 Section 12 of Great Epochs in American History, Volume 1. This is a LibriVox recording. All LibriVox recordings are in the public domain. For more information or to volunteer, please visit LibriVox.org. Recording by Michael Foscio. Great Epochs in American History, Volume 1. Voyages of Discovery and Early Explorations, 10080-1682 by Francis Whiting Halsey. Section 12. A Battle with the Indians, 1497, as described by America's Vespuchias. Desiring to depart upon our voyage, natives made complaint to us how, at certain times of the year, there came from over the land to this, their land, a race of people very cruel and enemies of theirs, and who, by means of treachery or of violence, slew many of them and ate them, and some they made captives and carried them away to their houses or country, and how they could scarcely contrive to defend themselves from them, making signs to us that those were an island people and lived out in the sea about a hundred leagues away, and so piteously did they tell us this that we believed them, and we promised to avenge them of so much wrong, and they remained overjoyed herewith, and many of them offered to come along with us, but we did not wish to take them for many reasons, save that we took seven of them, on condition that they should come, i.e. return home afterward in their own canoes, because we did not desire to be obliged to take them back to their country, and they were contented, and so we departed from those people, leaving them very friendly towards us, and having repaired our ships, and sailing for seven days out to sea between northeast and at the end of the seven days we came upon the islands, which were many, some of them inhabited, and others deserted, and we anchored at one of them, where we saw a numerous people who called it E.T., and having manned our boats with strong crews and taken ammunition for three cannon shots in each we made for land, where we found assembled about four hundred men and many women, and all naked, like the former peoples. They were of good bodily presence, and seemed right warlike men, for they were armed with their weapons, which are bows, arrows, and lances, and most of them had square wooden targets, and bore them in such wise that they did not impede the drawing of the bow, and when we had come with our boats to about a bow-shot of the land, they all sprang into the water to shoot their arrows at us and to prevent us from leap-lug upon shore, and they all had their bodies painted of various colors, and were plumbed with feathers, and the interpreters who were with us told us that when those displayed themselves so painted and plumbed, it was to be token that they wanted to fight, and so much did they persist in preventing us from landing, that we were compelled to play with artillery, and when they heard the explosion, and saw one of them fall dead, they all drew back to the land, wherefore, forming our council, we resolved that forty-two of our men should spring on shore, and if they waited for us, fight them. Thus having leaped to land with our weapons, they advanced towards us, and we fought for about an hour, for we had but little advantage of them, except that their arbalasters and gunners killed some of them, and they wounded certain of our men. This was because they did not stand to receive us within reach of lance thrust or sword-blow, and so much vigor did we put forth at last that we came to sword-play, and when they tasted our weapons, they betook themselves to flight through the mountains and the forests, and left us conquerors of the field with many of them dead and a good number wounded. We took no other pains to pursue them, because we were very weary, and we returned to our ships with so much gladness on the part of the seven men who had come with us that they could not contain themselves for joy, and when the next day arrived, we beheld coming across the land a great number of people, with signals of battle, continually sounding horns, and various other instruments which they used in their wars, and all of them painted and feathered, so that it was a very strange sight to behold them. Wherefore all the ships held counsel, and it was resolved that since this people desired hostility with us, we should proceed to encounter them and try by every means to make them friends, in case they would not have our friendship, that we should treat them as foes, and so many of them as we might be able to capture should all be our slaves, and having armed ourselves as best we could, we advanced toward the shore, and they sought not to hinder us from landing, I believe, from fear of the cannons, and we jumped on land, fifty-seven men in four squadrons, each one consisting of a captain and his company, and we came to blows with them. After a long battle, many of them were slain. We put them to flight, and pursued them to a village, having made about two hundred and fifty of them captives, and we burnt the village, and returned to our ships with victory and two hundred and fifty prisoners, leaving many of them dead and wounded, and of ours there were no more than one killed, and twenty-two wounded, who all escaped, i.e. recovered, God be thanked. We arranged our departure, and seven men of whom five were wounded took an island canoe, and with seven prisoners that we gave them, four women and three men, returned to their own country full of gladness, wandering at our strength, and we thereon made sail for Spain with two hundred and twenty-two captive slaves, and reached the port of Calís, Cadiz, on the fifteenth day of October, fourteen ninety-eight, where we were well received and sold our slaves, such as what befell me most noteworthy in this my first voyage. End of section twelve section thirteen of Great Epochs in American History, volume one Voyages of Discovery and Early Explorations 1000 AD to 1682 This is a LibriVox recording. All LibriVox recordings are in the public domain. For more information or to volunteer, please visit LibriVox.org The Great Epochs in American History, volume one Voyages of Discovery and Early Explorations 1000 AD to 1682 by Francis Whiting Halsey Section thirteen, the first account of America printed in English fifteen eleven of the new lands and of ye people found by the messengers of Portugal named Immanuel, of the reverend diners Nacionís christened, of Pope John and his lands and of the costly keys and wonders Molo dies that in that land is. Here are four times in the year of our Lord God fourteen ninety-six, and so be we with ships of Lisbon sailed out of Portugal through the commandment of the King Immanuel. For how have we had our voyage? For by fortune islands over the great sea with great charge and danger, so have we at the last found own lordship where we sailed well. Nine hundred mile by the coast of Celandis there we at last made a land, but that land is not now known, for there have no masters written there of, nor it knoweth, and it is named America. There we saw many wonders of beasts and fowls that we have never seen before. The people of this land have no King nor Lord nor their God, but all things is commune. The men and women have on their heed neck, arms knees, and fat all with feathers, bounden for their beauty and fairness. These folks live like beasts without any reasonableness, and they eat also one another. The man Edith his wife his children as we also have seen, and they hang also the bodies or persons flesh in the smoke as men do with swine's flesh, and that land is rightful of folk, for they live commonly. Three hundred year and more as with sickness they die, not they take much fish, for they can go under the water and fetch so the fish is out of the water, and they war also one upon another for the old men bring the young men there too, that they gather a great company there too of two parties and come the one against the other to the field or battle and slay one the other with great heaps and now hold at the field they take the other prisoners and they bring them to death and eat them, and as the dead is eaten they flay the rest, and they are then eaten also or otherwise lie they longer times and many years more than other people for they have costly spices and roots where they them self recover with and heal them as they be sick. End of section 13 Section 14 Toward the close of the 15th century Spain achieved her final triumph over the infidels of Granada and made her name glorious through all generations by the discovery of America. The religious zeal and romantic daring which along the course of Moorish wars had called forth were now exalted to redoubled fervor. Every ship from the new world came freighted with marvels which put the fictions of chivalry to shame, and to the Spaniard of that day America was a region of wonder and mystery, a vague and magnificent promise. Thither adventures hastened, thirsting for glory and for gold, often mingling the night and the valor of the night errant with the bigotry of inquisitors and the rapacity of pirates. They roamed over land and sea, they climbed unknown mountains, surveyed unknown oceans, pierced the sultry intricacies of tropical forests, while from year to year and from day to day new wonders were unfolded, new islands and archipelagos, new regions of gold and pearl, and barbaric more than oriental wealth. The extravagance of hope and the fever of adventure knew no bounds. Nor is it surprising that amid such waking marvels the imagination should run wild in romantic dreams, that between the possible and the impossible the line of distinction should be but faintly drawn, and that men should be found ready to stake life and honour in pursuit of the most insane fantasies. Such a man was the cavalier Juan Ponce de León. Greedy of honours and riches he embarked at Puerto Rico with three bigotines bent on schemes of discovery. But that which gave the chief stimulus to his enterprise was a story current among the Indians of Cuba and Hispaniola, that on the island of Bimini, said to be one of the Bahamas, there was a fountain of such virtue that bathing in its waters old men resumed their youth. It was said moreover that on a neighbouring shore might be found a river gifted