movements to advance was useless, if not impossible, from the difficulty of the country; and retreat was exposed to the worst ills of Indian warfare. But retreat was now necessary; and the Spaniards, relinquishing the fancied wealth of Apalachee, directed their march towards the seacoast in the country of Ante, at present called the Bay of St. Mark. Unspeakable hardships awaited them. Nearly a third of their number perished by the arrows of the Indians; and of the remainder a large proportion labored under disease, brought on by fatigue and privation.

HEN the Spaniards arrived at the sea-shore in this lamentable plight, it was obvious that the attempt to march along the coast in search of the fleet would probably lead to their destruction. No alternative remained but to construct vessels, and encounter at once the hazard of the sea. Their shirts were sewn together for sails, and ropes were fabricated of the fibrous bark of the palm tree. A horse was killed every third day, and its flesh distributed in small portions to the workmen and to the sick. So zealously did they labor, that in little more than six weeks they had completed five boats, capable of holding from forty to fifty men each. In these small barks they put to sea, although they were so crowded that the gunwales of their overladen boats were but a few inches above the water; yet desperation urged them on. For some weeks they endured all the miseries of want and anxiety. At an Indian village on the coast they obtained some trifling relief; but, quarrelling with the natives, they were obliged to re-embark with precipitation. In these desperate circumstances Narvaez resigned the authority which he was unable to use beneficially. As his boat was well manned he hastened forward, leaving his companions to shift for themselves in the best way they could. The boat commanded by Alvaro reached a small island after some days of extreme suffering, when the exhausted crew had hardly strength enough to crawl on shore upon their hands and feet. The Indians took pity on their wretched condition, and loaded them with fruits, fish, and whatever provisions the island afforded. A stock of these being formed, Alvaro prepared to continue his voyage; but just as the Spaniards were embarking, a wave overset the boat, which sunk with all their clothes. Three of the crew were drowned by this accident; the remainder threw themselves naked on the sand.

Of all who embarked in this expedition, but five escaped to Mexico to tell its history. Narvaez was never more heard of. The others were cast upon different parts of the coasts, and either perished by famine, sickness, or the hostility of the natives.

Among the survivors was Alvaro Nunez, who arrived in Spain in 1537. He immediately applied for a grant of territory and government in Florida, to which he was better entitled by his difficult services and enlarged experience than any other Spaniard. But he was slighted, and forestalled in his suit by a rival possessing a greater consideration at

Hernando de Soto, one of the most distinguished captains of Pizarro's army, had returned to Spain from the conquest of Peru with immense wealth, and all the reputation which brilliant success is sure to add to competent abilities. By his judicious liberality at court, he won the unbounded favour of the emperor, whose pecuniary difficulties made him quick to discern the merits of a wealthy subject. Soto, who had acted but a subordinate part in Peru, imagined that in a higher station he might expect the same good fortune and more conspicuous fame. He accordingly asked for and easily obtained the government of Florida-ambition rendering him blind to the lesson inculcated by the failure of Narvaez. So ample were his means, and so great his reputation, that he was able to equip an armament of ten ships, on board of which were 900 men, most of them trained to arms.

In May, 1539, Soto disembarked on the coast of Florida. But he was disappointed in all his hopes of gaining the confidence of the native chieftains: neither by kindness, nor patience, nor demonstrations of his power, could he succeed in conquering their deeply-rooted aversion to the Spanish name.

FTER many hard-fought battles with an unconquerable enemy, and many devious and toilsome marches through the country in a northwesterly direction, De Soto reached the Mississippi River, at a point near the 35th parallel of latitude. To him belongs the honor of discovering the Indian's "Father of Waters." There his toils were destined to end. He reached the junction of the Red River with the Mississippi, in the spring

of 1542. There, exhausted by fatigue, chagrin and disappointment, De Soto fell ill of a fever, and died. His followers, greatly reduced innumber and strength, buried his remains, and then endeavored to proceed through the savannahs and marshes of Louisiana to Mexico; but they were soon compelled to return to the Mississippi. There they constructed

rude barks, sufficiently strong to bear them to the sea. By this means, 311 men, the remnant of the grand army of conquest, reached Panuco, on the coast of Mexico, in 1543. Never was there a more "lame and impotent conclusion" to so hopeful an enterprise.

These dreadful reverses dampened the ardor of the Spaniards to conquer or colonize Florida. But Cancello, a Dominican missionary, who undertook to visit the country with a view to conversion, was encouraged by the government. The natives, however, associated avarice and tyranny with the name of Spaniard, and Cancello and his companions were put to death. Notwithstanding the Spaniards did not dare to set foot upon Florida, they continued to claim not only that but the whole extent of America.

NOTHER expedition of two thousand Spaniards and six hundred Indians under the command of Tristan de Luna, landed on the shore of the Bay of Pensacola, August 14th, 1559. Six days afterwards, the whole fleet was destroyed by a hurricane. The Spaniards remained in the country for some time, entered into an alliance with the Coosa Indians, and engaged in a war against the Natchez. This latter step was imprudent, and, soon after, when de Luna was superseded by Angel de Villafana, the hostility of the Indians compelled the Spaniards to return to Havanna, and they made no further attempt at a settlement for a considerable time.

Another people now appeared upon the scene, desirous of effecting that in which the Spaniards had so often failed. These were the victims of persecution—the Huguenots of France. Admiral Coligni, the Protestant champion, had become wearied with the constant struggle he was compelled to maintain in their behalf, and he formed a scheme for transatlantic settlement, by which he might afford them an asylum and extend the domain of France. He easily obtained permission from Charles IX., and two ships were placed at his disposal.

The vessels, under the command of John Ribault, a seaman of Dieppe, sailed from that port, February 15th, 1562, and reached the coast of Florida at the 30th degree of latitude. Ribault's object was to reach the mouth of the river called by Ayllon, the Jordan, now Combahee, in South Carolina; but steering in too low a latitude, the adventurers reached the St. John, near St. Augustine, in Florida proper. Here a

column bearing the arms of France, was raised as a sign of possession. Ribault then sailed along the coast to find a suitable place for forming a settlement. He discovered and gave French names to several rivers; but the names have not adhered to them. On reaching Port Royal, Ribault was so delighted with its noble harbor, the magnificent trees, and beautiful shrubs, that he chose it for the site of the intended colony. A fort was erected and called Carolina, in honor of the French king. Leaving twenty-six men, under Captain Albert, Ribault returned to France for supplies and reinforcements.

This seems an imprudent step. The establishment, in its unsettled state, stood in peculiar need of being well governed; whereas it fell into the hands of Albert, a rash and tyrannical officer, who, finding it difficult. to maintain authority, where all thought themselves nearly equal, enforced it in the most violent manner. He addressed them in opprobrious language; hanged one of them with his own hand, and threatened others with the same fate. At length they rose in mutiny, put him to death, and appointed a new commander, Nicolas Barre, who restored tranquillity.

Ribault, meantime, in consequence of the breaking out of the great civil war, was unable to make good his expectations and promises. After long waiting for him, the colonists were seized with an extreme desire to return to their native country; and, having no ship, they, like the companions of Narvaez and Moscoso, resolved to build one for themselves. The country afforded somewhat better materials, and they constructed a brigantine fit for the passage; but in their impatience, they laid in a slender stock of provisions, which, during the delay of a tedious calm, was entirely consumed. The last extremities of famine were suffered; and one had been actually sacrificed to preserve the rest, when an English vessel appeared and received them on board.