emotions. His health gave way rapidly, and | July, 1543, they embarked in their vessels, he was seized with a violent fever. When informed by his medical attendant that his end was at hand, he expressed his resignation to the will of God, and at the request of his men appointed Louis de Mocoso his successor, and advised him to continue the expedition. He died on the fifth of June, 1542. In order to conceal his death from the savages, who had come to regard him as immortal, his body was wrapped in a mantle, and in the silence of midnight was rowed out into the middle of the Mississippi. There, amid the darkness and the wailing requiems of the priests, the mortal remains of Fernando de Soto were committed to the great river he had discovered. Harrassed by the Indians. The Spaniards at once prepared to disregard the advice of their dead leader, and resolved to set out across the country for Mexico, believing it less dangerous to go by land than by sea. They roused the whole country against them by their barbarous treatment of the people, and, having proceeded upwards of three hundred miles west of the Mississippi, were driven back to that stream by the savages. It now became necessary to build vessels and descend the river. Seven of these were constructed with great difficulty, and amidst the constant hostility of the Indians. They were frail barks, without decks, and in order to construct them the Spaniards were obliged to beat their weapons, and even their stirrups, spurs and bridles into saws, axes and nails. During this period they suffered greatly from the lack of clothing, for it was the winter season. They obtained provisions by plundering the granaries of the neighboring tribes, and thus dooming many of the savages to death by starvation. On the first of their number being now reduced to about: two hundred and fifty, and began the descent of the river. Their progress was harassed at every mile by the Indians, who covered the stream with their canoes and kept up an almost constant assault upon the fleet. On the eighteenth of July, the vessels entered the Gulf of Mexico, and by the tenth of September the Mexican coast was reached. The vessels succeeded in gaining the Spanish settlement of Panuco, where the survivors were hospitably received by their countrymen. Ribault's Expedition. The failure of Narvaez and De Soto prevented the Spaniards from making any further attempt for many years to colonize the Florida coast. The next effort to found a settlement in that region was by the French. The religious wars which had distracted France for so many years made the great Huguenot leader, Coligny, Admiral of France, anxious to provide in the new world a refuge to which his persecuted brethren of the faith might fly in times of danger, and be free to worship God after the dictates of their own conscience. He succeeded in obtaining authority for this undertaking from Charles IX., and in 1562 an expedition was despatched to America under the command of Jean Ribault, a Protestant. Ribault was instructed to avoid the more rigorous climate of Canada, and to select a southern location for the colony. Land was made in May, 1562, in the vicinity of St. Augustine, Florida, and the fleet anchored in Port Royal Harbor. Ribault was delighted with the noble harbor, which he believed to be the outlet of a large river, and with the beauty and richness of the country. A fort was built on an island in the harbor, and called Carolina, which name was also applied to the country in honor of Charles IX. of France. A force THE SPANIARDS DESCENDING THE MISSISSIPPI AFTER THE DEATH OF DE SOTO. brigantine and set sail for their own country. | obtain reliable information concerning the Their provisions soon gave out, and they began to suffer the horrors of famine. When they were nearly exhausted, they were rescued by an English vessel, which set the most feeble upon the coast of France, but carried the remainder to England. In both countries the colonists spread their accounts of the beauty and fertility of Carolina. country, Coligny sent out with the expedition a skillful painter, James le Moyne, called Des Morgues, with orders to make accurate colored sketches of the region. The fleet sailed on the twenty-second of April, 1564, and on the twenty-second of June reached the coast of Florida. Avoiding Port Royal,. the site of the first colony, the colonists chose a location in Florida, on the banks of the St. John's then called the River May. A fort was built, and cailed, like the first, Carolina. The colony was begun with prayers and songs of thanksgiving, but the bulk of the colonists were by no means religious men. Their true character soon began to appear. They wasted the supplies they had brought with them, as well as those they succeeded in extorting from the Indians, whom they alienated by their cruelties. Mutinies were frequent. The majority of the men had joined the enterprise in the hope of acquiring sudden wealth, and, finding their hopes vain, resolved to abandon the colony. They compelled Laudonniere to sign an order allowing them to embark for New Spain, under the pretext of wishing to avoid a famine, and at once equipped two vessels and began a career of piracy against the Spaniards. Their vessels were soon captured, and the pirates were sold as slaves. A few escaped in a boat and took refuge at Fort Carolina. Laudonniere caused them to be hanged; but their outrages had already drawn upon the colony the bitter hostility of the Spaniards. however, and supplied them with provisions and gave them one of his own ships. They had suffered too much to be content with this, and were resolved to adandon the settlement. They were on the point of embarking in the ship furnished them by Sir John, when a fleet of several vessels was discovered standing into the river. It was the squadron of Ribault, with reinforcements and all the supplies necessary for founding a permanent settlement. The despair of the colonists was changed to rejoicing, and all were now willing to remain in the colony. Thrilling Events in Florida. When the news of the planting of the French colony in Florida reached Philip II. of Spain, he was greatly incensed. Florida was a part of his dominions, and he not only resented the intrusion of the French, but could not tolerate the idea of allowing a Protestant colony to enjoy its settlement in peace. He determined at once to exterminate the heretics, and for this purpose employed Pedro Melendez de Avilès, an officer who had rendered himself notorious for his cruelty when engaged against the pirates and in the wars of Spanish America. His son and heir having been shipwrecked among the Bermudas, Melendez desired to return to America to search for him. Beginning of the Slave-Traffic. Famine now began to be felt by the little settlement, and as month after month❘ passed by the sufferings of the colonists increased. The natives, who were at first Philip, who knew his desperate character, friendly, had been rendered hostile by the suggested to him the conquest of Florida, and cruel treatment they had received from the an agreement was entered into between the