Volume XVI January, 1938 Number 3

TheFLORIDA HISTORICAL QUARTERLY

HERNANDO DE SOT0 NUMBER

CONTENTS

Map of Tampa Bay (frontispiece)

The De Soto Quadricentennial

The Landing Place of De SotoJohn R. Swanton

Letter of De Soto to the Secular Cabildo of Santiagode Cuba

Translation by James A. Robertson

Concession made by the King of Spain to De Soto

The Arrival of De Soto’s Expedition in FloridaMark F. Boyd

Letter to the King of Spain from Officers in DeSoto’s Army

The Florida Historical Society:Annual meeting, January 25-26, 1938Donations to the Society’s library

Published quarterly byTHE F L O R I D A H I S T O R I C A L SOCIETY

Rose Building, Tallahassee

SUBSCRIPTION TWO DOLLARS. SINGLE COPIES FIFTY CENTS.

(Copyright 1938, by the Florida Historical Society. Entered assecond-class matter November 13, 1933 at the post office at Tallahassee,Florida, under the Act of August 24, 1912.)

DE SOTO QUADRICENTENNIALThe year 1939 marks the four hundredth anniversary of the

landing of Hernando de Soto and his notable expedition for theexploration and conquest of Florida. So 1539 is one of the im-portant dates in Florida’s history, as well as a noteworthy onein the history of the country. To commemorate the event Presi-dent Roosevelt appointed The United States De Soto ExpeditionCommission with Dr. John R. Swanton as chairman and withmembers from the several states traversed by the explorer. Mr.W. G. Brorein* of Tampa is the member from Florida. After re-search and investigation the Commission made a report to thelast session of the Congress and a bill was passed authorizingFederal participation to the extent of $100,000 in a celebrationto be held at Tampa. Plans for that event, which are being madeby a Tampa committee, will be told of in an early issue of theQUARTERLY

*Deceased.

THE LANDING PLACE OF DE SOTOBy R. SWANTON

It admits of no reasonable doubt that the placewhere Hernando de Soto’s army landed, at the endof May, 1539, was in Tampa Bay. Although I haveconsidered other possibilities carefully I shall notenter upon a discussion of them in the presentarticle. But while there has been almost unanimousagreement on this point, the exact location of thelanding place within the bay has given occasion forvery sharp differences of opinion for over a hun-dred years and almost every possible site has beenmade the basis for someone’s theory. Too many ofthese hypotheses have been put forth without anadequate study of the source materials, and theearlier speculators were particularly handicappedbecause they did have access to one of the mostimportant of all our documents bearing upon thesubject, the diary of Rodrigo Ranjel as preservedin the Historia General of Oviedo

The data from this diary and that in De Soto’sletter to the Justice and Board of Magistrates ofSantiago de Cuba, written at his headquarters inTampa Bay on July 9, 1539, constitute our mostimportant body of information. Second in im-portance is the narrative of the Gentleman of Elvasand the small amount of material to be gatheredfrom Biedma. Far inferior to these is the romantic- ally couched narrative of the Inca, Garcilaso de la

1. Although I have gone back to the Spanish editions when-ever necessary for my own use, the references to Biedma,Ranjel, and the Letter of De Soto are to the publishedtranslations edited by Edward Gaylord Bourne which arethe ones most readily available to students (New York,1904, 1922; London, 1905) For the Elvas material, althoughthis work is also contained in the Bourne editions, I referto the elegant edition of the Florida State Historical Societytranslated from the Portuguese and edited by Dr. James A.Robertson (De Land, Florida, 1933).

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Vega, which must be used with the greatest care,yet not entirely ignored

If we piece together the material from theseseveral sources, we obtain the following picture ofthe landing.

De Soto’s fleet, consisting of five ships (naos),two caravels (caravelas), and two pinnaces (vergan-tines), and having evidently some small boats (bate-les) attached to them, left Habana, Cuba, on Sun-day, May 18, 1539, and came in sight of the land ofFlorida just one week later, on Sunday, May 25 From De Soto’s letter we glean the invaluable factthat they fell short of the port, and he gives thedistance as four or five leagues (about 1 0 . 5 - 1 3miles) 4. This is confirmed by Ranjel who statesthat when the vessels finally started to bear downto the entrance of the port “they were four or fiveleagues off." Elvas says they anchored a leaguefrom shore Ranjel two leagues, and the latter addsthat it was in “four fathoms of water or less." If we are to reckon our distances from the southern-most entrance into Tampa Bay, this would be offLongboat Key, assuming that the islands occupiedthe same relative positions as today.

We have pretty good evidence that the topographyof the entrances to Tampa Bay has not changedsubstantially during the past four hundred yearsthough certain minor alterations are indicated.Juan Lopez de Velasco, whose description was writ-

2. No complete English translation of Garcilaso de la Vega’s“La Florida” has been published. References are to theSpanish edition of 1723, printed at Madrid.

3. Bourne, II, 51, 81; Robertson, 31.4. Bourne, II, 160. The league was about 2.6 English miles.5. Ibid., 53.6. Robertson, 31.7. Bourne, II, 51.

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ten between 1571 and 1574 says that there werethree islands at the lower end of the bay makingfour entrances of which the two southernmost werethe shallower, the one to the south of the islandbeing a fathom in depth and that to the north afathom and a half. It is evident that the threeislands were Anna Maria Key, Passage Key, nowalmost washed away, and Egmont Key. As Long-boat Inlet is rather far south of Tampa Bay at thepresent time it is possible that there was onceanother opening through Anna Maria Key, thoughthe Portulano map of 1818 already calls this IslaLargo. As some old Spanish maps of the 18thcentury show a bar across Egmont Channel thoughwell outside, and we know that Passage Key wasformerly larger, there has perhaps been a slightshift toward the north, and Southwest Channel mayonce have been the most important of all. AlthoughVelasco speaks of the southernmost channel as apassage for frigates (fragatas) in high water, it isnot believed that a fathom would have been suf-ficient for De S o t o ’s vessels and it is doubtfulwhether a fathom and a half would have been.Therefore, while I regard it as possible that DeSoto’s fleet came through Passage Key Inlet, I aminclined to favor the Southwest Channel. Any argu-ment as to the place of landing is not seriously af-fected in either case.

After anchoring, De Soto, the chief pilot AlonsoMartin, and Juan de Anasco went forward in a pin-nace to examine the coast and locate the port ofwhich they were in search, one which Anasco hadselected the preceding winter. Failing to recognize8. Juan Lopez de Valasco. Geografia y Descripcion Universal

de las Indias desde el Ano de 1571 al de 1574, publicado proprimera vez en el Boletin de la Sociedad Geografia de Madrid,con adiciones e ilustraciones por Don Justo Zaragoza. Madrid.1894. I am indebted to Dr. Mark F. Boyd for having myattention called to the work.

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it, they attempted to return to the vessels, but thecontrary wind, evidently blowing from the south orsouthwest, prevented them so that “they cast anchornear the land and went on shore, where they cameupon traces of many Indians and one of the largecabins that are seen in the Indies and other smallones. Later they were told that it was the villageof Ocita."

Next morning, Monday, May 26, De Soto and hiscompanions made another attempt to rejoin the restof the fleet. Baltasar de Gallegos, Chief Castellan,seeing the pinnate “far to the leeward of the ships”and laboring in vain to come up to them, shoutedto the Lieutenant Governor, Vasco Porcallo, to goto his master’s assistance, and, when Porcallo failedto hear, or at least failed to heed, ordered a largecaravel to weigh anchor and set out himself in herto the relief of his commander.

By this time the identity of the harbor had beenestablished, the second pinnace was stationed at oneside of the channel, and Gallegos’s caravel on theother side, in order that the rest of the fleet mightpass in between them, the Governor standing by inhis own p i n n a c e to see his orders carried out.Moreover, “the Governor had to be there to showthem the way, because the chief pilot was in the[other] pinnace and because there were many shal-lows.’’ Perhaps we are to understand that theGovernor’s pinnace sailed into the mouth of theharbor repeatedly in front of each of the vessels.“In spite of all their pains two of the ships scrapedbottom, but, as it was sandy, they received nodamage.”

The Ranjel narrative continues as follows:“The ships entered the harbor constantly sound-

ing the lead, and sometimes they scraped bottom,

9. Bourne, II, 51-52.

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but, as it was mud, they passed on. This took up fivedays, during which they did not land except thatsome men went ashore and brought water and foragefor the horses. Finally, since the ships with theirloads could not, on account of the shoals, proceedto where the village lay, they anchored about fourleagues farther back.

“On Friday, May 30, they began to put the horsesashore. . . . T h e General and some foot soldierswent in the pinnaces to see the village; and a gentle-man named Gomez Arias returned in one of themand gave a good report of the country and likewisetold us how the people had gone away.“

The “‘General” referred to in the last paragraphwas Vasco Porcallo, not De Soto, and Elvas is inerror in stating that the latter went thither and re-mained, the army being led to the place by Luis deMoscoso We have De Soto’s own testimony insupport of Ranjel

Ranjel and Elvas agree that the horses and mostof the men were landed May 30, and De Soto him-self states that he “ordered all the men and horsesto be landed on a beach.“ Elvas says “the campwas established on the shore near the bay whichwent up to the town,“ and Ranjel continues:

“On Trinity Sunday, June 1, 1539, this armymarched by land toward the village, taking as guidesfour Indians that Johan de Anasco had capturedwhen in search of the harbor; and they lost theirbearings somewhat, either because the Christiansfailed to understand the Indians or because the lat-ter did not tell the truth. Thereupon the Governorwent ahead with some horsemen, but since they10. Ibid., 52-55.11. Robertson, 32. Elvas calls it “a town” but it is evidently

the same one.12. Bourne, II. 160.13. Ibid., 54-55, 160; Robertson, 31.14. Robertson, 32.

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were unfamiliar with the land they wearied thehorses following deer and floundering in the streamsand swamps for twelve leagues till they found them-selves opposite the village on the other side of theroadstead of the harbor, which they could not passaround, and that night worn out they slept scatteredabout and not at all in order for war. During allthat week the ships gradually approached the vil-lage, being unloaded little by little with boats, andin that way they took ashore all the clothes andprovisions which they carried.”

Elvas covers the same ground in these words:“On the following day, Luis de Moscoso, maestre

de campo, set the men in order, those on horse inthree squadrons-the vanguard, the battle line, andthe rearguard-and in that way they marched thatday and the next, going around great mud flatswhich come up from the bay. They arrived at thetown of Ucita, where the governor was, on Sunday,June first, the day of the Trinity.“

He is in error, as we have seen, in assuming thatDe Soto went to Ucita and remained there untiljoined by his army under Luis de Moscoso. Thereis, however, one point in which he seems to differfrom both De Soto and Ranjel but yet is almostcertainly right. De Soto and Ranjel state, or cer-tainly imply, that the main army took only one dayto reach Ucita from their camp, namely Sunday,June 1 It is true that Ranjel represents them asunable to reach their objective that night and assleeping worn out and scattered about, yet he goeson to speak of their actions next day as if they werealready in the village, without explaining how theyarrived. But since Elvas states that they reachedUcita June 1 and De Soto at least implies it, we15. Bourne, II, 55-56.16. Robertson, 33.17. Bourne, II, 55, 160.

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must suppose that something has been left out ofRanjel’s narrative or that possibly the army wastransported across a narrow inlet (ancon) in thesmall boats late on the 1st or early on the morningof the 2d. Be that as it may, Elvas states plainlythat “all the men landed and only the seamen stayedaboard” on May 30 while neither De Soto norRanjel indicates that more than a small number offoot soldiers were taken to Ucita in the pinnaces.Elvas says one hundred were taken and a few ofthese may have returned in the one pinnace whichbrought back Gomez Arias Now, as the armywhich marched to Ucita by land was made up ofinfantry as well as cavalry, it is very unlikely thatthey accomplished the journey of twelve leagues(over 31 miles) in a single day under the conditionsindicated. And it is to be added that Ranjel is abso-lutely silent as to the movements of the army onthe 31st. I conclude, therefore, that they set out onthat date and that Elvas is correct when he says thatthey marched that day and the next.

Although, as we have seen, the army is said tohave marched twelve leagues from the point of de-barkation in order to reach the town, Elvas informsus that the latter was only two leagues distant fromthe first camp, and he is, in effect, confirmed byRanjel when he states that the fleet anchored aboutfour leagues back from the town We may assumethat the camp on shore was somewhat between thetwo points. Right here Garcilaso appears to supplya bit of confirmatory evidence since he says that thetown Ucita was “a little more than two leagues”from the camp, only he thought that that was theentire distance the Spaniards marched to reach it

18. Robertson, 31.19. Ibid., 32.20. Ibid., 31; Bourne, II, 54.21. Gareilaso, 24.

The following description of Ucita and the settle-ment of the Spaniards there is supplied by Elvas:

“The town consisted of seven or eight houses. Thechief’s house stood near the beach on a very highhill which had been artificially built as a fortress.At the other side of the town was the temple andon top of it a wooden bird with its eyes gilded. Somepearls, spoiled by fire and of little value, were foundthere. The Indians bore them through in order tostring them for beads, which are worn around theneck or arm, and they esteem them greatly. The houses were of wood and were covered with palmleaves. The Governor was lodged in the houses ofthe chief and with him Vasco Porcallo and Luis deMoscoso; and in the other houses which were locatedin the middle of the town, the chief constable, Bal-tasar de Gallegos. And apart in the same houseswere placed the provisions carried in the ships. Theother houses and the temple were destroyed, and amess of every three or four built a small house inwhich they were lodged. The land round about wasgreatly encumbered and choked with a vast andlofty forest. The governor ordered it to be cut downfor the space of a crossbow-shot about the town, inorder that the horses might run and the Christianshave the advantage of the Indians if the latter shouldby chance try to attack them by night. They post-ed foot soldiers as sentinels, in couples at each posi-tion along the roads and at proper places, who stoodwatch for four hours. The horsemen visited themand were ready to aid them if there should be analarm. "

A little farther on he says that “the land wasswampy and in many parts covered with very loftyand thick woods.“

22. Robertson, 33-34.23. Ibid., 35.

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Another item bearing on the topography in theneighborhood of this town is furnished by the storyof Lobillo’s expedition into the country as relatedby Elvas and Ranjel This was undertaken onJune 4, the same day as that on which Gallegos’sdetachment discovered Juan Ortiz, the future in-terpreter. Gallegos had both cavalry and infantrybut Lobillo’s force was of infantry only becausethey were to be sent “over a swampy land, wherethe horsemen could not go.” “A half league fromcamp,’’ that is from Ucita, they “came upon someIndian huts near the river,” and captured fourwomen but were attacked by twenty warriors andso hard pressed that they were forced to retire tothe camp with the loss of one man killed and severalwounded. The above items are from Elvas. Ranjeltells substantially the same story except that hesays only two women were captured and only ninewarriors came in pursuit. The two differ also inan item germane to our present purpose, that is,the distance between the camp of the Indians andthe headquarters of the Spaniards. Elvas says itwas only half a league, but Ranjel clearly impliesthat it was at least three leagues.

