"He was much given to the sport of slaying Indians," says one old historian.

The exact route that De Soto followed is in many places hard to determine. He wandered through Florida and Georgia, probably into South Carolina and Tennessee, and perhaps as far as North Carolina,— then he turned southward and approached Mobile Bay. On this southward march was carried the Indian chief Tuscaloosa. At Mauvila, or Mabila, near Mobile Bay, a desperate battle took place in October, 1540, between Tuscaloosa's warriors and the Spaniards. The Spaniards bought victory with the loss of eighty men and forty horses, which could ill be spared. They lost not only forces but hope.

From that time De Soto's wanderings seem to have been animated by a dogged resolution not to return without honor and treasure. He learned that his men planned, as soon as they reached the Bay of Pensacola, then less than a hundred miles away, to give up the expedition. Swiftly he resolved that they should not reach Pensacola. Instead of going toward the coast and the ships containing supplies, he set his face to the wilderness and marched northward. "He determined to send no news of himself until he should have discovered a rich country," says an old annalist.

"He was an inflexible man and dry of word," wrote one who knew him, "who, although he liked to know

what the others all thought and had to say, after he once said a thing he did not like to be opposed; and as he ever acted as he thought best, all bent to his will. There was none who would say a thing to him after it became known that he had made up his mind."

Traveling to the northwest, in May, 1541, he reached

a deep and very furious" river, so wide that " a man standing on the farther shore could not be told whether he was a man or not." This was the Mississippi, the Father of Waters. The Spaniards made boats and crossed the river and continued their wanderings on the other side, going northward nearly to the Missouri River. Month after month they sought gold; at last they turned southward from the vain search. On the homeward journey, De Soto was taken ill. He faced death as fearlessly as he had met every foe before. He bade farewell to his men, thanked them for their loyalty and faith to him, and advised them as to the choice of a leader to take his place.

The Spaniards did not wish the Indians, to whom they had represented themselves as immortal, to know that death had overtaken their great captain. Therefore, in the dead of night they sunk his body in the Father of Waters, near the junction of the Mississippi and Red Rivers. After wandering about for several months, they constructed frail vessels and trusted themselves to the stream. They reached the mouth of the river and made their way along the coast until the rem

nant left by disease and warfare arrived at a Spanish settlement in Mexico.

John Cabot

The Discoverer of the Continent of North America

By virtue of the discovery of Columbus, Spain claimed all the land beyond the western ocean. The other countries of Europe, however, refused to recog nize its claim to any land except that actually discovered, explored, and possessed. Kings, nations, private individuals even, sent out expeditions to discover and settle lands in the New World, hoping to find treasure and to reach Cathay and Cipango. We are particularly interested in John Cabot, whose discoveries gave England its first claim to the New World.

John Cabot was not, like Columbus, a writer as well as a discoverer; we know little about his life, and the accounts of his discoveries are meager and contradictory. Cabot was born about 1450, so he was a few years younger than Columbus. Like him, he was by birth a native of Genoa. Cabot, however, moved to Venice and became an adopted son of that City of the Sea. He was a good navigator and went East on trading ventures. Having an inquiring turn of mind, when he bought cargoes of spices he tried to learn something about the countries from which they came.

Like most master-navigators of the time, Cabot was

a maker of maps and charts. He also believed that the world is round; he thought that Cathay and Cipango and "the spice lands" could be reached by sailing west. He tried in vain to secure the aid of Portugal or of Spain in fitting out an expedition to undertake the westward voyage. Columbus was one of many who were beginning to believe that the world was a sphere; he was bolder and more persistent than most of them, and had the good fortune to prove the truth of his theory.

About 1490 Cabot went to England "to follow the trade of merchandises" and to seek aid in his exploring projects. In 1496 he secured the countenance of Henry VII. of England, who granted John Cabot and his sons, Sebastian, Lewis, and Sanctius permission "for the discovery of new and unknown lands," " upon their own proper cost and charges." In return for his countenance the king was to receive one-fifth of all profits. Much uncertainty surrounds Cabot's first voyage. It is now thought that his son Sebastian did not accompany him, as was long believed to be the case. Some say that Cabot had two ships, some say he had five, but an Italian acquaintance writing at the time says that he made his discovery with only "one little ship of Bristol and eighteen men.'

Cabot set sail from Bristol in May and returned in August. He sailed northwest, and it is supposed that the land which he reached was Labrador. From the

time the Norsemen left " Vinland the Good," Cabot was the first European to touch the mainland of North America. He sailed some distance along the coast of what he thought was "the land of the great Khan." He saw no inhabitants, but observed that the sea swarmed with fish, and on his return he suggested that England should send fishermen thither instead of depending on the fisheries of Iceland. He noted, too, that "the tides are slack and do not flow as they do here," that is, in England.

A few days after Cabot's return, a Venetian who was in England wrote his family an account of the voyage. "His name is Zuan Cabot," he said, " and he is styled the great Admiral. Vast honor is paid to him; he dresses in silk and the English run after him like mad people." The Venetian went on to say that Cabot planted on his New found land" the flags of England and Venice.

The king was so pleased with Cabot's first voyage of discovery that it was promised he should have fitted out for a second voyage a fleet of ten ships and to man it he was to have "all prisoners except traitors." Some merchants of Bristol aided in fitting out the expedition. With these ten ships, Cabot wished to go on westward to the east, hoping to reach Cipango, "where he thinks all the spices of the world and also all the precious stones originate."

From the time that this second expedition was plan