Page:Early western travels, 1748-1846 V13.djvu/326

 was called Florida, arrived, at length, amongst the Chicaças, who occupied pretty near the same country in which we find them at present. The principal object of the commander, and those who had embarked with him from the island of Cuba, of which he was governor, appears, as usual, to have been a search for the precious metals; and the natives, ever willing to rid themselves of those whom they feared and hated, kept perpetually instigating the adventurers to distant pursuits. The plain, on which we find them encamped, previous to their proceeding across the Mississippi (which did not at that time bear this name), and to which they had been conducted by their native guides, could have been no other than one of the Chicasaw Bluffs, or ancient crossing-places, and apparently the lowest. While busied here in providing boats for crossing, they were visited by a party of the natives who descended the river,[248] and declared to the governor (Soto), that they were the subjects of a great lord (or chief), whose name was Aquixo, who governed many towns, and a numerous people on the west side of the Great River (or Mississippi), and they came to inform him, that the chief with all his men would come to await his commands. The following day, the cazique[249] arrived with 200 canoes full of Indians, {249} armed with their bows and arrows, painted and decorated with feathers of various colours, and defended with shields made from the skins of the bison; the warriors were numerously arranged from the head to the stern of the boats. The canoe of the cazique was furnished with a tilt over the stern, beneath which he sat, and gave his