Another point which concerns us is the position ofthe town and River of Mococo relative to the port,De Soto’s headquarters. De Soto camped on thebanks of the River of M o c o c o with his mainarmy the first night after he left the porton his way inland, on July 15 It was, there-fore, within one day’s march. G a r c i l a s o saysthat the town of M o c o c o , presumably near theriver, was eight leagues from the port, inone place implying eight or nine While he is theleast trustworthy of our authorities and I shall use24. Robertson, 36-38; Bourne II, 58.25. Bourne, II, 3.26. Garcilaso, 27-28, 38.

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him sparingly, in this case he is supported by acloser study of the route as a whole and by thedirect testimony of Biedma who says that the townwhere Ortiz had been living, that is, the town ofMococo, was "some eight leagues distant from theharbor." However , since eight leagues wouldmean a rather long day’s march for infantry andwe wish to treat the subject fairly, we will supposeit to have been any distance between four and eightleagues (about 10-20 miles). That the people ofMococo had access to the sea is shown by Elvas’sstatement that news of approaching Spanish vesselswas brought to their chief by “some Indians whowere fishing in the sea, two leagues from the town," and as the army passed it on their way to the Apa-lachee province, it evidently lay to the north of theport.

Let us now see what evidence these facts containregarding the location of De Soto’s landing placeand the town where he established himself previousto moving inland.

Since the scene of the landing and early adven-tures of De Soto’s predecessor, Narvaez, was un-doubtedly Pinellas Peninsula, and Elvas informs usthat Ucita enticed Ortiz and his companion ashoreby means of a letter supposed to have been writtenby Narvaez we might be led to suppose that DeSoto’s port was also there. But, apart from someuncertainties attaching to the narrative, its valuein this connection is destroyed by the further state-ment of Elvas three years after Ortiz had beencaptured Mococo “came and burned the town,” and“Ucita went in flight to another town he had inanother seaport.“

27. Bourne, II, 63.28. Robertson, 44-45.29. Ibid., 39-40.30. Ibid., 42.

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The first significant fact to which I would nowcall attention is the river of Mococo. This evident-ly barred the northward march of the army and wassufficiently formidable to make it advisable, even ifnot absolutely necessary, to construct two bridgeson which to cross. Now, the only rivers large enoughto qualify in this connection are the Hil lsboro,Alafia, Little Manatee, and Manatee. There is nostream of the required proportions barring an ad-vance northward from Pinellas or Interbay pen-insulas. The Anclote would be deep enough if wesuppose our Spaniards to have gone out of theirway to cross it far down but they were bound to-ward the swampy regions of the Withlacoochee asthe later history of the expedition shows and, if theywere marching toward it from the west side of thebay would easily, and certainly, have avoided theAnclote altogether. The Hillsboro might have beencrossed if they had gone out of their way to makethemselves more work by crossing it low down andrecrossing it higher up. (See sketch map.)

Of the four rivers mentioned one, the Manatee,is excluded by the fact that it is too near the sea.There would not have been space enough betweenit and any probable site of De Soto’s port even ifhis first day’s journey is placed at the minimum.If this bit of testimony is accepted, therefore, DeSoto’s port must be placed on the east side of thebay and somewhere south of Hillsboro River. Itmay be considered probable that it was not closeto the mouth of any of these as there is no hint thatthe army was marching parallel to a river, but toomuch must not be made of that probability.

A second significant point is the location of thetown called by Ranjel Ocita which De Soto saw onthe evening of the very day on which the fleet madeland. Having ventured ahead along the coast in

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a pinnace, as have seen, accompanied by the chiefpilot and Anasco, in order to locate the port prev-iously selected by the last mentioned, he was forcedto anchor for the night and came close to, but evi-dently did not enter, a settlement which they learn-ed later was “the village of Ocita .“ But whileRanjel specifically states that the chief of the ter-ritory on which they landed was named Ocita welearn that the town called by that name was distinctfrom the one in which the Spaniards settled. Thisis made clear by a later passage in Ranjel’s narra-tive which reads as follows:

“So then, continuing his conquest, he (De Soto)ordered General Vasco Porcallo de Figueroa to goto Ocita because it was reported that people hadcome together there; and this captain having gonethere, he found the people departed and he burnedthe village and threw an Indian, which he had fora guide, to the dogs. . . .In this way this Indianguide was killed because he lied and guided badly.“

This was after the Spaniards had settled at theplace they call “the port, ” the Ucita of Elvas, whichwas not burned until it was abandoned the follow-ing November after about five months occupancy Nevertheless, it is clear that the chief of both townswas the same man and that one of the. towns, the onefirst visited by De Soto, was close to and withinplain sight of the sea near the mouth of Tampa Bay.When it is remembered that the Mococo tribe hadaccess to a part of the bay the fact that the Ocitachief had a town close to the sea renders it in thelast degree unlikely that he had another at the headof Old Tampa or Hillsboro, or indeed many milesfrom the first.31. Bourne, II, 52.32. Ibid., 54.33. Ibid., 59-60.34. Ibid., 81.35. Robertson, 44-45.

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Next, the story of Porcallo’s Ocita enterpriseclearly indicates an expedition by land. Immedi-ately afterward there is mention of an expeditionby sea to break up a gathering of Indians It isa safe assumption, therefore, that Porcallo reachedOcita overland. This is also indicated by mentionof a guide and the use of dogs. Neither would benecessary if this town had been on one of the smallkeys, and there the guide would hardly have hadmuch opportunity to mislead them. Probably, then,Ocita was on the mainland; on the same side of thebay as the port and could be reached overland.

It is also highly probable in the light of these factsthat this town was on the south side of the entrance,first because the vessels made land and came toanchor about four leagues below it and because itis assumed that they would be most likely to availthemselves of the nearest adequate entrance on thatside, and secondly because it is quite unlikely thatDe Soto’s pinnace drifted as far north as PointPinellas, the first possible site for a town on themainland to the north. In order not to be carriedtoo far to leeward, the pinnace had anchored closeto shore, the object of its occupants was to examinethe entrances and locate the port, and it is quiteunlikely that it would have drifted to Point Pinellasor that, having done so, it would have been in plainsight next morning-laboring unsuccessfully to comeup with the ships eleven or twelve miles south ofEgmont Key at the very least. The natural infer-ence is that the officers sought refuge in behindAnna Maria Key or whatever corresponded to itin the 16th century, landed near Palma Sola Point,and observed the town of Ocita somewhere in thatneighborhood, perhaps near by, perhaps as far offas Snead Island where are two town sites.

36. Bourne, II, 60-62.

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So far as they go, therefore, these two pointsbring us to the east side of the bay and to the neigh-borhood of the entrance.

We now have to consider how far into Tampa Baythe narratives indicate that De Soto’s vessels pene-trated before a landing was made. The landfalloccurred on May 25, and on the 26th the ships be-gan entering one of the channels into the bay, set-ting sail from their night anchorage four or fiveleagues (10.5-13 miles) to the south. There weremany shallows and in spite of all their pains twoof the ships scraped bottom. Right after this Ranjelsays: “The ships entered the harbor constantlysounding the lead, and sometimes they scraped bot-tom, but, as it was mud, they passed on. This tookup five days, during which they did not land exceptthat some men went ashore and brought water andforage for the horses." Those who have attemptedto find De Soto’s landing place far up either of thetwo arms of the bay, have assumed that during thistime the fleet was advancing rapidly inland. But inthe first place, because Bourne has chosen to makethe last quotation begin a new paragraph, it is as-sumed, that we have a different phase of the en-trance involved. Actually Oviedo’s text contains nosuch separation and it may be interpreted as a mererepetition and continuation of what has been saidregarding the entrance. Moreover, De Soto’s letterspeaks of only three days instead of five and, onexamining Ranjel’s own text, we discover that inhis five days he includes the’ day of entering andthe day of landing, May 26 and 30. Any claim thatDe Soto landed far up the bay must depend uponhow much ground, or rather water, the vessels cov-ered from the 27th to the 29th, with mere fragments

37. Ibid., 54.

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TAMPA BAYThe supposed approach of De Soto’s vessels and march of the

army overland are shown by the dotted lines.

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of the other two. Now, I think the text indicatesthat they were proceeding slowly over shallow water.“They sometimes scraped bottom” and there is nointimation of a channel allowing relatively freemovement as if they had been in the main Tampachannel. Moreover, De Soto says that in makinghis reconnaissance and in entering, not the port but“the mouth of the port,” they were detained thethree days

Immediately after this, however, De Soto makesa statement which might be interpreted to mean thathis objective was at the innermost end of HillsboroBay or Old Tampa Bay. It is the only valid evi-dence demanding such an interpretation and there-fore deserves careful consideration. After the pas-sage above quoted, De S o t o says, according toBuckingham Smith, that they were detained thethree days for another reason, “because we had noknowledge of the passage-a bay that runs up adozen leagues or more from the sea,” and he addsa bit later that on account of the delay he was oblig-ed to send his Lieutenant-General, Vasco Porcallode Figueroa, in the pinnaces “to take possession ofa town at the end of the bay.“ 39 This at once sug-gests the full length of Tampa Bay and a town atthe inner end. Buckingham Smith’s translation wasmade by him from a copy of the original certifiedby Munoz and in the Munoz collection at Madrid.What has become of the original is unknown, butthe Spanish of the copy reads:“i tambien por no estar instrutos en la canal quees un ancon que entra doze leguas i mas en la mar,tuvimos tanta dilacion que tuve necesidad de embiara Vasco Porcallo de Figueroa mi lugar TenienteGeneral en los vergantines a tomar un puebloquestava al cabo del ancon.”38. Ibid., 160.39. Ibid.

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Now, an ancon is defined by the Dictionary of theSpanish Academy as an “ensenada pequena en quese puede fondear, a small bay (or roadstead) whichcan be sounded,” and I submit that Tampa Bay,although it is a relatively shallow body of water,hardly answers to the description of an ensenadapequena. The only other time when the word anconis employed by one of these writers is in speakingof a roadstead which constituted a mere pocket onone side of the bay. Biedma calls Tampa "BayaHonda,” “Deep Bay,” meaning presumably that itran far inland. Another peculiarity of De Soto’stext is that the Spanish reads en la mar, whereasthe translation would presuppose de la mar, and thetranslation called for as the text stands, is “becausewe had no knowledge of the channel which is a road-stead which runs a dozen leagues into the sea.”There are three possible explanations of this. Eithertierra should be understood instead of mar, and theancon does refer to the entire length of Tampa Bay,or De Soto means that the shallow water with itschannel ran twelve leagues into the sea, a wild ex-aggeration of course, or dos has been miscopieddoze, and De Soto meant to say that the shallowwater with channel enclosed ran two leagues, orabout five miles, out into the Gulf. I submit thatdos is a more probable miscopy of doze than maris of tierra or en of de. The substitution wouldmake sense although even so the shoals hardly ex-tend that far. In that case we should not be obligedto assume an ancon extending twelve leagues inland.At any rate De Soto evidently means that they wereheld back, not in time but in space, by shallows be-tween the vessels and the town so that only the twolight-draught pinnaces could reach it.

It has already been pointed out that the port was

40. Ibid.

166. at a comparatively short distance from the point

of debarkation in a direct line but that between thetwo were deep inlets which made it necessary forthe army to detour widely. The nearness of thetown to the first camp is also supported by what thechroniclers tell us of the expedition of Porcallo,probably accompanied by De Soto, to look at andoccupy it. The two pinnaces were employed in thisreconnaissance. We know that they went on the eve-ning of the 30th and it is clearly implied by Ranjelthat one pinnace returned that night It must haveSeen early on the 31st at the latest. The events ofthose first few days clearly imply that the townwhere they proposed to make their headquarters wasvery near if not in plain sight. We must, therefore,find a place on the coast where a good landing on abeach is provided, a town five or six miles higherup the bay, and intervening arms of the sea thatwould require a circuit of over thirty miles. Anotherrequirement is a town site which, after this circuithad been made, would be found on the far side of aroadstead. It is interesting to note that Ranjel, DeSoto’s secretary, here uses the same word anconthat was employed by his chief in the enigmaticalphrases above quoted. We now have to look for aspot on Tampa Bay which presents us with thissituation.

There are many places where a direct line betweenan anchorage and a site on shore would be consider-ably shorter than the distance that would have to becovered by a party following the coast on foot orhorseback, but in few places is such an extreme de-tour demanded as the one here indicated. Ananchorage at St. Petersburg and march overland tothe old Weeden Island site would not yield any suchcontrast, nor an anchorage at Rocky Point and

41. Ibid., 55; Robertson, 32. .

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journey round the head of Old Tampa Bay to SafetyHarbor. The direct distance is far too long and thenecessary march far too short. One can, of course,imagine an army losing its way and circling aboutfor any number of leagues one chooses, but Elvasgives as the main reason for the detour the neces-sity of “going around great mud flats which come upfrom the bay.” In Hillsboro Bay there could havebeen no reason for landing on the east side to marchthe army to the easily approachable Interbay Pen-insula, and there would have been almost as littlereason in landing on Interbay Peninsula to marcharound to the east side since the channel betweenDulaney Creek and Alafia River is nearer that sidethan the other.

One may freely admit the possibility of unaccount-able wanderings at some point on the coast wherethe landing might seem most improbable but it is oflittle value to play fast and loose with possibilitieswhen there is an explanation of the location of theport and the movements of the Spaniards which isintelligible and accounts for nearly everything in asufficiently satisfactory manner. This situation oc-curs on the east side of Tampa Bay near the sea.The landing place that I suggest is on Shaw Pointjust where Buckingham Smith, the great Hispanicstudent, placed it My principal difference withSmith is that he extends De Soto’s route immediate-ly inland from there as if the port of Ucita were atthe same place whereas I identify this latter with thelarge town site on Terra Ceia Island. The course ofevents would then be much as follows. Coming toland below the entrances into Tampa Bay, the firstpassable channel would probably have been used,The three or more days during which the explorerswere entering the bay were employed solely in get-42. Buckingham Smith, Letter of Hernando de Soto and Memoir

of Hernando de Escalante Fontaneda. Washington, 1854. Map.

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ting the big ships through, one after the other, andin moving them cautiously toward the Terra Ceiatown already located and identified by Anasco. Find-ing that the water was too shoal in front of TerraCeia, they landed their horses, necessary equipment,and themselves on the nearest conspicuous beachwhich happened to be at Shaw Point. From therePorcallo, taking a hundred men with him in the twopinnaces, went to view the town, and, finding thatit had been abandoned by its inhabitants, remainedthere but dispatched one pinnace to the camp to in-form De Soto of the situation. On the 31st the lat-ter set out from Shaw Point with the main army,went high enough up on Manatee River to ford it,and circled round to the west, coming out on TerraCeia Bay, “the roadstead of the harbor,” on theopposite side from the town. While Ranjel saysthat “they could not get around” this, he must meaneither that they did not have time that night or thatthey had to be ferried across in the pinnaces, for thenext we hear of them they are in the town and Elvasdoes not speak of any difficulty.

