AMERICA***


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FAMOUS DISCOVERERS AND EXPLORERS OF AMERICA


      *      *      *      *      *      *

FAMOUS LEADERS SERIES

Each, one volume, illustrated, $2.00
Except as otherwise noted


BY

CHARLES L. JOHNSTON

  FAMOUS INDIAN CHIEFS
  FAMOUS SCOUTS
  FAMOUS CAVALRY LEADERS
  FAMOUS PRIVATEERSMEN
  FAMOUS FRONTIERSMEN
  FAMOUS DISCOVERERS AND EXPLORERS OF AMERICA
  FAMOUS GENERALS OF THE GREAT WAR
  FAMOUS AMERICAN ATHLETES
      First Series       $2.50
  FAMOUS AMERICAN ATHLETES
      Second Series      $2.50


                                  BY

                           CHARLES LEE LEWIS

                    FAMOUS AMERICAN NAVAL OFFICERS


                                  BY

                             EDWIN WILDMAN

 FAMOUS LEADERS OF INDUSTRY—_First Series_

 FAMOUS LEADERS OF INDUSTRY—_Second Series_

 THE FOUNDERS OF AMERICA or, Lives of Great Americans from the
 Revolution to the Monroe Doctrine.

 THE BUILDERS OF AMERICA or, Lives of Great Americans from the Monroe
 Doctrine to the Civil War.

 FAMOUS LEADERS OF CHARACTER

 (_new revised edition_)

 or, Lives of Great Americans from the Civil War to To-day.


                                  BY

                          TRENTWELL M. WHITE

  FAMOUS LEADERS OF INDUSTRY
      Third Series      $2.50


                     L. C. PAGE & COMPANY, BOSTON

      *      *      *      *      *      *


[Illustration: AMERIGO VESPUCCI (_see page 45_)]


FAMOUS DISCOVERERS AND EXPLORERS OF AMERICA

Their voyages, battles, and hardships in traversing
and conquering the unknown territories
of a new world

by

CHARLES H. L. JOHNSTON

Author of “Famous Scouts,” “Famous Indian Chiefs,”
“Famous Cavalry Leaders,” “Famous Frontiersmen,”
“Famous Privateersmen,” etc.

Illustrated







[Illustration]

The Page Company
Boston  Publishers

Copyright, 1917
By The Page Company
All rights reserved

Made in U. S. A.

Fourth Impression, September, 1928
Fifth Impression, March, 1932

The Colonial Press Inc.,
Clinton, Mass.




                              _Dedicated_
                To the Great Brotherhood of the Clergy
             _who, with self-sacrifice, devotion, and lack
                          of personal profit,
                    have consecrated their lives to
              the education and development of the youths
                  of all English speaking countries_.




PREFACE


  _My Dear Boys_:

It has seemed fitting to include in the FAMOUS LEADERS SERIES this
volume upon the discoverers and explorers, not only of North America,
but also of Central and South America.

It has been impossible to include them all in a volume of this
character; but I have selected the most important, and have omitted
such men as Sebastian Cabot, Jacques Cartier, Sir Francis Drake,
Baffin, Verendrye, Robert Gray, Lewis and Clark, Pike, Franklin,
Frémont, and many others.

This is no new subject. The lives and histories of these discoverers
have been written by many another; but I have endeavored to bring
before you a series of pictures of some of the most noted of these men
of daring and grim determination, and, if I have succeeded in painting
the canvas with colors which are agreeable, then, my dear boys, I shall
feel that the moments occupied in the preparation of these pages have
been well spent.

  Believe me,
  Yours very affectionately,
  CHARLES H. L. JOHNSTON.

  Chevy Chase, Maryland.
  August