I06 SMITHSONIAN MISCELLANEOUS COLLECTIONS VOL. I02 



where there is another Captain with his company of guards. Here they 

 mount guard every day ; this fort has plenty of suppHes and artillery, 

 with 150 soldiers. Thus in the Morro and the two forts or castles 

 there are over 450 soldiers in the garrison, plus the gunners and the 

 other artisans. 



304. His Majesty, in consultation with the Supreme Council, ap- 

 points a Governor for this city, who is Captain General ; there are in 

 residence a Paymaster and a Treasurer of the Royal Patrimony. In 

 this harbor they build excellent galleons. The harbor of Matanzas 

 lies 20 leagues E. of here ; there are all sorts of shops in this city and 

 they put up preserves of fine quality, which are bought and used on 

 a large scale for the fleets and galleons. 



Chapter XXXIV 



Of the City of St. Augustine, Florida, and Its District. 



305. Florida is a point of land projecting 100 leagues into the sea; 

 it is on a line N. from Cuba ; it is about 25 or 30 leagues across from 

 E. to W., and forms part of the mainland with New Spain. It was 

 discovered by Commander Juan Ponce de Leon in the year 15 12, on 

 Easter Day (Pascua Florida), and for that reason he so named it; 

 it lies just within 25° N. Later, Panfilo de Narvaez set out to conquer 

 it in the year 1528, but all perished except Alvaro Nufiez Cabeza de 

 Vaca and his companions ; these suffered great hardships among the 

 savages, but cured their sick miraculously with holy words and the 

 sign of the Holy Cross, in true faith ; and in the year 1536, reverenced 

 and respected by the Indians for the cures God effected through 

 them, they arrived in the Kingdom of New Galicia, 30 leagues from 

 the town of San Miguel de Culiacan, as is told in the histories. There 

 they met Christian Spaniards who were astounded at their dress and 

 the pilgrimage they had made ; they were clothed and feted by Gen. 

 Francisco Vazquez de Coronado, who at that time was setting out on 

 the conquest of those provinces. And so the devoted companions 

 broke up and separated, and good Alvaro Nunez Cabeza de Vaca, 

 whose heroic virtues and courage in meeting hardships would require 

 a special history, reached the city of Mexico. There he was very 

 kindly received and treated by the Viceroy, Don Antonio de Mendoza ; 

 and from there, aided by the Viceroy, he returned to Spain and gave 

 His Majesty an account of the unfortunate outcome of Panfilo de 

 Narvaez' party, a description of the territories he had seen and of his 

 great tribulations during the 7 years' pilgrimage of his passage 

 through those regions of savages. And His Majesty, having received 



