Moscoso, as there was nothing else 
 to be done, ranged his boats again in their order, re 
 turned to his course, but sorely hurt and grieved over 
 the loss of his men. The Indians after this fine stroke 
 followed the Spaniards only one day and night longer, 
 sending their triumphant war-cries and yells over the 
 water. On the seventeenth day of their voyage, at 
 sunrise, with one great chorus of voices and horns and 
 drums, they dropped out of sight, and this time their 
 retreat was final. When the Spaniards saw they had 
 really given over the chase, they were confident that 
 the sea must be near, and that for this reason alone 
 the savages had returned to their homes. 
 
 From this time the river continued increasing in 
 width, so that going down the centre of it, the Span 
 iards could see nothing- of either bank but its line 
 of green foliage. They kept in midstream, not 
 daring to turn in to either bank for fear of getting 
 lost in swamps or lagoons. The river grew so wide 
 at times, they said, that they did not know whether 
 they were in the sea or still in the river. In this 
 doubt they sailed and rowed three days longer, 
 which brought them up to the nineteenth day of 
 their voyage. On that day there appeared on their 
 left a great expanse of driftwood ; so immense it 
 was that it looked like an island. Further on lay 
 bare, naked sand. Beyond that the eye shot out 
 into the sea itself. 
 
CHAPTER XXV 
 
 ON THE GULF OF MEXICO 
 
 NOT knowing how far they were yet from the 
 end of their voyage, Moscoso and his offi 
 cers decided, before venturing out to sea, to 
 examine the vessels and see if they needed repair. 
 Going to work with their usual promptness and 
 energy, the men soon had the boats unloaded and 
 careened up on the driftwood island. They found 
 very little to be done to them. They then slaugh 
 tered the few hogs that were still alive, and after 
 that they lay down to sleep, and for three days they 
 slept like the dead; for the Indians had allowed 
 them no sleep on the river, and they were perishing 
 for sleep ; besides being spent with rowing, and 
 almost starved, having eaten nothing for days, but 
 parched corn measured out to them every day, a 
 helmet full for every three men. 
 
 How many leagues they had travelled down the 
 river during the nineteen days of their voyage they 
 never knew. The Indians gave them no leisure in 
 which to take measurements, and in talking it over 
 among themselves then and afterwards, they ex 
 pressed great difference of opinion about it, some 
 
 303 
 
304 Hernando de Soto 
 
 persisting that they travelled during a day and a 
 night only twenty leagues, others thirty or forty ; 
 but most agreed that, as they came down with the 
 current, they must have made on an average twenty- 
 five leagues every twenty-four hours. 
 
 About noon of the third day of their rest, they 
 were startled by seeing seven canoes of Indians 
 come out from a clump of rushes on the marshy 
 ground near by and paddle towards them. In the 
 bow of the first canoe stood the leader, an Indian 
 as tall as the great Philistine and as black as a negro, 
 completely different in colour and appearance from 
 any natives seen inland. Calling to the Spaniards 
 in a loud and commanding voice and pointing towards 
 the mouth of the river, with violent gestures he 
 ordered them to leave under penalty of being killed. 
 Then, without waiting for a reply, he turned his 
 canoe and, followed by the rest, disappeared in the 
 rushes again. The Spaniards, watching, saw other 
 canoes busily coming and going in and out of the 
 rushes. Evidently an attack was in preparation, 
 and they quickly decided that it should come from 
 themselves, and before nightfall. For after dark the 
 savages could easily fall upon them and burn their 
 boats and, knowing the land and water about them 
 as they did, could safely escape, while the Spaniards 
 in their ignorance would be helpless. Therefore 
 Moscoso ordered Gonzalo Silvestre and Alvaro 
 Nieto with a hundred men to get into canoes and 
 paddle into the marsh in search of the savages. 
 
 Pushing stealthily through the tall rushes, the 
 
On the Gulf of Mexico 305 
 
 Spaniards found them in a clear, smooth round of 
 water walled in by the thick growth, seventy canoes 
 of them. Charging at once into them, the Spaniards 
 upset three of their canoes, killing some of the In 
 dians, and wounding more; and pushing on they 
 fought with their utmost skill, courage, and strength. 
 But the Indians were brave fighters, too, and they 
 used a weapon the Spaniards had not seen in Florida 
 before, although it was known and feared by the 
 Spaniards of Peru, a kind of dart of cane with a 
 sharp-pointed head of fishbone, which they threw 
 with deadly skill and unerring aim, inflicting wounds 
 as large as a man s hand. And their canoes, smaller 
 than the ones used on the river, were like trained 
 horses under rein, swerving, dodging, darting, wheel 
 ing round and round, easily turning inside their 
 length, fleeing and charging back again, while the 
 Spaniards broke their arms trying to get up to them. 
 But the Spanish arms and armour told, as they 
 always did, and the savages finally retreated. In 
 the meantime the Spaniards at the driftwood were 
 busily reloading their boats, and when Gonzalo Sil- 
 vestre and his men returned, being fearful that the 
 savages might still collect and come that night to 
 burn the boats, they hurriedly embarked, and sailed 
 over to the sand island at the mouth of the river. 
 There they anchored and passed the night sleeping 
 on board. 
 
 The next morning Luis de Moscoso called all 
 the men together in a council, and commanded each 
 one to speak his mind, and say whether he thought 
 
306 Hernando de Soto 
 
 it better to cross over the high seas to Mexico or to 
 keep along the coast. There were various expres 
 sions, and finally Juan d Anasco arose and spoke. 
 He maintained that it was better to go by the high 
 seas and across the Gulf, for that would be three or 
 four times shorter in distance than it would be 
 going along the coast, on account of the twisting 
 and turning of the land ; and he exhibited a chart 
 that he had traced upon deerskin from memory of 
 a chart of that coast that he had once seen, and an 
 astrolabe, which in his fondness for such things he 
 had picked up from the ruins of the fire at Mauvila, 
 and had kept, and a jack-staff he had made with a car 
 penter s rule. With these he now proposed to di 
 rect the voyage ; and referring to his chart he showed 
 that the coast ran east and west to the Rio de las 
 Palmas, and from there north and south to Mexico, 
 so that by sailing along in sight of land they 
 would lose much time, and would be in greater 
 danger of being overtaken by winter before they 
 could get to their haven ; whereas by crossing di 
 rectly, they might be there in ten or twelve days. 
 Most of the men were against this ; they said 
 that, although following the coast was longer, it was 
 safer, because their boats were not strong, and were 
 without decks, and that a very small storm would 
 be sufficient to wreck them. If they should be hin 
 dered by contrary weather on the open sea, they 
 said, or delayed by calms, as they could carry but a 
 scant supply of water in their casks, they would run 
 great risk of perishing from thirst. And even, the) 
 
On the Gulf of Mexico 307 
 
 said, if the boats were strong enough to venture 
 across the sea, having neither pilot nor pilot s chart, 
 it was not good judgment to attempt to do so. 
 Although Juan d Anasco with his talk moved the 
 captain-general and some others to sustain his opin 
 ion, the greatest number being in favour of going 
 along the coast, that counsel prevailed. 
 
