all to yield him implicit obedience, even taking their oaths to that purpose, and represented to them how necessary it was for them all to be united and obedient, for their own preservation among these barbarous nations.  He then took an affectionate leave of all his officers and soldiers, and departed this life on the seventh day of his illness, after performing all the duties of a zealous Christian.  Ferdinand de Soto was of a comely appearance and pleasant countenance, and of affable and generous dispositions.  He was an excellent soldier, and managed his weapons with much dexterity both on foot and on horseback; skilful and experienced in all military affairs; always brave and cool in action, and the foremost in every enterprise of danger:  severe in punishing when necessary, yet easy to forgive, and always inclined to please his soldiers when that might be done without lessening his authority.  At his death he was only forty-two years of age, and had expended his whole fortune, exceeding 100,000 ducats on this romantic and fruitless expedition.  His death was universally lamented among his followers, as he had acquired their universal love and esteem by his excellent qualities and conduct.  It was thought necessary to bury him under night, that his death might not be known to the Indians, nor the place of his interment, lest they should insult his remains; but in spite of all their precautions the secret was revealed; for which reason they hollowed out a log of oak into which they put his body, and sunk it in the middle of the great river, at a place where it was a quarter of a league across and nineteen feet deep.

When the funeral of the general was over, Luis de Alvarado assembled his officers to hold a council upon the present state of their affairs.  After thanking them for admitting him as their commander, and making a statement of their numbers, arms, and ammunition, he desired they would determine upon what was best to be done, considering the fierceness and inveterate enmity of the barbarous nations by whom they were surrounded:  Whether to prosecute what had been previously resolved upon by their late lamented general, or to devise some other measure for extricating themselves from the country, declaring that he was ready to proceed according to their opinion and advice.  In their answer, the officers thanked him for the compliment he paid them, but referred the determination respecting their future proceedings to himself, and again submitted to obey him as their commander.  The death of Soto had made a great change in the minds of the Spanish forces, who now determined to abandon the country they had taken so much pains to discover.  Accordingly, they set out on the 5th of July 1542, and marched above 100 leagues to the westwards, through a barren and desert country[185].  On leaving Guachacoya they were joined by an Indian youth of about sixteen years of age, whom they did not observe till the fourth day of their march.  Suspecting him of being a spy, Alvarado asked him who he was and what was his object in following them.  He said that he had fled from Guachacoya, because the chief whom he served was at the point of death, and he had been appointed to be buried alive along with his master, as it was the custom of the country to inter women and servants along with great personages, to minister to them in the next world.