On that same day the clerk, Alonso Enriquez, left and went to an island in the bay and called the Indians, who came and were with him a good while, and by way of exchange they gave him fish and some venison. The day following (which was Good Friday) the Governor disembarked, with as many men as his little boats would hold, and as we arrived at the huts or houses of the Indians we had seen, we found them abandoned and deserted, the people having left that same night in their canoes. One of those houses was so large that it could hold more than 300 people. The others were smaller, and we found a golden rattle among the nets. The next day the Governor hoisted flags in behalf of Your Majesty and took possession of the country in Your Royal name, exhibited his credentials, and was acknowledged as Governor according to Your Majesty's commands. We likewise presented our titles to him, and he complied as they required. He then ordered the remainder of the men to disembark, also the forty-two horses left (the others having perished on account of the great storms and the long time they had been on sea), and these few that remained were so thin and weak that they could be of little use for the time. The next day the Indians of that village came, and, although they spoke to us, as we had no interpreters we did not understand them; but they made many gestures and threats, and it seemed as if they beckoned to us to leave the country. Afterward, without offering any molestation, they went away.

After another day the Governor resolved to penetrate inland to explore the country and see what it contained. We went with him and the commissary, the inspector and myself, with forty men, among them six horsemen, who seemed likely to be of but little use. We took the direction of the north, and at the hour of vespers reached a very large bay, which appeared to sweep far inland. After remaining there that night and the next day, we returned to the place where the vessels and the men were. The Governor ordered the brigantine to coast towards Florida in search of the port which Miruelo, the pilot, had said he knew, but he had missed it and did not know where we were, nor where the port was. So word was sent to the brigantine, in case it were not found to cross over to Habana in quest of the vessel of Alvaro de la Cerda, and, after taking in some supplies, to come after us again.

After the brigantine left we again penetrated inland, the same persons as before, with some more men. We followed the shore of the bay, and, after a march of four leagues, captured four Indians, to whom we showed maize in order to find out if they knew it, for until then we had seen no trace of it. They told us that they would take us to a place where there was maize and they led us to their village, at the end of the bay nearby, and there they showed us some that was not yet fit to be gathered. There we found many boxes for merchandise from Castilla. In every one of them was a corpse covered with painted deer hides. The commissary thought this to be some idolatrous practice, so he burnt the boxes with the corpses. We also found pieces of linen and cloth, and feather head dresses that seemed to be from New Spain, and samples of gold.

We inquired of the Indians (by signs) whence they had obtained these things and they gave us to understand that, very far from there, was a province called Apalachen in which there was much gold. They also signified to us that in that province we would find everything we held in esteem. They said that in Apalachen there was plenty.

So, taking them as guides, we started, and after walking ten or twelve leagues, came to another village of fifteen houses, where there was a large cultivated patch of corn nearly ready for harvest, and also some that was already ripe. After staying there two days, we returned to the place where we had left the purser, the men and the vessels, and told the purser and pilots what we saw and the news the Indians had given us.

The next day, which was the 1st of May, the Governor took aside the commissary, the purser, the inspector, myself, a sailor called Bartolomé Fernandez and a notary by the name of Jeronimo de Albaniz, and told us that he had in mind to penetrate inland, while the vessels should follow the coast as far as the harbor; since the pilots said and believed that, if they went in the direction of the Palms they would reach it soon. On this he asked us to give our opinions.

I replied that it seemed to me in no manner advisable to forsake the ships until they were in a safe port, held and occupied by us. I told him to consider that the pilots were at a loss, disagreeing among themselves, undecided as to what course to pursue. Moreover, the horses would not be with us in case we needed them, and, furthermore, we had no interpreter to make ourselves understood by the natives; hence we could have no parley with them. Neither did we know what to expect from the land we were entering, having no knowledge of what it was, what it might contain and by what kind of people it was inhabited, nor in what part of it we were; finally, that we had not the supplies required for penetrating into an unknown country, for of the stores left in the ships not more than one pound of biscuit and one of bacon could be given as rations to each man for the journey, so that, in my opinion, we should re-embark and sail in quest of a land and harbor better adapted to settlement, since the country which we had seen was the most deserted and the poorest ever found in those parts.

The commissary was of the contrary saying, that we should not embark, but follow the coast in search of a harbor, as the pilots asserted that the way to Panuco was not more than ten or fifteen leagues distant and that by following along the coast it was impossible to miss it, since the coast bent inland for twelve leagues. The first ones who came there should wait for the others. As to embarking, he said it would be to tempt God, after all the vicissitudes of storms, losses of men and vessels and hardships we had suffered since leaving Spain, and until we came to that place. So his advice would be to move along the coast as far as the harbor, while the vessels with the other men would follow to the same port.

To all the others this seemed to be the best, except to the notary, who said that before leaving the ships they should be put into a harbor well known, safe and in a settled country, after which we might go inland and do as we liked.

