150 BULLETIN OP THE UNITED STATES FISH COMMISSION. 



attention of all good citizens of the United States. In this interest we commend the words of Hon. 

 T. T. Wright, who 8:. 



I he water farms of the United States, oceans, lakes, and rivers, are neglected aud but half 

 developed. Let us turn on them the search-light of science to reveal their treasures and possibilities, 

 and thereby increase openings for new fields of labor and a larger supply of food for mankind." 



Trn.-ting that this Congress will receive the consideration it deserves, and that its deliberations 

 may prove beneficial to the citizens of the United States and the world at large, 



W. D. BLOXHAM, 



(',<>!( riior of Florida. 



Mr. Gillett then addressed the meeting, welcoming the delegates in behalf of the 

 city of Tampa, after which he introduced governor Bloxbam, who spoke as follows: 



The assembling of this Fishery Congress js "" Q "Jti n f +- T " B1 irffrV fi fln ft f n/1 ' T T..AVri^ht r on* 

 oft be. roost progressive intellects of the aouth^ His presentation of the possibilities of such a meeting 

 was the prompting cause of my issuing the call, and he organized the movement so well executed by 

 Tampa's board of trade and Dr. H. M. Smith of the United States Commission of Fish and Fisheries. 

 Tampa's representative will bid you welcome to this city; and I have been requested to welcome you 

 not only to this progressive and prosperous city, but to Florida. I take pleasure in performing the 

 task, feeling that in doing so I but voice the sentiments of our entire people. 



I welcome yon to a State whose history is the most romantic iu the annals of America. When 

 familiar with the raiment with which nature has clothed her the richest that a tropical luxuriance 

 could furnish so captivating a figure with her limpid streams glistening like sheens of silver under 

 a semitropical sun; with deep-bedded rocks reflecting with a dazzling brilliancy God's great orb of 

 light, and penciled fringings of the richest foliage adding a halo to their unsurpassed beauty, 

 can we wonder that fable's persuasive tongue invested her with treasures surpassing the famed 

 KI Dorado? Are we surprised that imagination's "weird sisters" pictured her waters as holding by 

 divine right the most precious of Hygeia's elixir to restore honorable but tottering infirmities to 

 the freshness and vigor of robust manhood, and that the hope of this famed fabled physical regen- 

 eration should have served as an irresistible stimulant to Spain's lion-hearted cavalier, Ponce deLeouf 



You meet here upon historic ground, where the footprints of some of Spain's greatest cavaliers 

 and America's noblest captains can be traced. While it is not my intention to recur to their heroic 

 deeds, or to offer you a cup filled with the ambrosia of ancient story, yet there is one romance, based 

 upon historic fact, associated with this very spot, that I feel you will kindly indulge should a li ief 

 reference thereto be made. 



Wherever the history of America is read, there the story of Pocahontas is known. The romance 

 is most < aptivating, and some of Virginia's most honored sous trace back a lineage to this daughter of 

 the trest. Bat the historic fact that a similar scene was enacted on this very spot, three-quarters 

 of ft century before the, name of Pocahontas was ever lisped by English lips, is unknown even to many 



It was here, in 1528, twelve years before Do Soto lauded upon Tampa's Bay, that Juan Ortez, a 

 Spanish youth of eighteen, having been captured at Clearwater, was brought before Hirrihugua, the 

 *tern Indian chief, in whose breast was rankling a vengeance; born of ill treatment of his mother by 

 the follow cm of the ill-fated N;ir\av. Mite/ was young and fair, but the cruel chief had given 

 orders, and here w.is erected a gridiron of poles, faggots were prepared, and young Orte/ was bound 

 anil stretched to meet the demands for a human sacrifice. The torch was being applied, the crackling 

 flames 1 itln-r strength for a human holocaust, when the stern chief's (laughter threw herself 



at her father's feet ami interposed in <ntc/'s behalf. Her beauty rivaled that of the historic, da me 

 "whose heavenly charms kept Troy and (Jreeco ten years in arms." The soft language of her soul 

 flowed from her never-silent eyes as she looked up through her tears of sympathy, imploring the life 

 of the young Spaniard. Those tears, the ever-ready weapon of a woman' weakness, touched the 

 heart of even the savage chief, and ()rte/. \\ -;\n for a time spared. 



But the demon of evil in a few months again took possession of Hirrihugua, and his daughter 

 aw that even her entreaties would be unavailing. She wa betrothed to Mucoso, the young chief of 

 a neighboring tribe. Their love had been plighted that God-given love that rules the savage 

 breast as 



"It rules the court, the camp, the grove, 

 And men below, and saints above." 



