[77] According to the Letter they travelled two days more before reaching this point of land.
[78] The Mississippi, the waters of which were now seen by white men fourteen years before the "discovery" of the stream by De Soto.
[79] The present normal depth at this distance from the delta is about sixty feet.
[80] The selfishness and incompetence of Narvaez, shown throughout the narration, are here further exemplified. His life had more than once been spared through the self-sacrifice of his men, yet he now thought more of saving himself, with the aid of his hardy crew, than of lending a hand to his weakened companions.
[81] Juego de herradura, a game played with an iron bar, often a crowbar, which is grasped at the middle and cast as far as possible.
[82] See p. 57, note 2.
[83] As this was the root-digging season, the word campo in the original evidently refers to the digging "grounds" in the shoal water, and not to "woods" as Mr. Smith interpreted it.
[84] "Two hundred archers with holes in their ears in which were joints of cane." Oviedo, p. 590.
[85] For an account of these Indians, see ch. 14, p. 50, 51.
[86] Alonzo de Solis.