The same year another Spaniard, named Balboa, set out to explore the
Isthmus of Panama.[5] One day he climbed to the top of a very high
hill, and discovered that vast ocean--the greatest of all the oceans
of the globe--which we call the Pacific.

[Footnote 1: Ponce de Leon (Pon'thay day La-on') or, in English, Pons
de Lee'on. Many persons now prefer the English pronunciation of all
these Spanish names.]

[Footnote 2: Balboa (Bal-bo'ah).]

[Footnote 3: De Soto (Da So'to).]

[Footnote 4: Florida: this word means flowery; the name was given
by the Spaniards because they discovered the country on Easter Sunday,
which they call Flowery Easter.]

[Footnote 5: Panama (Pan-a-mah').]


29. De Soto discovers the Mississippi.--Long after Balboa and Ponce
de Leon were dead, a Spaniard named De Soto landed in Florida and
marched through the country in search of gold mines.

In the course of his long and weary wanderings, he came to a river
more than a mile across. The Indians told him it was the Mississippi,
or the Great River. In discovering it, De Soto had found the largest
river in North America; he had also found his own grave, for he died
shortly after, and was secretly buried at midnight in its muddy