HISTORY

OF

LOUISIANA.

CHAPTER 1.

Discovery of America.-Charles VIII.-Henry VII.— Ferdinand and Isabella.-Cabot.-Prima vista.-Lewis XII.-Denys.-Aubert.-Gulf of St. Lawrence.Indians carried to France.-Henry VIII.-Francis I. Ponce de Leon-Florida.-The Baron de Levy.Sable Island.-Vasquez de Aillon.-Velasquez.-Veranzany.-Narvaez.-Apalachians.-The peace of Cambray-Cartier.-River of St. Lawrence.-Hernandez de Soto.-Chickasaws.-Alabamas.-Mobilians.-Choctaws.-The Mississippi.-Red River.— Robertval.-Canada.-Luis de Muscoso.-Los Vaqueros.-Edward VI.—Henry II.—Mary.—Philip II. Elizabeth.-Charles IX.-Coligny.-Ribaud-Caro

line.-Albert.-Barré.-Laudonniere.-Sir John Hawkins.-Pedro de Menendez.-St. Augustine.-Destruction of the French Colony.-De Gourgues.-Henry III. Sir Humphrey Gilbert.-Sir Walter Raleigh.-Ocacock.-Virginia.-Sir Richard Grenville.-De la Roche.-Acadie.

CHARLES the eighth, the seventh monarch of the house of Valois, wielded the sceptre of France, and Henry the seventh that of England, in 1492, when Columbus, under the auspices of Ferdinand of

Aragon and Isabella of Castile, discovered the west tern hemisphere.

Charles, during a reign of nineteen years, sought military glory, and an extension of territory, in the invasion of Italy. Success, for a while attended his arms, and with the aid of the Pope, he caused himself to be crowned Emperor of Constantinople and King of Naples; but, he was soon driven back, and died in 1496, the fiftieth year of his age, without having ever sought to avail himself of the advantages the discovery of the new world offered. Less ambitious of warlike fame, Henry made an early effort to share them. He fitted out a small fleet, the command of which he gave to Cabot, a Venetian adventurer, settled in Bristol, whom he sent on a voyage of discovery. No historical record informs us of the success of this expedition; but in 1496, this navigator sailed in a ship furnished by the crown and four barques, supplied by the merchants of Bristol. He discovered a large island, to which he gave the name of Prima vista, now known by that of Newfoundland and soon after the continent. He sailed southwardly along the coast, as far as the bay of Chesapeake. It is not known that he effected or even attempted a landing, and the occular possession he took of the country is the origin and basis of the claim of the English nation to all the land in North America, from the Atlantic, to the Pacific Ocean.

Charles the eighth, having left no issue, was succeeded by Louis the twelfth, a distant kinsman; their common ancestor being Charles the seventh, the grandfather of the deceased monarch. Louis continued the war in Italy with the same spirit, and with as little success as his predecessor; and viewed the

progress of the Spaniards in America with equal unconcern. His subjects, however, extended their industry and their commerce to the new world. In 1504, the Biscayans, the Bretons and the Normans, visited Newfoundland, in quest of fish. Two years after, Denys entered, and made a map of, the Gulf of St. Lawrence; and in 1508, Aubert carried over the first American Indians, who trod the soil of France. The crown of England in the following year, passed, on the death of Henry the seventh, in his fifty second, to his son Henry the eighth.

The southernmost part of the continent of North America, was first discovered by a Spanish adventurer in 1513. Not impelled by avarice or ambition, but led by credulity and chance, Ponce de Leon, believing that the island of Binimi, in the archipelago of Bahama, possessed a fountain, the waters of which had the virtue of repairing the ravages of time on the human frame, sailed from the island of Porto Rico, in search of this renovating stream. A violent storm disappointed his hopes, and threw him on the cape, opposite to the northern side of the island of Cuba. He called the country thus discovered Florida, either from its flowery appearance, or from the circumstance of his having discovered it on Palm Sunday, Pasqua de Flores. Erecting a large cross on the beach, he took formal possession in the name of his sovereign, Charles the first of Spain, the grandson of Isabella, the late Queen of Castile. He returned in the following year and landed on the same spot, with a number of his countrymen; but the natives fell on the intruders and killed them all but six, who were grievously wounded. The chief was among the latter. He sailed for the island of Cuba, where he and his five surviving companions died of their wounds.

Louis the twelfth died on the first of January 1515, the fifty third year of his age, without issue. His successor was Francis the first; their common ancestor was the Duke of Orleans, a brother of Charles the sixth.

The first attempt of the French to plant a colony in America, was made in the second year of Francis' reign. A few adventurers of that nation, were led by the Baron de Levy to the small island, in the forty fourth degree of northern latitude, now known as Sable Island, part of the province of Nova Scotia. The spot was most unfavourable; at a great distance from the continent, or any other island; the soil is rocky and sterile. These men were unable to derive their subsistence from it. They suffered much from the cold; many sickened and died. The Baron carried back the survivors to France, leaving some cattle and hogs on the island.

In 1520, Vasquez de Aillon sailed from Hispaniola for the northern continent, with views not quite so unexceptionable as those of Ponce de Leon. His object was to seize some of the Indians, transport them to Hispaniola and sell them to his countrymen, who could not obtain from Africa a sufficient number of negroes to work the mines. He made land on the coast of the present state of South Carolina, near the mouth of a river to which he gave the name of Jourdain, after a man on board of one of his ships, who first descried it; it now bears that of Santee. He was received with hospitality: after staying awhile, and supplying himself with provisions, he invited a number of the natives to a banquet on board of his ships, made them dance at the sound of his trumpets, plying them with abundant doses of ardent spirits. When exercise and ebriety had lulled their senses, he hoisted his sails and