Then he returned to a
fine harbor which he had discovered and began the town of St. Augustine.
This was in 1565, and St. Augustine is, therefore, the oldest settlement
within the present limits of the United States, excluding those founded
in some of our colonial possessions.

Let us now turn attention to the French explorations. France in those
days was a spirited rival of Spain, and, in 1524, she sent out a fleet
of four vessels under the command of Verrazzani, who, strange as it may
seem, was also an Italian. Two months later, with only a single ship
remaining, he sighted the mainland of America, it is believed near North
Carolina, from which point he coasted northward along New England. He
gave the name of New France to all the countries he visited, but his
account of his explorations is so vague that it is uncertain what lands
he saw. Verrazzani, however, seems to have been the first navigator who
formed a correct idea of the size of the globe.

[Illustration: SEARCH FOR THE FOUNTAIN OF YOUTH BY PONCE DE LEON.]

In 1534 Jacques Cartier, with two ships, entered the mouth of the St.
Lawrence. He was so impressed by the desolation of the shores of
Newfoundland that he declared his belief that it was the land to which
God had banished Cain. Nevertheless, he took possession of the country
in the name of France and then returned home.

Cartier visited the country the following year with a larger expedition
and sailed up the St. Lawrence to the sites of Quebec and Montreal. He
was not successful in his attempts to found colonies, but his discovery
gave France a title to the immense region which she held with a firm
grasp for more than a hundred years.

Failing to establish colonies in the North, France now directed her
efforts to the south. The Huguenots suffered so much persecution in the
Old World that they sought a home in the New. Captain John Ribault,
sailing from Havre with two ships, sighted Florida on the last day of
April, 1562. The Indians were friendly and the explorers were charmed
with the country. Ribault took possession of it in the name of France
and gave French names to various places. Finally he dropped anchor in
the harbor of Port Royal and began founding a settlement.

All were in good spirits and wished to remain, but Ribault sailed for
France, leaving thirty men behind. After a time they quarreled and
rigged up a worthless boat with which they set sail for home. All would
have perished, had th