158 BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY [bull. 73 
So soon as the advance and the rear of the force were come up the governor com- 
manded that all the best armed should dismount, of which he made four squadrons 
of footmen. The Indians, observing how he was going on arranging his men, urged 
the cacique to leave, telling him, as was afterwards made known by some women 
who were taken in the town, that as he was but one man, and could fight but as one 
only, there being many chiefs present very skilful and experienced in matters of 
war, any one of whom was able to command the rest, and as things in war were so sub- 
ject to fortune, that it was never certain which side would overcome the other, they 
wished him to put his person in safety; for if they should conclude their lives there, 
on which they had resolved rather than surrender, he would remain to govern the 
land; but for all that they said, he did not wish to go, until, from being continually 
urged, with fifteen or twenty of his own people he went out of the town, taking with 
him a scarlet cloak and other articles of the Christians' clothing, being whatever he 
could carry and that seemed best to him. 
The governor, informed that the Indians were leaving the town, commanded the 
cavalry to surround it; and into each squadron of foot he put a soldier, with a brand, 
to set fire to the houses, that the Indians might have n< > shelter. His men being placed 
in full concert, he ordered an arquebuse^to be shot off; at the signal the four squadrons, 
at their proper points, commenced a furious onset, and, both sides severely suffering 
the Christians entered the town. The friar, the priest, and the rest who were with 
them in the house, were all saved, though at the cost of the lives of two brave and 
very able men who went thither to their rescue. The Indians fought with so great 
spirit that they many times drove our people back out of the town. The struggle 
lasted so long that many Christians, we>ary and very thirsty, went to drink at a pond 
near by, tinged with the blood of the killed, and returned to the combat. The gover- 
nor, witnessing this, with those who followed him in the returning charge of the foot- 
men, entered the town on horseback, which gave opportunity to fire the dwellings; 
then breaking in upon the Indians and beating them down, they fled out of the place, 
the cavalry and infantry driving them back through the gates, where, losing the hope 
of escape, they fought valiantly; and the Christians getting among them with cut- 
lasses, they found themselves met on all sides by their strokes, when many, dashing 
headlong into the flaming houses, were smothered, and heaped one upon another, 
burned to death. 
They who perished there were in all two thousand five hundred, a few more or less; 
of the Christians there fell eighteen, among whom was Don Carlos, brother-in-law 
of the governor; one Juan de Gamez, a nephew; Men Rodriguez, a Portuguese; and 
Juan Vazquez, of Villanueva de Barcarota, men of condition and courage; the rest 
were infantry. Of the living, one hundred and fifty Christians had received seven 
hundred wounds from the arrows; and God was pleased that they should be healed 
in little time of very dangerous injuries. Twelve horses died, and seventy were 
hurt. The clothing the Christians carried with them, the ornaments for saying mass, 
and the pearls, were all burned there; they having set the fire themselves, because 
they considered the loss less than the injury they might receive of the Indians from 
within the houses, where they had brought the things together. 1 
The chronicler adds that De Soto learned here that Maldonado 
"was waiting for him in the port of Ochuse, six days' travel distant." 
Fearing, however, that the barrenness of his accomplishment up to 
that time would discourage future settlements in his new province, 
he remained in that place twenty-eight days and then moved on 
toward the northwest. He says of this land of Mauilla: 
i Bourne, Narr. of De Soto, I, pp. 87-97. 
