USA > Louisiana > Historical collections of Louisiana : embracing translations of many rare and valuable documents relating to the natural, civil and political history of that state > Part 10
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! Supposed to have been the country between the Washita and the Little Missouri.
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EXPEDITION OF HERNANDO DE SOTO.
village built on the banks of a river,* which emptied into the great river we had passed .. This province was called Vicanque. Here we went into winter quarters, and suffered so much from the cold and snow that we thought we should all have perished.
The Christiant whom we took, and who had served us as an inter- preter, died in this place. In the beginning of March we descended this river, passing through populous provinces, until we came at last to a country the Indians called Anicoyanque. A cacique called Gua- choyanque came to see us. He lived on the banks of the Great River. The governor set out immediately with the cacique for the village of Guachoyanque .¿ His village was fortified and well surrounded by walls. At this place the governor had determined to build some brigantines to send to Cuba, to let them know that he was still alive. Hle sent his captain to find out the direction of the sea. He returned back in a few days, saying that the vast swamps which the Great River had formed, prevented him from doing so. At length the governor, finding his situation becoming every day more embarrassing, and his affairs going wrong, fell sick and died.§ He appointed Luis de Moscoso his successor. Not finding any way of reaching the sea by the Great River, Luis de Moscoso determined on going by land to Mexico. When we set out, we traveled twenty-seven days in a westerly direction to the province of Chaviti, where the Indians made salt.| From thence we went in three days to the province of . - Aguacay.
The Indians told us here that the country beyond was a wilderness and uninhabited. . That to find villages we must go towards the south- Fast. We then came to a province called Missione, then to Nau-
· Supposed to be the Arkansas.
f Juan Ortiz.
I Supposed to be situated a short distance from the Mississippi, the Guachoya of Vega.
§ Thus died at the age of forty-two, Hernando de Soto, one of the bravest of the many leaders who figured in the first discoveries of the Western world. No one was better qualified to rule the hardy spirits under him. He was stern in connmand ; agreeable in his common intercourse, gentle and courteous in his manners ; patient and persevering under all difficulties. His body was enclosed in the trunk of a green oak, and conveyed to the middle of the Mississippi, where it was sunk in nineteen fathoms water. Thus the first discoverer of the Mississippi River made his grave in the bosom of it's waters.
I Supposed to be the salines of the Washita River.
5 Nassonis.
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HISTORICAL COLLECTIONS OF LOUISIANA.
dacho,* and Lacame. We made inquiries here about the province of Xuacatino. The cacique of Naudacho gave us a guide to conduct us through the country. IIe led us accordingly into a wilderness, and when we got there he told us that his master had ordered him to take us to a country where we should die with hunger. We now took another guide, who conducted us to the province of Hais, where we saw buffaloes, but the Indians prevented us from killing them. We came to Xuacatin, and passed some small villages, without finding any provisions. We then returned towards the south, determined to die or reach New Spain. We continued to march in this direction eight or nine days more, hoping to provide ourselves with provisions for the journey.f We arrived at last at some miserable huts, where the Indians lived by hunting and fishing, and finding that our corn must soon give out, we resolved to return to the village where Go- vernor Soto had died, to build some vessels to return to our country. But when we arrived there we did not find the facilities we had ex- pected, and were obliged to seek another place, to go into winter quarters, and build our vessels.
God permitted us to find two villages to suit our purposes, t upon the Great River.§ These villages were fortified. We remained here six months to build seven brigantines. We launched them on the river, and it was a miracle they did not leak. They sailed well, although they were calked with the thin bark of mulberry trees. When we embarked the troops we intended if we could find a village on the sea- shore to stop there, until we could send two brigantines with dispatches to the Viceroy of New Spain, to send us vessels to return in to Spain. On the second day out, as we were descending the river, some forty or fifty canoes came towards us, in one of which were eighty warriors. They shot arrows at us, and captured some of the small canoes we had taken with us, in which were twelve of our best soldiers. The cur- rent of the river was so rapid that we could not go to their assistance. Encouraged by this victory, the Indians continued to harass us until
* Nagodoches.
t The march of Moscoso west of the Mississippi was evidently on the hunt- ing-grounds of the far west, and got upon the prairies, where in many parts they were little better than deserts.