 While they were raising anchor to depart, Mos- 
 coso s cable of twisted rags parted ; the best divers 
 in the crews dived until three o clock for the anchor, 
 but they could not find it, to the great disappoint 
 ment and dismay of Moscoso and all in his galley. 
 A grindstone was found, however, and some bridles 
 which the cavaliers still had left from their horses, 
 and with these a weight was made which would serve 
 for an anchor. And then they all put out to sea. 
 It was the eighteenth day of July, 1543, the wind 
 fair and weather prosperous. 
 
 Seeing Moscoso s boat, as usual, in the lead, steer 
 out two or three leagues from the shore, the captains 
 in the other boats sailed up and overtook him, de 
 manding why he put off so far from shore. They 
 told him that, if he intended to leave the coast, he 
 should say so, but not to do it without the consent of 
 all, and, if he did, that they would not follow him, but 
 each man would do what seemed best for himself. 
 Moscoso answered that he only bore off from land 
 to sail the better and safer by night, and that the 
 next day he would return in sight of the coast 
 again. So they sailed along in a reasonably good 
 wind that day, the night following, and the next 
 
308 Hernando de Soto 
 
 day, until the hour for the evening prayer. They 
 were still in fresh water, which surprised them very 
 much, for they were very far from land ; but, as 
 they explained it to one another, the current of 
 the river was so strong, and the slope of the bottom 
 so gentle, that there was no reason why the fresh 
 water should not extend far out into the sea. 
 
 That night, when they came in to land for the 
 night, discouraged, perhaps, by the slow progress 
 they had made, they allowed Juan d Anasco to 
 win them over to his way of thinking, and all 
 consented on the morrow to commit themselves and 
 their boats to the high sea, for the great advantage 
 of shortening the voyage. They sailed thus two 
 days, but when they wanted to come in to land for 
 water, they could not, for the wind was off shore. 
 So they kept out two days more ; then their water 
 began to fail, and temper and murmurs arose against 
 Juan d Anasco and his nautical makeshifts and pre 
 tensions. They said he was always talking too 
 much, and pretending to know. Did he not say 
 he could lead them by land to Mexico ? And was 
 he not the cause of that useless march, and the 
 loss of so many brave men ? He was not a sea 
 man, and had never been to sea in his life until he 
 had come upon that expedition ; yet here he was 
 pretending to pilot them. Even the men in his 
 own boat mocked at him and his instruments. And 
 they grumbled, too, against Moscoso for following 
 him, and all swore that if they ever got ashore again, 
 they would never go from it, and the captain-general 
 
On the Gulf of Mexico 309 
 
 could go where he pleased. Juan d Anasco, hearing 
 all this, grew so angry that he threw his chart and 
 jack-staff overboard. But they were not lost ; the 
 men in the boat coming after prudently picked 
 them up, for they were tied together and floated 
 on the water. The wind changing a little, at the 
 end of five days, by dint of hard rowing, they got 
 back in sight of land, their supply of water com 
 pletely exhausted. But that very evening the wind 
 rose, and, the anchors being too weak to hold, the 
 boats would have been driven ashore if Moscoso 
 had not commanded the men to jump into the 
 water on the shore side, and, as the waves receded, 
 to push the boats out again. So they worked until 
 the wind eased in the morning, when they made their 
 way into a bay and went ashore, and, by digging in 
 the sand, secured fresh water enough to fill their 
 casks. 
 
 Putting out, they sailed two days, until, the south 
 wind again blowing hard, they ran into a small 
 river and waited there four days for the sea to calm. 
 Venturing forth once more, they sailed a day ; but, 
 towards evening, the wind grew so strong that it 
 drove them in to shore, and they were sorry enough 
 that they had left the good harbour of the day be 
 fore ; for, as the night came on, the wind waxed into 
 a tempest, and all night the five boats fought for 
 their lives in the wild roadstead. Their anchors re 
 fusing to hold, with seven or eight men to an oar, 
 they kept pulling to seaward ; as the waves broke 
 over the boats, some would jump out and push them 
 
jio Hernando de Soto 
 
 from shore as fast and as hard as they could; then, 
 jumping in again while the next breakers were com 
 ing, they would all set to bailing the water out. 
 And in the thick of the storm, and of their fears of 
 being wrecked, they endured from midnight on an 
 intolerable torment of swarms of mosquitoes which 
 settled all over them, stinging so venomously that 
 their faces swelled to an enormous size. 
 
 With dawn the wind slacked and the sea calmed, 
 but not the mosquitoes, for the sails were black 
 with them, and the men at the oars could not row 
 unless their comrades kept them off; and, dis 
 tressed as they were, they were forced to laugh at 
 one another s grotesque masks of faces. Turning 
 into a little bay, the mouth of a small creek, they 
 found the bank lined with a black scum cast up by 
 the sea, which proved to be the resin copal, used 
 by the sailors in the West Indies and South America 
 to pitch their ships with; so the Spaniards stopped 
 here long enough to pitch their boats with it. 
 
 After two days rest, they put out to sea again, 
 sailed two days, and stopped and rested two days. 
 The wind was against them, but, in their craving to 
 shorten their voyage, they put out to sea with their 
 oars, and for ten days pushed along with sail and 
 oar, making very little headway, however, for all 
 their labour. The next stop was under the lee of 
 a small island ; and while they were there, there fell 
 out such another storm that they gave thanks to God 
 for being in shelter. They were weather-bound here 
 fourteen days, during which they caught quantities 
 
On the Gulf of Mexico 311 
 
 of fish ; and, too, a fish came near catching one of 
 them. A man who had gone to sleep with the end 
 of his line tied to his arm awoke just as he was 
 being drawn out into the water up to his neck. 
 He remembered his knife just in time to cut the 
 line and save himself. 
 
 When fair weather at last came, before taking to 
 their boats, they marched in a solemn procession 
 along the strand, beseeching God to bring them in 
 safety to a land where, as they contritely said, they 
 could repent of their sins and serve Him better than 
 before. After this they sailed a period of six days, 
 and so they made their way, day after day, league 
 after league, how many leagues they never knew, 
 keeping count only of the days ; always either beat 
 ing out to sea to keep off shore, or beating in to 
 shore to keep from being driven out to sea ; using 
 their oars whenever they could ; coming in to land 
 for water and harbourage every two or three days. 
 If the place were good, they stopped to fish, some 
 dragging the net and casting the line, while others 
 waded along the strand for shell-fish ; for, since they 
 had used up their grease in pitching their boats, they 
 had nothing to eat but dry corn. As they were 
 more often in the water than out of it, they had long 
 since discarded all clothing save their short skin- 
 breeches. 
 
