tamores
resumed his governorship of Pensacola.

But in September Bienville, the brother of Chateaugue, assisted by a
French fleet under Champmeslin, with a large force of Canadians and
Indians, attacked Pensacola once more. Metamores was defeated and with
some of his Spanish troops sent to Havana to be exchanged for the French
prisoners held there since August. The remaining Spaniards were sent to
France as prisoners of war. It seems from the records of the historian
Blanchet that Governor Guazo in the following year made an attempt to
reconquer Pensacola. He sent an expedition of fourteen ships and nine
hundred men under the command of D. Esteban de Berroa, who succeeded in
taking the place. But in the further course of the engagement between
the two forces, the French regained possession and defeated the Cubans,
many of whom were made prisoners and sent to Spain.

Of Governor Guazo's efforts to improve the fortifications of Havana, an
inscription on the inner side of the gate of Tierra bears witness. It
reads:

Reynando La Majesdad Catolica del Senor Felipe V. Rey de las
Espanas y Siendo Gobernador de Esta Ciudad, E Isla de Cuba El
Brigadier de los Reales Exercitos D. Gregorio Guazo Calderon
Fernandez de la Vega, Caballero del Orden de Santiago. Ano De 1721.

In the reign of His Catholic Majesty Philip V. King of the Spains,
and when the Governor of this town and island of Cuba was the
Brigadier of the royal armies D. Gregorio Guazo Calderon Fernandez
de la Vega, Knight of the Order of Saint James. In the year 1721.

CHAPTER XXVII

The wonderful impetus which the discoverers and explorers of Spain gave
to the spirit of adventure by opening to the world the gates of a new
and strange world, promptly began to bear fruit among those nations who
had always been daring navigators. Young men with no ties, either of
family or profession, to hold them, were suddenly fired with the desire
to see the new continent which the genius of Columbus and his associates
had brought within their reach, and set out in quest of what promised to
be a precious new experience. Most of these men were fairly well
educated and sensed the importance of all these enterprises. They set
out as eager observers and they did not fail to record their
observations and impressions in the frank and unadorned manner of
unsophisticated onlookers. Some kept a daily record of their
experiences, others jott