1559.]

DON TRISTAN DE LUNA.

171

great country, still in the possession of savage heathens, stretched from the Atlantic coast, along which Gomez, Lucas Vasquez de Ayllon, and Ponce de Leon had sailed, to that Western or as it was then called, Southern - Ocean, reached by Cabeça de Vaca, and his three companions, after six years' wanderings. De Soto slept quietly, after three years of travel, at the bottom of a river, broad and deep, hundreds of miles from its mouth, and no man could tell how far the land watered by it and its tributaries extended.

So vast a field for enterprise, and so full of magnificent promise, notwithstanding the fate of all who had hitherto entered it, could not long remain neglected. Yet in spite of its inviting name, The Land of Flowers continued most inhospitable to all attempts on the part of the Spaniards to gain a foothold there. An expedition, led by some zealous friars, eager for the conversion of the heathen, landed on its shores, and were massacred as soon as they set foot thereon. Twice within the ten years following De Soto's expedition, a fleet of ships, crowded with adventurers, and richly laden with treasure from Mexico, were wrecked on its coast, and those on board who escaped the perils of the sea were slaughtered by the natives, leaving barely enough alive to tell the story of their disaster. Occasionally a solitary survivor of one of these ill-fated enterprises returned to the Spanish settlements in Mexico, or the West Indies, to recount his romantic adventures. Hardly an expedition, after that of Ponce de Leon had first landed at Florida, failed to meet somewhere among the Indians, a white captive of their own race who had belonged to some previous company of explorers, and who, taken captive by the Indians, had been spared to slavery, after his companions were slain. Their story would be no less romantic than that of Cabeça de Vaca, or of Juan Ortiz, if, like them, it had gained a chronicler.

Expedition

tan de Luna.

It was exactly twenty years after the imposing departure of De Soto from San Lucar, that a fleet of still larger size, and no less magnificence than his, was fitted up at Vera Cruz, in Mexico, of Don Trisfor the conquest and settlement of Florida. It was commanded by Don Tristan de Luna, a scion of a noble family in Arragon, whose father was for several years a governor of Yucatan. He sailed from Vera Cruz on the 14th of August, 1559, with an army of 1500 men, besides many friars zealous for the conversion of the Indians, and a number of women and children, the families of the soldiers who were to colonize Florida. They had a prosperous voyage to a good harbor, which they named the Santa Maria. Here they anchored the ships, and Don Tristan prepared to send news of his arrival back

1 Hist. of Florida, by G. R. Fairbanks, says this was Pensacola Bay, as the old Spanish maps gave the Bay as the Santa Maria.

[CHAP. VII. to the viceroy. But the accustomed ill-fortune of Spanish adventurers in these parts attended him. On the sixth day after his arrival, a great storm arose, and all his ships were driven on shore and destroyed. Left on the land with his great army with no means of returning to Mexico, he at once sent out a detachment of soldiers, under his sergeant-major, to explore the country, and seek for the rich provinces of which they had heard, while he remained at the port with the rest of his people.

Exploration

try.

The detachment, after a march of forty days through a country empty of people and barren of provisions, reached an Indian of the coun- town, which, although deserted, contained a quantity of corn, beans, and other vegetables. Most of the natives had run away on their approach, but they found a few bolder ones still lurking about the village, and conciliated them with presents of beads and ribbons. From these they learned that the town had been very large and well peopled, but had been attacked by men like themselves, who had destroyed and driven away the inhabitants. These same strange invaders had caused the general desolation of the country, and the abandonment of the villages which they had seen on the march. Refreshing himself and his men on the provisions, which seemed abundant, the sergeant-major sent back a party of sixteen to report to De Luna. In their absence, De Luna, who had lost a large part of his provisions in the shipwreck, was greatly distressed for want of food, and anxious for the safety of the sergeant-major. He was preparing to set out in search of him, when his messengers arrived, and he at once started to join the advance with his train of a thousand men, women, and children. Guided by the sixteen soldiers, they reached the Indian town, and for a short time feasted on the food they found there. But the supplies, which had seemed so inexhaustible to the first-comers, were soon consumed by the great numbers. The suffering that ensued was most severe. They were forced to eat bitter acorns, and even the bark and leaves of the young trees. A party was sent out again to find if they could discover any relief, or see anything of the rich town of Coça, of which the Indians told them. These were forced on their march to eat their pack-mules, and then the leather of their straps, and their gun-covers. Their lives were preserved by their entrance into a wood of chestnut and walnut trees, where they surfeited themselves on the abundant fruit.

De Luna awaited their return, till the sight of his people dying of hunger made him resolve to return to the port of Santa Maria. He reached there after much suffering, and was soon followed by the exploring party, who brought back still more unfavorable reports of the sterility and poverty of the country. They had found none of the

1561.]

SPANISH FAILURES IN NORTH AMERICA.

173

noble cities, rich in gold and silver, with people clothed in garments of silk and cloth of the Indies, of which they had heard reports. Instead, they saw only desolate lands, and villages deserted even by the savage inhabitants, who had learned to flee on the approach of the white man.