 Fifty-three days passed, and it seemed to them 
 they must be nearing the River of Palms, that it 
 could not be far away ; and with each dawn rose 
 hope of coming in sight of it, and with each sun- 
 
312 Hernando de Soto 
 
 set the hope went down. And each day some 
 one with a new pretension to cosmography or sea 
 faring knowledge would hazard prophecies and con 
 victions about it. But, in truth, those that knew 
 most never knew for a certainty either what sea they 
 were in, or what land they were coasting. The 
 only thing they did know was that if they kept on 
 sailing in the direction they were now following, and 
 if the sea did not swallow them, they would reach 
 Mexico ; and this one certainty it was that enabled 
 them to support the voyage. And whenever the 
 wind subsided, discussion would as surely arise 
 as to the course, on all the boats, Juan d Anasco 
 again obstinately insisting that it were well to bear 
 more to seaward ; for he remembered distinctly that 
 the coast from Rio de las Palmas ran north and 
 south. Some believed that they had overshot the 
 river at night, and others said that it was not good 
 to sail at night, lest they should overshoot the river ; 
 others maintained that it was not well to lose time 
 by not sailing at night while the weather was favour 
 able, for they were not near enough to the place 
 yet to pass it by in the night. It was finally agreed 
 as a compromise to take in half the sails when they 
 sailed at night. 
 
 On the fifty-third day, while they were sailing 
 along, looking ahead at their hopes, in the blank 
 sky and water of their horizon, for there was noth 
 ing else to see, a north wind sprang up, one of 
 those north winds that blew more furiously on that 
 coast, the Spaniards said, than in any other region 
 
On the Gulf of Mexico 313 
 
 they had ever known. Five of the vessels, among 
 them the captain-general s, were sailing together. 
 Seeing the storm coming, they began to draw in to 
 shore, using the oars and looking for some inlet in 
 which to find shelter. The other two boats, sailing 
 carelessly far from shore, were caught by the wind 
 and before they knew it driven out to sea. This 
 was what every man in the fleet had most dreaded, 
 and justly. For the tempest waxed to frightful vio 
 lence all that night; as the men said, it clutched 
 them by the throat, and they fought back with 
 the Credo between their teeth, labouring and strug 
 gling with wind and wave. The mainmast of one 
 of the boats went down in the blast, and the crew 
 gave themselves up for lost ; but they righted the 
 mast, and desperately battled on through the dark 
 ness and the vortex of yawning waves grinning like 
 teethed mouths around them. 
 
 When daylight came, they thought the fury of 
 the storm would abate, but it grew still wilder, fiercer, 
 and more relentless, and they fought on all the day 
 as they had all the night. Through flashes of 
 cleared sky, they could see afar, as in a vision, the 
 five other galleys riding at ease in some haven or 
 heaven, safe from the hell they were in, and they 
 strained anew to make that harbour themselves. 
 But the clouds would close over them again, shut 
 ting them in with the savage elements, and many 
 times the boat went under the waves, they thought 
 for good and all. At last they gave up, and trying 
 no more either for themselves, companions, harbour, 
 
314 Hernando de Soto 
 
 or home, they turned their prows to the wind and 
 let themselves go with it. They had then been 
 fighting twenty-six hours without a wink of sleep, a 
 moment s rest, a mouthful of food, half-way up 
 their legs in water, now pulling at the sails, now 
 bailing out the water which the waves poured over 
 them. 
 
 Sunset came, and still no prospect or promise of 
 betterment ; the sea was even more hideous, more 
 ominous than before. Suddenly, along the line of 
 sullen light on the right hand, the wind, as the 
 chronicler says, seemed to be picking up hills of 
 white sand, blowing them from one place to another 
 with incredible ease and speed ; on the left a pitch- 
 black line appeared. Then in one of the boats the 
 high, shrill voice of a lad called out : " Senores, I 
 know this coast ! Twice I sailed along it when I 
 was serving as cabin boy on a ship; but I do not 
 know the land nor what country it belongs to. 
 The black line on the left is a rocky and danger 
 ous coast ; it runs a long way until it reaches Vera 
 Cruz. In the whole length of it there is neither 
 port nor harbour, only sheer sides and rocks with 
 points like knife-blades, where, if we strike, we shall 
 be ground to pieces between them and the waves. 
 The white coast on the other side is clean and easy; 
 and so before night comes, while we still have light, 
 we had better try to make it ; for if the wind drives 
 us off it, and on that black line, there is no hope 
 for us to escape alive." 
 
 The captain of the brigantine ordered warning 
 
On the Gulf of Mexico 315 
 
 to be shouted to the other boat, which was under 
 command of Juan Gaytan, so that he also might 
 avoid the peril. The waves ran so high that the 
 boats most of the time were not visible to each other; 
 but whenever they arose in sight on the crest of a 
 wave, shouts were sent across to head for the white 
 coast and beach the boats. But Juan Gaytan ob 
 jected to destroying his boat, which he said was 
 worth money. At this, as one man, all his crew 
 jumped up to answer him : " How much more do 
 you own in this boat than any one of us P In 
 God s truth ! you own less than we, or nothing in 
 comparison, for in your official dignity as treasurer 
 for the king you refused to cut the wood for it, or 
 saw the planks, or get charcoal, or work at the forge 
 to make the nails, and help to build it, or even to 
 calk it, or do anything else of any use for it, while 
 we did all this work. And so what do you lose in 
 losing this boat ? Perhaps you think it would be 
 better to lose the fifty men in it ? " Some of them 
 sprang to the sails, a Portuguese took the tiller, and 
 the rest seized their swords and shields and stood 
 ready. Tacking first on one quarter, then on the 
 other, and daring the tempest still at its height, for 
 their last chance for life, they headed the boat for 
 the white coast, and just as the sun went down under 
 the water they drove hard upon it. A huge breaker 
 carried the boat further on the beach ; the next 
 turned it over. Jumping out, the crew righted it 
 and held it, while the cargo was pitched over and 
 caught and carried up on dry land. In no time the 
 
316 Hernando de Soto 
 
 boat was emptied and by the help of the waves was 
 pushed upon the beach and propped there, so that 
 it could be easily launched again if necessary; the 
 other crew, doing exactly the same thing to their 
 boat, beached it about two crossbow-shots away. 
 
 The men of both boats came together to deter 
 mine what was now to be done. All agreed that 
 their first duty was to find the captain-general and 
 the boats they had left behind and seen far away, 
 lying at anchor, and give him a report of what had 
 happened. But considering the immense toil of all 
 in the tempest for the past twenty-six hours, no one 
 dared name the soldier for the mission and the 
 manifest peril. None knew how far the tempest 
 had carried them beyond the other boats, nor what 
 the coast was, nor what country they were in ; and 
 so each man stood thinking until the silence was 
 broken by Gonzalo Quadrado Xaramillo, who, step 
 ping out in front of his comrades, said : " I offer 
 myself for this service. I promise that I shall walk 
 all this night, and not stop until daylight bring me 
 to the captain-general, or I will die in the attempt. 
 If there is any one who will come with me, let him 
 come; if not, I shall go alone." Another soldier 
 came forward, and putting himself by the side of 
 Xaramillo, " To life or death," he said, " I will go 
 with you ! " And as they were, without a moment s 
 delay, each one with only his sword and shield and 
 a handful of corn for food, they started off. It was 
 one o clock at night. 
 