The Governor clung to his own idea and to the suggestions of the others.

Seeing his determination, I required him, on the part of Your Majesty, not to forsake the vessels until they were in a secure port, and I asked the notary present to testify to what I said. The Governor replied that he approved the opinion of the other officials and of the commissary; that I had no authority for making such demands, and he asked the notary to give him a certified statement as to how, there not being in the country the means for supporting a settlement, nor any harbor for the ships, he broke up the village he had founded, and went in search of the port and of a better land. So he forthwith ordered the people who were to go with him to get ready, providing themselves with what was necessary for the journey. After this he turned to me, and told me in the presence of all who were there that, since I so much opposed the expedition into the interior and was afraid of it, I should take charge of the vessels and men remaining, and, in case I reached the port before him, I should settle there. This I declined.

After the meeting was over he, on that same evening, saying that it seemed to him as if he could not trust anybody, sent me word that he begged me to take charge of that part of the expedition, and as, in spite of his insistency, I declined, he asked for the reasons of my refusal, I then told him that I refused to accept, because I felt sure he would never see the ships again, or be seen by their crews any more; that, seeing how utterly unprepared he was for moving inland, I preferred to share the risk with him and his people, and suffer what they would have to suffer, rather than take charge of the vessels and thus give occasion for saying that I opposed the journey and remained out of fear, which would place my honor in jeopardy. So that I would much rather expose of my life than, under these circumstances, my good name.

Seeing that he could not change my determination, he had others approach me about it with entreaties. But I gave the same answer to them as to him, and he finally provided for his lieutenant to take command of the vessels, an alcalde named Caravallo.

On Saturday, the 1st of May, the day on which all this had happened, he ordered that they should give to each one of those who had to go with him, two pounds of ship-biscuit and one-half pound of bacon, and thus we set out upon our journey inland. The number of people we took along was three hundred, among them the commissary, Father Juan Xuarez, another friar called Father Juan de Palos and three priests, the officers, and forty horsemen. We marched for fifteen days, living on the supplies we had taken with us, without finding anything else to eat but palmettos like those of Andalusia. In all this time we did not meet a soul, nor did we see a house or village, and finally reached a river, which we crossed with much trouble, by swimming and on rafts. It took us a day to ford the river on account of the swiftness of its current. When we got across, there came towards us some two hundred Indians, more or less; the Governor went to meet them, and after he talked to them by signs they acted in such a manner that we were obliged to set upon them and seize five or six, who took us to their houses, about half a league from there, where we found a large quantity of corn ready for harvest. We gave infinite thanks to our Lord for having helped us in such great need, for, as we were not used to such exposures, we felt greatly exhausted, nd were much weakened by hunger.

On the third day that we were at this place the purser, the inspector, the commissary and myself jointly begged the Governor to send out in search of a harbor, as the Indians told us the sea was not very far away. He forbade us to speak of it, saying it was at a great distance, and I being the one who most insisted, he bade me to go on a journey of discovery and search of a port, and said I should go on foot with forty people. So the next day I started with the Captain Alonso del Castillo and forty men of his company. At noon we reached sandy patches that seemed to extend far inland. For about one and a half leagues we walked, with the water up to the knee, and stepping on shells that cut our feet badly. All this gave us much trouble, until we reached the river which we had crossed first, and which emptied through the same inlet, and then, as we were too ill-provided for crossing it, we turned back to camp and told the Governor what we had found and how it was necessary to ford the river again at our first crossing in order to explore the inlet thoroughly and find out if there was a harbor.

The next day he sent a captain called Valenzuela with sixty footmen and six horsemen to cross the river and follow its course to the sea in search of a port. After two days he came back, reporting that he had discovered the inlet, which was a shallow bay, with water to the knees, but it had there no harbor. He saw five or six canoes crossing from one side to the other, with Indians who wore many feather bushes.

Hearing this, we left the next day, always in quest of the province called Apalachen by the Indians, taking as guides those whom we had captured, and marched until the 17th of June without finding an Indian who would dare to wait for us. Finally there came to us a chief, whom an Indian carried on his shoulders. He wore a painted deerskin, and many people followed him, and he was preceded by many players on flutes made of reeds. He came the place where the Governor was and stayed an hour. We gave him to understand by signs that our aim was to reach Apalachen, but from his gestures it seemed to us that he was an enemy of the Apalachen people and that he would go and help us against them. We gave him beads and little bells and other trinkets, while he presented the Governor with the hide he wore. Then he turned back and we followed him.

