10 
VIEWS OF LOUISIANA. 
were, however, by no means the first to take possession, or t© 
explore it. The liberal gift of Pope Alexander the sixth, of all 
the new world , might be supposed to supersede the necessity of 
such formalities. 
It is true, that some adventurers’in the hopes of discovering 
in this unexplored region, kingdoms of civilized Indians, and 
fired by the success of Cortez, penetrated into the country now 
called Louisiana, but were deplorably unsuccessful. These ad¬ 
venturers the better to obtain followers, had artfully circulated 
a story, suited to the superstition of the age, that in this country, 
there existed a miraculous fountain, possessing the desirable 
qualities of restoring youth, or rendering it perpetual to him' 
who should be so fortunate as to bathe himself in its enchanted 
Waters. The Spanish expeditions had not for their object the' 
taking possession of a wilderness, thinly peopled, by wandering 
Indians, of populating and improving, it, but to plunder the na¬ 
tives of the gold and silver they were supposed to possess : nor 
did the world, or even they, become better acquainted with the 
country in consequence of their expeditions. Pontio de Leon, 
was the first adventurer. In 1512, he penetrated Florida, 
at the head of a considerable party, ostensibly in pursuit of the 
before mentioned fountain; but his stay was short, he did not 
even build a fort, the natives considering him as an invader, and 
opposing him with great ferocity. Thus Pontio, and such of his 
men as survived returned home, worn out with the hardships 
sustained in the expedition.* In 1520, Vasques de Ayllon, land- 
ed and explored the neighbourhood of a river which he called 
the Jourdan, in that part of Florida which is now South Caroli¬ 
na ; but his stay was not long and his success no better than that 
of Pontio de Leon. 4 A few years after this, Pamphile de Narvaes, 
obtained from the emperor Charles the fifth, the government 
of Florida. Narvaes coasted along the northern shore of the 
gulph of Mexico, landed several times, had frequent rencoun¬ 
ters with the Indians, who killed many of his people, and at length 
perished miserably himself without having even built a fert. 
* History of European Settlement's, 
