6. In 1526 Charles V. appointed DE NARVAEZ governor of Florida. His territory extended from Cape Sable three fifths of the way around the Gulf of Mexico. De Narvaez arrived at Tampa Bay with two hundred and sixty soldiers and forty horsemen. The natives treated them with suspicion, and holding up their gold trinkets, pointed to the north. The Spaniards, whose imaginations were fired with the sight of the precious metal, struck into the forests, expecting to find cities and empires, and found instead swamps and savages. They finally came to Appalachee, a squalid village of forty cabins. 7. Oppressed with fatigue and hunger, they wandered on, until they reached the harbor of St. Mark's. Here they constructed some brigantines, and put to sea in hope of reaching Mexico. After shipwrecks and almost endless wanderings, four men only of all the company, under the leadership of the heroic De Vaca, reached the village of San Miguel, on the Pacific coast, and were conducted to the city of Mexico. [Sidenote: De Soto's Expedition.] 8. In the year 1537 FERDINAND DE SOTO was appointed governor of Cuba and Florida, with the privilege of exploring and conquering the latter country. He selected six hundred of the most gallant and daring young Spaniards, and great preparations were made for the conquest. Arms and stores were provided; shackles were wrought for the slaves; tools for the forge and workshop were supplied; twelve priests were chosen to conduct religious ceremonies; and a herd of swine was driven on board to fatten on the maize and mast of the country. 9. The fleet first touched at Havana, where De Soto left his wife to govern Cuba during his absence. After a voyage of two weeks, the ships cast anchor in Tampa Bay. Some of the Cubans who had joined the expedition were terrified and sailed back to the security of home; but De Soto and his cavaliers began their march into the interior. In October of 1539 they arrived at the country of the Appalachians, where they spent the winter. For four months they remained in this locality, sending out exploring parties in various directions. One of these companies reached Pensacola, and made arrangements that supplies should be sent out from Cuba to that place in the following summer. 10. In the early spring the Spaniards continued their march to the north and east. An Indian guide told them of a populous empire in that direction; a woman was empress, and the land was full of gold. De Soto and the freebooters pressed on through the swamps and woods, and in April, 1540, came upon the Ogeechee River. Here the Indian guide went mad, and lost the whole company in the forest. By the 1st of May they reached South Carolina, near where De Ayllon had lost his ships.