That night we reached a broad and deep river, the current of which was very strong and as we did not dare to cross it, we built a canoe out of rafts and were a whole day in getting across. If the Indians had wished to oppose us, they could have easily impeded our passage, for even with their help we had much trouble. One horseman, whose name was Juan Velazquez, a native of Cuellar, not willing to wait, rode into the stream, and the strong current swept him from the horse and he took hold of the reins, and was drowned with the animal. The Indians of that chief (whose name was Dulchanchellin) discovered the horse and told us that we would find him lower down the stream. So they went after the man, and his death caused us much grief, since until then we had not lost anybody. The horse made a supper for many on that night. Beyond there, and on the following day, we reached the chief's village, whither he sent us corn.

That same night, as they went for water, an arrow was shot at one of the Christians, but God willed that he was not hurt. The day after we left this place, without any of the natives having appeared, because all had fled, but further on some Indians were seen who showed signs of hostility, and although we called them they would neither come back nor wait, but withdrew and followed in our rear. The Governor placed a few horsemen in ambush near the trail, who as they (the Indians) passed, surprised them and took three or four Indians, whom we kept as guides thereafter. These led us into a country difficult to traverse and strange to look at, for it had very great forests, the trees being wonderfully tall and so many of them fallen that they obstructed our way so that we had to make long detours and with great trouble. Of the trees standing many were rent from top to bottom by thunderbolts, which strike very often in that country, where storms and tempests are always frequent.

With such efforts we travelled until the day after St. John's Day, when we came in sight of Apalachen, without having been noticed by the Indians of the land. We gave many thanks to God for being so near it, believing what we had been told about the country to be true, and that now our sufferings would come to an end after the long and weary march over bad trails. We had also suffered greatly from hunger, for, although we found corn occasionally, most of the time we marched seven or eight leagues without any. And many there were among us who besides suffering great fatigue and hunger, had their backs covered with wounds from the weight of the armor and other things they had to carry as occasion required. But to find ourselves at last where we wished to be and where we had been assured so much food and gold would be had, made us forget a great deal of our hardships and weariness.

Once in sight of Apalachen, the Governor commanded me to enter the village with nine horsemen and fifty foot. So the inspector and I undertook this. Upon penetrating into the village we found only women and boys. The men were not there at the time, but soon, while we were walking about, they came and began to fight, shooting arrows at us. They killed the inspector's horse, but finally fled and left us. We found there plenty of ripe maize ready to be gathered and much dry corn already housed. We also found many deer skins and among them mantles made of thread and of poor quality, with which the women cover parts of their bodies. They had many vessels for grinding maize. The village contained forty small and low houses, reared in sheltered places, out of fear of the great storms that continuously occur in the country. The buildings are of straw, and they are surrounded by dense timber, tall trees and numerous water-pools, where there were so many fallen trees and of such size as to greatly obstruct and impede circulation.

The country between our landing place and the village and country of Apalachen is mostly level; the soil is sand and earth. All throughout it there are very large trees and open forests containing nut trees, laurels and others of the kind called resinous, cedar, juniper, wateroak, pines, oak and low palmetto, like those of Castilla. Everywhere there are many lagoons, large and small, some very difficult to cross, partly because they are so deep, partly because they are covered with fallen trees. Their bottom is sandy, and in the province of Apalachen the lagoons are much larger than those we found previously. There is much maize in this province and the houses are scattered all over the country as much as those of the Gelves. The animals we saw there were three kinds of deer, rabbits and hares, bears and lions and other wild beasts, among them one that carries its young in a pouch on its belly as long as the young are small, until they are able to look for their sustenance, and even then, when they are out after food and people come, the mother does not move until her little ones are in the pouch again. The country is very cold; it has good pasture for cattle; there are birds of many kinds in large numbers: geese, ducks, wild ducks, muscovy ducks, Ibis, small white herons (Egrets), herons and partridges. We saw many falcons, marsh-hawks, sparrow-hawks, pigeon-hawks and many other birds. Two hours after we arrived at Apalachen the Indians that had fled came back peaceably, begging us to give back to them their women and children, which we did. The Governor, however, kept with him one of their caciques, at which they became so angry as to attack us the following day. They did it so swiftly and with so much audacity as to set fire to the lodges we occupied, but when we sallied forth they fled to the lagoons nearby, on account of which and of the big corn patches, we could not do them any harm beyond killing one Indian. The day after, Indians from a village on the other side came and attacked us in the same manner, escaping in the same way, with the loss of a single man.

We remained at this village for twenty-five days, making three excursions during the time. We found the country very thinly inhabited and difficult to march through, owing to bad places, timber and lagoons. We inquired of the cacique whom we had retained and of the other Indians with us (who were neighbors and enemies of them) about the condition and settlements of the land, the quality of its people, about supplies and everything else. They answered, each one for himself, that Apalachen was the largest town of all; that further in less people were met with, who were very much poorer than those here, and that the country was thinly settled, the inhabitants greatly scattered, and also that further inland big lakes, dense forests, great deserts and wastes were met with.