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Page 48
Seven brigantines were finished and launched; and, trusting their
lives on board these frail vessels, they descended the Mississippi,
running the gantlet between hostile tribes, who fiercely attacked
them. Reaching the Gulf, tho not without the loss of eleven of their
number, they made sail for the Spanish settlement on the River Panuco,
where they arrived safely, and where the inhabitants met them with a
cordial welcome. Three hundred and eleven men thus escaped with life,
leaving behind them the bones of their comrades strewn broadcast
through the wilderness.
[1] From Parkman's "Pioneers of France in the New World." By
permission of the publishers, Little, Brown & Co. Hernando de Soto
was born in Badaios, Spain, in 1500, and died near the Mississippi
River, probably on May 21, 1542. Before discovering the Mississippi,
he had been in Panama and Nicaragua; had been active with Pizarro
in the conquest of Peru, from which he returned very rich to
Spain, and in 1587 had been appointed Governor of Cuba and
Florida, with orders to explore and settle the country. It was
while engaged in the latter work that he discovered the
Mississippi.
De Soto's route has been determined only approximately. He is
believed first to have made a circuit northward from Tampa,
through Florida into Georgia and perhaps into Carolina, thence
going westward to Alabama and Mobile Bay. From the latter he
turned northward again, thence going westward to the Mississippi,
which he is believed to have crossed at Chickasaw Bluffs, in May,
1541. From this point he went northward and almost reached the
Missouri. He then turned southward, and reached the junction of
the Red River and Mississippi, where he died of malaria fever. Of
his men 250 perished from disease or in combat with the Indians.
[2] The bison, or buffalo, is here referred to.
THE DEATH OF DE SOTO
(1542)
BY ONE OF DE SOTO'S COMPANIONS[1]
The Governor fell into great dumps to see how hard it was to get to
the sea; and worse, because his men and horses every day diminished,
being without succor to sustain themselves in the country: and with
that thought he fell sick. But before he took his bed he sent an
Indian to the Cacique of Quigalta to tell him that he was the child of
the sun, and that all the way that he came all men obeyed and served
him, that he requested him to accept of his friendship and come unto
him, for he would be very glad to see him; and in sign of love and
obedience to bring something with him of that which in his country was
most esteemed....
By the time the Indian returned with his answer, the Governor had
betaken himself to bed, being evil handled with fevers, and was much
aggrieved that he was in case to pass presently the river and to seek
him, to see if he could abate that pride of his, considering the river
went now very strongly in those parts; for it was near half a league
broad, and sixteen fathoms deep, and very furious, and ran with a
great current; and on both sides there were many Indians, and his
power was not now so great, but that he had need to help himself
rather by slights than by force. The Indians of Guachoya came every
day with fish in such numbers, that the town was full of them....
The Governor felt in himself that the hour approached wherein he was
to leave this present life, and called for the king's officers,
captains, and principal persons, to whom he made a speech. Baltasar de
Gallegos answered in the name of all the rest. And first of all
comforting him, he set before his eyes how short the life of this
world was, and with how many troubles and miseries it is accompanied,
and how God showed him a singular favor which soonest left it: telling
him many other things fit for such a time. And touching the Governor
which he commanded they should elect, he besought him, that it would
please his lordship to name him which he thought fit, and him they
would obey. And presently he named Luys de Moscoso de Alvarado, his
captain-general. And presently he was sworn by all that were present,
and elected for governor. The next day being the 21st of May, 1542,
departed out of this life the valorous, virtuous, and valiant captain,
Don Fernando de Soto, Governor of Cuba, and Adelantado of Florida:
whom fortune advanced, as it useth to do others, that he might have
the higher fall. He departed in such a place, and at such a time, as
in his sickness he had but little comfort: and the danger wherein all
his people were of perishing in that country, which appeared before
their eyes, was cause sufficient why every one of them had need of
comfort, and why they did not visit nor accompany him as they ought to
have done. Luys de Moscoso determined to conceal his death from the
Indians, because Fernando de Soto had made them believe that the
Christians were immortal; and also because they took him to be hardy,
wise, and valiant; and if they should know that he was dead, they
would be bold to set upon the Christians, tho they lived peaceably by
them.
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