EIGHT IN WHICH THE HISTORY RELATES ANOTHER ENCOUNTER WITH A BARRICADE, IN WHICH THE ADELANTADO FOUGHT WITH THE INDIANS, AND HOW HE ARRIVED AT A VERY LARGE RIVER, WHICH THE CHRISTIANS CROSSED, AND OF AN ORATION AND SPEECH WHICH THE CACIQUE OF CASQUI MADE IN FRONT OF THE ADELANTADO AND THE CHRISTIANS IN FAVOR OF THE CROSS AND THE FAITH, AND OF AN ARGUMENT BETWEEN THIS CACIQUE AND HIS ENEMY, NAMED PACAHA, OVER WHICH ONE OUGHT TO PRECEDE THE OTHER. THEY DEPARTED FROM UTIANGUE, AND MANY NOTABLE PARTICULARS ARE TOLD. On Tuesday, the twenty-sixth of April of the year already stated of fifteen forty-one, Governor Hernando de Soto departed from the savannah of Chica <;a and spent the night at Limamu, and they were there looking for corn, because the Indians had concealed it, and they had to cross an uninhabited regIOn. And on Thursday they went to another savannah, where the Indians had made a very strong barricade, and within it many Indian warriors all smeared and painted with colors that appeared very fine (and yet were bad, or at least they were harmful to the Christians); and they entered the barricade by force, with some casualties of dead and wounded on the side of the adelantado and his army, and many more, without comparison, on the side of the vanquished, and there would have been more, if the Indians had not fled. On Saturday, the last day of April, the army departed from the site of the barricade, and traveled nine days through an uninhabited region and a bad road through forests and swamps, until Sunday the eighth of May, when they arrived at the first town of Quizqui; and they took them unexpectedly ACCOUNT BY RODRIGO RANGEL ~ 299 and captured many people and clothes; but the Governor then set them free and made restitution to them all, for fear of war, although this did not suffice to make friends of those Indians. One league from this town was found another with much corn, and then, after another league, another, likewise with much corn. There they saw the great river. 56 On Saturday, the twentyfirst of May, the army moved on to a savannah between the river and a small town, and they made camp, and began to make four piraguas in order to cross to the other side. Many of those conquistadors said that this river was a larger river than the Danube. On the other bank of the river, up to seven thousand Indians gathered to defend the crossing, and with up to two hundred canoes, all with shields [escudos], which were made of canes joined together, so strong and so tightly sewn that a crossbow would scarcely pierce them. Arrows came raining and the air was filled with them, and with such a yell, so that it seemed a matter of great dread; but when they saw that the work on the piraguas did not let up for them, they said that Pacaha, whose men they were, commanded them to remove themselves from there, and thus they left the crossing undefended. And on Saturday, the eighth of June,57 all the army crossed that great river58 in the four piraguas, and they gave many thanks to God, because in their opinion, nothing so difficult could ever be offered them again. On Sunday, they went to a town of Aquijo; on Tuesday, the twenty-first of June, they left from there and passed through the province [poblaci6n] of Aquijo, which is very beautiful and nicely situated. The next day, Wednesday , they passed through the worst road of swamps and water that they had seen in all Florida, and in this day's journey the people suffered much hardship . The next day following, Thursday, they entered in the land of Quarqui and passed through many towns, and the next day, Friday, the day of St. John, they went to the town of the lord of Casqui, and he gave food and clothes to this army, and on Saturday they entered in his town; and he had very good huts, and in the principal [hut], over the door, were many heads of very fierce bulls, as in Spain they put heads of wild boars [puercos javalies ] or bears at the doors of the houses of the hunters. There the Christians placed the cross on a mound. They received it and adored it with much devotion, and I say with much devotion, because the blind and lame Indians 56£1 rio grande, or the Mississippi. 57The date should be June 18. 58Aquella gran ribera. The term ribera refers to the bank or shore, but in this context river seems more appropriate. 300 ~ THE DE SOTO CHRONICLES [3.141.47.221] Project MUSE (2024-04-17 08:22 GMT) came to ask for healing. The faith of these, said Rodrigo Rangel, would have been greater than that of the conquistadores, if they had been instructed, and in them more fruit would have been produced than what those Christians produced. On Sunday, the twenty-sixth of June, they left from there for Pacaha, enemy of Casqui, and they spent the night at one town and passed others. And the following day they crossed a swamp, in which the Indians had a well-made bridge, broad and of ingenious construction; and on Wednesday they arrived at the town of Pacaha, a town and lord of great renown and very esteemed in those parts. That town [poblaci6n] was very good and very well palisaded, with towers on the walls, and with a ditch [cava] roundabout, and most of it filled with water, which enters through an irrigation ditch [aceiguia] that flows from the river. That pond [estano] had many very good fish of different kinds. The cacique of Casqui caught up with the Christians at the time that they entered the town, and they looted it ferociously. In Aquijo and Casqui and this Pacaha they saw the best towns that they had seen up to then, and better palisaded and fortified, and the people of more beauty, except for those of Cofitachequi. The adelantado and his people being some days in Pacaha, they made some excursions into the interior, and the cacique of Casqui stole away one day when he saw the opportunity for it, without asking for permission, for which the Governor tried to make peace with Pacaha, and he came in [peace] in order to retrieve a brother of his whom the Christians had captured at the time they entered the town. And he struck an agreement with Pacaha that they should go to make war on Casqui, which was very gratifying to