Four days afterwards, exactly conformable to the information received from Anilco, a numerous embassy arrived from the confederated caciques, intended to spy out the posture of the Spaniards, to enable them to concert measures for the intended attack. Having rigidly examined these pretended messengers, it was debated among the leaders of the Spaniards what ought to be done with these fraudulent envoys. Some were for giving them fair words, as had been the practice hitherto; but it was finally resolved to punish them in an exemplary manner, that the caciques might know their treachery was discovered, which might perhaps prevent the execution of their designs. Accordingly though the messengers on this occasion were very numerous, thirty only were selected who had their hands cut off, and were sent back in this guise to their employers, with a message signifying that the Spaniards had all along been aware of their villainy. This severe example proved successful, insomuch that the confederacy was immediately dissolved, and the forces retired to their respective countries. Yet as the Spaniards had only built seven great boats, they thought they might possibly be more successful by water, and they agreed to collect a great number of canoes to attack them while going down the river.

As the Spaniards believed that their only safety depended upon going down the river as soon as possible, they hastened the completion of their vessels; and as they had not enough of iron for the construction of whole decks, they satisfied themselves with quarter-decks and fore-castles to secure the provisions, laying planks only a midships. Every thing relative to the brigantines being completed, they gathered all the Indian corn, pulse, and dried fruit they could procure; made bacon of all the swine that were left alive, except eighteen they carried with them alive, and two boars and two sows which they gave to each of the two caciques who were their friends. With the lard of the slaughtered swine, they tempered rosin instead of pitch and tar for paying their vessels. They likewise provided a number of canoes; part of which were lashed two and two together to carry thirty horses which still remained alive, and answered well for the purpose; the rest were distributed among the brigantines, each having one at her stern to serve as a boat. On midsummer day 1543 the brigantines were launched into the great river, and on St Peters day, the 29th of that month, every thing being in readiness, the brigantines and canoes having defences made of boards and skins to fend off the arrows, they took leave of the friendly caciques, Anilco and Guachacoya, and set sail down the great river.

Two captains were appointed to each brigantine, that when one had occasion to land the other might remain on board in charge of the vessel. About 350 Spaniards embarked, all that remained of 900 who had originally landed in Florida. Near thirty Indian men and women were on board each vessel, all of their own free will, as they declared they would rather die with their masters than remain behind. Accordingly on St Peters day before mentioned, about sunset, after Alvarado had given regular instructions to all his officers and encouraged his men, they began their voyage, holding on their course down the river both with sails and oars, all that night and the next day and night. But on the following day they were opposed by a fleet of near 1000 canoes belonging to the confederated caciques, some of which were so large as to have twenty-five paddies on each side, and carrying many armed men besides the rowers. These large canoes were called the admirals, as being supposed to have the principal commanders on board. One was painted red, another blue, and others of several colours; the men on board having their bodies painted of the same colours as the canoes, as were their bows. All this splendid shew, with the variegated plumes of feathers on the heads of the warriors, made a grand display. While they rowed after the Spaniards, they kept time to their songs, which were said by the interpreters to signify, "That the vagabond strangers should all be slain on the water, and become food for the fishes."

After taking a close view of the Spanish brigantines, the Indians divided their fleet of canoes into three equal squadrons, plying up close to the bank on the starboard side; and when up with the brigantines, the van forming a long and narrow line a-head, crossed the river obliquely passing close by the brigantines, into which they all successively threw in a shower of arrows, by which several Spaniards were wounded notwithstanding their targets and baricades. The other squadrons did the same in regular order, and as the brigantines continued on their course, the squadrons of canoes continued successively to repeat similar charges, both day and night, expecting in this manner to destroy all the Spaniards by degrees. The Spaniards held on their way for ten successive days and nights, continually assailed in this manner by the Indians, and doing some execution in their turn by means of their crossbows, all their musquets having been turned into iron work for the brigantines, having become useless as all their powder was expended. At the end of these ten days, the Indian fleet drew back from the Spaniards to the distance of about half a league. The Spaniards, still advancing came in sight of a small town, and supposed from the Indians leaving them that they were now near the sea, having run by estimation 200 leagues, as they used both sails and oars, and went straight down the river without stopping in any place. Being desirous of procuring provisions, Alvarado ordered 100 men to land, with eight horses; and as the Indians immediately abandoned their town, they procured plenty of provisions of all sorts. In this town likewise they found leather made of goats skins, some white, and some of various colours, and other skins of different kinds well dressed, and many mantles. They found here a long slip of the finest sables, eight ells in length and an ell broad, adorned at regular distances with strings of pearls and small tufts of seed pearl, regularly placed. Gonzalo Silvestre who commanded on this enterprise, got this rarity to his share, which was supposed to be some ensign of war, or some ornament for their dances.

As many Indians appeared collecting in the fields, and the canoes were returning to attack the brigantines, Alvarado ordered the trumpets to sound a retreat to recall Silvestre and his men on board. On this occasion the Spaniards were obliged to abandon their horses, which the Indians immediately shot to death with their arrows. When the party was all returned to the brigantines, the Spaniards resumed their voyage down the river, followed by the canoes, which did not now retain their former order, but followed in several separate squadrons. On the thirteenth day of their voyage down the great river, one of the brigantines happening to fall about an hundred paces behind the rest, the Indians immediately attacked and even boarded it, and would in all probability have made themselves master of it, had not the other brigantines come up to its rescue. However the Indians carried off the canoe from the stern, in which were five sows that had been reserved for a breed.

