Thus ended the last voyage of the famous Florentine. Perhaps disheartened by the unfortunate result of his cruise, he abandoned the idea of again going to sea, and devoted himself to writing an account of what he had already accomplished. Although younger by four years than Columbus, when the great Admiral had set sail upon his first voyage to the unknown West, Amerigo decided to rest upon laurels already won, and to never again tempt fame and fortune in an expedition to the shores of South America. He spent his declining years in writing a full and graphic account of his many expeditions to the New World, and, on February the twenty-second, 1512, the spirit of the astronomer and geographer passed to a better sphere. For many years after its discovery there seems to have been no effort to give a name to the New World; indeed, it was so long supposed to be a part of Asia that this was thought to be unnecessary. In a Latin book, printed at Strassburg, Germany, in 1509—the work of an Italian called Ilacomilo—it was suggested that the country be called America, as it was discovered by Amerigo (Americus). Not in the lifetime of the great Vespucci was this name so used. As late as the year 1550, North America was called Terra Florida on the Spanish maps, while Brazil was the name given to the coast of South America, where much dye-wood was obtained; the title coming from the Portuguese word _braza_, meaning live coal, or glowing fire. Both the names of America and Brazil were applied to the shore of South America, until, after a while, the second of these names was confined to that part of the coast where the valuable dye-wood was obtained, while the other name was attached to the part north and south of it. From this it was but a short step to speaking of all of the great southern peninsula as America, and gradually this name was given to the entire western continent. Somewhere in Spain or Italy, Amerigo Vespucci sleeps in an unknown grave, but his epitaph is the name of a double continent: rich, populous, teeming with all things valuable. Of noble thought, splendid mind, and facile pen, the memory of the great Florentine geographer should be revered and respected for all time. JUAN PONCE DE LEON: DREAMER AND SEARCHER FOR THE FOUNTAIN OF PERPETUAL YOUTH. (1460-1521) _The tropic breeze fanned a fairy tale, a tale of the sheltering palms,_ _Where the grimy sea cow sunned herself, in the bay where the ground-swell calms._ _It sang a song of a fountain clear in the depth of the tropic glade,_ _Where the bubbles sparkle clear and cool, o’er the rocks of brown and jade._ _It spoke of the waters healing, which to bathe in meant joyous youth,_ _To the gray-haired and decrepit, with wrinkles and hollowed tooth._ _And the breeze came to the ears of men, who believed it to be no lie._ _So the agéd De Leon chimeras chased, in the land where he was to die._ JUAN PONCE DE LEON: