In 1537, Cabeza de Vaca, landing in Spain, addressed to the Imperial Catholic King a narrative of his adventures, and the tales of "the Columbus of the Continent," quickened the belief that the country between the river Palmas and the Atlantic was the richest in the world. It had been believed that the recesses of the continent at the north concealed cities as magnificent, and temples as richly endowed, as any which had yet been plundered within the tropics.

CHAPTER III.

DE SOTO.

Hernando de Soto had been the companion of Pizarro in the conquest of Peru. He had come to America a needy adventurer with no other fortune than his sword and target. But his exploits had given him fame and fortune and he appeared at court with the retinue of a nobleman. Still his active energies could not endure repose, and his avarice and ambition goaded him to fresh enterprises. De Soto desired to rival Cortez in glory and surpass Pizarro in wealth. Blinded by avarice and the love of power he repaired to Valladolid, and begged permission to conquer Florida at his own cost. Charles V readily conceded to so renowned a commander the government of Cuba, with absolute power over the immense territory to which the name of Florida was still vaguely applied. No sooner was the design of the new armament published in Spain than the wildest hopes were indulged. How brilliant must be the prospect, since the conqueror of Peru was willing to hazard his fortune and the greatness of his name!

Adventurers assembled as volunteers, many of them people of noble birth and good estates. Houses and vineyards, land for tillage, and rows of olive trees in the

Ajarrafe of Savilla, were sold, as in the times of the Crusades, to obtain the means of military equipments. A

number of priests, both secular and religious, accompanied the expedition; among them were Father Dennis, a Parisian, Diego de Bannelos of Cordova, Francis de la Rocha, a Trinitarian religious, Roderic de Gallegos, Francis de Pozo, John de Torres, John de Galligos and Louis de Soto.

The port of San Lucas de Barrameda was crowded with those who hastened to solicit permission to share in the undertaking. Even soldiers of Portugal desired to be enrolled for the service. A muster was held; the Portuguese glittered in burnished armor and the Castilians were very gallant with silk upon silk." From the numerous aspirants De Soto selected for his companions six hundred men in the bloom of life, the flower of the Peninsula.

The fleet sailed as gaily as if on a holiday excursion. From Cuba the precaution had been taken to send vessels to Florida to explore a harbor; and two Indians, brought captives to Havanna, invented such falsehoods as they perceived would be acceptable. They conversed by signs; and the signs were interpreted as affirming that Florida abounded in gold. The news spread great contentment; De Soto and his troops restlessly longed for the hour of their departure to the conquest of "the richest country which had yet been discovered." The infection spread in Cuba, and Vasco Porcallo, an aged and wealthy man, lavished bis fortune in magnificent preparations.

De Soto had been detained in Cuba by long and brilliant festivals and rejoicings. In May, 1539, all preparations were completed; leaving his wife to govern the island he and his company, full of unbounded expectations, sailed for Florida; and in about a fortnight his fleet anchored in the bay of Spiritu Santo. The soldiers went on shore; the horses, between two and three hundred in number, were disembarked. Soto would listen to no augury but success, and like Cortez, he refused to retain his ships least they should tempt a retreat. Most of them were sent to Havanna. Porcalla grew alarmed. It had been a principal object for him to obtain slaves for his estates and

mines in Cuba. Despairing of success, he sailed for the island after the first skirmish; Soto was indignant at the desertion, but concealed his anger.

And now began the nomadic march of horsemen and infantry completely armed, a force exceeding in numbers and equipments the famous partisans who triumphed over the empires of Mexico and Peru. Everything was provided that experience in former invasions could suggest. It was a roving company of gallant freebooters in quest of a fortune; a romantic stroll of men whom avarice rendered ferocious, through unexplored regions, over unknown paths, wherever rumor might point to some chieftain with more than Peruvian wealth or the ill-interpreted signs of the ignorant natives might seem to promise gold.

The twelve priests, besides other ecclesiastics, not only did all in their power to convert, civilize and protect the red man, but also observed every religious practice. Ornaments for Mass were carried along, every festival was kept, and as the troops marched through the wilderness, the solemn procession, which the Church enjoined, were scrupulously instituted. Florida was to become Catholic.

The story of this march has often been told. For month after month, for year after year, they wandered on through wild and boundless wastes, lured hither and thither by the ignus fatuus of their hopes. They traversed great portions of Georgia, Alabama and Mississippi; everywhere inflicting, and everywhere enduring misery, but never approaching their phantom El Dorado.

At length in the third year of their journeying they reached the banks of the Mississippi, a hundred and thirtytwo years before its second discovery by Marquette. They crossed over at a point above the mouth of the Arkansas. They advanced westward, but found no treasures, nothing indeed but hardships and Indian enemies, " furious," writes one of their officers, "as mad dogs.'

Dakota tribes then occupied the country south west of the Missouri; Soto had heard its praises; he believed it in vicinity to mineral wealth and determined to visit its towns.

The party sent to examine the region reported that they were almost a desert. The country nearer the Missouri was said by the Indians to be thinly inhabited; the bison or buffalo abounded there so much, that no maize could be cultivated and the few inhabitants were hunters.

In August, Soto turned therefore to the west and northwest and plunged still more deeply into the interior of the continent. The mountains offered neither gems nor gold, and the disappointed explorers marched to the south. In the middle of April, 1542, he arrived at the province, where the Washita, already united with the Red River, enters the Mississippi. He was attacked by a malignant fever and, believing his death near at hand, on the 20th of May, he held a last interview with his followers, and yielding to the wishes of his companions, who obeyed him to the end, he named a successor. On the next day he died. His soldiers pronounced his eulogy by grieving for their loss; the priests chanted over his body the first requiems that were ever heard on the waters of the Mississippi. To conceal his death his body was wrapped in a mantle and in the stillness of midnight was sunk to the middle of the stream.

CHAPTER IV.

CORONADO'S EXPEDITION.

The map which was taken from the Receiver-General of Montezuma, the King of Mexico, designated Cibola as the country whence the tribute of gold was received. In 1530, an Indian slave named Tezon, a native of New Gallicia, told the governor of that province wonders of the seven cities of Cibola, the land of the buffalo," that lay at the north, between the oceans and beyond the desert, and abounded in silver and gold. He stated that each city was as large as Mexico, that the country abounded in precious metals; that entire streets in these cities were occupied by gold