and half a pound of bacon. With only that scanty provision, they
proceeded for fifteen days, finding nothing to eat in the country,
except some _palmetoes_ like those of Andalusia, and without seeing any
towns, house, or Indians in the whole way. At this time they came to a
river which they crossed, some by swimming and others on rafts or
floats, which employed them a whole day in consequence of the strength
of the current. They were opposed by about two hundred Indians on the
opposite bank, who only threatened them without coming to blows. Of
these they took six prisoners who conducted the Spaniards to their
dwellings, where they found a considerable quantity of Indian corn,
which proved a great relief to their urgent necessities. From this place
two officers were sent with a detachment in search of the sea-coast, in
hopes of establishing a communication with the ships; but all they found
was a creek only fit for receiving canoes.

After a short stay, they marched onwards in quest of the province of
_Apalache_, which the Indians had reported to be rich in gold, guided in
the way by some of their prisoners. After marching fifteen days without
meeting with any inhabitants, they fell in with an Indian chief, who was
dressed in a painted deers skin, carried on the back of one of his
subjects, and attended by a great number of Indians, some of whom went
before him playing upon a kind of pipes made of reeds. On being informed
by signs that the Spaniards were in search of the province of Apalache,
he seemed to intimate that he was an enemy to the people of that
country. The Spaniards gave this cacique beads, hawk-bells, and other
such trinkets, and continued their march. They came that night to a
river which was so rapid that they durst not venture to cross it on
floats, and were therefore obliged to construct a canoe for that
purpose. Juan Velasquez ventured to attempt crossing it by swimming his
horse, but both were drowned, and the Indian attendants on the cacique
drew the drowned horse from the river and eat him for their supper. On
their arrival at the town belonging to the cacique, they were supplied
with Indian corn, and next day were guided on their way through thick
woods, in which the road was obstructed by many fallen trees, and the
fragments of others which had been shivered by lightning, as the country
was subject to severe thunderstorms. On the 25th of June, Narvaez and
his people came in sight of Apalache, wit