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[37] scattered where peace only had prevailed, and enmity
Chap. II.} 1520
was spread through the regions where friendship had been cherished. The crime was unprofitable, and was finally avenged. One of the returning ships foundered at sea, and the guilty and guiltless perished; many of the captives in the other sickened and died.

The events that followed mark the character of the limes. Vasquez, repairing to Spain, boasted of his expedition, as if it entitled him to reward, and the emperor, Charles V., acknowledged his claim. In those days, the Spanish monarch conferred a kind of appointment, which, however strange its character may appear, still has its parallel in history. Not only were provinces granted; countries were distributed to be subdued; and Lucas Vasquez de Ayllon begged to be appointed to the conquest of Chicora. After long entreaty, he obtained his suit.

The issue of the new and bolder enterprise was

1524
disastrous to the undertaker. He wasted his fortune in preparations; his largest ship was stranded in the
1525
River Jordan; many of his men were killed by the natives, whom wrongs had quickened to active resistance; he himself escaped only to suffer from wounded pride; and, conscious of having done nothing worthy of being remembered, the sense of humiliation is said to have hastened his death.1

The love of adventure did not wholly extinguish the

1524
desire for maritime discovery. When Cortes was able to pause from his success in Mexico, and devise further schemes for ingratiating himself with the Spanish monarch, he proposed to solve the problem of a northwest

1 Peter Martyr, d. VII. c. II. Gomara, c. XLII. Herrera, d. III. l. VIII. c. VIII. Herrera's West Indies, in Purchas. IV. 869. Galvano, in Hakluyt, IV. 429. Ensayo Cronologico, 4, 5, 6. 8, 9, and 160. Roberts's Florida, 27, 28. The Portuguese Relation. c. XIV.

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