THE ADVENTURES OF DE SOTO.
(A.D. 1538‒1542.)
These extracts are taken from “The Worthy and Famous History
of the Travels, Discovery, and Conquest of Terra Florida,
accomplished and effected by that worthy General and Captain,
Don Ferdinando de Soto, and six hundred Spaniards his followers.”
(Reprinted by Hakluyt Society, 1851.) Pages 9‒16, 27‒32, 89‒92,
120‒122, 125‒127. This is a translation, made by Hakluyt in
1609, of a narrative by one of the companions of De Soto, first
published in 1557.
THE ADVENTURES OF DE SOTO.
I.――HOW DE SOTO SET SAIL.
Illustration: DE SOTO.
CAPTAIN SOTO was the son of a squire of Xerez of Badajos. He went into
the Spanish Indies when Peter Arias of Avila was governor of the West
Indies. And there he was without any thing else of his own, save his
sword and target. And, for his good qualities and valor, Peter Arias
made him captain of a troop of horsemen; and, by his commandment, he
went with Fernando Pizarro to the conquest of Peru, where (as many
persons of credit reported, which were there present) ... he passed all
other captains and principal persons. For which cause, besides his part
of the treasure of Atabalipa, he had a good share; whereby in time he
gathered an hundred and fourscore ducats together, with that which fell
to his part, which he brought into Spain.... The emperor made him the
governor of the Isle of Cuba, and _adelantado_ or president of Florida,
with a title of marquis of certain part of the lands that he should
conquer....
When Don Ferdinando had obtained the government, there came a gentleman
from the Indies to the court, named Cabeza de Vaca, which had been with
the governor Pamphilo de Narvaez, which died in Florida,――who reported
that Narvaez was cast away at sea, with all the company that went with
him, and how he with four more escaped, and arrived in New Spain; and
he brought a relation in writing of that which he had seen in Florida,
which said in some places, “In such a place I have seen this; and the
rest which here I saw, I leave to confer of between his Majesty and
myself.”...
And he informed them, “that it was the richest country in the world.”
Don Ferdinand de Soto was very desirous to have him with him, and made
him a favorable offer; and after they were agreed, because Soto gave
him not a sum of money which he demanded to buy a ship, they broke off
again....
The Portuguese departed from Elvas the 15th of January, and came to
Seville the 19th of the same month, and went to the lodging of the
governor, and entered into a court, over the which there were certain
galleries where he was, who came down, and received them at the stairs
whereby they went up into the galleries. When he was come up, he
commanded chairs to be given them to sit on. And Andrew de Vasconcelos
told him who he and the other Portuguese were, and how they all were
come to accompany him, and serve him in his voyage. He gave him thanks,
and made show of great contentment for his coming and offer. And, the
table being already laid, he invited them to dinner. And, being at
dinner, he commanded his steward to seek a lodging for them near unto
his own, where they might be lodged. The _adelantado_ departed from
Seville to Saint Lucar with all the people which were to go with him.
And he commanded a muster to be made, at the which the Portuguese
showed themselves armed in very bright armor, and the Castilians very
gallant with silk upon silk, with many pinkings and cuts. The governor,
because these braveries[121] in such an action did not like[122] him,
commanded that they should muster another day, and every one should
come forth with his armor; at the which the Portuguese came, as at the
first, with very good armor. The governor placed them in order near
unto the standard which the ensign-bearer carried. The Castilians, for
the most part, did wear very bad and rusty shirts of mail, and all of
them head-pieces and steel caps, and very bad lances; and some of them
sought to come among the Portuguese.
So those passed, and were counted and enrolled, which Soto liked and
accepted of, and did accompany him into Florida, which were in all six
hundred men. He had already bought seven ships, and had all necessary
provision aboard them. He appointed captains, and delivered to every
one his ship, and gave them in a roll what people every one should
carry with them....
