_The death of the Adelantado, Don Hernando de Soto, and how Luys
Moscoso de Alvarado was chosen Governor._
The Governor, conscious that the hour approached in which he should
depart this life, commanded that all the King's officers should be
called before him, the captains and the principal personages, to whom
he made a speech. He said that he was about to go into the presence
of God, to give account of all his past life; and since He had been
pleased to take him away at such a time, and when he could recognize
the moment of his death, he, His most unworthy servant, rendered
Him hearty thanks. He confessed his deep obligations to them all,
whether present or absent, for their great qualities, their love and
loyalty to his person, well tried in the sufferance of hardship,
which he ever wished to honor, and had designed to reward, when the
Almighty should be pleased to give him repose from labor with greater
prosperity to his fortune. He begged that they would pray for him,
that through mercy he might be pardoned his sins, and his soul be
received in glory: he asked that they would relieve him of the charge
he held over them, as well of the indebtedness he was under to them
all, as to forgive him any wrongs they might have received at his
hands. To prevent any divisions that might arise, as to who should
command, he asked that they would be pleased to elect a principal
and able person to be governor, one with whom they should all be
satisfied, and, being chosen, they would swear before him to obey:
that this would greatly satisfy him, abate somewhat the pains he
suffered, and moderate the anxiety of leaving them in a country, they
knew not where.
Baltasar de Gallegos responded in behalf of all, consoling him with
remarks on the shortness of the life of this world, attended as it
was by so many toils and afflictions, saying that whom God earliest
called away, He showed particular favor; with many other things
appropriate to such an occasion: And finally, since it pleased the
Almighty to take him to Himself, amid the deep sorrow they not
unreasonably felt, it was necessary and becoming in him, as in them,
to conform to the Divine Will: that as respected the election of a
governor, which he ordered, whomsoever his Excellency should name to
the command, him would they obey. Thereupon the Governor nominated
Luys Moscoso de Alvarado to be his captain-general; when by all those
present was he straightway chosen and sworn Governor.
The next day, the twenty-first of May, departed this life the
magnanimous, the virtuous, the intrepid captain, Don Hernando de
Soto, Governor of Cuba and Adelantado of Florida. He was advanced
by fortune, in the way she is wont to lead others, that he might
fall the greater depth: he died in a land, and at a time, that could
afford him little comfort in his illness, when the danger of being no
more heard from stared his companions in the face, each one himself
having need of sympathy, which was the cause why they neither gave
him their companionship nor visited him, as otherwise they would have
done.
Luys de Moscoso determined to conceal what had happened from the
Indians; for Soto had given them to understand that the Christians
were immortal; besides, they held him to be vigilant, sagacious,
brave; and, although they were at peace, should they know him to be
dead, they, being of their nature inconstant, might venture on making
an attack; and they were credulous of all that he had told them,
for he made them believe that some things which went on among them
privately, he had discovered without their being able to see how,
or by what means; and that the figure which appeared in a mirror he
showed, told him whatsoever they might be about, or desired to do;
whence neither by word nor deed did they dare undertake any thing to
his injury.
So soon as the death had taken place, Luys de Moscoso directed the
body to be put secretly into a house, where it remained three days;
and thence it was taken at night, by his order, to a gate of the
town, and buried within. The Indians, who had seen him ill, finding
him no longer, suspected the reason; and passing by where he lay,
they observed the ground loose, and, looking about, talked among
themselves. This coming to the knowledge of Luys de Moscoso, he
ordered the corpse to be taken up at night, and among the shawls
that enshrouded it having cast abundance of sand, it was taken out
in a canoe and committed to the middle of the stream. The cacique
of Guachoya asked for him, saying: "What has been done with my
brother and lord, the Governor?" Luys de Moscoso told him that he
had ascended into the skies, as he had done on many other occasions;
but as he would have to be detained there some time, he had left him
in his stead. The chief, thinking within himself that he was dead,
ordered two well-proportioned young men to be brought, saying, that
it was the usage of the country, when any lord died, to kill some
persons, who should accompany and serve him on the way, on which
account they were brought; and he told him to command their heads to
be struck off, that they might go accordingly to attend his friend
and master. Luys de Moscoso replied to him, that the Governor was
not dead, but only gone into the heavens, having taken with him of
his soldiers sufficient number for his need, and he besought him to
let those Indians go, and from that time forward not to follow so
evil a practice. They were presently ordered to be let loose, that
they might return to their houses; but one of them refused to leave,
alleging that he did not wish to remain in the power of one who,
without cause, condemned him to die, and that he who had saved his
life he desired to serve as long as he should live.
Luys de Moscoso ordered the property of the Governor to be sold at
public outcry. It consisted of two male and three female slaves,
three horses, and seven hundred swine. For each slave, or horse, was
given two or three thousand cruzados, to be paid at the first melting
of gold or silver, or division of vassals and territory, with the
obligation that should there be nothing found in the country, the
payment should be made at the end of a year, those having no property
to pledge to give their bond. A hog bought in the same way, trusted,
two hundred cruzados. Those who had left anything at home bought more
sparingly, and took less than others. From that time forward most
of the people owned and raised hogs; they lived on pork, observed
Fridays and Saturdays, and the vespers of holidays, which they had
not done before; for, at times, they had passed two or three months
without tasting any meat, and on the day they got any, it had been
their custom to eat it.