This site supplies us with all the swamps andwoods that the narratives demand, it is evidentlyan old Indian location, there are several mounds andone still of considerable height, there is said form-erly to have been another of almost equal elevation,and it is probable that buildings placed on thesewould have been visible well down the bay Theriver where Lobillo captured the women might havebeen the Manatee if the shorter distance is corrector the Little Manatee supposing the longer is morenearly right.

It may be asked why the landing was not made on

43. While I have visited this site myself, I am indebted for acomplete plan of the mounds to Mr. Montague Tallant ofManatee who supplied it to Mr. M. W. Stirling, Chief of theBureau of Ethnology.

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Snead Island and the long march around the Mana-tee obviated. But the Spaniards evidently had lit-tle knowledge of the country, there is no reason tosuppose that Anasco had remained long enough toconduct a survey, and the Indians he had broughtaway with him, the ones they used as guides, wereunanimously unfriendly. The Spaniards wereanxious to land on the nearest suitable point and,ignorant of the hinterland, believed they had foundit at Shaw Point where the land is high and nearto which extends a channel deep enough for the pin-naces and perhaps the caravels.

The evidence so far presented, so far as it hasany positive significance, points, then, to the eastside of Tampa or Hillsboro bays and compels usto suppose that, since Hillsboro River is the mostremote that could have corresponded to the Riverof Mococo, Ucita, the Port of Espiritu Santo, can-not have been farther up the bay than the town siteat the mouth of A l a f i a River. If BuckinghamSmith’s translation of De Soto’s letter is correct,this point is indicated, but when we try to squarethe data of the other narratives, particularly thatof Ranjel, with the Alafia or any other site northof Terra Ceia, we immediately encounter difficul-ties, and strength is given to the emendation of thatletter which I have suggested.

Assuming the site to have been at the mouth ofthe Alafia the landing must have been made betweenBig Ben and Mangrove Point and there are not suf-ficient obstructions in the interior to account for acircuit of twelve leagues. The only way this sup-posed landing could be lined in would be to imaginethat the army simply lost its way and ignore whatElvas tells about “going around great mud flatswhich come up from the bay.” We should also haveto suppose that the town was on the north side of

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the Alafia and the Alafia entrance “the roadstead ofthe harbor” between it and the army.

The Bullfrog Creek site is worse since it providesus with no adequate roadstead between the townand an army approaching from the south.

The site at Cockroach Point or Indian Hill hasbeen suggested by earlier writers but it is subjectto all of the objections raised in the case of the sitelast mentioned, and, moreover, the island on whichis the town site is too small to have accommodatedan army of five hundred men.

The above conclusions may now be summarized.1. It is believed that De Soto’s landing place and

the Port of the Holy Spirit were not on Pinellas orInterbay peninsulas for the following reasons:

a. There is no river north of them that mayin reason be identified with the River of Mococo;

b. The town called Ocita by Ranjel was evi-dently on the east side of the bay near itsentrance, it is unlikely that the two settlementsof this tribe were far apart, especially as thehostile Mococo would, if Ucita were very farup Old Tampa Bay, be thrown between, andthere is evidence that the two were near enoughso that one could be reached from the otherreadily overland;

c. Back from the immediate neighborhood ofthe coast the land on Pinellas Peninsula is highand open, not presenting serious difficulties totravel and there are no arms of the sea suf-ficiently deep to require the extreme detouringindicated in the narratives;

d. A fourth point is the fact that Old TampaBay was the seat of the Tocobaga tribe whichis first mentioned by name in the narrative ofMenendez’s visit to the west coast of Florida

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in 1567 The name is wholly absent from theDe Soto narratives which would indicate thathe did not come in contact with it.2. Manatee River is too close to the sea to have

been the River of Mococo, and had the Spaniardsbeen obliged to cross it on their way north from theport before reaching the River of Mococo , theywould not have failed to mention it, for it is toolarge to have been ignored. It is a fair inference,therefore, that the Port of the Holy Spirit wasnorth of the mouth of the Manatee.

3. Hil lsboro River is the river farthest norththat might correspond to the River of Mococo, and,if it were identified with that river, the port, beingfrom four to eight leagues (10 1-2-21 miles) southof it, could hardly have been nearer the head ofHillsboro Bay than the mouth of the Alafia. Thewording of De Soto’s letter would place the site ofthe port here if De Soto means by the “ancon”Tampa Bay and the town “al cabo del ancon” is tobe placed twelve leagues (31 + miles) inland, it be-ing necessary to assume that the Mococo Indianslived on Hillsboro River. Apparent difficulties withthe text, however, make this interpretation uncer-tain, if not improbable. The town sites at the mouthof the Alafia, Bullfrog Creek, and at Indian Hillall fail to satisfy the conditions except for the sup-posed statement of De Soto, though the mouth ofthe Alafia might be made to qualify as the “road-stead of the harbor.”

4. The town site on Terra Ceia Island satisfiesthe requirements for the site of the Port of the HolySpirit in the following particulars:

a. It is a large Indian town site with severalmounds and one of these is still sufficiently

44. Woodbury Lowery, Spanish settlements in the United States,1562-1574, pages 448-450.

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high to be called “a very high mount.” Elvasspeaks of only seven or eight houses in the townbut they must have been large or the materialsobtained from them would not have sufficed tohouse the Spanish army. The amount of landon this island is adequate for the force which issupposed to have occupied it;

b. To the east lies Terra Ceia Bay which islarge enough to be identified with the “ancon”at which the army arrived during their marchfrom the landing place;

c. Manatee River and its branches furnishesthe “great mud flats which come up from thebay” and the distance around its lower reachescorresponds closely enough to the circuit de-scribed by Ranjel;

d. S h a w Point supplies a suitable landingplace in the location demanded, and the distancein a straight line from it to Terra Ceia is closeto the one given in the narratives;

e. The shoal water in front of the town andall the way to the mouth of Tampa Bay answersto the descriptions of the narratives;

f. It is in the region where the town specific-ally called Ocita, under the same native chief,was apparently situated;

g. The Manatee or Little Manatee would sup-ply the river mentioned in the account of Lobil-lo’s expedition.It may be added that, so far as the landing on

Shaw Point is concerned, this hypothesis has theeminent support of Buckingham Smith.

Almost the only difficulty in connection with theabove identification of this site is that raised by theDe Soto letter, and this, as has been shown, is notcertainly valid. Yet, if it were accepted to the ex-clusion of all the other evidence, it would not re-

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move the of this town from the east side of thebay nor take it farther inland than Alafia River.

Another, but less serious, difficulty is occasionedby the fact that, if the Spaniards started north fromTerra Ceia, they would have been obliged to crossthree rivers, the Little Manatee, Alafia, and Hills-b o r o , while only one is mentioned. If this wereactually eight leagues (nearly 21 miles) from theheadquarters, the River of Mococo would seem tohave been the Alafia, though it is a little fartherthan that. The passage of the Hillsboro need oc-casion no particular concern as the Spaniards didnot have to cross it until they had gotten well inlandwhere it is small. The Little Manatee is easy to fordexcept near its mouth. If they swung far enougheast to be able to ford the Little Manatee and Hills-boro, one wonders why they did not do the samewith the Alafia. However, this may be explainedby the proximity of the friendly Mococo town, thepresence of a number of Indian helpers, and per-haps the desire to remain in the neighborhood oftheir friends as long as possible. The bridges wereprobably not very elaborate affairs.

When facts are scanty and conclusions mustbe reached by very delicate adjustments of thosefew, one hesitates to express a too confident opinionlest he convert hypothesis into dogma and arrest theflow of investigation prematurely. In the precedingdiscussion I have tried to make only such use of thefacts as seems fairly warranted, but, so far as theygo, they appear to me to indicate very clearly, (1)that there are no good arguments for a location ofthe port anywhere except on the east side of TampaBay between the Alafia and Manatee rivers, and (2)that the old Indian town site on Terra Ceia Islandseems best to satisfy the requirements for the Portof the Holy Spirit and Shaw Point to satisfy bestthe requirements for the place of landing.

LETTER WRITTEN TO THE SECULARCABILDO OF SANTIAGO DE CUBA BY

H E R N A N D O DE S O T O .ESPIRITU SANTO,

FLORIDA, JULY 9, Very noble Sir:

Being in a new land, although not very far fromthat land, albeit with a bit of sea between, it seemsto me that I have not heard from your worships fora thousand years; for in truth, also, I have not seena letter for a long time. Although I left letters foryou written in Havana, [to go] by three differentroutes; yet since a way has now offered by whichto give an account [of what I have done] thingwhich I always have to do will relate here whatit seems proper to me [to tell]. I believe that myletter will be pleasing to you, as to persons whomI know and it is always known that you have goodwill [to me]. I left Havana with all my fleet onSunday, May 18. Although I wrote that [I wouldleave] on the 25th of that month, I forestalled thatday in order not to lose a favorable opportunitywe had. When we were entering the gulf, theweather changed into a calm for us, yet not so con-tinuous a calm that it kept us from coming to anchoron this coast within a week’s time, namely, on Sun-

Note-This translation of De Soto’s letter, doubtless the first letterever written with a Florida date line, has been made for theQuarterly by James A. Robertson, managing editor of His-panic American Historical Review and editor of the seriesof volumes on Florida’s history published by the FloridaState Historical Society. These include a facsimile of thefirst edition of the Elvas Narrative with a new translationof that early classic by Dr. Robertson himself. As De Soto’sletter bears so important a relation to our knowledge of thebeginning of his exploration here in Florida, Dr. Robertsonhas made a literal translation for students instead of oneof the more free style of those heretofore published. As theonly available copy of the original appears to be imperfect,he believes that the full meaning of the letter may not havebeen caught in every respect. Ed.

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day, the feast of the Holy Spirit. Having fallenfour or five leagues below the port, without any ofmy pilots knowing where the port lay, it was there-upon determined that I should go in the brigantinesto look for it. We took three days to do this and toenter the mouth of the port. Also; since we had noknowledge of the channel-a bay which extends fortwelve or more leagues to the sea* were sogreatly delayed that I had to send Vasco Porcallode Figueroa, my lieutenant general, with the brig-antines to seize a town which lay at the head of thebay. I ordered all the men and horses to land ona beach, whence with great difficulty we went on tomeet Vasco Porcallo on Sunday of the Most HolyTrinity. The Indians of the land, because of cer-tain fears they conceived of us, abandoned all theland, for in a distance of thirty leagues no man stay-ed behind. On my arrival here, I heard of a Chris-tian who was held by a cacique. I sent there Baltasarde Gallegos with forty horsemen and a like numberof foot soldiers in order to try to get him. Gallegosfound him a day’s journey away from here togetherwith eight or ten Indians whom he brought to myhands. We rejoiced not a little on seeing him be-cause he knew the language [of the Indians]. Hehad lost our language, although he soon regainedit. His name is Juan Ortiz [and he is] a native ofSeville and a nobleman. After this I went in per-son to this cacique and brought him back in peace.Thereafter, I sent Baltasar de Gallegos inland withfifty lances and one hundred foot soldiers. Therehe has found many cornfields, beans, pumpkins, andother fruits and food in such abundance that there*See the conjecture of Dr. John R. Swanton in his article in this

issue of the Quarterly - a conjecture which should have thethoughtful consideration of the reader. These are matters towhich Dr. Swanton has given much thought. Indeed, thereis no greater authority on this expedition and on this letterthan he. J.A.R.

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is enough for a very large army without the suffer-ing of any need. A cacique named Urripacoxit, lordof this other peaceful cacique and of many othercaciques, having come up, he [Gallegos] sent someIndians to him to negotiate a peace. He [Gallegos]writes me that they had agreed on a peace, but that,because after they had come to peace terms, he[Urripacoxit] had failed him [Gallegos] in certainpromises, he [Gallegos] seized him [Urripacoxit]and detained about seventeen Indians (among whomwere some chief men), since this method seemed tohim most certain [of results]. Among those whomhe detained are some old men of authority-as muchas there can be among such people-and who haveinformation of the land farther on. They say thatthree days’ journey thence, going by way of certaintowns and huts, all well populated and having manycornfields, there is a large town called Acuera, wherewe might very well winter, and that afterward, twodays’ journey beyond, is another town called Ocale.They say this town is so big and so valued by themthat I shall not dare to say anything of it. Herein it, they say, are to be found in great abundanceall the things that are in all the abovementionedtowns. There are hens, turkeys in many pens, tamedeer which are kept in herds. How this may be Ido not understand, unless they are the cows [of]which we had information. They say that there aremany traders among them and much trade andabundance of gold and silver and many pearls.Would to God that it be so, for I do not believe ofthese Indians only what I see, and even well seen,although they know and consider it for a fact thatif they lie to me, it must be at the cost of their life.How this interpreter [Ortiz] gives us life [by mak-1. The typewritten transcript from which this translation is

made reads “envie" (I sent). The text seems to require“envio” (he sent).

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ing it possible for us] to have intercourse with them.Without him, I know not what would befall us. Glorybe to God who has directed everything through Hisgoodness, in such wise that it seems He has a specialcare that this [enterprise] be for His service, as Ihave besought Him and have promised Him. Eightyfoot soldiers are gone by sea in a few boats and mygeneral with forty horsemen has gone overland tomeet some thousand or more Indians whom Juan deA n a s c o discovered. The general came back lastnight [saying] that the Indians had fled from himand that although he had pursued them he could notovertake them because of the many obstacles in theway. When we are all united, as I say, we shall goto meet Baltasar de Gallegos in order to go thence,as I say, altogether to winter at Ocale, where ac-cording to reports (if they be true) we have nothingmore to desire. Would to God that something maycome of it that may be for the service of God, ourLord, and wherewith I may serve your worshipsand each of you in particular as I desire and as Ishould do. Because of all my occupations here, Iam not forgetful of the love I owe to things there[in Santiago de Cuba] and my obligation, and be-cause I can not visit it [Santiago de Cuba] in per-son, I believe that where your worships [are] therewill be little in which my presence will be needed.I will esteem it a very great favor that with all theother duties I have I may have this over and abovewith greater obligation even to perform it than yourworships, as one who has regard for the quiet andwelfare of the town and its good administration,always considering it commended to the licentiateand the affairs of justice in such manner that Godand the king may be well served and I receive favorand all [of us] great happiness and satisfaction inourselves for having performed our duty in every-

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thing, as your worships are always wont to do.Therefore out of respect to me no less than is yourcustom you will have regard to this, with which Ishall consider myself greatly obligated. With re-spect to the bastion which I left begun, if perchanceneglect because it is not at present necessary shouldhave been the cause of its not being completed, yourworships will do me the favor of completing it since daily other considerations occur. And even ifthey do not occur, it is a good provision and a greatbenefit and good to that city, and a matter in whichI will receive very great favor. May our Lord pre-serve and increase the very noble persons of yourworships as I desire and your worships merit. Inthis town and port of Espiritu Santo of the FloridaProvince, July 9,

Your worships’ servant,ADELANTADO HERNANDO DE SOTO .