On the sixteenth day of the voyage, one Estevanez, a desperate yet clownish fellow, who was vain of the reputation he had acquired by his intrepidity, took away the canoe from the stern of the brigantine in which he was embarked, and persuaded five other soldiers to accompany him, saying that he was going to perform an exploit to gain fame, and to obtain leave of the captain of the vessel, he pretended that he was going to speak with the general. When he had got clear of the brigantine, he immediately made towards the enemy, crying out fall on them! they run! When Alvarado saw this mad action he endeavoured to recall Estevanez by sound of trumpet, and sent about forty men after him in several canoes under the command of Juan de Guzman, to bring back Estevanez whom Alvarado intended to hang for his breach of discipline. At the same time the brigantines furled their sails and rowed up against the stream to support the canoes. The Indian canoes, which covered the water for an extent of a quarter of a league, retreated a little way on purpose to separate the Spanish canoes from the brigantines; on which, quite frantic at seeing them give way, Estevanez pushed on, followed by the other canoes which were sent to bring him back. The Indian canoes then drew up in form of a crescent, and when the Spanish canoes were well advanced among them, those Indian canoes which formed the horn or point on the right, attacked them so furiously athwart ships that they sunk them all, by which means all the Spaniards were drowned, and if any happened to appear above water, they were either shot with arrows, or had their brains dashed out by the paddles. Thus forty-eight Spaniards perished, only four escaping of all that were in the canoes. The Indians held on their pursuit of the brigantines all that day making continual rejoicings for their victory. On the seventeenth day at sun-rise, when the Indians had paid their adorations to the sun with hideous cries, and a prodigious noise of drums, horns, and trumpets, they ceased the pursuit of the Spaniards and retired, having continued the chase about four hundred leagues.

The river was now estimated by the Spaniards to be fifteen leagues across, from which they concluded they were near the sea, yet did not venture to quit the main stream for fear of hidden danger. Thus holding on their course, on the nineteenth day of their voyage they came to the sea, computing that they had run little short of 500 leagues[191], from the place where they built their brigantines. Being ignorant whereabout they were, they cast anchor at an island, where they rested three days to recover from their long fatigues and continual watching, and to refit their brigantines. They here computed how far they had been up the country, and as already mentioned estimated the distance from where the brigantines were built to the sea at near 500 leagues: And as the river was there nineteen feet deep and a quarter of a league over, they conjectured that the source of the river might be still 300 leagues farther up the country, or 800 leagues in its whole course. When the Spaniards had been three days in this island, they observed seven canoes to issue from a place overgrown with tall reeds, and come towards them. When within hearing, a gigantic man, as black as a negro, stood up in the headmost canoe and addressed them in the following harangue: "Wherefore do you vagabond robbers stroll about this coast, disturbing its inhabitants? Get you gone speedily by one of the mouths of the great river, and let me not find you here after this night, or I will kill you all and burn your ships!" After this he withdrew among the reeds, and Alvarado sent Gonzalo Silvestre with 100 men in the remaining canoes to examine the inlet among the reeds. Of these men seventeen were armed with cross-bows and three had long bows taken from the Indians, as the want of musquets had induced the Spaniards to use the arms of their enemies, at which they were become skilful. On getting into the creek or inlet among the reeds, Silvestre found sixty small canoes drawn up in readiness to receive him, which he immediately attacked, and overset three of them at the first shock, wounding many of the Indians; and as all the rest of the canoes immediately fled, Silvestre and his party returned to the brigantines.

[Footnote 191: Five hundred Spanish leagues at 17-1/2 to a degree, or about four English miles, would amount to about 2000 miles of voyage down the Missisippi; but we have no sufficient warrant in the text to ascertain the league used by Herrera, neither is it probable that the Spaniards on this occasion could make any computation nearly accurate. The only reasonable conjecture on this subject is from the number of days employed in descending the river, which the text informs us was nineteen, three of which we may suppose were occupied in different stoppages. We know likewise from Imlays Description of Kentucky, p. 126, that the ordinary rate of descending the Missisippi is about 80 miles a day. On these data, the Spaniards made a voyage down that river of about 1280 English miles, from which we may conclude that they had wintered somewhere about the situation of New Madrid, in lat. 36° 30' N. or perhaps nearly opposite the junction of the Ohio with the great river.--E.]

Leaving the island, and going out into the open sea, the Spaniards now bore away to the westwards to endeavour to find their way to New Spain, always keeping the coast of Florida[192] on their starboard-side or right hand. They knew not whereabout they were, and had neither chart nor compass to guide their course, neither had they any instrument to find the latitude; but they satisfied themselves in the hope of reaching New Spain by following the coast. During all the first day and night, they continued to sail among the fresh water of the great river. After this they held on their course for fifteen days without any thing remarkable taking place; only that they were under the necessity of landing every day to procure water, as they had no vessels in which to carry any store on board. At the end of that period they got among a parcel of small islands, which were frequented by such multitudes of sea fowl that the entire surface was covered by their nests, so that there was scarcely room to tread. These furnished an ample supply of provisions, though their flesh had somewhat of a fishy taste. Next day they landed on a pleasant shore covered with trees, to procure water; and while looking about in search of shell fish, some pieces of bitumen were found resembling pitch, and upon farther search they were fortunate enough to find the source whence it flowed. On finding this convenience, they thought proper to repair or careen their brigantines, which had become leaky, which they did by means of this bitumen melted along with a proper quantity of hogs lard. This work occupied them for eight days, during which time they only saw eight Indians, to whom they gave some trinkets they had yet remaining, without asking any questions respecting the country where they now were, as all their hopes and wishes centered in arriving in New Spain.

[Footnote 192: It has been already noticed that the term Florida is used in the whole of this chapter in a very extended sense, being applied to all of North America to the north of the Gulf of Mexico. Immediately on leaving the great river or Missisippi, and sailing to the west, the coast is new known under the name of Louisiana.--E.]