ing the coast, six years later, nearly his entire following
was massacred by the natives, who lured them to a feast, then fell upon
them in the dead of night. Treachery for treachery!

The Frenchmen, however, won the confidence of the Indians with gifts of
knives, beads, and looking-glasses, coaxed two on board the ships, and
loaded them with presents, in the hope of reconciling them to going to
France. But they moaned incessantly and finally fled.

These Europeans, however, had not done {71} anything to alarm the
natives, and soon the latter were on easy terms with them. Therefore,
when it was decided to leave a number of men to hold this beautiful
country for the King, Ribaut felt sure of the Indians' friendly
disposition. He detailed thirty men, under the command of Albert de
Pierria, as the garrison of a fort which he armed with guns from the
ship.

It would delight us to know the exact site of this earliest lodgment of
Europeans on the Atlantic coast north of Mexico. All that can be said
with certainty is that it was not many miles from the picturesque site
of Beaufort.

Having executed his commission by finding a spot suitable for a colony,
Ribaut sailed away, leaving the little band to hold the place until he
should return with a party of colonists. Those whom he left had
nothing to do but to roam the country in search of gold, haunted, as
they were, by that dream which was fatal to so many of the early
ventures in America. They did not find any, but they visited the
villages of several chiefs and were always hospitably entertained.
When supplies in the neighborhood ran low, they made a journey by boat
through inland water-ways to two chiefs on the Savannah River, who
furnished {72} them generously with corn and beans; and when their
storehouse burned down, with the provisions which they had just
received, they went again to the same generous friends, received a
second supply, and were bidden to come back without hesitation, if they
needed more. There seemed to be no limit to the good-will of the
kindly natives.[3]

Their monotonous existence soon began to pall on the Frenchmen, eager
for conquest and gold. They had only a few pearls, given them by the
Indians. Of these the natives undoubtedly possessed a considerable
quantity, but not baskets heaped with them, as the Spaniards said.

{73}

Roaming the woods or paddling up the creeks, the Frenchmen encountered
always the same rude fare, hominy,