Pacaha. But Casqui had warning of that intent, and he came with fifty of his Indians in very fine array; and he brought a jester in front of himself for grandeur, who, saying and doing witty things, gave occasion for much laughter to those who saw him. The Governor displayed anger and harshness in order to please Pacaha, and he sent to command that he should not enter in the town. Casqui sent as a reply, that even though they should cut off his head, he would not stop from coming. Pacaha asked the Governor for permission to give a slash on the face to Casqui with a knife that he had in his hand, which the Christians had given him, and the Governor said to Pacaha that he should not do such a thing nor do him injury, because he would get angry with him; and he commanded that Casqui should come inside to see what he wanted, and because he [the Governor] wanted to ask him why he had gone without his permission. Casqui arrived and spoke to the Governor in this manner, as related by ACCOUNT BY RODRIGO RANGEL ~ 301 the interpreter Juan Ortiz and other Indian interpreters that the Governor and the Christians now had: "How, my lord, is it possible that having given me the promise of amity, without my having done you any damage or given any occasion, you wish to destroy me, your friend and brother? You gave me the cross to defend myself from my enemies, and with that same [cross] you wish to destroy me." (He said this because the Indians of Pacaha, his enemy, who were against him with the Christians, wore crosses high on their heads so that they might be recognized.) "My Lord," said Casqui, "now that God heard us, by means of the cross; that the women and boys and all those of my land knelt down to it to ask for rain from the God who you said suffered on it, and he heard us and gave it to us in great abundance and saved our cornfields and seed beds; now that we have more faith in it and in your friendship, you wish to destroy those children and women who love you and your God so much? Why do you wish to use such cruelty without our meriting it? Why do you wish to lose the faith and confidence that we had in you, why do you wish to offend your own God and us, when on his behalf, you assured us in his name and received us as friends and we gave you complete faith, and we confided in the same God and in his cross and we held it in our guard and protection, and in the reverence and esteem that is suitable? To what end, to what purpose were you moved to do or think a thing so wrongful against people without guilt and friends of the cross and of yours?" And having said this, he fell silent. The Governor, his eyes softened and not without giving sign of tears, considering the faith and words of that cacique, responded to him through the interpreters in front of many Christian soldiers, who, with attention and not without tears, overcome with charity and faith, had heard all this, and he spoke thus: "Look, Casqui: we do not come to destroy you, but rather to make you know and understand the cross and our God, as you say; and these favors that he has done you are a small thing in respect to many other great ones that he will do for you, if you love him and believe in him; and thus hold it for certain, and you will find it and see it better each day. But since you went away without my permission, I thought that you held little regard for the doctrine that we had given you; and for the contempt that you had for it, I wished to destroy you, believing that you went away in pride, because this is the thing that our God most abhors and for which he punishes us most. Now that you come humbly , you may be certain that I wish you more good than what you think; and if you have need of something from me, tell me and you will see it, because we do what our God commands us, which is not to lie; and thus believe that I tell you the truth, because a lie is a very great sin among us. And do not be 302 ~ THE DE SOTO CHRONICLES [3.141.47.221] Project MUSE (2024-04-17 08:22 GMT) grateful to me or to my men for this good will, because if you believe what you say, God Our Lord commands that we love you like a brother, and that we do things for you, because you and your people are our brothers, and thus our God tells us. " The Indians were as amazed at this as the Christians were at what Casqui had said. At that point it was time to eat, and the adelantado seated himself and commanded both caciques to sit, and between them there was great contention about which of them would seat himself at the right hand of the Governor. Pacaha told Casqui: "You know well that I am a greater lord than you and of more honored parents and grandparents, and that to me belongs a better place than to you." Casqui responded thus: "It is true that you are a greater lord than I, and your ancestors were greater than mine. And since this great lord who is here says that we must not lie, I will not deny the truth; notwithstanding, you know well that I am older and more than a match for you, and I confine you in your palisade whenever I want, and you have never seen my land." In effect, this remained to be decided by the Governor, and he commanded that Pacaha should seat himself at his right hand, because he was a greater lord and more ancient in Estate, and there were in him and in his people good customs and, in their own way, the manner of courtly people. Casqui had brought a daughter, a pretty girl, to the Governor. Pacaha gave him a wife of his, fresh and very virginal, and he gave him a sister and another principal Indian woman. The Governor made them friends and made them embrace and commanded that they should deal from one land to the other with their commodities and business, and so they agreed to do it. And with this the Governor departed from there on the twenty-ninth of June. But I wish that, together with the greatness of the cross and of the faith that this Governor told to those caciques, he had told them that he was married and that the Christians are not to have more than one wife or access to another, or to commit adultery, and that he had not taken the young daughter that Casqui gave him, or his own