Weekly national intelligencer. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1841-1869, 1847-07-31

Ia
branches in imitation of the whitening beard OF age Doe
not the whole encampment rise distinct upon your minds
Inc tents, with gay pennons with amora bearings the
proud seed whose impatient foot the ground those
men, stretched velvet grass and recruiting their weaed
strength by sleep; singing old Castiian Moorish
roundeays others musng the sweet rulers OF their souls
LETT In their distant home few kneeng before the officiating
priest at the altar which moment suced for their plous
ardor to erect under yonder secluded bower furnishing
their arms others engaged in mimic warfare and trials OF skill
strength De Soto sitting apart with his peers in rank
not In command and intent upon developing to them his plans
oil conquest while the dusky faces OF Indian boys and
women in the express wild establishment None
OF the warriors of that be they reported
to be absent on distant hunting excursion But methnks
that at times spy through the neghbong hickes the fierce
glance OF more han one eye sparkling with the suppressed
fury Of anticipated revenge. What and would il
not afford delight to hs poets Imagination to the painters
eye!
In two ponderous Volumes the historian Garclasso relates
the thousand incidents OF that romantic expedition What
interesting than the reception Of Soto the of the
Princess Cofachqu, the Dido of the wilderness What bat
Ties, what victories the elements themselves
and the endless obstacles thrown by ebeous nature
Whaincredbe physical difficulties by the advancing
host How heroic the resistance Of the Mobiens and of
the Alabamas With what headong fury those denizens of
the forest rush upon the iron clad warriors and dare the thu
ders of those whom they take to be the children of the
How splenddy described the siege Mobile where
fought like men, and wrapped themselves up the flames of
their destroyed city rather than surrender to their invaders
But let the conquerng hero beware Now he is encamp
Indian tribes. And lucky it that Soto prudent
as he brave, and slept equally prepared for the defence
and for the attack Hank in the dead of winters night
when the cold wind of the NORTH in the month Of January,
l54l bowling through the leahess trees simultaneous
howl heard, hdeous far than the voice the tenn
pest The Indians rush mpetuous, with fire brands and the
matched roofs which sheltered the Spaniards fire.
threatening them with immediate destruction. The horses
rearing and plungng in wild alright and breaking loose from
their gaments the undauned Spanads half naked, srug
Cling against the devourng element and the unsparng foe
desperate deeds of vao executed by and his compa
Mons the deeponed shouts of St. Jago and Spain to the
the demon shreks of the red warriors the final
overthrow Of the Indians the hot pursuit by the light of the
flaming vage-form picture highly exciting the magna.
ton and cold indeed must he be who does take delight
the strange contrast Of the heroic warfare of chvay
sde and OF the untuored courage of in his savage state
on the other
1t would be too long to follow Soto in his peregnatons du
ring two years. through part of Alabama, Mississippi and
Tennessee At last he stands the banks of the Mississippi,
the spot where ourshes the Egyptian named city
of Memphis He the mighty river, and onward he
goes up the White river while roaming the territory
of the Arkansas Meeting with alternate hospitality and hos
y the part Of the Indians he arrives the mouth of the
Red river within the present limits of the State of Louisiana.
There he was faed to close his adventurous
Three OF intense bodily fatigue and mental excitement
had undermined the heros constitution. Alas well might the
spirit droop within him He had landed on the shore of the
North American continent with high hopes, dreaming Of
quest over wealthy nations and magnificent cities What had
he met nermnabe forests endless agoons, nextricabe
Marshes sharp and continual conflicts with little superior
in his estimation to the british creation He who in Spain
cheerd by beauys glance by the songs of the MINSTREL
when he sped TO the contest with adversaes worthy of his
powess with the noble and chivarc Moos he who had
yelled in the halls ohe imperial ncas Of Peru and who there
had amased prncely wealth he, the flower of knighty
courts had been roaming like vagraut immense
to where he had discovered but half naked savage
dwelling in miserable huts gnoby epulsve when compared
with Casas stately domes with renadas fantastic palaces
and with Perus imperial dwellings, massive with gold His
wa of
dead What account of them would he render their noble
families He the bankrupt in fame and in fortune, how
would he Withstand the gbes ofenvy Thought that scourge
of life that inward of man. racks his BRAIN his
heart Is scared with deep anguish slow fever his
powerful ae and he sinks last the couch Of Sickness
TO rise again. The Spanards cluster around him. and
alternately look with despair at their dying cheain and
the omninous hue of the bloody river day
the Of the Red River. But he the allow the
wild havoc within the soul betray itself in the outward
mien not he in common with the vulgar herd, the to
utter word Of wall With smiling lips and serene brow
he cheers his companions and hem by one
allegiance in his hands to Muscoso de Ayarado whom
he desgnates his Union and perseverance,
my friends he 50 long the breath Of life animates
your bodies do not er in the enterprise you have under
TAKEN Spain expects richer harvest Of glory and more ample
domains from her children" These his last words and
then he dies Be the soul of the noble knight and Of the
true Christian Rest his mortal remains in peace within that
oaken trunk scooped by his companions and by them sunk
many fathoms deep in the bed Of the Mississippi
The Spanards at FIRST had tried conceal the death of
Soto from the Indians because they felt that there pro-
lection in the belief of his existence. What mockery was
to their grief to simulate joy the very tomb of their be-
loved chief whom they had buried in their camp before seek
ing for him safer place Of repose But when the slaves
Of hard necessity they were with heavy hearts but smiling
faces coursing in tournament the burial ground and
proanng the consecated spot the eectualy 10 mis-
lead the conecures Of the Indians they that their sub
erfuge vain, and that the red men, with significant
gances pointing each other the precise spot where
the great white warrior slept How dolorousy does GarcI-
describe the exhumaon and the pungng Of the body
into the turbd stream Of the Great Father Of Rivers
Then Odyssey of woes. The attempt Of the
Spaniards go by land Mexico their wandering
the Rio Gande and the mountainous region which lies be-
tween Mexico and Texas and which was destined in after
years. be famous in American history their return 10
the mouth of Red river their building Of vessels capable Of
navigating the tender compassion and aeconate
sstance of the good Cazque Anco the league Of the other
Indian princess far and we under the auspices Of the great
king, Quguaanqu, the Agamemnon Of the confederacy
the discovery Of the po the Of all the Indian chiefs
the ndomitable Qugualanqu; the fleet Of thou
sand Canoes mounted by twenty thousand men, with which
he pursued the weary and depag Spanards seventeen
long days. assaing them with incessa uy the giving up
Of the chase only when the nearly in sight the fierce
parting words Of the Indians 10 the Spaniards "Te your
countmen that you have have been pursued by uguaan
qui alone il he had been better assisted by his peers
of you would have survived to tel the tale the solemn rites
with which, in their thousand rveed the water,
they, the day they ceased their pursuit. adoed the rising
and sauted him with their thankseings for the expu
sion Of the invaders the habreadh escapes Of the three
hundred Spanas who alone out Of the bright host Of their
former companions had succeeded in fleeing from the hostile