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 hisvoyage. 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 newship, 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.
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 theirbacks, 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 inothers 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.