Plate XIV.

Order of March Observed by Outina on a Military Expedition

When King Satourioua left for war, his soldiers advanced in no particular order, scattered on all sides. On the other hand his enemy Olata Outina, of whom I have already spoken, and who is considered the king of kings, superior to all others in his number of subjects and his riches, marches with his troops in military formation. He goes alone in the middle of his ranks, painted red. The wings of the army, in the order of march, are composed of young men, the fittest of whom, also painted red, are used as runners and scouts to reconnoitre the enemy troops. Like dogs after wild beasts, they hunt the enemy by scent, and when they find traces of them they run back to their army to report. In the same way that our soldiers pass orders by trumpets and drums, they use heralds who have certain cries for when to halt, or to advance, or to attack or make some other manoeuvre. They stop at sunset and never fight at night. When they set up camp, they divide up into squads of ten, the bravest apart. The king chooses a place in the fields or in the forest to pass the night and after he has eaten and gone to rest the masters of the camp place ten squads of the bravest men in a circle around him. About ten yards away some twenty other squads form another circle around the first. Twenty yards further away there is another circle of forty and this formation continues enlarging according to the size of the army.

The digital copies of the de Bry engravings (N2012-6) included here are made possible by a donation from the Michael W. and Dr. Linda Fisher Collection.

All translations are taken from Discovering the New World, Based on the Works of Theodore de Bry, edited by Michael Alexander (New York: Harper & Row, 1976).