A BACKWARD GLANCE. 29 



From the ground at their feet peeped forth, amidst a rank 

 growth of coarse grass, flowers of all colors ; and even 

 away up toward the tree tops climbing vines bedecked the 

 green foliage with yellow and white and scarlet flowers, all 

 gleaming and glinting in the sunshine, with the graceful, 

 sober-tinted moss waving to and fro in their midst, and alto- 

 gether forming a scene so weirdly strange and beautiful 

 that Ponce De Leon and his followers with one accord 

 named this new land "Florida" — blooming or flourishing. 

 And thus was our fair peninsula christened for all time by 

 the Spanish adventurer. 



So elated was the old warrior by the grand discovery he 

 had accidentally made that even the long-cherished dream 

 of the Fountain of Youth was relegated to the back- 

 ground; and although one might naturally suppose that 

 here in this fairy-like land, if any where, the wondrous 

 fountain might well be located, yet nov7 De Leon turned 

 suddenly from his chimera, and instead of wasting still 

 more of his valuable time in any further search, he at 

 once proceeded to investigate the extent of this new island, 

 as he believed it to be. 



Knowing as we do, at this present day, all the many 

 visible and hidden dangers and intricacies of navigation 

 among the Florida reefs, and violent currents produced by 

 the Gulf Stream in flowing among the numerous islands or 

 " keys," it is a marvel that De Leon was able to follow the 

 coast in safety, as he did, from the site of St. Augustine 

 southward, finally rounding the southernmost point and 

 sailing northward a short distance along the western shore. 



Although still believing the land he had discovered to 

 be an island, he was now well assured that it was very 

 large and important. He therefore hastened to Porto 

 Rico and thence to Spain, where he laid before the king 

 the particulars of his discovery, and received as a reward 



