[Footnote 10: Amerigo (A-ma-ree'go): his full name was Amerigo Vespucci (A-ma-ree'go Ves-poot'chee), or, as he wrote it in Latin, Americus Vespucius.] 27. Summary.--In 1497 John Cabot and his son, from Bristol, England, discovered the mainland or continent of North America, and took possession of it for England. The next year they came over and sailed along the eastern coast of what is now the United States. An Italian whose first name was Amerigo visited the New World afterward and wrote the first account of the mainland which was printed. For this reason the whole continent was named after him, AMERICA. Who was John Cabot? What did he try to do? Who sailed with him? What land did they see? Had Columbus ever seen it? What did Cabot do when he went on shore? What is said of his return to Bristol? What did the Cabots carry back to England? What is said about the second voyage of the Cabots? How did the New World come to be called America? PONCE DE LEON,[1] BALBOA,[2] AND DE SOTO[3] (Period of Discovery, 1513-1542). 28. The magic fountain; Ponce de Leon discovers Florida; Balboa discovers the Pacific Ocean.--The Indians on the West India Islands believed that there was a wonderful fountain in a land to the west of them. They said that if an old man should bathe in its waters, they would make him a boy again. Ponce de Leon, a Spanish soldier who was getting gray and wrinkled, set out to find this magic fountain, for he thought that there was more fun in being a boy than in growing old. He did not find the fountain, and so his hair grew grayer than ever and his wrinkles grew deeper. But in 1513 he discovered a land bright with flowers, which he named Florida.[4] He took possession of it for Spain. The same year another Spaniard, named Balboa, set out to explore the Isthmus of Panama.[5] One day he climbed to the top of a very high hill, and discovered that vast ocean--the greatest of all the oceans of the globe--which we call the Pacific. [Footnote 1: Ponce de Leon (Pon'thay day La-on') or, in English, Pons de Lee'on. Many persons now prefer the English pronunciation of all these Spanish names.] [Footnote 2: Balboa (Bal-bo'ah).] [Footnote 3: De Soto (Da So'to).] [Footnote 4: Florida: this word means flowery; the name was given by the Spaniards because they discovered the country on Easter Sunday, which they call Flowery Easter.] [Footnote 5: Panama (Pan-a-mah').] 29. De Soto discovers the Mississippi.--Long after Balboa and Ponce de Leon were dead, a Spaniard named De Soto landed in Florida and marched through the country in search of gold mines. In the course of his long and weary wanderings, he came to a river more than a mile across. The Indians told him it was the Mississippi, or the Great River. In discovering it, De Soto had found the largest river in North America; he had also found his own grave, for he died shortly after, and was secretly buried at midnight in its muddy waters. [Illustration: BURIAL OF DE SOTO.]