f Puerto
Rico, and sailing in 1512 to find Florida,--of which he had heard
through the Indians,--discovered the new land in the same year, and took
possession of it for Spain. He was given the title of adelantado of
Florida, and in 1521 returned with three ships to conquer his new
country, but was at once wounded mortally in a fight with the Indians,
and died on his return to Cuba. He, by the way, was one of the bold
Spaniards who accompanied Columbus on his second voyage to America, in
1493.

[Illustration: Autograph of Hernando de Soto.]

More of the credit of Florida belongs to Hernando de Soto. That gallant
_conquistador_ was born in Estremadura, Spain, about 1496. Pedro Arias
de Avila took a liking to his bright young kinsman, helped him to obtain
a university education, and in 1519 took him along on his expedition to
Darien. De Soto won golden opinions in the New World, and came to be
trusted as a prudent yet fearless officer. In 1528 he commanded an
expedition to explore the coast of Guatemala and Yucatan, and in 1532
led a reinforcement of three hundred men to assist Pizarro in the
conquest of Peru. In that golden land De Soto captured great wealth; and
the young soldier of fortune, who had landed in America with no more
than his sword and shield, returned to Spain with what was in those days
an enormous fortune. There he married a daughter of his benefactor De
Avila, and thus became brother-in-law of the discoverer of the
Pacific,--Balboa. De Soto lent part of his soon-earned fortune to
Charles V., whose constant wars had drained the royal coffers, and
Charles sent him out as governor of Cuba and adelantado of the new
province of Florida. He sailed in 1538 with an army of six hundred men,
richly equipped,--a company of adventurous Spaniards attracted to the
banner of their famous countryman by the desire for discovery and gold.
The expedition landed in Florida, at Espiritu Santo Bay, in May, 1539,
and re-took possession of the unguessed wilderness for Spain.

But the brilliant success which had attended De Soto in the highlands of
Peru seemed to desert him altogether in the swamps of Florida. It is
note-worthy that nearly all the explorers who did wonders in South
America failed when their operations were transferred to the northern
continent. The physical geography of the two was so absolutely unlike,
that, after becoming accustomed to the necessities of the one, the
explorer seemed unable to adapt himself