CHAPTER XXVI 
 
 MEXICO 
 
 THE Spaniards on the beach posted sentinels 
 and went to sleep in their boat. At day 
 light they all came together in council again, 
 and three parties of twenty men were selected to ex 
 plore the country in different directions : one along 
 the coast towards the south, one towards the north, 
 and one under Gonzalo Silvestre inland. The men 
 following the coast returned, after walking about a 
 league, bringing, each party, some fragments of 
 gilded and painted porcelain, such as is made in 
 Spain. They had not looked for anything else, as 
 this was best evidence that they were in a Spanish 
 country ; but Gonzalo Silvestre and his men, when 
 they returned, brought with them two baskets of 
 fruit and corn, a turkey, two fowls, some conserves, 
 and an Indian. Their comrades were making great 
 rejoicings over the fragments of porcelain. But 
 when they saw the turkey, the fowls, the fruit, and 
 the rest of the spoil of Silvestre, and understood 
 that it had come from a hut, they could not contain 
 themselves, but danced and laughed like madmen. 
 The surgeon, who was in the crew and had been 
 
 317 
 
318 Hernando de Soto 
 
 in Mexico and knew something of the Mexican lan 
 guage, spoke to the Indian. "What are these?" 
 he said, holding up a pair of scissors. The Indian 
 answered in Spanish, " Tijeras." 
 
 Then the Spaniards knew that they were in 
 Mexico, and they fell upon Gonzalo Silvestre, kiss 
 ing and hugging him, and finally raising him up in 
 their arms, and putting him on their shoulders, they 
 carried him round in triumph, shouting and 
 hurrahing for him, praising and acclaiming him, 
 as if he had presented to each one of them the 
 land and its lordship. The outburst over, return 
 ing to the Indian with more calm and reason, they 
 asked him the name of the country, and of the 
 river or body of water in which the captain-general 
 and the five galleys had found refuge. " This 
 land," said the Indian, "belongs to the city of 
 Panuco, and the river is the river of Panuco, 
 which flows into the sea twelve leagues from here. 
 I am a slave of a citizen of Panuco." He added 
 that about two leagues away was an Indian lord or 
 master of slaves, who knew how to read and write, 
 having been taught by the priests, and he offered to 
 go and bring him to them. He went and returned 
 with the Indian lord, who was followed by slaves 
 loaded with fowls, corn, fruit, and bread ; he brought 
 also paper and pen and ink, with which the Spaniards 
 at once wrote a letter to their captain-general and 
 sent it by one of the Indian slaves. 
 
 Xaramillo and his comrade walked all night with 
 out stopping, and at daylight reached the mouth of 
 
Mexico 
 
 319 
 
 the river Panuco, and shortly afterwards beheld the 
 galleys. The captain-general and all his officers 
 and men, who were in great distress over the loss 
 of the other two galleys, could not believe their 
 own joy when they saw the two Spaniards coming. 
 After hearing Xaramillo s story, they related theirs. 
 Pedro Calderon had been sailing ahead. A quarter 
 of a league before he came to the river, he saw 
 muddy water in the Gulf, and knew it to be the 
 fresh water of a river, and steering into it, he soon 
 saw the river pouring over its sand bar into the Gulf. 
 He was in doubt whether to sail in or not, but was 
 driven in by the storm for shelter. Advancing up 
 the stream he saw, as in a dream, on the bank men 
 and women dressed like Spaniards. Asking them 
 what country it was, they answered Panuco. The 
 gladness of the Spaniards at that moment, says the 
 chronicler, was as if they had been born again; 
 going ashore, they kissed the ground, and with hand 
 and eyes lifted to heaven, they gave thanks to God. 
 The other boats, following Calderon, entered the 
 river also, and lay at anchor there during the storm. 
 When the Indian messenger arrived with the 
 letter, Moscoso sent back the answer, that, as soon 
 as the two crews were rested, all were to journey up 
 the river to the city of Panuco and arrange there 
 what further they were to do. Eight days later all 
 came together in Panuco ; barefooted, half naked, 
 in their ragged skin garments, disfigured, black as 
 negroes, thin, parched, weak, they looked more like 
 the wild beasts, whose skins they wore, than human 
 
J2O Hernando de Soto 
 
 beings; the people of Panuco pitied them with 
 tears, for they knew that there were many high-born 
 cavaliers among them. At last they were in the land 
 of Christians ; and the first thought of the con 
 querors was to return public thanks to God. This 
 they did at once, walking to church in procession. 
 The chief magistrate took the captain-general into 
 his own house, and quartered the rest of the men 
 among the townspeople, who treated them with all 
 generosity and courtesy. 
 
 A messenger was sent with the news to the 
 viceroy of Mexico. He and the citizens of Mexico 
 could hardly credit it, for it had been so long since 
 any news had been received from De Soto s expe 
 dition that it seemed impossible that any part of it 
 could have survived. The viceroy returned a com 
 mand that the men should be treated with all hos 
 pitality and distinction, and, when rested, sent on 
 to the city of Mexico ; everything they wanted, 
 lodgings and food, was to be furnished them free 
 along the way, and Indians given them to carry 
 their luggage. 
 
 For ten or twelve days the Floridians, as they 
 were called, rested in Panuco. And now a strange 
 change came over their minds. Observing atten 
 tively the city they were in, they saw that the life 
 there was a hard and poor one ; for there were 
 there neither mines of gold nor silver, nor any 
 forms of wealth, save a few horses bred for sale 
 in other parts of the country, and a few groves 
 of mulberry trees cultivated for silkworms ; and the 
 
Mexico 321 
 
 only food, what could be produced from the ground. 
 Most of the people, even the richest, wore garments 
 of cotton, and the richest were those who, besides 
 horses, raised a few head of cattle for sale. All the 
 fruit trees were brought from Spain, the houses 
 were poor and small and thatched with straw, and, 
 according to the saying, the future was all the furni 
 ture in them. In short, the Florida conquerors 
 saw that the land they were in could not be com 
 pared with the one they had left, in any manner or 
 way. For in Florida the natives, instead of cotton 
 coverings, wore mantles of the finest skins and 
 furs ; there was no need there to plant and cultivate 
 mulberry trees, for they grew naturally and in the 
 greatest quantities, as did nut and fruit trees of all 
 kinds, and grape-vines. And so from one thing to 
 another, memory brought back to them all that they 
 had seen in Florida, the fine provinces, the rich 
 soil, the bountiful harvests, the beautiful meadows, 
 the spacious grazing lands, the grand forests, the 
 great rivers, and, finally, the vast accumulation of 
 pearls there. 
 
