HISTORICAL COLLECTIONS
OF
L O U I S I A N A,
EMBRACING TRANSLATIONS OF
MANY RARE AND VALUABLE DOCUMENTS
RELATING TO THE
NATURAL, CIVIL AND POLITICAL
HISTORY OF THAT STATE.
COMPILED WITH
HISTORICAL AND BIOGRAPHICAL NOTES,
AND AN
INTRODUCTION,
BY
B. F. FRENCH,
Member of the Louisiana Historical Society; of the American Association for the
Advancement of Science; Honorary Member of the Historical Society of
Pennsylvania; Corresponding Member of the Academy of
Natural Sciences of Philadelphia, etc., etc.
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PART II.
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PHILADELPHIA:
DANIELS AND SMITH.
New York, G. P. PUTNAM; Boston, LITTLE AND BROWN; New Orleans, B. M.
NORMAN; London, JOHN CHAPMAN; Paris, GALIGNANI AND CO.
1850.
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Entered according to the Act of Congress, in the year 1850, by
B. F. FRENCH,
in the Clerk's Office of the District Court of the Eastern District of Pennsylvania.
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PHILADELPHIA:
PRINTED BY T. K. & P. G. COLLINS.
TO THE
MEMBERS OF THE LOUISIANA HISTORICAL SOCIETY
THIS VOLUME
IS RESPECTFULLY DEDICATED
BY
BENJAMIN F. FRENCH.
[The following is an excerpt from this volume. (note ofetext transcriber.)]
A NARRATIVE
OF THE
EXPEDITION OF HERNANDO DE SOTO
INTO
FLORIDA.
BY A GENTLEMAN OF ELVAS.
PUBLISHED AT EVORA 1557.
TRANSLATED FROM THE PORTUGUESE
BY
RICHARD HACKLUYT.
LONDON, 1609.
CAPTAIN SOTO was the son of a squire of Xerez of Badajoz.He went into the Spanish Indies, when Peter Arias of Avila wasGovernor of the West Indies. And there he was without anythingelse of his own, save his sword and target: and for his good qualitiesand valor, Peter Arias made him captain of a troop of horsemen,and by his commandment he went with Fernando Pizarro to theconquest of Peru: where (as many persons of credit reported, whichwere there present) as well at the taking of Atabalipa, Lord of Peru,as at the assault of the city of Cusco, and in all other places wherethey found resistance, wheresoever he was present, he passed all othercaptains and principal persons. For which cause, besides his part ofthe treasure of Atabalipa, he had a good share; whereby in time hegathered a hundred and four score thousand ducats together, withthat which fell to his part; which he brought into Spain; whereofthe Emperor borrowed a certain part, which he repaid again with60,000 rials of plate in the rent of the silks of Granada, and all therest was delivered hi