In the year of our Lord 1538, in the month of April, the _adelantado_
delivered his ships to the captains which were to go in them; and took
for himself a new ship, and good of sail, and gave another to Andrew
de Vasconcelos, in which the Portuguese went. He went over the bar
of San Lucar on Sunday, being San Lazarus day, in the morning, of the
month and year aforesaid, with great joy, commanding his trumpets to
be sounded, and many shots of the ordnance to be discharged.
II.――DE SOTO ATTACKS THE INDIANS, AND FINDS A FELLOW-COUNTRYMAN.
FROM the town of Ucita,[123] the governor sent the alcalde mayor,
Baltasar de Gallegos, with forty horsemen and eighty footmen, into the
country, to see if they could take any Indians; and the captain, John
Rodriguez Lobillo, another way, with fifty footmen. The most of them
were swordmen and targetiers;[124] and the rest were shot and crossbow
men. They passed through a country full of bogs, where horses could not
travel. Half a league from the camp, they lighted upon certain cabins
of Indians near a river. The people that were in them leaped into the
river; yet they took four Indian women: and twenty Indians charged us,
and so distressed us, that we were forced to retire to our camp, being,
as they are, exceeding ready with their weapons.
Illustration: LANDING OF DE SOTO.
It is a people so warlike and so nimble, that they care not a whit
for any footmen; for, if their enemies charge them, they run away; and,
if they turn their backs, they are presently upon them; and the thing
they most flee is the shot of an arrow. They never stand still, but are
always running and traversing[125] from one place to another, by reason
whereof neither crossbow nor arquebuse can aim at them: and, before
one crossbow-man can make one shot, an Indian will discharge three or
four arrows; and he seldom misseth what he shooteth at. An arrow, where
it findeth no armor, pierceth as deeply as a crossbow. Their bows are
very long; and their arrows are made of certain canes like reeds, very
heavy, and so strong, that a sharp cane passeth through a target. Some
they arm in the point with a sharp bone of a fish like a chisel; and in
others they fasten certain stones like points of diamonds. For the most
part, when they light upon an armor, they break in the place where they
are bound together. Those of cane do split and pierce a coat of mail,
and are more hurtful than the other.
John Rodriguez Lobillo returned to the camp with six men wounded,
whereof one died, and brought the four Indian women which Baltasar
Gallegos had taken in the cabins or cottages. Two leagues from the town,
coming into the plain field, he espied ten or eleven Indians, among
whom was a Christian, which was naked and scorched with the sun, and
had his arms razed,[126] after the manner of the Indians, and differed
nothing at all from them. And, as soon as the horsemen saw them, they
ran toward them. The Indians fled, and some of them hid themselves in
a wood; and they overtook two or three of them which were wounded. And
the Christian, seeing an horseman run upon him with his lance, began to
cry out, “Sirs, I am a Christian! Slay me not, nor these Indians; for
they have saved my life.” And straightway he called them, and put them
out of fear; and they came forth of the wood unto them. The horsemen
took both the Christian and the Indians up behind them, and toward
night came into the camp with much joy; which thing being known by the
governor and them that remained in the camp, they were received with
the like.[127]
III.――THE STORY OF JOHN ORTIZ.
THIS Christian’s name was John Ortiz; and he was born in Seville in
worshipful parentage.[128] He was twelve years in the hands of the
Indians. He came into this country with Pamphilo de Narvaez, and
returned in the ships to the Island of Cuba, where the wife of the
governor, Pamphilo de Narvaez, was; and by his commandment, with
twenty or thirty in a brigantine, returned back again to Florida. And
coming to the port in the sight of the town, on the shore they saw a
cane sticking in the ground, and riven[129] at the top, and a letter
in it. And they believed that the governor had left it there to give
advertisement[130] of himself when he resolved to go up into the land;
and they demanded it of four or five Indians which walked along the
seashore; and they bade them by signs to come on shore for it, which,
against the will of the rest, John Ortiz and another did.
