[Footnote 1: Herrera, Hist. General, Dec. I. Lib. LX. c. 11; De Laet, Novus Orbis, Lib. I. C. 16 Garcilaso, Just. de la Florida, Part I. Lib. I. C. 3; Gomara, Ilist. Gin. des Indes Occidentales, Lib. II. c. 10. Compare Peter Martyr, De Rebus Oceanicis, Dec. VII. c. 7, who says that the fountain was in Florida. The story has an explanation sufficiently characteristic, having been suggested, it is said, by the beauty of the native women, which none could resist, and which kindled the fires of youth in the veins of age. The terms of Ponce de Leon's bargain with the King are set forth in the MS. Gapitnincion con Juan Ponce sobre Biminy. He was to have exclusive right to the island, settle it at his own cost, and be called Adelantado of Bimini; but the King was to build and hold forts there, send agents to divide the Indians among the settlers, and receive first a tenth, afterwards a fifth, of the gold.] [Footnote 2: Fontanedo in Ternaux-Compans, Recueil sur la Floride, 18, 19, 42. Compare Herrera, Dec. I. Lib. IX. c. 12. In allusion to this belief, the name Jordan was given eight years afterwards by Ayllon to a river of South Carolina.] [Footnote 3: Hakinyt, Voyaqes, V. 838; Barcia, Ensayo Cronologico, 5.] [Footnote 4: Peter Martyr in Hakinyt. V. 333; De Laet, Lib. IV. c. 2.] [Footnote 5: Their own exaggerated reckoning. The journey was prohably from Tampa Bay to the Appalachicola, by a circuitous route.] [Footnote 6: Narrative of Alvar Nunez Caheca de Vaca, second in command to Narvaez, translated by Buckingham Smith. Cabeca do Vaca was one of the four who escaped, and, after living for years among the tribes of Mississippi, crossed the river Mississippi near Memphis, journeyed westward by the waters of the Arkansas and Red River to New Mexico and Chihuahua, thence to Cinaloa on the Gulf of California, and thence to Mexico. The narrative is one of the most remarkable of the early relations. See also Ramusin, III. 310, and Purchas, IV. 1499, where a portion of Cabeca de Vaca is given. Also, Garcilaso, Part I. Lib. I. C. 3; Gomara, Lih. II. a. 11; De Laet, Lib. IV. c. 3; Barcia, Ensayo Crenolegico, 19.] [Footnote 7: I have followed the accounts of Biedma and the Portuguese of Elvas, rejecting the romantic narrative of Garcilaso, in which fiction is hopelessly mingled with truth.]