 What a contrast with the wretched poverty they 
 saw around them ! and with great sorrow of heart 
 and pity for themselves, they confessed their sad 
 thoughts to one another. " Could we not have 
 lived in Florida," they said, " as these Spaniards 
 live in Panuco ? Were not the lands there better 
 than these ? If we had been willing to remain 
 and settle there, should we not have been far better 
 off" than our hosts here ? Have they, perchance, 
 
3 22 Hernando de Soto 
 
 any more mines of silver and gold than we found 
 there, or any of the treasure of pearls we despised 
 there ? Is it well that we should be receiving 
 hospitality and charity from others poorer than 
 ourselves, when we ourselves might have shown 
 hospitality and entertainment to the whole of 
 Spain ? that we, who might have been lords of 
 vassals, are come to be beggars ? Would it not 
 have been better to have died there than to live 
 here ? " And the more they thought and talked 
 about it, the more disgusted they became, until 
 they grew so excited and angry over the riches 
 they might have had, that they went to quarrelling 
 with one another, laying upon one another the blame 
 of abandoning the land. And so fierce and bitter 
 grew their feelings, that they took to fighting and 
 using their swords upon one another as freely as 
 they had once used them upon the Indians. Their 
 greatest hatred was turned against the royal officers 
 and nobles and cavaliers from Seville, for it was they 
 who, after the death of Hernando de Soto, had most 
 strenuously insisted upon abandoning Florida, in 
 stead of carrying out the Adelantado s plans, the 
 building of forts and sending for reinforcements ; 
 and they had proved for themselves that ships and 
 armadas might easily have ascended the Great River. 
 The quarrels grew at last so fierce, and the cutting 
 and slashing so reckless, that none of the captains 
 and officers dared go out of their lodgings ; and the 
 soldiers then waxed so furious with one another that 
 the whole of Panuco could not keep peace among 
 
Mexico 323 
 
 them. The mayor, seeing the discord increasing 
 day by day, sent a report of it to the viceroy. He 
 ordered the men to be sent at once to the city of 
 Mexico, in detachments of ten and twelve, the 
 detachments to be formed only of men of one way 
 of thinking, so that they might not kill one another 
 on the road ; and so they set out. Those who had 
 a coat of mail were able to exchange it for a horse, 
 but the most travelled on foot. All along the road, 
 as they passed through the villages, the Indians 
 received and served them well. 
 
 The fame of the Floridians preceding them, when 
 they arrived at the city of Mexico, the richest and 
 noblest of its citizens and cavaliers were assembled 
 to greet them and take them to their houses, where 
 they clothed and fed them with the best to be had. 
 The viceroy s hotel was free to as many as were 
 willing to go there, and he commanded apparel to 
 be given them ; and those who were of quality sat at 
 his own table. The viceroy moreover proclaimed 
 that throughout the city of Mexico he alone was to 
 judge these Spaniards, as some inferior magistrate 
 had put some of them in jail for wounding one 
 another in their disputes. For their disputes had 
 broken out with even greater heat and bitterness in 
 Mexico than in Panuco, seeing, as they did here, 
 what value the rich citizens put upon the few arti 
 cles they had brought back with them, the pearls and 
 particularly the skins, which, soiled and covered with 
 grease and pitch though they were, were bought as 
 soon as shown. And they made the gallantest hose 
 
324 Hernando de Soto 
 
 and doublets imaginable ; the richest cavaliers buy 
 ing them at the highest prices, and having them 
 cleaned and made into garments which they wore 
 with greatest effect on the public square of Mexico. 
 He who could not procure a whole garment of the 
 furs was mightily content to have a collar of them, 
 and wore it as a costly thing, and one of great rarity. 
 All of this served only to drive the Florida con 
 querors to the greater grief, rage, and desperation. 
 
 And now the ringing words of Hernando de Soto 
 in Quiguate came back to them : " Why do you 
 wish to go to Mexico ? To show the smallness and 
 vileness of your souls ? That, having it in your 
 power to become the lords of this great kingdom 
 containing so many beautiful provinces, you would 
 go and abide in the house of strangers and eat at the 
 table of charity, when you could have had your own 
 lands, and your own table to share with others ? " 
 The viceroy, seeing that the men were in truth be 
 side themselves and had lost their reason, appeased 
 them with all possible blandishments and suavity ; 
 and to console them, he gave them his word and 
 promise that he would himself, some day, undertake 
 the same conquest, if they would go with him, tak 
 ing at once into his pay as many as chose to serve 
 him. 
 
 Juan d Anasco, Juan Gaytan, Balthazar de Gal- 
 legos, and Pedro Calderon returned to Spain, pre 
 ferring, they said, to live there poor to growing rich 
 in the New World. Some of the soldiers joined 
 religious orders, following the example of the brave 
 
Mexico 325 
 
 Gonzalo Quadrado Xaramillo, who entered the 
 order of St. Francis. Luis de Moscoso remained 
 in Mexico, marrying a noted and rich lady of that 
 city. Most of the men, however, rebuilding their 
 demolished hopes, went to Peru, and taking part in 
 the war among the conquerors there, gained, some 
 of them, fame and fortune. 
 
 And now there is nothing more to tell except 
 how Gomez Arias and Diego de Maldonado ful 
 filled the orders they had received from De Soto. 
 After reporting to Dona Isabella de Bobadilla, and 
 spreading the news of the discovery and conquest 
 throughout the islands of the Indies, they bought 
 three vessels, and loaded them with the food, arms, 
 ammunition, and cattle, the calves, mares, horses, 
 seeds, eggs, wheat, barley, and vegetables that were 
 needed for the new settlement. And they could 
 have loaded as many ships more, because the in 
 habitants of Cuba and San Domingo and Jamaica, 
 excited by the accounts of Florida, were enthusi 
 astically generous. 
 
 Sailing into the port of Achuse and not finding 
 the Adelantado there, the captains sailed out again, 
 and going the one to the east and the other to the 
 west, coasted the length of the land until winter set 
 in, and forced them to return to Havana. The fol 
 lowing summer they set sail again, and returned to 
 Achuse, and again, not finding the army there, they 
 coasted the continent from Nombre de Dios in 
 Mexico to Newfoundland, in search of sight or 
 sound or rumour of it, and in vain. As soon as 
 
326 Hernando de Soto 
 
 the next summer permitted, the two captains made 
 still another effort, spending seven months search 
 ing for the Adelantado, but were driven as before, 
 by winter, back to Havana. 
 
 In the summer of 1543, although three years had 
 now elapsed since any one had heard of the expedi 
 tion, they sailed again to Florida, determined to per 
 sist in their search until they had definite knowledge 
 of its fate ; for they could not believe that the land 
 had consumed the Adelantado and all of his men 
 without any being able to make their way out in 
 some direction. On this cruise, arriving at Vera 
 Cruz about the middle of October, the captains 
 learned that three hundred of the Spaniards had 
 escaped into Mexico, but that the Adelantado was 
 dead in the land of Florida. They returned to 
 Havana and communicated this to Dona Isabella. 
 
 And Dona Isabella what of her? When to 
 the three years of sleepless anxiety and grief were 
 added the death of her husband, the failure of the 
 expedition and the loss of their fortunes, and the 
 ruin of their estate and house, the heart of Dona 
 Isabella, brave though it was and strong, broke 
 under its weight of sorrow. She died shortly after 
 wards. 
 
THE STANDARD SCHOOL LIBRARY. 
 
 (Each volume, cloth, 50 cents net. Sold singly or in sets.) 
 
 BARNES. YANKEE SHIPS AND YANKEE SAILORS. Tales of 
 1812. By James Barnes. 12mo. Illustrated, xiii -f 281 
 pages. 
 
