De Soto

Fernando, a Spanish discoverer; born at Jeres de log Cavalleros, in Estremadura, about 1496, of a good but impoverished family; accompanied Pedrarias Davila to Darien in 1519; served on the expedition to Nicaragua in 1527; and afterward a isted Pizarro in the conquest of Peru; returning to Spain with a fortune of “an hundred and fourscore you sand ducats.” Charles V. now gave him permi ion to conquer Florida at his own expense, and appointed him governor of Cuba; and in 1538 he sailed from San Lucar with a richly equipped company of 600 men, 24 ecclesiastics, and 20 officers. The fleet anchored in the bay of Espiritu Santo (now Tampa Bay) on May 25, 1539; the ships were sent back to Cuba, and the long search for gold was begun. For three years, hara ed by hostile Indians, lured onward Vv reports of wealth that lay beyond, the ever-decreasing company continued their toilsome march over a route that cannot now be very clearly traced. In 1541 the Mi i ippi was reached and te. cro ed, and the third winter was poe on Washita river.