2. The Spanish scholar, Juan Bautista Munoz, who transcribedthis letter from another copy observes that at this point inthe copy he made use of, occurs a blank space indicating theomission of some words the original copyist could not de-cipher. Munoz conjectures that the words omitted may havebeen “en poner”. This will give the sense of the translation.

3. The word in the original is “provision” and it is so translated.It is suggested that perhaps the proper word is “prevision”(foresight).

NOTE:-The transcript from which this translation was made isfound in the Rich collection of manuscripts in the New YorkPublic Library. Ed.

CONCESSION MADE BY THE KING OF SPAINTO HERNANDO DE SOTO OF THE GOVERN-MENT OF CUBA AND CONQUEST OF FLOR-IDA, WITH THE TITLE OF ADELANTADO*.

THE KINGIN AS MUCH as you, Captain Hernando de Soto, set

forth that you have served us in the conquest, pacifi-cation, and settlement of the Provinces of Nicaraguaand Peru, and of other parts of our Indias; and thatnow, to serve us further, and to continue to enlargeour patrimony and the royal crown, you desire toreturn to those our Indias, to conquer and settle theProvince of Rio de las Pa lmas to Florida, thegovernment whereof was bestowed on Panfilo deNarvaez, and the Provinces of Tierra-Nueva, thediscovery and government of which was conferredon Lucas Vazquez de Ayllon; and that for the pur-pose you will take from these, our kingdoms andour said Indias, five hundred men, with the neces-sary arms, horses, munitions, and military stores;and that you will go hence, from these our king-doms, to make the said conquest and settlementwithin a year first following, to be reckoned fromthe day of the date of these articles of authoriza-tion; and that when you shall leave the Island ofCuba to go upon that enterprise, you will take thenecessary subsistence for all that people duringeighteen months-rather over than under that time-entirely at your cost and charges, without our be-ing obliged, or the kings who shall come after us,to pay you, nor satisfy the expenses incurred there-

*This translation was made by Buckingham Smith from a copyin the Archivo de Indias at Seville (rubricated by the secre-tary Samano). It was published in the appendix of histranslation of the Elvas Narrative, the Bradford Club edi-tion (New York, 1866) from which it is reprinted. Floridahistorians and all who are interested in our history are undergreat obligation to this Floridian and scholar who made somuch of our Spanish colonial history known to us.

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for, other than such as in these articles may beauthorized to make; and you pray that I bestow onyou the conquest of those lands and provinces, andwith it the government of the said Island of Cuba,that you may from there the better control and pro-vide all the principal and important material for theconquest and settlement, whereupon I have orderedto be made with you the terms and contract follow-ing:

First, I give you, the said Captain Hernando deSoto, power and authority, for us and in our name,and in that of the royal crown of Castilla, to con-quer, pacify, and populate the lands that there arefrom the Province of the Rio de la Palmas to Flor-i d a , the government of which was bestowed onPanfilo de Narvaez; and, further, the Provinces ofthe said Tierra-Nueva, the government whereof wasin like manner conferred on the said LicentiateAyllon.

Also, purposing to comply in this with the Serviceof God our Lord, and to do you honour, we engageto confer on you the dignity of Governor and Cap-tain-general of two hundred leagues of coast, suchas you shall designate, of what you discover, so thatwithin four years, to be reckoned from the time youarrive in any part of the lands and provinces beforementioned, you shall choose and declare whence youwould have the two hundred leagues begin; thatfrom where you designate they shall be measuredalong the coast, for all the days of your life, withthe annual salary of fifteen hundred ducats, andfive hundred ducats gratuity, in all two thousand,which you shall receive from the day you set sailin the port of San Lucar, to go upon your voyage,to be paid to you from the duties and profits to usappertaining in those said lands and provinceswhich you so offer to conquer and colonize; and in

that time should there be neither duties nor profits,we shall not be obliged to order that you be paidany thing.

Also, we will confer on you the title of our Ade-lantardo over the said two hundred leagues whichyou shall thus select and make known for your gov-ernment in the said lands and provinces you so dis-cover and colonize, and will likewise bestow on youthe office of High-Constable (Alguazil mayor) overthose territories in perpetuity.

Also, we give permission, the judgment of ourofficers of said province being in accord, that youbuild there as many as three stone fortresses in theharbours and places most proper for them, they ap-pearing to you and to our said officers to be neces-s a r y for the protection and pacification of thatcountry; and we confer on you the Lieutenancy ofthem, and on one heir for life, or successor whomyou shall name, with the annual salary to each ofthe fortresses of one hundred thousand maravedis,which you shall enjoy from the time they be several-ly built and finished and enclosed, in the opinion ofour said officers; to be done at your own cost, with-out our being obliged, or any of the kings who shallcome after us, to pay you what you may expend onthose fortresses.

Again, inasmuch as you have petitioned us to be-stow on you some portion of the land and vassalsin said province you would conquer and populate,considering what you have served us, and the ex-penditure you will meet from this time in makingsaid conquest and pacification, we receive the peti-tions favourably: hence we promise to bestow onyou, and by these presents we do, twelve leagues ofland in square in the said two hundred leagues youshall designate to hold in government in the saidterritories and provinces before declared, which we

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command our officers of the said province to assign,after you have designated the said two hundredleagues, to include no sea-port, nor the principaltown, and that with the jurisdiction and title weshall confer at the time we give you the deeds.

Again, as has been said, you have petitioned us,that for the better governing and providing of allthe principal and important matters for the con-quest and settlement of said territories and pro-vinces, I should order that there be given to youwith them the government of the said Island ofCuba, which, to that end, we deem well, and is ourpleasure, for the time it shall be our will, that youhold the government of said island; and for thusmuch we will order to be given you our provisionby which you will be obliged to have a Chief-Justice,who shall be a lawyer to whom we shall require youto pay yearly on that Island the salary of two hun-dred pesos of gold; and we give to you five hundredducats annual gratuity for the government of saidIsland, while you hold ‘the same, to be paid fromthe duties and profits we may have from the pro-vinces you have thus to conquer, pacify, and holdin government; and if there be none there, we shallnot be obliged to pay you that, nor any other thingmore than the two hundred pesos of the said Chief-Justice.

Also, we give you liberty and right that youfrom these our kingdoms and lordships, or from theKingdom of Portugal, or Islands of Cabo Verde, orGuinea, do and may pass, or whosoever may exerciseyour power, to the said Island of Cuba fifty negroslaves, not less than one-third of them to be females,free of the import duties that of right may belongto us at said island, upon paying the license of twoducats on each to Diego de la Haya, which sum byour order he is charged to collect.

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Again, also, we promise that upon your arrival inthat country of your government, which you havethus to conquer and settle, we give liberty and rightto whomsoever shall have your power, that you maytake thither from these our said kingdoms, or fromPortugal, or the Islands of Cabo Verde, other fiftynegro slaves, the third part of them females, freefrom all duties.

Also, we concede to those who shall go to settlein that country within the six years first following,to be reckoned forward from the day of the date ofthese presents, that of the gold which may be takenfrom the mines shall be paid us the tenth, and thesaid six years being ended, shall pay us the ninth,and thus annually declining to the fifth part; butfrom the gold and other things which may be gotby barter, or is spoil got by incursions, or in anyother manner, shall be paid us thereupon one-fifthof all.

Also we give, free of all import duty, to the in-habitants of that country for the said six years, andas much longer as shall be our will, all they may takefor the furnishing and provision of their houses, thesame not being to sell; and whatsoever they or anyother, merchants or traffickers, sell, shall go free ofduty for two years, and not longer.

Likewise, we promise that for the term of tenyears, and until we command otherwise, we will notimpose on the inhabitants of those countries any ex-cise duty, or other tribute whatsoever.

Likewise, we grant that to said inhabitants maybe given through you the lots and grounds properto their conditions, as has been done, and is doing,in the Island of Espanola; and we also give youlicense, in our name, during the time of your govern-ment, that you take the bestowal of the Indians ofthat land, observing therein the instructions andprovisions that will be given to you.

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Again, we bestow on the hospital that may bebuilt in that country, to assist the relief of the poorwho may go thither, the charity of one hundredthousand maravedis from the fines imposed by thetribunal of that country.

Again, also, according to your petition and con-sent, and of the settlers of that country, we promiseto give to its hospital, and by these presents we dogive, the duties of escobilla and relabes, existing inthe foundries that may there be made; and, as re-spects that, we will order our provision to be issued.to you in form.

Also, likewise we will order, and by the presentcommand and defend, that from these our kingdomsdo not pass into said country, nor go, any one of thepersons prohibited from going into those parts,under the penalties contained in the laws and ordi-nances of our letters, upon which subject this by usand by the Catholic Kings are nor any c o u n -sellors nor attorneys to exercise their callings.

The which, all that is said, and each thing andpart thereof, we concede. to you, conditioned thatyou, the said Don Hernando de Soto, be held andobliged to go from these our realms in person tomake the conquest within one year next following,to be reckoned from the day of the date of thischarter.

Again, on condition that when you go out of theseour said kingdoms, and arrive in said country, youwill carry and have with you the officers of our ex-chequer, who may by us be named; and likewise alsothe persons, religious and ecclesiastical, who shallbe appointed by us for the instruction of the nativesof that Province in our Holy Catholic Faith, towhom you are to give and pay the passage, stores,and other necessary subsistence for them, accordingto their condition, all at your cost, receiving nothing

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from them during the said entire voyage; withwhich matter we gravely charge you, that you doand comply with, as a thing for the service of Godand our own, and any thing otherwise we shall deemcontrary to our service.

Again, whensoever, according to right and thelaws of our kingdoms, the people and captains ofour armaments take prisoner any prince or lord ofthe countries where, by our command, they makewar, the ransom of such lord or cacique belongs tous, with all the other things movable found or be-longing to him; but, considering the great toils andperils that our subjects undergo in the conquest ofthe Indias, as some recompense, and to favor them,we make known and command, that if in your saidconquest and government any cacique or principallord be captured or seized, all the treasures, gold,silver, stones, and pearls that may be got from himby way of redemption, or in any other manner what-soever, we award you the seventh part thereof, andthe remainder shall be divided among the conquerors,first taking out our fifth; and in ease the said caciqueor lord should be slain in battle, or afterward bycourse of justice, or in any other manner whatso-ever, in such case, of the treasures or goods afore-said obtained of him justly we have the half, which,before any thin,g our officers shall take, afterhaving first reserved our fifth.

Again, since our said officers of said provincemight have some doubt in making the collection ofour duties, especially on gold and silver, stones andpearls, as well those that may be found in sepul-chres, and other places where they may be hidden,as those got by ransom and incursion, or other way,our pleasure and will is, that, until some change,the following order be observed.

First, we order that of the gold and silver, stones

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and pearls that may be won in battle, or on enter-ing towns, or by barter with the Indians, should andmust be paid us one-fifth of all.

Likewise, that all the gold and silver, stones,pearls, and other things that may be found andtaken, as well in the graves, sepulchres, ocues, ortemples of the Indians, as in other places wherethey are accustomed to offer sacrifices to their idols,or in other concealed religious precincts, or buried inhouse, or patrimonial soil, or in the ground, or insome other public place, whether belonging to thecommunity or an indivdual, be his state or dignitywhat it may, of the whole, and of all other, of thecharacter that may be and is found, whether findingit by accident or discovering it by search, shall pay usthe half, without dimunition of any sort, the otherhalf remaining to the person who has found or madethe discovery; and should any person or personshave gold, silver, stones, or pearls, taken or found,as well in the said graves, sepulchres, ocues, or In-dian temples, as in the other places where they wereaccustomed to offer sacrifices, or other concealedreligious places, or interred as before said, and donot make it known, that they may receive, in con-formity with this chapter, what may belong to them,they have forfeited all the gold and silver, stonesand pearls besides the half of their goods, to ourtribunal and exchequer.

And we, having been informed of the evils anddisorders which occur in making discoveries andnew settlements, for the redress thereof, and thatwe may be enabled to give you license to make them,with the accord of the members of our Council andof our consultation, a general provision of chaptersis ordained and dispatched, respecting what willhave to observe in the said settlement and conquest,

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and we command it here to be incorporated in tenoras follows :--*

* * * * * *Hence, by these presents, you, the said Captain

Hernando de Soto, doing as aforesaid at your cost,according to and in the manner before contained,

observing and complying with the said provisionhere incorporated, and all the other instructions weshall henceforth command you to obey, and to givewith regard to that country, and for the good treat-ment and conversion to our Holy Catholic Faith ofthe natives of it, we promise and declare that toyou will be kept these terms, and whatever thereinis contained, in and through all; and you doingotherwise, and not complying therewith, we shallnot be obliged to keep with you and comply withthe aforesaid, nor any matter of it; on the contrary,we will order that you be punished, and proceedagainst you as against one who keeps not nor com-plies with, but acts counter to, the commands of hisnatural king and lord. In confirmation whereof weorder that the present be given, signed by my name,and witnessed by my undersigned Secretary. Doneat the town Valladolid, the twentieth day of themonth of April, of the year one thousand five hun-dred and thirty-seven.

I The King.

*This Ordinance, first placed in the charter granted to FranciscoMontejo for the conquest of Yucatan, dated the seventh dayof December, of the year 1526, signed by the King, his Secre-tary, Francisco de los Cobos, Mercurinus cancellorius, fr. G.Epus. Oxemes, Dotor Caravajal, Epus. Canariensis, el DotorBeltram, fr. G. Epus. Civitatem, was aterwards inserted inall like concessions, and is deemed to follow here.

THE ARRIVAL OF DE SOTO’S EXPEDITIONIN FLORIDA

By MARK F. BOYDThe first account of the De Soto expedition to

appear in print was the Relecam verdadeira dostrabalhos q ho governador do Fernado de souto ecertos fidalgos portugueses passarom no descobri-meto da provincia da Frolida, Agora novamete feitaper hu fidalgo de Elvas, which was published inEvora, Portugal in 1557. Its anonymous author wasindubitably a member of the expedition, and his re-port, is commonly referred to as that of the Knightof Elvas, or merely Elvas. This was first madeavailable in the English language by RichardHakluyt, who published an English version entitledVirginia richly valued. By the description of theMaine Land of Florida, her next neighbor, etc., in1609, which in 1812 was included in the Evans edi-tion of Hakluyt’s Voyages (1) and was also reprint-ed by French (12) in 1850. The second account toappear was written by Garcilaso de la Vega, withthe title La Florida del Inca. Historia del Adelan-tado, Hernando de Soto, Governador y Capitan-Gen-eral del Reino de la Florida, etc., which appearedfirst in Lisbon in 1605, and later in Madrid in 1723(2). A direct translation into English has never ap-peared although it has been the basis of several mod-ern accounts of De Soto. A third account, by Fernan-

Deficiences in the available matrices have prevented the useof the proper diacritical marks on certain letters of someof the Portuguese and Spanish words quoted. Thus thec in Relecam (Elvas title), Ocita and Ecita, and the sec-ond c in Moscoco should be provided with a cedilla. Alsoin the Elvas title, the tilde should be applied to the qabbreviation, to the o of do, to the a of Fernado, the eof descobrimeto and the first e of novamete, and to the uof hu. Tildes should be supplied to the o in b. hoda and b.de Poce. The acute accent should be inserted over the i ofGeografia.

