but the force of
the current was so great as to strain their cables. The third was a
brigantine, and farther out at sea; which either found no bottom for
anchoring, or did not perceive the current, so that it was carried to
sea and lost sight of by the rest, though the weather was fair. Being
invited on shore by the natives, Ponce landed, and the natives
immediately endeavoured to seize the boat, oars, and arms of the
Spaniards, who were forced to fight in their own defence, during which
two of them were wounded with darts and arrows pointed with sharp bones.
Night parted the combatants, and Ponce collected his people with some
difficulty, having done very little damage to the Indians, and returned
to the ships. He sailed next day along the coast to a river, which he
named _Rio de la Cruz_, where he proposed to wood and water and to wait
the return of the brigantine. He was opposed at this place by sixty
Indians, one of whom was made prisoner, that he might learn Spanish, and
be able to give information respecting the country. Leaving at this
place a stone with an inscription, he doubled the Cape of Florida on
Sunday the 8th of May, giving it the name of _Cabo de las Corrientes_,
or Cape Currents, because they are there stronger than the wind; after
which he came to anchor near an Indian town called _Aboaia_. All this
coast, from Cape _Arracifes_ to Cape _Corrientes_ lies north and south
one point east, being clear and free from rocks and shoals, with six
fathoms water near the shore.

After passing Cape Corrientes, he sailed on till he fell in with two
islands to the southwards, in lat. 27 deg. N. At one of these, which he
named _Santa Martha_, about a league in circumference, he watered. On
Friday the 13th of May, he sailed along a shoal with a chain of islands,
to one called _Pola_, in 26 deg. 30' N. Between these islands and the
continent is a spacious sea like a bay. On the 15th of May he proceeded
ten leagues along the chain of small islands, to two white ones which he
called _Los Martires_ in 26 deg. 15' N. He continued along the coast,
sometimes N. sometimes N.E. till the 23d of May, and on the 24th ran
along the coast to the southwards as far as some small islands that lay
out at sea, still believing that he was coasting along the shore of a
large island. As the anchorage between these small islands and the coast
appeared convenient for the purpose, he continued there till the 3d of
June taking in wood and wat