with the same beneficent property, and believed by some to be no other than the Jordan. Ponce de León found the island of Bimini, but not the fountain. Farther westward in the latitude of thirty degrees in eight minutes he approached an unknown land which he named Florida, and steering southward explored its coast as far as the extreme point of the peninsula. When after some further explorations he retraced his course to Puerto Rico. Ponce de León had not regained his youth, but his active spirit was unsubdued. Nine years later he attempted to plant a colony in Florida. The Indians attacked him fiercely. He was mortally wounded and died soon afterward in Cuba. The voyages of Gare and Vasquez de Ayón threw new light to the discoveries of Ponce, and the general outline of the coasts of Florida became known to the Spaniards. Meanwhile Cortés had conquered Mexico, and the fame of that iniquitous but magnificent exploit rang through all Spain. Many of the inpatient cavalier burned to achieve a kindred fortune. To the excited fancy of the Spaniards, the unknown land of Florida seemed the seat of surpassing wealth, and Panfilo de Navarez essayed to possess himself of its fancy treasures. Landing on its shores and proclaiming destruction to the Indians, unless they acknowledged the sovereignty of the Pope and the Emperor, he advanced into the forest with three hundred men. Nothing could exceed their sufferings. Nowhere could they find the gold they came to seek. The villager Apalache, where they hoped to gain a rich booty, offered nothing but a few mean wickwams. The horses gave out, and the rich soldiers fed upon their flesh. The men sickened, and the Indians unceasingly harassed their march. At length after two hundred eighty leagues of wandering, they found themselves on the northern shore of the Gulf of Mexico, and desperately put to sea in such crazy boats as their skill and means could construct. Cold, disease, famine, thirst, and the fury of the waves melted them away. Navarez himself perished, and of his immediate followers no more than four escaped, reaching by land after years of vicissitudes the Christian settlements of New Spain. The interior of the vast country, then comprehended under the name of Florida, still remained unexplored. The Spanish voyager as his caravail plowed through the adjacent seas might give full scope to his imagination, and dream that beyond the long low margin of force which bounded his horizon they hid a rich harvest of some future conqueror. Perhaps a second Mexico with its royal palace and sacred pyramids or another Cusco with the temple of the sun encircled with a freeze of gold. End of Section 14 Section 15 of Great Epics in American History Volume 1 Voyages of Discovery and Early Explorations 1,000 AD to 1682 This is a LibriVox recording. All LibriVox recordings are in the public domain. For more information or to volunteer please visit LibriVox.org Great Epics in American History Volume 1 Voyages of Discovery and Early Explorations 1,000 AD to 1682 Section 15 The Discovery of the Pacific by Balboa 1513 The Account by Manuel José Quintana Careta had for a neighbor a cacique called by some comogre, by others Pancuyaco, chief of about 10,000 Indians among whom were 3,000 warriors. Having heard of Valor and enterprise of the Castilians, this chief desired to enter into treaty and friendship with them. And a principal Indian, a dependent of Careta, having presented himself as the agent in this friendly overture, Vasco Nunes, anxious to profit by the opportunity of securing such an ally, went with his followers to visit comogre. Balboa was transported by the prospect of glory and fortune which opened before him. He believed himself already at the gates of the East Indies which was the desired object of the government and the discoverers of that period. He resolved to return in the first place to the Darien to raise the spirits of his companions with these brilliant hopes and to make all possible preparations for realizing them. He remained nevertheless yet a few days with the caciques and so strict was the friendship he had contracted with them that they and their families were baptized, Careta taking in baptism the name of Fernando and comogre, that of Carlos. Balboa then returned to the Darien, rich in the spoils of Ponca, rich in the presence of his friends and still richer in the golden hopes which the future offered him. At this time and after an absence of six months arrived the magistrate Valdivia with a vessel laden with different stores. He brought likewise great promises of abundant aid in provisions and men. The suckers however which Valdivia brought were speedily consumed. Their seed destroyed in the ground by storms and floods promised them no resource whatever and they returned to their usual necessitous state. Balboa then consented to their extending their incursions to more distant lands as they had already wasted and ruined the immediate environs of Antigua and he sent Valdivia to Spain to apprise the admiral of the clue he had gained to the south sea and the reported wealth of these regions. He scourced with and animated his companions, selected 190 of the best armed and disposed and with a thousand Indians of labour, a few bloodhounds and sufficient provisions took his way by the Sierras toward the dominion of Ponca. That chief had fled but Balboa who had adopted the policy most convenient to him desired to bring him to an amicable agreement and to that end dispatched after him some Indians of peace who advised him to return to his capital and to fear nothing from the Spaniards. He was persuaded and met with a kind reception. He presented some gold and received in return some glass beads and other toys and trifles. The Spanish captains then solicited guides and men of labour for his journey over the Sierras which the Caquique bestowed willingly adding provisions in great abundance and they parted friends. His passage into the domain of Quarecua was less specific whose chief Torecha, jealous of this invasion and terrified by the events which had occurred to his neighbours was disposed and prepared to receive the Castilians with a war-like aspect. A swarm of ferocious Indians armed in their usual manner rushed into the road and began a wordy attack upon the strangers asking them what brought them there, what they sought for and threatening him with perdition if they advanced. The Spaniards reckless of their bravados proceeded nevertheless and then the chief placed himself in front of his tribe dressed in a cotton mantle and followed by the principal lords and with more intrepidity than fortune gave the signal for combat. The Indians commenced the assault with loud cries and great impetuosity but soon terrified by the explosions of the crossbows and muskets they were easily destroyed or put to flight by the men and bloodhounds who rushed upon them. The chief and six hundred men were left dead on the spot and the Spaniards having smoothed away that obstacle entered the town which they spoiled of all the gold and valuables it possessed. Here also they found a brother of the Khakikh and other Indians who were dedicated to the abominations before Glanstad. Fifty of these wretches were torn to pieces by the dogs without the consent and approbation of the Indians. The district was by these examples rendered so pacific and so submissive that Balboa left all his sick there dismissed the guides given him by Ponca and taking fresh ones pursued his road over the heights. The tongue of land which divides the two Americas is not at its utmost width above 18 leagues and in some parts becomes narrowed a little more than seven and although from the port of Careta to the point toward which the course of the Spaniards was directed was only altogether six days journey yet they consumed upon it twenty nor is this extraordinary. The great Cordillera of Sierras which from north to south crosses the new continent a bulwark against the impetuous assaults of the pacific ocean crosses also the Isthmus of Darien or as maybe more properly said composes it wholly from the wrecks of the rocky summits which have been detached from the adjacent lands and the discoverers therefore were obliged to open their way through difficulties and danger which men of iron alone could have fronted and overcome. Sometimes they had to penetrate through thick and tangled woods sometimes to cross lakes where men and burdens perished miserably then a rugged hill presented itself before them and next perhaps a deep and yawning precipice to descend while at every step they were opposed by deep and rapid rivers passable only by means of frail rocks or slight and trembling bridges from time to time they had to make their way through opposing Indians who though always conquered were always to be dreaded and above all came the failure of provisions which formed an aggregate with toil anxiety and danger such as was sufficient to break down bodily strength and depress the mind. The Quariquanios who served as guides showed them at a distance the height from whose summit the desired sea might be discovered. Balboa immediately commanded his squadron to halt and proceeded alone to the top of the mountain on reaching it he cast an anxious glance southward and the austral ocean broke upon his sight overcome with joy and wonder he fell on his knees extending his arms toward the sea and with tears of delight offered thanks to heaven for having destined him to this mighty discovery. He immediately made a sign to his companions to ascend and pointing to the magnificent spectacle extended before them again prostrated himself in fervent thanksgiving to God. The rest followed his example while the astonished Indians were extremely puzzled to understand so sudden and general an effusion of wonder and gladness. Hannibal on the summit of the Alps pointing out to his soldiers the delicious plains of Italy did not appear according to the ingenious comparison of a contemporary writer either more transported or more arrogant than the Spanish chief when risen from the ground he recovered the speech of which sudden joy had deprived him and thus addressed his castilians you behold before you friends