on the 30th of May. Finding a Spaniard on the coast, who had been wrecked there twelve years before, and had lived among the natives, they were furnished with a guide and interpreter, and set out on their march in quest of the precious metals. They traversed a wide extent of territory, and encountered all sorts of adventures. Their first year was spent in the peninsula of East Florida. Then they marched northeast into Georgia and South Carolina; then west across the Allegany Mountains; then north, then south through Alabama, inquiring everywhere for gold and silver, often hearing of them, but finding none. The Indians were sometimes hostile, and at other times friendly, but never offering any effectual obstruction to the progress of the Spaniards. Their sufferings were occasionally very severe, and their adventures bordered upon

Indian princess, Cofachiqui, going to meet the Spaniards.

Arriving one day on the banks of a wide river, which ppears to have been somewhere in Alabama, he was informed by his guides that the territory on the other side.

was governed by a young Indian princess, named Cofachiqui. The princess, being informed of the approach of the Spaniards, sailed down the river to meet them. She sat in a canoe of state, ornamented in the highest manner, and attended by a number of her principal ladies. The Spaniards were enchanted by her beauty, and the gentle gracefulness and propriety of her behavior. She took a large string of pearls from her neck and presented it to the Spanish general, informing him that she had provided spacious quarters in her town, and an abundant supply of provisions for his troops. The Spaniards marched into the town, and found everything at their disposal. Cofachiqui entertained them in the most liberal manner, and even allowed them to ransack the tombs and temples, and take away the vast store of pearls which they found in those deposites. In a town in the neighborhood, named Tolomeco, the Spaniards found a temple three hundred feet in length and one hundred and twenty in breadth, with the roof covered by a brilliant tiling of shell-work. The entrance of the temple was adorned with twelve statues of giants in armor; and in the interior were ranged, round the walls, other statues of men and women, which excited the admiration of the Spaniards. Under ground were vaults, in which the bodies of the royal race were deposited. The Spaniards loaded themselves with the pearls which they found here. After staying some days at the capital of Cofachiqui, they departed, amply supplied with everything, by their fair benefactor, whose generosity they requited by the basest treachery. They carried her off captive, but she had the good fortune to escape from them at the end of a few days.

In his further progress through the country, Soto arrived in the territory of a chief, named Tascaluza. At Mauvila, or Mobile, he found a considerable town, with a strong palisaded intrenchment. The inhabitants had conceived a strong dislike for the Spaniards, which was aggravated by their insulting conduct in imprisoning Tascaluza, their chief. This ill-feeling soon broke out in a furious conflict, in which the Spaniards set fire to Mauvila, and the town

was entirely consumed. Upwards of two thousand of the Indians were killed in fight, or burnt to death.

The country around Mauvila was populous and hostile. There was no gold to be found; and the Spaniards had already lost above a hundred of their party. Soto determined to retreat; and after three or four weeks' stay, to refresh his army, he bent his course to the north. Arrived near the source of the Yazoo, he put his men into winter quarters, and the next spring, 1541, recommenced his march toward the west. He crossed the Mississippi about the thirty-fourth degree of latitude, and spent all the summer rambling up and down the western bank. At the approach of winter, a fort was built, and the army lodged there in safety. In the spring, Soto found his health and strength rapidly declining, under the fatigues and anxieties of his undertaking. He fell into a fever, and died, on the 21st of May, 1542, at a place named Guacoya.

Soto's successor in command, Luis de Moscosa, was not able to bring the enterprise to a favorable issue. The Spaniards continued to wander about on the western side of the Mississippi till the next summer, when, worn out and discouraged with fatigue, disappointment, and the loss of men, they built some vessels on the river, in which the shattered remnants of the army, consisting of three hundred and eleven men, sailed down the Mississippi, and returned to Cuba in September, 1543.

CHAPTER VI.

DISCOVERY OF THE UNITED STATES.-Voyage of the Cabots.-Discovery of North America.-Voyage of Cortereal.- Voyage of Verazzani.Discovery of the whole coast of the United States.—Voyage of Cartier. -Discovery of the river St. Lawrence.-Cartier ascends the river to Montreal.-Expedition of Roberval to Canada.-Failure of the early attempts of the French at colonization.

THE first discovery of the continent of North America, like that of the southern continent, was made by an Italian. The attention paid to maritime affairs by the commercial states of Italy, and especially by the republics of Genoa and Venice, is known to all who are familiar with the history of Europe during the fifteenth century. Italian merchants and agents of rich commercial houses, were found settled in every European state; and the impulse given to human curiosity and the spirit of adventure, by the discoveries of the Portuguese and Spaniards, rendered the science of cosmography and navigation the most popular subjects of instruction that were then taught in the schools. They were considered the certain guides to daring and successful enterprise, and the sure means of acquiring wealth and fame. It was at this interesting period, in the year 1494, that we find a Venetian, named John Cabot or Gabotto, a resident in the commercial city of Bristol, in England. He was one of those enthusiastic spirits upon whom the career of Columbus made a deep impression; and about a year after the return of the great discoverer from his first voyage, Cabot appears to have conceived the notion that new lands might be found in the northwest, and probably a passage by this course to India. Animated by such a project, he addressed himself to Henry VII., who was then upon the throne of England, and found immediate encour

agement from that monarch, who, though of a cold and cautious disposition, was seldom slow to listen to any proposal which promised any gain to his treasury. On the 5th of March, 1495, the king granted a commission to Cabot and his sons Lewis, Sebastian, and Sanchez, authorizing them to sail to all countries and seas of the East, West, and North, under the banner of England, to make discoveries and take possession of all new territories, in the name of the king, who was to receive the fifth part of all the profits upon every voyage.

Cabot sailed upon this expedition in the spring of 1497, taking with him his son, Sebastian; and on the 24th of June discovered the island of Newfoundland, which he named Terra Primum Visa. No journal or narrative of this voyage was ever published, so that we have no other details of the discovery. Cabot appears to have returned immediately to England; and the next summer despatched his son Sebastian, with two ships. They visited Newfoundland again; but no permanent establishment appears to have been made in the country. The enterprise languished for some time, on account of the domestic troubles in England, and after an interval of fourteen years, Cabot left the country and entered the Spanish service.

The Portuguese next took up the business. Gaspar Cortereal sailed, with two ships, from Lisbon, in 1500. He discovered the coast of Labrador, and ranged along the shore for six hundred miles. The country is described as containing mighty rivers, which, from their size, evidently showed that this was a continent and no island. The land was thickly peopled; the houses were built of long beams of timber, and covered with furs and the skins of fishes. The people, in complexion, figure, stature, and expression, greatly resembled gipsies. They were clothed with the skins of beasts, wrapped round them, just as they were taken from the animal. The Portuguese found here a piece of a broken sword, inlaid with gold, which was evidently of European workmanship. Cortereal seized by force seven of the natives, and carried them off for slaves;