hat the country was "as pleasant as it is possible
to conceive." The next French expedition was led by a Frenchman named
Cartier (Kar'-tya'). In 1534 he visited the Gulf of St. Lawrence. In
1535 he sailed up the St. Lawrence River to Montreal. But before he
could get out of the river again the ice formed about his ships. He and
his crew had to pass the winter there. They suffered terribly, and
twenty-four of them perished of cold and sickness. In the spring of 1536
the survivors returned to France.

[Sidenote: Ribault explores the Carolina coasts, 1562.]

[Sidenote: French colonists in Carolina. _Explorers_, 149-156.]

18. The French in Carolina, 1562.--The French next explored the
shores of the Carolinas. Ribault (Re'-bo') was the name of their
commander. Sailing southward from Carolina, he discovered a beautiful
river and called it the River of May. But we know it by its Spanish name
of St. Johns. He left a few men on the Carolina coast and returned to
France. A year or more these men remained. Then wearying of their life
in the wilderness, they built a crazy boat with sails of shirts and
sheets and steered for France. Soon their water gave out and then their
food. Finally, almost dead, they were rescued by an English ship.

[Sidenote: French colonists in Florida.]

19. The French in Florida, 1564-65.--While these Frenchmen were
slowly drifting across the Atlantic, a great French expedition was
sailing to Carolina. Finding Ribault's men gone, the new colony was
planted on the banks of the River of May. Soon the settlers ate up all
the food they had brought with them. Then they bought food from the
Indians, giving them toys and old clothes in exchange. Some of the
colonists rebelled. They seized a vessel and sailed away to plunder the
Spaniards in the West Indies. They told the Spaniards of the colony on
the River of May, and the Spaniards resolved to destroy it.

[Sidenote: Spaniards and Frenchmen.]

[Sidenote: End of the French settlement, 1565. _Explorers_, 159-166.]

20. The Spaniards in Florida, 1565.--For this purpose the Spaniards
sent out an expedition under Menendez (Ma-nen'-deth). He sailed to the
River of May and found Ribault there with a French fleet. So he turned
southward, and going ashore founded St. Augustine. Ribault followed, but
a terrible storm drove his whole fleet ashore south of St. Augustine.
Menendez then marched over land to the French colony. He surprised the
colonists and killed nea