Chapter 38

_Of what became of the others who went to Indias._

Since giving this circumstantial account of events attending the voyage to Florida, the invasion, and our going out thence until the arrival in these realms, I desire to state what became of the ships and of the people who remained with them. I have not before touched on this, as we were uninformed until coming to New Spain, where we found many of the persons, and others here in Castile, from whom we learned everything to the latest particular.

At the time we left, one of the ships had already been lost on the breakers, and the three others were in considerable danger, having nearly a hundred souls on board and few stores. Among the persons were ten married women, one of whom had told the Governor many things that afterwards befell him on the voyage. She cautioned him before he went inland not to go, as she was confident that neither he nor any going with him could ever escape; but should any one come back from that country, the Almighty must work great wonders in his behalf, though she believed few or none would return. The Governor said that he and his followers were going to fight and conquer nations and countries wholly unknown, and in subduing them he knew that many would be slain; nevertheless, that those who survived would be fortunate, since from what he had understood of the opulence of that land, they must become very rich. And further he begged her to inform him whence she learned those things that had passed, as well as those she spoke of, that were to come; she replied that in Castile a Moorish woman of Hornachos had told them to her, which she had stated to us likewise before we left Spain, and while on the passage many things happened in the way she foretold.

After the Governor had made Caravallo, a native of Cuenca de Huete, his lieutenant and commander of the vessels and people, he departed, leaving orders that all diligence should be used to repair on board, and take the direct course to Pánuco, keeping along the shore closely examining for the harbor, and having found it, the vessels should enter there and await our arrival. And the people state, that when they had betaken themselves to the ships, all of them looking at that woman, they distinctly heard her say to the females, that well, since their husbands had gone inland, putting their persons in so great jeopardy, their wives should in no way take more account of them, but ought soon to be looking after whom they would marry, and that she should do so. She did accordingly: she and others married, or became the concubines of those who remained in the ships.

After we left, the vessels made sail, taking their course onward; but not finding the harbor, they returned. Five leagues below the place at which we debarked, they found the port, the same we discovered when we saw the Spanish cases containing dead bodies, which were of Christians.[220] Into this haven and along this coast, the three ships passed with the other ship that came from Cuba, and the brigantine, looking for us nearly a year, and not finding us, they went to New Spain.

[220] Tampa Bay, Florida.

The port of which we speak is the best in the world. At the entrance are six fathoms of water and five near the shore. It runs up into the land seven or eight leagues. The bottom is fine white sand. No sea breaks upon it nor boisterous storm, and it can contain many vessels. Fish is in great plenty. There are a hundred leagues to Havana, a town of Christians in Cuba, with which it bears north and south. The north-east wind ever prevails and vessels go from one to the other, returning in a few days; for the reason that they sail either way with it on the quarter.

As I have given account of the vessels, it may be well that I state who are, and from what parts of these kingdoms come, the persons whom our Lord has been pleased to release from these troubles. The first is Alonzo del Castillo Maldonado, native of Salamanca, son of Doctor Castillo and Doña Aldonça Maldonado. The second is Andrés Dorantes, son of Pablo Dorantes, native of Béjar, and citizen of Gibraleon. The third is Alvar Nuñez Cabeça de Vaca, son of Francisco de Vera, and grandson of Pedro de Vera who conquered the Canaries, and his mother was Doña Tereça Cabeça de Vaca, native of Xeréz de la Frontera. The fourth, called Estevanico, is an Arabian black, native of Açamor.

THE END

The present tract was imprinted in the very magnificent, noble and very ancient City of Zamora, by the honored residents Augustin de Paz and Juan Picardo, partners, printers of books, at the cost and outlay of the virtuous Juan Pedro Musetti, book merchant of Medina del Campo, having been finished the sixth day of the month of October, in the year one thousand five hundred and forty-two of the birth of our Saviour Jesus Christ.[221]

[221] Colophon of the first edition.

