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No farther attempt appears to have been made towards the conquest and settlement of Florida by the Spaniards, till the year 1528, when Panfilo de Narvaez made a most disastrous expedition to that country, which will form the subject of the ensuing section of this chapter; except that about the year 1525, the licentiate Luke Vasquez de Ayllon sailed with three ships for that country from Santiago in the island of Hispaniola126. Vasquez arrived with his small armament at Cape Santa Elena in Florida, where he found an Indian town called Oritza; since named Chicora by the Spaniards, and another town in the neighbourhood called Guale, to which the Spaniards have given the name of Gualdape. At this place is the river Jordan, so named from the pilot by whom it was discovered, and where Vasquez lost one of his ships. He proceeded however in his enterprise with the other two ships, and landed two hundred men upon the coast of Florida; but being himself unacquainted with military discipline, and little regarded by his men, his troops were defeated by the natives and mostly slain. The few who escaped returned to Hispaniola; some alleging that Vasquez was of the number, while others assert that he was slain in Florida. In this unfortunate expedition, from which great consequences had been expected, no other towns but the two above mentioned were seen in Florida; and by this disaster all attempts for the conquest and settlement of that country were laid aside for some time, more especially as all the natives who had been there met with appeared poor and miserable, and having very small quantities of gold and silver, and even what little they had appeared to have been brought to them from remote parts of the country.
The abortive attempt of Panfilo de Narvaez to supersede Cortes in the command of the expedition against Mexico has been already related. He afterwards endeavoured to settle a colony at the Rio de las Palmas in the bay of Mexico, whence he was expelled by the arrogance of Nunno de Guzman, who had been appointed governor of the adjoining province of Panuco, and endeavoured to appropriate the territories belonging to others in his neighbourhood to his own advantage and emolument in the most unjustifiable manner. In March 1528, Narvaez sailed from Cuba with four ships and a brigantine for the conquest of Florida, having a force of about four hundred men with eighty horses. During the voyage, the squadron was carried among the shoals of Canarreo by the unskilfulness of the pilot Meruelo, where the ships got aground and remained for fifteen days constantly touching with their keels and unable to get into deep water. At the end of this period a storm at south brought so large an accession of water from the bay upon these flats that the ships got off. At Guaniguanigo they encountered another storm in which they were near perishing, and met with a third at Cape Corrientes. Three days after getting to windward of Cape St Antonio, they were driven by contrary winds to within twelve leagues of the Havannah; and when about to put in there for shelter were carried back by a south wind to the coast of Florida, where they arrived on the 12th of April, and came to anchor in the mouth of a bay where they could perceive some Indian huts on the shore128. Alonzo Enriquez, the comptroller of the armament, hailed the natives from a small island in the bay, and procured from them some fish and venison by means of barter.
Next day, Narvaez went on shore with as many men as the boats could carry, and found the dwellings of the natives abandoned, one of them being large enough to contain three hundred men. In the houses were found a number of fishing nets, and along with these a sort of tabor or drum, ornamented with gold bells. On the day following, Narvaez landed all the rest of his men, and forty-two horses, the others having died during the voyage. Narvaez took formal possession of the country in the name of the king of Spain. Some of the Indians drew near that day, but having no interpreter they could not be conversed with, though it appeared by their threatening signs that they warned the Spaniards to leave their country. On the same day Narvaez marched northwards into the country, with forty men and six horses, and came to a large bay which seemed to penetrate far into the interior. Having halted at that place for the night, he returned next day to the ships. The pilot Meruelo was sent in the brigantine to find out a harbour for the squadron, and to endeavour to procure provisions. Having taken four prisoners, some maize was shewn them, to endeavour to discover if the natives were acquainted with that grain, as none had been seen hitherto in the country. They accordingly offered by signs to lead the Spaniards to where some of it could be procured, and guided them to the town or village where they dwelt, where some maize was growing in a field in the environs. In the same place, they found some Spanish chests, in each of which was a dead body wrapped up in painted deers skins; and as the commissary Juan Xuarez considered this to be some idolatrous institution, he ordered the chests and bodies to be burned. They likewise found some pieces of linen and woollen cloth, with several plumes of feathers which seemed to have come from Mexico, and a small quantity of gold. Being interrogated by signs whence these things were procured, the Indians made them understand by similar means that there was great abundance of gold in a province at a very great distance called Apalache129.
