Brief History of the United States | Page 9

soldiers, and Indian captives strolled through the wilderness, wherever they thought gold might be found. They traversed what is now Georgia, Alabama, and Mississippi. In the third year of their wanderings (1541) they emerged upon the bank of the Mississippi. After another year of fruitless explorations, De Soto died. (See Map, Epoch I). At the dead of night his followers sank his body in the river, and the sullen waters buried his hopes and his ambition. "He had crossed a large part of the continent," says Bancroft, "and found nothing so remarkable as his burial-place." De Soto had been the soul of the company. When he died, the other adventurers were anxious only to get home in safety. They constructed boats and descended the river, little over half of this gallant array finally reaching the settlements in Mexico.
MELENDEZ (ma-len-deth), wiser than his predecessors, on landing (1565) forthwith laid the foundations of a colony. In honor of the day, he named it St. Augustine. _This is the oldest town in the United States._
[Footnote: Many Spanish remains still exist. Among these is Fort Marion, once San Marco, which was founded in 1565 and finished in 1755. It is built of coquina--a curious stone composed of small shells.]

EXPLORATIONS ON THE PACIFIC.
California, in the sixteenth century, was a general name applied to all the region northwest of Mexico. It is said to have originated in an old Spanish romance very popular in the time of Cortez, in which appeared a character called California, queen of the Amazons. The Mexicans told the Spaniards that most of their gold and precious stones came from a country far to the northwest. Cortez, therefore, immediately turned his attention to that direction, and sent out several expeditions to explore the Californias. All these adventurers returned empty-handed from the very region where, three centuries afterward, the world was startled by the finding of an El Dorado such as would have satisfied the wildest dreams of Cortez and his credulous followers.
CABRILLO (1542) made the first voyage along the Pacific coast, going as far north as the present limits of Oregon.
NEW MEXICO was explored and named by Espejo (es-pay'-ho) who (1582) founded Santa Fe, which is the second oldest town in the United States. This was seventeen years after the settlement of St. Augustine.

EXTENT OF THE SPANISH POSSESSIONS.
Spain, at the close of the sixteenth century, held possession not only of the West Indies, but of Yucatan, Mexico, and Florida.
[Footnote: A writer of that time locates Quebec in Florida, and a map of Henry II. gives that name to all North America.]
The Spanish explorers had traversed a large portion of the present Southern States, and of the Pacific coast. All this vast territory they claimed by the rights of discovery and possession.
[Footnote: The conquests of the new world enriched Spain, which became the wealthiest and most powerful country in Europe. This made other nations all the more anxious to find the western passage to India. The routes by the Cape of Good Hope and by the Straits of Magellan were long and dangerous. To find the shorter northwestern route now became the great wish of all maritime nations, and has been anxiously sought down to the present time.]

FRENCH EXPLORATIONS.
The French were eager to share in the profits which Spain was acquiring in the new world. Within seven years after the discovery of the continent, the fisheries of Newfoundland were frequented by their mariners.
[Footnote: Cape Breton was named by the fishermen in remembrance of their home in Brittany, France.]
VER-RA-ZA-NI (zah-ne), a Florentine, was the first navigator sent by the French king to find the new way to the Indies. Sailing westward from Madeira (1524), he reached land near the present harbor of Wilmington.
[Footnote: A letter of Verrazani's giving an account of this voyage, and, until of late, thought to be reliable, is now considered by many to be a forgery perpetrated by some Italian anxious to secure for his country the glory of the discovery.]
He supposed this had never been seen by Europeans, although we know that Cabot had discovered it nearly thirty years before. He coasted along the shores of Carolina and New Jersey, entered the harbors of New York and Newport, and returned with the most glowing description of the new lands he had found. He named the country New France. This term was afterwards confined to Canada.
CARTIER (kar-te-a) ascended the River St. Lawrence (1535) to the Indian village of Hochelaga (ho-she-lah-ga) the present site of Montreal. The town was pleasantly situated at the foot of a lofty hill which Cartier climbed. Stirred by the magnificent prospect, he named it Mont Real (Mong Ra-al), Regal Mountain.
[Footnote: Cartier had discovered and named the Gulf and River St. Lawrence the previous year. In 1541-2, he and Lord Roberval attempted to plant a colony near