and of Murielo, in 1516, Narvaez headed an expedition from Cuba in 1528
with some three hundred freebooters. They landed in Florida, where almost
the entire band was, very properly, destroyed by the Indians. In 1539, de
Soto sailed from Havana, with five hundred and seventy men and two hundred
and twenty-three horses, for an extended exploration. They wandered for
three years throughout what is now the southern part of the United States
from Georgia and South Carolina westward to Arkansas and Missouri. After a
series of almost incredible experiences, de Soto died in 1542, on the banks
of the Mississippi River at a point probably not far from the Red River.
These and other expeditions, from Cuba and from Mexico, to what is now
territory of the United States, produced no permanent results. No gold was
found.

Of the inhabitants of Cuba, as found by the Spaniards, comparatively little
is recorded. They seem to have been a somewhat negative people, generally
described as docile, gentle, generous, and indolent. Their garments were
quite limited, and their customs altogether primitive. They disappear
from Cuba's story in its earliest chapters. Very little is known of their
numbers. Some historians state that, in the days of Columbus, the island
had a million inhabitants, but this is obviously little if anything more
than a rough guess. Humboldt makes the following comment: "No means now
exist to arrive at a knowledge of the population of Cuba in the time of
Columbus; but how can we admit what some otherwise judicious historians
state, that when the island of Cuba was conquered in 1511, it contained a
million inhabitants of whom only 14,000 remained in 1517. The statistical
information which we find in the writings of Las Casas is filled with
contradictions." Forty years or so later the Dominican friar, Luis Bertram,
on his return to Spain, predicted that "the 200,000 Indians now in the
island of Cuba, will perish, victims to the cruelty of the Europeans." Yet
Gomara stated that there was not an Indian in Cuba after 1553. Whatever the