THE NARRATIVE OF THE EXPEDITION OF HERNANDO DE SOTO, BY THE GENTLEMAN OF ELVAS

INTRODUCTION

In the early annals of the exploration, conquest, and settlement of the territory of the United States none are to be found to which more interest is attached than to the expedition of Hernando de Soto through the Gulf States. History, tradition, and poetry are indissolubly linked with his name. Counties, towns, and lakes have been named after him, and tradition attaches his name to many localities far removed from the line of his march.

In the narrative of the expedition we get our first geographical knowledge of the interior of the states of Florida, Georgia, North and South Carolina, Tennessee, Alabama, Mississippi, Arkansas, Texas, and the Indian Territory. The Spaniards while on their minor expeditions among the Indians may also have entered the states of Missouri and Louisiana, but of this there is no certainty.

The earliest history of the great Indian tribes or nations residing in the above-named states is related by these narratives, the expedition having traversed the territory of the Timuguas, Cherokees, the various divisions or tribes of the Muskogee or Creek confederacy, the Choctaws, Chickasaws, Quapaws or Arkansas, several branches of the great Pani nation, and some other tribes that are not so easily identified. In the narratives are also to be found the first descriptions of the habits, manners, and customs of the native tribes met with. Their towns, villages, houses, temples, granaries, bridges, canoes, banners, arms, wearing apparel, and culinary implements are also described.

The first published narrative was written by a gentleman from the town of Elvas, in Portugal, who joined the expedition and participated in its trials and privations, and in the weary but memorable march through what was then known as Florida. If he was one of those Portuguese who are named in the book as having started from Elvas, the inference may be drawn from the wording of the narrative that he was named Alvaro Fernandez. His narrative was written after his return from the expedition, and is evidently not based upon a diary, or even field-notes, but seemingly was drawn entirely from memory. His descriptions are somewhat vague, the localities sometimes indefinite, the distances sometimes confused, and there are some palpable errors. The lengthy addresses of the caciques belong to romance rather than to history; at least, they are open to grave suspicion that they were manufactured for the occasion. Nevertheless, when the narrative is considered as a whole, it is decidedly the best full account that has been handed down to us. It records the first discovery and navigation of the Mississippi River, the death of its discoverer, De Soto, the building of the first sea-going vessels--brigantines--by Moscoso, the first voyage down "the great river," and the arrival in Mexico of the remnants of the once powerful expedition. The narrative, taken in connection with that of Ranjel, preserved in Oviedo's _Historia General y Natural de las Indias_ (Seville, 1547), supplies almost a daily record of the events as they occurred.

The Gentleman of Elvas having been an eye-witness, and his narrative being the best one that has been preserved, it must be taken as a basis for laying down the route of the expedition. The abridged journal of Ranjel, De Soto's private secretary, should also be accepted as a standard, especially as to dates and the order in which the towns and provinces are named. The narrative of Biedma, the factor of the expedition,[222] although written after his arrival in Mexico, supplies some additional information. It furnishes the only clue as to the direction pursued by Moscoso, after leaving Guachoya, and therefore contains valuable auxiliary evidence. The account written by Garcilaso de la Vega, "the Inca," _Florida del Ynca_ (Lisbon, 1605), is principally based upon the oral statements of a noble Spaniard who accompanied Soto as a volunteer, and the written but illiterate reports of two common soldiers, Alonzo de Carmona and Juan Coles. After eliminating all the overdrawn, flowery, and fanciful portions of the account, there is a residue consisting, in part, of misplaced towns, provinces, and events, together with occasional duplications of descriptions. Of the remainder, only such portions as conform to, or do not conflict with, the other narratives are worthy of consideration. By combining the geographical, topographical, and descriptive portions of the narratives, and exploring the probable and possible sections of the route, the present writer has succeeded in identifying a number of points visited by Soto and his followers. A detailed description of the places identified will be found in the _Publications of the Mississippi Historical Society_ (VI. 449-467); and the relative value of the narratives, together with the minor documents, is discussed in the same series (VII. 379-387).

