oosa, in Alabama.
Throughout the whole route they were treated by the natives with the
most profuse hospitality, being fed by them liberally, and supplied
with guides to lead them from one village to another. The province
which De Soto was thus traversing, and which was far-famed for its
beauty and fertility, was called Coosa.

"With a delightful climate, and abounding in fine meadows and
beautiful little rivers, this region was charming to De Soto and
his followers. The numerous barns were full of corn, while acres
of that which was growing bent to the warm rays of the sun and
rustled in the breeze. In the plains were plum trees, peculiar to
the country, and others resembling those of Spain. Wild fruit
clambered to the tops of the loftiest trees, and lower branches
were laden with delicious Isabella grapes."[E]

[Footnote E: History of Alabama, by Albert James Pickett, p. 17.]

This is supposed to have been the same native grape, called the
Isabella, which has since been so extensively cultivated.

CHAPTER XV.

_The Dreadful Battle of Mobila._

The Army in Alabama.--Barbaric Pageant.--The Chief of
Tuscaloosa.--Native Dignity.--Suspected Treachery of the
Chief.--Mobila, its Location and Importance.--Cunning of
the Chief.--The Spaniards Attacked.--Incidents of the
Battle.--Disastrous Results.

On the 15th of July, 1540, the army came in sight of the metropolitan
town of the rich and populous province through which it was passing.
The town, like the province, bore the name of Coosa. The army had
travelled slowly, so that the native chief, by his swift footmen, had
easily kept himself informed of all its movements. When within a mile
or two of Coosa, De Soto saw in the distance a very splendid display
of martial bands advancing to meet him. The friendly greeting he had
continually received disarmed all suspicion of a hostile encounter.

The procession rapidly approached. At its head was the chief, a young
man twenty-six years of age, of admirable figure and countenance,
borne in a chair palanquin upon the shoulders of four of his warriors.
A thousand soldiers, in their most gaudy attire, composed his train.
As they drew near, with the music of well-played flutes, with regular
tread, their mantles and plumes waving in the breeze, all the
Spaniards were alike impressed with the beauty of the spectacle. The
chief himself was decorated with a ma