It was this same greed for gold which led the Spaniards to attempt the exploration of the southern part of the American continent. As early as 1512 Juan Ponce de Leon discovered a land which he called Florida, partly because he first saw it on Easter Sunday (_Pascua florida_), and partly because it seemed to his delighted gaze a veritable “land of flowers.” Ponce de Leon had another object beside gold hunting; he was an old man and he loathed his years. He had come hither lured by a wonderful tale of a fountain which gave eternal youth to whosoever bathed in its waters. To find this grand restorer of vigor and bloom, Ponce de Leon and his followers wandered through terrible forests and marshes, enduring every hardship and deprivation, running hourly risks of death. That such a dream could ever have been cherished by enlightened and educated people need not appear so strange if we consider what a succession of new and astonishing scenes had passed before the eyes of the old world in the short space of ten years. No wonder their imaginations were inflamed and their credulity limitless. In this new land, of which the preceding ages had been utterly ignorant, everything was different from that with which the old world was familiar. Anything seemed possible, after the impossible had happened. De Leon made two visits after his fountain; in the second one he was killed by the Indians. In 1528 Pamphilo de Narvaez made an effort to take possession of Florida in the name of Charles V of Germany. He met with such hostility from the natives, however, that after months of wandering he reached the Gulf with a mere handful of men out of the six hundred with whom he had landed. Building five miserable boats, these crazy adventurers attempted to follow the line of the coast to the Mexican settlements. Four boats were lost in a storm; the survivors landed and sought to cross the continent to the Spanish colonies at Sonora. It seems incredible, but in this enterprise four of the men actually succeeded. Among them was Cabeca de Vaca, treasurer of the expedition. Their appearance in Europe nine years after their departure caused the greatest sensation, and the excitement created by their narrative was intense. The passion for adventure became stronger than ever among the Spaniards, and when the already celebrated Hernando de Soto, who had been with Pizarro in Peru, asked for and was granted permission to take possession of Florida in the name of Ferdinand of Spain, he had a multitude of volunteers to his standard.