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dez De Biedma, who accompanied the expedition asa royal official, and which may have been the of-ficial report, was brought to the attention of Ameri-can scholars from the original manuscript sourcesby Buckingham Smith in 1857 (3). The last d i s -covered account appeared with the complete publi-cation in 1851 of all parts of the great work by Gon-zalo Fernandez De Oviedo y Valdez entitled His-toria General y Natural de las Indias, Islas y Tierra-Firme del Mar Oceano, (4), the first nineteen ofthe total fifty parts of which had been incompletelypublished in 1535, in which was found incorporatednearly all of the narrative of De Soto’s secretary,Rodrigo Ranjel, the original of which is now lost.

Buckingham Smith, the eminent Florida histor-ian, translated the narrative of Elvas* and alsomade that of De Biedma accessible in English. (5)Edward Gaylord Bourne realized the significance ofand translated Oviedo's version of Ranjel and madethis, as well as the two previous translations ofBuckingham Smith, conveniently available (6). TheElvas narrative, recently newly translated from thePortuguese by James A. Robertson, has appearedwith copious notes as a publication of the FloridaState Historical Society (7). The excellent b ib l i -

*Florida readers and bibliographers elsewhere may be interestedto know that the greater part of Buckingham Smith’s notabletranslation of the Elvas Narrative was published first inFlorida, six years before it appeared in the Bradford Clubseries in 1866. On April 21, 1860 its publication was begunin the St. Augustine Examiner, a weekly newspaper of thattown, where Smith lived. This was continued without in-terruption until September when it ceased without notice orcomment. The reason is not difficult to guess-for in thelatter part of 1860 there was much to crowd a mere trans-lation of a three hundred years old volume from any sheetof the South. The only known file of the Examiner is inthe library of J. C. Yonge, but there is one issue of thatperiod in the library of the American Antiquarian Society,The translation was accompanied by annotations, some ofwhich vary from those included in the later issue, and thetranslation itself is not identical throughout. Ed.

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ographical summaries in the last two and particular-ly the latter, render any further discussion of thistopic superfluous.

We thus have three independent, impersonal ac-counts of the De Soto expedition by actual partici-pants, namely the Elvas, the De Biedma, and theRanjel narratives. All are disappointingly briefand terse but to a remarkable degree support andconfirm each other. Of these, that by De Biedma isthe shortest and least detailed. The E l v a s andRanjel accounts are more circumstantial and givethe dates for many of the events, which suggeststhat they were based on actual field journals ordiaries. On the other hand, Garcilaso’s narrativeis a composite written by a person unfamiliar withthe region, from the reminiscences of three partici-pants who related their tales to him approximatelyfifty years after their return. While it features thepersonal experiences and outlook of the narrators,these appear to be fancifully elaborated by Garci-laso. Insofar as it is confirmed by Elvas and Ranjel,Garcilaso’s narrative is useful, but when he treatsof subjects not discussed in the others, his account,if used at all, should be considered with caution.

Concerning the landing place, it is fortunate thatthere has been preserved a letter written from thebay of Espiritu Santo on July 9th, 1539 by Hern-ando de Soto himself, directed to the authorities ofSantiago de Cuba. English versions of this appear-ed in 1850 by B. F. French (12), and in 1854 and1866 by Buckingham Smith (20) ( 5 ) , the last ofwhich is reproduced by Bourne (6). The letter givesan account of the landfall and of the events immedi-ately thereafter. It is concise and terse in character,in these respects resembling the relation of De Bied-ma. Since it was written when the events describedhad just occurred and by the commander-in-chief

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himself, it possesses an importance exceeding thenarratives.

Much thought and planning were devoted to thepreparations for this expedition, and it is likelythat in the quality of its members, as well as in theabundance of equipment and supplies, it exceededanything that had ever been sent out by Spanishauthority. Evidence of the forethought exercised isshown by the despatch of Juan de Anasco on a re-connaissance of the coast of Florida in the preced-ing March with the object of finding a suitable land-ing place. He brought back with him several (two,Elvas; four, Ranjel) Indian captives, with the ideathat these could serve as the initial means of com-munication with the native Floridians. (Elvas)

An interesting light upon this preliminary ex-pedition of Anasco’s is afforded by a letter (5) writ-ten to the king by three members of the expedition,including Anasco and De Biedma, on the day of theirdeparture from Havana. The letter in full appearsin this issue of the Quarterly. (q. v.) It is interest-

ing to observe that of the promised reports, onlythat of De Biedma has been discovered, althoughsince there were three joint signers to the letter,De B i e d m a ’s relation may conceivably be thepromised joint account.

Both Elvas and Ranjel state that the expeditionsailed in a fleet of nine vessels, including five ships,two caravels and two brigantines. It may be assum-ed that the five former were square-rigged and thatthe latter were rigged fore-and-aft. G a r c i l a s ocredits the expedition with eleven vessels, includingeight ships, and purports to give the names of six.

According to Ranjel the force consisted of fivehundred seventy men, not including the sailors, withwhom there were fully seven hundred. A consider-ably larger complement is given by Garcilaso, who,

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counting soldiers, Cuban volunteers and sailors,places the force at about a thousand men. More thantwo hundred horses were taken.

The Adelantado’s description of different eventswill be compared with a composite account based onthe other narratives, in order to ascertain the ex-tent to which these confirm and supplement. Wefollow the 1866 version of Smith, from which wecommence to quote (5) (6):

I took my departure from Havana with allmy armament on Sunday, XVIIIth of May, al-though I wrote that I should leave on the XXVthof the month. I anticipated the day, not to lose afavourable wind, which changed nevertheless,upon our getting into the Gulf; still these werenot so continuous as to prevent our castinganchor on this coast, as we did at the end of eightdays, which was on Sunday the festival ofEspiritu Santo.According to Elvas and Ranjel the fleet left Ha-

vana on May 18, 1539, although Garcilaso placesthe date six days earlier on the 12th. The latteralso states they had a slow voyage of nineteen daysat sea, being delayed by adverse weather. On theother hand Elvas says they ran for seven days withfavorable weather, and both he and Ranjel are inagreement that the landfall was made on the 25thof May. Ranjel says their landfall was due northof Tortugas and ten leagues west of the bay ofJohan Ponce (de Leon), the latter distance we be-lieve to be taken in a longitudinal sense. (A)*.

Continuing to quote from De Soto:Having fallen four or five leagues below the

port, without any one of my pilots being ableto tell where we were, it became Necessary that

*As it is desirable to stress significant points in the followingaccounts they are distinguished by capital letters and re-capitulated further on.

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I should go in the brigantines and look for it.In doing so, and in entering the mouth of theport, we were detained three days: and like-wise because we had no knowledge of the pas-sage-a bay that runs up a dozen leagues ormore from the sea (B1) - we were so long de-layed that I was obliged to send my Lieuten-ant-General, Vasco Porcallo de Figueroa in thebrigantine to take possession of a town at theend of the bay. I ordered all the men and horsesto be landed on a beach (E1), whence, with greatdifficulty we went on Trinity Sunday to joinVasco Porcallo. The Indians of the coast, be-cause of some fears of us, have abandoned allthe country, so that for thirty leagues not a manof them has halted.The rendition of the Spanish phrase describing

the location of the town, a tomar un pueblo queestaba al Cabo del ancon was evidently perplexingto Smith, and in his first version (20) he renders it:“to take possession of a town on the Cape of theBay.” While a head-land, cape or promontory iscalled Cabo in Spanish, its translation here in thissense appears meaningless, and we favor the, viewthat the second rendition, which we follow, correctlyexpresses the idea intended.

Turning now to our narrators: Because of shoalwater they anchored some distance offshore in fourfathoms or less of water (a league, E l v a s ; twoleagues, Ranjel). According to Ranjel their coursefrom Tortugas would appear to have been chosen tobring them to the landing place earlier selected byAnasco. But the shore now viewed appeared un-familiar. The situation required scouting andRanjel relates at length that De Soto went aboardone of the small vessels variously called brigantinesor pinnaces, together with Anasco and Alonso Mar-

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tin, the chief pilot, in order to go closer to shoreand identify A n a s c o ’s harbor. As nightfall ap-proached the wind became contrary and preventedthe return of the brigantine to the fleet, which there-fore anchored and a party went ashore where theyfound an Indian village. It would appear that DeSoto’s brigantine was then out on the Gulf, so thatRanjel’s statement that this was the village of Ucitashould not be understood as locating the site of thelater camp, but probably represents still a thirdsettlement pertaining to this chief. (vide Porcallo’strip to the second.) The absence and inaccessibilityof De Soto greatly alarmed some of his more re-sponsible lieutenants, one of whom the next morningput off in a caravel to go to his assistance. Mean-while the former’s vessel was slowly beating her wayto windward to rejoin the others. It would appearthat while the fleet was awaiting the return of De Soto, the other small vessels were actively engagedin further scouting and the harbor mouth was soonfound, but not by De Soto. The second brigantinetook a station in the channel as a sign to the ships.When De Soto came up he ordered a brigantine anda caravel to anchor on either side of the channel tomark the entrance (B2). Either this location wasseveral leagues from the original anchorage, or elsethe larger ships may have stood off and on duringthe night, for they were now from four to five leaguesdistant and came up under sail. Despite their pains,two scraped bottom, but as it was of sand they re-ceived no injury. Further progress into the un-familiar harbor was difficult, requiring constant useof the lead, despite which some vessels frequentlytouched without harm on the muddy bottom. Fivedays (Ranjel) were consumed in this slow progress,as it is likely that in order to avoid running hardaground, the vessels progressed only on the flood-

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ing tides. Meanwhile, according to Garcilaso, theonly contact with shore was through the medium ofsmall boats sent for water and forage, which alsobrought back an abundance of wild grapes.

The site of the village which Ranjel reports DeSoto as having visited during his reconnaissance, isprobably marked by the mound on Pine Key. It isdescribed as possessing one of the large cabinssimilar to those seen elsewhere in the Indies andseveral small ones.

It now appeared that the loaded ships had enteredas far as their draft permitted, and on May 30th(C1) the disembarkation of the men and horses wasbegun (Elvas, Ranjel). De Biedma says that sixhundred twenty men were landed, and the numberof horses is variously given as two hundred thirteen,two hundred forty three and two hundred seventythree, while about twenty were reported as havingbeen lost during the voyage. The landing place wasthought to be about two leagues (Elvas, Garcilaso)distant from the Indian village De Soto discoveredon their arrival (D), although the ships were thenanchored four leagues away ( R a n j e l ) . As prev-iously mentioned, it does not appear likely that thevillage discovered by De Soto on their landfall, wasthe village of the later camp site, althought both mayhave belonged to Ucita.

To this haven De Biedma applied the name ofBaya Honda or Deep Bay, while that of EspirituSanto was given it by De Soto and Ranjel, to com-memorate the day of their arrival.

Lightened by the discharge of their loads of menand horses, Elvas relates that the sailors who re-mained aboard continued to bring up the vesselsa little further each day the flood tide, until atthe end of eight days they neared the village (C2).

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During this period further unloading continued(Ranjel).

It may be surmised that. Anasco’s inability to rec-ognize the entrance to the harbor he had selectedwas the cause of the interchange with De Soto whichRanjel mentions to have occurred on the day theyentered.

With the men ashore a temporary camp was es-tablished, which according to Elvas was pitched onthe seaside, nigh the bay which goes up close to thetown (E2). As soon as a few horses were put ashoreVasco Porcallo, Anasco and a few horsemen setout on a short reconnaissance covering a one-halfleague radius about the camp. (Elvas, Ranjel.)They encountered several Indians (six or ten) withwhom they had a brush, in which two horses and twoIndians were killed. Toward the approach of night,both Elvas and Ranjel state that De Soto withabout one hundred infantrymen boarded the brigan-tines and again went up the bay to view the villagewhich was found deserted. (F) During this excur-sion De Soto evidently decided to make this villagesite their base. It is not clear from either narratorwhether De Soto remained at the village or rejoinedthe army. Elvas speaks of the arrival of the armyat Ucita “where the Governor tarried.” Ranjel,although speaking of the return of another, does notmention the return of De Soto, yet later states thatthe Governor went ahead with the horsemen to ex-tricate the army from its difficult situation.

On the 31st, Elvas says that Moscoco divided thearmy into three divisions and arranged the orderof march. He further says that on that day marchto the village was begun, although Ranjel reportsthe march did not begin until the following day,Trinity Sunday, June 1st. Ranjel says they pro-posed to utilize the four Indians earlier captured by

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Anasco as guides, but through ignorance or per-versity they proved inserviceable. It was foundthat intervening streams running down to the bayrendered a direct passage along the shore to thevillage impossible (G) . The long detours they wereobliged to make inland to find crossings, to head thestreams, or avoid swamps, caused them to lose theirbearings. De Soto impatiently endeavoured to goahead with the horsemen, and after flounderingthrough the swamps for twelve leagues, nightfallfound them opposite the village on the shore of anarm of the bay around which they could not pass.(H) Greatly fatigued they made a disorderedbivouac on the spot. (Ranjel.) Although Elvas saysthey reached the village on the lst, it was more like-ly the 2nd before they surmounted this difficulty.How this was done is not described, although it maybe inferred that a passage by land was found. Onthe 3rd, according to Ranjel, De Soto took posses-sion of the land in the names of their Catholic Ma-jesties while one of Anasco’s captives was despatch-e d with a message of peace to the neighboringchiefs. That night two others escaped.

De Soto has the following to relate about the re-lease of Ortiz:

At my arrival here I received news of there be-ing a Christian in the possession of a Cacique,and I sent Baltazar de Gallegos, with XL men ofthe horse, and as many of the foot, to endeavorto get him. He found the man a day’s journeyfrom this place, with eight or ten Indians, whomhe brought into my power. We rejoiced nolittle over him for he speaks the language; andalthough he had forgotten his own, it directlyreturned to him. His name is Juan Ortiz, anhidalgo, native of Sevilla.

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If De Soto had prior knowledge of the existenceof Ortiz, he may have kept his own council, as theaccounts of Elvas and Ranjel suggest that the en-counter, from the standpoint of the Spaniards atany rate, was accidental. On the 4th, both Elvasand Ranjel relate that Captain Baltazar de Gal-legos with forty horse and eighty foot and the re-maining Indian captive was despatched to look foran occupied village with the hope of providing cap-tives as further guides. Towards night they dis-covered ten or eleven Indians in an open area uponwhom they charged. They were greatly surprisedto be hailed by a near victim in broken Spanish. Aparley was thereupon begun during which it wasfound that the speaker was a Spaniard, a relic ofNarvaez’s expedition of a dozen years before, whohad since been a captive of the Indians. The nameof this Spaniard, whose discovery was rightly valuedas a great aid, was Juan Ortiz. Gallegos and hismen joyfully brought him and his Indian compan-ions back to the camp that night. It was learnedthat O r t i z ’s present master was a chief namedMocoso, although his first captor was an enemy ofMocoso and the owner of the deserted village whereDe Soto was now encamped. The name of the lat-ter is variously given as Ucita, (Elvas), Ocita andEcita (Ranjel), or Hirrihigua (Garcilaso) .

