Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1925-05-17

lily have turned the head of an ex-
perienced European. let alone sim
pie savage of the forest. But this
savage seems to have been rather a
superior person of his kind.
The first thing that happened was
that the Spanish viceroy Of Mexico.
Don Luis de Velasco, had him duly
baptized in the Catholic faith with his
own name-a signal honor. There.
after he is known to all the Spanish
chroniclers as Don Luis. He was still
in Mexico in 1865: for the famous
Don Pedro Menendez de Aviles, who
is remembered in history principally
as the leader of the Spanish eXpedi-
ton that massacred the French in
Florida. mentioned him as living in
Mexico, In a letter written in that
year to King Philip III Of Spain.
If there was anything that rivaled
the religious zeal of the Spaniards Oh
those days, it was their zeal for gold
and silver. They had found these
metals in Mexico, Central America,
Peru and elsewhere in the New World.
and they hoped to find still more in
the regions of the North Atlantic
coast of Terra Firma. which is the
name they applied to the whole main
land of America. They also had a
notion that the North American con-
tinent was much narrower than 1t is.
and they hoped. by sending an eXpe-
dition to the recently discovered Bay
of Santa Maria and making a perma-
nent settlement there, to kill several
birds with one Stone-namely, to find
more precious metal; TO discover a
passage for ships to the Pacific Ocean,
to establish the claim of the Spanish
crown to more territory and to con-
vert more natives to the Catholic
religion.
There is not much doubt that the
Spaniards who had explored the Bay
of Santa Maria had visited the Pc
tomac, or at least seen its mouth.
DIR. John D. c. Shea, historian of the
early Catholic missions among the
American Indians, is convinced from
the evidence at hand that they knew
the Potomac, and he has identified II
with the Espiritu Santc, river re-
corded by the early explorers. It Is
not improbable that, as they viewed
it's broad estuary, they thought the
Potomac might be the long sought
passage to the Pacific.
Aviles, who was then at Havana.
thought he saw an instrument suited
TO his design in Don Luis. He de-
termined with his aid to establish
Spain on Chesapeake Bay. He fitted
out a ship and started it off with a
captain and 80 soldiers, two Domin-
lean friars, and Don Luis to act as
interpreter and guide in this new land
which they had named Axacan.
The name is supposed to be of In
dian origin, and some historians have
fancied they saw a resemblance to 1t
in the modern word Occoquan, name
of creek and town on the Potomac
River a few miles below Washington.
X ::
DON LUIS savage heart probably
beat with excitement as he found
himself on a vessel bound for his ma
tive land. But he was destined to be
grievously disappointed on this trip.
The two monks were not the sort to
relish the hardships of a first settle
ment in a region so wild and unknown
as Axacan. They talked over their
fears with the soldiers, and finally
everybody on board, including the
pilot, agreed to sail for Spain and
blame the weather. They all signed a
paper saying that it was impossible,
on account of adverse winds and cur
rents, for them to reach their objec-