And as soon as they were on land, from the houses of the town issued
a great number of Indians, which compassed them about, and took them
in a place where they could not flee; and the other, which sought to
defend himself, they presently killed upon the place, and took John
Ortiz alive, and carried him to Ucita, their lord. And those of the
brigantine sought not to land, but put themselves to sea, and returned
to the Island of Cuba. Ucita commanded to bind John Ortiz hand and foot
upon four stakes aloft upon a raft, and to make a fire under him, that
there he might be burned. But a daughter of his desired him that he
would not put him to death, alleging that one only Christian could do
him neither hurt nor good, telling him that it was more for his honor
to keep him as a captive. And Ucita granted her request, and commanded
him to be cured of his wounds; and, as soon as he was whole, he gave
him the charge of the keeping of the temple, because that by night the
wolves did carry away the dead bodies out of the same; who commended
himself to God, and took upon him the charge of his temple.
One night the wolves got from him the body of a little child, the son
of a principal Indian; and, going after them, he threw a dart at one
of the wolves, and struck him[131] that carried away the body, who,
feeling himself wounded, left it, and fell down dead near the place;
and he, not wotting[132] what he had done, because it was night, went
back again to the temple. The morning being come, and finding not the
body of the child, he was very sad. As soon as Ucita knew thereof,
he resolved to put him to death, and sent by the track which he said
the wolves went, and found the body of the child, and the wolf dead
a little beyond: whereat Ucita was much contented with the Christian,
and with the watch which he kept in the temple, and from thence-forward
esteemed him much.
Three years after he fell into his hands, there came another lord,
called Mocoço, who dwelleth two days’ journey from the port, and burned
his town. Ucita fled to another town that he had in another seaport.
Thus John Ortiz lost his office and favor that he had with him. These
people, being worshippers of the devil, are wont to offer up unto
him the lives and blood of their Indians, or of any other people they
can come by; and they report, that, when he will have them do that
sacrifice unto him, he speaketh with them, and telleth them that he is
athirst, and willeth them to sacrifice unto him. John Ortiz had notice
by the damsel that had delivered him from the fire, how her father was
determined to sacrifice him the day following, who willed him to flee
to Mocoço, for she knew that he would use him well; for she heard say
that he had asked for him, and said he would be glad to see him. And,
because he knew not the way, she went with him half a league out of the
town by night, and set him in the way, and returned, because she would
not be discovered.
John Ortiz travelled all that night, and by the morning came unto a
river which is in the territory of Mocoço; and there he saw two Indians
fishing. And because they were in war with the people of Ucita, and
their languages were different, and he knew not the language of Mocoço,
he was afraid――because he could not tell them who he was, nor how he
came thither; nor was able to answer any thing for himself――that they
would kill him, taking him for one of the Indians of Ucita. And, before
they espied him, he came to the place where they had laid their weapons;
and, as soon as they saw him, they fled toward the town; and although
he willed them to stay, because he meant to do them no hurt, yet they
understood him not, and ran away as fast as ever they could. And as
soon as they came to the town, with great outcries, many Indians came
forth against him, and began to compass[133] him to shoot at him. John
Ortiz, seeing himself in so great danger, shielded himself with certain
trees, and began to shriek out, and cry very loud, and to tell them
that he was a Christian, and that he was fled from Ucita, and was come
to see and serve Mocoço, his lord.
It pleased God, that at that very instant there came thither an
Indian that could speak the language, and understood him, and pacified
the rest, who told them what he said. Then ran from thence three or
four Indians to bear the news to their lord, who came forth a quarter
of a league from the town to receive him, and was very glad of him.
He caused him presently to swear, according to the custom of the
Christians, that he would not run away from him to any other lord, and
promised him to entreat[134] him very well, and that, if at any time
there came any Christians into that country, he would freely let him
go, and give him leave to go, to them; and likewise took his oath to
perform the same according to the Indian custom. About three years
after, certain Indians which were fishing at sea, two leagues from the
town, brought news to Mocoço that they had seen ships; and he called
John Ortiz, and gave him leave to go his way; who, taking his leave
of him, with all the haste he could, came to the sea; and, finding no
ships, he thought it to be some deceit, and that the cacique[135] had
done the same to learn his mind: so he dwelt with Mocoço nine years,
with small hope of seeing any Christians.