Speaking of Ortiz’s late master, Mocoso, De Sotosays :

In consequence of this occurrence, I went my-self for the Cacique, and came back with himin peace.On the day of Ortiz’s release (according to Elvas,

or on the 7th according to Ranjel) Captain Lobillowent on a second reconnaissance in a different di-rection with forty or fifty foot. About one-halfleague from camp they came upon some huts by a

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river where they surprised and captured four wo-men therein (I) (Elvas) . The rescue of the cap-tives was attempted by numerous Indians, who fol-lowed them for three leagues ( R a n j e l ) . In theskirmishes several (three-four Ranjel; six, Elvas)Spaniards were wounded of whom one later died.

Garcilaso’s narrative of the events of these fivedays is not in agreement with the foregoing. Ac-cording to his account, disembarkation of the sold-iers began on the second, when three hundred menwere put ashore and the ceremonies of taking pos-session were observed. The shore force was senton a march along the coast and proceeded the restof the day without observing any Indians. At night-fall they bivouaced on the land. During the nightthe camp was attacked by Indians, and the Span-iards, evidently hard pressed, retreated to the seashore. Reinforcements were hastily sent from theships and the Indians beaten off. Disembarkationof the remaining soldiers and the horses was com-pleted on the following day, whereupon the wholearmy rested for eight or nine days in the temporarycamp. At the end of this time the army marchedtwo leagues inland to the village of a chief calledHirrihigua, the Ucita of the other chroniclers.Meanwhile news of a Spanish captive had been re-ceived from one of Anasco’s Indians and De Sotoresolved to send Gallegos to the place of the Span-iard’s detention and effect his release. The accountof this night attack on the camp is given only byGarcilaso. That it may have occurred, cannot ofcourse be denied, although it would seem that itwould have been noted in the more circumstantialaccounts of Elvas or Ranjel.

Shortly after these events, Ranjel tells that Por-callo was despatched to another village of Ucita todisperse a gathering of hostile Indians. Mislead by

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the Indian guide, he does not appear to have attain-ed his objective, and the guide was killed in punish-ment. Garcilaso says Porcallo set out to interviewHirrihigua or make him prisoner. While on thistrip Porcallo had a misadventure in a swamp bywhich he was deeply mortified and the consequencesappear to have been a factor in leading him toamicably withdraw from the expedition.

Nothing of interest to the chroniclers appears tohave occurred until the seventh, which may havebeen the day of L o b i l l o ' s excursion, previouslynoted. Mocoso, probably due to the distance of hisvillages from the Spanish camp and his associationwith Ortiz appeared friendly. According to Ranjel,De Soto went to Mocoso's village, which, accordingto De Biedma was eight leagues distant from the har-bor, in company with Ortiz. Here they were receiv-ed in a friendly manner and without signs of fearon the part of the Indians. Mocoso informed DeSoto that four neighboring chiefs including Ucitawere angered by his friendly attitude towards theSpaniards and were then threatening him. Garcilasodoes not confirm this account, but on the other handsays that three days after the return of Ortiz, Mo-coso voluntarily came to pay an amicable visit toDe Soto.

De Soto next mentions the despatch of Gallegosas follows:

I then sent Baltazar de Gallegos, with eightylancers, and a hundred foot soldiers, to enterthe country. He has found fields of maize, beansand pumpkins, with other fruits, and provisionin such quantity as would suffice to subsist avery large army without its knowing a want.Having been allowed without interruption, toreach the town of a Cacique named Urripacoxit,master of the one we are in, also of many other

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towns, some Indians were sent to him to treatfor peace. This, he writes, having been accom-plished, the Cacique failed to keep certainpromises, whereupon he seized about XVIIpersons, among whom are some of the principalmen; for in this way, it appears to him, he canbest secure a performance. Among those he de-

.

tains are some old men of authority, as greatas can be among such people, who have infor-mation of the country farther on.His account of this information can be passed

over, as we are not considering the route inland.The time until the 20th appears to have passed

uneventfully, although we can imagine there musthave been a great deal of activity. De Soto appearsto have been pumping Or t i z for information, ofwhich he secured disappointingly little, as Ortiz hadacquired only a very limited familiarity with thecountry. He did learn from him of a region calledParacoxi (Elvas); Orriparagi (Ranjel); Hurripa-cuxi (De Biedma); or Urribarracoxi, (Garcilaso)and resolved to send a scouting party in its direc-tion. Captain Gallegos was selected a chief of thisparty, and on June 20th he set out with one hundredor more men, both horse and foot (50 horse, 30-40foot, E l v a s ; 80 horse, 100 foot R a n j e l ) on hismission.

Gallegos and his force arrived at Paracoxi with-out opposition and while he had peaceably encount-ered many Indians, found that the chief evaded apersonal interview. News was also had of furthertempting regions inland. The reports that G a l -legos’s mounted couriers brought to De Soto, whoaccording to Garcilaso made the return trip in twodays, stimulated a demand from the army that theyproceed inland at once, an effect that apparentlywas carefully calculated by De Soto.

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De Soto further relates:I sent eighty soldiers by sea in boats, and my

general (i.e., Porcallo) by land with XL horse-men, to fall upon a throng of some thousand In-dians, or more, whom Juan de Anasco had dis-covered. The General got back last night, andstates that they fled from him; and although hepursued them, they could not be overtaken, forthe many obstructions in the way. On our com-ing together we will march to join Baltazar deGallegos, that we may go thence to pass the win-ter at the Ocale, where, if what is said to betrue, we shall have nothing further to desire.De Soto’s letter contains nothing more that is

pertinent to our subject.Anasco was in the meantime sent out along the

shore in boats. His party encountered a smallIndian force on an island, which they attacked witha cannon. Several Indians were killed and numer-ous Spaniards were injured. Aid was asked fromthe camp and Porcallo set out along the shore withreinforcements, with the idea of intercepting theIndians should they flee to the mainland. The war-riors were gone when they arrived, but in the courseof their march some women were captured. (Ranjel.)

It would appear that De Soto had resolved to fol-low Gallegos’s party inland, as soon as the resultsof his reconnaissance were available. Meanwhile thedischarge of the vessels appears to have been com-pleted, and they were despatched to Havana formore provisions. Garcilaso states that only the shipswere sent, the smaller vessels being retained in thebay. A port guard of about one hundred men, placedunder Captain Calderon, was detailed to remain atthe base on the bay and guard the supplies and smallvessels.

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Preparations being completed, the entire forcewith the exception of the port guard proceeded in-land on July 15. That night they bivouaced at theriver bounding the limits of Mocoso's territoriesover which they were obliged to build two bridgesin order to pass (J). De Biedma, in what wouldappear to be evident error, says they first took theirway to the west and then turned to the northwest.If correct, they could have traveled only a short dis-tance on such courses. Garcilaso on the other handsays that en route to Urribarracoxi they alwaystravelled to the northeast, a more probable state-ment than that of the former.

At this point, having with the port guard seenthe army depart for the unknown interior, we willfor the present at any rate, take our leave of thevaliant expedition. Attention now may be brieflygiven to any further facts presented by the chroni-clers that may throw light on the landing site or the inhabitants of its vicinity.

Elvas states that the town of Ucita occupied bythe army consisted of seven or eight houses built oftimber and covered with palm thatch. The chief’shouse was located near the beach upon a high arti-ficial mound (K) erected for defense, and at theother end (of the town) was a temple. The groundabout was very marshy, covered with dense thicketsand high trees.

The territory of Mocoso was separated from thatof Ucita by a river. According to Elvas the peopleof each spoke different languages, and appear tohave been at war with each other even before theadvent of De Soto. These as well as other coastalIndians are stated by De Biedma to have paid tri-bute to the chief called by Elvas, Paracoxi. The resi-dence of this chief is said, depending on the chroni-c l e r consulted, to have been from twenty to leagues inland.

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Without considering events related only by oneor more of the narrators, it is necessary to discussone or two points where these accounts differ fromDe Soto’s. Anasco had visited this coast severalmonths previously, and had evidently gone on shore,as witness his Indian captives. It may be presumed,knowing his purpose but lacking precise informa-tion, that he had selected a sheltered landing placeand even a site for the base camp. Nevertheless,when the fleet made landfall, although they knewtheir general position, their exact location with rela-tion to their objective was unknown. Hence, whilethe fleet anchored, De Soto set out on a reconnais-sance, which we take to have been along the Gulfshore in search of the entrance, inferentially into aland-locked body of water. Nowhere is found anystatement suggesting that on this excursion the in-terior of the bay was penetrated. In fact Ranjel’saccount suggests that De Soto actually over-ran theentrance, and that it was really recognized first byone of the smaller vessels which remained closer tothe fleet. The words ancon, puerto and baya usedby De Soto, Ranjel, and Elvas in describing theirobjective are obviously applied to the entire bay, andnot to any localized anchorage within. Havingfound the entrance, it is likely that they would beginto utilize the knowledge previously gained byAnasco, and consequently proceeded as rapidly astheir draft permitted, towards a predeterminedshore base. The extent of the shoal water within thebay likely proved a severer obstacle than had beenexpected.

Another point relates to the circumstances attend-ing the discovery of the village. The accounts sug-gest they already knew its general position and moving toward it. Its advantages as a base wereprobably already pointed out by Anasco. From De

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Soto’s account it would be understood that Porcal-lo’s force was despatched to the village previous tothe general disembarkation, an idea not confirmedby any of the other narrators, unless this was theforce which went up to the village site in the brigan-tines late on the day of landing.

The significant points in the foregoing accountsthat are pertinent to the problem of the landingplace, distinguished above by parenthesized capitalletters, are here recapitulated:

A. The expected landfall should have been ap-proximately due north of the Tortugas and tenleagues west of the bay of Johan Ponce.B Describes the wide mouth of a long harbor,

with the entrance not obviously discernible from theopen sea.C It took the sailors a total of eleven to thir-

teen days (three or five to point of debarkation, pluseight to final anchorage near village) to work thelarge vessels up to the vicinity of the Indian village.

D. The landing place was about two leagues dis-tant from the Indian village.

E1,2. Evidently a firm open beach without a fringeof mangroves.

F. The village site was evidently toward the headof the bay from the landing place.

G. The beach was actually not continuous be-tween the landing place and the Indian village, asthey later found, although appearing so from theboats.

H. Probably an estuarial stream, a small baythe existence of which had not been suspected fromthe observations of the shore made from the boats.

I. This stream could not have been far distantfrom the village, and the occurrence of huts suggestsa high open bank.

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J. The stream which intercepted their route de-serves serious consideration as a landmark.

K . The mound constitutes the most importantlandmark, and perhaps has survived to this day.

A course due north from the westernmost isletof the Tortugas would give a landfall on the northshore of Waccasassa Bay a few miles east of CedarKeys, but would pass sufficiently close to Sand Keyand Indian Rocks on the west shore of Pinellaspeninsula so that the land at this point would beclearly visible. A course due north from the east-ernmost, would give a landfall on Long Key formingBoca Ciega Bay off the southwest shore of PinellasPeninsula. The slight familiarity the pilots of thatday had with these waters would make it probablethat a course from Havana for the west coast ofFlorida would be set to pass to the west of theTortugas group, rather than through the channel tothe eastward. It is also likely that this course rep-resented Anasco’s selection, made during his recon-naissance in the spring. The only bay to be encount-ered on approximately this course that does run upa dozen leagues or more from the sea as De Sotosays, is Tampa Bay. If Anasco had taken this bear-ing as marking his selection of a landing place inthe spring, and the expedition had left the Tortugason this route, the fleet was likely diverted from itscourse, as De Soto says their landfall was four orfive leagues below (i.e. south of) the port. Thismischance could be attributable either to an unrec-ognized current in the Gulf setting them closer tothe shore, or to an over allowance for leeway if thepassage was made with the aid of easterly winds.It is likely that landfall was actually made off theshore of either Anna Maria or (south) Long Keys.

Confirmation of the conclusion that the expeditionset out for and actually entered the present Tampa

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Bay is afforded by the Geografia (8) of Juan Lopezde Velasco, which treats of the Spanish possessionsas known between 1571 and 1574. V e l a s c o wasCosmografo-Cronista of the Indies and appears tohave written this work about 1576, although it re-mained in manuscript until 1894. It is apparent thatfrom his office he must have been thoroughly cog-nizant of the current geographical knowledge ofthe country. Since the larger vessels were sent backto Havana before the departure inland, and laterreturned to this base, a knowledge of the locationof the bay of Espiritu Santo likely became quite gen-eral among the contemporary mariners who fre-quented the West Indies. Being himself almost acontemporary of De Soto, he may be expected tohave been in possession of this knowledge, while hisgeography was written but thirty-seven years afterthe departure of the expedition.O n page one hundred fifty-eight, after speakingof previous explorers of the Florida coast, he saysof De Soto: The captain De Soto also entered thisland in the year 37 [sic] at the bay of Tocobaga, andwas also lost.

Of the bay of Tocobaga, Velasco says: The bayof Tocobaga otherwise called Espiritu-Santo or thatof Miruelo, is in 29 and 1/2 degrees- altitude; the en-trance passage is to the east and has a mouth threeleagues in width and in it are three small islets onwhich are nothing except sand and birds; on thenorthern side the coast runs within for two leagueswest and east and abruptly turns into an arm of thesea three leagues in breadth running directly northfor eighteen leagues within the land, to the identicalvillage of Tocobaga, a village of Indians where itterminates; to navigate it one must always keepclose to the shore of the east, because the other sideis very shallow; in the extension of the said arm

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there opens another arm, broader than the before-said; it extends to the northeast and has not beennavigated; for this reason its depth is unknown.

Except that Velasco places the latitude almost twodegrees too far north, this is a perfect descriptionof Tampa Bay and could not be applied to any otheron the west coast of Florida. It should be notedthat he describes another bay also called EspirituSanto, twenty or thirty leagues west of the Bay ofTocobaga, and also in twenty-nine degrees, which islikely Apalachicola Bay, as it is said to mark theboundary of the government of Florida. This cir-cumstance suggests the placing of Tocobaga Bay intwenty-nine and one-half degrees is probably at-tributable to an error in transcription.

In addition it should be mentioned that Swanton(22) has called attention to the preservation, amongthe Indians about Tampa Bay, of a tradition thatDe Soto landed at that point, which was related aslate as 1612 to a Spanish party which crossed thepeninsula.

