Cayas. De Soto was disappointed by the scattered appearance of the population in this province, and imagined he had been deceived, but was informed, that the space inhabited was very considerable, and the land fertile. The town which they arrived in was called Tanico,[259] and was situated near to a river. The governor spent a month in the province of Cayas, which abounded with maize and pasturage for their horses. In the neighbourhood there was a lake of very hot and somewhat brackish water. Here the party provided themselves with salt, which they had long been in want of, and which they found the natives in the practice of using and fabricating from this water.[260]
From Cayas, de Soto proceeded to Tulla, but here he found the town abandoned at the news of his approach. The chief, however, came accompanied by 80 Indians, {258} who brought with them a present of bison robes, which, at this advanced season of the year, proved very acceptable to the party. La Vega greatly admired the decorum and propriety with which these natives behaved in their intercourse and addresses to the governor. Towards the west, de Soto was informed of a thinly inhabited country, but that towards the south-west, there were great towns, especially in a province called Autiamque, ten days' journey from Tulla, or about 160 miles, and a country well supplied with maize. To this place they proceeded, after dismissing the two caziques of Cayas and Tulla, with an intention of spending the winter which now approached, and which they expected would detain them for the space of two or three months. They pro-*
