uskoki group, which Included some of the most advanced tribes on
our continent. These Southern Indians had progressed further in the
arts of life than the Algonquins and the Iroquois, and were
distinguished from these by a milder disposition. Gentle and kind
toward strangers, they were capable of great bravery when defending
their homes or punishing treachery, as the Spanish invaders had already
learned to their cost. They dwelt in permanent villages, raised
abundant crops of corn, pumpkins, and other vegetables, and, amid
forests full of game and rivers teeming with fish, lived in ease and
plenty.

[2] See "Pioneer Spaniards in North America."

[3] These were Edistoes and Kiowas. The fierce Yemassees came into the
country later. The kindness of the Southern Indians, when not provoked
by wanton outrage, is strikingly illustrated in the letter of the
famous navigator, Giovanni Verrazzano (See "The World's Discoverers"),
who visited the Atlantic seaboard nearly about the same time as the
kidnapper Ayllon. Once, as he was coasting along near the site of
Wilmington, N. C., on account of the high surf a boat could not land,
but a bold young sailor swam to the shore and tossed a gift of trinkets
to some Indians gathered on the beach. A moment later the sea threw
him helpless and bruised at their feet. In an instant he was seized by
the arms and legs and, crying lustily for help, was borne off to a
great fire--to be roasted on the spot, his shipmates did not doubt. On
the contrary, the natives warmed and rubbed him, then took him down to
the shore and watched him swim back to his friends.

{77}

Chapter VII

RENE DE LAUDONNIERE

PLANTING A COLONY ON THE ST. JOHN'S RIVER

Rene de Laudonniere's Expedition to the St. John's.--Absurd Illusions of
the Frenchmen.--Their Bad Faith to the Indians, and its Fatal
Results.--The Thirst for Gold, and how it was rewarded.--Buccaneering.--A
Storm-cloud gathers in Spain.--Misery in the Fort on the St.
John's.--Relieved by Sir John Hawkins.--Arrival of Ribaut with Men and
Supplies.--Don Pedro Menendez captures Fort Caroline and massacres the
Garrison and Shipwrecked Crews.--Dominique de Gourgues takes Vengeance.

The failure at Port Royal did not discourage Admiral Coligny from sending
out another expedition, in the spring of 1564, under the command of Rene
de Laudonniere, who had been with Ribaut in 1562. It reached the mouth
of the St. John's on the 25th of June a