. Unlike the Indians
of the pueblos, these Indians lived in tents made of buffalo hides
stretched upon poles. Everywhere there were plains, buffaloes, and
Indians. Nowhere was there gold or silver. Broken hearted, Coronado and
his men rode southward to their old homes in Mexico.

[Sidenote: De Soto in Florida, 1539. _Explorers_, 119-138.]

[Sidenote: De Soto crosses the Mississippi.]

15. De Soto in the Southeast, 1539-43.--In 1539 a Spanish army
landed at Tampa Bay, on the western coast of Florida. The leader of this
army was De Soto, one of the conquerors of Peru. He "was very fond of
the sport of killing Indians" and was also greedy for gold and silver.
From Tampa he marched northward to South Carolina and then marched
southwestward to Mobile Bay. There he had a dreadful time; for the
Indians burned his camp and stores and killed many of his men. From
Mobile he wandered northwestward until he came to a great river. It was
the Mississippi, and was so wide that a man standing on one bank could
not see a man standing on the opposite bank. Some of De Soto's men
penetrated westward nearly to the line of Coronado's march. But the two
bands did not meet. De Soto died and was buried in the Mississippi.
Those of his men who still lived built a few boats and managed to reach
the Spanish settlements in Mexico.

[Sidenote: Other Spanish explorers.]

[Sidenote: Attempts at settlement.]

16. Other Spanish Expeditions.--Many other Spanish explorers
visited the shores of the United States before 1550. Some sailed along
the Pacific coast; others sailed along the Atlantic coast. The Spaniards
also made several attempts to found settlements both on the northern
shore of the Gulf of Mexico and on Chesapeake Bay. But all these early
attempts ended in failure. In 1550 there were no Spaniards on the
continent within the present limits of the United States, except
possibly a few traders and missionaries in the Southwest.

[Sidenote: Verrazano's voyages, 1524. _Higginson_, 44-45; _Explorers_,
60-69.]

[Sidenote: Cartier in the St. Lawrence, 1534-36. _Explorers_ 99-117.]

17. Early French Voyages, 1524-36.--The first French expedition to
America was led by an Italian named Verrazano (Ver-rae-tsae'-no), but he
sailed in the service of Francis I, King of France. He made his voyage
in 1524 and sailed along the coast from the Cape Fear River to Nova
Scotia. He entered New York harbor and spent two weeks in Newport
harbor. He reported t