There was little of interest which happened to the riders as they completed the one league before sunrise the next day to Urri's town and rode on to make a total of 15 leagues that day. As will be remembered, the cavaliers had heartened themselves after their rigorous passage of the Great Marsh by reminding themselves that there were no more bad crossings. They had only 11 leagues to go on the last day, and the narrators have already divulged that the cavaliers had a most joyous welcome at the end of their heroic journey.

An examination of the De Soto accounts gives information that the town of Urri was northeast and inland from the starting camp. Therefore, reversing that, if a line is extended on our map toward a sea coast and southwesterly, it should end 25 leagues more at a place where it was possible for the starting camp to be located.

It is not surprising to find our line designated with but one choice possible. Following historic Indian trails, the destination of the cavaliers is seen to be a point on the Caloosahatchee Sound near East Fort Myers. There are many evidences of Indian residence here, including the remains of a shell mound supposedly used for road fill.

The distance to "THE village" from where the ships anchored is plainly stated as four leagues. In other words, four leagues down the "ancon" was where the personnel and horses were landed.

This spot would have been considered as their "port" -- as distinguished from the entire ancon which was their roadstead or harbor.

Four leagues down the Caloosahatchee from East Fort Myers there is, northeasterly of Iona, a place where the current cuts a deep channel close to the shore. This makes a natural port which has been used as far back as most people remember for unloading boats.

If the army landed at this point, as all evidence indicates, it would have been necessary -- in order to march to East Fort Myers -- to have circled in back of such tidal mud flats as Whiskey Creek and some others, including Billy's Creek adjacent to East Fort Myers.

Since the four leagues down the ancon was practically direct by the channel, this necessary encircling would have made the distance by land about five leagues. This tallies with the remark made by the Portuguese witness that Urri's town was 30 leagues distant. Evidently he was computing the distance from the very beginning of the army's march to it.

Now that we know our starting camp and "port" sites, let us apply the data from the de Soto accounts relative to his landings.

Careful analysis -- considering every qualification De Soto must have had in mind for a port -- would show that Juan de Anasco did fairly