Three days after their arrival, the cacique waited upon Soto, and, after making his obeisance to the sun and moon, he said “he was persuaded the Spaniards worshipped a better God than the Indians, since he had given them victory with so small a number over such multitudes of Indians:  Wherefore he requested that Soto would pray to his God to send rain, of which they were in great want.”  The general answered, that though he and all his men were sinners, they would humbly pray to God to shew mercy.  Having accordingly ordered a cross to be erected on a hill, he and all the forces, except a guard left to protect the quarters, went in solemn procession to adore the cross, accompanied by the cacique and some Indians, the Christian priests singing the litanies, and all the soldiers joining in the responses.  Being come to the cross, many prayers were recited on their knees, after which they returned to their quarters chanting appropriate psalms.  Above twenty thousand natives stood gazing at this religious procession, some on the same side of the river, and others on the opposite bank, all of whom occasionally set up loud shouts, as if begging of God to hear them.  It pleased God to answer their humble prayers, as towards midnight there fell sufficient rain to satisfy the wants of the Indians, and the Christians returned solemn thanks for the mercy which God had been pleased to grant at their intercessions.

Nine days afterwards, the Spaniards again set out on their march, accompanied by Casquin and a great number of Indians carrying water and other necessaries.  The cacique was also accompanied by five thousand of his warriors, as he was at war with the cacique of the next adjoining tribe, and took the opportunity of the Spaniards to assist in the war.  During this march they spent three days in getting across a great swamp, when they came in sight of Capaha[176], being the frontier town of the next tribe.  This place was fortified on three sides by a wet ditch forty fathoms wide and ten fathoms deep, into which water was conveyed from the great river by a canal three leagues in length.  The fourth side, which had no ditch, was secured by high and thick palisades.  As the cacique of Capaha was unprovided for resistance, he went away on seeing the approach of his enemies along the canal in a canoe, and sheltered himself in a fortified island in the great river.  Many of his subjects accompanied him, and those who remained were butchered by the followers of Casquin, who took the whole scalps[177] of all they killed to carry home as trophies.  They plundered the town, and took many prisoners, among whom were two beautiful women, wives of the cacique.  They likewise demolished the burial-place belonging to Capaha, throwing about the bones of his ancestors, and recovered the scalps of their own countrymen which were hung up there as memorials of victory.  All this evil was done before the arrival of Soto and the Spaniards, who had not been informed by Casquin of the enmity between him and Capaha.  He would even have destroyed the town, if he had not feared giving offence to Soto.