If the identification of Tocobaga Bay with themodern Tampa Bay is regarded as tenable, with thisas a point of departure, we may pass southwardalong the coast with Velasco. It is clear that thepresent Charlotte Harbor is by him called Tampa(p. 164) while Estero Bay is the Bay of Carlos,which he says in the Indian language was calledEscampaba, after a chief of that name, and subse-quently Carlos as a tribute to the emperor, and ap-pears to be the same which they call after JuanPonce. Describing it further he says:

Its entrance is very narrow and full of shal-lows, so that one cannot enter except with boats;within it is spacious of four or five leagues incircumference although entirely marshy; in itscenter is a small island of about a half league

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in circuit, with other islets around it, in whichthe chief Carlos had his seat, now occupied byhis successors; one may pass with canoes fromthem to the arm of the sea which goes to Tampa[Charlotte Harbor] by some passages which ex-ist between one sea and the other.Regardless of the situations to which later car-

tographers may have applied the names of EspirituSanto and Juan Ponce, the descriptions quoted ap-pear to perfectly identify recognizable portions ofthe Florida coast with the nomenclature of men whowere practically De Soto’s contemporaries.

Since Ranjel gives the entrance to their bay asten leagues west of the bay of Johan Ponce, whichwe take in a longitudinal sense, this statement maybe compared with actuality. The longitude of theentrance of Tampa Bay is actually about sixteennautical leagues west of the entrance to Estero Bay.If Ranjel’s statement is taken as an estimate of arough character, it is not too wide to affect its gen-eral confirmation of the identification of the entranceof the bay Espiritu Santo with the entrance of thepresent Tampa Bay.

Before passing from a consideration of this point,attention should be called to an early undated Span-ish map reproduced opposite page one hundredthirty-two of Lewis (10), and page four hundredeighteen, volume II, of Robertson (7). This, whileundated, is the earliest known map presenting thenomenclature of the De Soto chroniclers. On thereproductions the place names are indecipherable,but that in Robertson is accompanied by a tracingon which these have been deciphered. No bay ofEspiritu Santo appears on the Florida peninsula, al-though a b. hoda (16) i.e, baia honda of the De Bied-ma nomenclature, is shown at the Approximate situ-ation for Tampa Bay, while a smaller bay to thesouth is labelled b. de Juo Poce (14).

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It will be recalled that in several instances ournarrators have given distances, either marine orterrestrial in terms of leagues. It is likely that thesignificance of this word has varied in the sense ofits application. When applied to distances at seaor longitude, the user probably had its maritime ap-plication in mind and meant a unit of three nauticalmiles or the twentieth part of a degree. When soemployed by our writers, the distance was undoubt-edly estimated, but under the circumstances whichpermitted the observer to have a clear sweep ofvision, or a fairly accurate idea of the rate of sail-ing. It therefore may be interpreted from the stand-point of a definite portion of the earth’s surface.On the other hand, the terrestrial league is a mostelastic unit. It was probably employed in the sensein which it is still used in some. of the remote por-tions of Latin America, and expresses any person’sidea of the distance that a foot-traveller can traverse

in an estimated hour’s time. These are to be in- terpreted as representing hours of travel ratherthan as measures of linear distance (11).

Assuming then, from the information given by thechroniclers, and the confirmation afforded by Velas-co, that we can positively identify the bay of EspirituSanto with the modern Tampa Bay, we may passto a consideration of the probable location of thelanding place and the site of the village.

The narrators do not indicate whether the land-ing was effected on the east or west side of the bay,while it is likely safe to infer that the village wasnearer the head of the bay than the landing place.The principal clues afforded us are:

1) The mention of a mound near the beach mark-ing the village site,

2) A village site evidently separated from a stripof firm shore or beach lying to the seaward by an

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estuary, inlet, or small bay, whose mouth or open-ing is not readily detectable from the bay. The first comprehensive study of Indian moundsis the vicinity of Tampa Bay was made about sixtyyears ago by S. T. Walker (13, 14) of Clearwater,at a time when this section was still in a relativelyprimitive condition. Almost twenty years later thesame. region was again explored by Clarence B .Moore (25). noted some changes, c h i e f l y thespoliation of shell mounds for road building ma-terial, since Walker’s visit, and it is likely that fur-ther and more extensive inroads, either natural orartificial have occurred since Moore’s visit, whileno idea can be formed of changes since De Soto’stime. These papers are accompanied by maps ofthe bay region showing the m o u n d s described.Moore made extensive explorations in this vicinity,but found little that he considered significant. (SeeFrontispiece.)We canvas the list of the chief mounds known

to or explored by these observers: Beginning on theeast side of the bay, Walker describes an extensiveshell mound at Shaw’s Point on the south side ofthe mouth of the Manatee River. Moore noted agroup of three mounds on Terraceia Island. Atabout the central point of the eastern shore is thelarge shell heap known as Indian Hill. In Walker’sday the pinnacles were visible above the tree tops,and were estimated at from twenty to thirty feetin height. Moore estimated that it covered an areaof approximately acres. Moore alone notedthe shell heap on the north of the Little Mana-tee River about one and one-half miles from itsmouth. Both report on the great mound at themouth of Bullfrog Creek on the south shore, oncethirty feet high, but which at Moore’s visit was ex-tensively despoiled. Moore alone observed the shell

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ridges on the north shore of the Alafia River a shortdistance within its mouth. Walker reports that alow sand mound formerly existed on the old FortBrooke reservation east of the mouth of the Hills-borough River in the present City of Tampa.

In connection with the identification of Estero Bayas the bay of Juan Ponce on the basis of Velasco’sdescription, it is worthwhile to note at this point,that Moore states that on Mound Island, or John-son’s Key, in Estero Bay, lying two miles in aneasterly direction from Carlos Pass and with an areaof about one hundred thirty acres, are extensiveembankments of shell, with an enormous mound atleast thirty feet in height. This is likely the isleton which Velasco says the chief Carlos formerlyresided.

On the west side of the bay Walker noted a totalof sixteen mounds at the extremity of Pinellas Pen-insula. These were constructed either of sand orshells alone, or of of both. The sand moundsare invariably low, scarcely ever exceeding six feetin height. The mounds containing shell are higher,some attaining an elevation of twenty-five feet. Twomounds are situated on a narrow peninsula on thenorth side of Papy’s Bayou. Another is found onthe south side of Alligator Creek north of Bayview.One of the largest mounds on the bay is found atPhillipi’s Point, which at the time Walker wrote,was being eroded by the bay. Moore adds nothingon this side to Walker’s list. The peninsula northof Papy’s Bayou is known as Weeden’s island.

While none of these mounds are distant from thebay, the only ones which meet the requirement ofbeing really near the beach are those at Shaw’sPoint, Indian Hill, Bullfrog Creek, and Phillipi’sPoint.

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We may next consider these mounds in relation to the existing beaches and intervening inlets, inwhich connection certain charts and maps may beadvantageously consulted. (15, 16). Along the eastshore, mangroves or marshes line practically theentire margin as far as Six Mile Creek at the headof Hillsborough Bay, excepting only short strips ofbeach such as that at P i n e y Point. Continuingaround to Gadsden’s Point at the extremity of thepeninsula a firm beach-like shore is found. Thewest shore of the peninsula has a narrow strip ofmarsh, which widens on the north side of Old TampaBay and occupies most of the shore on the north tothe head. But here again one can only speculate onthe changes which have occurred in four centuries.

On the west side from Pinellas Point northwardto the head of Old Tampa Bay, the shore appearsto be predominatingly a beach, with small interven-ing stretches of marsh. From Coffeepot Bayou toCross Bayou it is very extensively cut by an intricateseries of inlets, while off shore are a number ofsandy islets.

We may next consider the mounds before men-tioned in relation to the beach strips discussed:

a) It would not necessitate a twelve hour marchto reach the mound at Shaw’s Point from any situ-ation on the beach to the westward, if the landinghad been made in this vicinity. Neither does it ap-pear that five days of cautious pilotage would havebeen necessary to reach an anchorage in this vicinity.Nor does it seem probable a landing could have beenmade in this vicinity preparatory to a march to avillage situated to the northward, as the ManateeRiver and its tributary the Braden River, wouldappear to be obstacles that would require ferriageor bridging, neither of which appears to have beennecessary during the march, while the existence of

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the estuary of the Manatee River would have beenobvious before landing. We thus believe this areacan be eliminated from consideration.

b) P i n e y Point or the coast to the southwardin relation to Indian Hill and the mound at the mouthof Bullfrog Creek: Westcott (17) held the opinionthat the town of Hirrihigua was at Indian Hill andthat the landing place was about six miles south ofit, or near Terraceia Island, with deep water closeto shore. It would seem that either Piney Point orTerraceia Island is too near Indian Hill, with noconspicuous intervening obstacles likely to requiretwelve hours or more of difficult marching to passfrom one to the other. If the Bullfrog Creek moundis considered in relationship to these possible land-ing sites, we find that Little Manatee River inter-venes, and the obstacles the narrators describe donot suggest the crossing of such a large stream. Thecoast between the Little Manatee River and the Bull-frog mound would appear to be too marshy to haveattracted them as a landing point. Thus we believethe entire east side can be eliminated from consid-eration.

c) Turning next to the west side of the bay andthe mound at Phillipi’s Point: Here, in our opin-ion, a fairly good fit of the descriptions and to-pography is discernible. A landing along the beachon the bay side of the Pinellas Peninsula in thevicinity of Cross Bayou or even south of CoffeepotBayou, in anticipation of a journey to Phillipi’sPoint, should prove disappointing to one who wouldmarch along the beach. Extensive detours inlandto avoid the streams or bayous would be obligatory,while the maze of ponds and swamps would be con-fusing and delay direct progress towards the de-termined destination. If such a route were actuallymarched, it is likely that the officers always en-

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deavoured to swing towards the shore after eachmarked divergence. It may well be, if our expedi-tion pursued such a course, that one such returnswing toward the shore on the evening of the firsttook them out on Cooper’s Point, where they madea tired bivouac while watching the camp fires ofPorcallo’s men at a village on Phillipi’s Point. Inrelation to this suggestion it should be noted thatall streams encountered could be headed withoutexcessive detours, while the distance, a possiblemaximum of eighteen to twenty miles although dif-ficult, could have been covered in twelve hoursmarching time or thereabouts.

Within a radius of five miles of this point are sev-eral small streams, any one of which merits con-sideration as the objective of Captain Lobillo’s re-connaissance. The statement that the Indiansattacked by Anasco were on an island cannot beexplicitly accepted, as a peninsula may have beenmeant. This view is supported by the fact thatPorcallo with a force was sent out along the shoreto assist in the attack, a hardly understandable moveif the Indians were actually on an island. BoothPoint, across the bay to the eastward, would fit inwith the assumption.

The possibility that a situation within the mouthof Old Tampa Bay could have been reached by thefleet during three to five days pilotage seems tenable.

When the expedition left for the interior, theytravelled one whole day before reaching the riverbounding Mocoso’s domains, passage over which wasonly practicable by bridging. It is obvious that De Biedma’s statement of first a westerly and then anorthwesterly course is in error, and is probablyattributable to faulty transcription. The generalcourse must have been easterly or northeasterly inline with Garcilaso’s statement. Within four miles

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after leaving Phil l ipi’s Point, an eastwardly ornortheastwardly course could have been commenced.A day’s march on an eastwardly course would placethe Hillsborough River across their route, a streamthat undoubtedly would have required bridging.

,

Thus it would appear that a hypothesis assuminga landing place along the beach somewhere on theeast side of the lower half of the Pinellas Peninsula,in preparation for a march inland to an objective atPhillipi’s Point, is on the one hand not grossly in-compatible with the physical features of the terrainin our own times, nor inconsistent with the accounts

preserved to us. The discovery of contemporaneousSpanish relics at Phillipi's Point would be of in-terest from a confirmatory standpoint. The possi-bility of such discoveries would not be unlikely, asequipment could have been lost, and at least oneSpaniard was probably buried there. Indeed Walk-er discovered strings of glass beads, a pair ofscissors and fragments of a looking glass in theAlligator Creek mound. Walker states that a di-vision of ownership prevented his exploration of themound at Phillipi’s Point, but formed the opinionfrom its structure and general appearance that itwas of a domiciliary character. Neither could Mooreobtain permission for its exploration.

This site is also worth consideration as the pos-sible location of the village of Tocobaga, wherePedro Menendez Marquez, nephew of De Aviles, es-tablished in 1567 by order of his uncle, a fort witha garrison of thirty men. In the year following themen were killed by the Indians and the outpost wasnever reestablished.

1

Although the map previously mentioned is theearliest production to show the De Soto nomencla-ture, no more or less contemporaneous Spanish mapis known which professes to represent De Soto’s

I 217

itinerary. The earliest attempt in this direction, isfound on the large " Carte de la Louisiane et duCourse du Mississippi” published in 1718 by Guil-laume Delisle, a celebrated French cartographer, oneversion of which is reproduced by Robertson (7) andanother by French (12). The authorities on whichhe based his interpretation are now unknown butthe nomenclature suggests Garcilaso. A Spanishmap in the Library of Congress (B.M. Add. MS.17.648a) dated 1768 shows De Soto’s route, andemploys Garcilaso’s nomenclature. (Puente, 1768;Lowery, No. 522). Both of these place the bay ofEspiritu Santo at about midway of the west coast.

This problem is one that has perenially fascinatedstudents for more than a century. Unfortunately itis only rarely that the basis for an opinion is ex-pressed. It is not worth while to give citations, butwe may mention a few of the views that have beenheld:

Among those who hold to the opinion that the land-ing was in an unspecified region of Tampa Bay areJ . G. Forbes (1821); John Lee Williams (1837);A. B. Meek (1839); B. F. French (1850); AlbertJames Pickett (1851); H. E. Bolton (1921); JohnR. Swanton (1922) and Michael Kenny (1934).

Opinions supporting a probable landing site some-where on the east side of Tampa Bay, includingGadsden’s Point, have been expressed by: J. W.Monette (1846); Theodore Irving, (1851) (evident-ly based on d a t a , communicated by Fairbanks);William B. Rye (1851); Buckingham Smith (1854);Lambert A. Wilmer (1859); George R. Fairbanks;(1871); Bernard S h i p p (1881); John W e s t c o t t(1888); and Woodbury Lowery (1901). Compara-tively few have ventured to express opinions defi-nitely localizing the landing place: B. Smith (1854)(20) placed it at Shaw’s Point; J. Westcott (1888)

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(17) places it about six miles south of Indian Hill;Th. Irving (24) placed it near the mound just northof the mouth of the Alafia River.

The only recorded suggestion of a landing placeon the west shore which we have noted is made byA. H. Phinney (1924), who is of the opinion that

the mounds on Weeden’s Island north of Papy’sBayou mark Ucita. We have been unable to ascer-tain who originally applied the name De Soto to thebayou at the head of Old Tampa Bay, although thename first appeared on coast survey chart numberone hundred seventy-seven prepared in 1879. It isthus apparent that a large majority of the studentsand historical writers of the past century have heldthe opinion that the landing place was somewherewithin the region now known as Tampa Bay. Thesupport which practically contemporaneous authori-ties, apparently unknown to most previous writers,give to this opinion, establishes it, we believe, on afirm foundation. On the other hand, portions ofpractically the entire circumference of the bay havebeen identified as the landing and camp sites. Be-lieving that the criteria previously discussed mustbe considered and satisfied before tentative opin-ion can be held, pending future positive identifica-tion through the discovery of some indisputable relicof the expedition, we shall leave to each reader theprivilege of an independent judgment on this in-teresting question without urging the acceptance ofthe interpretation suggested.

