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INTRODUCTION.
Moors, were drawn from the arsenal to equip the heroes o f these remoter adventures; and some o f the most noted commanders in the N e w W o r l d , will be found to have made their first essay in arms, under the banner o f Ferdi nand and Isabella, in their romantic campaigns among the mountains o f Andalusia. T o these circumstances may, in a great measure, be ascribed that swelling chivalrous spirit w h i c h will be found continually mingling, or rather warring, with the technical habits o f the seaman and the sordid schemes o f the mer cenary adventurer,
in these early Spanish discoveries.
Chivalry had left the land and launched upon the deep. T h e Spanish cavalier had embarked in the caravel o f the discoverer.
H e carried among the trackless wildernesses
of the N e w W o r l d the same contempt o f danger and forti tude under suffering; the same restless, roaming spirit; the same passion for inroad and ravage and vainglorious exploit ; and the same fervent, and often bigoted, zeal for the propagation o f his faith, that had distinguished him during his warfare with the Moors.
Instances in point
will be found in the extravagant career o f the daring Ojeda, particularly in his adventures along the coast o f Terra Firma and the wild shores o f Cuba ;—in the sad story o f the " unfortunate Nicuesa," graced as it is with occasional touches o f high-bred courtesy ;—in the singular cruise o f that brave but credulous old cavalier, Juan P o n c e de Leon, w h o fell upon the flowery coast o f Florida in his search after an imaginary fountain o f youth ;—and above all, in the