to the adventurers.

De Soto inquired very earnestly of him respecting the country and the
prospect of finding any region abounding with silver and gold. Ortiz
had but little information to give, save that, at the distance of
about a hundred miles from where they then were, there was a great
chief named Uribaracaxi, to whom all the adjacent chiefs were
tributary. His realms were represented as far more extensive,
populous, and rich than those of the surrounding chieftains. De Soto
dispatched a band of sixty horsemen and sixty foot soldiers with
presents and messages of friendship to Uribaracaxi. The object of the
expedition was to explore the country and to make inquiries respecting
gold.

A weary march of about forty miles brought the party to the village of
Mucozo, where Ortiz had resided for some years. The chief of this
tribe, whose name was also Mucozo, was brother-in-law to Uribaracaxi.
Mucozo received the Spaniards with great hospitality, and learning
that they were on a friendly visit to Uribaracaxi, furnished them with
a guide. Four days were occupied in a tedious march through a country
where pathless morasses continually embarrassed their progress.

This expedition was under the command of Balthazar de Gallegos. He
reached his point of destination in safety. But the chief, deeming it
not prudent to trust himself in the hands of the Spaniards, whose
renown for fiendish deeds had filled the land, had retired from his
capital, and nearly all the inhabitants had fled with him. He left for
his uninvited guests no message either of welcome or defiance.
Gallegos found all his attempts to open any communications with him
unavailing. There was no plunder in the city worth seizing, and De
Soto's commands to the expedition were very strict, to treat the
Indians with the utmost kindness and humanity.

Gallegos made earnest inquiries of the Indians whom he met, as to the
provinces where gold and silver could be found. They told him that
there was a country many leagues west of them, of marvellous
luxuriance and beauty, where gold was found in such abundance that the
warriors had massive shields and helmets made of that precious metal.
The more shrewd of the Spaniards placed very little reliance upon
this testimony. They thought they saw evidence that the Indians were
ready to fabricate any story by which they could rid themselves of
their visitors.

Soon after the departure of Gallegos, De Soto received the
intelli