Emperor Charles V., he returned to the Old World-without, however, obtaining any recognition of his claims.

PERU.-What Cortez was to Mexico, PIZARRO was to Peru. With less education than Cortez (for he could nei

ther read nor write), but equally false, cruel, avaricious, and brave, Pizarro made three expeditions from Panama, on the Pacific coast, for the subjugation of the rich empire of the

CONQUEST OF PERU.

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Incas. The first two were unsuccessful; but on the third, undertaken in 1531 by authority of the Emperor Charles V., with less than two hundred men, he marched across the mountains, and managed treacherously to seize the Peruvian Inca, or sovereign, after massacring several thousand of his unarmed attendants. On promise of his release, the Inca sent out agents to strip his temples of their decorations, and made over to his captors gold and silver to the value of seventeen millions of dollars—only to find that a Spaniard's promise to a heathen meant nothing, and to be put to death by his perfidious conqueror.

Taking advantage of the consternation that followed, Pizarro pushed on to the ancient capital Cuzco (koos'ko), noted for its magnificent temple of the Sun, the most splendid structure of the New World. Raising a new Inca to the throne as a puppet, the Spaniards proceeded to pillage the palaces and religious edifices, to divide the land among themselves, and to parcel out the wretched natives, like slaves, for its cultivation or for labor in the mines.

Thus in 1533 was brought under the Spanish yoke (though not without a subsequent hard struggle for independence) another vast empire, 2,500 miles in length, embracing almost the entire western coast of South America. Its industrious and happy population of millions, who equalled the Mexicans in civilization while their worship of the Sun was free from the bloody rites of the Aztec religion, was reduced to the condition of serfs. A new capital, Lima (le'mah-see Map), was built six miles from a commodious harbor on the coast, and other cities destined to become important marts were founded. Pizarro for a time ruled like a king, but in 1541 fell by the hands of conspirators—a fitting end for his life of violence.

SPANISH EXPLORATIONS. Meanwhile Central America and New Granada (now the United States of Colombia) had been colonized. Thus before any other European power

save Portugal had established a permanent settlement on the continent, the possessions of Spain extended from the northern coast of the Gulf of Mexico, across the Isthmus, along the Pacific nearly to Patagonia. Under the name of Florida, was claimed, besides, the rest of North America as far as Canada.

Before 1550, exploring parties had penetrated the Gulf of California and the Colorado (kol-o-rah'do) River which empties into it, had coasted Upper California, and made their way into the territory now known as Arizo'na and New Mexico. In the last-named region, the Spaniards first met with "6. a new kind of ox, wild and fierce," the bison of our western plains.

French Discoveries. What was France doing all this time? Her fishermen had made many profitable voyages to the Banks of Newfoundland; but nothing was done in the way of discovery till the rich spoils which Cortez sent home to the Emperor Charles V. awakened the envy of his rival, the French king, Francis I. The latter, declaring that 'he would like to see the clause in Adam's will which entitled Spain and Portugal to divide the New World between them,' sent out a fleet of exploration under a Florentine named VERRAZZANI (věr-rat-tsah'ne). This navigator sailed along the coast from Carolina to Nova Scotia, trading with the natives, and taking formal possession of the country, which he called New France.

King Francis now had enough to do with his European wars, so that ten years elapsed before any more expeditions were sent out. At length, in 1534 and 1535, CARTIER (kar-te-a') continued the work, sailing round Newfoundland, and discovering a noble bay and river to which he gave the name of St. Lawrence. The river he ascended to the site of the present city of Montreal. An attempt made five years later to plant a French colony in this northern region, failed; as did also a similar undertaking at Port Royal on the south

1565]

SETTLEMENTS IN FLORIDA.

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ern coast in 1562, though a fort was built there, and the country was called Carolina, in honor of Charles IX. of France.

In 1565, RIBAULT (re-bo') came over, and assumed command of a colony of French Protestants that had been planted the year before on the St. John's River, in Florida. Hardly had the settlement begun to prosper, when a force of Spaniards under Melendez (ma-len'deth), who had been hastily dispatched to punish this intrusion on Spanish territory, and who had discovered and named the harbor of St. Au'gustine near by, surprised the French fort, and massacred the settlers, men and women, young and old.

The same fate befell the Spaniards themselves. A French soldier of renown, De Gourgues (deh goorg'), determining to avenge his countrymen, borrowed from his friends a sufficient sum to equip three vessels. With these and a handful of men, carefully concealing his purpose, he landed near the scene of the massacre; and calling to his aid the natives, whom Spanish outrages had made eager for vengeance, he fell on three forts belonging to the enemy, carried them by surprise and storm, and put the garrisons to death. Too weak to await an attack from the Spaniards in the neighborhood, he then hastily recrossed the Atlantic.

Thus ended the French attempts at colonizing Florida. Spain was left in undisturbed possession. St. Augustine, founded by Melendez, is the oldest town within the present limits of the United States.

CONTEMPORARY EVENTS AND RULERS.

1550.-The Spanish possessions in the New World, embracing the West Indies, Mexico, and western South America from the Caribbe'an Sea to Patagonia, governed by viceroys. The mines of America pouring their wealth into the treasury of Spain. A printing-press, the first in the New World, at work in Mexico. Money coined in Mexico. Universities of Mexico and Lima founded, 1551. Order restored in Peru, after civil war. No settlements as yet north of the Gulf of Mexico.