immediate detour east before a northerly probe could be resumed. Landfall near Daytona Beach, on the other hand, would permit a short sail north before a first anchorage and then a one-day cruise in the same direction before A turn south near Crescent Beach or Matanzas Inlet. The 1846 "General Map of Florida," by the Bureau of Topographical Engineers, shows Matanzas with "6 feet on the bar." Ponce likely would have considered this too tight for an extended stay. In fact, it may have been the reason for his turn south for better anchorages.

Thus, the prime candidate for first-landing honor is Ormand By The Sea, a bit north of nine fathoms depth exactly 2.6 miles offshore.

ST. AUGUSTINE ARTIFACTS

Scholars who support a St. Augustine anchorage cite evidence other than Capt. Peters' correction of Herrara's landfall latitude. Walter B. Fraser, in his booklet, "The First Landing Place of Juan Ponce de Leon," emphasizes two interesting artifacts. One is a large, stone cross laid out on the ground near a "Fountain of Youth" spring. The other is a fragment of parchment 3 by 9 inches reportedly found in a silver salt cellar buried under the cross.

The cross is composed of rough-hewn coquina stones and measures 14 by 9½ feet oriented on an east-west line. It was partially unearthed in 1868, but it and the spring were then covered over with earth by the owner. A few years later the spring was reopened and walled up to provide water for mixing mortar.

A new owner, Dr. Louella Day MacConnell, declared in 1904 that she found the salt cellar, egg-shaped about 51/2 inches high, embossed with figures believed to represent an Indian greeting Columbus. Inasmuch as Ponce had been a young member of the Admiral's second voyage, it is considered logical that Ponce would have commissioned a memento of Columbus.

Four years later, Dr. Day-MacConnell went to Spain for research about Ponce de Leon. She left money there for certified copies of documents sent to her later.

In 1909, she had the entire cross uncovered, a curb built around it, copyrighted post cards printed, and reproductions of the salt cellar cast for souvenirs. The site soon became, and still re-mains, a popular tourist attraction.

Curiously, Dr. Day-MacConnell did not submit the parchment for translation until 1912, and

then to a local librarian named Mrs. Annie Averette. A transcription and translation by Mrs. Averette was examined by Lawson for his 1939 work on Ponce. He concluded that the wording, as shown to him, was consistent with wording typical of the period 1506-1516 when Ferdinand was king of Aragon, but not yet king of Castile.

Lawson, competent in Spanish translations, rendered the parchment language substantially as Averette:

"Be it known by this that I, Alonzo Soriana, citizen and resident of Brillar, certify that I was present at the beginning of the foundation, which is the cross of religion, and it is with the rising and setting of the Sun. By order of the Royal Crown of Aragon, he made his design at the spring which is good and sweet to the taste. It was made in the year 1513."

Fraser subsequently acquired the Fountain of Youth site and with it the parchment. The salt cellar has disappeared, and only a 1910 drawing and two souvenir reproductions now exist. Fraser had the parchment photographed by the U.S. Bureau of Standards in Washington, D.C. He then submitted the photo copy in 1955 to Don Diego Bermudez Camacho, secretary of the Archivo General de Indias in Seville, Spain.

Bermudez agreed with the Averette-Lawson translations with two exceptions. "I suggest that in the original document this (anomalous) phrase was 'de la cruz de religion' -- or, of religious cross; that is, the Latin cross as used by the Roman Catholic Church." The Latin cross has short bars, or flarings, at the ends of equal-length arms.

The Spanish archivist also rendered the date reference as "Fue a quinientos anos" (He went to 500 years) -- an awkward, inconclusive wording -- instead of Averette's "Era en el ano 1513" (It was in the year 1513).

The parchment appears authentic, as far as it goes. It is written in sixteenth century style and bears a notarial filigrane. However, there are internal inconsistencies. The deposer speaks in the past tense, "was," and made his undated unsigned affidavit in Spain. If the statement does refer to a momentous New World discovery it is unusually vague and laconic. It gives the impression it was but the end of a longer deposition. One wonders how, and when, the scrap of vellum found its way to America and under a cross?

The cross itself is strangely designed. It resembles a Protestant cross with the transverse