pany, they desired to have pledges for the performance of all things, doubting that otherwise when they had made themselves stronger, they would have been at defiance with us and seeing that now they might have what they would request, they judged it to be more wisdom to be in assurance than to be forced to make any more labours about it. So upon this, gages were sent, and we made our traffic quietly with them."*

Hawkins had with him a Frenchman, Martin Atinas of Diepe, who had been in Florida in 1562 with Ribault, and now guided the English along this coast. They ranged along it, seeking for fresh water, and enquiring of the Floridians where the French inhabited; they were disappointed at not seeing any habitation of the French in twenty-eight degrees, but found the ship and two pinnaces at the river of May, in thirty degrees and better, and sent Atinas as messenger to Laudonnière, at the fort, two leagues up. Two flagons of wine and some wheat bread, brought by Atinas, were very acceptable. Next day, a visit was paid by Hawkins, who seeing the wants of the French, supplied them with meat and other provisions, and offered them a bark, for which they paid him in ordnance.†

"Moreover," says Laudonnière, "for as much as he saw my soldiers go barefoot, he offered me besides fifty pair of shoes, which I accepted and agreed of a price with him, and gave him a bill of mine hand for the same, for which until this present I am indebted to him. He did more than this: for particularly he bestowed upon myself a great jar of oil, a jar of vinegar, a barrel of olives, and a great quantity of

rice and a barrel of white biscuit. Besides, he gave divers presents to the principal officers of my company, according to their qualities: so that I may say, that we received as many courtesies of the general as it was possible to receive of any man living. Wherein, doubtless, he hath won the reputation of a good and charitable man, deserving to be esteemed as much of us all as if he had saved all our lives."

In returning, owing to the nature of the winds, Hawkins was as far north as the bank of Newfoundland, where he obtained a great number of fresh cod fish, which gave great relief. After this, with a good wind, he came the 20th of September to Padston, in Cornwall, with the loss of twenty persons in the voyage, but with profit to the adventurers.*

*3 Hakluyt, p. 520, 21.

CHAPTER XX.

Of the voyage of Ribault from France to Florida in 1565; and the massacre there of the French by the Spaniards, under Menendez.

After the departure of Hawkins from the fort, Laudonnière proceeded to get every thing necessary on board his vessel; he was ready to sail, when, on the 28th of August 1565, certain ships were seen. Ribault came in them, bringing a letter from Chastillon, stating his appointment as governor, and desiring Laudonnière to return to France. The ships of Ribault were brought into the river the 4th of September.

In the meantime, the proceedings of the French in Florida, had attracted the attention of the court of Spain. On the 5th of May 1565, the secretary Gonzalo Perez presented to the president of the council of the Indias, some lines from the king, in relation to his rights to Florida, where the French had built a fort. The council was of opinion that the right of the King of Spain was very clear; that it resulted from the donation of Alexander the Sixth, and the taking possession by Angel de Villafañe, on the same shores and in the port which the French were now occupying; and that besides, Guido de las Bazares had pursued the same formality in 1558.

A fleet, (composed of eight ships,) of which Pedro Menendez de Abiles was general, sailed from the bay of Cadiz the 28th of June 1565. Before it set out,

three caravels were sent, at different times, to transmit to Saint Domingo and Havana the orders of the king, as to the conduct to be observed on the arrival of the fleet. When the second of these caravels arrived near the isle of Mona, it is said to have met a French vessel, the men on board of which, forced the caravel to surrender; took possession of its papers, and read the orders given for the conquest of Florida. The Spaniards arrived upon the Florida coast the 28th of August; on the 5th of September, five Spanish encountered four French ships at the mouth of a river. The Spanish general said to a French captain: "What are you doing upon the lands of King Philip? Leave them, for I do not see what you are doing here, nor what you wish to do." The captain dispatched a shallop to his admiral. What the former said, was not known, but the admiral was heard to say in reply: "I am the admiral; I would rather die." Then the French cut their cables, directed themselves towards the full sea, displayed the foremast sails, and passed in the midst of the Spaniards. The Spanish followed the French admiral, summoned him to lower, and soon after directed a small culverin to be fired. Again there was a summons to surrender, and again the reply, rather die than surrender. There was a second fire, which carried off five or six men. One of the French shallops was taken, and during the night the Spanish admiral and captain gave chase to the French admiral and captain. Next morning there was a great tempest; the Spaniards were afraid to continue out at sea, and regained the shore. They went to a river, described as about fifteen leagues

above that of the French; took possession of the country in the name of the king, and built a fort. Three shallops were sent out to seek provisions and some troops which were on board a gallion and another vessel, that had not arrived. Two French ships came behind one of the shallops, with the intention of attacking it, but the wind enabled the shallop to enter a port where the water was not deep enough for the French to follow. The gallion and the other vessel referred to, sailed, one of them for Spain, and the other for Havana. In a severe storm, most of the French vessels were lost at sea.

On the 17th of September, the general set out with five hundred men, to attack the French. The chaplain, well supplied with that bigotry which it was the fashion of the times to mistake for Christianity, expresses the hope that God will do what is necessary, that the Spaniards may propagate his holy Catholic religion, and destroy the heretics! On the 22d, there arrived a Frenchman, who said that he was one of sixteen who had been sent from the French fort eight days before, to observe what the Spaniards were doing; that the frigate was wrecked at the mouth of a river, four leagues more to the south, where five perished then, and the next day three were killed by the Indians; that one of his comrades had attempted to regain the port, but he did not know what had become of the rest. He said there were in all seven hundred men in the fort, of whom a third were Lutherans, and they had two priests who preached the Lutheran doctrine; that of the seven hundred, more than two hundred had embarked in the four vessels;