French Pathfinders in North America
PORT ROYAL, IN
Natives.-The "Seven Cities of Cibola" again!-The Coast of Georgia.-Port Royal rea
the Huguenots, or French Protestants, to plant the settlement which he designe
d of Captain Jean Ribaut found themselves off the mouth of a great river which,
opening their great white, fragrant cups. No wonder they thought this newly discovered land the "fairest, fruitfullest, and pleasantest of all the world." One of the Indians wore around his neck a pearl "as great as an acorne at the least" and gladly exchanged it for a bauble. This set the explorers to inquiring for gold and gems, and they soon gathered, as they imagined, from the Indians' signs that the "Seve
it is called to this day. They sailed up this noble estuary and entered Broad River. When they landed the frightened Indians fled. Good reason they had to dread the sight of white men,
n explored every part of the vessels. When the holds were full of sight-seers, their hosts suddenly closed the hatches and sailed away with two ship-loads of wretched captives doomed to toil as slaves in the mines of San Domingo. But Ayllon's treachery was well punished. One of his vessels was l
d looking-glasses, coaxed two on board the ships, and loaded them with presents, in the h
it was decided to leave a number of men to hold this beautiful country for the King, Ribaut felt sure of the Indians' friendly disposi
opeans on the Atlantic coast north of Mexico. All that can be said with cer
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 them generously w
d. They had only a few pearls, given them by the Indians. Of these the natives undoubtedly
ame rude fare, hominy, beans, and fish. Before them was always the same glassy rive
hicora insupportable. Besides, their commander irritated them by undue severity. The crisis came when he hanged a man
the forest rang with the sound of the axe and with the crash of falling trees. They laid the keel and pushed the work with amazing energy and ingenuity, caulked the seams with long moss gathered from the neighboring trees and smeared the bottoms and sides w
their post, and sailed away from a land where they could have found an easy and comfortable livin
died outright; others went crazy with thirst, leaped overboard, and drank their fill once and forever. The wretched survivors drew lots, killed the man whom fortune designated, and satisfied their cravings with his
ibes 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 the
r Spaniards in
ly 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 helples