_How the Governor went from Quizquiz, and thence to the River
Grande._
Three days having gone by since some maize had been sought after,
and but little found in comparison with the great want there was of
it, the Governor became obliged to move at once, notwithstanding the
wounded had need of repose, to where there should be abundance. He
accordingly set out for Quizquiz, and marched seven days through
a wilderness, having many pondy places, with thick forests, all
fordable, however, on horseback, except some basins or lakes that
were swum. He arrived at a town of Quizquiz without being descried,
and seized all the people before they could come out of their houses.
Among them was the mother of the cacique; and the Governor sent word
to him, by one of the captives, to come and receive her, with the
rest he had taken. The answer he returned was, that if his lordship
would order them to be loosed and sent, he would come to visit and do
him service.
The Governor, since his men arrived weary, and likewise weak, for
want of maize, and the horses were also lean, determined to yield
to the requirement and try to have peace; so the mother and the
rest were ordered to be set free, and with words of kindness were
dismissed. The next day, while he was hoping to see the chief, many
Indians came, with bows and arrows, to set upon the Christians, when
he commanded that all the armed horsemen should be mounted and in
readiness. Finding them prepared, the Indians stopped at the distance
of a crossbow-shot from where the Governor was, near a river-bank,
where, after remaining quietly half an hour, six chiefs arrived at
the camp, stating that they had come to find out what people it might
be; for that they had knowledge from their ancestors that they were
to be subdued by a white race; they consequently desired to return to
the cacique, to tell him that he should come presently to obey and
serve the Governor. After presenting six or seven skins and shawls
brought with them, they took their leave, and returned with the
others who were waiting for them by the shore. The cacique came not,
nor sent another message.
There was little maize in the place, and the Governor moved to
another town, half a league from the great river,[279] where it was
found in sufficiency. He went to look at the river, and saw that near
it there was much timber of which piraguas might be made, and a good
situation in which the camp might be placed. He directly moved,
built houses, and settled on a plain a crossbow-shot from the water,
bringing together there all the maize of the towns behind, that at
once they might go to work and cut down trees for sawing out planks
to build barges. The Indians soon came from up the stream, jumped on
shore, and told the Governor that they were the vassals of a great
lord, named Aquixo, who was the suzerain of many towns and people on
the other shore; and they made known from him, that he would come
the day after, with all his people, to hear what his lordship would
command him.
[279] The Mississippi.
The next day the cacique arrived, with two hundred canoes filled with
men, having weapons. They were painted with ochre, wearing great
bunches of white and other plumes of many colors, having feathered
shields in their hands, with which they sheltered the oarsmen on
either side, the warriors standing erect from bow to stern, holding
bows and arrows. The barge in which the cacique came had an awning
at the poop, under which he sate; and the like had the barges of
the other chiefs; and there, from under the canopy, where the chief
man was, the course was directed and orders issued to the rest. All
came down together, and arrived within a stone's cast of the ravine,
whence the cacique said to the Governor, who was walking along the
river-bank, with others who bore him company, that he had come to
visit, serve, and obey him; for he had heard that he was the greatest
of lords, the most powerful on all the earth, and that he must see
what he would have him do. The Governor expressed his pleasure, and
besought him to land, that they might the better confer; but the
chief gave no reply, ordering three barges to draw near, wherein was
great quantity of fish, and loaves like bricks, made of the pulp of
plums (persimmons), which Soto receiving, gave him thanks and again
entreated him to land.
Making the gift had been a pretext, to discover if any harm might
be done; but, finding the Governor and his people on their guard,
the cacique began to draw off from the shore, when the crossbowmen
who were in readiness, with loud cries shot at the Indians, and
struck down five or six of them. They retired with great order,
not one leaving the oar, even though the one next to him might have
fallen, and covering themselves, they withdrew. Afterwards they came
many times and landed; when approached, they would go back to their
barges. These were fine-looking men, very large and well formed; and
what with the awnings, the plumes, and the shields, the pennons, and
the number of people in the fleet, it appeared like a famous armada
of galleys.
During the thirty days that were passed there, four piraguas were
built, into three of which, one morning, three hours before daybreak,
the Governor ordered twelve cavalry to enter, four in each, men in
whom he had confidence that they would gain the land notwithstanding
the Indians, and secure the passage, or die: he also sent some
crossbowmen of foot with them, and in the other piragua, oarsmen, to
take them to the opposite shore. He ordered Juan de Guzman to cross
with the infantry, of which he had remained captain in the place of
Francisco Maldonado; and because the current was stiff, they went up
along the side of the river a quarter of a league, and in passing
over they were carried down, so as to land opposite the camp; but,
before arriving there, at twice the distance of a stone's cast, the
horsemen rode out from the piraguas to an open area of hard and even
ground, which they all reached without accident.
So soon as they had come to shore the piraguas returned; and when
the sun was up two hours high, the people had all got over.[280] The
distance was near half a league: a man standing on the shore could
not be told, whether he were a man or something else, from the other
side. The stream was swift, and very deep; the water, always flowing
turbidly, brought along from above many trees and much timber, driven
onward by its force. There were many fish of several sorts, the
greater part differing from those of the fresh waters of Spain, as
will be told hereafter.
[280] The crossing was made either at Council Bend or Walnut
Bend, in Tunica County, Mississippi, in a straight line some
twenty-five to thirty-eight miles below Memphis.