the object of all our desires and the reward of all our labors before you roll the waves of the sea which has been announced to you and which no doubt encloses the immense riches we have heard of you are the first who have reached these shores and these waves yours are their treasures yours alone the glory of reducing these immense and unknown regions to the dominion of our king and to the light of the true religion follow me then faithful as hitherto and I promise you that the world shall not hold your equals in wealth and glory all embraced him joyfully and all promised to follow with or so ever he should lead quickly cut down a great tree and stripping it of its branches formed across from it which they fixed in a heap of stones found on the spot from whence they first described the sea the names of the monarchs of Castile were engraven on the trunks of the trees and with shouts and acclamations they descended the Sierra and entered the plain they arrived at some boyos which formed the population of a chief called Chiapes who had prepared to defend the pass with arms the noise of the muskets and the ferocity of the war dogs disperse them in a moment and they fled leaving many captives by these and by their quadruquanio guides the Spaniards sent to offer Chiapes secure peace and friendship if he would come to them or otherwise the ruin and extermination of his town and his fields persuaded by them the Kaki came and placed himself in the hands of Balboa who treated him with much kindness he brought and distributed gold and received in exchange beads and toys with which he was so diverted that he no longer thought of anything but contenting and conciliating the strangers their Vasco Nunes sent away the quadruquanios and ordered that the Sikh who had been left in their land should come and join him in the meanwhile he sent Francisco Pizarro, Juan de Escarag and Alonzo Martin to discover the shortest roads by which the sea might be reached it was the last of these who arrived first at the coast and entering a canoe which chance to lie there and pushing it into the waves let it float for a little while and after pleasing himself with having been the first Spaniard who entered the South Sea returned to seek Balboa Balboa with 26 men descended to the sea and arrived at the coast early in the evening of the 29th of that month they all seated themselves on the shore and awaited the tide which was at that time on the ebb at length it returned in its cover the spot where they were then Balboa in complete armor lifting his sword in one hand and in the other a banner on which was painted an image of the Virgin Mary with the arms of Castile at her feet raised it and began to march into the midst of the waves which reached above his knees saying in a loud voice long live the high and mighty sovereigns of Castile in their names do I take possession of these seas and regions and if any other prince whether Christian or Infidel pretends any right to them I am ready and resolved to oppose him and to assert the just claims of my sovereigns the whole band replied with acclamations to the vow of their captain and express themselves determined to defend even to death their acquisition against all the potentates in the world they cause this act to be confirmed in writing by the notary of the expedition Andres de Valderobano the anchorage in which it was solemnized was called the Gulf of San Miguel the event happening on that day end of section 15 section 16 of great epics in American history volume 1 this is a LibriVox recording all LibriVox recordings are in the public domain for more information or to volunteer please visit LibriVox.org great epics in American history volume 1 voyages of discovery and early explorations 1080 to 1682 by Francis Whiting Halsey section 16 the voyage of Magellan to the Pacific John Fiske's account our chief source of information for the events of the voyage is the journal kept by a gentleman from Vicenza writer Antonia Pegafeta who obtained permission to accompany the expedition for to see the marvels of the ocean after leaving the canaries on the 3rd of October the Armada rained down toward Sierra Lone and was becalmed making only three leagues in three weeks the air burst into life and the frail ships were dripping along under bare poles now and then dipping their yard arms during a month of this dreadful weather the food and water grew scarce and the rations were diminished the spirit of mutiny began to show itself the Spanish captains whispered the truth that this man from Portugal had not their interests at heart and was not loyal to the emperor toward the captain general their demeanor grew more and more insubordinate and Cartagena one day having come on board the flagship faced him with threats and insults to his astonishment the Chilean promptly colored him and sent him a prisoner in Irons on board the Victoria whose captain was unfortunately also one of the traders while the command of the San Antonio was given to another officer this example made things quiet for the moment on the 29th of November the Brazilian coast near Pernambuco and on the 11th of January they arrived at the mouth of La Plada which there investigated sufficiently to convince them that it was a river's mouth and not as straight three weeks were consumed in this work this course through February and March the end of Patagonia was marked by insistent and violent storms and the cold became so intense that finding a sheltered harbor with plenty of fish at Port San Julian they chose it for winter quarters and anchored there on the last day of March on the next day which was Easter Sunday that so long had smaller broke out in all its fury the hardships of the voyage had thus far been what staunch seaman called unusually severe and it was felt that they had done enough no one except this butchess and Jack had ever approached so near South Pole and if they had not yet found a straight it was doubtless because there was none to find the rations of bread and wine were becoming very short and common prudence demanded that they should return to Spain if their voyage was practically failure it was not their fault there was ample excuse in the powerful storms that suffered and the dangerous strains that had been put upon their worn out ships such was the general feeling but when expressed to Magellan it fell upon deaf ears no excuses nothing but performance would serve his turn for him hardships were made only to be despised and dangers to be laughed at and in short go on their must until a straight was found or the end of that continent reached then they would doubtless find an open way to the Malacas and while he held out hopes of rich rewards for all he appealed to their pride as Castilians for the inflexible determination of these men was not embittered by harshness and he could wield as well as anyone the language that soothes and persuades it length on the 24th of August with the earliest symptoms of spring weather the ships which had been carefully overhauled and repaired proceeded on their way violent storms harassed them and it was not until the 21st of October centurs last day that they reached the headland still known as Cape Virgins passing beyond Dungeness they entered a large open bay which some hailed as the long sought straight while others averted that no passage would be found there it was in Athens breath on both the sides of this straight are Magellanus being in some place 101 leaks in length and in breath somewhere very large and in other places little more than half a leak in breath on both the sides of this straight are great and high mountains covered with snow beyond which is the entrance into the sea of Sir here one of the ships stole away purely and returned into Spain more than five weeks were consumed in passing through the straight and among its labyrinthine twists and half hidden base there was ample opportunity for this ocean as advanced reconnaissance kept reporting the water as deep and salt the conviction grew that the straight was found and then the question once more rose whether it would not be best to go back to Spain satisfied with this discovery since with all these rich delays the provisions were again running short Magellanus answer uttered in measured and quite tones was simply that he would go on and do his work if he had to eat the leather of the ships yards upon the San Antonio there had always been a large proportion of the mall contents and the chief pilot a Steven Gumiz having been detailed for duty on that ship lent himself to their purposes the captain Miskuta was again seized and put in Irons a new captain was chosen by the mutineers and Gumiz piloted the ship back to Spain where they arrived after a voyage of six months and screened themselves for a while by lying about Magellan as for that commander in rich Eddens words when the captain Magellan was passed the straight and sought a way open to the other main sea he was so glad thereof that for joy the tears fell from his eyes and named the point of the land from whence he first saw that sea capo deserato supposing that the ship which stole the way had been lost they erected a cross upon the top of a high hill to direct their course in the straight of it where the chance to come that way the lands of waters before him seemed so pleasant to Magellan after the heavy storms through which he had passed that he called it by the name it's still Beers Pacific but the worst hardships were still before him once more a sea of darkness must be crossed by brave hearts sickening with hope if the mid-Atlantic waters had been strange to Columbus and his men here before Magellan's people all was thrice unknown they were the first that ever burst into that silent sea and as they sailed months after months over the waste of waters the huge size of our planet began to make itself felt until after the middle of December they kept a northward course near the coast of the continent running away from the Antarctic cold then north westerly and westerly courses were taken and on the 24th of January 1521 a small wooded islet was found in water where the longest planet lines failed to reach bottom already