SPANISH VOYAGES AND EXPLORATIONS 
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Exvlorations of Ponce de Leon, De Soto. and Caranadoa. 
of its waters. While looking for this stream he landed on a 
Coast where the flowers were very beautiful, and he called the 
country Florida, the Land of Flowers, He wandered through 
Florida, bathing in every stream and drinking from every 
spring. The old man did not find everlasting youth, of course. 
but he gave Florida to Spain. 
In 1539 another seeker after gold appeared on the coast of 
Florida. This was Hernando de Soto, the governor of Cuba 
and one of the leading men of Spain. De Soto landed at Tampa 
Bay with an army of six hundred men, and marched northward 
through the marshes and dense woods of Florida. When he 
reached what is now northern Alabama he turned westward anıl 
{ollowed a zigzag course until he found himself (in 1541) on 
the shores of the Mississippi River—the Father of Waters. On 
his Mmarch he had lost many of his men, for the Indians along 
his Path regarded him as a cruel enemy, and they had done 
him all the harm they could. On reaching the Mississippi, 
De Soto fell sick of a fever and died. He was buried in the 
middle of the great river he had discovered. His followers,