Henry the Seventh of England-He Commissions: Porto Rico and Hayti

Ortubia soon arrived at Porto Rico. The old woman had guided him to Bimini, where he found beautiful groves and sparkling springs and limpid streams, but not one of the waters could restore to an old man the vernal greenness of his youth. So Ponce turned his thoughts to more practical subjects. Returning to Spain a few months later, he told the sovereigns of the beautiful land he had discovered, and received the appointment of Governor of Florida on condition that he should plant a colony there. This was not attempted until several years afterward. He had been moping in disappointment at Porto Rico, after an unsuccessful expedition against the Caribs, until he was assured that Florida was not an island, but a part of the continent. Then ambitious desires moved his sluggish heart, and the brilliant achievements of Cortez in the west, aroused the slumbering energies of the old cavalier. With nearly all of his wealth in two ships, he sailed from Porto Rico in 1521, and landed on the shores of Florida, not far from where he had first discovered that land, to prepare for founding a colony there. He was met by a crowd of natives who had gathered near the beach with bows and arrows and long javelins, to defend their land from the intrusion of the pale faces, for they had lately been taught, by the bitter experience of their neighbors, to look upon them as children of the Evil Spirit. A sharp battle ensued. Several of the Spaniards were killed, and Ponce de Leon, badly wounded in his thigh, was carried on board his ship and conveyed to Cuba, where he died. Upon his tomb was written the following inscription, in Latin:

IN THIS SEPULCHRE REST THE BONES OF A MAN WHO WAS LION BY NAME AND STILL MORE BY NATURE.

Meanwhile, the avarice of the Spaniards in Hayti had been greatly excited by the reports of a mariner who had accidentally visited the coast near the entrance to the Savannah River, where the natives presented him with gold and pearls. He also represented the masculine natives as athletic and fine looking. A commercial company was soon formed in Hayti to visit that country to obtain gold and slaves. Luke Vasquez D'Allyon, a wealthy colonist who owned extensive mines in Hayti, was at the head of the company. His chief object in the movement was to obtain slaves to work in his mines, for cruelty had almost exterminated the native men of the island. With two ships he sailed in a northwesterly direction in the year 1520, and arrived on the coast of South Carolina through St. Helen's Sound. The natives, believing the ships were sea-monsters, crowded the shores in wonderment. When they saw clothed and bearded men come out of them, they fled to the woods in alarm. Two of them were caught and carried on board D'Allyon's ship, where they were feasted, dressed in Spanish costume, and sent back. Their appearance so pleased their sachem, that he sent fifty of his subjects to the vessels with fruits and provisions. When the Spaniards took long excursions through the forests, he sent men with them as guides and servants. In some of these excursions they were presented with gold and silver, and pearls; and they were everywhere entertained with the kindest hospitality. They were rudely feasted and were as rudely serenaded with the music of the pipe and drum. Dancing-girls afforded amusement for them, and they departed with pontifical blessings from the dwellings of chiefs and sachems.

Having fully "spied out the land" of this simple people, and being ready for departure, D'Allyon invited a large number of the native men to a feast on his ships, and to engage in traffic. Having finished the trade, they were invited below, where they were well fed, and filled with strong wine. When all were made stupid by intoxication, the hatches of the ships were closed and the deluded men were carried away captive. Many died from vexation and starvation, for they refused to take food. One of the ships was foundered at sea, and Spaniards and captives were all lost. The less fortunate captives were taken to Hayti, where D'Allyon, deaf to the voices of mercy, humanity and justice, made them slaves. The story of this perfidy and wickedness, spread rapidly from lip to lip along the coast, even so far as the region of St. Augustine, and it aroused the natives to those acts of defence and revenge, which resulted in the wounding of Juan Ponce de Leon, and the expulsion of his followers from the land, the next year.

Instead of being punished for his crime against mankind, D'Allyon was rewarded as a discoverer of new lands, when he visited the court of Spain soon afterwards. He was also appointed chief magistrate of the province of Chicora, as the native South Carolinians called their country; and he was vested with authority to plant a colony there. Under this commission he fitted out three ships at Hayti, and with the mariner Miruela, who first saw the coast near the mouth of the Savannah River, he sailed for Chicora, and passing through St. Helen's Sound reached the continent near the mouth of the Combahee. There he opened traffic with the natives, who seemed to be indifferent to his crime, and when he had finished trading he proceeded to plant his colony on an island in the waters of Port Royal Sound, near the site of the present town of Beaufort, South Carolina.