swelled by the rains. Next morning, on taking a view of the fort, he was much alarmed by seeing the whole garrison in motion and on the ramparts; but they soon withdrew, and it proved to have been only to see some repairs made to a fountain. At ten o'clock the troops crossed the river, which still took them up to the middle. They were for some time concealed by a thick wood, emerging from which they were at last seen, and two guns fired. They rushed on, however, with eager fury; and Alokutora, an Indian, having singly scaled the ramparts and killed an artilleryman, the garrison were seized with a panic, and precipitately abandoning the fort, were most of them killed or taken. Almost immediately the garrison of the next fort followed their example, and met with the same fate. The main fort, however, still held out, and, having recovered from the first panic, was putting itself in a posture of defence. De Gourgues was happy to learn from a prisoner, that they considered him 2000 strong, and he was thence encouraged to attempt carrying the place by escalade. Before his preparations were completed, however, a party sallied out, and, being taken in the rear, were almost entirely cut off; upon which the garrison were seized with the same panic as the rest, and fled into the woods, where they almost all fell into the hands of the Spaniards or Indians. De Gourgues caused his men to spare as many of the Spaniards as they could, and even collected all those whom the Indians had taken and were preparing to torture. Having assembled them, he led them to the fatal tree, on which the skeleton remains of his slaughtered countrymen were yet suspended. Here, after upbraiding them for their matchless treachery and cruelty, he hanged them all, and suspended them on the same tree, changing the inscription for another in the following terms :-" Not because they are Spaniards, but because they are traitors, robbers, and murderers."

De Gourgues did not intend, nor attempt, to make any settlement in Florida. He embarked all that was valuable in the forts, and set sail for La Rochelle. In that Protestant capital he was received with the loudest acclamations. At Bordeaux these were reiterated, and he was advised to proceed to Paris and claim the reward of such eminent services. There he met with a very different reception. Philip had already an embassy demanding his head, which Charles and Catherine were not disinclined to give. They disavowed his conduct, and had taken steps for bringing him to trial, but found the measure so excessively unpopular, that they were obliged to allow him to retire into Normandy. He received an invitation from Queen Elizabeth, which he once intended to accept; but having, in the change of events, regained royal favour, he found ample employment in his native country.*

The conductors of these expeditions, amid their hurried and tumultuous career, had little leisure to observe more of the natives than was developed in the course of their troubled intercourse. The Floridans appear to have displayed none of those republican

forms, nor of that high spirit of personal independence which so strongly characterized the northern tribes. They had chiefs, or paraonstis, who were obeyed with enthusiastic loyalty and devotion. The veneration paid to them after death was also remarkable. We have seen the manner in which their remains were piled up in chests along the sides of the temples. These chests are said to have been of very neat workmanship, though without locks or keys. The mode of preserving the bodies, it is probable, might be similar to that which we shall afterwards find described by the historians of Virginia. The females appear to have been more on a level with the stronger sex. The labour of cultivation in this fine climate is not very severe, and, with other laborious tasks, is partly performed by slaves. The fair Floridans second their husbands in hunting, swimming rivers, and other athletic exercises; and, as may have been observed, are not even slow in taking the field along with them. Polygamy is permitted to the chiefs, and the punishment of adultery is very severe. Their houses, though built only of wood, were very large, each capable of containing a number of families; it is even asserted, that there were some in which fifteen hundred warriors might be posted. Their food was simple, consisting of bread made of millet, with various species of game and fish. The sassafras, which in Florida is of peculiar excellence, is used as a medicine in almost every disease.

VOL. I.

M

CHAPTER IV.

DISCOVERY AND SETTLEMENT OF VIRGINIA.

Rise of Maritime Enterprise in England.--Sir Humphrey Gilbert.-His Arrival at Newfoundland.-Fate of his Expedition. -Sir Walter Raleigh-Sends an Expedition under Amadas and Barlow-Sir Richard Greenville-Lane-White-Gosnold. Captain Thomas Smith-His Voyages and Adventures. -The Princess Pocahuntas. Progress of the Settlements.Conflicts with the Indians. View of the Government, Religion, &c. of the Native Indians.

THE spirited and successful effort made by the English under Cabot was not followed up. Henry VII., notwithstanding his love of money and his political sagacity, was yet unable to appreciate the vast and solid advantages which might arise to the nation from " ships, colonies, and commerce." More might have been expected from the bustling temper of Henry VIII.; but, engrossed by the continual care of marrying and unmarrying himself, of breaking with the church of Rome, dictating successive forms of worship, and persecuting all who did not change at the same moment with himself; lastly, engaged in holding the balance even, as he supposed, between the great continental rivals, he had neither leisure nor inclination to embark in distant enterprises. All that was done during his long reign was done by the nation itself. Sebastian Cabot was sent on an expedition to the coast of Brazil; but, finding no farther encouragement, he left the English service, and took up his residence at Seville. Other expeditions, however, were sent towards Newfoundland, and two for the discovery of the north-west passage; but the issue of these last being very disastrous, a pause ensued to all further exertion.

The reign of Edward VI. seemed likely to form a brilliant era in the annals of maritime discovery. That promising young prince, guided by able counsellors, applied himself with ardour to promote the commercial interests of the nation. Under his auspices were incorporated the company of merchant adventurers for the discovery of regions, dominions, islands, and places unknown. Sebastian Cabot was invited back to England, and, at the advanced age of upwards of seventy, was invested with the rank of governor of the company and grand pilot of England. He did not, however, undertake any voyage in person, but drew up a series of instructions for those employed, which justify his high reputation for nautical skill. It happened, rather unfortunately, that the English concentrated their hopes and enterprises almost exclusively in the discovery of a northern passage to India. This object, alike hopeless and perilous, they sought first to accomplish by an easterly course along the north of Asia, -a route which proved wholly