ristian. Ferdinand de Soto was of a comely appearance and
pleasant countenance, and of affable and generous dispositions. He was
an excellent soldier, and managed his weapons with much dexterity both
on foot and on horseback; skilful and experienced in all military
affairs; always brave and cool in action, and the foremost in every
enterprise of danger: severe in punishing when necessary, yet easy to
forgive, and always inclined to please his soldiers when that might be
done without lessening his authority. At his death he was only forty-two
years of age, and had expended his whole fortune, exceeding 100,000
ducats on this romantic and fruitless expedition. His death was
universally lamented among his followers, as he had acquired their
universal love and esteem by his excellent qualities and conduct. It was
thought necessary to bury him under night, that his death might not be
known to the Indians, nor the place of his interment, lest they should
insult his remains; but in spite of all their precautions the secret was
revealed; for which reason they hollowed out a log of oak into which
they put his body, and sunk it in the middle of the great river, at a
place where it was a quarter of a league across and nineteen feet deep.

When the funeral of the general was over, Luis de Alvarado assembled his
officers to hold a council upon the present state of their affairs.
After thanking them for admitting him as their commander, and making a
statement of their numbers, arms, and ammunition, he desired they would
determine upon what was best to be done, considering the fierceness and
inveterate enmity of the barbarous nations by whom they were surrounded:
Whether to prosecute what had been previously resolved upon by their
late lamented general, or to devise some other measure for extricating
themselves from the country, declaring that he was ready to proceed
according to their opinion and advice. In their answer, the officers
thanked him for the compliment he paid them, but referred the
determination respecting their future proceedings to himself, and again
submitted to obey him as their commander. The death of Soto had made a
great change in the minds of the Spanish forces, who now determined to
abandon the country they had taken so much pains to discover.
Accordingly, they set out on the 5th of July 1542, and marched above 100
leagues to the westwards, through a barren and desert country[185]. On
leaving Guachacoya they were