12. Magellan. Since the time of Balboa there have been many attempts to find a water route through America. Sometimes a northwest passage was sought; sometimes a southwest passage; and to-day, a canal across the narrow portion of the continent seems an absolute necessity. Ferdinand Magellan, a Portuguese by birth, but at the time in charge of a Spanish fleet, was the first to find a passage through the continent, and no other has yet been obtained. Magellan set out in the fall of 1519, and late in the year 1520 sailed through the straits, near the southern limit of South America, which have received his name. As he passed out of the stormy Straits of Magellan into the quieter waters of the great ocean, he gave to that body of water, which Balboa had called the "South Sea," the name of the Pacific. After a voyage of more than three years, one of the vessels of the fleet, under the command of Sebastian del Cano, returned to the same harbor of Spain: having reached India, and been the first to sail around the world, doubling the Cape of Good Hope on her return voyage.

13. Ponce de Leon. - About the time of Balboa's fruitless search for gold, another Spaniard determined to seek a boon more valuable as well as more fabulous. Juan Ponce de Leon set sail from Porto Rico in search of the fountain of perpetual youth, which was reported to furnish renewed health to all that bathed in its healing waters. He failed to find what he sought, but yet obtained the credit of being the first to set foot upon the shores of the southern portion of the United States. In the year 1513, Ponce first saw land on Easter Sunday, a day which is called Pascua Florida in Spanish, and he called the beautiful land Florida.

14. Ferdinand de Soto. The desire to find marvellous gold mines in Florida caused Ferdinand de Soto, the governor of Cuba, to make an exploring expedition through Florida and the region north of the Gulf of Mexico. He landed at Tampa Bay in 1539, and marched through portions of all the Gulf States. After two years of great suffering, he reached the shores of the Mississippi River not far from the present city of Memphis. De Soto was the first European to view this, the most important river of the world, and after another year's march through Missouri, Arkansas, and Louisiana, he reached the river again, only to die and to be buried in its waters. Of the six hundred that left Cuba with enthusiasm

and energy, about three hundred men returned, worn out and disheartened, after a four years' journey.

15. Drake. There was a long interval after the voyages of the Cabots before any other attempts were made to extend the influence of England upon the new continent. Sir Francis Drake was the first. Englishman to explore the Pacific coast, and to look upon the land that now forms the western extent of the United States. He was an adventurer, and was traversing the Pacific Ocean, seeking to obtain wealth by attacking Spanish merchant vessels. After obtaining immense treasures, he followed along the coast in 1579 as far as Oregon, named the country New Albion, and returned to England by way of the Cape of Good Hope, being the second to sail around the world. England acquired her first claims to the territory of the present United States and British America by the explorations of the Cabots along the Atlantic, and of Drake along the Pacific coast.

CHAPTER III.

CANADA AND CAROLANA.

16. Early French Voyages. The discoveries of Columbus and the Cabots had their influence upon the French as well as upon the Spanish and the English. As early as the first years of the sixteenth century the hardy fishermen of eastern France had learned of the fisheries of Newfoundland and the Gulf of St. Lawrence. Not only were voyages made for the purpose of obtaining fish, but, as early as the year 1524, efforts were made to explore the coast and to find suitable localities for colonization.

John Verrazano, an Italian, was sent out by King Francis I. to investigate these new countries and to bring back word if they could be made of use to the French people. This bold voyager not only passed over a course which included the route of the Cabots (¶ 9), but also made careful explorations and carried home the earliest account of the coast that has been preserved. His explorations extended from. He the latitude of Wilmington, N. C., to the Gulf of St. Lawrence. entered the harbors of New York and Newport, and investigated the

characteristics of the country. The chart that Verrazano made, as a result of this voyage, was of great value to many of the later explorers.

17. Cartier. A few years after the first voyage of Verrazano, a decided effort was made to establish a French colony on the new continent. James Cartier was given command of an expedition that left St. Malo, France, in the spring of 1534, and, passing around Newfoundland, he entered the great bay since called the St. Lawrence. He was the first to sail up the great river of Canada, and his voyage resulted in turning French attention to that country. Cartier made another expedition the next year, with the design of establishing a colony. On this voyage he explored the St. Lawrence as far as navigation permitted, gave to a hill on the island of Hochelaga the name of Mont-Real, and spent the winter on the island of Orleans. The fearful cold of this northern region, combined with want of proper food, caused much sickness during this winter, and the surviving members of the party were very glad to return home in the spring. They carried most unfavorable reports of the country, and for a time nothing further was attempted in the way of exploration or colonization.