# Aminoya and ------ , supposed to have been situated in the neighborhood of the present town of Helena, a few miles above the month of the Arkansas River.
§ Moscoso and his followers committed themselves to the Mississippi on the second of July, 1543.
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EXPEDITION OF HERNANDO DE SOTO.
we reached the sea, which took us nineteen days. They soon dis- covered that we had neither arquebuses nor cross-bows to reach them. The only arms we had were some swords and shields, consequently they had nothing to fear from us. We entered the sea through one of the mouths of the river," and for three days and nights we could not see land, but after that we came in sight of it, and took in some water to drink. At length we perceived towards the west some small islands, which we followed, keeping close to the shore, f to find something to eat, until we entered the River Panuco, where we were kindly received by the inhabitants.
Signed
LUIS FERNANDEZ DE BIEDMA, (Facteur de sa Majesté.)
* The Mississippi. The Indian name of this river, says de la Vega, on the authority of Juan Coles, one of De Soto's followers, was Chucagua. In one place they called it Tamalisen, in another Tapata, and where it enters the sea, Ri. The Spaniards called it "La Pallisade," " Rio Escondido," or the lost river.
t The Spaniards went to sea on the 1Sth July, and arrived in the river Panuco on the 10th September, 1543. The inhabitants of Panuco, says Garci- laso de la Vega, were all touched with pity at beholding this forlorn remnant of the gallant armament of the renowned Hernando de Soto. They were black- ened, haggard, shriveled, and half naked, being clad only with the skins of deer, buffaloes, bears, and other animals, looking more like wild beasts than human beings.
A NARRATIVE
OF THE EXPEDITION OF HERNANDO DE SOTO . INTO
FLORIDA. -
BY. A GENTLEMAN OF ELVAS.
PUBLISHED AT EVORA 1557.
TRANSLATED FROM THE PORTUGUESE
BY
RICHARD HACKLUYT. LONDON, 1609.
A NARRATIVE
OF THE
EXPEDITION OF HERNANDO DE SOTO
INTO
FLORIDA.
CAPTAIN SOTO was the son of a squire of Xerex of Badajoz. HIe went into the Spanish Indies, when Peter Arias of Avila was Governor of the West Indies. And there he was without anything else of his own, save his sword and target: and for his good quali- ties 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) as well at the taking of Atabalipa, Lord of Peru, as at the assault of the city of Cusco, and in all other places where they found resistance, wheresoever he was 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 a hundred and four score thousand ducats together, with that which fell to his part; which he brought into Spain; whereof the Emperor borrowed a certain part, which he repaid again with 60,000 rials of plate in the rent of the silks of Granada, and all the rest was delivered him in the contractation house of Srille. He took servants to wit, a steward, a gentleman usher, pages, a gentleman of the horse, a chamberlain, lackeys, and all other officers that the house of a noble may require. From Seville he went to the court, and in the court, there accompanied him John Danusco of Seville, and Lewis Moscoso D' Alvarado, Nuño de Touar, and John Rodriguez Lobillo.
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HISTORICAL COLLECTIONS OF LOUISIANA.
Except John Danusco, all the rest came with him from Peru: and every one of them brought fourteen or fifteen thousand ducats: all of them went well and costly appareled. And although Soto of his own nature was not liberal, yet because that was the first time that he was to show himself in the court, he spent frankly, and went accompanied with those which I have named, and with his servants, and many others which resorted unto him. He married with Donna Isabella de Bobadilla, daughter of Peter Arias of Avila, Earl of Punno en Rostro. 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 Cabeça 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 be with four more escaped and arrived in Nueva España. Also he brought a relation in writing, of that which he had seen in Florida; which xiid 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 my- wolf. Generally he reported the misery of the country, and the troubles which he passed: and he told some of his kinsfolk, which were desirous to go into the Indies, and urged him very much to tell them whether he had seen any rich country in Florida, that he might not tell them, because he and another, whose name was Orantes, (who remained in Nueva España with purpose to return into Florida : for which intent he came into Spain to beg the govern- tacu: thereof of the Emperor) had sworn not to discover some of those things which they had scen, because no man should prevent them in begging the same. And he informed them that it was the rides country of the world. Don Ferdinando de Soto was very devirus 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. Bultusar de Gallups, and Christopher de Spindola, the kinsmen of Cabeça de Foot, tell him, that for that which he had imparted to them, they were resolved to pass with Soto into Florida, and therefore they prayel him to advise them what they were best to do. Cabeça de Vacu told them, that the cause why he went not with Soto, was be- cause he hoped to beg another government, and that he was loth to go under the command of another : and that he came to beg the con-
115
EXPEDITION OF HERNANDO DE SOTO.
