DE NARVAEZ (nar-vah-eth) received a grant of Florida, and (1528) with 300 men attempted its conquest. Striking into the interior, they wandered about, lured on by the hope of finding gold. Wading through swamps, crossing deep rivers by swimming and by rafts, fighting the lurking Indians who incessantly harassed their path, and nearly perishing with hunger, they reached at last the Gulf of Mexico. Hastily constructing some crazy boats, they put to sea. After six weeks of peril and suffering, they were shipwrecked, and De Narvaez was lost. Six years afterward, four--the only survivors of this ill-fated expedition--reached the Spanish settlements on the Pacific coast. [Illustration: DE SOTO'S MARCH] FERDINAND DE SOTO, undismayed by these failures, undertook anew the conquest of Florida. He set out with 600 choice men, amid the fluttering of banners, the flourish of trumpets, and the gleaming of helmet and lance. For month after month this procession of cavaliers, priests, soldiers, and Indian captives strolled through the wilderness, wherever they thought gold might be found. They traversed what is now Georgia, Alabama, and Mississippi. In the third year of their wanderings (1541) they emerged upon the bank of the Mississippi. After another year of fruitless explorations, De Soto died. (See Map, Epoch I). At the dead of night his followers sank his body in the river, and the sullen waters buried his hopes and his ambition. "He had crossed a large part of the continent," says Bancroft, "and found nothing so remarkable as his burial-place." De Soto had been the soul of the company. When he died, the other adventurers were anxious only to get home in safety. They constructed boats and descended the river, little over half of this gallant array finally reaching the settlements in Mexico. MELENDEZ (ma-len-deth), wiser than his predecessors, on landing (1565) forthwith laid the foundations of a colony. In honor of the day, he named it St. Augustine. _This is the oldest town in the United States._ [Footnote: Many Spanish remains still exist. Among these is Fort Marion, once San Marco, which was founded in 1565 and finished in 1755. It is built of coquina--a curious stone composed of small shells.] EXPLORATIONS ON THE PACIFIC.