18. The Huguenots. the great Reformation.

The sixteenth century is noted especially for
Luther and Calvin are the best known of

Gaspard de Coligny was born in 1517, and was made Admiral of France before he was forty years of age. He was an ardent Huguenot, and the continuous religious wars in France led him to plan the formation of Huguenot colonies in some portion of the New World. Besides the two parties sent out under Ribault and Laudonnière, Coligny attempted to make a settlement in Brazil. In one of the civil wars a price of fifty thousand crowns was set upon the admiral's head, but within a year a temThe great porary peace was made. massacre of St. Bartholomew occurred

on August 24, 1572, and Coligny was the first to be put to death, at the age of fifty-five.

uge.

those men who were dissatisfied with the religion of the day, and were opposed to the errors that seemed to them inseparable from its forms. In France, the theories of Calvin obtained a strong foothold, and near the middle. of the century a persecution was begun against the Huguenots, as the followers of Calvin in France were called. Admiral Coligny was one of the leaders of the Protestant party, and he conceived the idea of founding a colony on the coast of America, where the persecuted Huguenots might find ref

In 1562, he obtained from the boy-king, Charles IX., the necessary authority, and sent forth a squadron to seek for a suitable location for settlement.

19. Port Royal. Remembering the failures of Cartier, John Ribault, the leader of the expedition, sought a warmer climate, and the first land seen was near the northern line of Florida. He sailed along the coast, naming the streams as he passed them, and made a settlement at what appeared to be the mouth of a great river. Near the southern end of the shore of South Carolina lies the harbor of Port Royal, and here the French built a fort and started a colony. The name of Charles, or Carolana, was given to the fort, in honor of the king, and this name was afterward applied to the whole region. The leader returned with the ships to France, for the purpose of obtaining reinforcements, leaving twenty-six persons to hold possession of the country. The continued religious wars in France. prevented the sending of supplies and men, and, after a few months of waiting, the colonists set out for home in a vessel built by themselves. They had nearly lost their lives from famine when an English vessel met them and carried them away captive.

20. Fort Caroline. Coligny was not disheartened by this failure, and, during the truce in France, obtained the consent of the king to another expedition. In 1564, a fleet set sail, under the leadership of Laudonnière, to seek another harbor where a settlement could be made. The vessels were turned to the River of May, which the earlier party had observed, and there another Fort Caroline was built. This river, which is now called the St. Johns, lay within the territory of Florida, which the Spaniards had already discovered and explored. This fact was enough to cause serious trouble, even if the colony had nothing else to contend with. The character of the emigrants was the most important obstacle in the way, however, as the larger number of them were dissolute men, unable and unwilling to yield to the necessary rules of government. The colony lasted but about a year, being overthrown by the Spaniards, who had made a neighboring settlement at St. Augustine.

21. St. Augustine. More than fifty years passed after the discovery of Florida by Ponce de Leon (¶ 13) before the Spaniards made any serious attempt at colonization of the country. Perhaps fifty years more would have passed, had not the settlement of French Huguenots appealed both to the patriotism and the bigotry of the Spanish king, Philip II. Pedro Menendez was a Spanish soldier, bigoted and cruel as his king; and to him was committed

the opportunity to conquer these weak colonists and to make a Spanish settlement. Menendez sailed from Spain in 1565, and reached the coast of Florida on the day held sacred to St. Augustine. Finding an excellent harbor, he gave it the name of the saint, and, on September 8th, 1565, laid the foundation of St. Augustine, the oldest town in the United States.

Philip II., king of Spain, was born in 1527, and occupied the throne from 1556 until 1598. His father, Charles V., was not only king of Spain, but also "Emperor of the Romans," and ruler over Spain, Portugal, Italy, Germany, and the Netherlands. Philip succeeded to but a portion of his father's dominion, and was always plotting to regain the authority. He was an ardent believer in the Roman Catholic religion and the authority of the Pope. He persecuted the inhabitants of the Netherlands for their religion, until they revolted from his authority. The long eighty years' war began early in his reign, and he spent boundless wealth in the vain attempt to subjugate the Dutch. He died in 1598, after a long and painful illness.

of the men were lost. The Spanish fleet did not suffer so much, and, before the French could reach Fort Caroline again, Menendez

had surprised the fort and captured it. The Huguenot prisoners, men, women, and children, were at once massacred, a few only escaping to the woods. The Spanish fleet soon met and captured the French vessels that had not been destroyed, and the captives were taken to St. Augustine. Here all of the Huguenots, with the exception of a few mechanics who were held as slaves, were immediately hung. At this time France was at peace with Spain, and Menendez claimed that these people were put to

death, "Not as Frenchmen, but as Lutherans."

23. Revenge. The French colony was entirely swept out of