Page:Vol 2 History of Mexico by H H Bancroft.djvu/533

Rh back to New Spain, but contrary winds always prevented it. Most of the survivors of the expedition returned by way of Cape Good Hope to Europe in 1547 and the following years; but the leader died on the way, and Spain had as yet no foothold in that quarter. Mendoza was prevented from entering upon further expeditions of discovery by a new law which forbade viceroys and governors henceforth to engage in any such enterprise.

Into this period also falls the memorable and disastrous expedition of Fernando de Soto to Florida and the Mississippi Valley. Though not belonging to my province, a slight allusion to the subject may not be out of place, as the remnant of Soto's force landed on the shores of Pánuco soon after Mendoza's return to the city of Mexico.

After departing from Cuba in 1539 with a formidable force and well-appointed fleet, four years were spent in endless marches and countermarches through the regions east and west of the Mississippi, where the cruel barbarities which characterized the earlier conquests were repeated. Gold was the watchword of Soto's band, and where it was not obtained blood must flow. Even the poor and destitute savages they plundered of their little property, and then tortured them because there was no more. The natives, at first friendly and hospitable, were finally compelled by exactions and cruelty to make common cause against the invaders. Driven down the Mississippi after Soto's death, the remnant of the unfortunate band arrived at the town of Pánuco, after a most dangerous voyage of fifty-two days from the mouth of the river. The magnificent company of three hundred and fifty horse and nine hundred foot had in a measure met