lmost tropical sun and a moist and spongy soil. Through this morass
the Indians, during generations long since passed away, had
constructed a narrow trail or path about three feet wide. This
passage, on both sides, was walled up by thorny and entangled
vegetation almost as impenetrable as if it were brick or stone.

In the centre of this gloomy forest, there was a sheet of shallow
water about a mile and a half in width and extending north and south
as far as the eye could reach. The Indians had discovered a ford
across this lake till they came to the main channel in the centre,
which was about one hundred and twenty feet wide. This channel, in the
motionless waters, was passed by a rude bridge consisting of trees
tied together.

De Soto encamped on the borders of this gloomy region for a short time
to become acquainted with the route and to force the passage. There
were various spots where the Indians, familiar with the whole region,
lay in ambush. From their unseen coverts, they could assail the
Spaniards with a shower of arrows as they defiled through the narrow
pass, and escape beyond any possibility of pursuit. Compelling some
Indians to operate as guides, under penalty of being torn to pieces by
bloodhounds, De Soto commenced his march just after midnight. Two
hundred picked men on foot, but carefully encased in armor, led the
advance in a long line two abreast. Every man was furnished with his
day's allowance of food in the form of roasted kernels of corn. They
pressed along through a path which they could not lose, and from which
they could not wander, till they reached the lake. Here the guides led
them along by a narrow ford, up to their waists in water, till they
reached the bridge of logs. The advance-guard had just passed over
this bridge when the day dawned, and they were discovered by the
Indians, who had not supposed they would attempt to cross the morass
by night.

The Appalachian warriors, with hideous yells and great bravery, rushed
into the lake to meet their foes. Here Spaniard and Floridian grappled
in the death struggle up to their waists in water. The steel-clad
Spaniards, with their superior arms, prevailed, and the natives
repulsed, rushed into the narrow defile upon the other side of the
lake. The main body of the army pressed on, though continually and
fiercely assailed by the arrows of the Indians. Arriving at a point
where there was an expanse of tolerably dry ground, De Soto sent into
t