WEST COAST CLUES

There are three principal clues revealed in this portion of Nunez' testimony:

1. A river with a long, shallow outlet to the sea is reached after 15-day march through a sparsely inhabited desert near the coast.
2. The sea is one day away from the line of march, and the river's outlet forms a bay nowhere more than knee deep.
3. A second river with rapid and deep cur-rent is next reached after 25 days of marching.

The actual distances to these rivers can not be precise because we do not know how many leagues Narvaez' army traveled in a day. Distance would vary with temperature, obstacles, terrain, availability of water and food, and physical condition of the men. Menendez' experienced army managed eight leagues daily on a forced march. A fair, average distance for prolonged marching would be about five leagues per day.

The significant deductions are that the first river was reached after a 15-day march, and that the distance between it and the second river was almost twice the initial hike.

Historians who place Narvaez' landing at St. Petersburg give the Withlacoochee as the first river encountered. This stream has a wide, shallow outlet now considerably enlarged by a dam to make Lake Rousseau. Its distance from St. Petersburg is about 30 leagues. The crossing would have been made at present Dunnellon.

The second river is assumed to be the Suwannee. It is, indeed, deep and swift at its mouth. However, the distance between the Withlacoochee and the Suwannee is only about 15 leagues -- half the distance between St. Petersburg and the Withlacoochee, instead of twice the time-distance required by Nunez' narrative.

Had the landing occurred at Placida, a 15-day march of 30 leagues would have brought Narvaez to the Hillsborough River which empties into Tampa Bay. The latter body of water is so huge that soldiers might mistake it for the sea, but this surmise stretches credibility.

The distance between the Hillsborough and the Suwannee is 45 leagues as the crow flies -- still not twice the time-distance factor to the first crossing. However, the time span is longer; and this might have been lengthened by a swing inland to get past the Waccasassa Swamp.

If this was the case, and Narvaez continued due north, he would have crossed the Suwannee upstream of Old Town.

When Soto followed a few years later, his chroniclers report that the first great swamp and river they encountered after nine days march had been crossed by Narvaez farther downstream. Just how this information was obtained is not disclosed, but it probably was based on Indian tales.

Buckingham Smith and other early historians, relying on Barcia's sketchy account, accept a same-place landing by Narvaez and Soto. This would equate Narvaez' first river with the Cale River and Swamp of Soto. The latter's faster time in reaching it is accounted for by a start farther inland and bet-ter physical condition of his experienced soldiers.

The several assumptions that have to be constructed to place Narvaez and Soto on the exact, same trail weakens the proposition of a shared landing site. Both began their march through arid land, but Soto quickly entered an area of lakes well inland. Nunez does not mention lakes in the early stretch. Also, the Narvaez expedition kept within a half-day walk to the coast for at least the first couple of weeks. Soto, on the other hand, kept well away from the coast -- probably on Nunez' advice.

TROUBLES IN APALACHE

Seizing guides, Narvaez departed the wide, deep river:

Leaving that spot, the next day we arrived at the town of the chief, where he sent us maize. During the night one of our men was shot at in a place where we got water, but it pleased God that he should not be hit. The next day we departed, not one of the natives making his appearance, as all had fled. While going on our way a number came in sight, prepared for battle. Though we called to them, they would not return nor await our arrival, but retired following us on the road.

The Governor left some cavalry in ambush, which sallying as the natives were about to pass, seized three or four who thenceforth served as guides. They conducted us through a country very difficult to travel and wonderful to look upon. In it are vast forests, the trees being astonishingly high. So many were fallen on the ground as to obstruct our way in such a manner that we could not advance without much going about and a considerable increase of toil. Many of the standing trees were riven from top to bottom by bolts of lightning which fall in that country of frequent storms and tempests.

We labored on through these impediments until the day after Saint John's, when we came in