As soon as our governor arrived in Florida, it was known to Mocoço;
and straightway he signified to John Ortiz that Christians were lodged
in the town of Ucita. And he thought he had jested with him, as he
had done before, and told him, that by this time he had forgotten
the Christians, and thought of nothing else but to serve him. But
he assured him that it was so, and gave him license to go unto them,
saying unto him, that if he would not do it, and if the Christians
should go their way, he should not blame him; for he had fulfilled that
which he had promised him. The joy of John Ortiz was so great, that he
could not believe that it was true; notwithstanding, he gave him thanks,
and took his leave of him. And Mocoço gave him ten or eleven principal
Indians to bear him company. And, as they went to the port where the
governor was, they met with Baltasar de Gallegos, as I have declared
before.
IV.――DE SOTO DISCOVERS THE MISSISSIPPI.
THE next day, when the governor expected the cacique, there came many
Indians with their bows and arrows, with a purpose to set upon[136]
the Christians. The governor had commanded all the horsemen to be
armed and on horseback, and in a readiness. When the Indians saw that
they were ready, they stayed a crossbow-shot from the place where the
governor was, near a brook. And, after half an hour that they had stood
there still, there came to the camp six principal Indians, and said
they came to see what people they were; and that long ago they had
been informed by their forefathers that a white people should subdue
them, and therefore they would return to their cacique, and bid him
come presently, to obey and serve the governor. And, after they had
presented him with six or seven skins and mantles which they brought,
they took their leave of him, and returned with the other, which waited
for them by the brookside. The cacique never came again, nor sent other
message.
And, because in the town where the governor lodged there was
small store of maize, he removed to another half a league from Rio
Grande,[137] where they found plenty of maize. And he went to see the
river, and found that near unto it was great store of timber to make
barges, and good situation of ground to encamp in. Presently he removed
himself thither. They made houses, and pitched their camp in a plain
field, a crossbow-shot from the river. And thither was gathered all the
maize of the towns which they had lately passed. They began presently
to cut and hew down timber, and to saw planks for barges. The Indians
came presently down the river: they leaped on shore, and declared to
the governor that they were subjects of a great lord, whose name was
Aquixo, who was lord of many towns, and governed many people on the
other side of the river; and came to tell him, on his behalf, that the
next day he, with all his men, would come to see what it would please
him to command him.
The next day, with speed, the cacique came with two hundred canoes full
of Indians, with their bows and arrows, painted, and with great plumes
of white feathers, and many other colors, with shields in their hands,
wherewith they defended the rowers on both sides; and the men-of-war
stood from the head to the stern, with their bows and arrows in their
hands. The canoe wherein the cacique was had a tilt[138] over the stern;
and he sat under the tilt: and so were other canoes of the principal
Indians. And from under the tilt, where the chief man sat, he governed
and commanded the other people. All joined together, and came within a
stone’s-cast of the shore.
From thence the cacique said to the governor, which walked along
the river’s side with others that waited on him, that he was come
thither to visit, to honor, and to obey him, because he knew he was
the greatest and mightiest lord on the earth: therefore he would see
what he would command him to do. The governor yielded him thanks, and
requested him to come on shore, that they might the better communicate
together. And, without any answer to that point, he sent him three
canoes, wherein was great store of fish, and loaves made of the
substance of prunes,[139] like unto bricks. After he had received all,
he thanked him, and prayed him again to come on shore. And, because
the cacique’s purpose was to see if with dissimulation he might
do some hurt, when they saw that the governor and his men were in
readiness, they began to go from the shore; and, with a great cry, the
crossbow-men which were ready shot at them, and slew five or six of
them. They retired with great order. None did leave his oar, though the
next to him were slain; and, shielding themselves, they went farther
off. Afterward they came many times, and landed; and, when any of us
came toward them, they fled unto their canoes, which were pleasant to
behold, for they were very great, and well made, and had their awnings,
plumes, shields, and flags; and, with the multitude of people that were
in them, they seemed to be a fair army of galleys.
