GULF OK MEXICO 



17 



Indians as it was inter reted by a French artist. 

 Particularly amusing are the scenes of alligator 

 hunting in wliich the beast exceeds many times 

 its normal size and the peaceful scene of the 

 Timucua Indian women sowing their fields, the 

 latter drawing conveying a bucolic atmosphere 

 in conformity with the prevailing artistic taste 

 of that time. 



No significant advance in geographical knowl- 

 edge of the Gulf was made during the latter part 

 of the sixteenth and the first half of the seven- 

 teenth century. In this period Spanish ships 

 loaded with gold and silver continued to sail from 

 Mexico to Havana following the northern coast 

 of the Gulf ami passing the delta of the Mississippi 

 River which was called Cabo de Lodo, or Mud 

 Cape. The names of the earlier discoverers, such 

 as Pineda, Narvdez, Ponce de Le6n, De Soto, 

 and others whose exploits made possible the 

 relatively safe sailings of these ships, were almost 

 forgotten. 



During the last quarter of the seventeenth cen- 

 tury -a new era of explorations was initiated by 

 French adventurers who attempted to reach the 

 Gulf coast from the north in order to establish 

 there new colonies. In 1673 two French explorers, 

 Louis Joliet and Father Marquette, descended 

 the Mississippi River from Lake Michigan and 

 voyaged south to the mouth of tiie Arkansas River. 



In 1682 La Salle entered the Mississippi by 

 way of the Illinois route, explored the river to its 

 mouth, and in the name of France took possession 

 of its entire drainage basin. Seeing great political 

 and economic advantages in establishing a colony 

 at the mouth of the Mississippi River, he obtained 

 support of the French Government and in 1684 

 sailed from Europe with four ships, one of which 

 was shortly captured by Spaniards. La Salle 

 missed the mouth of the Mississippi River and 

 landed farther west in Matagorda Bay, Texas, 

 where he established his colony. Misfortunes, 

 disease, and death so devastated the ranks of the 

 colonists that in a few years only 45 survivors 

 remained from several hundred who comprised 

 the original party. In desperation. La Salle 

 decided to reach Canada by land and during this 

 journey was assassinated by his men. 



One of the results of La Salle's exploration, 

 which is of definite interest to the geography of 

 the Gulf, is the sketch map of the location of his 

 camp on the shores of Matagorda Bay with the 



soundings sliown in feet. The reproduction of 

 this map, in tlie form of a tracing from a photo- 

 graph of the original, is given by Dunn (1917, 

 p. 33). 



Rumors of the French penetration in the land 

 bordering the Gulf aroused the half-dormant 

 rivalry between Spain and France and induced 

 the Spanish Government to send several military 

 expeditions with orders to destroy French colonies. 

 As one of the official documents of that time 

 stated, it was necessary to "desarraygar esta 

 espina que se a yntroducido en el corazon del 

 cuerpo de la America" which means to uproot the 

 thorn that had been thrust into the heart of 

 America (Dunn, p. 42). 



In 1686 Martin de Echegaray, a naval captain 

 of the presidio of St. Augustine, Florida, attempted 

 to interest the Spanish Government in strength- 

 ening Spanish influence in the domain of Florida 

 by transporting 50 Spanish families from the 

 Canary Islands and 25 Indian families from Cam- 

 peche. In support of his plan, Echegaray sub- 

 mitted a map, wdiich is a good example of the 

 defects of the geographical knowledge of that 

 time, of the interior of the American continent. 

 The Echegaray map shows the large "river 

 Canada," or St. Lawrence River emptying into a 

 lake from which two rivers lead southward to the 

 Gulf of Mexico, both emptying into Espiritu 

 Santu Bay (Mississippi River). Echegaray's 

 scheme was not accepted, but the Spanish Gov- 

 ernment took other measures to counteract the 

 French penetration into the new continent and 

 to destroy La Salle's colony of which they were 

 afraid. An interesting account of these attempts 

 is given by Dunn (1917). It is sufficient to men- 

 tion here that not less than four maritime ex- 

 peditions were sent by the Spanish Government, 

 and the whole Gulf of Mexico was examined with 

 great diligence. One of the important results of 

 this search for French colonies was the rediscovery 

 of Pensacola Bay which the Spaniards decided 

 to occupy. Admiral Pez was placed in command 

 of an expedition organized for this purpose in 1693. 

 One of his principal companions was Dr. Carlos 

 de Siguenza y Gongora, professor of mathematics 

 in the Royal University of Mexico and chief cos- 

 mographer of the kingdom. Siguenza kept a 

 detailed journal of the journey in which he re- 

 corded his observations. The vessels of the 

 expedition reached Pensacola Bay on St. Mary's 



