oto with a string of pearls six feet in length, each
pearl as large as a filbert. These gems would have been of almost
priceless value but for the action of fire upon them.

De Soto expressed some curiosity to see how the pearls were obtained.
The Cacique immediately dispatched forty canoes down the river to fish
during the night for pearl oysters. In the morning De Soto accompanied
the Cacique to the banks of the river where the oysters were
collected. Large fires were built, and the oysters placed upon the
glowing coals. The heat opened them, and the pearls were sought for.
From some of the first thus opened ten or twelve pearls were obtained,
about the size of peas. They were all, however, more or less injured
by the heat. Col. Pickett says that the oyster mentioned was the
muscle, to be found in all the rivers of Alabama.

Again De Soto commenced his journey, leaving the friendly chief and
his people well contented with the presents he made them of gayly
colored cloths, knives, and other trinkets. Following the banks of the
Coosa to the west they soon entered what is now the State of Alabama,
and on the second of July came to a large native town named Acoste.
The tribe, or nation, inhabiting this region, was famed for its
martial prowess. The Cacique, a fierce warrior, did not condescend to
advance to meet De Soto, but at the head of fifteen hundred of his
soldiers, well armed and gorgeously uniformed, awaited in the public
square the approach of the Spanish chief. De Soto encamped his army
just outside of the town, and, with a small retinue, rode in to pay
his respects to the Cacique.

Some of the vagabond soldiers straggled into the city, and were guilty
of some outrages, which led the natives to fall upon them. De Soto,
with his accustomed presence of mind, seized a cudgel and assisted the
natives in fighting the Spaniards, while at the same moment he
dispatched a courier to summon the whole army to his rescue. Peace was
soon established, but there was some irritation on both sides. The
next morning De Soto was very willing to leave the neighborhood, and
the chief was not unwilling to have him.

De Soto crossed the river Coosa to the eastern banks, and journeying
along in a southerly direction, at the rate of about twelve miles a
day, passed over a fertile and populous region, nearly three hundred
miles in extent. It is supposed his path led through the present
counties of Benton, Talladega, Coosa, and Tallap