among the reeds, and Alvarado sent Gonzalo Silvestre with 100 men in the remaining canoes to examine the inlet among the reeds.  Of these men seventeen were armed with cross-bows and three had long bows taken from the Indians, as the want of musquets had induced the Spaniards to use the arms of their enemies, at which they were become skilful.  On getting into the creek or inlet among the reeds, Silvestre found sixty small canoes drawn up in readiness to receive him, which he immediately attacked, and overset three of them at the first shock, wounding many of the Indians; and as all the rest of the canoes immediately fled, Silvestre and his party returned to the brigantines.

[Footnote 191:  Five hundred Spanish leagues at 17-1/2 to a degree, or about four English miles, would amount to about 2000 miles of voyage down the Missisippi; but we have no sufficient warrant in the text to ascertain the league used by Herrera, neither is it probable that the Spaniards on this occasion could make any computation nearly accurate.  The only reasonable conjecture on this subject is from the number of days employed in descending the river, which the text informs us was nineteen, three of which we may suppose were occupied in different stoppages.  We know likewise from Imlays Description of Kentucky, p. 126, that the ordinary rate of descending the Missisippi is about 80 miles a day.  On these data, the Spaniards made a voyage down that river of about 1280 English miles, from which we may conclude that they had wintered somewhere about the situation of New Madrid, in lat. 36 deg. 30’ N. or perhaps nearly opposite the junction of the Ohio with the great river.—­E.]

Leaving the island, and going out into the open sea, the Spaniards now bore away to the westwards to endeavour to find their way to New Spain, always keeping the coast of Florida[192] on their starboard-side or right hand.  They knew not whereabout they were, and had neither chart nor compass to guide their course, neither had they any instrument to find the latitude; but they satisfied themselves in the hope of reaching New Spain by following the coast.  During all the first day and night, they continued to sail among the fresh water of the great river.  After this they held on their course for fifteen days without any thing remarkable taking place; only that they were under the necessity of landing every day to procure water, as they had no vessels in which to carry any store on board.  At the end of that period they got among a parcel of small islands, which were frequented by such multitudes of sea fowl that the entire surface was covered by their nests, so that there was scarcely room to tread.  These furnished an ample supply of provisions, though their flesh had somewhat of a fishy taste.  Next day they landed on a pleasant shore covered with trees, to procure water; and while looking about in search of shell fish, some pieces of bitumen were found resembling pitch, and upon farther