quest of Florida : but seeing Don Ferdinando de Soto had gotten it already, for his oath's sake he might tell them nothing of that which they would know : but he counseled them to sell their goods and go with him, and that in so doing they should do well. As soon as he had opportunity, he spake with the Emperor, and related unto him whatsoever he had passed and seen, and come to understand. Of this relation, made by word of mouth to the Emperor, the Marquis of Astorya had notice, and forthwith determined to send with Don Fer- dinando de Soto his brother Don Antonio Osorio: and with him two kinsmen of his prepared themselves, to wit, Francis Osorio, and Garcia Osorio. Don Antonio dispossessed himself of 60,000 rials of rent which he held by the church; and Francis Osorio of a town of vassals, which he had in the country de Campos. And they made their rendezvous with the Adelantado in Seville. The like did Nuñez de Touar, and Lewis de Moscoso, and John Rodriguez Lolillo, each of whom had brought from Peru fourteen or fifteen thousand ducats. Lewis de Moscoso carried with him two brethren; there went also Don Carlos, which had married the governor's niece, and took her with him. From Badajoz there went Peter Calderan, and three kinsmen of the Adelantado, to wit, Arias Tinoco, Alfonso Romo, and Diego Tinoco. And as Lewis de Moscoso passed through Elvas* Andrew de Vasconcelos spake with him, and requested him to speak to Don Ferdinando de Soto concerning him, and delivered him cer- tain warrants which he had received from the Marquis of Villa Real, wherein he gave him the captainship of Ceuta in Barbarie, that he might show them unto him. And the Adelantado saw them; and was informed who he was, and wrote unto him, that he would favor him in all things, and by all means, and would give him a charge of men in Florida. And from Elvas went Andrew de Vasconcelos, and Fer- nan Pegado, Antonio Martinez Segurado, Men Roiz Pereira, John Cordero, Stephen Pegado, Benedict Fernandez, and Alvaro Fernandez. And out of Salamanca, and Jaen, and Valencia, and Albuquerque, and from other parts of Spain, many people of noble birth, assem- Med at Serille, insomuch that in Saint Lucar many men of good account, which had sold their goods, remained behind for want of shipping, whereas for other known and rich countries, they are wont to want men : and this fell out by occasion of that which Cabeça de Facof told the Emperor, and informed such persons as he had con-
· Elvas is a city in Portugal.
t Cabeça de Vaca was the Governor of the River of Plate.
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HISTORICAL COLLECTIONS OF LOUISIANA.
ference withal touching the state of that country. Soto made him great offers, and being agreed to go with him (as I have said before) because he would not give him money to pay for a ship, which he had bought, they brake off, and he went for governor to the river of Platc. His kinsmen, Christopher de Spindola and Baltasar de Gallegos, went with Soto. Baltasar de Gallegos sold houses and vineyards, and rent corn, and ninety ranks of olive trees in the Jarafe of Seville. He had the office of Alcalde Mayor, and took his wife with him. And there went also many other persons of account with the President, and had the offices following by great friendship, because they were offices desired of many, to wit, Antonie de Biedma was factor, John Danusco was auditor, and John Gaytan, nephew to the Cardinal of Ciguenza, had the office of treasurer.
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 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 in- vited 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 com- manded a muster to be made, at the which the Portuguese showed them- selves armed in very bright armor, and the Castellans very gallant with silk upon silk, with many pinkings and cuts. The Governor, be- cause these braveries in such an action did not like 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 armed with very good armor. The Governor placed them in order near unto the standard, which the ensign bearer carried. The Castellans, for the most part, did wear very bad and rusty shirts of mail, and al. of them head-pieces and steel caps, and very bad lances. 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. HIe had already bought seven ships, and had all necessary provision
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EXPEDITION OF HERNANDO DE SOTO.