the voyage since issuing from the straight was nearly twice as long as that of Columbus in 1492 from the Canaries to Guanehani from the useless island of San Pablo a further round of 11 days brought them to another uninhabited rock which they called Tiburones from the quantity of sharks observed in the neighborhood there was neither food nor water to be had there and a voyage of unknown duration in reality not less than 10,000 English miles was yet to be accomplished before a trace of land was again to greet their yearning gaze their sufferings may best be told in the quint and touching words in which Shakespeare read them and Hyinge in this time consumed all their brisket and other vitalis that they were enforced to eat the powder that remained thereof being now full of warms the freshwater was also petrified and become yellow they did eat skins and pieces of leather which were fought above certain great ropes of the ships but these skins being made very hard by reason of the sun rain and wind they hung them by a chord in the sea for the space of 4 or 5 days to modify them and soothe them and eat them by reason of this famine and unclean feeding some of their gums grew so out of their teeth a symptom of scurvy that they died miserably for hunger and by this occasion died 19 men and beside these they died 25 or 30 were so sick that they were not able to do any service with their hands or arms for feebleness so there was none without some disease in 3 months and 20 days they sailed 4,000 leagues in one gulf by the said sea called pacificum that is peaceable which may well be so called for as much as in all this time having no sight of any land they had no misfortune of wind or any other tempest so that in fine if God of his mercy had not given them good weather it was necessary that in these so great sea they should all have died for hunger which nevertheless they escaped so hardly they did maybe doubted whether such like voyage may be attempted with so good success one would gladly know albed pegafitas journal and the still more pilot's log book leave us in the dark on this point how the ignorant and suffering cruise interpreted this everlasting stretch of sea vast said Maximilian Transylvanes then the human mind could conceive to them it may well have seemed that the theory of a round and limited earth was wrong after all and that their infatuated commander was leading them out into the fathomless of space with no welcoming shore beyond but that heart of triple bronze we may be sure did not flinch the situation had got beyond the point where mutiny could be suggested as a remedy the very bitterness of it was all in Magellan's favor for so far away had they come from the known world that retreat meant certain death the only chance of escape lay in pressing forward at last on the 6th of March they came upon islands inhabited by savages ignorant of the bow and arrow but expert handling their peculiar light boats here the dreadful sufferings were ended for they found plenty of fruit and fresh vegetables besides meat the people were such eager and pertenacious thieves that their islands received the name by which they are still known the Isles de la Drones or Isles of Robbers on the 16th of March the three ships arrived at islands which some years afterward were named Philippines after Philip II of Spain though these were islands unvisited by Europeans yet Asiatic traders from Siam and Sumatra as well as from China were to be there and it was thus not long before Magellan became aware of the greatness of his triumph he had passed the meridian of the Malacca and knew that these islands lay to the southward within an easy sail he had accomplished the circumnavigation of the earth through its unknown portion the remainder of his route lay through seas already traversed an erroneous calculation of longitudes confirmed him in the belief that the Malacca as well as the Philippines properly belonged to Spain meanwhile in these Philippines of themselves he had discovered a region of no small commercial importance but his brief tarry in these interesting islands had fatal results and in the very hour of victory the conqueror perished slain in a fight with the natives the reason of which we can understand only by considering the close complication of commercial and political interests with the religious notions so common in that age meanwhile on the 16th of May the little Victoria with starvation and scurvy already thinning the ranks with four top masts gone by the board and four yard badly sprung cleared the Cape of Good Hope and then was born on the strong and friendly current up to the equator which she crossed on the 8th of June only 50 years since Santarim and Escobar first of Europeans had crept down that coast and crossed it into that glorious half century what a world of suffering and achievement had been crowned dire necessity compelled the Victoria to stop at the Cape of Good Island sought safety in deceiving the Portuguese with the story that they were returning from a voyage in Atlantic waters only and thus they succeeded in buying food but while this was going on as a boatload of 13 men had been sent ashore for rice some silly tongue losing by wine in the head of a sailor who had loves to sell babbled the perilous secret of Magellan and the Malacas the 13 were at once arrested and the boat called upon the Victoria with direful threats to surrender but she quickly stretched every inch of her canvas and got away this was on the 18th of July and eight weeks of ocean remained at last on the 6th of September the 13th anniversary of the day when Columbus wade anchor for Sipango the Victoria sailed into the Guadalquivir with 18 gaunt and haggard survivors to tell the proud story of the first circumnavigation of the earth the voyage thus ended was doubtless the greatest feet of navigation that has ever been performed and nothing can be imagined that would surpass it except a journey to some other planet it has not the unique historic position of the first voyage of Columbus which brought together two streams of human life that had been disjoint since the glacial period but as an achievement of the ocean navigation that voyage of Columbus sinks into insignificance by the side of it and when the earth was a second time encompassed by the greatest English sailor of his age the advance in knowledge as well as the different route chosen had much reduced the difficulty of the performance when we consider the frailness of the ships the immeasurable extent of the unknown the mutinies that were prevented or quelled and the hardships that were endured we can have no hesitation in speaking of Magellan as the prince of navigators nor can we ever fail to admire the simplicity and purity of that devoted life in which there is nothing to be hidden or explained away end of section 16 section 17 of great epochs in American history volume 1 this is a LibriVox recording all LibriVox recordings are in the public domain for more information or to volunteer please visit LibriVox.org recording by Michael Fasio great epochs in American history volume 1 in early explorations 1,000 AD to 1682 by Francis Whiting Halsey section 17 the discovery of New York Harbor by Verrazano 1524 Verrazano's own account having remained in this place three days anchored off the coast we decided on account of the scarcity of ports to depart always skirting the shore we found Arcadia on account of the beauty of the trees in Arcadia we found a man who came to the shore to see what people we were who stood hesitating and ready to fight watching us he did not permit himself to be approached he was handsome nude with hair fastened back in a knot of all of color we were about twenty in number a shore and coaxing him he approached to within about two fathoms he was sick as if to offer us fire and we made fire with powder and flint and steel and he trembled all over with terror and we fired a shot he stopped as if astonished and prayed worshipping like a monk lifting his finger toward the sky and pointing to the ship and the sea he appeared to bless us toward the north and east navigating by daylight and casting anchor at night we followed a coast very green with forests but without ports and with some charming promontories and small rivers we baptized the coast D. Lorena on account of the cardinal the first promontory Lanzone the second Bonaveto the largest river Vendoma and a small mountain which stands by the sea D. Espolo on account of the count at the end of a hundred leagues we found a very agreeable situation located within two small prominent hills in the midst of which flowed to the sea a very great river which was deep within the mouth and from the sea to the hills of that place with the rising the tides which we found eight feet any laden ship might have passed on account of being anchored off the coast and good shelter we did not wish to adventure in without knowledge of the entrances we were with the small boat entering the said river to the land which we found much populated people almost like the others clothed with the feathers of birds of various colors came toward us joyfully uttering very great exclamations of admiration showing us where we could land with the boat more safely we entered said river within the land about half a league where we saw it made a very beautiful lake with a circuit of about three leagues through which they the Indians went going from one to another part of the number of thirty of their little barges with innumerable people who passed from one shore and the other in order to see us in an instant as is want to happen in navigation a gale of unfavorable wind blowing in from the sea we were forced to return to the ship leaving the said land with much regret because of its commodiousness and beauty thinking it was not without some properties of value all of its hills showing indications of minerals we called it Angolame from the principality which thou attainest in lesser fortune and the bay which that land makes called Santa Margarita from the name of thy sister who vanquished the other matrons of modesty and art the anchor raised sailing toward the east as thus the land turned having