In thirty days’ space, while the governor remained there, they made
four barges, in three of which he commanded twelve horsemen to enter
(in each of them four), in a morning, three hours before day,――men
which he trusted would land in despite of the Indians, and make sure
the passage, or die; and some footmen, being crossbow-men, went with
them, and rowers to set them on the other side. And in the other barge
he commanded John de Guzman to pass with the footmen, which was made
captain instead of Francisco Maldonado. And, because the stream was
swift, they went a quarter of a league up the river, along the bank,
and, crossing over, fell down with the stream, and landed right over
against the camps.
Two stones’-cast before they came to land, the horsemen went out of
the barges on horseback, to a sandy plot of very hard and clear ground,
where all of them landed without any resistance. As soon as those that
passed first were on land on the other side, the barges returned to
the place where the governor was; and, within two hours after sunrising,
all the people were over.[140] The river was almost half a league broad.
If a man stood still on the other side, it could not be discerned
whether he were a man or no. The river was of great depth, and of a
strong current. The river was always muddy. There came down the river
continually many trees and timber, which the force of the water and
stream brought down. There was great store of fish in it, of sundry
sorts, and the most of it differing from the fresh-water fish of Spain,
as hereafter shall be shown.
V.――DE SOTO’S VAIN ATTEMPTS TO REACH THE SEA.
THAT day came an Indian to the governor from the cacique of Guachoya,
and said that his lord would come the next day. The next day they saw
many canoes come up the river; and on the other side of the great river
they assembled together in the space of an hour. They consulted whether
they should come or not; and at length concluded to come, and crossed
the river. In them came the cacique of Guachoya, and brought with him
many Indians, with great store of fish, dogs, deer’s skins, and mantles.
And, as soon as they landed, they went to the lodging of the governor,
and presented him their gifts. And the cacique uttered these words:――
“Mighty and excellent lord, I beseech your lordship to pardon me
the error which I committed in absenting myself, and not tarrying in
this town to have received your lordship.... But I feared that which
I needed not to have feared, and so did that which was not reason to
do.”...
The governor received him with much joy, and gave him thanks for his
present and offer. He asked him whether he had any notice of the sea.
He answered, No, nor of any towns down the river on that side, save
that two leagues from thence was one town of a principal Indian, a
subject of his; and on the other side of the river, three days’ journey
from thence down the river, was the province of Quigalta, which was
the greatest lord that was in that country. The governor thought that
the cacique lied unto him to rid[141] him out of his own towns, and
sent John Danusco, with eight horsemen, down the river to see what
habitation there was, and to inform himself if there were any notice of
the sea. He travelled eight days; and at his return he said, that, in
all that time, he was not able to go above fourteen or fifteen leagues,
because of the great creeks that came out of the river, and groves of
canes and thick woods that were along the banks of the river, and that
he had found no habitation.
The governor fell into great dumps to see how hard it was to get to the
sea, and worse because his men and horses every day diminished, being
without succor to sustain themselves in the country; and with that
thought he fell sick. But, before he took his bed, he sent an Indian to
the cacique of Quigalta, to tell him that he was the child of the sun;
and that, all the way that he came, all men obeyed and served him; that
he requested him to accept of his friendship, and come unto him, for he
would be very glad to see him; and, in sign of love and obedience, to
bring something with him of that which in his country was most esteemed.
The cacique answered by the same Indian,――
“That whereas he said he was the child of the sun, if he would dry up
the river, he would believe him. And touching the rest, that he was
wont to visit none; but, rather, that all those of whom he had notice
did visit him, served, obeyed, and paid him tributes, either willingly
or perforce: therefore, if he desired to see him, it were best that he
should come thither; that, if he came in peace, he would receive him
with special goodwill; and, if in war, in like manner he would attend
him in the town where he was; and that for him, or any other, he would
not shrink one foot back.”
