How the Governor went from Pacaha to Aquiguate and to Coligoa, and came to Cayas.

The Governor rested in Pacaha forty days, during which time the two caciques made him presents of fish, shawls, and skins, in great quantity, each striving to outdo the other in the magnitude of the gifts. At the time of his departure, the chief of Pacaha bestowed on him two of his sisters, telling him that they were tokens of love, for his remembrance, to be his wives. The name of one was Macanoche, that of the other Mochila. They were symmetrical, tall, and full: Macanoche bore a pleasant expression; in her manners and features appeared the lady; the other was robust. The cacique of Casqui ordered the bridge to be repaired; and the Governor, returning through his territory, lodged in the field near his town. He brought there much fish, exchanged two women for as many shirts with two of the Christians, and furnished a guide and tamemes. The Governor marched to one of his towns, and slept, and the next night came to another that was near a river,[286] where he ordered him to bring canoes, that he might cross over. There taking his leave, the chief went back.

The Governor travelled towards Aquiguate,[287] and on the fourth day of August came to the residence of the cacique, who, although he had sent him a present, on the road, of many shawls and skins, abandoned the place through fear on his arrival. That town was the largest seen in Florida: one-half of it was occupied by the Governor and his people; and, after a few days, discovering that the Indians were dealing in falsehoods, he ordered the other part to be burned, that it might not afford them cover should they attack him at night, nor be an embarrassment to his cavalry in a movement to repel them. An Indian having come, attended by a multitude, declaring himself to be the cacique, the Governor delivered him over to be looked after by his body-guard. Many of the Indians went off, and returned with shawls and skins; but, finding small opportunity for carrying out their evil plan, one day the pretended cacique, walking out of the house with the Governor, ran away with such swiftness that not one of the Christians could overtake him; and plunging into the river, at the distance of a crossbow-shot from the town, he made for the other shore, where many Indians, giving loud shouts, began to make use of their arrows. The Governor directly crossed over to attack them with horse and foot; but they dared not await him: following them up, he came to a town that was abandoned, before which there was a lake[288] the horses could not pass over, and on the other side were many females. The footmen having crossed, capturing many of them, took much clothing. Returning to the camp early in the night, the sentinels seized a spy, who assenting to the request to lead to where the cacique was, the Governor directly set out with twenty cavalry and fifty infantry in quest of him. After travelling a day and a half, they found him in a thick wood; and a soldier, ignorant of who he was, having struck him on the head with a cutlass, he called out not to kill him, that he was the chief; so he was captured, and with him one hundred and forty of his people.

The Governor, returning to Quiguate, directed him to tell his people to come and serve the Christians; but, after waiting some days, in the hope of their arrival, and finding that they did not come, he sent two captains, each on an opposite side of the river, with infantry and cavalry, whereby many of both sexes were made prisoners. The Indians, seeing the harm that they received for their rebellious conduct, waited on the Governor to take his commands, coming and going often, bringing with them presents of fish. The cacique and two of his wives being at their liberty in the quarters of the Governor, which were guarded by his halberdiers, he asked them what part of the country was most inhabited; to which they replied, that to the south, or down the river, where were large towns, and the caciques governed wide territories, with numerous people; and that to the northwest was a province, near some mountains, called Coligoa. He, with the others, deemed it well to go thither first; saying that the mountains, perhaps, would make a difference in the soil, and that silver and gold might afterward follow.

The country of Aquiguate, like that of Casqui and Pacaha, was level and fertile, having rich river margins, on which the Indians made extensive fields. From TascaluÇa to the River Grande may be three hundred leagues; a region very low, having many lakes: from Pacaha to Quiguate there may be one hundred and ten leagues. There he left the cacique in his own town; and an Indian guided them through an immense pathless thicket of desert for seven days, where they slept continually in ponds and shallow puddles.[289] Fish were so plentiful in them that they were killed with blows of cudgels; and as the Indians travelled in chains, they disturbed the mud at the bottom, by which the fish, becoming stupefied, would swim to the surface, when as many were taken as were desired.

The inhabitants of Coligoa had never heard of the Christians, and when these got so near their town as to be seen, they fled up stream along a river that passed near by there; some throwing themselves into the water, whence they were taken by their pursuers, who, on either bank, captured many of both sexes, and the cacique with the rest. Three days from that time came many Indians, by his order, with offerings of shawls, deer-skins, and two cowhides: they stated that at the distance of five or six leagues towards the north were many cattle, where the country, being cold, was thinly inhabited; and that, to the best of their knowledge, the province that was better provisioned than any other, and more populous, was one to the south, called Cayas.

About forty leagues from Quiguate stood Coligoa,[290] at the foot of a mountain, in the vale of a river of medium size, like the Caya, a stream that passes through Estremadura. The soil was rich, yielding maize in such profusion that the old was thrown out of store to make room for the new grain. Beans and pumpkins were likewise in great plenty: both were larger and better than those of Spain: the pumpkins, when roasted, have nearly the taste of chestnuts. The cacique continued behind in his own town, having given a guide for the way to Cayas.

We travelled five days, and came to the province of Palisema.[291] The house of the cacique was canopied with colored deer-skins, having designs drawn on them, and the ground was likewise covered in the same manner, as if with carpets. He had left it in that state for the use of the Governor, a token of peace, and of a desire for friendship, though still he did not dare to await his coming. The Governor, finding that he had gone away, sent a captain with horse and foot to look after him; and though many persons were seen, because of the roughness of the country, only a few men and boys were secured. The houses were few and scattered: only a little maize was found.

Directly the Governor set forward and came to Tatalicoya,[292] whence he took the cacique, who guided him to Cayas, a distance of four days' journey from that town. When he arrived and saw the scattered houses, he thought, from the information he had received of the great populousness of the country, that the cacique was lying to him—that it was not the province; and he menaced him, bidding him tell where he was. The chief, as likewise the other Indians taken near by, declared that to be in Cayas,[293] the best town in all the province; and that although the houses were far apart, the country occupied being extensive, it had numerous people and many maize-fields. The town was called Tanico.[294] The camp was placed in the best part of it, nigh a river. On the day of arrival, the Governor, with some mounted men, went a league farther, but found no one, and only some skins, which the cacique had put on the road to be taken, a sign of peace, by the usage of the country.