lodged in a little town called _Ytara_, and the next day in another
called _Potano_, and the third day at _Utinama_, and came to another
town which they named the town of _Evil peace_; because an Indian came
in peace, saying, that he was the cacique, and that he with his people
would serve the Governor, and that if he would set free twenty-eight
persons, men and women, which his men had taken the night before, he
would command provision to be brought him, and would give him a guide to
instruct him in his way. The Governor commanded them to be set at
liberty, and to keep him in safeguard. The next day in the morning there
came many Indians, and set themselves round about the town near to a
wood. The Indian wished them to carry him near them, and that he would
speak unto them, and assure them, and that they would do whatsoever he
commanded them. And when he saw himself near unto them he broke from
them, and ran away so swiftly from the Christians that there was none
that could overtake him, and all of them fled into the woods. The
Governor commanded to loose a greyhound, which was already fleshed on
them, which passing by many other Indians, caught the counterfeit
cacique which had escaped from the Christians, and held him till they
came to take him. From thence the Governor lodged at a town called
_Cholupaha_, and because it had store of maize in it, they named it
_Villa farta_. Beyond the same there was a river, on which he made a
bridge of timber, and traveled two days through a desert. The 17th of
August he came to _Caliquen_, where he was informed of the province of
_Apalache_. They told him that _Pamphilo de Narvaez_ had been there, and
that there he took shipping, because he could find no way to go forward.
That there was none other town at all; but that on both sides was all
water. The whole company were very sad for this news, and counseled the
Governor to go back to the _Port de Spirito Santo_, and to abandon the
country of _Florida_, lest he should perish as _Narvaez_ had done;
declaring that if he went forward, he could not return back when he
would, and that the Indians would gather up that small quantity of maize
which was left. Whereunto the Governor answered that he would not go
back, till he had seen with his eyes that which they reported; saying
that he could not believe it, and that we should be put out of doubt
before it were long. And he sent to _Luys de Moscoso_ to come presently
from _Cale_, and that he tarried for him there. _Luys de Moscoso_ and
many others thought that from _Apalache_ they should return back; and in
_Cale_ they buried their iron tools, and divers other things. They came
to _Caliquen_ with great trouble; because the country which the Governor
had passed by, was spoiled and destitute of maize. After all the people
were come together, he commanded a bridge to be made over a river that
passed near the town. He departed from _Caliquen_ the 10th of September,
and carried the cacique with him. After he had traveled three days,
there came Indians peaceably to visit their lord, and every day met us
on the way playing upon flutes; which is a token that they use, that men
may know that they come in peace. They said that in our way before there
was a cacique whose name was _Uzachil_, a kinsman of the cacique of
_Caliquen_ their lord, waiting for him with many presents, and they
desired the Governor that he would loose the cacique. But he would not,
fearing that they would rise, and would not give him any guides, and
sent them away from day to day with good words. He traveled five days;
he passed by some small towns; he came to a town called _Napetuca_, the
15th day of September. Thither came fourteen or fifteen Indians, and
besought the Governor to let loose the cacique of _Caliquen_, their
lord. He answered them that he held him not in prison, but that he would
have him to accompany him to Uzachil. The Governor had notice by _John
Ortiz_, that an Indian told him how they determined to gather themselves
together, and come upon him, and give him battle, and take away the
cacique from him. The day that it was agreed upon, the Governor
commanded his men to be in readiness, and that the horsemen should be
ready armed and on horseback every one in his lodging, because the
Indians might not see them, and so more confidently come to the town.
