SPANIARDS ON THE RED RIVER. II. 57 waters of the Mississippi. To conceal his death, his CHAP. body was wrapped in a mantle, and, in the stillness of midnight, was silently sunk in the middle of the stream. 1542. The discoverer of the Mississippi slept beneath its waters. He had crossed a large part of the continent in search of gold, and found nothing so remarkable as his burial-place.1 2 No longer guided by the energy and pride of Soto, the company resolved on reaching New Spain without June. delay. Should they embark in such miserable boats as they could construct, and descend the river? Or should they seek a path to Mexico through the forests? They were unanimous in the opinion, that it was less dangerous to go by land; the hope was still cherished, that some wealthy state, some opulent city, might yet be discovered, and all fatigues be forgotten in the midst of victory and spoils. Again they penetrated the western wilderness; in July, they found July. themselves in the country of the Natchitoches; but the Red River was so swollen, that it was impossible for them to pass. They soon became bewildered. As they proceeded, the Indian guides purposely led them astray; "they went up and down through very great woods," without making any progress. The wilderness, into which they had at last wandered, was sterile and scarcely inhabited; they had now reached the great buffalo prairies of the west, the huntinggrounds of the Pawnees and Comanches, the migratory tribes on the confines of Mexico. The Spaniards believed themselves to be at least one hundred and fifty leagues west of the Mississippi. Desperate as the CHAP. resolution seemed, it was determined to return once II. more to its banks, and follow its current to the sea. 1542. There were not wanting men, whose hopes and whose Dec. 1543. Jan. to courage were not yet exhausted, who wished rather to die in the wilderness, than to leave it in poverty; but Moscoso, the new governor, had long "desired to see himself in a place where he might sleep his full sleep." They came upon the Mississippi at Minoya, a few leagues above the mouth of Red River, often wading through deep waters, and grateful to God if, at night, they could find a dry resting-place. The Indians, whom they had enslaved, died in great numbers; in Minoya, many Christians died; and most of them were attacked by a dangerous epidemic. Nor was the labor yet at an end; it was no easy task for men in their condition to build brigantines. July. Erecting a forge, they struck off the fetters from the slaves; and, gathering every scrap of iron in the camp, they wrought it into nails. Timber was sawed by hand with a large saw, which they had always carried with them. They calked their vessels with a weed like hemp; barrels, capable of holding water, were with difficulty made; to obtain supplies of provision, all the hogs and even the horses were killed, and their flesh. preserved by drying; and the neighboring townships of Indians were so plundered of their food, that the miserable inhabitants would come about the Spaniards begging for a few kernels of their own maize, and often died from weakness and want of food. The rising of the Mississippi assisted the launching of the seven brigantines; they were frail barks, which had no decks; and as, from the want of iron, the nails were of necessity short, they were constructed of very 1 Portuguese Relation, c. xxxiv. SPANISH MISSIONARIES IN FLORIDA. II. 59 thin planks, so that the least shock would have broken CHAP. them in pieces. Thus provided, in seventeen days the fugitives reached the Gulf of Mexico; the distance 1543. July seemed to them two hundred and fifty leagues, and 2-18. was not much less than five hundred miles. They were the first to observe, that for some distance from the mouth of the Mississippi the sea is not salt, so great is the volume of fresh water which the river discharges. Following, for the most part, the coast, it was more than fifty days before the men, who finally escaped, Sept. now no more than three hundred and eleven in number, entered the River Panuco.1 10. Such is the history of the first visit of Europeans to the Mississippi; the honor of the discovery belongs, without a doubt, to the Spaniards. There were not wanting adventurers, who desired to make one more 1544 attempt to possess the country by force of arms; their request was refused. Religious zeal was more per 1 On Soto's expedition, by far the best account is that of the Portuguese Eye-witness, first published in 1557, and by Hakluyt, in English, in 1609. There is an imperfect abridgment of it in Purchas, iv. 1528-1556; and a still more imperfect one in Roberts's Florida, 33-79. This narrative is remarkably good, and contains internal evidence of its credibility. Nuttall erroneously attributes it to Vega. In the work of Vega, numbers and distances are magnified; and every thing embellished with great boldness. His history is not without its value, but must be consulted with extreme caution. Herrera, d. vi. 1. vii. c. ix.