ent Combahee River, which he named the Jordan. Vasquez 

 xnsited this region several times, but seems to have been more 

 interested in carrying away the natives to the South American 

 mines than in noticing natural resources. His discoveries, 

 however, became widely known throughout Europe and drew 

 other adventurers to this region. 



Ferdinand De »Soto, on his march to the Mississippi, in 1540, 

 passed through the upper part, of South Carolina, and it is possi- 

 ble that Biedma* refers to our native Osmantfms americanus 

 when he speaks of De Soto's finding ''interred two hatchets from 

 Spain, for cutting wood, a chaplet of berries of the wild olive 

 tree and some small pearls like those which they bring from 

 Spain to use in exchanges with the Indians. We thought that 

 they had procured all these objects in trafficking with the peo- 

 ple who had accompanied the licentiate Ayllon." 



FRENCH KXPLORATIONS 



John de Verazzano was sent out by Francis the First, King of 

 France, to explore the coast of North America. In a letter to 

 the King under date of July 8. 1524^ Verazzano describes 

 graphically the country about Cape Fear in North Carolina, 

 but seems not to have landed farther south. His description, 

 however, applies so well to our own coast that I quote from it, 

 particularly as it is the earliest account I have discovered. Ve- 

 razzano pictures the country as being "covered with immense 

 forests of trees, more or less dense, too various in colours, and 

 too delightful and charming in appearance to be described" 

 and "adorned with palms, laurels, cypresses, and other vari- 

 eties unknown to Europe, that send forth the sweetest fragrance 

 to a great distance.'' 



' Va. Hist, and Phil. Soc, An account of discoveries in the West until 1.519, and of 

 voyages to and alone the Atlantic Coast of North America. 1848, .385. 

 ^Ibid, 302-319. 



62 



