, or perhaps to
the entrance of Ouachas Lake.--E.]

It happened one day that seven Spanish horsemen riding out from the town
of Apalache saw an Indian man and woman gathering old kidney-beans in
the fields. Immediately on seeing the horsemen the man took up the woman
in his arms and carried her into the wood, whence he returned with his
bow and arrows to attack the horsemen, who would have saved his life on
account of his bravery, calling out to him to yield; but he was so
desperate that he wounded them all, and when his arrows were expended he
gave one of them so violent a blow with his bow on the head-piece that
it stunned him, on which provocation he killed the Indian with his
lance. While Soto wintered in Apalache, he used every exertion to obtain
intelligence respecting the country towards the west, in order to
prepare for extending his discoveries in the spring; and among the
Indians who were brought to him on this occasion, was one about
seventeen years of age who had been a servant to some Indian travelling
merchants.

From this youth he was informed that, about thirteen of fourteen days
journey farther on, there was a province called _Cofachiqui_[155], which
produced gold, silver and pearls. This intelligence was very pleasing to
the Spaniards, and made them wish anxiously for the season in which to
march forwards. During all the winter, which the Spaniards spent in
Apalache, when any parties of them went out into the country, the
Indians seldom failed to kill some of the men or horses with their
arrows, yet always kept at a distance or among the woods, carefully
avoiding to encounter them in the open fields.

[Footnote 155: Perhaps the country of the Chicasaws.--E.]

The season being at length come, in the spring of 1540, for taking the
field, Soto set out on his march from Apalache towards the north, and on
the third day encamped in a peninsula formed by a swamp, having wooden
bridges of communication with the dry land. This being an elevated
situation, several towns could be seen from the encampment, which was
still in the district belonging to Apalache. The Spaniards rested here
two days, during one of which seven men strolled out from the camp
without orders, six of whom were slain by the Indians before they had
got two hundred paces from the camp, and the seventh difficultly escaped
with two wounds. Leaving the province of Apalache, the Spaniards now
entered that called _Atalpaha_, the first town they