taw). It 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.

10. The native tribes, everywhere on the route, were found in a state of civilization beyond that of nomadic hordes. They were an agricultural people, with fixed places of abode, and' subsisted upon the produce of the fields more than upon the chase. Ignorant of the arts of life, they could offer no resistance to their unwelcome visitors; the bow and arrow were the most effective weapons with which they were acquainted. They 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.

11. Their dress was, in part, mats wrought of ivy and bul rushes, or of the bark and lint of trees; incold 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.

12. On a slight suspicion, they would cut off the hands of numbers of the natives, for punishment or intimidation; while the young cavaliers, from desire of seeming valiant, ceased to be merciful, and exulted in cruelties and carnage. 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 consideration of safety would induce the governor to set fire to a hamlet. He did not delight in cruelty; 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 distance.

13. 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 Guadalquiver (gwah-dal-ke-veer') at Sev'ille. At last he arrived at the province where the Washita, already united with the Red River, enters the Mississippi. The province was called Guachoya (gwah-tcho'yah).

14. 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 impassable cane-brakes, and the dense woods.

15. The governor received the intelligence with concern; he suffered from anxiety and gloom. His horses and men were dying around him, so that the natives were becoming dangerous enemies. He attempted to overawe a tribe of Indians near Natchez by claiming a supernatural birth, and demanding obedience and tribute. "You say you are the child of the sun," replied the undaunted chief; "dry up the river, and I will believe you. Do you desire to see me? Visit the town where I dwell. If you come in peace, I will receive you with special good-will; if in war, I will not shrink one foot back."

16. But Soto was no longer able to abate the confidence of punish the temerity of the natives. 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 malignant fever ensued, during which he had little comfort, and was neither visited nor attended as the last hours of life demand. Believing his death near at hand, he held the last solemn interview with his faithful 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.

Character and Burial of De Soto.-Irving.

[From the "Conquest of Florida,' by Theodore Irving.]

1. THUS died Hernando de Soto, one of the boldest and the bravest of the many brave leaders who figured in the first discoveries, and distinguished themselves in the wild warfare of the Western World. How proud and promising had been the commencement of his career! how humble and hapless its close! Cut off in the very vigor and manhood of his days, for he was but forty-two years old when he expired; perishing in a strange and savage land, amid the din and tumult of a camp, and with merely a few rough soldiers to attend him, for nearly all were engaged in the preparations making for their escape in this perilous situation.

2. Hernando de Soto was well calculated to command the independent and chivalric spirits of which his army was composed; for, while his ideas of military discipline were very strict, and he punished every breach of military duty, all other offences he pardoned. No one was more prompt to notice and reward all soldier-like merit. He is said to have been courteous and engaging in his manners, patient and persevering under difficulties, encouraging his followers by his quiet endurance of suffering.

3. In his own person he was valiant in the extreme, and of such vigor of arm, that wherever he passed in battle he is said to have hewn himself a lane through the thickest of the enemy. Some of his biographers" have accused him of cruelty toward the poor Indians; but, according to the Inca's account, we find him, in general, humane and merciful, striving to conciliate the natives by presents and kind messages, and only resorting to violent means where the safety of himself and his followers were at stake.

4. The death of the governor left his followers overwhelmed. with grief; they felt as if made orphans by his loss, for they looked up to him as a father: and they sorrowed the more, because they could not give him a proper sepulture, nor per

form the solemn obsequies due to the remains of a captain and commander so much beloved and honored.

5. They feared to bury him publicly and with becoming ceremonials, lest the Indians should discover the place of his interment, and should outrage and insult his remains, as they had done those of other Spaniards-tearing them from their graves, dismembering them, and hanging them piecemeal from the trees. If they had shown such indignities to the bodies of the common soldiers, how much greater would they inflict upon that of their governor and commander? Besides, De Soto had impressed them with a very exalted opinion of his prudence and valor, and the Spaniards, therefore, dreaded lest, finding out the death of their leader, they might be induced to revolt, and fall upon their handful of troops.

6. For these reasons they buried him in the dead of night, with sentinels posted to keep the natives at a distance, that the sad ceremony might be safe from the observation of their spies. The place chosen for his sepulture was one of many pits, broad and deep, in a plain near to the village, from whence the Indians had taken earth for their buildings. Here he was interred, in silence and in secret, with many tears of the priests and cavaliers who were present at his mournful obsequies.

7. The better to deceive the Indians and prevent their suspecting the place of his interment, they gave out, on the following day, that the governor was recovering from his malady, and, mounting their horses, they assumed an appearance of rejoicing. That all traces of the grave might be lost, they caused much water to be sprinkled over it, and upon the surrounding plain, as if to prevent the dust being raised by their horses. They then scoured the plain, and galloped about the pits, and over the very grave of their commander; but it was difficult, under this cover of pretended gayety, to conceal the real sadness of their hearts.

8. With all these precautions they soon found out that the Indians suspected not only the death of the governor, but the place where he lay buried; for, in passing by the pits, they

would stop, look round attentively on all sides, talk with one another, and make signs with their chins and their eyes toward the spot where the body was interred.

9. The Spaniards perceiving this, and feeling that the Indians would search the whole plain until they found the body, determined to disinter it, and place it where it would be secure from molestation. No place appeared better suited to the purpose than the Mississippi; but first they wished to ascertain whether there was sufficient depth to hide the body effectually. Accordingly, Juan de Añasco, and other officers, taking with them a mariner, embarked one evening in a canoe, under pretense of fishing and amusing themselves; and, sounding the river where it was a quarter of a league wide, they found, in the mid-channel, a depth of nineteen fathoms. Here, therefore, they determined to deposit the body.

10. As there was no stone in the neighborhood wherewith to sink it, they cut down an evergreen oak, and made an excavation in one side, of the size of a man. On the following night, with all the silence possible, they disinterred the body, and placed it in the trunk of the oak, nailing planks over the aperture. The rustic coffin was then conveyed to the centre of the river, where, in presence of several priests and cavaliers, it was committed to the stream, and they beheld it sink to the bottom; shedding many tears over this second funeral rite, and commending anew the soul of the good cavalier to heaven.

11. The Indians soon perceiving that the governor was not with the army, nor buried as they had supposed, demanded of the Spaniards where he was. The general reply, prepared for the occasion, was, that God had sent for him, to communicate to him great things, which he was commanded to perform, as soon as he should return to earth. With this answer the Indians remained apparently content.

12. The Cacique', however, who believed him to be dead, sent two handsome young Indians to Moscoso with the message, that it was the custom of his country, when any great prince died, to put to death some persons to attend him, and serve him on his journey to the land of spirits; and for that