Page:Vol 1 History of Mexico by H H Bancroft.djvu/309

Rh to become governor of Jamaica, had resolved to devote his great wealth to extending his fame as explorer and colonizer. On learning from Alaminos and his fellow voyagers of the coasts discovered in this direction, he resolved to revive the famed projects of Ponce de Leon, and with this view despatched a small fleet in 1518, under Diego de Camargo. Driven back by the Floridans with great slaughter, says Gomara, the expedition sailed down to Pánuco River, again to be repulsed, with the loss of some men, who were flayed and eaten. Torralba, steward of Garay, was then sent to Spain, and there, with the aid of Garay's friends, obtained for him a commission as adelantado and governor of the territories that he might discover north of Rio San Pedro y San Pablo. Meanwhile a new expedition was despatched to Pánuco, under Alonso élvarez Pineda, to form a settlement and to barter for gold. After obtaining some three thousand pesos, Pineda sailed southward to take possession and to select a site for the colony.

And now while the notary is endeavoring to arrange matters with Cortés, Pineda waits for him a little distance from the shore. At that moment