the return of the first voyage across the Atlantic given an assurance of a New World, than he hastened to participate in the dangers and the fruits of adventure in America. He was a fellow-voyager of Columbus in his second expedition. In the wars of Hispaniola he had been a gallant soldier; and Ovando had rewarded him with the government of the eastern province of that island.

2. From the hills in his jurisdiction', he could behold, across the clear waters of a placid' sea, the magnificent vegetation of Porto Rico, which distance rendered still more admirable, as it was seen through the transparent atmosphere of the tropics. A visit to the island stimulated the cupidity of avarice, and Ponce aspired to the government. He obtained the station inured to sanguinary war, he was inexorably severe in his administration. He oppressed the natives; he amassed wealth. But his commission as governor of Porto Rico conflicted with the claims of the family of Columbus; and policy, as well as justice, required his removal. Ponce was displaced.

3. Yet, in the midst of an archipelago, and in the vicinity of a continent, what need was there for a brave soldier to pine at the loss of power over a wild though fertile island? Age had not tempered the love of enterprise: he longed to advance his fortunes by the conquest of a kingdom, and to retrieve a reputation which was not without a blemish. Besides, the veteran▾ soldier, whose cheeks had been furrowed by hard service as well as by years, had heard, and had believed the tale, of a fountain which possessed virtues to renovate the life of those who should bathe in its stream, or to give a perpetuity' of youth to the happy man who should drink of its ever-flowing waters.

4. So universal was this tradition, that it was credited in Spain, not by all the people and the court only, but by those who were distinguished for virtue and intelligence. Nature was to discover the secrets for which alchemy' had toiled in vain, and the elixir of life was to flow from a perpetual fountain of the New World, in the midst of a country glittering with gems and gold.

5. Ponce embarked at Porto Rico, with a squadron of three ships, fitted out at his own expense, for his voyage to fairyland. He touched at Guanahani; he sailed among the Bahamas; but the laws of nature remained inexorable". On Easter Sunday, which the Spaniards call Pascua Florida, land was seen. It was supposed to be an island, and received the name of Florida, from the day on which it was discovered, and from the aspect of the forests, which were then brilliant with a profusion of blossoms, and gay with the fresh verdure of early spring.

6. Bad weather would not allow the squadron to approach land: at length the aged soldier was able to go on shore, in the latitude of thirty degrees and eight minutes; some miles, therefore, to the north of St. Augustine. The territory was claimed for Spain. Ponce remained for many weeks to investigate the coast which he had discovered, though the currents of the gulfstream, and the islands, between which the channel was yet unknown, threatened shipwreck.

7. He doubled Cape Florida; he sailed among the Tortugas; and, despairing of entire success, he returned to Porto Rico, leaving a trusty follower to continue the research. The Indians had everywhere displayed a determined hostility. Ponce de Leon remained an old man; but Spanish commerce acquired a new channel through the Gulf of Florida, and Spain a new province, which imagination could esteem immeasurably rich, since its interior was unknown.

8. The government of Florida was the reward which Ponce. received from the king of Spain; but the dignity was accompanied with the onerous condition, that he should colonize the country which he was appointed to rule. Preparations in Spain, and an expedition against the Caribbee Indians, delayed his return to Florida. When, after a long interval, he proceeded with two ships to take possession of his province, and select a site for a colony, his company was attacked by the Indians with implacable fury.

9. Many Spaniards were killed; the survivors were forced to hurry to their ships; Ponce de Leon himself, mortally wounded

by an arrow, returned to Cuba to die. So ended the adventurer, who had coveted immeasurable wealth, and had hoped for perpetual youth. The discoverer of Florida had desired immortality on earth, and gained its shadow.--History of the United States.

*

Expedition of Balboa.-In 1513, Balboa, the governor of the Spanish colony at the Isthmus of Darien, the first colony established on the American continent, while crossing the isthmus, gained the summit of a mountain from which he discovered the Pacific Ocean. After falling upon his knees and thanking God for the privilege of being the discoverer of this great ocean, he descended to the sea-shore and took possession of the whole coast in the name of the Spanish crown.

Discovery of the Pacific Ocean.-Irving.

1. This was indeed one of the most sublime discoveries that had yet been made in the New World, and must have opened a boundless field of conjecture to the wondering Spaniards. The imagination delights to picture forth the splendid confusion of their thoughts. Was this the great Indian Ocean, studded with precious islands, abounding in gold, in gems, and spices, and bordered by the gorgeous cities and wealthy marts of the East? Or was it some lonely sea, locked up in the embraces of savage, uncultivated continents, and never traversed by a bark, excepting the light pirogue of the savage?

