26 HOME LIFE IN FLORIDA. 



he added not a little to his reputation as a skillful, daring 

 soldier, and his services were rewarded by the appointment 

 to the governorship of Bimini, one of the Bahama Islands 

 lying nearest to the great continent. 



De Leon lived in an age of comparative ignorance, and 

 thei'efore superstition held full sway over the minds of the 

 masses of all ranks, from the highest to the lowest. Par- 

 ticularly was this the case tvith the traveler, who witnessed 

 much that he could not understand, and consequently set 

 it down to the account of an agency not "of the earth, 

 earthy." Ponce De Leon was not an exception to the 

 general rule. He had journeyed far and often, over sea 

 and land, and had seen many wonderful things which he 

 attributed to supernatural causes. In the new land in 

 which his lot Avas now cast there was much to astonish the 

 rough, ignorant soldier. The very existence of this great 

 country was in itself a thing to marvel at. Altogether 

 poor De Leon was in a proper frame of mind to be victim- 

 ized, or, rather, to victimize himself; and that is just what 

 he did, aided not a little therein by the wondrous tales 

 brought to his credulous ears by those of his comrades in 

 arms who had j^enetrated into the wilds of the continent. 



Now, among the aborigines of Bimini and of the adja- 

 cent islands there was a legend which had been handed 

 down from father to son from time out of mind, and none 

 could tell its origin beyond tracing it to a certain great 

 cacique. It was hardly a legend either, for its whole pur- 

 port was to the effect that he who bathed in the stream 

 should renew his youth. It was, in fact, only a different 

 version of our own saying that "cleanliness is next to god- 

 liness." The far-away cacique, dead so long ago that his 

 very name was forgotten, who impressed this maxim on 

 his people, was certainly a wise old gentleman, and worthy 

 of more renown than has fallen to his lot. The strength 



