er, accepted the accommodation of several houses
in the village. The remainder of the army were lodged in exceedingly
pleasant bowers, skilfully, and very expeditiously constructed by the
natives, of bark and the green boughs of trees, outside the village.

It was now the month of May. The weather was intensely hot, and these
rustic bowers were found to be refreshingly cool and grateful. The
name of this friendly chief was Casquin. Here the army remained for
three days, without a ripple of unfriendly feeling arising between the
Spaniards and the natives.

It was a season of unusual drouth in the country, and on the fourth
day the following extraordinary incident occurred: Casquin,
accompanied by quite an imposing retinue of his most distinguished
men, came into the presence of De Soto, and stepping forward, with
great solemnity of manner, said to him,--

"Senor, as you are superior to us in prowess and surpass us in arms,
we likewise believe that your God is better than our God. These you
behold before you are the chief warriors of my dominions. We
supplicate you to pray to your God to send us rain, for our fields are
parched for the want of water."

De Soto, who was a reflective man, of pensive temperament and devoutly
inclined, responded,--

"We are all alike sinners, but we will pray to God, the Father of
mercies, to show his kindness to you."

He then ordered the carpenter to cut down one of the tallest pine
trees in the vicinity. It was carefully trimmed and formed into a
perfect, but gigantic cross. Its dimensions were such, that it
required the strength of one hundred men to raise and plant it in the
ground. Two days were employed in this operation. The cross stood upon
a bluff, on the western bank of the Mississippi. The next morning
after it was reared, the whole Spanish army was called out to
celebrate the erection of the cross, by a solemn religious procession.
A large number of the natives, with apparent devoutness, joined in the
festival.

Casquin and De Soto took the lead, walking side by side. The Spanish
soldiers and the native warriors, composing a procession of more than
a thousand persons, walked harmoniously along as brothers, to
commemorate the erection of the cross--the symbol of the Christian's
faith. The Cross! It should be the emblem of peace on earth and good
will among men. Alas! how often has it been the badge of cruelty and
crime.

The priests, for there were several in the army,