[28. The magic fountain; Ponce de Leon discovers Florida; Balboa discovers the Pacific Ocean.]—The Indians on the West India Islands believed that there was a wonderful fountain in a land to the west of them. They said that if an old man should bathe in its waters, they would make him a boy again. Ponce de Leon, a Spanish soldier who was getting gray and wrinkled, set out to find this magic fountain, for he thought that there was more fun in being a boy than in growing old.
He did not find the fountain, and so his hair grew grayer than ever and his wrinkles grew deeper. But in 1513 he discovered a land bright with flowers, which he named Florida.[4] He took possession of it for Spain.
The same year another Spaniard, named Balboa, set out to explore the Isthmus of Panama.[5] One day he climbed to the top of a very high hill, and discovered that vast ocean—the greatest of all the oceans of the globe—which we call the Pacific.
1 Ponce de Leon (Pon'thay day La-on') or, in English, Pons de Lee'on. Many persons now prefer the English pronunciation of all these Spanish names.
2 Balboa (Bal-bo'ah).
3 De Soto (Da So'to).
4 Florida: this word means flowery; the name was given by the Spaniards because they discovered the country on Easter Sunday, which they call Flowery Easter.
5 Panama (Pan-a-mah').
[29. De Soto discovers the Mississippi.]—Long after Balboa and Ponce de Leon were dead, a Spaniard named De Soto landed in Florida and marched through the country in search of gold mines.
In the course of his long and weary wanderings, he came to a river more than a mile across. The Indians told him it was the Mississippi, or the Great River. In discovering it, De Soto had found the largest river in North America; he had also found his own grave, for he died shortly after, and was secretly buried at midnight in its muddy waters.