FIRST SPANISH ADVENTURERS IN AMERICA.

Grey River Argus, Volume IX, Issue 741, 18 October 1870, Page 4

FIRST SPANISH ADVENTURERS IN AMERICA.

! Ferdinand de Soto had been with Pizarro in his expedition to Peru, aud - returned to Spain enriched by his share of the plunder. He did not doubt that in the north were cities as rich and barba- . rians as confiding. Au expedition to disco - er new regions, and plunder their inhabitants, was fitted cut under his command. No one doubted that sncces3 equal to that of Cortes and Pizarro would i atttend this new adventure. The youth of Spain were eager to be permitted to go, and they sold houses and lands to buy them the needful equipment. Six hundred men, in the prime of life, were chosen from the crowd of applicants, and the expedition sailed, high in courage, splendid in as2)ect, boundless in expectation. They landed on the coast of Florida, and began their march into the wilderness. They had fetters for the Indians wiioai they meant to take captives. They had bloodhounds, lest these captives should escape. The camp swarmed with priests, "and as they marched the festivals and processions enjoined by the Church were devoutly observed. From the outset it was a toilsome and perilous enterprise ; but to the Spaniard of that time danger was a joy. The Indians were warlike, and generally hostile. De Soto had pitched battles to fight and heavy losses to bear. Always he was victorious, but he could ill-afford the cost of many such victories. The captive Indians amused him with tales of regions where gold abounded. They had learned that ignorance on that subject was very hazardous. De Soto had stimulated their knowledge by burning to death some who denied the existence of gold in that country. The Spaniards wandered slowly northward. They looked eagerly for some great city, the plunder of whose p.ilaces and temples would enrich them all. They found nothing better but occasionally an Indian town, composed of a few miserable huts. It was all they could do to get needful food. At 'length they came to a most magnificent river. European eyes had seen no such river till now. It was about a mile in breadth, and its mass of water swept downward to the sea with a current of amazing strength. It was the Mississippi. The Spaniards bnilfc vessels and ferried themselves to the western bank. There they resumed their wanderings. De Soto would not yet admit that he had failed. He still hoped that the plunder of a rich city would reward his toi|s. For many months the Spaniards strayed among the swamps and dense forests of that dreary region. The natives showed at first some disposition to be helpful. Bat the Spaniards, in their disappointment, were pitiless and savage. They amused themselves by inflicting pain upon the prisoners. They cut off their heads ; they hunted them with bloodhounds ; they burned them at the stake. The Indians became dangerous, De Soto hoped to awe themby claiming to be one of the gods. But the imposture was too palpable. " How can a man be God when he cannot get bread to eat ?" asked a sagacious savage. It was now three years since De Soto had landed in America. The utter failure 6f the expe- ■ dition would no longer conceal, and the : men wished to retuni home.; Broken in i Bpirit and in frame, De Soto caught ievor i

and died. His soldiers felled a tree and scooped room within its trunk for tho body of the ill-fated adventurer. They could not bury their chief on land lest the Indians should dishonor his remains. In the silence of midnight the rude coflin was sunk in the Mississippi, and the discoverer of the great river slept beneath its waters. The Spaniards promptly resolved now to make their way to Cuba. They had tools, and wood was abundant. They slew their horses for flesh ; they plundered the Indians for bread ; they struck the fetters from their prisoners to reinforce their scanty supply of iron. They built jhips enough to float thorn down the Mississippi. Three hundred ragged and disheartened men were all that remained of the brilliant company whose hopes had been so high, • whose good fortune had been so much envied. — The United States of America. A History, by Robt. Mackenzie.