Fleet of the Cacique - Public domain book illustration

Fleet of the Cacique
Identifier: popularhistoryof00brya (find matches)
Title: A popular history of the United States : from the first discovery of the western hemisphere by the Northmen, to the end of the first century of the union of the states ; preceded by a sketch of the prehistoric period and the age of the mound builders
Year: 1876 (1870s)
Authors: Bryant, William Cullen, 1794-1878 Gay, Sydney Howard, 1814-1888
Subjects:
Publisher: New York : Scribner, Armstrong, and Company
Contributing Library: Lincoln Financial Foundation Collection
Digitizing Sponsor: The Institute of Museum and Library Services through an Indiana State Library LSTA Grant



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n thousand, four thousand of whomwere burnt to death. ■^ Portuguese Relation. 1541.) DISCOVERY OF THE MISSISSIPPI. 165 nessee. This river in that place was half a league over, so that aman could not be distinguished from one side to the other ;it was very deep and very rapid, and being always full of thfrnS-^trees and timber that was carried down by the force of thestream, the water was thick and very muddy. It abounded withfish, most of which differed much from those that are taken in therivers of Spain. Boats were necessary to cross, and it took a monthto build them. A great cacique, Aquixo, was lord of the country on the other sideof the Mississippi, and in a day or two he approached to meet yj^j^ ^f ^j^^the strangers. He came with an imposing array of two hun- <^<=i<i^®-dred canoes, filled with armed men, a part of whom stood up to pro-tect the rowers with feathered shields, but all with their bodies andfaces painted, their heads adorned with plumes of many colors. The
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cacique and other chiefs were sheltered under awnings. The canoes were most neatly made and very large, and, with their pavilions, feathers, shields, and standards, looked like a fleet of galleys. They brought presents of fish and fruit and bread, and came, they said, to welcome and do homage to the strangers. But the strangers chose to beheve that they had a hostile purpose ; when they hesitated to land the Span- Fleet f the Cacique. 166 SPANISH DISCOVERIES AND EXPLORATIONS. (Chap. VII. iards killed five or six of them for such a want of confidence, andothers who attempted to make a landing they fell upon as comingwith evil intent. When the boats were finished the army crossed without opposition.For a few days they kept along the west bank of the river, makingtheir way with difficulty through the forest and wet bottom lands, andharassed by constant attacks from the Indians. But they reached, erelong, a higher and dryer country, where they remained for more thana month, and where they