For the next 4 years, De Soto butchered his way up the Mississippi Valley. He took armored trained-to-kill war-dogs, horses and even cannon. He traveled on well-used roads and paths and enslaved the locals, forcing them to act as guides and translators. De Soto was disappointed because the natives didn't have great collections of (useless) gold or European luxuries, but seemed overly concerned with real wealth, such as food, necessities and art. He burnt and outright destroyed many of the great cultural centuries in the American mid-west. The historical documents from the period are extensive and excellent. His chroniclers painted a portrait of a collection of wandering butchers and a savage mercenary army, merciless, greedy, remorseless, bent on pillage and plunder.