-xii., and d. vii. l. vii. c. i. -xi. is not an original authority. The Ensayo Cronologico contains nothing of moment on the subject. L'Escarbot, N. Fr. i. 36, De Laet, 1. iv. c. iv.-ix., and Charlevoix, N. Fr. i. 24, and iii. 408, offer no new views. Du Pratz is unneces sarily skeptical. The French trans- 2 Ensayo Cronologico, Año Dec. CHAP. Severing; Louis Cancello, a missionary of the Domin II. ican order, gained, through Philip, then heir apparent 1547. in Spain, permission to visit Florida, and attempt the 28. peaceful conversion of the natives. Christianity was to conquer the land against which so many expeditions had failed. The Spanish governors were directed to favor the design; all slaves, that had been taken from the northern shore of the Gulf of Mexico, were to be manumitted and restored to their country. A 1549 ship was fitted out with much solemnity; but the priests, who sought the first interview with the natives, were feared as enemies, and, being immediately attacked, Louis and two others fell martyrs to their zeal.1 Florida was abandoned. It seemed as if death guarded the avenues to the country. While the Castilians were every where else victorious, Florida was wet with the blood of the invaders, who had still been unable to possess themselves of her soil. The coast of our republic on the Gulf of Mexico was not, at this time, disputed by any other nation with Spain; while that power claimed, under the name of Florida, the whole seacoast as far as Newfoundland,3 and even to the remotest north. In Spanish geography, Canada was a part of Florida. Yet within that whole extent, not a Spanish fort was erected, not a harbor was occupied, not one settlement was begun. The first permanent establishment of the Spaniards in Florida was the result of jealous bigotry. 4 1 Ensayo Cronologico, 25, 26; Vega, 1. vi. c. xxii.; Gomara, c. xlv.; Urbani Calvetonis de Gallorum in Floridam Expeditione Brevis Historia, c. i., annexed to Nov. Nov. Orbis Hist. 432, 433; Eden and Willes, fol. 229; De Bry's introduction and parergon to his Brevis Narratio eorum quæ in Florida Gallis 4 Bolvio á la Florida Champlain; entrò en Quebec, &c. Ensayo Cronologico, 179. COLIGNY PLANS A COLONY OF HUGUENOTS. II. 61 For France had begun to settle the region with a CHAP colony of Protestants; and Calvinism, which, with the special coöperation of Calvin himself, had, for a short 1562. season, occupied the coasts of Brazil and the harbor of 1555 Rio Janeiro,' was now to be planted on the borders of Florida. Coligny had long desired to establish a refuge for the Huguenots, and a Protestant French empire, in America. Disappointed in his first effort, by the apostasy and faithlessness of his agent, Villegagnon, he still persevered; moved alike by religious zeal, and by a passion for the honor of France. The expedition which he now planned was intrusted to the 1562 command of John Ribault of Dieppe, a brave man, of maritime experience, and a firm Protestant, and was attended by some of the best of the young French nobility, as well as by veteran troops. The feeble Charles IX. conceded an ample commission, and the squadron set sail for the shores of North America. Desiring to establish their plantation in a genial clime, land was first made in the latitude of St. Augustine; the fine river which we call the St. Johns,2 was discovered, and named the River of May. It is the St. May Matheo of the Spaniards. The forests of mulberries were admired, and caterpillars readily mistaken for silkworms. The cape received a French name; as the ships sailed along the coast, the numerous streams were called after the rivers of France; and America, for a while, had its Seine, its Loire, and its Garonne. In searching for the Jordan or Combahee, they came upon Port Royal entrance, which seemed the outlet 1 De Thou's Hist. 1. xvi. Lery, Hist. Nav. in Bras. An abridgment of the description, but not of the personal narrative, appears in Purchas, iv. 1325-1347. L'Escar bot, N. F. i. 143-214; Southey's Brazil, part i. c. ix. 4 2 Compare the criticism of 3 Ensayo Cronologico, p. 43. Feb. 18. |