traveled eighty leagues always in sight of it we discovered an island a triangular in form distant ten leagues from the continent in size like the island of Rhodes full of hills covered with trees much populated judging by the continuous fires along all the surrounding shore which we saw they made we baptized it Alosia in the name of your most illustrious mother not anchoring there on account of the unfavorable this of the weather we came to another land distant from the island fifteen leagues where we found a very beautiful port and before we entered it we saw about twenty barges of the people who came with various cries of wonder round about the ship not approaching nearer than fifty paces they halted looking at the edifice i.e. the ship our figures and clothes then altogether they uttered a loud shout signifying that they were glad having reassured them somewhat imitating their gestures they came so near that we threw them some little bells and mirrors and many trinkets having taken which regarding them with laughter they entered the ship confidently there were among them two kings of as good satchel in form as it would be possible to tell the first of about forty years the other a young man of twenty four years the clothing of whom was thus the older had on his nude body a skin of a stag artificially adorned like a damask with various embroideries the head bear the hair turned back with various bands at the neck a broad chain ornamented with many stones of diverse colors the young man was almost in the same style this is the most beautiful people and the most civilized in customs that we have found in this navigation they excel us in size they are bronze color some inclining more to whiteness others to tawny color the face sharply cut the hair long and black upon which they bestow the greatest study adorning it the eyes black and alert the bearing kind and gentle imitating much the ancient manner of the other parts of the body I will not speak to your majesty having all the proportions which belong to every well-built man their women are of the same beauty and charm very graceful of comely man and agreeable aspect of habits and behavior as much according to womanly custom as pertains to human nature they go nude with only one skin of the stag embroidered like the men and some wear on the arms very rich skins of the links the head bear with various arrangements of braids composed of their own hair which hang on one side and the other of the breast some use other hair arrangements like the women of Egypt and of Syria use and these are they who are advanced in age and are joined in wedlock they have in the ears various pendant trinkets as the orientals are accustomed to have the men like the women among which we saw many plates wrought from copper by whom it is prized more than gold which on account of its color they do not esteem where for among all it is held by them more worthless on the other hand rating blue and red above any other that which they were given by us which they most valued were little bells blue crystals and other trinkets to place in the ears and on the neck they did not prize cloth of silk and of gold nor even of other kind nor did they care to have them likewise with metals like steel and iron for many times showing them our arms they did not conceive admiration for them nor ask for them only examining the workmanship they did the same with the mirrors looking at them they refused them laughing they are very liberal so much so that all which they have they give away we formed a great friendship with them and one day before we had entered with the ship in the port remaining on account of the unfavorable weather conditions anchored a league at sea they came in great numbers in their little barges to the ship having painted and decked the face with various colors showing to us it was evidence of good feeling bringing to us of their food signaling to us where for the safety of the ship we ought to anchor in the port continually accompanying us until we cast anchor there in which we remained 15 days supplying ourselves with many necessities where every day the people came to see us at the ship bringing their women of whom they are very careful because entering the ship themselves remaining a long time they made their women and the barges and however many entreaties we made them offering to give them various things it was not possible that they would allow them to enter the ship and one of the two kings coming many times with the queen and many attendants through their desire to see us at first always stopped on a land distant from us 200 paces sending a boat to inform us of their coming saying they wish to come to see the ship doing this for a kind of safety and when they had the response from us they came quickly and having stood a while to look hearing the noisy clamor of the sailor crowd sent the queen with her damsels in a very light barge to stay on a little island distant from us a quarter of a league himself remaining a very long time discoursing by signs and gestures of various fanciful ideas examining all the equipments of the ship asking especially their purpose imitating our passengers tasting our foods then parted from us benignly at one time our people remaining two or three days on a little island near the ship for various necessities as is the custom of sailors he came with seven or eight of his attendants watching our operations asking many times if we wish to remain there for a long time offering us is every help then shooting with the bow running he performed with his attendants his games to give us pleasure many times we were from five to six leagues inland which we found as pleasing as it can be to narrate adapted to every kind of cultivation grain wine oil because in that place the fields are from twenty five to thirty leagues wide open and devoid of every impediment of trees of such fertility that any seed in them would produce the best crops and bring then into the woods all of which are penetrable by any numerous army in any way whatsoever and whose trees oaks, cypresses and others are unknown in our Europe we found leucalian apples, plums and filberts and many kinds of fruits different from ours animals there are in very great number stags, deer, lynx and other species which in the way of the others with snares and bows which are their principal arms the arrows of whom are worked with great beauty placing at the end instead of iron, emery, jasper, hard marble and other sharp stones by which they serve themselves instead of iron and cutting trees making their barges from a single trunk of a tree hollowed with wonderful skill in which from fourteen to fifteen men will go comfortably short ore broad at the end working it solely with the strength of the arms at sea without any peril with as much speed as pleases them going further we saw their habitations circular in form of fourteen to fifteen paces compass made from semi circles of wood i.e. arched saplings bent in the form of an armor separated one from the other without system of architecture with mats of straw ingeniously worked which protect them from rain and wind there is no doubt that if they had the perfection of the arts we have they would build magnificent edifices for all the maritime coast is full of blue rocks, crystals and alabaster and for such cause is full of ports and shelters for ships they change said houses from one place to another according to the opulence of the site and the season in which they live carrying away only the mats and they have other habitations made there live in each a father and family to a very large number so that in some we saw twenty-five and thirty souls their food is like the others of pulse which they produce with more system of culture than the others observing the full moon the rising of the pleides and many customs derived from the ancients also of the chase and fish this is what they say to us if they are oppressed with wounds without crying they cure themselves by themselves with fire their end being of old age we judge their very compassionate and charitable toward their relatives making them great lamentations in their adversities in their grief calling to mind all their good fortunes the relatives one with another at the end of their life use the Sicilian this is as much as we were able to learn about them the land is situated in the parallel of Rome in forty and two-thirds degrees but somewhat colder on account of chance and not on account of nature as I will narrate to your majesty in another part describing at present the situation of said port the shore of said land runs from west to east the mouth of the port looks toward the south half a league wide after entering which between east and north it extends twelve leagues where widening itself it makes an ample bay of about twenty leagues in circuit in which are five little islands of much fertility and beauty full of high and spreading trees among which any numerous fleet without fear of tempest or other impediment of fortune could rest securely turning then towards the south to the entrance of the port on one side and the other are very charming hills with many brooks which from the height to the sea discharge clear waters which on account of its beauty we call Refugio in the midst of the mouth is found a rock of Petra Viva produced by nature adapted for the building of any desired engine or bulwark for its protection which on account of the nature of the stone and on account of the family of a gentle woman we called La Petra Viva on whose right side it said mouth of the port is a promontary called Jovio Promontory being supplied with our every necessity the sixth day of May we departed from said port following the shore never losing sight of the land we sailed one hundred and fifty leagues within which space we found shoals which extend from the continent into the sea fifty leagues upon which there was over three feet of water on account of which great danger in navigating it we survived with difficulty and baptized it finding it of the same nature and somewhat higher with some mountains with a high promontory which we named Palavacino which all indicated