Still other Spanish expeditions were nothing more than slave raids or kidnapping excursions. In 1520, Lucas Vasquez de Ayllon, a wealthy resident of Hispaniola, determined to send out a ship for the purpose of exploring the section north of that covered by Ponce de Leon in 1513. His caravel met among the Bahamas a second ship sent out by another resident of Hispaniola to obtain Indian slaves. The two vessels joined company, and proceeded toward the continent, which they reached June 25, 1521, in the neighborhood of the River Jordan (the present Santee or Combahee) and the cape afterward called Cabo de Santa Elena. By gifts and proffers of friendship, the Indians were lured on board, and the ships, having obtained a full cargo, set sail for Hispaniola.[130] After the collapse of Narvaez’s expedition, Cabeza de Vaca wandered through the southwest, hoping to reach Spanish settlements. As he proceeded, he met, thirty leagues from St. Miguel, a Spanish expedition coming from the south, from which the Indians were fleeing lest they be captured and held as slaves. Though this slave hunting expedition met with considerable success, its leaders, nevertheless, wished to enslave the friendly Indians who had guided Cabeza de Vaca and his companions thither.[131] Cabeza de Vaca relates that he continued his journey to Compostella in the company, among others, of six Christians and five hundred Indian slaves.[132] Such expeditions from Mexico were continued until well into the colonial period. The Indians whom La Salle met, 1684–1688, told him they knew whites toward the west, “a cruel, wicked nation, who depopulated the country round them.”[133] It will be seen that the custom of enslaving Indians was general among the Spanish discoverers and explorers. Not to have followed such a custom would have been acting contrary to the spirit of the times. Church and State sanctioned it. The need for a servile class, and the supply of natives near at hand to meet the demand, made enslavement only a matter of course. Slavery existed among the native tribes themselves and the tribal chiefs readily furthered the policy of the Spaniards by furnishing them with additional slaves and prisoners. Consequently, when the action of the Spaniards is viewed from the moral standpoint of the time, no condemnation can be attached to their practice of enslaving the aborigines. Some of the Indians used by the Spanish explorers were obtained from the Indian tribes through purchase or trade. Such a method of obtaining them was advisable when the tribes were friendly and it was not politic to arouse their enmity. Prisoners and slaves, accordingly, both men and women, were traded or presented as gifts, along with other merchandise, to the Spaniards.[134]