[1512.] The West India Islands, in which the Spaniards are at length firmly established, become now the point of new departures. Conquerors and discoverers henceforth for the most part sail from Española or Cuba rather than from Spain. Juan Ponce de Leon, a wealthy citizen who had been governor of Puerto Rico, fitted out three vessels at his own expense, and sailed in search of a fountain, which according to the traditions of the natives had the property of restoring youth, and which was situated in the land called Bimini far to the north. This infatuation had been current in the Islands for several years, and, as we have seen, the name was applied to such a land on Peter Martyr's map of 1511. Sailing from Puerto Rico March 3, 1512, Ponce de Leon followed the northern coast of Española, and thence north-west through the Bahamas, reaching San Salvador on the 14th of March. Thirteen days thereafter he saw the coast of Florida, so named by him from the day of discovery, which was Pascua Florida, or Easter-day. The native name of the land was Cautio. On the 2d of April the Spaniards landed in 30° 8', and took possession for the king of Spain; then following the coast southward they doubled Cape Corrientes (Cañaveral) May 8, and advanced to an undetermined point on the southern or eastern coast, which Kohl thinks may have been Charlotte Bay. All this while they believed the country to be an island. On the 14th of June Ponce de Leon departed from Florida, and on his return touched at the Tortugas, at the Lucayos, at Bahama, and at San Salvador, arriving at Puerto Rico the 21st of September. He left behind one vessel under Juan Perez de Ortubia, who arrived a few days later with the news of having found Bimini, but no fountain of youth. _Reise des Ponce de Leon, und Entdeckung von Florida_, in _Sammlung aller Reisebesch._, tom. xiii. p. 188; _Viages Menores_, in _Navarrete_, tom. iii. pp. 50-3: _Real cédula dando facultad á Francisco de Garay_, in _Navarrete_, tom. iii. p. 148; _Uitvoerlyke Scheepstogt door den Dapperen Jean Ponze de Leon gedaan naar Florida_, in _Gottfried_, tom, iii.; _Gomara_, _Hist. Ind._, fols. 50-2; _Galvano's Discov._, p. 123. Kohl places the voyage in 1513, relying on Peschel, who, he says, has proved the year 1512 to be an impossible date. In 1512 the Regidor Valdivia was sent by the colonists from the gulf of Darien, then called Urabá, to Española for supplies. Being wrecked in a violent tempest, he escaped in boats to the coast of Yucatan, where he and his companions were made captives by the natives. Some were sacrificed to the gods, and then eaten; only two, Gonzalo Guerrero and Gerónimo de Aguilar, survived their many hardships, the latter being rescued by Cortés in 1519. _Torquemada_, _Monarq. Ind._, tom. i. pp. 368-72; _Gomara_, _Hist. Mex._, fol. 21-2; _Herrera_, _Hist. Gen._, dec. ii. lib. iv. cap. vii.; _Cogolludo_, _Hist. Yucathan_, pp. 24-9.