minerals we did not stop there because the favorableness of the weather served us in sailing along the coast we think it must conform to the other the shore ran to the east we did not stop there because the favorableness of the weather served us in sailing along the coast we think it must conform to the other the shore ran to the east in the space of fifty leagues holding more to the north we found a high land full of very thick forests the trees of which were pines cypresses and such as grow in cold regions the people all different from the others and as much as those past were of cultivated manners these were full of uncouthness and vices so barbarous that we were never able with how so ever many signs we made them to have any intercourse with them they dress with the skins of bear lynxes sea wolves and other animals the food according to that which we were able to learn through going many times to their habitations we think is of the chase fish and some products which are of a species of roots which the ground yields by its own self they do not have pulse nor did we see any signs of cultivation nor would the ground on account of sterility be adapted to produce fruit or any grain if by trading at any time with them we desired their things they came to the shore of the sea upon some rock where it was very steep and we remaining in the small boat with a cord let down to us what they wished to give continually crying on land that we should not approach giving quickly the barter not taking in exchange for it except knives hooks for fishing and sharp metal they had no regard for courtesy and when they had nothing more to exchange at their departing the men made at us all the signs of contempt and shame which any brute creature could make contrary to their wish twenty five armed men of us were inland two and three leagues and when we descended to the shore they shot at us with their bows sending forth the greatest cries then fled into the woods we do not know any value of any moment in this land except the very great forests with some hills which possibly have some metal because on many natives we saw paternoster of copper in the ears we departed skirting the coast between east and north which we found very beautiful open and bare of forests with high mountains back inland growing smaller toward the shore of the sea in fifty leagues we discovered thirty two islands among which we called the three larger the three daughters of navara all near to the continent small and of pleasing appearance high following the curving of the land among which were formed most beautiful ports and channels as are formed in the Adriatic Gulf in the Ilyrius and the Dalmatia we had no intercourse with the peoples and think that they were like the others devoid of morals and culture navigating between east southeast and north northeast in the space of one hundred and fifty leagues we came near the land which the Britons found in the past by the Cabots which stands in fifty degrees and having consumed all our naval stores and victuals having discovered six hundred leagues and more of new land furnishing ourselves with water and wood we decided to turn toward France end of section seventeen section eighteen of great epics in American history volume one voyages of discovery and early explorations 1000 AD to 1682 this is a LibriVox recording all LibriVox recordings are in the public domain for more information or to volunteer please visit LibriVox.org recording by Rita Butros great epics in American history volume one voyages of discovery and early explorations 1000 AD to 1682 by Francis Whiting Halsey section eighteen Cartier's exploration of the Saint Lawrence 1534 the account given by John A. Doyle Jack Cartier was a brave and experienced sea captain from Saint Malo 1634 Cartier made a preliminary voyage of exploration touching at Newfoundland he sailed through the straits of Bell Isle and explored the east shore of the island a region which for the barrenness of its soil and the severity of its climate seemed the very spot where their cane had been banished the coast of New Brunswick held out a more inviting prospect the fertility of the soil reminded the voyagers of their native Brittany and one field there seemed worth more than the whole of Newfoundland thence Cartier sailed into the Gulf of Saint Lawrence and would have explored the great river of Canada but storms arose and he deemed it prudent to return to France before bad weather set in his report of the country was encouraging the soil as we have seen promised well and the voyagers had not yet found the terrors of a Canadian winter the natives were rude in their habits but they were uniformly peaceful and ready to trade on easy terms for such goods as they possessed there seemed good reason to hope too that they might be converted to Christianity and one of them had shown confidence enough in the strangers to trust them with his two children who were easily reconciled to their captivity by the gift of red caps and colored shirts in the next year Cartier again went forth with three ships after confessing and taking the sacrament in the church of Saint Malo the adventurers set sail on Whitsunday among them was the cup bearer to the Dauphin Claudius de Pompryan as before the strangers were well received by the Indians and landed safely at Quebec there Cartier they left his sailors with instructions to make a fortified camp while he himself with the greater part of his men at arms and his two Indian captives of the year before should explore the upper banks of the Saint Lawrence and penetrate if possible to the great Indian city of Hakelaga the Indians though outwardly friendly seem either to have distrusted the French or else grudge their neighbors at Hakelaga such valuable allies and would have dissuaded Cartier from his expedition when their remonstrances proved useless the savages tried to work on the fears of the visitors three canoes came floating down the river each containing a fiendish figure with horns and blackened face the supposed demons delivered themselves of a threatening harangue and then paddled to the shore and whether to complete the performance or through honest terror fell fainting in their boats the Indians then explained to Cartier that their God had sent a warning to the presumptuous strangers bidding them refrain from the intended voyage Cartier replied that the Indian God could have no power over those who believed in Christ the Indians acquiesced and even affected to rejoice in the discomputure of their deity Cartier and his followers started on the voyage after a fortnight's journey they came in sight of the natural citadel of Hakelaga the Royal Mount as they fitly called it which has since given its name to the stately city below the size of that city was then filled by a village surrounded by maze fields and strongly fortified after the Iroquois manor there the French were received with hospitality and with a reverence which seemed to imply that they were something more than mortal the sick were laid before them to be healed and when Cartier read portions of the Gospel in French the savages listened reverently to the unknown sounds on his return Cartier found his fort securely palisaded and decided there to await the winter so far all had gone well but the settlers were soon destined to see the unfavorable side of Canadian life the savages after their fickle nature began to waver in their friendship a worse danger was to come scurvy broke out and before long 25 men had died and not more than three or four remained well at length the leaf of a tree whose virtues were pointed out by the Indians restored the sufferers to health when winter disappeared and the river again became navigable Cartier determined to return he was anxious that the French king should learn the wonders of the country from the mouths of its own people accordingly with a characteristic mixture of caution subtlety and conciliation he alerted the principal chief Donna Kona and some of his followers into the fort there they were seized and carried to the ships nominally as honored guests like Montezuma among the followers of Cortes Cartier then set sail with his captives and in July reached Saint Malo the Indians as was usually the fate of such captives pined under a strange sky and when Cartier sailed again not one was alive four years elapsed before another voyage was undertaken in 1540 a fleet of five ships was made ready at the expense of the king who reserved to himself a third of the profits of the voyage Cartier was appointed captain general with instructions to establish a settlement and to labor for the conversion of the savages with Cartier was associated a man of high birth the seer de Robert Val who was appointed viceroy and lieutenant general of Newfoundland Labrador and all the territory explored by Cartier with the title of Lord of Noronbega this division of command seems to have led to no good results another measure which probably contributed to the failure of the expedition was the mode employed for raising the necessary crews Cartier like Frobisher was empowered to search the prisons for recruits even before the voyage began things took an unfavorable turn Robert Val's ammunition was not ready at the stated time and the departure of the fleet was thereby hindered at length lest further delay should give offence at court Cartier sailed leaving Robert Val to follow the first interview with the savages was a source of some fear as it was doubtful how they would receive the tidings of Donacona's death luckily the chief to whom the news was first told was Donacona's successor and as might have been expected he showed no dissatisfaction at Cartier's story the French then settled themselves in their old quarters at Quebec ships were sent home to France to report safe arrival of the expedition while Cartier himself with two boats set out to explore the river above Hakelaga after his departure the relations between the settlers and the Indians became unfriendly a change probably due in part to the loss of Donacona and his companions whatever the cause the danger seemed so serious that Cartier on his return decided to abandon the