There came four hundred Indians in sight of the camp with their bows and
arrows, and placed themselves in a wood, and sent two Indians to bid the
Governor to deliver them the cacique. The Governor with six footmen
leading the cacique by the hand, and talking with him, to secure the
Indians, went toward the place where they were. And seeing a fit time,
commanded to sound a trumpet; and presently those that were in the town
in the houses, both horse and foot, set upon the Indians, which were so
suddenly assaulted, that the greatest care they had was which way they
should flee. They killed two horses; one was the Governor's, and he was
presently horsed again upon another. There were thirty or forty Indians
slain. The rest fled to two very great lakes, that were somewhat distant
the one from the other. There they were swimming, and the Christians
round about them. The calivermen and crossbow-men shot at them from the
bank; but the distance being great, and shooting afar off, they did them
no hurt. The Governor commanded that the same night they should compass
one of the lakes, because they were so great, that there were not men
enough to compass them both; being beset, as soon as night shut in, the
Indians, with determination to run away, came swimming very softly to
the bank; and to hide themselves they put a water lily leaf on their
heads. The horsemen, as soon as they perceived it to stir, ran into the
water to the horses' breasts, and the Indians fled again into the lake.
So this night passed without any rest on both sides. _John Ortiz_
persuaded them that seeing they could not escape, they should yield
themselves to the Governor; which they did, enforced thereunto by the
coldness of the water; and one by one, he first whom the cold did first
overcome, cried to _John Ortiz_, desiring that they would not kill him,
for he came to put himself into the hands of the Governor. By the
morning watch they made an end of yielding themselves; only twelve
principal men, being more honorable and valorous than the rest, resolved
rather to die than to come into his hands. And the Indians of
_Paracossi_, which were now loosed out of chains, went swimming to them,
and pulled them out by the hair of their heads, and they were all put in
chains, and the next day were divided among the Christians for their
service. Being thus in captivity, they determined to rebel; and gave in
charge to an Indian which was interpreter, and held to be valiant, that
as soon as the Governor did come to speak with him, he should cast his
hands about his neck, and choke him: who, when he saw opportunity, laid
hands on the Governor, and before he cast his hands about his neck, he
gave him such a blow on the nostrils, that he made them gush out with
blood, and presently all the rest did rise. He that could get any
weapons at hand, or the handle wherewith he did grind the maize, sought
to kill his master, or the first he met before him; and he that could
get a lance or sword at hand, bestirred himself in such sort with it, as
though he had used it all his lifetime. One Indian in the market-place
enclosed between fifteen or twenty footmen, made a way like a bull, with
a sword in his hand, till certain halbardiers of the Governor came,
which killed him. Another got up with a lance to a loft made of canes,
which they build to keep their maize in, which they call a barbacoa, and
there he made such a noise as though ten men had been there defending
the door; they slew him with a partizan. The Indians were in all about
two hundred men. They were all subdued. And some of the youngest the
Governor gave to them which had good chains, and were careful to look to
them that they got not away. All the rest he commanded to be put to
death, being tied to a stake in the midst of the market-place; and the
Indians of the _Paracossi_ did shoot them to death.
The Governor departed from _Napetuca_ the 23d of September; he lodged by
a river, where two Indians brought him a buck from the cacique of
_Uzachil_. The next day he passed by a great town called _Hapaluya_, and
lodged at _Uzachil_, and found no people in it, because they durst not
tarry for the notice the Indians had of the slaughter of _Napetuca_. He
found in that town great store of maize, French beans, and pompions,
which is their food, and that wherewith the Christians there sustained
themselves. The maize is like coarse millet, and the pompions are better
and more savory than those of _Spain_. From thence the Governor sent
two captains each a sundry way to seek the Indians. They took an hundred
men and women; of which as well there as in other place where they made
any inroads, the captain chose one or two for the Governor, and divided
the rest to himself, and those that went with him. They led these
Indians in chains with iron collars about their necks; and they served
to carry their stuff, and to grind their maize, and for other services
that such captives could do. Sometimes it happened that going for wood
or maize with them, they killed the Christian that led them, and ran
away with the chain; others filed their chains by night with a piece of
stone, wherewith they cut them, and use it instead of iron. Those that
were perceived paid for themselves, and for the rest, because they
should not dare to do the like another time. The women and young boys,
when they were once an hundred leagues from their country, and had
forgotten things, they let go loose, and so they served; and in a very
short space they understood the language of the Christians. From
_Uzachil_ the Governor departed toward _Apalache_, and in two days'
journey he came to a town called _Axille_, and from thence forward the
Indians were careless, because they had as yet no notice of the
Christians. The next day in the morning, the first of October, he
departed from thence, and commanded a bridge to be made over a river
which he was to pass. The depth of the river where the bridge was made,
was a stone's cast, and forward a crossbow shot the water came to the
waist; and the wood whereby the Indians came to see if they could defend
the passage, and disturb those which made the bridge, was very high and
thick. The crossbow-men so bestirred themselves that they made them give
back; and certain planks were cast into the river, whereon the men
passed, which made good the passage. The Governor passed upon Wednesday,
which was _St. Francis_' day, and lodged at a town which was called
_Vitachuco_, subject to _Apalache_: he found it burning, for the Indians
had set it on fire. From thence forward the country was much inhabited,
and had great store of maize. He passed by many granges like hamlets. On
Sunday, the 25th of October, he came to a town which is called _Uzela_,
and upon Tuesday to _Anaica Apalache_, where the lord of all that
country and province was resident; in which town the camp master, whose
office is to quarter out, and lodge men, did lodge all the company round
about within a league, and half a league of it. There were other towns,
where was great store of maize, pompions, French beans, and plums of the
country, which are better than those of _Spain_, and they grow in the
fields without planting. The victuals that were thought necessary to
pass the winter, were gathered from these towns to _Anaica Apalache_.
