The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1899-01-29
EARLY EXPLORERS OF GULF.
THE STORY or THE SERIES OF
SPANISH GUESTS.

tunes, the French Seeming Destin-
ed to First Set Their Standards in
the Section.
FROM the New Orleans Picayune.
The beautiful Greek story, part fable
and part legend. of the voyage Of the
Argonauts to colchIs, in search of the
golden fleece" seems to have been re-
peated in the earlier voyages Of the Span
iards from the West Indies to the South
Atlantic coast and the Gulf of Mexico,
and the subsequent voyage of the first
French colonists from La Rochelle. in
France in 169S-99, which led 20 the final
establishment Of The authority of France
IN that great legion through which the
mississippi riv ar flows, and to ali Of which
was given 200 years ago the name of ia
Louisiana ~ louisiana
The phan aom Of the East Indies which
lured Con anbus across the Atlantic 20
those va 5ue, remote regions Of The west
ern wor' 4, fer more than a hundred years
aIter Ae discovery of the new world by
Colum bus in 1892 still Knocked the Span
Ish Imagination with visions and dreams
OIL gold and silver and precious stones
WI zen were to be found in plenty in the
w countries which had been discovered
" ma Whch they fondly believed were the
western regions of those rich and D9Du-
: io1s indies OF the east which Marco Poo.
me venetian traveller, had visited in
uisSulse, and concerning which he had
written IN mis- quaint, but ALWAYS We
Iaclous' book of travels to Ind and far
Cathay. Ia pursuance TO their delusion
tnIt dIgnnUarf Inc
west indies they really had found the
western side OF the East Indies. the first
spanish discoveries and navieators
IN the waters Of the western henisDbere
gave to the aboriginal populations which
lhey found in the islands of the West
indies along the coast Of the Caribbean
sd ana IN Mexico and South America
we name OF indians in harmony with
thelr deIuslon concerning the identity of
The Undiscovered quarters of tbe
siooe' which subsequently, became known
10 European geographers by the general
name of America
The true name that should have been
gwen to the people Of America sbo4f1d
nave been Credentials" or westerpers-
"esVefneFs by reason of their geographical
position toward Europe-and the true
name OF the new world should have been
occidental" or the land of the west The
American aborigines could not furnish any,
information to the Spaniards in the mat
ter or their own national or racial name m.
the name of those Americas for the very
good reason that they had no information
TO furnish on these subjects BeIng abso-
lutely ignorant of the existence of anv
country that lay beyond or within the
waters of the Atlantic and Pacific oceans
which great waters" as they termed
them We're so far as they were concern
ed, the limits of the only world of which
they had any knowledge, not possessing
the slightest reliable tradition or theory
with which to satisfy the inquiring minds
OF the first Spanish priests and mission
aries who questioned them concerning any
other race of men as having been created
except themselves 1t would have been a
manifest intellectual impossibility that
| they should have invented. either for
themselves, as race, or for the countries
| in which they dwell, names TO distinguish
| themselves and their lands from other
| races of people and from other countries
of the earth of whose existence they knew
! nothing. The aborigines of America
| therefore satisfied themselves with apply
| ing 10 themselves tribal names and names.
of nation founded upon some local topo-
! graphical condition or some physical or
moral quality, and which were limited to
/ themselves-a system by which their terri
! tories possessed no names except those Of
! the nations that dwelt in them
| It was thus that the earliest Spaniards
| who visited the new world taking cOun-
sci of their own ignorance and baseless
! geographical and chronological mistakes of
! calling the new transatlantic countries
| that they had discovered the Indies and
| the various nations that inhabited them
| Indians. Prompted by the expectation
! of discovering such treasures as We're
| known to exist in the Indies of Asia, the
| Spaniards within thirty years after the
| discoveries of Christopher Columbus be
! gan to explore the costs of the mainland
of North America that lay nearest TO thei r
! establishments in the Antilles, or West
Indies Islands. In that way they became
| acquainted as early as 1920 with the coast
| of Florida, Alabama Mississippi and Lout-
/ isiana, though their discoveries in these
! regions awaited them very little except,
! perhaps, an the case of Florida, in whic h
country they eventually obtained a foot
| hold. AS for Louisiana, Mississippi and
! Alabama, however, the possession of those
regions was reserved for the French,
whose discovers came not by way of the
| sea, but down the Mississippi river, from
| Canada.
The first of the Spanish olyenturers
| who sailed from the great Antilles CUBA
and Puerto Rico) for the coast of North
| America was Lucas Vasquez de Aillon,
! VINO crossed the NIulI oil Me N1cO III IO4J
and made a landing on the continen: The
| natives as was the custom emonS the
| American aborigines on their forming the
| acquaintance. for the first tiIne of the
! strange men who came to their shores in
floating villages" as the Indians called
| the ships of the Europeans, received the
| Spaniards with kindness and hospitality.
| and with substantial testimonials of fra
terhal regard that infused into the ava
ricious and greedy hearts of the strangers
/ from afar the most sanguine hopes of ac-
! quiring worldly riches from the open
| handed and generous natives of the coast
! of the Gulf of Mexico, whose acquaintance
| they thus had so fortunately aud ma ppily
! formed. Not only were maize and game
and other victuals showered on the Span
iards, but articles upon which the gold
seekers from FL Gran Antilla placed even
! more value were bestowed upon them lib
! orally. Nasquez was presented with golden
| ornaments and silver lance-heads, and
! pearls were given to him wherewith TO
embroider his velvet cloak or to set in
aigrette fashion in his plumed hat. Final