of more than 30 leagues and gathers into itself many streams from the hill range. They said that this lagoon discharged itself in the country of Cacique Carlos which is on the coast of New Spain, and that another branch drained the land of Tequesta which is at Los Martires.

Tocobaga, prominently mentioned by Fontenada, was located on old Tampa Bay. Its principal village was at Safety Harbor, according to Barcia's account of Menendez' visit in 1566.

The kings of the territories had been warring with each other for many years. Menendez deter-mined to stop it so he could pacify the country.

Starting from "Calos," Menendez' ships were piloted 50 leagues up the coast by a Calusa Indian. They approached Tocobaga in the night, demonstrating that the channels were wide, deep and easy to follow. The town was "at the entrance of a river 20 leagues from the coast, on an arm of the sea." Many early maps locate Tocobaga town at the mouth of Hillsborough River.

THE PEOPLE AND COUNTRY

Although Fontenada began his adventure nine years after Soto, his account provides valuable in-formation about the people and country en-countered by early explorers.

Many tribes inhabited the Florida peninsula. The salubrious climate, fertile soil and extensive sea shores provided sustenance for a relatively dense population. The two basic ethnic cultures, north and south, apparently originated from divergent sources. Nevertheless, they also shared many cultural ideas typically resulting from war and trade contacts.

Mound building and sun worship were widespread customs. Agriculture and fishing techniques differed between the two main groups of Indians only by emphasis.

In general, we see the pre-European Indians as highly organized and cohesive within their tribal groups. Their close proximity to other communities stimulated continuous friction as they sought to enlarge and defend tribal territory. This life style required fierceness and aggression that led them to resist intrusion by the Spaniards with determination.

Spaniards, for their part, were conditioned by centuries of military opposition to the Moors and by recent conquests of the Carib, Inca and Aztec empires. Thus, the conquistadores -- and the adelantados who followed up Spanish victories --

were equipped by tradition and experience to persevere against great odds.

Much has been made of the Spaniards' cruelty to Indians. Yet, it was a harsh age in which native Americans were equally ruthless with their neighbors as well as with invaders. Slavery, for ex-ample, was an ancient and universal custom. Indians took slaves as a matter of course whether they were natives or foreigners -- preferring young boys who could be castrated and thereby reared to greater strength and docility.

Another view of Calusa customs is provided by Father Juan Rogel, a Jesuit priest sent by Menendez to convert the Indians:

They claimed that each man has three souls. One is the pupil of the eye. Another one is the shadow that each one makes. And the other one is the image one sees in a mirror or in clear water. When a man dies, they say that two of the souls leave the body. The third one, which is the pupil of the eye, always remains in the body. Thus, they go to speak with the dead of the cemetery, and to ask them advice about things that have to be done, as if they were alive. I believe that there they get answers from the Devil because many things that happen in other places or that come up afterwards, they know by what they hear there.

When someone gets sick, they say that one of his souls has left, and the witch doctors go look for it in the woods. They say they bring it back, making the same movements that people go through when they try to put an unwilling wild goat or sheep in a pen. They report that they put it back in the man through the top of the head by conducting some ceremonies over it.

They also have another error. When a man dies, his soul enters some animal or fish. When they kill that animal, it enters another smaller one, until little by little it comes to vanish.

The Indian practices of human sacrifice, royal incest, mutilation of enemies and ritual cannibalism was so abhorrent to Christian sensibilities that the Spanish felt no remorse in killing such adversaries. Torture for amusement was known to both sides.

In the end, of course, superior technology prevailed. Horses, gun powder and steel were infinitely more efficient than primitive weapons. The process of subjugation, however, was slow and dangerous. It was inevitable that the. first intruders should fall victim to the undiminished vigor of militant, organized Florida tribes.