The Governor was informed that the sea was ten leagues from thence. He
presently sent a captain thither with horsemen and footmen. And six
leagues on the way he found a town which was named _Ochete_, and so came
to the sea; and found a great tree felled, and cut into pieces, with
stakes set up like mangers, and saw the skulls of horses. He returned
with this news. And that was held for certain, which was reported of
_Pamphilo de Narvaez_, that there he had built the barks wherewith he
went out of the land of _Florida_, and was cast away at sea. Presently
the Governor sent _John Danusco_ with thirty horsemen to the _Port de
Spirito Santo_ where _Calderan_ was, with order that they should abandon
the port, and all of them come to _Apalache_. He departed on Saturday
the 17th of November. In _Uzachil_ and other towns that stood in the way
he found great store of people already careless. He would take none of
the Indians, for not hindering himself, because it behooved him to give
them no leisure to gather themselves together. He passed through the
towns by night, and rested without the towns three or four hours. In ten
days he came to the _Port de Spirito Santo_. He carried with him twenty
Indian women, which he took in _Ytara_, and _Potano_, near unto _Cale_,
and sent them to _Donna Isabella_ in the two caravels, which he sent
from the _Port de Spirito Santo_ to _Cuba_. And he carried all the
footmen in the brigantines, and coasting along the shore came to
_Apalache_. And _Calderan_, with the horsemen, and some crossbow-men on
foot, went by land; and in some places the Indians set upon him, and
wounded some of his men. As soon as he came to _Apalache_, presently the
Governor sent sawed planks and spikes to the sea-side, wherewith was
made a piragua or bark, wherein were embarked thirty men well armed,
which went out of the bay to the sea, looking for the brigantines.
Sometimes they fought with the Indians, which passed along the harbor in
their canoes. Upon Saturday, the 29th of November, there came an Indian
through the watch undiscovered, and sat the town on fire, and with the
great wind that blew two parts of it were consumed in a short time. On
Sunday the 28th of December, came _John Danusco_ with the brigantines.
The Governor sent _Francisco Maldonado_, a captain of footmen, with
fifty men to discover the coast westward, and to seek some port, because
he had determined to go by land, and discover that part. That day there
went out eight horsemen by commandment of the Governor into the field,
two leagues about the town, to seek Indians; for they were now so
emboldened, that within two crossbow shot of the camp, they came and
slew men. They found two men and a woman gathering French beans; the
men, though they might have fled, yet because they would not leave the
woman, which was one of their wives, they resolved to die fighting; and
before they were slain, they wounded three horses, whereof one died
within a few days after. _Calderan_ going with his men by the sea-coast,
from a wood that was near the place, the Indians set upon him, and made
him forsake his way, and many of them that went with him forsook some
necessary victuals, which they carried with them. Three or four days
after the limited time given by the Governor to _Maldonado_ for his
going and coming, being already determined and resolved, if within eight
days he did not come, to tarry no longer for him, he came, and brought
an Indian from a province which was called _Ochus_, sixty leagues
westward from _Apalache_; where he had found a port of good depth, and
defence against weather. And because the Governor hoped to find a good
country forward, he was very well contented. And he sent _Maldonado_ for
victuals to _Havana_, with order that he should tarry for him at the
port of _Ochus_, which he had discovered, for he would go seek it by
land; and if he should chance to stay, and not come thither that summer,
that then he should return to _Havana_, and should come again the next
summer after, and tarry for him at that port; for he said he would do
none other thing but go to seek _Ochus_. _Francisco Maldonado_ departed,
and in his place for captain of the footmen remained _John de Guzman_.
