Video De Soto Pt 1 de Sabertooth Swing 2024 Jazz Lyrics

Sabertooth Swing - De Soto Pt 1 Lyrics

[Intro]
Having arrived at the Port of Baya Honda
We landed six hundred and twenty men
And two hundred and twenty-three horses

[Verse 1]
We then proceeded south, and passing through some villages
We arrived in the province of Tascalusa
Whose cacique was of such a height that we took him for a giant
This cacique had a number of servants with him
He had one to brush off the flies, and another to carry a sunshade
We requested him to give us some Indians to carry our baggage
Which he refused with a sneer
The governor then took him prisoner, which greatly enraged him
And was the cause of his treachery to us afterwards
He told us that he could not give us anything here
But we must go to his village, called Mavila
Where he would furnish him with all the provisions we stood in need of

[Verse 2]
We arrived at Mavila at nine o'clock in the morning
It was a village built on a plain and surrounded by strong wall
We saw only three or four hundred Indians
Who entertained us with dancing and feasting
But there was hid in the town five or six thousand men, to surprise us
After the dancing was over, the cacique retired into one of his huts
The governor requested him to come out, which he refused to do
[Verse 3]
The captain of the governor's guard went in after him
And found it filled with warriors, armed with bows and arrows
The Indians now began to shoot their arrows from the loopholes in their houses
While others discharged them from the outside
We retreated to the outside of the village
Our baggage remained where it had been thrown down
And as soon as the Indians discovered we had fled
They shut the gates of the village
And commenced to pillage our baggage

[Verse 4]
The governor ordered sixty or eighty horsemen to arrange themselves into four platoons
And attack the village in four different places
He directed the first who should enter the village to set fire to the houses
While the rest of the soldiers were ordered not to let any escape
We fought from morning till night, without a single Indian asking for quarters
When night came, only three Indians were found left
Guarding the twenty women who had danced before us
Two of these were killed
And the other, ascending a tree
Took the string from his bow and hung himself from one of the limbs
We lost twenty men killed, and had two hundred and fifty wounded
During the night we dressed the wounded with the fat of the slain Indians
Because our medicine was burnt with the baggage
We remained here twenty-seven or eight days, until the wounded could recover
We then departed, taking with us the women
Whom we distributed among the wounded to nurse them