On July 17, 1539, Hernando de Soto’s army had moved north to the shores of a large lake, which they decided to name St. John. Cavalrymen returning from scouting ahead had searched villages for food to pillage but found none, and the army marched east into the lands of Chief Urriparacoxi to meet their envoy Captain Gallegos, where de Soto hoped to obtain food to ease their hunger and gold to enrich them. Rodrigo Rangel wrote that de Soto and the rest of the men marched inland, reached Urriparacoxi where Baltasar Gallegos was, and then took the road toward Ocale with all of Gallegos’s men. Hernando de Soto also brought the first pigs to North America, a herd of several hundred, and because pigs were easier to drive than cattle and could forage almost anywhere, escaped animals became the ancestors of the feral hogs found across the Southeast today. Archaeological evidence shows that the Indians of Central Florida built their villages near large lakes and rivers, where rich floodplain soils supported crops and abundant wildlife supported hunting and fishing. Their hunting spears were made more effective by a wooden spear-thrower called the atlatl, which could send a spear up to three times faster, increasing both its range and penetrating power.