Of those Indians which were taken in _Napetuca_, the Treasurer _John
Gaytan_ had a young man, which said that he was not of that country, but
of another far off toward the sun rising, and that it was long since he
had traveled to see countries; and that his country was called _Yupaha_,
and that a woman did govern it; and that the town where she was resident
was of a wonderful bigness, and that many lords round about were
tributaries to her; and some gave her clothes, and others gold in
abundance; and he told how it was taken out of the mines, and was molten
and refined, as if he had seen it done, or the devil had taught it him.
So that all those which knew anything concerning the same, said that it
was impossible to give so good a relation, without having seen it; and
all of them, as if they had seen it, by the signs that he gave, believed
all that he said to be true.
On Wednesday, the third of March, of the year 1540, the Governor
departed from _Anaica Apalache_ to seek _Yupaha_. He commanded his men
to go provided with maize for sixty leagues of desert. The horsemen
carried their maize on their horses, and the footmen at their sides;
because the Indians that were for service, with their miserable life
that they led that winter, being naked and in chains, died for the most
part. Within four days' journey they came to a great river; and they
made a piragua or ferry boat, and because of the great current, they
made a cable with chains, which they fastened on both sides of the
river; and the ferry boat went along by it, and the horses swam over,
being drawn with capstans. Having passed the river in a day and a half,
they came to a town called _Capachiqui_. Upon Friday the 11th of March,
they found Indians in arms. The next day five Christians went to seek
mortars, which the Indians have to beat their maize, and they went to
certain houses on the back side of the camp environed with a wood. And
within the wood were many Indians which came to spy us; of the which
came other five and set upon us. One of the Christians came running
away, giving an alarm unto the camp. Those which were most ready
answered the alarm. They found one Christian dead, and three sore
wounded. The Indians fled unto a lake adjoining near a very thick wood,
where the horses could not enter. The Governor departed from
_Capachiqui_ and passed through a desert. On Wednesday, the twenty-first
of the month, he came to a town called _Toalli_; and from thence forward
there was a difference in the houses. For those which were behind us
were thatched with straw, and those of _Toalli_ were covered with reeds,
in manner of tiles. These houses are very cleanly. Some of them had
walls daubed with clay, which showed like a mud-wall. In all the cold
country the Indians have every one a house for the winter daubed with
clay within and without, and the door is very little; they shut it by
night, and make fire within; so that they are in it as warm as in a
stove, and so it continueth all night that they need not clothes; and
besides these they have others for summer; and their kitchens near them,
where they make fire and bake their bread; and they have barbacoas
wherein they keep their maize; which is a house set up in the air upon
four stakes, boarded about like a chamber, and the floor of it is of
cane hurdles. The difference which lords or principal men's houses have
from the rest, besides they be greater, is, that they have great
galleries in their fronts, and under them seats made of canes in manner
of benches; and round about them they have many lofts, wherein they lay
up that which the Indians do give them for tribute, which is maize,
deers' skins, and mantles of the country, which are like blankets; they
make them of the inner rind of the barks of trees, and some of a kind of
grass like unto nettles, which being beaten, is like unto flax. The
women cover themselves with these mantles; they put one about them from
the waist downward, and another over their shoulder, with their right
arm out, like unto the Egyptians. The men wear but one mantle upon their
shoulders after the same manner; and have their secrets hid with a
deer's skin, made like a linen breech, which was wont to be used in
_Spain_. The skins are well curried, and they give them what color they
list, so perfect, that if it be red, it seemeth a very fine cloth in
grain, and the black is most fine, and of the same leather they make
shoes; and they dye their mantles in the same colors. The Governor
departed from _Toalli_ the 24th of March; he came on Thursday at evening
to a small river, where a bridge was made whereon the people passed, and
_Benit_ _Fernandez_, a Portuguese, fell off from it, and was drowned. As
soon as the Governor had passed the river, a little distance thence he
found a town called _Achese_. The Indians had no notice of the
Christians: they leaped into a river: some men and women were taken,
among which was one that understood the youth which guided the Governor
to _Yupaha_; whereby that which he had reported was more confirmed. For
they had passed through countries of divers languages, and some which he
understood not. The Governor sent by one of the Indians that were taken
to call the cacique, which was on the other side of the river. He came,
and made this speech following:
"Right high, right mighty, and excellent lord, those things which seldom
happen do cause admiration. What then may the sight of your lordship and
your people do to me and mine, whom we never saw? especially being
mounted on such fierce beasts as your horses are, entering with such
violence and fury into my country, without my knowledge of your coming.
