SPANIARDS IN ARKANSAS AND MISSOURI. 59 II. natives were too weak to transport horses; almost a CHAP. month expired, before boats, large enough to hold three horsemen each, were constructed for crossing 1541. the river. At length the Spaniards embarked upon the Mississippi; and Europeans were borne to its western bank. In May. The Kaskaskias Indians, at that time, occupied a province southwest of the Missouri; Soto had heard June. its praises; he believed in its vicinity to mineral wealth; and he determined to visit its towns. ascending the Mississippi, the party was often obliged to wade through morasses; at length, they came, as it would seem, upon the district of Little Prairie, and the dry and elevated lands, which extend towards New-Madrid. The wild fruits of that region were abundant; the pecan nut, the mulberry, and the two kinds of wild plums, furnished the natives with articles of food. At Pacaha, the northernmost point, which Soto reached near the Mississippi, he remained forty days. The spot cannot be identified; but the accounts of the amusements of the Spaniards contain ample confirmation of the truth of the narrative. Fish were taken, such as are now found in the fresh waters of that region; one of them, the spade fish, the strangest and most whimsical production of the muddy streams of the west, so rare, that, even now, it is hardly to be found in any museum, is accurately described by the best historian of the expedition." 1 Charlevoix, Journal Historique, let. xxviii. Nuttal's Arkansas, p. 82, 250 and 251. McCulloh disagrees; p. 526528. 2 Platirostra Edentula. 3 Portuguese Relation, c. xxiv. "There was another fish, called a peele fish; it had a snout of a June 19, to July 29. CHAP. 1541. An exploring party, which was sent to examine the regions to the north, reported that it was almost a desert. The country, still nearer the Missouri, was said by the Indians to be thinly inhabited; the bison abounded there so much, that no maize could be cultivated; and the few inhabitants were hunters. Soto turned, therefore, to the west and northwest; Aug. and plunged still more deeply into the interior of the continent. The highlands of White river, more than two hundred miles from the Mississippi, were probably the limit of his ramble in this direction. The mountains offered neither gems nor gold; and the disappointed adventurers marched to the south.1 They passed through a succession of towns, of which the position cannot be fixed; till, at length, we find them among the Tunicas, near the hot springs and saline tributaries of the Washita. was at Autiamque, a town on the same river, that they passed the winter; they had arrived at the settlement through the country of the Kappaws. It The native tribes, every where on the route, were found in a state of civilization beyond that of nomadic tribes. They had fixed places of abode; and subsisted upon the produce of the fields, more than upon the chase. the chase. Ignorant of the arts of life, cubit long, and at the end of the 2 Charlevoix, Journal Historique, let. xxxi. 3 Portuguese Narrative, c. xxvi. Nuttall's Arkansas, p. 215, 216, and 257. 4 The river of Autiamque, Cayas, the saline regions, and afterwards of Nilco, was the same. Portuguese Relation, c. xxviii. p. 528. CONDITION OF THE NATIVE TRIBES. 61 II. they could offer no resistance to their unwelcome CHAP. visiters; the bow and arrow were the most effective weapons, with which they were acquainted. They 1541. seem not to have been turbulent or quarrelsome; but as the population was moderate, and the earth fruitful, the tribes were not accustomed to contend with each other for the possession of territories. They were an agricultural people. Their dress was, in part, mats, wrought of ivy and bulrushes, of the bark and lint of trees; in cold weather, they wore mantles, woven of feathers. The settlements were by tribes; each tribe occupied what the Spaniards called a province; their villages were generally near together; but were composed of few habitations. The Spaniards treated them with no other forbearance, than their own selfishness demanded, and enslaved such as offended, employing them as porters and guides. On a slight suspicion, they would cut off the hands of numbers of the natives, for punishment or intimidation. The guide, who was unsuccessful, or who purposely led them away from the settlements of his tribe, would be seized and thrown to the hounds. Sometimes a native was condemned to the flames. Any trifling 1 Inter alia sævitiæ exempla ab eo edita hoc unum insigne est. Quindecim Cacicos captos jam in potestate habebat; nisi locum unde aurum sumerent, indicarent, minatur se omnes crematurum: miseri illi metu mortis oblato consternati, securi de facilitate credentis, nec quid dicerent satis scientes, promittunt se intra octiduum in eum locum deducturos unde aurum magna copia sumeret. Jam duodecim dierum iter peregerant, Calveto from Benzo, Hist. Novi CHAP. consideration of safety would induce the governor to II. set fire to a hamlet. He did not delight in cruelty; 1541. but the happiness, the life, and the rights of the Indians, were held of no account. The approach of the Spaniards was heard with dismay; and their departure hastened by the suggestion of wealthier lands at a great distance. 1542. Mar. 6. 17. In the spring of the following year, Soto determined to descend the Washita to its junction, and to get tidings of the sea. As he advanced, he was soon lost amidst the bayous and marshes, which are found along the Red river and its tributaries. Near the Mississippi, he came upon the country of Nilco, which was well peopled. The river was there larger than the Gaudalquiver at Seville. At last, he arrived April at the province, where the Washita, already united with the Red river, enters the Mississippi.' The province was called Guachoya. Soto anxiously inquired the distance to the sea; the chieftain of Guachoya could not tell. Were there settlements extending along the river to its mouth? It was answered, that its lower banks were an uninhabited waste. Unwilling to believe so disheartening a tale, Soto sent one of his men with eight horsemen, to descend the banks of the Mississippi, and explore the country. They travelled eight days, and were able to advance not much more than thirty miles; they were so delayed by the frequent bayous, the impassa 1 McCulloh places Guachoya near the Arkansas river. He does not make sufficient allowance for an exaggeration of distances, and for the delays on the Mississippi during the night-time; p. 529531. I do not think there is room for a doubt. Nuttall, Martin, and many others, agree with the statement, which is given in the text. DEATH AND BURIAL OF FERDINAND DE SOTO. II. 63 ble cane-brakes, and the dense woods.' The gov- CHAP. ernor received the intelligence with concern; he suffered from anxiety and gloom. His horses and 1542. men were dying around him. A tribe of Indians near Natchez sent him a defiance; and he was no longer able to punish their temerity. His stubborn pride was changed by long disappointments into a wasting melancholy; and his health sunk rapidly and entirely under a conflict of emotions. A mortal sickness ensued, during which he had little comfort, and was neither visited nor attended as he should have been. Believing his death near at hand, he yielded to the wishes of his companions, and named a successor. On the next day he died. Thus May perished the governor of Cuba, and the successful associate of Pizarro. His miserable end was the more observed, from the greatness of his former prosperity. 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 silently sunk in the middle of the stream. The discoverer of the Mississippi slept beneath its waters. He had crossed a large part of the continent in search of gold, and found nothing so remarkable as his burial-place.2 21. No longer guided by the energy and pride of Soto, the company resolved on reaching New-Spain with- June. 1 Portuguese Account, c. xxix. 2 Portuguese Relation, c. xxx. p. 531, 532. Vega, 1. v. part i. c. vii. and viii. Vega embellish- |