When Vespucius got back to Spain, he wrote a letter to a friend of his in Florence, giving an account of his voyage and the lands he had visited. This letter was published a year or two afterward, and as it was the first printed account of a visit to the _mainland_ of the New World, it was read with much wonder and interest by the people who wanted to learn all they could of the strange lands beyond the ocean. No one knows just how it happened that the new country was called America. Some of Vespucius' friends thought that the New World ought to be called after him, but it was well known that the honor of the great discovery belonged to Columbus alone. At any rate it came about that after reading Vespucius' book, people began talking about the land of Americus Vespucius, and finally it came to be called the land of Americus, or America. But although the great country itself is not named after Columbus, yet mountains, rivers, and towns bear his name, and in poetry and songs, the United States, the greatest American country, is often called Columbia; while in South America, one of the principal divisions is called the United States of Colombia. All of which shows that the people of the New World are very ready to honor its great discoverer. CHAPTER VIII. PONCE DE LEON. Once upon a time there was an old man who had found life so fair a thing that he wished to live forever, and to be forever young. He was born in Spain, and his childhood and youth and early manhood were so happy that when he grew old he was sad and wanted to bring the lost years back. Of course he could not do that; new summers may come and new winters, but the years themselves never come back any more than do the same clouds, or the same sunset, or the same rainbow. But de Leon, for that was the old man's name, did not believe this. When a child he had read many stones and romances in which wonderful things were done. He had all a Spaniard's love for adventure, and he believed there were things on the earth and in the earth which possessed strange power over the life of man. As he grew older he was taught to ride and fence, and many other things which it was considered necessary for a Spanish gentleman to know, but all the time he was dreaming over these marvellous things he had heard. When he became a man he entered the army, and was always a brave soldier, and eager for adventure of every sort. He sailed with Columbus on his second voyage, and afterward was made governor of the island of Porto Rico. Here in his island home he was not happy, although he had power, and wealth, and fame, for he sighed for the years that were gone, and dreaded the time to come when life would be no longer pleasant, for he was growing old and must die.