It was a thing so strange, and caused such fear and terror in our minds,
that it was not in our power to stay and receive your lordship with the
solemnity due to so high and renowned a prince as your lordship is. And
trusting in your greatness and singular virtues, I do not only hope to
be freed from blame, but also to receive favors; and the first which I
demand of your lordship is, that you will use me, my country, and
subjects as your own; and the second, that you will tell me who you are,
and whence you come, and whither you go, and what you seek, that I the
better may serve you therein."
The Governor answered him, that he thanked him as much for his offer and
good-will as if he had received it, and as if he had offered him a great
treasure; and told him that he was the son of the Sun, and came from
those parts where he dwelt, and traveled through that country, and
sought the greatest lord and richest province that was in it. The
cacique told him that farther forward dwelt a great lord, and that his
dominion was called _Ocute_. He gave him a guide and an interpreter for
that province. The Governor commanded his Indians to be set free, and
traveled through his country up a river very well inhabited. He departed
from his town the first of April; and left a very high cross of wood set
up in the midst of the market-place; and because the time gave no more
leisure, he declared to him only that that cross was a memory of the
same whereon Christ, which was God and man, and created the heavens and
the earth, suffered for our salvation; therefore he exhorted them that
they should reverence it, and they made show as though they would do so.
The fourth of April the Governor passed by a town called _Altamaca_, and
the tenth of the month he came to _Ocute_. The cacique sent him two
thousand Indians with a present, to wit, many conies and partridges,
bread of maize, two hens, and many dogs; which among the Christians were
esteemed as if they had been fat wethers, because of the great want of
flesh meat and salt, and hereof in many places, and many times was great
need; and they were so scarce, that if a man fell sick, there was
nothing to cherish him withal; and with a sickness, that in another
place easily might have been remedied, he consumed away till nothing but
skin and bones were left; and they died of pure weakness, some of them
saying, "If I had a slice of meat or a few corns of salt, I should not
die. The Indians want no flesh meat; for they kill with their arrows
many deer, hens, conies, and other wild fowl, for they are very cunning
at it, which skill the Christians had not; and though they had it, they
had no leisure to use it; for the most of the time they spent in travel,
and durst not presume to straggle aside. And because they were thus
scanted of flesh, when six hundred men that went with _Soto_ came to any
town, and found thirty or forty dogs, he that could get one and kill it
thought himself no small man; and he that killed it and gave not his
captain one quarter, if he knew it he frowned on him, and made him feel
it in the watches, or in any other matter of labor that was offered,
wherein he might do him a displeasure. On Monday, the twelfth of April,
1540, the Governor departed from _Ocute_. The cacique gave him two
hundred _Tamenes_, to wit, Indians to carry burdens; he passed through a
town, the lord whereof was named _Cofaqui_, and came to a province of an
Indian lord called _Patofa_, who because he was in peace with the lord
of _Ocute_, and with the other bordering lords, had many days before
notice of the Governor, and desired to see him. He came to visit him,
and made this speech following.