colony and to make for France from later events it would seem as if Cartier had no friendly feeling toward Robert Val and jealousy may have had some share in leading him to forsake the enterprise for which he had endured and risked so much on his homeward voyage he put into the harbor of Saint John in Newfoundland there he met Robert Val with three ships and two hundred men their meeting seems to have been friendly but Cartier instead of obeying Robert Val's orders and returning with him to Canada quietly weighed anchor in the night and sailed away to France with this inglorious departure ends the career of the first great French colonizer Robert Val resumed his voyage and landed above Quebec there he built a single abode for the whole colony on the model of a college or monastery with a common hail and kitchen of the doings of the settlers we have but scanty accounts but we learn enough to see that the colony was ill planned from the outset and that either Robert Val was unfit for command or singularly unfortunate in his subjects the supplies were soon found to be inadequate and scurvy set in the colonists became disorderly and Robert Val ruled them with a rod of iron trifling offenses were punished with fearful severity men and women were flogged and if we may believe one account the punishment of death was inflicted with no sparing hand how long the colony lingered on is unknown Robert Val himself returned to France only it is said to die a violent death in the streets of Paris there is nothing to tell us whether his colonists returned with him or weather like white unhappy followers they were left to fall victims to the horrors of the wilderness whatever was their fate no attempt was made to restore the colony and the St. Lawrence was left for more than 50 years to the savages and wild beasts end of section 18 section 19 of great epics in American history volume one voyages of discovery and early explorations this is a LibriVox recording all LibriVox recordings are in the public domain for more information or to volunteer please visit LibriVox.org recording by Rita Butros great epics in American history volume one voyages of discovery and early explorations 1000 AD to 1682 by Francis Whiting Halsey section 19 Cartier's exploration of the St. Lawrence part two Cartier's own account upon Thursday being the 8th of the month because the wind was not good to go out with our ships we set our boats in a readiness to go to discover the said bay and that day we went 25 leagues within it the next day the wind and weather being fair we sailed until noon in which time we had notice of a great part of the said bay and how that over the lowlands there were other lands with high mountains but seeing that there was no passage at all we began to turn back again taking our way along the coast and sailing we saw certain wild men and by and by in clusters they came to the shore where we were with their boats bringing with them skins and other such things as they had to have of our wares till they had nothing but their naked bodies for they gave us all whatsoever they had and that was but of small value we perceived that this people might very easily be converted to our religion they go from place to place they live only with fishing they have an ordinary time to fish for their provision the country is hotter than the country of Spain and the fairest that can possibly be found all together smooth and level there is no place be it never so little but it bathes some trees all be it be sandy or else is full of wild corn that hath an ear like unto rye the corn is like oats and small peasan as thick as if they had been sown and plowed white and red roses with many other flowers of very sweet and pleasant smell there be also many goodly meadows full of grass and lakes wherein great plenty of salmon's be they call hatchet in their tongue kochi and a knife bacon we named it the bay of heat the Saturday following being the first of August by sun rising we had certain other lands lying north and northeast that were very high in craggy and seemed to be mountains between which were other lowlands with woods and rivers we went about the said lands as well one side is on the other still bending northwest to see if it were either a gulf or a passage until the fifth of the month the distance from one land to the other is about 15 leagues the middle between them both is 50 degrees and a terse and latitude we had much adieu to go five miles further the winds were so great and the tide against us and at five miles and we might plainly see and perceive land on both sides which there beginneth to spread itself after we had sailed along the said coast for the space of two hours behold the tide began to tame against us with so swift and raging a course that it was not possible for us with 13 oars to row or get one stone cast farther so that we were constrained to leave our ships with some of our men to guard them and 10 or 12 men went ashore to the said Cape where we found that the land beginneth to bend southwest which having seen we came to our boats again and so to our ships which were still ready under sail hoping to go forward but for all that they were fallen more than four leagues to leeward from the place where we had left them so soon as we came we assembled together all our captains masters and mariners to have their advice and opinion what was best to be done and after that everyone had said considering that the easterly winds began to bear away and blow and that the flood was so great that we did but fall and that there was nothing to be gotten and that storms and tempests began to rain in Finland and that we were so far from home not knowing the perils and dangers that were behind for either we must agree to return home again or else to stay there all the year more over we did consider that if the northern winds did take us it were not possible for us to depart thence all which opinions being heard and considered we all together determined to address ourselves homeward now because upon saint Peter's day we entered into the said straight we named it saint Peter's straight in the year of our lord fifteen thirty five upon witsunday being the sixteenth of may by the commandment of our captain James Cartier and with a common accord in the cathedral church of saint malo we devoutly each one ourselves and received the sacrament and all entering into the choir of the said church we presented ourselves before the reverend father in Christ the lord bishop of saint malo who blessed us all being in his bishops robes the Wednesday following being the nineteenth of may there arose a good gale of wind and therefore we hoisted sail with three ships we stayed and rested ourselves in the said haven until the seventh of August being Sunday on which day we hoisted sail and came toward land on the south side toward Cape Robast distant from the said haven about twenty leagues north northeast and south southwest but the next day there rose a stormy and a contrary wind and because we could find no haven there toward the south thence we went coasting along toward the north beyond the above said haven about ten leagues where we found a goodly great gulf full of islands passages and entrances toward what wind so ever you please to bend for the knowledge of this gulf there is a great island that is like to a cape of land stretching somewhat further forth than the others and about two leagues within the land there is a hill fashioned as it were a heap of corn we name the said gulf St. Lawrence His Bay the twelfth of the said month we went from the said St. Lawrence His Bay or Gulf sailing westward and discovered a cape of land toward the south that runneth west and by south distant from the said St. Lawrence His Bay about five and twenty leagues moreover I believe that there were never so many whales seen as we saw that day about the said cape the next day after being our lady day of August the fifteenth of the month having passed the straight we had notice of certain lands that we left toward the south which lands are full of very great and high hills and this cape we named the island of the assumption and perceived to be higher than the southerly more than thirty leagues in length we treaded the said lands about toward the south from the said day until Tuesday noon following the wind came west and therefore we bend toward the north purposing to go and see the land that we before had spied being arrived there we found the said lands as it were joined together and low toward the sea and the northerly mountains that are upon the said low lands stretch east and west and a quarter of the south our wild men told us that there were the beginning of Saguenay and that it was land inhabited and that thence cometh the red copper of them named Cagney days there is between the southerly lands and the northerly about thirty leagues distance and more than two hundred fathom depth the said men did moreover it was high unto us that there was the way and beginning of the great river of Hakelaga and ready way to Canada which river the further it went the narrower it came even unto Canada and that then there was fresh water which went so famine upwards that they had never heard of any man who had gone to the head of it and that there is no other passage but with small boats upon the first of September we headed out of the said haven purposing to go toward Canada and about fifteen leagues from it toward the west and west south west amidst the river there are three islands over against the which there is a river which runneth swift and is of great depth and it is from which leadeth and runneth into the country and kingdom of Saguenay as by the two wild men of Canada it was told us this river passeth and runneth along very high and steep hills of bare stone where very little earth is and notwithstanding there is a great quantity of sundry sorts of trees that grow in the said bare stones even as upon good and fertile ground in such sort that we have seen some so great as well would suffice to make a mast for a ship of thirty ton burden and as green as possibly can be growing in a stony rock without any earth at all the seventh of the month