FLORIDA.


partly because of the green and flowery appearance of the
country, he gave it the name of FLORID, and took posses-
sion of it in the name of their Catholic Majesties of Spain.
About two months were spent by Ponce de Leon in visit-
ing different portions of the shores of what he supposed to
be an island, and in exploration of the interior; but he
found neither the Fountain of Youth nor any indications
of the expected riches; and finally, discouraged by his ill
success and by the fierce hostility of the natives, he aban-
doned the quest and returned to Porto Rico, where, in


order to magnify his discovery, he mad
of its beauty and richness, and obtain
leges of Adelantado of Florida, on coni
conquer and colonize the land.
 Following in the track of Ponce de
Diego Miruelo visited Florida in 1516,
some pieces of gold from the natives,


counts of the
1517 Fernand(
so vigorously
after losing a
die of his own
who had accord


e a flattering report
I the title and privi-
dition that he should

Leon, a pilot named
and, having obtained
spread glowing ac-


country among his comrades in Cuba. In
!z de Cordova landed upon the coast, but was
attacked by a large body of natives that,
number of his men, he returned to Cuba to
Sounds. Shortly afterward one Alaminos,
npanied the previous expedition, made a de-


scent with three ships, but was beaten off by the vigilant
natives in two attempts to land. These disastrous experi-
ences appear to have dampened for several years the ardor
of the Spanish adventurers, but in 1520 a rich official named
De Ayllon, wishing to capture slaves from among the Ind-
ians, landed at a point now in South Carolina but then in-
cluded in the limits of Florida, and having inveigled a
hundred and thirty of the natives on board his ships, set
sail with them for Hispaniola, and thus won for the Span-
iards the implacable hatred of all the Floridian tribes. In
the following year (1521) Ponce de Leon, aroused by the
exploits of Cortes in Mexico, set out to conquer a new em-