and dream that beyond the long, low margin of forest which bounded his
horizon lay hid a rich harvest for some future conqueror; perhaps a
second Mexico, with its royal palace and sacred pyramids, or another
Cuzco, with the temple of the Sun, encircled with a frieze of gold.

[1] From Parkman's "Pioneers of France in the New World." By
permission of the publishers, Little, Brown & Co. Ponce do Leon
was born in Aragon, Spain, about 1460, and died in Cuba in 1521.
Before making the exploration here described, he had been in
America with Columbus in 1493; been governor of the eastern part
of Espanola; been transferred to Porto Rico as governor, and
empowered to conquer the Indians. He returned to Spain in 1511 and
in February, 1512, was commissioned to discover and settle the
island of Bimini. This island, one of the Bahamas, was in the
region in which tradition had placed the Fountain of Youth. After
his expedition to Florida here described, he was occupied with
Indian wars in Porto Rico and Florida, and finally died from a
wound received from an arrow shot by an Indian.

[2] Parkman comments on this tradition of the Fountain of Youth
as follows: "The story has an explanation, sufficiently
characteristic, having been suggested, it is said, by the beauty
of the native women, which none could resist and which kindled
the fires of youth in the veins of age."




THE DISCOVERY OF THE PACIFIC BY BALBOA