By that time the Indian returned with this answer, the governor had
betaken himself to bed, being evil handled[142] with fevers, and was
much aggrieved that he was not in case to pass presently the river,
and to seek him, to see if he could abate that pride of his,[143]
considering the river went now very strongly in those parts; for it was
near half a league broad, and sixteen fathoms deep, and very furious,
and ran with a great current; and on both sides there were many Indians;
and his power[144] was not now so great, but that he had need to help
himself rather by sleights than by force. The Indians of Guachoya came
every day with fish in such numbers, that the town was full of them.
The cacique said, that, on a certain night, he of Quigalta would come
to give battle to the governor, which the governor imagined that he had
devised to drive him out of his country, and commanded him to be put
in hold;[145] and that night, and all the rest, there was good watch
kept. He asked him wherefore Quigalta came not. He said that he came;
but that he saw him prepared, and therefore durst not give the attempt.
And all night the horsemen went the round; and two and two of every
squadron rode about, and visited the scouts that were without the town
in their standings by the passages, and the crossbow-men that kept the
canoes in the rivers.
VI.――DEATH AND BURIAL OF DE SOTO.
THE next day, being the 21st of May, 1542, departed out of this life
the valorous, virtuous, and valiant captain, Don Ferdinando de Soto,
governor of Cuba, and _adelantado_ of Florida, whom fortune advanced,
as it used to do others, that he might have the higher fall. He
departed in such a place and at such a time, as [that] in his sickness
he had but little comfort; and the danger wherein all his people were
of perishing in that country, which appeared before their eyes, was
cause sufficient why every one of them had need of comfort, and why
they did not visit nor accompany him as they ought to have done.
Luys de Moscoso determined to conceal his death from the Indians,
because Ferdinando de Soto had made them believe that the Christians
were immortal, and also because they took him to be hardy, wise, and
valiant; and, if they should know that he was dead, they would be bold
to set upon[146] the Christians, though they lived peaceably by them.
In regard to their disposition, and because they were nothing constant,
and believed all that was told them, the _adelantado_ made them believe
that he knew some things that passed in secret among themselves,
without their knowledge how or in what manner he came by them; and that
the figure which appeared in a glass[147] which he showed them did tell
him whatsoever they practised and went about; and therefore neither in
word nor deed durst they attempt any thing that might be prejudicial
unto him.
Illustration: THE BURIAL OF DE SOTO.
As soon as he was dead, Luys de Moscoso commanded to put him secretly
in a house, where he remained three days; and, removing him from thence,
commanded him to be buried in the night at one of the gates of the
town within the wall. And as the Indians had seen him sick, and missed
him, so did they suspect what might be. And passing by the place where
he was buried, seeing the earth moved, they looked and spake one to
another. Luys de Moscoso, understanding of it, commanded him to be
taken up by night, and to cast a great deal of sand into the mantles
wherein he was winded up, wherein he was carried in a canoe, and thrown
into the midst of the river.
The cacique of Guachoya inquired for him, demanding what was become
of his brother and lord, the governor. Luys de Moscoso told him that
he was gone to heaven, as many other times he did; and, because he was
to stay there certain days, he had left him in his place. The cacique
thought with himself that he was dead, and commanded two young and
well-proportioned Indians to be brought thither, and said that the use
of that country was, when any lord died, to kill Indians to wait upon
him, and serve him by the way; and for that purpose, by his commandment,
were those come thither; and prayed Luys de Moscoso to command them
to be beheaded, that they might attend and serve his lord and brother.
Luys de Moscoso told him that the governor was not dead, but gone
to heaven, and that of his own Christian soldiers he had taken such
as he needed to serve him; and prayed him to command those Indians
to be loosed, and not to use any such bad custom from thenceforth.
Straightway he commanded them to be loosed, and to get them home to
their houses. And one of them would not go, saving that he would not
serve him that without desert had judged him to death; but that he
would serve him, as long as he lived, which had saved his life.
[After the death of De Soto, his companions descended the
Mississippi to its mouth.]