French, and no provisions could be obtained king and Melendez, by which the latter was from them. On the third of August, 1565, to invade and conquer Florida within three Sir John Hawkins, an English commander, years, and establish in that region a colony arrived with several ships from the West of not less than five hundred persons, of Indies, where he had just sold a cargo of whom one hundred should be married men, negro slaves whom he had kidnapped in their twelve priests of the Catholic Church and native Africa. He is said to have been four members of the order of the Jesuits. the first Englishman who engaged in this Melendez also agreed to transport to Florida infamous traffic. He proved himself a all kinds of domestic animals, and five hangenerous friend to the suffering colonists, dred negro slaves. All this was to be done I by Melendez at his own cost, and he was secured by the king in the government of the province for life with the privilege of naming his successor, and was granted large estates in the province and a comfortable salary. Though the destruction of the French colony was not named in the agreement, Philip and Melendez understood each other on that point. The cry was at once raised in Spain that the heretics must be exterminated, and Melandez had no trouble in obtaining recruits. Twenty-five hundred persons gathered under his orders, " soldiers, sailors, priests, Jesuits, married men with their families, laborers and mechanics, and, with the exception of three hundred soldiers, all at the cost of Melendez." stood out to sea. Melendez gave chase, but Ribault had returned with his ships to Fort Carolina after escaping from the Spaniards. A council of war was held, and it was debated among the French whether they should strengthen their works and await the approach of the enemy, or proceed to St. Augustine and attack them with the fleet. Ribault supposed that Melendez would attack the fort by sea, and favored the latter plan, but his officers opposed his design. Disre had scarcely cleared the harbor when a violent storm wrecked his entire fleet on the Florida coast. Nearly all the men reached the shore unharmed, about one hundred and fifty miles south of Fort Carolina. Escape of the French Fleet. The expedition sailed in June, 1565, but the vessels were parted by a storm, and Melendez reached Porto Rico in August with but a third of his force. Unwilling to lose time, however, he sailed at once to the main-garding their advice, Ribault put to sea, but land, and arrived off the coast of Florida on the twenty-eighth of August. On the second of September, he discovered a fine harbor and river, and selected this place as the site of his colony. He named the river and bay in honor of St. Augustine, on whose festival he had arrived off the Florida coast. Ascertaining from the Indians the position of the French, he sailed to the northward, and on the fourth of September arrived off Fort Carolina, where a portion of Ribault's fleet lay anchored in the roadstead. The French commander demanded his name and the object of his visit. He was answered: He was answered: "I am Melendez of Spain, sent with strict orders from my king to gibbet and behead all the Protestants in these regions. The Frenchman who is a Catholic I will spare; every heretic shall die." The French fleet being The French fleet being unprepared for battle, cut its cables and Terrible Massacre. The wreck of the French fleet was known to Melendez, and he resolved to strike a blow a once at the fort, which he knew to be in a defenceless state. Leading his men through the forests and swamps, which lay between the two settlements, he surprised and captured the fort on the twenty-first of September. Every soul within the walls. including the aged, the women and children, was put to death. A few escaped to the woods before the capture of the fort, among whom were Laudonniere, Challus and Le Moyne. Their condition was pitiable. They The massacre of the French and the destruction of the colony at Fort Carolina excited not even a remonstrance from the French court, which was blinded to its true interests by its religious bigotry. The Huguenots and the better part of the nation felt keenly the wrong the country had suffered, and Dominic de Gourges, a gallant gentleman of Gascony, determined to avenge it. Selling his ancestral estate, he equipped three vessels, and with one hundred and fifty men sailed for Florida, in August, 1567. He surprised and captured a Spanish fort near the site of Fort Carolina, and took the garrison prisoners. could expect no mercy from the Spaniards, | Spain, having spent his fortune in establishand death awaited them in the forest. A ing the colony of St. Augustine, from which few gave themselves up to the Spaniards, and he had derived no benefit. were at once murdered; the remainder succeeded in gaining the sea-shore, where they were rescued by two French vessels which had remained in the harbor and escaped the storm. These immediately sailed for France. The number of persons massacred by the Spaniards at Fort Carolina amounted to nearly two hundred. When the victims were all dead, mass was said, a cross raised, and a site selected for a church. Then Melendez set out to find the survivors of the shipwrecked fleet. They were discovered in a helpless condition, worn out with fatigue, hunger and thirst. Melendez promised to treat them with kindness if they would surrender to him, and trusting to his plighted word, they placed themselves in his hands. They were at once seized and bound, and marched towards St. Augustine. As they approached the settlement a signal was given, and the Spaniards fell upon them and massacred all but a few Catholics and some mechanics, who were reserved as slaves. French writers place the number of those who perished in the two massacres at nine hundred. The Spaniards gave a smaller number. On the scene of his barbarity, Melendez set up this inscription: "I do not this as unto Frenchmen, but as unto Lutherans." In 1566 Melendez attempted to plant a colony on the shores of the Chesapeake Bay, but the vessel despatched for this purpose met such contrary winds that the crew abandoned the effort to reach the bay, and sailed for Spain. Melendez, the next year, returned to He spent the winter here, and finding himself too weak to maintain his position, sailed for France in May, 1568. Before doing so, however, he hanged his prisoners, and set up over them the inscription: "I do not this as unto Spaniards or mariners, but as unto traitors, robbers and murderers." His expedition was disavowed by the French government, and he was obliged to conceal himself to escape arrest after his return to France. France now abandoned her efforts to colonize the southern part of North America, and relinquished her pretensions to Florida. Spain, on the other hand, gave more attention to this region, and emigrants from her dominions were encouraged to settle, and new colonies were formed within its limits. In the West Indies, and in Mexico, Central and South America, Spain, during the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, was supreme. |