56 BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY [Bull. 137 



eastern bank and continued down it until stopped by a lake, or rather 

 side branch, which was flowing into the main stream with great vio- 

 lence. After considerable delay they crossed, though whether to the 

 east or west we are uncertain, and on March 29th entered Anilco, 

 finding it to be in a very fertile country, w^ith greater stores of corn 

 than any they had visited hitherto except Apalachee and Co<^a. 



Shortly after reaching this province, De Soto received a visit from 

 the chief of a tribe called Guachoya, whose town was on the Mississippi 

 and who was an enemy of the chief of Anilco. As he intended to reach 

 the Mississippi, he determined to proceed to Guachoya with his army 

 and led the greater part of it overland, sending 50 men in 6 canoes to 

 the same place down the river. Upon the approach of this army, the 

 Guachoya chief at first abandoned his town and with the rest of his 

 Indians fled to the opposite side of the Mississippi. Presently, how- 

 ever, he ventured to return, peace was made, and an alliance followed 

 resulting in a joint attack upon the Anilco settlements, the slaughter of 

 many Anilco Indians, and the destruction of the main town. The ac- 

 counts of our chroniclers render it certain that Anilco was either at 

 the famous Indian site at Jonesville where there was formerly a mound 

 80 feet high or at Harrisonburg. In either case, Guachoya must have 

 been near Ferriday or between that place and Waterproof. 



On the opposite side of the Mississippi some miles lower, De Soto 

 learned of a tribe more influential than either the Anilco or Guachoya, 

 and called Quigualtam. Wishing to open communications with its 

 chief, De Soto invited him to come to him, received a proud answer, 

 and was disposed to cross the river and punish "such presumption," but 

 was by that time very low with a fever which grew worse daily, and 

 finally, on May 21, 1542, he passed away. 



On his death bed De Soto appointed Luis de Moscoso as his succes- 

 sor, and this choice was ratified by the other officers. De Soto's body 

 was first buried near one of the town gates but a few nights later, 

 fearing that the Indians would dig it up, Moscoso had it exhumed, 

 wrapped in a blanket weighted with sand, and dropped into the mid- 

 dle of the Mississippi. Immediately afterward he called together the 

 captains and principal personages and demanded their several opin- 

 ions in writing as to whether they should descend the river to the 

 sea and follow the coast to Mexico or attempt to reach it by land. 

 He had determined to give up the enterprise. All voted in favor 

 of the venture by land and on June 5 they set out. 



Although the province of Anilco must have lain almost directly 

 west of Guachoya, the Spaniards did not pass through it, but men- 

 tion instead another called Catalte. It is to be suspected that they 

 avoided Anilco because of their recent attack upon it. Since we know 

 that they crossed Ouachita River on their return from Texas and are 