wife and sister and another principal [woman] Pacaha gave him, and that he had not left them with the idea that the Christians, like the Indians, could have as many wives and concubines as they wished; and as those adulterers live, so do they end up. Let us pass on: in my opinion, in a cacique of so much discretion as Casqui, it would have seemed well to baptize him and make him and his people Christians; and it would have been better to stay there, than to go forward to what this history will relate. Nor do I praise them for having ACCOUNT BY RODRIGO RANGEL ~ 303 gone on beyond Cofitachequi, for the same reason and for what has been said of that land. Therefore, this army and its Governor having left from Pacaha, they spent the night at a town of Casqui, and the next day at the principal town of the same lord of Casqui, through which they had already passed, and they left from there on Sunday, the last day of that month, and went to a town of that province. And on Monday, the first of August, they arrived at another town that is alongside the river of Casqui, which is a branch that comes forth from the great river of Pacaha, and this branch is as large as the Guadalquivir. There Casqui came and helped them cross the river by canoe on Tuesday the second of August. They spent the night on Wednesday at a burned town, and the following Thursday, at another town next to the river, where there were many squash and much corn and beans. And the next day, Friday, they went to Quiguate, which is the largest town they saw in that land, next to the river of Casqui; and they found out afterwards that river was well populated below (although they did not manage to find it out then), and for that reason they took the road from Coligua, passing through an uninhabited reglOn. On Friday, the twenty-sixth of August, they departed from Quiguate in search of Coligua, and they spent the night at a swamp; and from swamp to swamp they made their journey of four swamps and four days, in which swamps or ponds there were large numbers of fish, because the great river floods all that area when it overflows its banks. And on Tuesday they went to the river that they call [the river] of Coligua, and on Wednesday likewise along the same river, and the following Thursday, which was the first of September, to Coligua, and they found the town populated, and in it they took many people and clothes and a great deal of food and much salt. It is a pleasant town among some mountains, on a gorge of a large river, and from there they went at midday to kill cows [buffalo], since there are many wild ones. On Tuesday, the sixth of September, they departed from Coligua and crossed the river another time, and on Wednesday they crossed some mountains and went to Calpista, in which there was a spring of water from which very good salt is made, cooking it until it cakes. On the following Thursday they went to Palisma, and on Saturday, the tenth of September, they came forth to sleep at a [body of] water, and on Sunday they arrived at Quixila and rested there on Monday, and they went on Tuesday to Tutilcoya, and on Wednesday to a town alongside a large river, and on Thursday they spent the night alongside a swamp. And the Governor went in advance with some on horseback, and he arrived at Tanico; and the next day they [the army] went 304 ~ THE DE SOTO CHRONICLES [3.141.47.221] Project MUSE (2024-04-17 08:22 GMT) to the same province [poblaci6n] of Tanico, which was very scattered but very abundant in supplies. Some wanted to say that it was Cayase, a large and palisaded town that was widely known, but they never were able to see or discover it, and afterward they told them that they had left it behind at one side of the river. From there the Governor went with thirteen on horseback and fifty foot soldiers to see Tula, and he returned from there rapidly, and they killed one of his horses and wounded another four or five, and he determined to go there with the army. It snco.;ld not be passed over or forgotten that there in Cayase our Spaniards gather~d baskets of dry sand from the river and strained water through it, and brine came forth, and they cooked it and it caked, and thus they made very excellent and very white salt, and of high quality and delicious. On Wednesday, the fifth of October, they left from the site of Tanico or Cayase and arrived on Friday at Tula, and they found the people gone; but they found many supplies. And on Saturday in the morning the Indians came to give them a surprise attack or battle. They brought long poles like lances, the points fire-hardened, and these were the best warriors that the Christians came upon; and they fought like desperate men, with the greatest courage in the world, and that day they wounded Hernandarias, grandson of the marshal of Seville, and thanks to God that the Christians behaved so valiantly, so that they did not receive much damage, although the Indians came to pillage the camp. On Wednesday, the nineteenth of October, this army and the Governor departed from Tula, and they spent the night at two huts, and the next day, Thursday, at another hut, and on Friday at another, in which Hernandarias de Saavedra, who had been wounded at Tula, had a convulsion and died; and he died like a Catholic nobleman, commending his soul to God. The next day, Saturday, they went to Guipana, which is among some mountains, next to a river, and from there they went as far as they could to sleep, and all that [land] is mountainous from Tula on. The J;lext day they came out of the mountains and entered the plains, and on Monday, the last day of the month, they arrived at a town that is called Quitamaya, and on Tuesday, the first of November, they passed through a small village [poblezuelo], and on Wednesday, the second of November, they arrived at Utiangue, which is a very well populated savannah of attractive appearance. 59 59Here ends Book XVII of Oviedo's Historia general y natural de las Indias. The present chapter (Oviedo's chapter 28) is incomp,Iete, and the two final chapters are known only from Oviedo's summary of their contents. ACCOUNT BY RODRIGO RANGEL ?a. 305 ...