Accordingly, in 1516 he returned with two vessels, but his occupancy being disputed by the Indians, De Leon was mortally wounded in the first encounter. His followers, being dispirited by the loss of their leader in a strange and uninviting land, returned on board their vessels and sailed for Cuba. Here a monument was erected to the memory of Juan Ponce de Leon, on which is inscribed the following eloquent and deserved epitaph: “Mole sub hac, fortis requiescunt, ossa Leonis qui vicit factis nomina magna suis.”
Though De Leon died in disappointment, never having tasted the fabled waters of which he came in search, his name will ever be associated with the country he christened, and many a wasted consumptive who has regained a lost vigor and health under the assuasive influences of Florida’s climate will give a kindly thought of remembrance and regret as he recalls him who first visited Florida, a seeker after healing waters.
[1517.]
CHAPTER III.
EXPEDITIONS OF MURUELO, CORDOVA, ALMINOS, AYLLON, AND NARVAEZ.
In the next twenty years there were many captains who undertook voyages for the exploration and subjugation of Florida.
It must be remembered that at this time, and until the beginning of the eighteenth century, the grand divisions of North America were known only as Florida and Canada.
Diego Muruelo, a Spanish adventurer, by profession a pilot, is said to have sailed from Cuba, and returning with gold and precious stones obtained from the Florida Indians, spread glowing reports of the country. These reports may have influenced the home government, as about this time a Dominican, “Bernardo de Mesa,” was chosen Bishop of Cuba “including Florida.”
Fernandez de Cordova landed on the coast, but was driven off by the Indians, and returned to Cuba, where he died of his wounds. The famous Bernal Diaz was a member of this expedition.
One De Alminos, a member of Cordova’s party, made such a favorable report of the country and the advantages to be derived from a possession of the same that he induced Francisco de Geray, the governor of Jamaica, to furnish him with three vessels, with which he returned to the coast; but was unsuccessful in his attempts to make any acquisition of wealth or power in Florida, though slight progress was made in the survey of its coast. De Geray, however, trusting in the reports given him, applied to the home government to be made Adelantado of Florida, though his request is said to have been denied.
Lucas Vasquez de Ayllon, an auditor of St. Domingo, a rich and learned man, formed a company with six other inhabitants of the island of Hispaniola, for the purpose of securing Indians to work as slaves in the mines of Mexico.
In the humane laws decreed by the Spanish crown against the enslaving of its Indian subjects, an exception had been made against the Caribs, or Cannibals; these Indians being considered especially barbarous and deserving of castigation.