De Soto, Pt. 2

In the beginning of March we came to a country The Indians called Anicoyanque A cacique called Guachoyangue came to see us He lived on the banks of the Great River His village was fortified and well surrounded by walls At this place the governor had determined to build Some brigantines to send to Cuba To let them know that he was still alive He sent his captain to find out the direction of the sea He returned back in a few days Saying that the vast swamps which the Great River had formed Prevented him from doing so At length the governor, finding his situation Becoming every day more embarrassing And his affairs going wrong, fell sick and died We remained here six months to build seven brigantines We launched them on the river, and it was a miracle they did not leak They sailed well, although they were calked With the thin bark of mulberry trees On the second day out, as we were descending the river Some forty or fifty canoes came towards us In one of which were eighty warriors They soon discovered that we had neither Arquebuses nor crossbows to reach them The only arms we had were some swords and shields Consequently, they had nothing to fear from us They shot arrows at us, And captured some of the small canoes we had taken with us In which were twelve of our best soldiers The current of the river was so rapid that we Could not go to their assistance Encouraged by this victory The Indians continued to harass us until we reached the sea Which took us nineteen days We entered the sea through one of the mouths of the river And for three days and nights we could not see land We perceived towards the west some small islands Which we followed Keeping close to the shore, to find something to eat Until we entered the River Panuco Where we were kindly received by the inhabitants The Spaniards went to sea on the 18th July And arrived in the river Panuco on the 10th September, 1543 The inhabitants of Panuco, says Garcilaso de la Vega Were all touched with pity at beholding this forlorn remnant Of the gallant armament of the renowned Hernando de Soto They were blackened, haggard, shriveled And half naked, being clad only with the skins of deer Buffaloes, bears, and other animals Looking more like wild beasts than human beings