SETTLEMENT OF NOVA SCOTIA.

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selected its site as a suitable place for a fort, as early as 1603.* At this period the Algonquins and Hurons, who occupied the region in which the new colony was planted, were at war with the Iroquois; and having solicited the aid of their new visiters, Champlain was so imprudent as to enter into alliance with them and take an active part in their contests. The consequence was a rooted hostility on the part of the Iroquois, which proved a fertile source of distress to the colony, for a whole century afterwards.

The settlement of Nova Scotia was made by De Monts, under a charter, in which that country and a considerable part of New England were designated as Acadia. His expedition left France in 1604, and formed a settlement at Port Royal, now called Annapolis, in 1605.

The French colonies in North America were less rapid in their increase than the English, the whole population not exceeding fifty-two thousand, when it was added by conquest to the British dominions; at which period the population of the Anglo-American colonies exceeded a million.

abounding in wealth, of subduing barbarous nations and converting them to the religion of the cross, of bringing countless thousands under the dominion of the Spanish crown, led to numerous expeditions to the West. No region appears to have offered more brilliant prospects to the imagination of adventurers than Florida; none cost more blood and treasure in attempts at conquest, and in none were such bloody defeats and bitter disappointments experienced.

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EXPEDITION OF PONCE DE LEON.

47

The first expedition of the Spaniards to Florida was undertaken by Juan Ponce de Leon, in 1512. This officer had accompanied Columbus, in his second voyage, had been governor of the eastern province of Hispaniola, and subsequently conqueror and governor of Porto Rico. Grown old in hard service, he heard from the Indians that there existed, at the north, an island, called Bimini, in which there was a fountain, whose waters had the property of restoring youth; and the veteran determined to discover and possess a country so desirable. It was while sailing in this visionary pursuit, that he fell in with a shore, rich in beautiful flowering shrubs; and from this circumstance, and its being first seen on Palm Sunday (Pascha Florida), he gave the country the name of Florida. He spent some time in exploring the coast, from about 30 degrees and 8 minutes of north latitude, round the southern cape, discovered the archipelago of the Tortugas, and returned with his three ships to Porto Rico, in the full belief that he had found a new field of rich conquest. For this discovery, Ponce de Leon was rewarded by the Emperor Charles V. with an appointment as governor of Florida, on the condition that he should first conquer and colonize it; but it was not until 1521 that he sailed on his second expedition, with two ships, fitted out at his own cost, for the purpose of forming a settlement. His attempt to gain a footing on the soil, was resisted by the Indians with implacable hostility. The Spaniards were driven back to their ships with heavy loss; and Ponce himself received in the contest a mortal wound with an arrow. He returned to Cuba, to terminate his hopes of conquest and immortality in death.

Meantime the coast of Florida was visited by Perez de Ortubia and Lucas Vasquez de Ayllon, the latter of whom, in 1520, pushed his discoveries to the north till he reached Cape St. Helena. Here he was kindly received by the natives, and requited their hospitality by treacherously kidnapping a large number of them whom he enticed on board his ships. On his return to Hispaniola, one of his ships was lost; the other arrived safe, but the Indian captives remained sullen and

gloomy, refused food, and soon perished of famine and melancholy, in the mines.

For this service he was rewarded by the Emperor Charles V. with an appointment to the government of the newlydiscovered country (Carolina), which he called Chicora. After incurring great expense in fitting out his armament, consisting of three large vessels, (1525) he landed in the river Jordan, or Cambahee, only to have his former treachery punished by similar treachery, and to meet with repulse and total defeat. The spirit of the natives had been roused by repeated injuries, and their resistance to the invaders was active and determined. Ayllon was either killed in battle with the Indians, or returned wounded to Hispaniola, where he soon after died. The wrongs of the Indians were amply revenged.

Pamphilo de Narvaez, the officer sent by Velasquez to supersede Cortez, in Mexico, and who was taken prisoner by that celebrated conqueror, was desirous to efface by some

EXPEDITION OF NARVAEZ.

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signal exploit, the memory of his defeat on that occasion. He had sufficient interest at the court of Charles V. to obtain the title of adelantado, and a commission to conquer and rule the whole region extending from Cape das Palmas to Cape Florida; and having raised an armament of four barques and a brigantine, with a force of four hundred men and forty-five horses, he set sail from St. Lucar, in June, 1527. While waiting to take in supplies at Cuba, Narvaez and his companions suffered severely from a hurricane, which injured the fleet so much that it was found necessary to desist from any further operations during the winter.

In February, 1528, the armament put to sea, and after encountering much rough weather, reached the coast of Florida, near Appalachee Bay. After taking possession of the country with the usual solemnities, Narvaez commenced his march into the interior, (May 1st, 1528). His object was to reach a city called Appalachee, where the natives, anxious to be rid of the invaders, had told them there was abundance of gold. They had little more than a day's provision; when that slender stock was consumed, they were obliged to satisfy their hunger with roots and such fruit as they could find in the woods. For fifteen days they travelled without meeting a human habitation. At the end of that time they reached an Indian village, where they found guides to conduct them to Appalachee. The country which they had to traverse was wild and unequal; sometimes mountainous, but more frequently overspread with deep marshes, rendered nearly impassable by huge trees blown down and lying across them in every direction.

At length, on the 26th of June, the wearied Spaniards arrived in sight of a small collection of Indian wigwams, which they were told was the famed city of Appalachee. The place proved an easy capture; but its conquerors soon found upon what a chimerical foundation all their golden hopes had been reared. In Appalachee they found nothing. The exasperated Indians lurked in the woods and watched all their movements. The whole of their subsequent career was a

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