e heart, and
that the contentment which I feele in my heart I cannot dissemble, yet is
it not sufficient wholly to manifest the same. Where did this your
countrie, which I doe gouerne, deserue to be visited of so soueraigne, and
so excellent a Prince, whom all the rest of the world ought to obey and
serue? And those which inhabite it being so base, what shall be the issue
of such happines, if their memorie doe not represent vnto them some
aduersitie that may betide them, according to the order of fortune? If
from this day forward we may be capable of this benefit, that your
Lordship will hold vs for your owne, we cannot faile to be fauoured and
maintained in true iustice and reason, and to haue the name of men. For
such as are void of reason and iustice, may be compared to brute beastes.
For mine owne part, from my very heart with reuerence due to such a
Prince, I offer my selfe vnto your Lordship, and beseech you; that in
reward of this my true good will, you will vouchsafe to make vse of mine
owne person, my countrie and subiects.
The Gouernour answered him, that his offers and good wil declared by the
effect, did highly please him, whereof he would alwaies be mindfull to
honour and fauour him as his brother. This countrie, from the first
peaceable Cacique, vnto the Prouince of Patofa, which were fiftie leagues,
is a fat countrie, beautifull, and very fruitfull, and very well watered,
and full of good Riuers. And from thence to the Port de Spirito Santo,
where wee first arriued in the land of Florida, (which may bee 350.
leagues little more or lesse) is a barren land, and the most of it groues
of wild Pine-trees, low and full of lakes, and in some places very hie and
thicke groues, whither the Indians that were in armes fled, so that no man
could finde them, neither could any horses enter into them. Which was an
inconuenience to the Christians, in regard of the victuals which they
found conueied away: and of the trouble which they had in seeking of
Indians to bee their guides.
Chap. XIIII. How the Gouernour departed from the Prouince of Patofa, and
went through a desert, where he and all his men fell into great distresse,
and extreme miserie.
In the towne of Patofa the youth, which the Gouernour carried with him for
an interpretour and a guide, began to fome at the mouth, and tumble on the
ground, as one possessed with the diuell: They said a Gospell ouer him;
and the fit left him. And he said, that foure d
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