Soto and his men came soon afterwards to another morass, which had two large trees and some branches laid across its narrowest part to serve as a bridge.  Soto sent two of his soldiers who were good swimmers to repair the bridge, but they were set upon by many Indians in canoes from whom they difficultly escaped after being severely wounded.  But as the Indians no more appeared at this pass, the bridge was soon repaired, and the army passed over into the province or district of another cacique named Acuera; who, upon receiving an offer of peace, sent back for answer that he would rather have war than peace with vagabonds.  Soto continued twenty days in this country, during which time the Indians killed fourteen Spaniards who had straggled from the main body, whose heads they carried to their cacique.  The Spaniards buried the bodies of their companions wherever they found them; but the Indians dug them up again and hung their quarters upon trees.  In the same time the Spaniards only killed fifty Indians, as they were always on their guard and kept among the woods and swamps.  Leaving the town of Acuera, to which they did no harm, Soto continued his march inland for Ocali, keeping a direction a little to the east of north, through a fertile country free from morasses.  At the end of about twenty leagues they came to Ocali, a town of about six hundred houses, abounding in Indian corn, pulse, acorns, dried plums, and nuts.  The cacique and all his people had withdrawn into the woods, and at the first message desiring them to come out sent a civil evasive answer, but complied at the second summons with some apprehension.

Going some days afterwards accompanied by this cacique to examine a river over which it was intended to lay a bridge, there appeared about five hundred Indians on the other side, who shot their arrows towards the Spaniards, continually crying out “go away with you, vagabond robbers!” Soto asked the cacique why he permitted his subjects to behave in this manner; to which he made answer that many of them had thrown off their obedience because he had entered into friendship with the Spaniards.  Soto therefore gave him permission to rejoin his subjects, on promising to return, but which he never did.  The proposed bridge over this river was constructed of two cables stretched across, having planks laid between them, of which they procured abundance fit for the purpose in the woods.  By this means the whole force inarched across with the utmost ease and satisfaction, the Spaniards on this occasion becoming engineers and pioneers to build bridges and construct roads, after the manner of the ancient Romans.  As the guides had fled, the Spaniards made prisoners of thirty other Indians to shew them the roads, whom they treated well and presented with baubles so much to their satisfaction, that they conducted the army for sixteen leagues through a fine open country to the district of Vitacucho which was about fifty leagues in circumference and was then divided among three brothers.