End of De

terprise.

At the port De Luna procured two small vessels, either built from the remains of the wreck, or else preserved from the storm which had destroyed the larger ships. These he sent back Luna's ento the viceroy, with appeal for succor. Relief came in the shape of two ships, well provisioned, prepared to take away the unhappy colony, now distracted with misery, discontent, and anarchy. Tristan de Luna at first refused to abandon his enterprise, and insisted on being left behind with a few followers. But he was recalled by the Viceroy, and at last returned to Mexico in 1561, about two years from the time of his first setting out. Thus ended the most care. fully prepared and most promising attempt ever made to colonize Florida by the Spaniards. Fortunately for the progress of the human race, and the future history of North America, all their efforts to gain a permanent foothold north of the Gulf of Mexico, were in the main unsuccessful.

DITION.

BRETON FISHERMEN ON NEWFOUNDLAND BANKS.- GIOVANNI DA VERRAZANO FIRST ENTERS NEW YORK HARBOR. JACQUES CARTIER SENT ON AN AMERICAN EXPEEXPLORATION OF THE ST. LAWRENCE RIVER. CARTIER'S VISIT TO THE INDIAN TOWN OF HOCHELAGA. - VOYAGE OF FRANCIS DE LA ROQUE, LORD OF ROBERVAL. THE HUGUENOTS SEEK AN ASYLUM IN AMERICA. - THE COLONY OF ADMIRAL COLIGNY.-JOHN RIBAULT GOES TO FLORIDA. - SETTING UP THE ARMS OF FRANCE. LAUDONNIERE COMMANDS A SECOND ENTERPRISE. BUILDING OF FORT CAROLINE. PROGRESS OF THE COLONY.

As early as 1504, the hardy fishermen of various nations had followed the Cabots and Cortereals across the Atlantic, and were tossing all the summer through in their little vessels on the Grand Banks, and along the coasts of Newfoundland and Nova Scotia. It was only to sail a few degrees more to the westward than their fathers had done, for it is certain that the mariners of England, of Brittany, Normandy, and the Bay of Biscay had approached, if they had not seen, the Western continent, long before its discovery by either Columbus or Cabot. It is not at all unlikely that they may have explored in the sixteenth century, harbors, rivers, and islands along the shores of New England, whose discovery has been the subject of controversy on behalf of this or that early navigator,of distinction, for nearly three hundred years. But of what they did there is no record; content with finding good fishing ground, any other knowledge they may

1523.]

FRENCH FISHERMEN.

175

have gained excited little interest beyond their own limited circle of humble people, too ignorant and too busy to trouble themselves or others with geographical conjectures. The practical question of liberty to fish in the newly-discovered seas, was all they cared for, and that they settled among themselves.

Enterprise

fishermen.

Some of these Breton fishermen gave a name -Cape Breton — to an island; in 1506, John Denys, of Honfleur, explored the Gulf of St. Lawrence; two years afterward, Thomas Aubert, of French a pilot of Dieppe, visited, it is supposed, Cape Breton Island, and carried some of the natives thence to France; 1 and in 1518, the Baron de Leri proposed to settle a colony on Sable Island, but only landed some cattle, whose progeny, eighty years later, served to feed some miserable Frenchmen left there by the Marquis de la Roche. But all these, like the fishing voyages, were private enterprises.

Spain, notwithstanding the marvellous splendor of her conquests farther south, had persisted for nearly twenty years, at great sacrifice of human life and of treasure, in the attempt to lay open the secret which she believed was hidden in the region north of the Gulf of Mexico. England and Portugal had both shown that they were not disposed to yield the possession of the continent unquestioned to Spain. France alone of the great maritime powers of Europe, seemed indifferent; for though no fishermen on the American coast were more enterprising and more fearless than hers, they claimed no rights except upon the sea. In 1522, a single ship of the Magellan expedition returned to Portugal, having circumnavigated the globe and solved the problem that by sailing westward the East could be reached. A new impulse was given to the desire for a shorter northern pas- Interest felt sage to India, and Francis I. of France, aroused to the great in American event of his time, is said to have declared: "Why, these discovery. princes coolly divide the New World between them! I should like to see that article of Adam's will which gives them America!" In 1523 he proposed to compete with other powers, both for a share in that New World, and to find for France a shorter route to Cathay.

by Francis I.

Voyage of

With this intent an expedition put to sea from some port in Brittany, in the autumn of 1523. It consisted originally of four vessels, but before much progress was made, two of these Verrazano. were first disabled or lost, and afterward a third, leaving only a single ship, called the Dauphine - Dalfina,3 The commander was 1 Charlevoix, History of New France, vol. i., p. 106.

2 Lescarbot, Histoire de Nouvelle France, p. 21. De Leri's full title was Le Sieur, Baron de Leri et de Saint Just, Vicomte de Gueu. This has been erroneously supposed to refer to

two men.

3 In the many accounts of this voyage, Dalfina is usually translated Dolphin, but by later writers, Dauphine. The latter, undoubtedly, is correct, as to the name of this