A BACKWARD GLANCE. 33 



another third died from exposure and fatigue. Finally, 

 after reaching the coast and not finding their fleet awaiting 

 them, they built rude boats, sewed their shirts together as 

 sails, and made ropes of the fibers of palm trees. They were 

 hunting for the ships they had left to await their return, 

 but it was like "hunting for a needle in a hay-stack," igno- 

 rant as they were where to look. Hither and thither they 

 sailed, without aim or result. Some died of disease, some 

 of starvation, after vainly endeavoring to preserve life by 

 eating the bodies of their dead comrades. 



Finally, from five boats holding forty men each, the once 

 proud expedition was reduced to one boat, containing six 

 men and a boy ! One of these men was the hapless vete- 

 ran, Narvaez. Near the mouth of the Perdido Kiver his 

 soldiers went ashore to seek provisions, while he himself, 

 with a sailor and the boy, remained in the boat. Djir- 

 ing the night a violent wind drove the boat out upon 

 the Gulf; and there, either by drowning or starvation, the 

 life-light of the once brilliant soldier went out. Neither 

 the boat nor its occupants were ever heard of again. 



The four soldiers, left thus on shore in the midst of ene- 

 mies, fared but little better. They finally succeeded, how- 

 ever, after seven years of misery of all kinds, slavery to 

 the Indians included, in reaching Mexico, and were there 

 rescued by their own countrymen. Meantime the ships 

 that should have met them on the Florida coast returned 

 to Spain, having given up their comrades for lost. 



Thus ended the second scene in Florida's history. 



In the year 1539 came Fernando De Soto to try his for- 

 tune in Florida, and landed at Tampa Bay, which he 

 named Espiritu Santo. He had a thousand men at his 

 back, and three hundred and fifty horses. His search was 

 not so much for conquest as for gold. 



Marching onward, the Indians opposed his a4vauce at 



