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hundred leagues of the coast, and taking possession
of the country for the crown of
Castile.
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.
The account of the expedition having been laid before Charles the Fifth, a royal edict in 1521, granted to
Garay the privilege of colonizing at his own cost the region which he had made known, from a point south of
Tampico to the limit of
Ponce de Leon, near the coast of
Alabama.
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 further 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 the
Jordan; the name of St. Helena, given to a cape, now belongs to the sound.
The natives of this region had not yet learned to fear Europeans; and they fled at their approach, more from timid wonder than from a sense of peril.
Gifts were interchanged, and the strangers received with confidence and hospitality.
When at length the natives returned the visit of their guests, and covered the decks with cheerful throngs, the ships were got under way and steered for Saint Domingo.
Husbands were torn from their wives, and children from their parents.
Thus the seeds of war were lavishly