LOUISIANA. 24g 



This difcourfe fadsfied my Cacique -, and as 

 he had drank a good portion of brandy, he was 

 very talkative, and I took the opportunity of 

 queflioning him concerning the grudge he bore 

 the Spaniards in Florida. He told me, that he had 

 heard by tradition, that the firft warriors of fire * 

 who came into this country had committed hof- 

 tilities in it, and violated the law of nations ; 

 and, that ever fmce that period, the anceitors of 

 his nation had always recommended it to their 

 pofterity to revenge the blood which had been 

 unjuftly fhed. I told the juggling Cacique, that 

 •the Lord of life had revenged them fufficiently, 

 ,by the death of Ferdinand SOI0, and almoft all 

 his warriors* 



1 added, that they had no fui-ther teafon to 

 hate the Spaniards -, that Philip II. grand chief of 

 the Spaniards^ had difavowed all the mifchief 

 which his generals had done in thefe climates, as 

 being contrary to his intentions. 



R 2 I told 



'* Hiftory inform us, that in 1544, Ferdinand Soto made 

 incurfions into this country ; the Indians there, who had 

 never feen any Europeans, called the Spaniards warriors of 

 fire, becaufe they were armed with guns and pillols ; they 

 faid, that the cannon was thunder, and that it caufed the 

 earth to tremble, by killing people at a great diftance. 



