Those which brought us thither told and showed us, that, in the said river, there were three such falls of water more, as that was where we had left our boats; but, because we could not understand their language, we could not know how far they were one from another. Moreover, they showed us with signs, that, the said three falls being past, a man might sail the space of three months more alongst that river; and that along the hills that are on the north side there is a great river, which――even as the other――cometh from the west: we thought it to be the river that runneth through the country of Saguenay. [Cartier afterwards returned to the harbor of the Holy Cross, where he and his men passed the winter of 1535‒36 with much suffering. They were the first Europeans to pass the winter in the northern part of North America. The French claim to the possession of this continent was founded on Cartier’s discoveries. The expedition reached St. Malo, on its return, July 16, 1536.] BOOK VI. THE ADVENTURES OF DE SOTO. (A.D. 1538‒1542.) These extracts are taken from “The Worthy and Famous History of the Travels, Discovery, and Conquest of Terra Florida, accomplished and effected by that worthy General and Captain, Don Ferdinando de Soto, and six hundred Spaniards his followers.” (Reprinted by Hakluyt Society, 1851.) Pages 9‒16, 27‒32, 89‒92, 120‒122, 125‒127. This is a translation, made by Hakluyt in 1609, of a narrative by one of the companions of De Soto, first published in 1557. THE ADVENTURES OF DE SOTO. I.――HOW DE SOTO SET SAIL. Illustration: DE SOTO. CAPTAIN SOTO was the son of a squire of Xerez of Badajos. He went into the Spanish Indies when Peter Arias of Avila was governor of the West Indies. And there he was without any thing else of his own, save his sword and target. And, for his good qualities and valor, Peter Arias made him captain of a troop of horsemen; and, by his commandment, he went with Fernando Pizarro to the conquest of Peru, where (as many persons of credit reported, which were there present) ... he passed all other captains and principal persons. For which cause, besides his part of the treasure of Atabalipa, he had a good share; whereby in time he gathered an hundred and fourscore ducats together, with that which fell to his part, which he brought into Spain.... The emperor made him the governor of the Isle of Cuba, and _adelantado_ or president of Florida, with a title of marquis of certain part of the lands that he should conquer....