Evening star., 1939-08-13
Smithsonian Scientist
Charts Disputed
Route Of De Soto
Dr.. Swonton's Findings
Issued as Official
Document by Congress

The route covered by fernando
Do Soto in penetrating the eastern
interior of the United States and
discovering the Mississippi River,
the detailed accounts of which have
long been in dispute, are said to
have been solved by DR.. John R.
SWanton, Smithsonian Institution
ethnologist and chairman of the
United States De Soto Expedition
Commission. The latter is preparing
for the celebration in 1940-43 of
the 40cth anniversary of the expedi-
ton.
A report by DR.. Swanton which
describes his findings and those of
his fellow commission members, has
been issued by Congress as an off,
clal document and is said to con-
stitute one of the most painstaking
and thorough compilations of a diff
ficult chapter in American history.
Almost day by day footsteps of
the famous explorer are traced In
the report and very few points are
said to remain in dispute concern
ing De Sotos tragic expedition over
mountains and swamp in futile
search Of the tabled Ell Dorado Con-
corning some localities and dates,
however, it is said to be impossible
to come to final conclusions from
the evidence available. Working
with DR.. Swanton on the fact-fnd-
ing commission were Miss Caroline
Dormon, Chestnut, La, and the late
Col. John R. Fordyce, Little Rock,
Ark.
Big Changes in Countryside.
During the nearly four centuries
which have passed since De Soto
landed on the Florida coast and
undertook his expedition into the
interior the countryside has under
gone profound changes and the last
| speakers of the tongues of some of
/ the savage tribes he encountered
have died, all making a reconstruct
ton Of the route followed difficult.
There are four primary sources of
information regarding the famous
expedition, it is pointed, but sources
of information regarding it differ.
OF the primary information sources
is an account written by "a gentle
man of Elvas," Portuguese who ac-
tually accompanied De Soto and
whose book was printed only IA
years after the battered remnants
of the expedition reached Mexico and
safety. The second source is the &C
count of Garcilaso de la Vega,
descended from the Incas of Peru,
| q NJ iyofN 10
Spain from survivors of the expedi-
ton, while the third is by an un-
known author but bears the ear
marks of having been an official re-
port of the expedition. 1t found its
way into Spanish archives and is
said to be the only account of which
the original manuscript exists. The
fourth information source is the
diary of De Soto's secretary, Rodrigo
Ranjel, the manuscript of which has
disappeared, but most of which is
preserved in a book written by the
contemporary historian, Oviedo.
Pays Tribute to De Soto.
1t has been DR.. Swanton's Job to
check the various sources with ex-
isting sites from the brief physical
descriptions, Identification of the
languages of the place names, esti-
nation of the distances it was possi-
BILE to travel in stated periods, and
numerous other independent lines of
evidence. AS an ethnologist, one of
DR.. Swanton's specialties has been
the languages and the folkways of
the tribes who inhabited the South
eastern United States during the
earliest days of white exploration.
This, it is said, has proved an inval-
liable asset in retracing De Soto's
men so many years after all physical
evidence of them had been oblit-
Grated
DR.. Swanton concludes his report
with tribute to De Soto, saying in
part: 1--WE are paying tribute to an
enterprise which has important his
toric, ethnologic and archeologic
meanings for the people of the
United States as whole. In the
leader of the expedition we have no
Galahad. but one who, by the stand
ards of his time and country, COM
pared favorably with Cortez, Pizarro
and other similar leaders"