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REFERENCESVirginia Richly Valued, etc. pp. 477-550 Vol. V. Hakluyt’sVoyages. 5 vol. folio. R. H. Evans, London, 1809-1812.La Florida del Inca. Historia del Adelantado Hernando deSoto, Governador y Capitan General del Reino de la Florida* * Escrita por el Inca Garcilaso de la Vega. Madrid, 1723.Buckingham Smith. Coleccion de varios Documentos para laHistoria de la Florida y Tierras Adyacentes. London, 1857.p. 47.Gonzalo Fernandez de Oviedo y Valdez. Historio General yNatural de las Indias, Islas y Tierra-Firme del Mar Oceano.4 vol. Madrid, 1851. Cap. XXII, p. 544. Vol. 1.Buckingham Smith. Narratives of the Career of Hernandode Soto. Vol. V. Bradford Club. New York. 1866.Edward Gaylord Bourne, editor. Narratives of the Careerof Hernando de Soto in the conquest of Florida, as told bya Knight of Elvas, and in a relation by Luys Hernandez deBiedma, factor of the expedition, translated by BuckinghamSmith, together with an account of De Soto’s expeditionbased on the diary of Rodrigo Ranjel, his private secretary,translated from Oviedo’s Historia General y Natural de lasIndias. 2 vols. New York, 1922.James A. Robertson. True Relation of the Hardships suf-fered by Governor Fernando de Soto and certain Portuguesegentlemen during the discovery of the province of Florida,now newly set forth by a gentleman of Elvas. 2 vols. Pub-lication eleven, Florida State Historical Society. Deland.Florida, 1933.Juan Lopez de Velasco. Geografia y Descripcion Universalde las Indias desde el Ano de 1571 al de 1574, publicado porprimera vez en el Boletin de la Sociedad Geografia de Madrid,con adiciones e ilustraciones por Don Justo Zaragoza,Madrid, 1894.Woodbury Lowery. The Spanish Settlements within thePresent Limit of the United States, 1513-1561. New York.1901. p. 441. Appendix G.T. Hayes Lewis. Spanish Explorers in the Southern UnitedStates, 1528-1543. Original narratives of Early AmericanHistory. New York, 1907.Peveril Meigs, 3d. The Dominican Mission Frontier ofLower California. Berkeley, 1935. p. 165, footnote.B. F. French. Historical Collections of Louisiana, Part II.Philadelphia, 1850. p 91.S. T. Walker. Preliminary Explorations among the IndianMounds in Southern Florida. p. 392. Annual Report of theBoard of Regents of the Smithsonian Institution for the year1879. Washington. 1880.

14. S. T. Walker. Reports on the Shell Heaps of Tampa Bay,Florida. p. 413 ibid.

15. U. S. Coast and Geodetic Survey. Chart No. 1257, TampaBay and Saint Joseph Sound, 1:80,000, 1933.

16. U. S. Bureau of Soils:a) Soil Map of Pinellas County, 1913b) Soil Map of Hillsborough County, 1916

17. John Westcott. De Soto in Florida. Palatka, Florida, 1888.

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18. Woodbury Lowery. The Spanish Settlements Within thePresent Limits of the United States: Florida, 1562-1574.New York, 1905. pp. 277, 342, 448.

19. Velasco, ibid p. 161.20. Buckingham Smith. Letter of Hernando De Soto and Memoir

of Escalente. Washington, 1854.21. William B. Rye. Discovery and Conquest of Tierra Florida,

etc. Vol. 9, 1st series, Hakluyt Soc. London, 1851.22. John R. Swanton. The Landing Place of De Soto. Science

80(1934) 336.‘23. John R. Swanton. Early History of the Creek Indians and

Their Neighbors. Bull. 73, Bur. Am. Ethnology. Washing-ton, 1922.

24. Theodore Irving. The Conquest of Florida under Hernandode Soto. Rev. ed. New York, 1851.

25. Clarence B. Moore. Certain Antiquities of the Florida WestCoast. Jour. Acad. Sci. Philadelphia. 1900-XI-351.

LETTER TO THE KING OF SPAIN FROMOFFICERS AT HAVANA IN THE

ARMY OF DE SOTO( O n envelope is written : - )

To THE S. I. C. MAJESTYOF THE

H. I. C. My

We gave relation to Your Majesty from SaintJago de Cuba of the favourable beginning of ourexpedition, which, it appears, the A d e l a n t a d oHernando de Soto brought with his good fortune,wherewith to serve in the manner of which he comesin control, Suffice it to say, that he has thoughtbest to look both into the state of the Island and thepopulation, as Your Majesty is informed; but withgreat toil and cost to himself, as he wished to travelthroughout, visiting the towns, which had muchneed of attention. As well has he been detained, atgreat expense with his soldiers, longer than he wish-ed, while providing himself, without loss of time, inevery particular useful for his conquest, managingaptly in all matters, and setting everything in com-plete order.

We inform Your Majesty, that today, on the eveof departure, he has large vessels in port, two car-avels and two brigantines, in all nine sail, havinglost two since our arrival. He carries in them twohundred and thirty-seven horses, besides some ofrelief; three hundred and thirty foot, as well asthose mounted; in all, five hundred and thirteenmen, without the sailors. With these go moreabundant subsistence than could have been gottenout of Spain for an armada. There are three thou-sand loads of cacabi, twenty-five hundred shoulders

Note-The original of this letter is in Archivo General de Indias,Seville. The translation is by Buchingham Smith, and isreprinted from the Bradford Club edition of his Narratives.. . . (New York, 1866)

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of bacon, and twenty-five hundred hanegas of maize:moreover, there are beasts on hoof for the settle-ment, and for the butcher, to be in readiness on thereturn of the vessels, through which we are to re-ceive large supplies. With this object, the Adelan-tado has bought many grazing farms, at the cost ofmuch money, to be employed solely in affording ussustenance.

In order that Your Majesty may entertain goodhopes of that country of Florida, we report, thatdirectly upon our arrival here, in order that Juande Anasco might go with fifty men to look for someport on the coast, he was elected to be the royalComptroller; and although he passed through manyhardships, because of the winter, he found the mostconvenient place that could be desired very near,only some seventy-five or eighty leagues from this land, inhabited and very secure. He brought fourof the Indians, as interpreters, who are so intelligentthat they already understand us, after a manner,and grand expectations of that country, so muchso, that all depart joyfully and contented. .

The bearer of this letter is the Captain HernanPonce de Leon, companion of the Adelantado, whohas been a witness to all this, and is a person ofwhom Your Majesty can be informed in whatso-ever may most interest you.

We will say no more at present, save that onarriving in the land of Florida, we will, by Divinepleasure, take particular care to give a very longrelation of all that shall hereafter occur.

Our Lord guard and increase the S. I. C. life ofYour Majesty with augumentation of more andgreater kingdoms and lordships, as the servants of

Y. M. desire.

.

A

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From the town of San Xo bal of the Havana, theeighteenth day of May, of the year 1539.

From Y. S. I. C. My’sServants, who your imperial feet kiss.JUAN JNO. DE AN LUIS FERNANDEZ

GAYTAN Asco DE BIEDMARubrica Rubrica Rubrica

THE FLORIDA HISTORICAL SOCIETYNOTICE OF ANNUAL MEETING

In accordance with the revision of the constitu-tion adopted at the annual meeting held in Gains-ville, Florida, on November 17, the next annualmeeting of the Florida Historical Society will beheld on Tuesday, January 25th 1938 at 2:00 P. M.,for the purpose of electing officers and transactingother business. A program of addresses, papersand discussions possessing wide-spread appeal andsignificance will be offered by notable leaders, be-ginning at 10:00 A. M.

Accepting the gracious invitation of PresidentRobert B. Reed of the St. Petersburg Junior Col-lege, presented by Mrs. T. M. McDuffee at the an-nual meeting held last January in Palm Beach, theSociety will open its 36th annual session at theSuwannee Hotel in St. Petersburg, as guests of theCollege.

Receiving later a similar invitation from Presi-dent John H. Sherman of the University of Tampa,through Hon. D. B. McKay, a director of the Society,suggesting that the Society re-convene at the Uni-versity of Tampa on the following day, Wednesday,January 26th, it was decided with the cooperationof the St. Petersburg Junior College, to accept thisinvitation. The program will begin at 10:00 A. M.It is believed that by thus having a two-day meetingin adjacent centers of such a large portion of theState’s population, the Society’s activities may beintroduced to a large number of its members andfriends not generally cognizant of its work.

Before and after the sessions, in St. Petersburgand in Tampa, an exhibit of Floridiana, lent byvarious public and private libraries in the State, andaugmented by numerous important items from

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private collections, will be on display near the as-sembly rooms, under the direction of Mrs. C. W. TenEick of Hollywood.

A signal and exceptionally significant program isbeing planned by the Program Committee, and it ishoped that with a large attendance of members,friends and guests, new advancement may be real-ized toward the purposeful and useful goal forwhich the Society was established.

The attendance of all friends of the history of theState is especially encouraged.

JOSHUA C. CHASE,President.

The annual meeting. Never has the Society mademore extensive plans for its annual meeting. Theprogram will extend through two full days-at St.Petersburg on Tuesday, January 25, with the St.Petersburg Junior College as host, and at Tampaon the following day with the University of Tampaour host.

The Program Committee, with Professor AlfredJ. Hanna as chairman, has long been at work, andnumerous addresses, papers, and discussions ontopics of Florida historical interest are planned.The complete program will appear in the press. Thebusiness meeting of the Society will be held at St.Petersburg in the Suwannee hotel at two o’clock onTuesday, and President Chase and the directors urgeall members to come if it is possible. While thissession will not be open to the public, members arewelcome to bring their friends and those who areinterested in the Society’s work.

The program meeting will begin at ten o’clockthat morning in the Suwannee Hotel and will includea paper on the history of St. Petersburg and Pinel-las county. The public is expected. A luncheon will

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follow at one o’clock which will honor HamiltonDisston and his contribution to the development ofthe State. The a n n u a l dinner, commemoratingFlorida’s first constitutional convention, the cen-tennial of which is celebrated this year, will takeplace at eight o’clock at the Suwannee hotel. Every-one is invited to both luncheon and dinner, butreservations should be made with the hotel.

The University of Tampa will be host for all ses-sions of Wednesday. Program meetings are plan-ned for ten o’clock in the morning and half-past two,at which noteworthy addresses and papers will bepresented, among them one on the history of Tampaand Hillsborough county. A luncheon at one o’-clock will honor H. B. Plant and his work of develop-ment in that region.

Continuously, before and after all sessions, bothat Tampa and St. Petersburg, a loan exhibit ofFloridiana will be on view. This is under the direc-tion of Mrs. Charles W. Ten Eick of Hollywood, aformer Tampan, who gathered such a notable col-lection for the annual meeting of last year. Manypublic and private libraries- of Florida as well asother owners are lending early books, maps, docu-ments, and every kind of interesting material relat-

ing to Florida and its history. Should you own orare able to secure the loan of any -such material ofFlorida interest, will you not bring this with youor send it to Mrs. Ten Eick.

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RECENT DONATIONS TO THE LIBRARY OF THEFLORIDA HISTORICAL SOCIETY

Memorandum of the education of the Indians imprisoned. atSt. Augustine about 1875 or 1876, by Mrs. Margaret W. Gibbs.A typewritten copy presented by Hon. George C. Gibbs,Jacksonville.

The Lures of Manatee, by Mrs. T. M. McDuffee. Inscribed andpresented by the author.

The History of the Democratic Party in Florida, by W. T. Cash.Presented by the author.

Documentary History of containing “A History of theDiscovery of Maine”, by J. G. Kohl. Volume I. This volumecontains chapters on the Spanish and French expeditions alongthe Florida coast. as well as numerous early maps of Florida.Presented by Dr. Edwin O. Grover.

“La Floride”. par N. Sanson d’Abbeville. A map, 7 1/8 x 10”,colored. About 1740. Presented by Dr. Edwin O. Grover.

“Coming-Another Florida Boom!” by Harry M. Killim.Autographed copy presented by the author.

Mrs. Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings. Gift of books, to be presentedlater.

A copy of an original letter written by Charles Rogers, datedApalachicola, Florida, February 4, 1843, to T. I. Tobias Esq.,New York, concerning a shipment of wine. Original in the Ar-chives of Rollins College. Copied and presented by WattMarchman.

“How Florida Came to Be”. A 2-page folder by P. D. Gold,containing also two verses by Clinton Scollard. The Angel AlleyPress, Publishers, Winter Park, Florida. Anonymous gift.

Pamphlets and booklets of Rollins College and Winter Park,presented by Professor A. J. Hanna.

First and only Catalogue of the Orlando College of Music.Presented by the Rollins Press, Inc.

Speech on the Florida canal, delivered in the U. S. House ofRepresentatives, by Lex Green of Florida. Presented by Mr.Green.

Florida Kiwanis District Bulletin, for 1937-38. Anonymous.The Franciscan Conquest of Florida (1573-1618), by Rev.

Maynard Geiger, O.F.M., Ph.D. Autographed copy presented bythe author.

The Martyrs of Florida (1513-1616), by Luis Geronimo de Ore,O.F.M., translated with biographical introduction and notes byRev. Maynard Geiger, O.F.M. Presented by Watt Marchman.

Pamphlets and booklets of the Florida Park Service. Pre-sented by the Florida Park and Forestry Service, Tallahassee.

Thesis, The History of the Establishment of ofHigher Education in Florida, by Watt Marchman. Presented bythe author.

Annual report of the Bartow Public Library for the year end-ing June 1937. Presented by the Bartow Public Library.

Young Pioneers in Florida, by Sallie Isora Magruder. Pre-sented by Watt Marchman.

Religious and Social Digest, Vol. 1, no. 1, August 1937 (pub-lished in Winter Park, Fla.) Anonymous.

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Fort Maitland, its origin and history, by A. J. Hanna. Pre-sented by the author.

The West Florida Controversy, 1798-1813, by Isaac J. Cox.Inscribed and presented by the author.

Romance of Floridas, by Michael Kenny, S.J. Inscribedand presented by the author.

From Mr. T. T. Wentworth, a Pensacola member of the So-ciety and former president of the local society, a bound folio oftwenty reproductions of items of Pensacola and Florida interest,issued by the Pensacola Historical Society through the coopera-tion of Mr. Wentworth. They include maps from the Libraryof Congress, Carey’s and Bradford’s atlases, the British Museum,the London and Gentleman’s magazines, and the Canadianarchives; also there are views from Harpers Weekly and Gleason’smagazine, Florida Civil War currency, Pensacola bank notes,and railroad stock certificates.

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