[222] First printed by Buckingham Smith in his _Coleccion de varios Documentos para la Historia de la Florida_ (London, 1857).

The Gentleman of Elvas, unlike Ranjel, does not put himself forward, but was so modest that only once does he refer to himself while on the march through Florida, and that was on the occasion of the death of some relatives while at Aminoya. Seemingly he did not take an active part at the front or in the advances, but was always with the main army.

The Narrative of the Gentleman of Elvas was first published at Evora, Portugal, in 1557. It was reprinted at Lisbon in 1844 by the Royal Academy, and again in 1875. The first French edition appeared in 1685, and an English translation from this edition was published in 1686. The first English version, by Hakluyt, entitled _Virginia richly valued by the Description of the Mainland of Florida_, appeared in 1609, and a reprint entitled _The worthye and famous Historie of the Travailles, Discovery, and Conquest of Terra Florida_, in 1611. A reprint from the latter, edited by William B. Rye, was published by the Hakluyt Society in 1851. The version of 1611 is included in Force's _Tracts_, Volume IV., 1846, and in French's _Historical Collections of Louisiana_, Part 2. The English translation by Buckingham Smith, which was published by the Bradford Club in 1866, in a volume entitled _The Career of Hernando de Soto in the Conquest of Florida_, is the latest and most authentic version. It is this which is followed in the present volume. A reprint of Smith's translation, edited by Professor Edward G. Bourne, was published in 1904.

T. HAYES LEWIS.

THE NARRATIVE OF THE EXPEDITION OF HERNANDO DE SOTO, BY THE GENTLEMAN OF ELVAS

_True relation of the vicissitudes that attended the Governor Don Hernando de Soto and some nobles of Portugal in the discovery of the Province of Florida now just given by a Fidalgo of Elvas. Viewed by the Lord Inquisitor._[223]

[223] From the title page of the original.

Fernando da Silveira, Senhor da Serzedas, great Poet and very Illustrious, respecting the Material of this Book, and in Praise of the Author.

EPIGRAM

He who would see the New World, The Golden Pole,[224] the second, Other seas, other lands, Achievements great, and wars, And such things attempted As alarm and give pleasure, Strike terror and lend delight;-- Read of the author this pleasing story, Where nothing fabulous is told, All worthy of being esteemed, Read, considered, used.

[224] We inhabit the Northern Arctic Pole, and that people inhabit the Southern Antarctic Pole. Golden Pole is used because the region is rich. (Footnote in the original.)

ANDRÉ DE BURGOS[225] TO THE PRUDENT READER.

[225] The printer.

Aristotle writes that all, or at least most men, are given or prone to look at and listen to novelties, especially when they are of foreign or remote countries. These things, he says, enliven the heavy while they give recreation to delicate and subtile minds, that propensity moving men not only to see and hear, but, if possible, to take part in occurrences. This desire exists in the Lusitanians more than in any other people,--for two reasons: the one, because they are very ingenious and warlike; the other, because they are by nature great navigators, having discovered more land, with wider sailing, than all the nations of the earth beside. So, it appearing to me that I could do some little service to those who should read this book, I resolved to imprint it, assured, beyond its being in the Portuguese, that it is composed by a native, and likewise because citizens of Elvas took part in the discovery, as the narrative will itself disclose. What he has written I undoubtingly credit: he tells no tales, nor speaks of fabulous things; and we may believe that the author--having no interest in the matter--would not swerve from truth. We have his assurance besides, that all he has set down passed before him. Should the language, by chance, appear to you careless, lay not the fault on me; I imprint and do not write. God be your protector.

DISCOVERY OF FLORIDA

_Relation of the toils and hardships that attended Don Hernando de Soto, governor of Florida, in the conquest of that country; in which is set forth who he was, and also who were others with him; containing some account of the peculiarities and diversities of the country, of all that they saw and of what befell them._