So far as written records tell us, Hernando de Soto and his companions in arms were the first white men to enter and explore the territory now known on the map as the State of Georgia. Tradition has small voice in the matter, but such as it has tells another story. There are hints that other white men ventured into this territory before De Soto and his men beheld¹ it. General Oglethorpe, when he came to Georgia with his gentle colony, which had been tamed and sobered by misfortune and ill luck, was firmly of the opinion that Sir Walter Raleigh, the famous soldier, sailor, and scholar, had been there before him. So believing, the founder² of the Georgian Colony carried with him Sir Walter's diary. He was confirmed in his opinion by a tradition, among the Indians of the Yamacraw tribe, that Raleigh had landed where Savannah now stands. There are also traditions in regard to the visits of other white men to Georgia. These traditions may be true, or they may be the results of dreams, but it is certain that De Soto and his picked company of Spaniards were the first to march through the territory that is now Georgia. The De Soto expedition was made up of the flower of Spanish chivalry,—men Used to war, and fond of adventure. Some of them were soldiers, anxious to win fame by feats³ of arms in a new land; some were missionaries⁴, professing⁵ an anxiety for the souls of such heathen as they might encounter, but even these men were not unfamiliar⁶ with the use of the sword; some were physicians, as ready to kill as to heal; some were botanists⁷, who knew as much about the rapier and the poniard as they did about the stamens, pistils, and petals⁸ of the flowers; and some were reporters, men selected to write the history of the expedition. As it turned out, these reporters were

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