chapter 7 (volume 2)._

ALSO IN _Lord Stanley of Alderley, The First Voyage Round the World (Hakluyt Society, 1874)_.

_R. Kerr, Collection of Voyages, volume 10._

AMERICA: A. D. 1519-1525. The Voyages of Garay and Ayllon. Discovery of the mouth of the Mississippi. Exploration of the Carolina Coast.

In 1519, Francisco de Garay, governor of Jamaica, who had been one of the companions of Columbus on his second voyage, having heard of the richness and beauty of Yucatan, "at his own charge sent out four ships well equipped, and with good pilots, under the command of Alvarez Alonso de Pineda. His professed object was to search for some strait, west of Florida, which was not yet certainly known to form a part of the continent. The strait having been sought for in vain, his ships turned toward the west, attentively examining the ports, rivers, inhabitants, and everything else that seemed worthy of remark; and especially noticing the vast volume of water brought down by one very large stream. At last they came upon the track of Cortes near Vera Cruz. … The carefully drawn map of the pilots showed distinctly the Mississippi, which, in this earliest authentic trace of its outlet, bears the name of the Espiritu Santo. … But Garay thought not of the Mississippi and its valley: he coveted access to the wealth of Mexico; and, in 1523, lost fortune and life ingloriously in a dispute with Cortes for the government of the country on the river Panuco. A voyage for slaves brought the Spaniards in 1520 still farther to the north. A company of seven, of whom the most distinguished was Lucas Vasquez de Ayllon, fitted out two slave ships from St. Domingo, in quest of laborers for their plantations and mines. From the Bahama Islands they passed to the coast of South Carolina, which was called Chicora. The Combahee river received the name of Jordan; the name of St. Helena, whose day is the 18th of August, was given to a cape, but now belongs to the sound." Luring a large number of the confiding natives on board their ships the adventurers treacherously set sail with them; but one of the vessels foundered at sea, and most of the captives on the other sickened and died. Vasquez de Ayllon was rewarded for his treacherous exploit by being authorized and appointed to make the conquest of Chicora. "For this bolder enterprise the undertaker wasted his fortune in preparations; in 1525 his largest ship was stranded in the river Jordan; many of his men were killed by the natives; and he himself escaped only to suffer from the consciousness of having done nothing worthy of honor. Yet it may be that ships, sailing under his authority, made the discovery of the Chesapeake and named it the bay of St. Mary; and perhaps even entered the bay of Delaware, which, in Spanish geography, was called St. Christopher's."

_G. Bancroft, History of the United States, part 1, chapter 2._

ALSO IN _H. H. Bancroft, History of the Pacific States, volume 4, chapter 11, and volume 5, chapters 6-7._

_W. G. Simms, History of South Carolina, book 1, chapter 1._

AMERICA: A. D. 1523-1524. The Voyages of Verrazano. First undertakings of France in the New World.

"It is constantly admitted in our history that our kings paid no attention to America before the year 1523. Then Francis I., wishing to excite the emulation of his subjects in regard to navigation and commerce, as he had already so successfully in regard to the sciences and fine arts, ordered John Verazani, who was in his service, to go and explore the New Lands, which began to be much talked of in France. … Verazani was accordingly sent, in 1523, with four ships to discover North America; but our historians have not spoken of his first expedition, and we should be in ignorance of it now, had not Ramusio preserved in his great collection a letter of Verazani himself, addressed to Francis I. and dated Dieppe, July 8, 1524. In it he supposes the king already informed of the success and details of the voyage, so that he contents himself with stating that he sailed from Dieppe in four vessels, which he had safely brought back to that port. In January, 1524, he sailed with two ships, the Dauphine and the Normande, to cruise against the Spaniards. Towards the close of the same year, or early in the next, he again fitted out the Dauphine, on which, embarking with 50 men and provisions for eight months, he first sailed to the island of Madeira."

_Father Charlevoix, History of New France (translated by J. G. Shea), book 1._

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"On the 17th of January, 1524, he [Verrazano] parted from the 'Islas desiertas,' a well-known little group of islands near Madeira, and sailed at first westward, running in 25 days 500 leagues, with a light and pleasant easterly breeze, along the northern border of the trade winds, in about 30° North. His track was consequently nearly like that of Columbus on his first voyage. On the 14th of February he met 'with as violent a hurricane as any ship ever encountered.' But he weathered it, and pursued his voyage to the west, 'with a little deviation to the north;' when, after having sailed 24 days and 400 leagues, he descried a new country which, as he supposed, had never before been seen either by modern or ancient navigators. The country was very low. From the above description it is evident that Verrazano came in sight of the east coast of the United States about the 10th of March, 1524. He places his land-fall in 34° North, which is the latitude of Cape Fear." He first sailed southward, for about 50 leagues, he states, looking for a harbor and finding none. He then turned northward. "I infer that Verrazano saw little of the coast of South Carolina and nothing of that of Georgia, and that in these regions he can, at most, be called the discoverer only of the coast of North Carolina. … He rounded Cape Hatteras, and at a distance of about 50 leagues came to another shore, where he anchored and spent several days. … This was the second principal landing-place of Verrazano. If we reckon 50 leagues from Cape Hatteras, it would fall somewhere upon the east coast of Delaware, in latitude 38° North, where, by some authors, it is thought to have been. But if, as appears most likely, Verrazano reckoned his distance here, as he did in other cases, from his last anchoring, and not from Cape Hatteras, we must look for his second landing somewhere south of the entrance to Chesapeake Bay, and near the entrance to Albemarle Sound. And this better agrees with the 'sail of 100 leagues' which Verrazano says he made from his second to his third landing-place, in New York Bay. … He found at this third landing station an excellent berth, where he came to anchor, well-protected from the winds, … and from which he ascended the river in his boat into the interior. He found the shores very thickly settled, and as he passed up half a league further, he discovered a most beautiful lake … of three leagues in circumference. Here, more than 30 canoes came to him with a multitude of people, who seemed very friendly. … This description contains several accounts which make it still more clear that the Bay of New York was the scene of these occurrences."—Verrazano's anchorage having been at Gravesend Bay, the river which he entered being the Narrows, and the lake he found being the Inner Harbor. From New York Bay Verrazano sailed eastward, along the southern shore of Long Island, and following the New England coast, touching at or describing points which are identified with Narragansett Bay and Newport, Block Island or Martha's Vineyard, and Portsmouth. His coasting voyage was pursued as far as 50° North, from which point he sailed homeward. "He entered the port of Dieppe early in July, 1524. His whole exploring expedition, from Madeira and back, had accordingly lasted but five and a half months."

_J. G. Kohl, History of the Discovery of Maine (Maine Historical Society Collection, 2d Series, volume 1),