At That Time Part Of The Horse Furniture
Used By The Spaniards Was Hung With Bells; And On Hearing The
Sound of
these, and seeing Narvaez coming towards them at a round trot, with his
sword drawn, they lost heart,
And not only abandoned the enterprize, but
fled out of the country, some of them to the distance of 50 leagues,
leaving none but their old and decrepid people behind. After this
Velasquez sent a reinforcement to Narvaez, who became absolute master of
the country.
SECTION IX.
The Strange Expedition of Juan Ponce de Leon to Discover the Fountain of
Youth, in which he Discovered Florida and the Bahama Channel.
We have already seen that Juan Ponce de Leon had been restored to the
government of Porto Rico by the interest of his friend Obando, and had
sent his predecessors, Cerron and Diaz, prisoners into Spain. This
circumstance, which he thought a bold stroke in politics, turned much
against himself; for these men presented a petition against him to the
court of Spain, and being strongly supported by the interest of the
admiral, they were sent back to resume their former employments. By this
reverse, De Leon was reduced to a private condition; but he had made good
use of his time, and had acquired a large fortune, which induced him to
attempt recovering his power and credit by means of discoveries. He
accordingly sailed from the port of St German on the 1st of March 1512,
with two stout ships which he had fitted out at his own expence; and
steering through among the Lucayos islands, he discovered land on the 2d
April, in lat. 30 deg. 8' N. till then unknown to the Spaniards. Elated by
this good fortune, he ran along the coast in search of some good harbour,
and anchored at night near the shore in eight fathoms water. Believing
this land to be an island, and because it appeared beautiful, being all
level, with many pleasant groves, he named it the island of Florida,
also because discovered at Easter, which the Spaniards call Pascha de
Flores. De Leon went on shore at this place to take formal possession of
the country. He sailed thence on the 8th of April, and came to a place on
the 20th, where some Indians were seen on the shore. He here anchored and
went ashore, when the Indians endeavoured to get possession of the boat,
with the oars and arms. This was not at first resented, till one of the
natives knocked down a sailor with a blow on the head, on which the
Spaniards were obliged to fight in their own defence, and had two men
wounded by arrows or darts pointed with sharp bones. The Indians were
repulsed with some difficulty, and received little damage; and at night De
Leon got his men on board and sailed to the mouth of a river, where he
took in wood and water. They were here ineffectually opposed by sixty
natives, one of whom was made prisoner to give them some information of
the country, and to learn Spanish.
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