1565-]                   LOUISIANA AND FLORIDA,                      237
nines the place where martyrdom has been suffered. These-Indians possess neither gold nor silver, and still less clothing, for they go almost naked, wearing only a sort of apron. The dress of the men consists of braided palm-leaves, and that of the women of moss, which grows on trees, and somewhat resembles   wool.     Their   common   food   consists  of   fish,
to be submerged in many places ; nevertheless, he took possession of the country in the name of his Majesty, and gave it the name of Bay of fias-Foitde. From thence he sailed ten leagues further to the east, where he discovered a bay which he named Filipino.* it being the largest and most commodious bay on the coast. The entrance is in 30^ degrees ; and on entering the bay, he passed the point of an island [now called Santa Rosa] seven leagues long, and steered E. S. E. On the other side of the bay lies the mainland, which is, perhaps, half a league wide from point to point. Of all the discoveries made from east to west, there is no bay so accessible and commodious as this. The bottom is of mud, and the harbor is from four to five fathoms deep at low tide. The channel is three to four fathoms deep, and at high water near one fathom more. The climate is very healthy, and similar to that of Spain. It abounds in all kinds of fish and oysters. The pine forests are extensive, and can be used for ship-building. There are, besides, live oak, cypress, ash, palmetto, laurel, cedar, and other trees, one of which yields a fruit resembling the chestnut. All of these trees commence to grow near the shore, and extend for many leagues into the interior of the country.
Small rivulets of water fall into the bay, where there is a large opening which appears to be the mouth of a great river. While in this bay, he went to examine the water on the north side, where the trees are not so dense, and where cavaliers might hold their tournaments, and find grass for their horses. In the rear of this bay, in an easterly direction, are high hills of a reddish clay, from which earthenware can be maanufactured.    Here can at all times be seen
* The present Bay of Pensacola, sometimes called by the Indian name, Ochuse [Hack' Us/ti, Choctaw), or Uchuse by Spanish navigators in the sixteenth century. It was discovered by Maldonado, one of De Soto's officers ; and is about eleven miles from the Gulf of Mexico.