To Their New Homes : 171 



In 1512, Juan Ponce de Leon was governor of Puerto Rico. Prob- 

 ably his discovery of Florida would have been forgotten had he not 

 also admitted that he was looking for a Fountain of Eternal Youth 

 which had been described to him by the Indians. He had been with 

 Columbus on his second voyage and was, in fact, already an old man 

 according to the standard of the time. Being ambitious as well as old, 

 he was anxious to believe the stories of the Indians regarding lands 

 beyond Puerto Rico and the health-giving fountain. 



On the first voyage he sailed through the Bahama Islands and dis- 

 covered and named Florida. He went to Spain to report his discov- 

 ery and was named governor of Bimini and of Florida. In 1521, with 

 two vessels, he made another voyage to Florida. He found neither 

 gold nor a Fountain of Youth; indeed, he met his death in a battle 

 against hostile Indians. 



Before Juan Ponce de Leon died, the western shore of Florida had 

 also been discovered; in fact, Alvarez de Pineda followed the gulf 

 coast all the way from Florida to Panuco (Tampico) in Mexico and 

 back again. During this voyage he discovered the Mississippi River to 

 which he gave the name Rio del Espiritu Santo. 



The climate of Florida seemed warm and inviting, the soil rich 

 and the vegetation luxurious, but Florida continued to prove a death 

 trap to many ambitious European expeditions. 



In 1528 Panfilo de Narvaez made an ambitious attempt to colonize 

 Florida and also to reach the Carolinas where a colony had recently 

 failed. Before he even reached the coast of Florida he had lost two 

 ships and sixty men in a hurricane and others had deserted. Against 

 the advice of wiser men, Narvaez attempted a march through Flor- 

 ida. His fleet waited a year for him and then sailed home. In the 

 meantime, Narvaez's march through Florida proved a disaster before 

 a few survivors reached Apalachee Bay. What was left of the Nar- 

 vaez party built five shaky boats and tried to escape by sailing west- 

 ward to Mexico. Narvaez and most of the boats were lost. 



One ship under the direction of a wise, resourceful and courageous 

 individual named Alvarez Nunez Cabeza De Vaca was wrecked on 

 the Texas coast. After six years of captivity and wandering among 

 the Indian tribes he and three companion survivors succeeded in 

 making their way into Mexico. In the process of reaching the Mexi- 

 can settlements Cabeza De Vaca almost completed the first crossing 

 of the American continent, but there were still no permanent settle- 

 ments north of Mexico. 



There was one other survivor of Narvaez's expedition. His name 