 In this volume of " Tales of 1812 " it is not the intention of the 
 author to give detailed accounts of actions at sea or to present 
 biographical sketches of well-known heroes ; he wishes but to tell 
 something of the ships that fought the battles, whose names are 
 inseparably connected with a glorious past, and to relate incidents 
 connected with the Yankee sailors who composed their crews " A 
 Yankee Ship and a Yankee Crew " thus runs the old song ; it is 
 to exploit both in a measure that is the intention of this book. 
 Brave fellows, these old-time Jackies were. Their deeds are part 
 of the nation s record, and their ships exist now in the shape of a 
 few old hulls. Here we have the old tales now retold ; retold by 
 one who loves to listen to them, therefore to talk about them. 
 
 BLACK. THE PRACTICE OF SELF-CULTURE. By Hugh 
 
 Black. 12mo. vii + 262 pages. 
 
 Nine essays on culture considered in its broadest sense. The 
 title is justified not so much from the point of view of giving 
 many details for self-culture, as of giving an impulse to practice. 
 
 BONSAL. THE GOLDEN HORSESHOE. Extracts from the let 
 ters of Captain H. L. Herndon of the 21st U. S. Infantry, on 
 duty in the Philippine Islands, and Lieutenant Lawrence 
 Gill, A.D.C. to the Military Governor of Puerto Rico. With 
 a postscript by J. Sherman, Private, Co. D ; 21st Infantry. 
 Edited by Stephen Bonsai. 12mo. xi + 316 pages. 
 
 These letters throw much light on our recent history. The 
 story of our " Expansion " is well told, and the problems 
 which are its outgrowth are treated with clearness and insight. 
 
BUCK. BOYS SELF-GOVERNING CLUBS. By Winifred Buck, 
 16mo. x 4-218 pages. 
 
 The history of self-governing clubs, with directions for then 
 organization and management. The author has had many years 
 experience as organizer and adviser of self-governing clubs in New 
 York City and the vicinity. 
 
 CARROLL. ALICE S ADVENTURES IN WONDERLAND. By 
 Lewis Carroll. 12mo. Illustrated, xiv + 192 pages. 
 
 CARROLL. THROUGH THE LOOKING GLASS AND WHAT 
 ALICE FOUND THERE. By Lewis Carroll. 12mo. Illus 
 trated, xv + 224 pages. 
 
 The authorized edition of these children s classics. They have 
 recently been reprinted from new type and new cuts made from 
 the original wood blocks. 
 
 CHURCH. THE STORY OF THE ILIAD. By Rev. A. J. Church, 
 vii -I- 314 pages. 
 
 CHURCH. THE STORY OF THE ODYSSEY. By Rev. A. J. 
 
 Church, vii + 306 pages. 
 
 The two great epics are retold in prose by one of the best of 
 story-tellers. The Greek atmosphere is remarkably well preserved. 
 
 CRADDOCK. THE STORY OF OLD FORT LOUDON. By 
 
 Charles Egbert Craddock. 12mo. Illustrated, v + 409 pages. 
 
 A story of pioneer life in Tennessee at the time of the Cherokee 
 uprising in 1760. The frontier fort serves as a background to this 
 picture of Indian craft and guile and pioneer pleasures and hard 
 ships. 
 
 CROCKETT. RED CAP TALES. By S. R. Crockett. 8vo. 
 Illustrated, xii-f-413 pages. 
 
 The volume consists of a number of tales told in succession 
 from four of Scott s novels "Waverley," "Guy Mannering," 
 "Rob Roy," and "The Antiquary"; with a break here and there 
 while the children to whom they are told discuss the story just 
 told from their own point of view. No better introduction to 
 Scott s novels could be imagined or contrived. Hah" a dozen or 
 more tales are given from each book. 
 
A LITTLE CAPTIVE LAD. By Beulah Marie Dix. 12ma 
 Illustrated, vii + 286 pages. 
 
 The story is laid in the time of Cromwell, and the captive lad 
 is a cavalier, full of the pride of his caste. The plot develops 
 around the child s relations to his Puritan relatives. It is a well- 
 told story, with plenty of action, and is a faithful picture of the 
 
 times. 
 
 EGGLESTON. SOUTHERN SOLDIER STORIES. By George 
 Gary Eggleston. 12mo. Illustrated, xi 4- 251 pages. 
 
 Forty-seven stories illustrating the heroism of those brave 
 Americans who fought on the losing side in the Civil War. Humor 
 and pathos are found side by side in these pages which bear evi 
 dence of absolute truth. 
 
 ELSON. SIDE LIGHTS ON AMERICAN HISTORY. 
 
 This volume takes a contemporary view of the leading events in 
 the history of the country from the period of the Declaration of 
 Independence to the close of the Spanish-American War. The 
 result is a very valuable series of studies in many respects more 
 interesting and informing than consecutive history. 
 
 GAYE. THE GREAT WORLD S FARM. Some Account of 
 Nature s Crops and How they are Sown. By Selina Gaye. 
 12mo. Illustrated, xii + 365 pages. 
 
 A readable account of plants and how they live and grow. It 
 is as free as possible from technicalities and well adapted to 
 young people. 
 
 GREENE. PICKETT 3 GAP. By Homer Greene. 12mo. Illus 
 trated, vii + 288 pages. 
 
 A story of American life and character illustrated in the per 
 sonal heroism and manliness of an American boy. It is well told, 
 and the lessons in morals and character are such as will appeal to 
 every honest instinct. 
 
 HAPGOOD. ABRAHAM LINCOLN. By Norman Hapgood. 
 12mo. Illustrated, xiii + 433 pages. 
 
 This is one of the best one-volume biographies of Lincoln, and a 
 faithful picture of the strong character of the great President, not 
 only when he was at the head of the nation, but also as a boy and 
 a young man, making his way in the world. 
 
HAPGOOD. GEORGE WASHINGTON. By Norman Hapgooa 
 12mo. Illustrated, xi + 419 pages. 
 
 Not the semi-mythical Washington of some biographers, but p 
 clear, comprehensive account of the man as he really appeared in 
 camp, in the field, in the councils of his country, at home, and in 
 society. Whenever possible the narrative is given in the words of 
 contemporaries, in extracts from letters, journals, and the publica 
 tions of the time. There are reproductions of the four most famous 
 portraits of Washington, and several facsimiles of ^ages from his 
 journal and other writings. 
 
 HUFFORD. SHAKESPEARE IN TALE AND VERSE. By Lois 
 Grosvenor Hufford. 12mo. ix + 445 pages. 
 
 The purpose of the author is to introduce Shakespeare to such 
 of his readers as find the intricacies of the plots of the dramas 
 somewhat difficult to manage. The stories which constitute the 
 main plots are given, and are interspersed with the dramatic 
 dialogue in such a manner as to make tale and verse interpret each 
 other. 
 
 HUGFES. TOM BROWN S SCHOOL DAYS. By Thomas Hughes. 
 12mo. Illustrated, xxi 4- 376 pages. 
 
 An attractive and convenient edition of this great story of life at 
 Rugby. It is a book that appeals to boys everywhere and which 
 makes for manliness and high ideals. The lively and spirited 
 account of the English school-boy s daily life, with its vivid de 
 scriptions of sports, games, and occasional " scrapes," is as delight 
 ful to read as on its first publication. The sympathetic and 
 imaginative illustrations of Arthur Hughes are retained. 
 