being our ladies even after service we went from that island to go up higher into the river and came to fourteen islands seven or eight leagues from the island of Philbirds with a country of Canada beginneth one of which islands is ten leagues in length and five in breadth greatly inhabited of such men as only live by fishing of such sorts of fishes as the river of Fortith according to the season of them the next day following the lord of Canada whose proper name was Donacona but by the name of Lord they called him Aguhana with twelve boats came to our ships accompanied with many people who causing ten of his boats to go back with the other two approached unto us with sixteen men our captain then caused our boats to be set in order that with the next tide he might go up higher into the river to find some safe harbor for our ships and we passed up the river against the stream about ten leagues coasting the said island at the end whereof we found a goodly and pleasant sound whereas a little river and even where by reason of the flood there is about three fathoms water this place seemed to us very fit and comodious to harbor our ships therein and so we did very safely we named it the Holy Cross for on that day we came thither near unto it there is a village whereof Donacona is lord and there he keepeth his abode it is called Stadacona Quebec as goodly a plot of ground as possibly may be seen having considered the place and finding it fit for our purpose our captain withdrew himself on purpose to return to our ships after we were come with our boats unto our ships again our captain caused our barks to be made ready to go on land in the said island to note the trees that in show seemed so fair and to consider the nature and quality of it which things we did and found it full of goodly trees like two hours also we saw many goodly vines a thing not before of us seen in those countries and therefore we named it Bacchus Island it is in length about twelve leagues in sight very pleasant but full of woods no part of it minored unless it be in certain places where a few cottages be for fishers dwellings as before we have said the next day being the nineteenth of September we hoisted sail and with our penesse and two boats departed to go up the river with the flood where on both shores of it we began to see as goodly a country as possibly can with eyes seen all replenished with very goodly trees and vines laden as full of grapes as could be all along the river which rather seemed to have been planted by man's hand than otherwise true it is that because they are not dressed and wrought as they should be their bunches of grapes are not so great nor sweet as hours from the nineteenth until the eighth and twentieth of September we sailed up along the said river never losing an hour of time all which time we saw as goodly and pleasant a country as possibly can be wished for the next day our captain seeing for that time it was not possible for our penesse to go on any further he caused our boats to be made ready and as much munition and victuals to be put in them as they could well bear he departed with them accompanied with many gentlemen that is to say Claudius of Ponte Gwion cup bearer to the Lord Dolphin of France Charles of Pomeray John Gwion John Powlett with twenty and eight mariners and Mace Jallowbear and William Britton who had the charge under the captain of the other two ships to go up as far as they could into that river we sailed with good and prosperous weather until the second of October on which day we came to the town of Hakelaga Montreal distant from the place where we had left our penesse five and forty leagues and of section nineteen section twenty of great epics in American history volume one this is a LibriVox recording all LibriVox recordings are in the public domain for more information or to volunteer please visit LibriVox.org great epics in American history volume one voyages of discovery and early explorations 1000 AD to 1682 by Francis Whiting Halsey section twenty searches for the seven cities of Cibola fifteen thirty to fifteen forty the account by Ruben Gold Thwaites in fifteen thirteen a hundred and seven years before the landing of the pilgrims at Plymouth Balboa scaled the continental backbone at Darien and unfurled the flag of Spain by the waters of the Pacific with wonderful zeal did Spanish explorers beat up and down the western shore of the Gulf of Mexico searching for an opening through Cortes had no sooner secured possession of Mexico after his frightful slaughter of the Aztecs then he began pushing out to the west and northwest along the upper coasts of the South Sea in search of the strait which Montezuma told him existed it is unlikely that Montezuma's knowledge of North American geography was much greater than that of his conqueror but in every age and land Aborigines have first ascertained what visiting strangers most sought whether it be gold or waterways and assured them that somewhere beyond the neighboring horizon these objects were to be found in plenty Spanish French and English have each in turn chased American rainbows that existed only in the brains of imaginative tribesmen who had little other thought than a childish desire to gratify their guests Cortes undertook at his own charge several of these expensive exploring expeditions to discover the strait of which Montezuma had spoken and one of them he conducted in person in 1528 the year he visited Spain to meet his accusers we find him dispatching Maldonado northward along the Pacific coast for 300 miles and five years later Grehalva and Jimenez were claiming for Spain the southern portion of lower California a full hundred years before Jean Nicolette related to the French authorities at their feeble outpost on the rock of Quebec the story of his daring progress into the wilds of the upper Mississippi Valley and the rumors he had there heard of the great river which flowed into the south sea Spanish officials in the halls of Montezuma were receiving tales of their adventurers who had penetrated to strange lands laved by the waters of this self-same ocean it was about the year 1530 when the Spaniards in Mexico received word through an itinerant monk Marcos de Niza of certain powerful semi-civilized tribes dwelling some 600 miles north of the capital of the Aztecs these strange people were said to possessing great store domestic utensils and ornaments made of gold and silver to be massed in seven large cities composed of houses built with stone and to be proficient in many of the arts of the Europeans the search for the seven cities of Cibola as these reputed communities came to be called by the Spaniards was at once begun Guzman just then at the head of affairs in New Spain zealously set forth at the head of 400 Spanish soldiers and a large following of Indians to search for this marvelous country but the farther north the army marched the more distant became Cibola in the report of the natives whom they met on the way until at last the invaders became involved in the pathless deserts of New Mexico and the intricate ravines of the foothills beyond the soldiers grew mutinous and Guzman returned crestfallen to Mexico in April 1528 300 enthusiastic young nobles and gentlemen from Spain landed at Tampa Bay under the leadership of Narveyes planted in the conquest of Mexico Narveyes had been given a commission to hold Florida with its supposed wealth of mines and precious stones and to become its governor led by the customary fables of the natives who told only such tales as they suppose their Spanish tormentors wished most to hear the brilliant company wandered hither and thither through the vast swamps and forests wasted by fatigue disease and frequent assaults of savages at last after many distressing adventures but four men were left Cabeza de Vaca treasurer of the expedition and three others for eight long years did these bruised and ragged Spaniards wearily roam across the region now divided into Texas Indian territory Oklahoma New Mexico and Arizona retangled forests across broad rivers, morasses and desert stretches beset by wild beasts and men but ever spurred on by vague reports of a colony of their countrymen to the Southwest at last May 1536 the miserable wanderers first to make the transcontinental trip in northern latitudes reached the Gulf of California where they met some of their fellow countrymen who bore them in triumph to the city of Mexico as the guests of the province in that golden age of romance travelers were expected to guild their tales and in this respect seldom fail to meet the popular demand the Spanish conquistadors in particular lived in an atmosphere of fancy they looked at American savages and their ways through Spanish spectacles and knowing nothing of the modern science of ethnology quite misunderstood the import of what they saw beset by the national vice of flowery embellishment they were also pardonably ignorant of savage life and had an indiscriminating thirst for the marvelous thus we plainly see how the siebel of myth arose and grew and why most official Spanish reports of the conquest of the Aztecs were so distorted by false conceptions of the conquered people as in some particulars to be of light value as material for history it was then small wonder that Cabeza de Vaca and his fellow adventurers in the midst of the hero worship of which they were now recipients should claim themselves to have seen the mysterious seven cities and to have enlarged upon the previous stories Coronado governor of the northern province of new Galicia was accordingly sent to conquer this wonderful country which the adventurers had seen but Guzman failed to find in 1540 the years when Cortes again returned to meet ungrateful neglect at the bands of the Spanish court Coronado set out with a well-equipped following of 300 whites and 800 Indians the Cibola cities were found to be but mud pueblos in Arizona and New Mexico with the aspect of which we are today familiar while the mild tempered inhabitants destitute of wealth peacefully practicing their crude industries and telling their irrigated field were full men hardly worthy of Castilian steel end of section 20