DISCOVERY & SETTLEMENT.—BOOK E 
11 
Hernandes de Soto, being afterwards made captain-general 
of Florida, in the year 1539 at the head of eight or nine hundred 
men landed in this country and penetrated a considerable dis¬ 
tance into the interior. He continued for several years 'wandering 
-in search of gold, of civilized Indians, and of miraculous foun¬ 
tains ; in the mean time he was much harassed by the natives, 
his party was divided and dispersed in small bands, the greater 
-part of which, were never afterwards heard of, and finally de 
dSoto himself died on the banks of the Mississippi.* The unhap¬ 
py issue of these successive expeditions, entirely dissuaded ad¬ 
venturers from any further attempt, until establishments were 
formed by the French. 
In the year 1523, Verazzani, an Italian mariner, in the ser¬ 
vice of France, had discovered Florida, but had not attempted 
•any settlement. This discovery was not followed up by the French, 
owing to the almost total inattention to America, during the 
troubled reigns of Francis II, and of Charles IX. The celebrated 
■Coligny, desirous of obtaining freedom of religious worship, for 
the persecuted sect to which he belonged, conceived the idea of 
going in search of the country discovered by Verazzani, and of 
planting a colony of protestants: a scheme rather encouraged by 
the king who was desirous of chasing off the Hugonots. He cast 
his eye upon that part of Florida, which Verazzani, had described 
gs most suitable for the establishment of a colony; for besides 
the mildness of the climate, and the fertility of the soil, he fan¬ 
cied the French would find no one to dispute their tight or even 
to trouble them. Jean de Ribaut being chosen by the admiral 
to undertake the expedition, set off .the 18th of February 1562. 
He first touched at,a place which he called Cape Francois , about 
the 30°, of N. lat. and turning to the right he perceived a short 
time after, a river which he named la riviere des Dauphins , but 
* In the account of this expedition by Herrera, it is mentioned that de 
Soto in 1541 reached Mavilla, an Indian to wn enclosed with wooden walls. 
He had an engagement there in which 2000 natives were killed and 83 
Spaniards, who also lost 45 horses. An Indian village named Chicaca 
was burnt. See Amer. ann, 1. vol. 91.—A tradition prevailed amongst the 
Kaskaskia Indians of their having slain the first white men they had 
ever seen—this might have been one of de Soto’s parties. 
