ment of Spain, which office gave him the charge of the preparation of charts for the use of navigators crossing the Atlantic, and of the distribution of them to the commanders of the ships. While in the exercise of the duties of this office, either he, or his friends for him, contrived that the new continent should be called by his name. They caused the name America to be inserted upon the charts, and this name soon became so firmly established that though many efforts at different times have been made to change it, none have succeeded. Nothing is more difficult than to change a name once widely disseminated among mankind.

Americus justified his calling the new continent by his name by claiming that he was the first who really discovered it-Columbus having, as he alleged, seen only islands until after he-that is Americus-had found his way to the main land. This claim is not generally allowed; and, at any rate, if Columbus was not the first to land upon the continent, that was a very trifling circumstance-one, in fact, of no moment whatever in estimating the degree of honor which should be awarded to him as the discoverer of the new world; and it seems to mankind very unjust that another should have the privilege of giving it his name, on grounds comparatively so trivial.

This is true, but, in fact, the injustice which has been done is more imaginary than real, for, after all, though Americus succeeded in giving the new continent his name, he obtained no glory, but rather censure and discredit by so doing. All the real and substantial honor of the discovery rests, in the opinion of mankind, and always will rest, with Columbus alone.

JOHN PONCE DE LEON AND THE FOUNTAIN OF YOUTH.

The first portion of the territory now belonging to the United States which was visited by the Spanish and Portuguese adventurers was the southeastern portion, now forming the states of South Carolina, Georgia, and Florida. The shores of Florida were visited first by Ponce de Leon, who was at that time the governor of the island Porto Rico. The Spaniards who came to America at this time imagined themselves in the Indies, according to the ideas of Columbus, which still prevailed, and they entertained the most extravagant conceptions, not only of treasures to be discovered, but also of various magical wonders which they imagined the country to contain. It would almost seem that they had read the Arabian Nights Entertainments, and thought that they had found

a country in which all the gorgeous descriptions which that book contained were to be fully realized.

Ponce de Leon heard accounts from some of the Indians that at a considerable distance to the northward, on the main land, there was a magical spring, which was endowed with such powers that any one who should bathe in its waters would be restored to youth again. So he organized an expedition to go and find it. He did not find the spring, but he discovered and explored a considerable extent of country upon the main land, and named it Florida. This was in 1512, just twenty years after the first voyage of Columbus.

It has been said, and the idea is so agreeable that we are all predisposed to entertain it, that De Leon named the country Florida on account of the profusion of flowers with which the woods were adorned at the time that he visited it; but the truth is, probably, that he gave it that name from the circumstance that he first saw the land on Palm Sunday, a sacred day in the Catholic church, which, in the Spanish language, is called Pasqua Florida. It was a general custom with all these Spanish navigators to give to any place that they discovered the name of the saint or of the festival, which was associated, in the calendar, with the day on which they discovered it.

COMMENCEMENT OF HOSTILITIES WITH THE AMERICAN INDIANS.

The Spaniards who came from the old world in those days to make settlements in the new, brought with them sailors to man their ships, and soldiers to conquer the countries which they should discover, but they could not well bring a sufficient number of laborers to till the soil and work the mines, when they came to establish permanent colonies, and they adopted the system of compelling the natives to work for them, without paying them wages. This was the origin of the system of American slavery. It was from an attempt made by this same Ponce de Leon to carry off a cargo of Indians from South Carolina, in order to make slaves of them in his island of Porto Rico, that the first serious hostilities were excited between the Indians and the Europeans.

This circumstance occurred soon after Ponce de Leon's first voyage to Florida. A company was formed to work certain mines on the island of St. Domingo, now usually called Hayti, which lay directly to the west of Porto Rico. This company, of course with the sanction of the governor, sent off two vessels to the coasts of what is now South Carolina. They landed and opened an intercourse with the Indians, whom they found kind, gentle

and hospitable. After trading with them for some days, and gaining their confidence by a great show of friendliness and good-will, they invited them to come on board the vessels, and when there they invited them below, under pretense of showing them the interior arrangements. When the Indians were all below they suddenly clapped down the hatches and barred and bolted them, and then immediately made sail. The poor Indians, torn thus suddenly and treacherously from their families and homes, and borne away against their will, never returned. One of the ships foundered on the voyage to St. Domingo, and all on board perished. The other arrived, and the unhappy captives brought on board of her were compelled to pass the remainder of their lives in digging in the mines for the benefit of their captors.

The tidings of this outrageous crime spread rapidly, of course, among the tribes living along the neighboring coasts, and they awakened a feeling of universal indignation. Of course, all confidence in any professions of friendship which the Europeans might thenceforth make was gone, and in its place arose the fiercest resentment and rage, which on the next occasion of the landing of a company of Europeans on their shores led to acts of bitter retaliation and revenge.

And thus it was

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