 HUTCHINSON. THE STORY OF THE HILLS. A Book about 
 Mountains for General Readers. By Rev. H. W. Hutchinson. 
 12mo. Illustrated, xv + 357 pages. 
 
 Besides the purely geological matter, there are entertaining chap 
 ters on " Mountains and Men," " Mountain Plants and Animals," 
 and "Sunshine and Storm on the Mountain." The entire subject- 
 matter of the book is diversified by anecdote and quotation. 
 
 " A clear account of the geological formation of mountains and 
 their various methods of origin in language so clear and untech- 
 nical that it will not confuse even the most unscientific." 
 Boston Evening Transcript. 
 
ILLINOIS GIRL. A PRAIRIE WINTER. By an Illinois Girl 
 16mo. 164 pages. 
 
 A record of the procession of the months from midway in Septem 
 ber to midway in May. The observations on Nature are accurate 
 and sympathetic, and they are interspersed with glimpses of a 
 charming home life and bits of cheerful philosophy. 
 
 INGERSOLL. WILD NEIGHBORS. OUTDOOR STUDIES IN 
 THE UNITED STATES. By Ernest Ingersoll. 12mo. 
 Illustrated, xii + 301 pages. 
 
 Studies and stories of the gray squirrel, the puma, the coyote, 
 the badger, and other burrowers, the porcupine, the skunk, the 
 woodchuck, and the raccoon. 
 
 INMAN. THE RANCH ON THE OXHIDE. By Henry Inman. 
 
 12mo. Illustrated, xi -f 297 pages. 
 
 A story of pioneer life in Kansas in the late sixties. Adventures 
 with wild animals and skirmishes with Indians add interest to the 
 narrative. 
 
 JOHNSON. CERVANTES DON QUIXOTE. Edited by Clifton 
 Johnson. 12mo. Illustrated, xxiii + 398 pages. 
 
 A well-edited edition of this classic. The one effort has been to 
 bring the book to readable proportions without excluding any really 
 essential incident or detail, and at the same time to make the text 
 unobjectionable and wholesome. 
 
 JUDSON. THE GROWTH OF THE AMERICAN NATION. By 
 
 Harry Pratt Judson. 12mo. Illustrations and maps. 
 xi + 359 pages. 
 
 The cardinal facts of American History are grasped in such a 
 way as to show clearly the orderly development of national life. 
 
 KEARY. THE HEROES OF ASGARD: TALES FROM SCANDI 
 NAVIAN MYTHOLOGY. By A. and E. Keary. 12mo. 
 Illustrated. 323 pages. 
 
 The book is divided into nine chapters, called "The 
 "How Thor went to Jotunheim," "Frey," "The Wanderings of 
 Freyja," " Iduna s Apples," "Baldur," "The Binding of Fenrir/ 1 
 "The Punishment of Loki," "Ragnarok." 
 
KING. DE SOTO AND HIS MEN IN THE LAND OF FLORIDA. 
 By Grace King. 12mo. Illustrated, xiv + 326 pages. 
 
 A story based upon the Spanish and Portuguese accounts of the 
 attempted conquest by the armada which sailed under De Soto in 
 1538 to subdue this country. Miss King gives a most entertain 
 ing history of the invaders struggles and of their final demoralized 
 rout; while her account of the native tribes is a most attractive 
 feature el the narrative 
 
 KINGSLEY. MAD AM HOW AND LADY WHY: FIRST LESSONS 
 IN EARTH LORE FOR CHILDREN. By Charles Kingsley. 
 12mo. Illustrated, xviii 4-321 pages. 
 
 Madam How and Lady Why are two fairies who teach the how 
 and why of things in nature. There are chapters on Earthquakes, 
 Volcanoes, Coral Reefs, Glaciers, etc., told in an interesting man 
 ner. The book is intended to lead children to use their eyes nnd 
 ears. 
 
 KINGSLEY. THE WATER BABIES: A FAIRY TALE FOR A 
 LAND BABY. By Charles Kingsley. 12mo. Illustrated. 
 330 pages. 
 
 One of the best children s stories ever written; it has deservedly 
 become a classic. 
 
 LANGE. OUR NATIVE BIRDS: HOW TO PROTECT THEM 
 AND ATTRACT THEM TO OUR HOMES. By D. Lange. 
 12mo. Illustrated, x + 162 pages. 
 
 A strong plea for the protection of birds. Methods and devices 
 for their encouragement are given, also a bibliography of helpful 
 literature, and material for Bird Day. 
 
 LOVELL. STORIES IN STONE FROM THE ROMAN FORUM. 
 By Isabel Lovell. 12mo. Illustrated, viii + 258 pages. 
 
 The eight stories in this volume give many facts that travelers 
 wish to know, that historical readers seek, and that young students 
 enjoy. The book puts the reader in close touch with Roman life. 
 
 McFARLAND. GETTING ACQUAINTED WITH THE TREES. 
 
 By J. Horace McFarland. 8vo. Illustrated, xi -f 241 pages. 
 
 A charmingly written series of tree essays. They are not 
 scientific but popular, and are the outcome of the author s desire 
 that others should share the rest and comfort that have come to 
 him through acquaintance with trees. 
 
MAJOR. THE BEARS OF BLUE RIVER. By Charles Major. 
 12mo. Illustrated. 277 pages. 
 
 A collection of good bear stories with a live boy for the hero. 
 The scene is laid in the early days of Indiana. 
 
 MARSHALL. WINIFRED S JOURNAL. By Emma Marshall. 
 12mo. Illustrated. 353 pages. 
 
 A story of the time of Charles the First. Some of the characters 
 are historical personages. 
 
 MEANS. PALMETTO STORIES. By Celina E. Means. 12mo. 
 Illustrated, x + 244 pages. 
 
 True accounts of some of the men and women who made the 
 history of South Carolina, and correct pictures of the conditions 
 under which these men and women labored. 
 
 MORRIS. MAN AND HIS ANCESTOR: A STUDY IN EVOLU 
 TION. By Charles Morris. 16mo. Illustrated, vii + 238 
 pages. 
 
 A popular presentation of the subject of man s origin. The 
 various significant facts that have been discovered since Darwin s 
 time are given, as well as certain lines of evidence never before 
 presented in this connection. 
 
 NEWBOLT. STORIES FROM FROISSART. By Henry Newbolt. 
 12mo. Illustrated, xxxi + 368 pages. 
 
 Here are given entire thirteen episodes from the "Chronicles" 
 of Sir John Froissart. The text is modernized sufficiently to make 
 it intelligible to young readers. Separated narratives are dove 
 tailed, and new translations have been made where necessary to 
 make the narrative complete and easily readable. 
 
 OVERTON. THE CAPTAIN S DAUGHTER. By Gwendolen 
 Overton. 12mo. Illustrated, vii + 270 page? 
 
 A story of girl life at an army post on the frontier. The plot is 
 an absorbing one, and the interest of the reader is held to the end. 
 