2. The latter could hardly be the case, for the natives had told the Spaniards of golden realms, and populous, and powerful, and luxurious nations upon its shores. Perhaps it might be bordered by various people, civilized in fact, though differing from Europe in their civilization; who might have peculiar laws and customs, and arts and sciences; who might form, as it were, a world of their own, intercommuning by this mighty sea, and carrying on commerce between their own islands and continents; but who might exist in total ignorance and independence of the other hemisphere.-Companions of Columbus.

* Vasco Nunez de Balboa was born in Spain, in 1475. Having been superseded in the governorship of the colony at Darien, and afterward charged by the new governor with the design of making other discoveries without authority. he was tried and found guilty. Although he persisted that he was unjustly condemned, he was beheaded in conformity with the sentence, in 1517.

De Ayllon's Expedition.-About the time of De Leon's defeat in Florida, De Ayllon (di ile-yone), a Spanish adventurer, was engaged in an enterprise having for its object the procuring of a large number of Indians to work the plantations and mines of St. Domingo (do-ming'g'). At a place in the southern part of South Carolina, a great number of natives were treach erously captured; but the undertaking proved unsuccessful, for of the two vessels employed, one was lost while on the return to St. Domingo, and many of the captives in the other sickened and died.

It was not many months after this unprofitable speculation that De Ayllon obtained the appointment as governor of Chicora (che-ko'rah), the name given to that part of Carolina which he had visited, and he wasted his fortune in fitting out an expedition to conquer the country. The issue of this second enterprise was likewise disastrous: one of his ships, the largest and best, was stranded and lost; many of his men were killed by the natives, in revenge for the treachery which he had previously been guilty of; and he himself barely succeeded in making good his escape.

Discovery and Conquest of Mexico.—In 1517, Cordova, a Spanish navigator, sailed from Cuba and discovered the northern coast of Yucatan. Upon his return he gave such a favorable account of the civilization and riches of the people whom he had seen, as to awaken a keen desire among the Spaniards to undertake their conquest. Accordingly the governor of Cuba sent an expedition under the direction of Grijalva (gre-hahl'vah), the result of which was very satisfactory. Grijalva, after an exploration of the southern coast of Mexico, returned with a large amount of treasure, obtained by trafficking with the natives.

The governor then, determining to conquer the Mexicans and get possession of their wealth, sent an expedition, consisting of eleven vessels and more than six hundred armed men, under the command of Cort'ez. Cortez landed, in 1519, near Vera Cruz (vā'rah kroose), and was at once met by friendly deputations from Montezuma (mon-ta-thoo'mah), the Mexican emperor. By perseverance and a course of falsehood and duplicity, he succeeded in reaching the city of Mexico, the Indian capital; and by stratagem and boldness, and with the aid of Indian tribes opposed to the Mexican rule, finally completed the conquest of the people, and Mexico became a province of Spain in 1521.

Boldness of Cortez.--Prescott.

1. THERE were timid spirits in the camp on whom Cortez could not rely, and who, he feared, might spread the seeds of disaffection among their companions. Even the more resolute, on any occasion of disgust or disappointments hereafter, might falter in purpose, and, getting possession of the vessels, abandon the enterprise. This was already too vast, and the odds were

too formidable, to authorize expectation of success with diminution of numbers. Experience showed that this was always to be apprehended, while means of escape were at hand. The best chance for success was to cut off these means. He came to the daring resolution to destroy the fleet, without the knowledge of his army.

2. When arrived at Cempoalla, he communicated his design to a few of his devoted adherents, who entered warmly into his views. Through them he readily persuaded the pilots, by means of those golden arguments which weigh more than any other with ordinary minds, to make such a report of the condition of the fleet as suited his purpose. The ships, they said, were grievously racked by the heavy gales they had encountered; and, what was worse, the worms had eaten into their sides and bottoms until most of them were not sea-worthy, and some, indeed, could scarcely now be kept afloat.

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3. Cortez received the communication with surprise; "for he could well dissemble," observes Las Casas, with his usual friendly comment, "when it suited his interests." "If it be so," he exclaimed, we must make the best of it: Heaven's will be done!" He then ordered five of the worst conditioned to be dismantled, their cordage, sails, iron, and whatever was movable, to be brought on shore, and the ships to be sunk. A survey was made of the others, and, on a similar report, four more were condemned in the same manner. Only one small vessel remained.

4. When the intelligence reached the troops in Cempoalla, it caused the deepest consternation". They saw themselves cut off by a single blow from friends, family, and country! The stoutest hearts quailed before the prospect of being thus abandoned, on a hostile shore, a handful of men arrayed against a formidable empire. When the news arrived of the destruction of the five vessels first condemned, they had acquiesced in it as a necessary measure, knowing the mischievous activity of the insects in these tropical seas; but, when this was followed by the loss of the remaining four, suspicions of the truth flashed on their minds. They felt they were betrayed. Murmurs, at