38 HOME LIFE IN FLORIDA. 



back, and covered with wounds. And then Menendez, not 

 satisfied with his demoniacal work, hung up the mangled 

 bodies to a tree and wrote above them, "Not as French- 

 men, but as heretics." 



But it was not long before retribution came : * 'As ye 

 mete, it shall be meted unto you." 



A French warrior, De Gourges, his heart burning to 

 avenge his countrymen, equipped an expedition at his own 

 expense, sailed from France, reached Florida, and was 

 there joined by a large body of the natives, who had 

 learned to love the more gentle Frenchmen as much as 

 they hated the Spaniards. 



De Gourges was fortunate in every movement. He sur- 

 prised and captured the Spanish forts on the St. John's, and 

 hung their garrisons on the very same trees from which 

 the mangled remains of his unfortunate countrymen had 

 been suspended, writing above them, "Not as Spaniards, 

 but as traitors, robbers, and murderers." 



Menendez, the arch-murderer, escaped, because he was 

 in Spain at the time of De Gourges' vengeance. 



From this time forth the Spaniards held to their settle- 

 ment at St. Augustine, fighting off and on all the time 

 with the English, who now began to settle along the Car- 

 olina and Georgia shores, which Spain claimed as also 

 "Florida." 



In 1696 the Spaniards began to colonize the western 

 coast of Florida, and built a fort at Pensacola, besides 

 establishing missions at various points. 



Finally, in 1763, by a treaty, Spain ceded Florida to 

 England in exchange for Havana, which heretofore had 

 belonged to the British Empire. The result of the Span- 

 ish claim to Florida, held since 1512, being two small mili- 

 tary settlements. 



The new English possessors at once proceeded to make a 



