242 THE HIVE OF THE BEE-HUNTER. 



wood tree, he caused its majestic trunk to be shorn of 

 its limbs ; and on this tall shaft placed the beam which 

 formed the cross. 



This completed, the emblazoned banners of Spain 

 and Arragon were unfurled to the breeze, and, amid the 

 strains of martial music and the firing of cannon, the 

 steel-clad De Soto, assisted by the priests in his train, 

 raised the host to heaven, and declared the reign of 

 Christianit}' commenced in the valley of the Mississippi. 



The erection of this touching symbol in the great 

 temple of nature was full of poetry. The forests, like 

 the stars, declare the wonderful works of the Creator. 

 In the silent grandeur of our primeval woods, in their 

 avenues of columns, their canopies of leaves, their fes- 

 toons of vines, the cross touched the heart, and spoke 

 more fully its office than ever it will glistening among 

 the human greatness of a Milan cathedral, or the solemn 

 grandeur of a St. Peter's. 



Two hundred years after Ponce de Leon had min- 

 gled his dust with the sands of the peninsula of Florida, 

 and De Soto reposed beneath the current of the Missis- 

 sippi, the same spirit of religious and military enthusi- 

 asm pervaded the settlements made by both French and 

 Spanish in this " land of flowers." 



Among the adventurers of that day were many who 

 mingled the romantic ambition of the crusaders with 

 the ascetic spirit of the monk, and who looked upon 

 themselves as ambassadors of religion to new nations in 



