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But neither the fondness of the
Spanish monarch
for extending his domains, nor the desire of the nobility for new governments, nor the passion of adventurers to go in search of wealth, would suffer the abandonment of
Florida; and in 1526, Pamphilo de
Narvaez, a man of no great virtue or reputation, obtained from Charles V. the contract to explore and reduce all the territory from the
Atlantic to the
River of Palms.
This is he who had been sent by the jealous Governor of
Cuba to take
Cortes prisoner, and had himself been easily defeated, losing an eye, and deserted by his own troops.
‘Esteem it great good fortune, that you have taken me captive,’ said he to the man whom he had declared an outlaw; and
Cortes replied, ‘It is the least of the things I have done in
Mexico.’
Narvaez, who was both rich and covetous, haz-
arded all his treasure on the conquest of his province; and sons of Spanish nobles and men of good condition flocked to his standard.
In June, 1527, his expedi-
tion, in which
Cabeza de Vaca held the second place as treasurer, left the Guadalquiver, touched at the island of
San Domingo, and during the following winter, amidst storms and losses, passed from port to port on the southern side of
Cuba, where the experienced
Miruelo was engaged as his pilot.
In the spring of
1528, he doubled Cape San Antonio, and was stand-
ing in for
Havana, when a strong South wind drove his fleet upon the
American coast, and on the fourteenth of April, the day before Good Friday, he listed anchored in or near the outlet of
Tampa Bay.
On the day before
Easter the
Governor landed, and in the name of
Spain took possession of the floating peninsula of
Florida.
The natives kept aloof, or if they drew near, marked by signs their impatience for his departure.
But they had shown him samples
