cacique
thought with himself that he was dead; and commanded two young and
well-proportioned Indians to be brought thither; and said, that the
use of that country was, when any lord died, to kill Indians to wait
upon him, and serve him by the way, and for that purpose by his
commandment were those come thither: and prayed Luys de Moscoso to
command them to be beheaded, that they might attend and serve his lord
and brother. Luys de Moscoso told him that the Governor was not dead,
but gone to heaven, and that of his own Christian soldiers he had
taken such as he needed to serve him, and prayed him to command those
Indians to be loosed, and not to use any such bad custom from
thenceforth: straightway he commanded them to be loosed, and to get
them home to their houses.

[1] From the "Narrative of the Gentleman of Elvas," the author's
name being unknown, but written by one of De Soto's companions, a
Spaniard, and first printed in 1557. The author has been supposed
to be Alvaro Fernandez, but this is only a matter of conjecture.
The translation here used is that made by Hakluyt, printed in
London in 1809, and included in the "Old South Leaflets."

DRAKE'S VISIT TO CALIFORNIA

(1579)

BY ONE OF DRAKE'S COMPANIONS[1]

From Guatulco we departed the day following, viz, Aprill 16, [1579]
setting our course directly into the sea, whereon we sayled 500
leagues in longitude, to get a winde: and between that and June 3,
1400 leagues in all, till we came into 42 deg. of North latitude,
where in the night following we found such alteration of heate, into
extreame and nipping cold, that our men in generall did grieuously
complaine thereof, some of them feeling their healths much impaired
thereby; neither was it that this chanced in the night alone, but the
day following carried with it not onely the markes, but the stings and
force of the night going before, to the great admiration of vs all;
for besides that the pinching and biting aire was nothing altered, the
very roapes of our ship were stiffe, and the raine which fell was an
unnatural congealed and frozen substance, so that we seemed rather to
be in the frozen Zone then any way so neere vnto the sun, or these
hotter climates....

The 3 day following, uiz., the 21, our ship hauing receiued a leake at
sea, was brought to anchor neerer the shoare, that, her goods being
landed, she might be repaired; but for that we were to preuent any
danger t