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 Adelan- tado 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 St. Lucar on Sunday, being St. 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. He sailed four days with a prosperous wind, and suddenly it calmed ; the calms continued eight days with swelling seas, in such wise that we made no way. The fifteenth day after his departure from St. Lucar, he came to Gomera, one of the Canaries, on Easter day in the morning. The Earl of that island was appareled all in white, cloak, jerkin, hose, shoes and cap, so that he seemed a Lord of the Gipsies. He received the Governor with much joy; he was well lodged, and all the rest had their lodgings gratis, and got great store of victuals for their money, as bread, wine, and flesh; and they took what was needful for their ships, and the Sunday following, eight days after their arrival, they departed from the Isle of Gomera. The Earl gave to Donna Isabella, the Adelantado's wife, a bastard daughter that he had, to be her waiting-maid. They arrived at the Antilles, in the Isle of Cuba, at the port of the city of St. Jago, upon. Whit-sunday. As soon as they came thither, a gentleman of the city sent to the sea-side a very fair roan horse, and well furnished, for the Governor, and a mule for Donna Isabella, and all the horsemen and footmen that were in the town came to receive him at the sea-side. The Governor was wel! lodged, visited, and served of all the inhabitants of the city, and all his company had their lodgings freely : those which desired to go into the country, were divided by four and four, and six and six, in the farms or granges, according to the ability of the owners of the farms, and were furnished by them with all things necessary.
The city of St. Jago hath fourseore houses, which are great and well contrived. The most part have their walls made of boards, and are covered with thatch ; it hath some houses built with lime and stones, and covered with tiles. It hath great orchards and many trees in them, differing from those of Spain : there be fig trees which bear figs as big as one's fist, yellow within, and of small taste; and other trees which bear a fruit which they call Ananes, in making and bigness like to a small pineapple: it is a fruit very sweet in taste : the shell being taken
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HISTORICAL COLLECTIONS OF LOUISIANA.
away, the kernel is like a piece of fresh cheese. In the granges abroad in the country there are other great pineapples, which grow on low trees, and are like the Aloe tree : they are of a very good smell and exceeding good taste. Other trees do bear a fruit which they call Mameis, of the bigness of peaches. This the islanders do hold for the best fruit of the country. There is another fruit which they eall Guayabas, like filberts, as big as figs. There are other trees as high as a javelin, having one only stock without any bough, and the leaves as long as a casting dart; and the fruit is of the bigness and fashion of a cucumber; one bunch beareth twenty or thirty, and as they ripen the tree bendeth downward with them : they are called in this country Plantanos, and are of a good taste, and ripen after they be gathered ; but those are the better which ripen upon the tree itself; they bear fruit but once, and the tree being cut down, there spring up others out of the but, which bear fruit the next year. There is another fruit, whereby many people are sustained, and chiefly the slaves, which are called Batatas. These grow now in the Isle of Tercera, belonging to the kingdom of Portugal, and they grow within the earth, and are like a fruit called Iname; they have ahnost the taste of a chestnut. The bread of this country is also made of roots which are like the Batatas .* And the stock whereon those roots do grow is like an elder trec : they make their ground in little hillocks, and in each of them they thrust four or five stakes ; and they gather the roots a year and a half after they set them. If any one, thinking it is a batata or potato root, chance to cat of it never so little, he is in great danger of death : which was seen by experience in a soldier, which as soon as he had caten a very little of one of those roots, he died quickly. They pare these roots and stamp them, and squeeze them in a thing like a press : the juice that cometh from them is of an evil smell. The bread is of little taste and less substance. Of the fruits of Spain, there are figs and oranges, and they bear fruit all the year, because the soil is very rank and fruitful. In this country are many good horses, and there is green grass all the year. There be many wild oxen and hogs, whereby the people of the island are well furnished with flesh. Without the towns abroad in the country are many fruits. And it happeneth sometimes that a Christian goeth out of the way and is lost fifteen or twenty days, because of the many paths in the thick groves that cross to and fro made by the oxen; and being thus lost they sustain themselves with fruits and palmitos-for there be many
· The Cassavi root.