Twelve leagues from thence they came to an Indian town consisting of fifteen houses, near which there was great plenty of maize just ripe. Narvaez and others were of opinion that they should march immediately into the interior, sending the ships in search of a safe harbour on the coast; but the treasurer of the expedition, Alvar Nunnez Gabeza de Vaca, advised that they should all embark till such time as a safe harbour could be discovered. The other opinion prevailed, and the whole land forces set out upon their march on the 1st of May, being about three hundred foot and forty horse, every man carrying two pounds of biscuit, and half a pound of bacon. With only that scanty provision, they proceeded for fifteen days, finding nothing to eat in the country, except some palmetoes like those of Andalusia, and without seeing any towns, house, or Indians in the whole way. At this time they came to a river which they crossed, some by swimming and others on rafts or floats, which employed them a whole day in consequence of the strength of the current. They were opposed by about two hundred Indians on the opposite bank, who only threatened them without coming to blows. Of these they took six prisoners who conducted the Spaniards to their dwellings, where they found a considerable quantity of Indian corn, which proved a great relief to their urgent necessities. From this place two officers were sent with a detachment in search of the sea-coast, in hopes of establishing a communication with the ships; but all they found was a creek only fit for receiving canoes.
After a short stay, they marched onwards in quest of the province of Apalache, which the Indians had reported to be rich in gold, guided in the way by some of their prisoners. After marching fifteen days without meeting with any inhabitants, they fell in with an Indian chief, who was dressed in a painted deers skin, carried on the back of one of his subjects, and attended by a great number of Indians, some of whom went before him playing upon a kind of pipes made of reeds. On being informed by signs that the Spaniards were in search of the province of Apalache, he seemed to intimate that he was an enemy to the people of that country. The Spaniards gave this cacique beads, hawk-bells, and other such trinkets, and continued their march. They came that night to a river which was so rapid that they durst not venture to cross it on floats, and were therefore obliged to construct a canoe for that purpose. Juan Velasquez ventured to attempt crossing it by swimming his horse, but both were drowned, and the Indian attendants on the cacique drew the drowned horse from the river and eat him for their supper. On their arrival at the town belonging to the cacique, they were supplied with Indian corn, and next day were guided on their way through thick woods, in which the road was obstructed by many fallen trees, and the fragments of others which had been shivered by lightning, as the country was subject to severe thunderstorms. On the 25th of June, Narvaez and his people came in sight of Apalache, without having been perceived by any of the inhabitants; and, though weary and hungry they were all in high spirits, thinking themselves at the end of their labours, and that they should find some great treasure in recompence of their fatigues. Some horsemen immediately entered the place, in which they found only women and children; but the men soon returned and attacked them with their bows and arrows, and were soon repulsed, yet killed the comptrollers horse. This town of Apalache contained forty low huts or cabins, enclosed among thick woods and morasses in which they found abundance of maize, deer-skins, mantles, head-dresses for women, and stones for grinding corn, but no gold. All the country, from the place where the Spaniards landed to Apalache was one continued sandy flat, yet thickly overgrown with woods of walnut, laurel, liquid-amber, cedar, savine, oak, pine, and palmetoes; interpersed with many swamps or morasses which were very troublesome to pass, and many fallen trees which lay athwart the way. In their march they saw three different kinds of deer, hares, rabbits, bears, and lions130, with other wild beasts; and among these an animal called the opossum, which carries its young in a pouch under the belly till they are able to shift for themselves. The country is cold131, and has good pasture for cattle. In the woods and marshes through which they passed they saw many different kinds of birds, as geese, ducks, herons, partridges, falcons, hawks, and many others. Two hours after the arrival of the Spaniards, the inhabitants of Apalache came to demand their wives and children, all of whom were set free; but as the cacique was detained they were much displeased, and came next day to assault the place, endeavouring to set fire to their own houses, but on the appearance of the Spaniards they fled to the morasses; and next day a similar attempt was made but with the same consequences.
128
Having no indications whatever of the place of landing, it is quite impossible to attempt tracing the steps of Narvaez in his short and disastrous expedition to Florida.-E.
129
The name of Apalache is now given to a large bay on the western coast of East Florida, and towards its northern extremity, the bottom or northern extremity of which is in lat. 30° N. and long. 67° 13' W. where a small river named St Marks enters the sea. The river Apalachicola, likewise named R. des Cahuilas, or Catahoche, runs into the western part of the same bay by two mouths, the easternmost of which is about fifteen miles S.W. of St. Marts River, and western mouth about twenty miles farther to the W.S.W. The same name is applied to the south western extremity of the great range of mountains in the middle states of North America; dividing the Atlantic country from the western waters which run into the Ohio, called Blue Mountains, Alleghany Mountains, and Apalachean Mountains. These last divide North Carolina from the sources of the Tenassee and Cumberland rivers. A part likewise of Georgia, east from the Apalachicola river, along the northern boundary of East Florida, is still named the Apalachi country.-E.
130
It is hardly necessary to say that there are no lions in America. The Spaniards must accordingly have given this name to the cougar, now called the panther by the North Americans, a very inferior species of the feline race.-E.
131
This must be considered as in comparison with the climate of Cuba and Hispaniola, to which the Spaniards had been long accustomed, as the climate of Florida is certainly hot in reference to any part of Europe.-E.