Though this chief sent De Soto repeated messages of kindness, he did not himself visit the Spanish camp, the alleged reason being--and perhaps the true one--that he was on a sick-bed. He, however, sent large numbers of his subjects with supplies of food, and to assist the Spaniards in drawing the timber to construct their barges. The hostile Indians on the opposite bank frequently crossed in their canoes, and, attacking small bands of workmen, showered upon them volleys of arrows, and fled again to their boats. One day the Spaniards, while at work, saw two hundred canoes filled with natives, in one united squadron, descending the river. It was a beautiful sight to witness this fleet, crowded with decorated and plumed warriors, their paddles, ornaments, and burnished weapons flashing in the sunlight. They came in true military style; several warriors standing at the bow and stern of each boat, with large shields of buffalo-hide on their left arms, and with bows and arrows in their hands. De Soto advanced to the shore to meet them, where he stood surrounded by his staff. The royal barge containing the chief paddled within a few rods of the bank. The cacique then rose, and addressed De Soto in words which, translated by the interpreter, were as follows: "I am informed that you are the envoy of the most powerful monarch of the globe. I have come to proffer to you friendship and homage, and to assure you of my assistance in any way in which I can be of service." De Soto thanked him heartily for his offer and entreated him to land, assuring him that he should meet only with the kindest reception. The boats immediately returned for another load. Rapidly they passed to and fro, and the whole army was transported to the western bank of the Mississippi. The point where De Soto and his army crossed, it is supposed, was at what is called the lowest Chickasaw Bluff. "The river in this place," says the Portuguese narrative, "was a mile and a half in breadth, so that a man standing still could scarcely be discerned from the opposite shore. It was of great depth, of wonderful rapidity, and very turbid, and was always filled with floating trees and timber carried down by the force of the current." The army having all crossed, the boats were broken up, as usual, to preserve the nails. It would seem that the hostile Indians had all vanished, for the Spaniards advanced four days in a westerly direction, through an uninhabited wilderness, encountering no opposition. On the fifth day they toiled up a heavy swell of land, from whose summit they discerned, in a valley on the other side, a large village of about four hundred dwellings. It was situated on the fertile banks of a stream which is supposed to have been the St. Francis.