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EXPEDITION OF HERNANDO DE SOTO.
great groves of palm trees through all the island-they yield no other fruit that is of any profit. The Isle of Cuba is three hundred leagues long from the cast to the west, and is in some places thirty, in others forty leagues from north to south. It hath six towns of Christians, to wit, St. Jago, Baracoa, Bayamo, Puerto de Principes, S. Espirito, and Harana. Every one hath between thirty and forty households, except Se. Jago and Havana, which have about sixty or eighty houses. They have churches in each of them, and a chaplain which confesseth them and saith mass. In Se. Jago is a monastery of Franciscan friars; it hath but few friars, and is well provided of alms, because the country is rich. The Church of St. Jago hath honest revenue, and there is a curate and prebends, and many priests, as the church of that city, which is the chief of all the island. There is in this coun- try much gold and few slaves to get it; for many have made away themselves, because of the Christians' evil usage of them in the mines. A steward of Vasque: Porcallo, which was an inhabitor in that island, understanding that his slaves would make away themselves, stayed for them with a cudgel in his hand at the place where they were to meet, and told them that they could neither do nor think anything that he did not know before, and that he came thither to kill himself, with them, to the end, that if he had used them badly in this world, he might use them worse in the world to come : and this was a means that they changed their purpose, and turned home again to do that which he commanded them.
The Governor sent from St. Jago his nephew Don Carlos, with the . ships in company of Donna Isabella to tarry for him at Havana, which is a haven in the west part toward the head of the island, one hundred and eighty leagues from the city of St. Jago. The Governor, and those which stayed with him, bought horses and pro- ceeded on their journey. The first town they came unto was Bayamo: they were lodged four and four, and six and six, as they went in com- pany, and where they lodged, they took nothing for their diet, for nothing cost them aught save the maize or corn for their horses, be- cause the Governor went to visit them from town to town, and seized them in the tribute and service of the Indians. Bayamo is twenty- five longues from the city of St. Jago. Near unto the town passeth a great river which is called Tanto ; it is greater than Guadiana, and in it be very great crocodiles, which sometimes hurt the Indians, or the cattle which passeth the river. In all the country are neither wolf, fox, bear, lion, nor tiger. There are wild dogs which go from the houses into the woods and feed upon swine. There be certain
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HISTORICAL COLLECTIONS OF LOUISIANA.
snakes as big as a man's thigh or bigger ; they are very slow, they do no kind of hurt. From Bayamo to Puerto de los Principes are fifty leagues. In all the island from town to town, the way is made by stubbing up the underwood ; and if it be left but one year undone, the wood groweth so much that the way cannot be seen, and the paths of the oxen are so many, that none can travel without an Indian of the country for a guide : for all the rest is very high and thick woods. From Puerto de los Principes the Governor went to the house of Vas- quez Porcallo by sea in a boat (for it was near the sca) to know there some news of Donna Isabella, which at that instant (as afterwards was known) was in great distress, insomuch that the ships lost one another, and two of them fell on the coast of Florida, and all of them endured great want of water and victuals. When the storm was over, they met together without knowing where they were : in the end they descried the Cape of St. Anton, a country not inhabited of the island of Cuba ; there they watered, and at the end of forty days, which were passed since their departure from the city of St. Jago, they ar- rived at Harana. The Governor was presently informed thereof, and went to Donna Isabella. And those which went by land, which were one hundred and fifty horsemen, being divided into two parts, because they would not oppress the inhabitants, traveled by St. Espirito, which is sixty leagues from Puerto de los Principes. The food which they carried with them was Cacabe bread, which is that whereof I made mention before : and it is of such a quality that if it be wet it breaketh presently, whereby it happened to some to eat flesh without bread for many days. They carried dogs with them, and a man of the country, which did hunt; and by the way, or where they were to lodge that night, they killed as many hogs as they needed. In this journey they were well provided of beef and pork, and they were greatly troubled with musquitoes, especially in a lake, which is called the mere of Pia, which they had much ado to pass from noon till night. The water might be some half league over, and to be swam about a crossbow shot; the rest came to the waist, and they waded up to the knees in the mire, and in the bottom were cockle shells, which cut their feet very sore, in such sort that there was neither boot nor shoe sole that was whole at half way. Their clothes and saddles were passed in baskets of palm trees. Passing this lake, stripped out of their clothes, there came many mosquitoes, upon whose biting there arose a wheal that smarted very much; they struck them with their hands, and with the blow which they gave they killed so many that the blood did run down the arms and bodies of the men. That
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