 PALGRAVE. THE CHILDREN S TREASURY OF ENGLISH 
 SONG. Selected and arranged by Francis Turner Palgrave. 
 16mo. viii + 302 pages. 
 
 This collection contains 168 selections songs, narratives, 
 descriptive or reflective pieces of a lyrical quality, all suited to thi 
 taste and understanding of children. 
 
8 
 
 PALMER. STORIES FROM THE CLASSICAL LITERATURE 
 OF MANY NATIONS. Edited by Bertha Palmer. 12mo. 
 xv -f 297 pages. 
 
 A collection of sixty characteristic stories from Chinese, Japa 
 nese, Hebrew, Babylonian, Arabian, Hindu, Greek, Roman, 
 German, Scandinavian, Celtic, Russian, Italian, French, Spanish, 
 Portuguese, Anglo-Saxon, English, Finnish, and American Indian 
 sources. 
 
 RIIS. CHILDREN OF THE TENEMENTS. By Jacob A. Hiis. 
 12mo. Illustrated, ix -f 387 pages. 
 
 Forty sketches and short stories dealing with the lights and 
 shadows of life in the slums of New York City, told just as they 
 came to the writer, fresh from the life of the people. 
 
 SANDYS. TRAPPER JIM. By Edwyn Sandys. 12mo. Illus 
 trated. ix + 441 pages. 
 
 A book which will delight every normal boy. Jim is a city lad 
 who learns from an older cousin all the lore of outdoor life 
 trapping, shooting, fishing, camping, swimming, and canoeing. 
 The author is a well-known writer on outdoor subjects. 
 
 SEXTON. STORIES OF CALIFORNIA. By Ella M. Sexton. 
 12mo. Illustrated, x + 211 pages. 
 
 Twenty-two stories illustrating the early conditions and the 
 romantic history of California and the subsequent development 
 of the state. 
 
 SHARP. THE YOUNGEST GIRL IN THE SCHOOL. By Evelyn 
 Sharp. 12mo. Illustrated, ix + 326 pages. 
 
 Bab, the " youngest girl," was only eleven and the pet of five 
 brothers. Her ups and downs in a strange boarding school make 
 an interesting story. 
 
 SPARKS. THE MEN WHO MADE THE NATION: AN OUTLINE 
 OF UNITED STATES HISTORY FROM 1776 TO 1861. By 
 Edwin E. Sparks. 12mo. Illustrated, viii + 415 pages. 
 
 The author has chosen to tell our history by selecting the one 
 man at various periods of our affairs who was master of the situ 
 ation and about whom events naturally grouped themselves. 
 The characters thus selected number twelve, as "Samuel Adams, 
 the man of the town meeting" ; "Robert Morris, the financier of 
 the Revolution"; "Hamilton, the advocate of stronger govern 
 ment," etc., etc. 
 
THACHER. THE LISTENING CHILD. A selection from the 
 stories of English verse, made for the youngest readers and 
 hearers. By Lucy W. Thacher. 12mo. xxx + 408 pages. 
 
 Under this title are gathered two hundred and fifty selections. 
 The arrangement is most intelligent, as shown in the proportions 
 assigned to different authors and periods. Much prominence is 
 given to purely imaginative writers. The preliminary essay, "A 
 Short Talk to Children about Poetry," is full of suggestion. 
 
 WALLACE. UNCLE HENRY S LETTERS TO THE FARM 
 BOY. By Henry Wallace. 16mo. ix + 180 pages. 
 
 Eighteen letters on habits, education, business, recreation, and 
 kindred subjects. 
 
 WEED. LIFE HISTORIES OF AMERICAN INSECTS. By 
 
 Clarence Moores Weed. 12mo. Illustrated, xii + 272 pages. 
 
 In these pages are described by an enthusiastic student of 
 entomology such changes as may often be seen in an insect s 
 form, and which mark the progress of its life. He shows how very 
 wide a field of interesting facts is within reach of any one who has 
 the patience to collect these little creatures. 
 
 WELLS. THE JINGLE BOOK. By Carolyn Wells. 12mo. 
 Illustrated, viii + 124 pages. 
 
 A collection of fifty delightful jingles and nonsense verses. The 
 illustrations by Oliver Herford do justice to the text. 
 
 WILSON. DOMESTIC SCIENCE IN GRAMMAR GRADES. A 
 
 Reader. By Lucy L. W. Wilson. 12mo. ix + 193 pages. 
 
 Descriptions of homes and household customs of all ages and 
 countries, studies of materials and industries, glimpses of the 
 homes of literature, and articles on various household subjects. 
 
 WILSON. HISTORY READER FOR ELEMENTARY SCHOOLS. 
 By Lucy L. W. Wilson. 16mo. Illustrated, xvii + 403 
 pages. 
 
 Stories grouped about the greatest men and the most striking 
 events in our country s history. The readings run by months, 
 beginning with September. 
 
 WILSON. PICTURE STUDY IN ELEMENTARY SCHOOLS. By 
 Lucy L. W. Wilson. 12mo. Illustrated. 
 
10 
 
 Ninety half-tone reproductions from celebrated paintings botn 
 old and modern, accompanied by appropriate readings from the 
 poets. All schools of art are represented. 
 
 WRIGHT. HEART OF NATURE. By Mabel Osgood Wright. 
 12mo. Illustrated. 
 
 This volume comprises "Stories of Plants and Animals," 
 "Stories of Earth and Sky," and "Stories of Birds and Beasts," 
 usually published in three volumes and known as "The Heart of 
 Nature Series." It is a delightful combination of story and 
 nature study, the author s name being a sufficient warrant for its 
 interest and fidelity to nature. 
 
 WRIGHT. FOUR-FOOTED AMERICANS AND THEIR KIN. By 
 Mabel Osgood Wright, edited by Frank Chapman. 12mo. 
 Illustrated, xv + 432 pages. 
 
 An animal book in story form. The scene shifts from farm to 
 woods, and back to an old room, fitted as a sort of winter camp, 
 where vivid stories of the birds and beasts which cannot be seen 
 at home are told by the campfire, the sailor who has hunted the 
 sea, the woodman, the mining engineer, and wandering scientist, 
 each taking his turn. A useful family tree of North American 
 Mammals is added. 
 
 WRIGHT. DOGTOWN. By Mabel Osgood Wright. 12mo. 
 Illustrated, xiii + 405 pages. 
 
 "Dogtown" was a neighborhood so named because so many 
 people loved and kept dogs. For it is a story of people as well as 
 of dogs, and several of the people as well as the dogs are old friends j 
 having been met in Mrs. Wright s other books. 
 
 YONGE. LITTLE LUCY S WONDERFUL GLOBE. By Char 
 lotte M. Yonge. 12mo. Illustrated, xi + 140 pages. 
 
 An interesting and ingenious introduction to geography. In 
 her dreams Lucy visits the children of various lands and thus 
 learns much of the habits and customs of these countries. 
 
 YONGE. UNKNOWN TO HISTORY. By Charlotte M. Yonge. 
 12mo. Illustrated, xi + 589 pages. 
 
 A story of the captivity of Mary Queen of Scots, told in the 
 author s best vein. 
 
14 DAY USE 
 
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 UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA LIBRARY